Scaleart - assembling an Arocs 8x8 roll on roll off kipper

[Rakthi]

Hi Christian, yes, I do have the Commander bus system, but you haven't seen the mess I made of the electrics in the 490LC :roll eyes: . I was thinking of sorting that out while I wait for the parts to make their way halfway around the world.

Cheers, Stephan

[Rakthi]

A small update. Prepped the front lights for fit of the LEDs. Not a big job but at least it is out of the way.

Checked the tracking I got and the package from ScaleART has cleared customs in Kuala Lumpur. So now waiting for it to make it here. With some luck might get here beginning next week so we can get on with this.

Here the housing with the LED board. You can see that some of the openings are not completely open.



Trial fitting showed that the circled opening was too narrow also.



Tools used for "fixing" the smallest drill bit in the Dremel collection (1/32" for the Americans) and a small round file.





2 twists with the file and perfect fit.





Both sides had same treatment.

Since I got them and for completeness sake, here a pic of front and back of the PistenKing LED boards

[Rakthi]

The raised exhaust etc. arrived 2 days ago. Today found time to install it.

Ordered the raised exhaust because there is no room for the Euro 6 one on this model. By putting up the raised exhaust at least I have an indication of one. Bit weird having a model without exhaust.

So here the bits. Will only install the support for now. The rest would just be in the way during assembling the rest of the truck. Will also have to come up with a way to pretend the exhaust goes under the cab. The curved bit supplied will not do for the purpose.



Bolted the little piece to the main upright before painting. Such a little piece would be too much of a hassle.



Main upright first. Goes here. Will have to replace 3 bolts with longer ones.



Bit fiddly but got it in place.



Other side goes in similar spot.



Before install bolted the crossbar to it. Would have no access afterwards.



And here I ran into a fitting problem! ... The frame from the hook mechanism is interfering.



After some diligent and careful filing/fitting and a bit of paint.



Got it to fit. (also filed the bottom nut down at an angle)



Installed. Will replace the screw holding the crossbar to the main upright with a M2 model bolt.



Had hoped for some more progress, but between the filing and waiting for paint to dry ...

[Rakthi]

Drivetrain - Part 1

Started with the transfer case.
The support gets M2 nuts as spacers to the frame.



And it attaches here



The transfer case comes with 3 M8 screws in place that need be replaced with M10 ones.



After initialling the spacer nuts on the support, I tried to fit it, but ran into difficulties ... Remember I had moved one of the tank supports one hole to the right. It now interferes with the support.



After replacing the M8 screws on the support with one with a smaller head, and grinding a bit off the one holding the tank support, it fitted. Easy solution.



Support in place


Transfer case screwed on.



Next the motor/gearbox

The motor has a thread and screws into the gearbox. It is held in place with a grubscrew.





In the kit they supply a support for the motor/gearbox. (the big stainless contraption) This is not needed in this truck since the support is part of the frame of the hook mechanism.

Luckily for me I remembered reading in Christian's (Newcomer_2) thread on the German forum that for this truck you need to use a special spacer (the small rectangular bit) which comes with the hydraulic parts.

Because this spaces is about 3mm thick, I replaced the recommended M2x6 countersunk screws with M2x8 ones. Have to be careful because the hole circled in red. You can block the gears if you get too long a screw in there.

Because the frame I have is not foreseen for countersunk screws, used regular ones.





Installing this unit with that spacer "floating" around was an absolute pain in the neck ... but eventually I got it sorted. According to the instructions, the motor needs to be grounded to the frame.

[Rakthi]

Drivetrain - Part 2

Now the props hafts

First the one from the gearbox to the transfer case.



And then the rest. First did the front axles starting from transfer case, and then the rear axles starting from transfer case. The grubscrews have been generously applied with Loctite.

from below





from above