ScaleART - Assembling a MAN TGX/XL 6x6 tractor & Trailer

[Rakthi]

Turned out I needed a bit of metal at least 4mm thick to be able to clear the top cross brace of the frame.

Ended up cutting 3 small pieces of 1.5mm and messed around with them until I got something that kind of would work (most definitely not on par with Berna's work - still have a lot to learn before I could even think of building my own trucks)

Hard to see in the picture, but those 3 little pieces of aluminium took me the better part of today to get to that state. Learn while you go and fun at the same time. Will use M2x10 model bolts and nuts to bolt it all to the frame.







I had made the holes in the plates .5mm oversized to give me some wiggle space, but it looks like I will need bit more filing and sanding on the sides to straighten it all out a bit more.

[Rakthi]

Went to assemble the rear leaf suspension 2 days ago and ran into a slight problem.
2 of the parts were missing ...



Here a picture of the rear leaf assembly of the Arocs ... it is the 2 black items that hold the assembly to the support and are also needed to hold the leaf pack together.



Nice thing about ScaleART is that they make no problems and send the missing pieces immediately.

So went back to more filing and sanding on the rear coupling spacer.





Since the front suspension could do with some strengthening as pointed out in a previous post, I decided to use the one leaf that is not used for the rear suspension. This should give some extra resistance to the weight of the cab without making the suspension too stiff. Should this not work out, I can still add the ones I have left over from the AROCS as you can see in the above picture.







Now for some self inflicted extra work - can happen if one haphazardly builds these trucks without really following the book ... I completely forgot to figure out the insertion of the front differential lock servo in the tank ... For this I will need to partly re-assemble the truck ... bugger. To add insult to injury, I actually have 2 tanks. The 80cm one and the 60cm. I had gotten the shorter one in case I only needed to put one servo in the tank. That way I might have room for the 2 air tanks that normally go underneath the battery box if one uses the regular exhaust.



The tank support can be moved over for the shorter thank. Although it might interfere with the support for the engine/gearbox, but that can be fixed.



Looks like there is just enough room to squeeze in the air tanks. Just need to figure out a bracket to hold them. The servo mount that goes into the tank can be cut if only one servo is used.



Here the instructions that came with the servo mount for in-tank build ... looks confusing for an 8x8!



So have to re-install the fenders and front axle and see if I actually have the room for the air and fuel tank.

[Prop Shaft]

Build and rebuild. Seems to be an ongoing theme with these higher end models. Sometimes making a small modification, or adding some parts here and there requires some massive diassembly. I guess on the bright side, you get to know the ins and outs of the model! Great job steph.

[Rakthi]

Well Prop, most of this build and rebuild is self inflicted in this case ... nothing like changing ones mind halfway through to make things interesting, and not building the "standard" truck adds to it. Had hoped to have a painted chassis RTR before the end of next week. Guess it is not in the cards. Have friends visiting last week of Feb, first week of March, will have to move my stuff out of the guest wing kitchen. So everything will be on hold for a bit.

[Rakthi]

Only way to find out if the air tanks would fit with the shorter fuel tank is to try ..

A quick move of the supports and install of the needed pieces



Dropping the shorter tank in place



Looks very tight. (The sides are not completely clipped on because too difficult to get them back off otherwise)

Originally the air tanks are to go underneath the battery box that no longer fits due to the V8 exhaust.



In the V8 exhaust kit there was a holder to use for the battery box and tanks. There are plenty of holes so it should fit to the frame and hold the airtanks





However the thickness of the screw heads and the holder make it too tight. The front fender is also not straight down but has a curve towards the rear into it, so the space gets narrower near the bottom.





The air tanks would fit if I bolt them to the side panel of the fuel tank. Can easily be done, but I think it would look rather weird. Will have to think about this ...

While I was looking and "pondering" noticed that the supports don't really line up



Sorted that by using longer bolts and putting a nut between the support and the frame as a spacer. I will either shorten the long screws before painting or replaces them with more suitable ones so doesn't look so odd



Could also bolt the air tanks to the front fender bit, but that is die-cast and only held in place with 2 bottles ... might break off at the support. Will see what I do.

I test fitted the longer tank with the sides and that too is a very tight fit between the front and rear fender.

[tc1cat]

Have you got any flathead screws you could use in place of the normal mounting screws for the air tanks? Countersink the holes in the bracket and use the flathead screws should let the tanks and bracket slide right in from your pics.

[Prop Shaft]

Originally Posted by tc1cat

Have you got any flathead screws you could use in place of the normal mounting screws for the air tanks? Countersink the holes in the bracket and use the flathead screws should let the tanks and bracket slide right in from your pics.

What he said.

[Rakthi]

Hi Lynn. Great idea! I should have some countersunk screws somewhere. Thanks for the tip!

