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

[Rakthi]

Made some more pictures of how the Trilex wheels go together so you can see where the distance ring will fit between the front and rear hub.



Front and rear hub together with distance ring but without the rims on the axle. You can just make out the M2x10 I plan to fit with a M2 nut at the front when I finalise the assembly.



Assembled without the tyres



Started on the front axle, but due to a mislabeling I got send the front axle for a regular Euro rim ... so will have to wait a couple of weeks for the right one to be shipped to me.

[chris1210]

Hi Stephan,

wow...it's unbelievable that so much details went into those Trilex wheels. Are you planning to paint the frame fails in red? I really enjoy watching you build your new truck

[Rakthi]

Hi Chris, yes, the amount of detail on these Trilex wheels is unbelievable, as is the fit and finish. And yes, eventually the frame etc. will be painted red. The rear fenders will go in black but I might replace them with half fenders. Also thinking of replacing the rear suspension with the regular leaf suspension. Love the look of the air suspension but not appropriate for what I plan to do with this truck once it is finished. Still a lot of things hanging in the air on this build.

[Rakthi]

While waiting for ScaleART to send me the right front axle, been playing with the alternative half fenders I have.



Just assembled it all loosely without cleaning up the sharp edges.





Figured it might look better with off-road tyres, installed the ones I have from the Arocs.

[Tp_hofmann]

Woooooooooooooow ... I am delighted to see your updates - please keep us updated!

[chris1210]

Originally Posted by Rakthi

Hi Chris, yes, the amount of detail on these Trilex wheels is unbelievable, as is the fit and finish. And yes, eventually the frame etc. will be painted red. The rear fenders will go in black but I might replace them with half fenders. Also thinking of replacing the rear suspension with the regular leaf suspension. Love the look of the air suspension but not appropriate for what I plan to do with this truck once it is finished. Still a lot of things hanging in the air on this build.

I agreed, the air suspension looks very nice on your truck. Is the suspension stiff or soft? What's wrong with it? I know you will haul a trailer so you need a stiffer suspension.

Originally Posted by Tp_hofmann

Woooooooooooooow ... I am delighted to see your updates - please keep us updated!

Hi Tom, I've been following your build on German site too. Did you run your Arocs Palfinger yet?

[Rakthi]

Hi Tom, working on it. But not much time lately

Hi Chris, I will post some pictures tomorrow of the limited movement of the air suspension vs the leaf version.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This afternoon got some time and started on the fifth wheel.

Here the parts

ScaleART delivers with 3 different ground plates, one flat one, one raised one for manual operation and one raised one for use with a servo.



Also various nuts and bolts. The bits on the right with the long screws are for attaching the servo.



The actual parts of the fifth wheel



We begin with putting some stickers on the supports



Bolt the supports to the ground plate



Now place the moving / locking parts on the bottom side of the fifth wheel. The arrows point to the recesses where the supports will go. The circles are where the servo will attach later on.



Then the two parts are combined and held together with a cover plate. I made a picture beforehand to show this without the bottom plate blocking the view.



Here the finished assembly



The two stainless steel glide plates are supposed to be glued in place, but I just laid them in for now.



Next up is the prepping of the servo. The cable needs to be moved from the side to the bottom. Once that is done, the support plate is put in place (arrow), the long screws inserted and the distance piece and 2 nuts put in place. (the aluminium support plate needed the holes for the screws enlarged a tad - I ran a 2.5mm bit through them). The support plate is not mentioned in the instructions that came with the parts. I put the support in front, but in hind sight I think it would be better in back to bring the servo out a mm or so and give a bit more clearance to the servo horn.



Servo horn needs be cut to 11 mm



Servo mounted in the fifth wheel



Fifth wheel bolted on truck





Will take some pics tomorrow of the mechanism open and closed. Forgot those. Might add some silicone grease too and change the position of the servo support.

[Rakthi]

Here two pictures showing the difference in air vs leaf suspension. Due to the way the air suspension is constructed there is less free movement of the axles compared to the leaf suspension. On the leaf suspension the axles are only held with the "A" frame and the track bars. If I keep the air suspension I will have to use the differential lock more often. Must point out that small bumps/ridges are no problem for the air suspension. Will have to do this again when the truck is finished and with loaded trailer.

[Rakthi]

Took fifth wheel apart to redo the servo and to add some silicon grease to the parts. Took some pictures I missed when assembling first time.

Here the top before the stainless steel glide plates are in place. These are the screws that tie it to the ground plate.



Mechanism in "lock" position



Mechanism in open position. When backing into the trailer, the kingpin will close the lock.



Next repositioning the servo support





By moving it to the back the servo horn clears the plate.



