1:12 scratch trailer(s) for the Purple Nurple

[dremu]

Not a lot of words on this one, just a flatbed like so many pre-made ones (Tamiya etc), but scratch because I'm cheap and stubborn (ie making things myself and to my own scale and spec.)

The tow rig is a printed Tamiya Globeliner-ish-thing, see https://rctruckandconstruction.com/s...ad.php?t=14196

One total DOH! moment was making the trailer a 53 foot. It's fricken hooge. I plan on further trailers (tanker, bare frame to carry my conex container, etc) but they will be 40 footers at most.



Frame is aluminum angle from the hardware store, 3D printed crossmembers between the frame and then the angled ones to the plywood.



That's the bumper. I've taken to using heat-set brass inserts for the threads, they're nice. Even got one of those arbor presses with a soldering iron on it to install, which mostly puts them in straight. (Okay, when it doesnt it's operator error, not machine.)



Suspension is your basic Chinesium. The leafs (leaves? loaves? fishes?) are soft for a trailer this big, so I'll need to add some extras to stiffen it up.



Bumper's installed, and you can see the flatbed proper at the back. Plywood with aluminum angle sides. Again, nothing really exciting or surprising, me starting simple since it's been a while I did a trailer. (And it was the five-axle variable-steering gooseneck M1000 for my Abrams hauler, which was insane.)



Printed up some bumper pads in flexible PLA, so I can back right up to a loading dock =))



There's also mudflaps, can just see to the left, of the same material. Assembling those wheels was T-E-D-I-O-U-S, I tell you. SOOOO many little bolts and lugnuts. I used to print my own wheels, and for instances like the HEMMT where it has beadlocks and such, I had to as I couldn't get them off-the-shelf. But for normal semitrucks and trailers, I like these. Cheap, simple, just time-consuming.

Coulda done electric actuators for the legs, but opted for just manual ones with two position, up or down:





Wheel chocks are printed and then spring steel wire (aka paper clip, as I have a bazillion and didn't have the right size music wire handy) is bent to make a handle





Actually two styles of hooks, one for the trailer (right), and then on the left, a different on to hang on the headache rack on the Frobe:



As divulged in my previous utterances, stupidly long. I laughed when my kid stuck his head in and said "Did you by chance, make that trailer a 53 footer?" He worked unloading semis in high school and apparently recognizes different types of trailers from quite a long way away.

[dremu]

And of course we gotta have lights. Dang near all my projects have lights, lots of 'em. That rear bumper, like the one on the Frobe, has translucent filament insets with LED's behind.

In this case there's an Arduino to drive them nestled between the frame rails:



Mudflaps there too. The Arduino gets power and iBus data from the Frobe via a four-pin harness, as used for LED strings (cheap/simple/readily available, I like.)



Inside pair on each side are red brake lights, outside are orange turn/hazards.

I forget if I mentioned on the Frobe thread, but the license plate is also printed on the new Bambu one-head-many-filament printer. The only problem is that to get that level of detail you gotta use the TIIIIIIIIIIINY print head (0.2mm nozzle) and high resolution, so a license plate takes two hours to print :O But it comes out nicely, IMO.

And a brown Maine Coon. That one is Faith, though she's a snooty diva and does occasionally get called "Princess Irulan" under my breath.



Along the sides undef the edge are sideways-facing WS/SK2812 "NeoPixel" units. They come on dim with the headlights as markers, and blink bright with the turns and hazards. Mostly like 1:1 trailers, but also I just like blinkenlights.

Had a bunch of leftover shackle mounts that fit well, so they got screwed on all around the perimeter as attachment points. Found some actual honest-ta-God functioning ratchet straps on AliExpress. The ratchet spring isn't real strong, but the straps hold down 35oz of filament just fine once in place.





Looking at another thread here I see that usually the trailers have that bar going along the length of the side for more strap location options, so I may switch to that. OTOH, I'm also debating putting stake pockets on this, so ..shrug..

So that's how that one sits now. As the weather improves I'll get it out in the driveway for some outside hero shots with the Frobe.

Hopefully more trailers to come.

[frizzen]

Great looking trailer!!!

Scale 53' is a beast, need a pretty long shelf for that outfit even with a cabover truck

[Zabco]

In the US the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Administration mandates that tie downs must be protected from damage, hence the use of 'rub rails' on flat bed trailers. Most people use them incorrectly, the chain or strap is to pass between the rail and the side of the trailer and never over or around the rail.

[dremu]

Originally Posted by Zabco

In the US the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Administration mandates that tie downs must be protected from damage, hence the use of 'rub rails' on flat bed trailers. Most people use them incorrectly, the chain or strap is to pass between the rail and the side of the trailer and never over or around the rail.

Huh. Shows you how much attention I pay to trailers -- and my wife complains because I snap my head looking at semis when I'm driving =))

OTOH, in this case that might be a good thing, other than the rub rails would be waaay out, to scale anyway. Only be like 10mm or something, but still.

Anyway, thanks, and food for thought.

[dremu]

Originally Posted by frizzen

Great looking trailer!!!

Scale 53' is a beast, need a pretty long shelf for that outfit even with a cabover truck

Thanks, and I think part of why I didn't bother thinking it thru is that I have a shelf (actually cabinet top) in mind, which is like ten or twelve feet long. Already has the HEMMT on it, mind you, but I can rotate some models around, I suppose. Up with the new, relegate the old to the workshop or something.

[CorbettTrailers]

Great build. Thank you for sharing.

[dremu]

Originally Posted by CorbettTrailers

Great build. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks! I was gonna say "It's my first trailer", because there's stuff I'd do differently the next time around ... until I counted and realized it's my fourth trailer =))

But it's my first SEMI trailer. And I learned things and had fun, which is all that really counts. And will do shorter ones from here on out =))

-- A