56 Ford Semi

[jerry56]

Well now that my yet unnamed construction company has enough dump trucks I need a light duty semi for local hauling.... And I just happen to have another 56 Ford cab and since the Semi and dump truck are sorta similar I just made 2 of the basic frames as I went along... the wheel base is a a little different but the concepts are the same...
I cut down some "U" channel about 12 1/4" long,




Made a set of off-set hinges so the cab would set closer to the wheels


Get the front wheels centered in the wheel arch



The track looks pretty good... these 56 cabs are just a little narrower than the newer Dodge cabs...but it will be fine






and both axles mocked up


I'll get the fifth wheel and motor mocked up this week ...

[frizzen]

50s Tonka semi you say? Really interested to see where you go with this one.

Nice looking start!

Not sure which type of axle guts you're running, but you could narrow that steer-axle some by shortening the axle hex stub that fits into wheel. Measure a bunch to decide how much to reduce them, or you'll be clearancing the knuckles and wheels too.
I think it already looks like those tuck the lego tires pretty well.

[jerry56]

Yeah, they fit pretty well....I looked at taking a little of the axle stubs but you can only go a couple mm then you are up against the bearings... so then you need to take a little off the back of the wheel....then you run into clearance issues with the steering knuckles...and so on...a whole lot of work and fiddling for 3 or 4 mm...For me it was close enough... but you can go that route, I just decided not to..
I'll use the saddle tanks and running boards I already have and make up what ever else I need....

[jerry56]

I've got the 5th wheel on and motors mounted
I used a mounting plate I found on thingiverse for WPLs it was a little small to my eye so I remixed the mount to fit a LESU 5th wheel... yeah it's a little large but I think it will make getting a trailer on it easier....I can always fall back to a smaller assy if it doesn't work as I hope...


Just a mock up.







After I looked at this I decided to move the 5th wheel up to just ahead of the rear axle center line....don't have a picture of that



I wanted to try a dual motor configuration.... the bottom mount is the original from thingiverse... the top is after I remixed it to move the motors closer to each axle..

the motor shaft is 4mm and the axles are 3mm so I drilled out one end of the drive shaft.. I tested it on an older type shaft first...


Here it is mounted... yeah it hangs down a little more than I like but once I get the fuel tanks and steps on you won't see it...I hope

These are 6v 500rpm motors the axles are 2:1 giving me about 250rpm at the wheels


I'll start getting some details done this week.... it's almost time to get out in the yard and garden

[frizzen]

I'm digging that 5th wheel, and it really doesn't look more out of scale than the originals from Tonka, Structo, BuddyL. Plus even an F8 Big-job was still a lot smaller of a truck than a modern semi. I believe some of the semi guys use a small spring to keep the fifth wheel angled back to make hitting trailers easier.

The dual gearmotors should have plenty of torque available to drag stuff around, that looks cool.

I know its skipping forward, but what kind of rolling stock are you thinking to use for an outfit?

[jerry56]

Your right, the 50s semis were a lot smaller then semis are now so I'm good...The lesu 5th wheel has the hook up for the remote latch, and I haven't looked at spring loading it to keep it back yet....
A quick test this little truck can haul 10 lbs with ease....lol it can't steer but it can drag that much around I haven't tried anything heavier yet.
The current plan is for 3d printing a scale 35ft drop deck....Robert Waring did a nice looking trailer with a rear ramp on thingiverse, I've printed most of it out... remixed a few parts of the suspension and will use some aluminum to strengthen it, not done with it yet but that's the plan

[jerry56]

Worked on this a little this week..
Adding a couple small details like mirrors, these are slightly different than the ones I used on the dump truck.. I think I'll paint them white cause crome cost to much..

Again nothing fancy but I think they will look pretty good.

When I get better at working with brass I might get a little more detail in them but for now.


Like the dump truck a simple steering wheel

One of the down sides to doing these at 1/16 is the 1/14 stuff is to big and the 1/24 is do small... there just isn't a lot in this scale for detail pieces so you kind of have to "roll your own"

Again wiring is pretty straight forward, a master on/off with a charging jack


Terminal block for the power and lights...I'll stick it down somewhere


I always slip a little cut off piece on the diodes so after I cut them I still can tell +/-

Wiring in the headlights, Yes this one will be blue... The way this grill and headlight lens go in you need to paint the cab before you put it together...

The head light lens are the "button" that holds the grill in so once you wire in the lights your stuck.

[frizzen]

Heh, dragging the weight is half the battle, but having steering helps. Hopefully you can get enough weight up on the steer axle to make a difference. I bet some working diffs like the JJRC axles could really help rotate that wide rubber too.

I'm digging those mirrors, big enough to back it into docks, but not really busy looking.

Dark blue with white trim should look great together.

[jerry56]

Well it took me longer to get back to this... it's spring time so the yard and gardens and mowers had to be taken care of....
I didn't get a lot of pictures of the final assembly but it was pretty straight forward....I did a set of tanks and again put the battery box steps on it...I made a different style of rear view mirrors for this ... just cause...so anyway here it is...I still need to finish a drop deck trailer for it, I'll work on that this summer..



I wasn't really sure how to paint the rims it seems to me there should be more black in there some where


More of my Ford mud flaps and a simple tail panel with tail lights and back up lights.









Here it is with my Doepke trailer behind it... these are the same scale, looking at vintage pictures the cab of the older trucks were way smaller than the trailer so it may look odd that seems to be the way it was...This 5th wheel does keep it up a little but I'll just live with it for now




So my Tonka construction company is coming along...still trying to keep it made up of 50s metal toys....might be a few modern ones in the mix but the goal is all metal toys....

[frizzen]

That's a really sharp looking outfit!

Yeah i see what you mean on the wheels, maybe painting the Spider or Brakedrum black might get the contrast you're wanting?

There was a Doepke trailer?
I really think you nailed the 50s truck & trailer stance.
http://www.singingwheels.com/classic-trailer-types.html

[jerry56]

Thanks I think the stance is about right... I'll look at trying to reach in there and paint the drums...
Sorry it was a Wyandotte, the blue Gray line....

[Fury Fan]

I, too, was confused on the trailer being a Doepke. Regardless, it looks good with the Ford.

For the wheels - perhaps gray for the actual rim, black for the spider, and touches of silver for the clamps and nuts? If you could get a spot of black onto the studs at the clamps, so much the better.

The mudflaps and rear lights are nice touches, too.

[jerry56]

LOL sorry I confused everybody about the trailer... I fixed it...
Fury Fan.. I see about trying some of those combination... I do have a dot of black on the studs you just can't see it very well on the dark blue wheel ...
Thanks everybody for the tips !!!

[frizzen]

Any luck getting the chassis balance more where you're happy with how it drives?

Sorry i went toy-nerd about your trailer. I knew there was a rumored Doepke PIE Truck, but i'd never seen more about it than the mini-catalog / operator license

[jerry56]

LOL... it's all good... I'm not one of those people running around looking for things to get upset about...
No I haven't tried the open front axle yet but I need to do that....I did move the 5th wheel forward of the rear axle about 1/8 of an inch. I may have boxed myself in by not making the truck about an inch or so longer....time will tell....I do have a Big Farm semi and low boy I plan on doing for heavier loads, and I have the Diecast Masters low boy so if this one has a weight limit then I'm ok with that...

[wolfws6]

Man that looks awesome! Great conversion!