[Cossett]

Would bolting the tanks direct to the chassis work with a screw in the end or mount the air tanks to the rear of the chassis like you see on some trucks like this

Cheers Tracy

[Rakthi]

So countersunk screws - sometimes the solution stares you right in the face ...

After fruitlessly messing around with the bracket that came with the V8 exhaust, it became clear that it will be simpler to make a new one.

So made a cardboard one to see if tc1cat's tip would give enough clearance.



And as you can see, it works!

Just need to get them a bit lower and a bit farther out from the frame.

The bracket will be held on with 3 M2 bolts. Should be sturdy enough if I use the 0.5 mm brass plate I have sitting around.





I can gain some more air if I grind of a mm or two of the bottom air tank. This would be invisible from the side as it is covered by fender.



The bracket will be practically invisible from the top too.



Roughly will end up looking like this. Will elongate the holes for the bolts for adjustments.



Using a countersunk head screw for the fuel tank support also solves the problem of the head interfering with the gearbox/motor support bracket.

[Rakthi]

Originally Posted by Cossett

Would bolting the tanks direct to the chassis work with a screw in the end or mount the air tanks to the rear of the chassis like you see on some trucks like this

Cheers Tracy

Hi Tracy, would be a cool solution, but I now have that heavy duty rear end on the truck. So no room. Also played with the idea of having them inside the frame, but just not enough room.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[Rakthi]

Groan ... started on the bracket and half way through I realised that the frame support should bend the other way. As I have it now, it will be very difficult to attach the air tanks to the support. Back to the drawing board. Well at least that way I have 4 bolt holes for support.

[Rakthi]

Succeeded in making a total mess drilling the 4 holes to attach the support to the frame. So have to start all over again.

Will have to wait for a couple of weeks though. Our visitors arrive this weekend so I have to clear my stuff out of the guest wing kitchen and box it up for the time being.

During this 2 week break I can do some more thinking on how not to mess up a rather simple support.

[Cossett]

So you did you have to order new chassis rails ?

[Rakthi]

Hi Tracy, nope, no new chassis rail, just have to cut a new piece of brass and get the holes in the right position. Just that I only have de "drill press" from Dremel, and that one has too much flex so the 4 holes I need for attaching the support to the chassis rail are crooked. Could use it after filing etc, but the contrast with with ScaleART parts is a bit too big for my liking ... Will see, have 2 weeks to ponder now. Also been thinking of soldering 3 separate pieces together, might be easier and something new to try.

[Prop Shaft]

What?! 2 weeks with no updates? Unacceptable! Your guests are just going to have to sleep in the shed. Lol

I would only suggest trying a center punch for drilling the holes. Sounds like if you have a vice and a hand drill you might be better off with that as opposed to the dremel setup.
Good luck with it.

[Rakthi]

Wish we had a shed ... I would move in there no time. That would give me room to get some extra power tools like a decent drill press and a proper vice. Also would save lots of time since I wouldn't have to put everything away all the time to prevent our 4 felines of re-organising the parts.

You are right about the center punch - should have used it instead of relying on the dremel, getting a new set of 1 & 2 mm drill bits would help also. Well, shouldn't blame the tools really, part is lack of skill and impatience because I tried to finish the part before the arrival of our visitors.

[Prop Shaft]

I haer ya. Ive pretty much turned our sunroom into my hobby room. Strangly my wife seems ok with it.

[Rakthi]

Of course could build a shed, just need good airconditioning. But we are trying to sell the house and move back to Europe. Also one of the reasons I'm reluctant to buy more tools as it would not be cost effective to move them. Well shouldn't complain, is not that we have so many visitors really.

Here some pics I took from the mess I made of bracket Mark I ... hopefully Mark II will be a tad better fitting/looking

Error 1 - Made the bend in the wrong place. Should have measured better and should have scored the brass more to get a nice sharp corner instead of this bendy thing.



Because of this error I am about 2 mm too close to the fender. You can see I have the air tanks too high up in relation to the fuel tank because (error 2) I drilled the holes to attach to the frame with the plate in the wrong place - still can't figure out how that happened.



The top air tank is pushing against the fender, bottom one wouldn't fit! Amazing what a 2mm mistake translates to.



Here a look at the holes to attach the support to the frame. I thought to be smart and drill 2 2mm holes close together and than file out the little bit in between. That way I could move the support up and down. It kind of worked after a fashion. Will need more accuracy when making bracket Mark II.





Mark II I will start out with a narrower bit of brass too.



I know the bracket could look a little better if the excess bits are trimmed off, but still a long way to go before I get something that looks like what BERNA, RCP57 and others on here fabricate. Respect!

[Prop Shaft]

Mistakes aside. At least you know it will work.