Mercedes Benz LPS 1418

[gismow]

Hi...

That's really cool work and I learn a lot about building cabs from the scratch.

Many thanx for that.

[Fourth Protocol]

Originally Posted by TRUCKMAKER

Nice work! What thickness of styrene do you use primarily?

Thanks! The body panels are 2mm thick. The remaining parts are a mix of 2mm, 1mm and 0.75mm, depending on what I'm making. The curvy part at the front, for instance, has two layers of styrene - the first is 0.75mm, and the second 1mm. That's because just one layer would make the ribs show through - the second layer gives it a smooth look.

Originally Posted by gismow

Hi...

That's really cool work and I learn a lot about building cabs from the scratch.

Many thanx for that.

Thank you! I think that's the idea behind forums - learn from what others are doing. I learnt a whole lot like that myself.

On to today's progress - transplanted the steering servo to the front to make way for the bed. Did this using the JunFac front steering kit for Tamiya High-Left axles (J44221). What I thought was going to be a 15 minute job turned out taking almost two hours. First, JunFac (GMade, really) assume all servos are equal. Seems some are more equal than others - mine needed belitteling at the waist, and embiggening in the screw holes.



Next, once fitted that servo mount gets in the way of the diff cover which, while gaudy, does serve to cover the hole through which the differential is locked and unlocked. In fairness JunFac call this out on their product page.



I don't want to disassemble and clean the axle after every run through water, so I had to do some remodelling:



So far so good, and no train smash. The train smash happened once I had it all assembled. Notice how close the steering servo is to the shift servo's arm? There's zero space left for vertical axle travel, and I'll probably have to stick a bump stop in there to keep it clear.



Adding insult to injury, with the diff cover in place steering is even more rubbisher than it was without. And stock Tamiya steering sucks monumentally enough without the help. The obvious fix is to get rid of the dish part of the diff housing cover, and simply leave the tab that covers the hole. That aesthetic is going to be an eyesore, so I'm better off just making a new track rod.



So pretty disappointed by the whole experience. Leaving it there until I think of something better though - I can at least get on with the body.