The support holds the servo level.

[Cooper]

Really nice to see a lot of pics!! I've been busy trying to engineer parts for my own builds but following your posts is making me want one of these just for the fun of building!! Some minor pitfalls, as with everything, but you are taking your time and doing the model right. Piece of art for sure, and then it's use after building is a plus!!

[Rakthi]

Hi Cooper, glad you like the pictures. Hope you have as much enjoyment out of them as I get from following your "Great Dane excavating co." Love the way how you go about fixing and building your models!

As for these ScaleART kits, they sure are a delight to play with during assembly as well as when finished.

[Rakthi]

Did the holder/locking parts for the cab today

The front ones. There is a left and a right one. The left one has the bump with the hole in it in case you run an 8x8 truck. It is to hold part of the steering linkage. Not needed in this case. All sturdy stainless steel parts. The top part stays moveable so needs Loctite.






Put the screws in the holes where it gets bolted to the frame





That is the front taken care of, now the rear parts. Here are some small assemblies that need be done first.

The locking hooks. (here too Loctite needed)



The air filter needs the cover glued on with crazy glue.



The actual support to which it all gets fastened









Once all is assembled, it goes onto the frame with 2 M2x5 bolts. The instructions state to make sure it is at a perfect 90° angle. The slots in the side are oval so the whole assembly can slide a couple of mm forwards/backwards.

[Newcomer_2]

Hi Stephan,

as far as I know, you only need this support on the backsite, if you'll not use the installation kit for the electronic parts. When you're using the electronic-installation kit, the air filter and the locking mechanism will be mounted on the installation kit. I think you should check this.

[Rakthi]

Hi Christian, thanks for that! Will check it out. Have to dig out the electronic package anyway to get the pieces that are needed to attach the electronics module to the frame.

[Rakthi]

Before I forget, the support for the rear locking mechanism of the TGX is not replaced by a part in the electronic package. It becomes part of it. Anyway, good of Christian to point that out, if it needed to be replaced would have been a pain later on.

===========================

The first cabin parts go on the frame, they are the rear part of the fender for the front axle.



The slot in the rear side is to attach the side covers if one has those.



Attaches to the frame with 2 screws





Next up is the exhaust. I went for the V8 one for this truck. I had hoped I could get one of the servos for the diff locks in there instead of in the fuel tank, but that is not going to work out. Not enough room and the plastic parts won't be able to take the strain.



First step is to glue the exhaust ends into the plastic part. Didn't need to glue them, they fitted very tight to the point that it is very difficult to get them out.



Next, one of the pins on the back of the V8 cover needs to be filed down.



The plastic sides are slotted into place. The exhaust is designed to take the loudspeaker if one so decides. When you don't put the speaker in there, you have to insert the supplied aluminium plate.





Then the back cover goes on with 4 self tapping screws deep down in those holes.





The support bolted to the frame



Exhaust bolted to support with 4 self tapping screws (I did use smaller ones than those supplied because that way is easier to remove the bit when I paint the frame)





Next I will put on the rear fenders so I see how much room I actually have on the sides.

[Cossett]

I was just wondering what your phillips head screwdriver looks like to put the screws in from the inside of the frame ?

Cheers Tracy

[Rakthi]

Just a regular one. I have found in the AROCS and again in this kit that there is always enough leeway to get to the screw heads, be it at an angle.

I usually put the nut on by hand and get it as tight as possible. In most cases there is enough friction between the head of the philips screw and the metal part that you can just tighten the nut without having to use the screw driver, or it only takes half a turn with the screwdriver.

[Rakthi]

Took some pictures to show the access to those philips screws

[Rakthi]

Decided to install the diamond plate fenders. Had to remove the fifth wheel assembly to get access to the philips screws.



Installed them as far out as possible.



Should have put the fifth wheel back on after doing the supports. Would have been easier.



As I expected, with the V8 exhaust there is not enough room for the MAN battery box (the black bit) and air tanks.



I will put the servo kit from an 8x8 truck instead. This will also solve the hassle of having both diff lock servos in the fuel tank.

[Rakthi]

Test fitted the servo box from a MAN 8x8 truck. It is only held on with one screw at the moment.





Will need to enlarge one hole sideways (arrow) and drill another one below that to get the 4 screws in to hold it securely in place.



One of the attachment points of the servo needs to be removed. As you can see in this picture one support is a bit longer than the other so it is already adjusted for the narrowing of the frame towards the rear.



To hold the servo stable with only one attachment point, a clamp bar is provided that clicks into one of the slots provided on the side and is screwed down on the other side.



The Hitec servo is just a bit too big to be able to use the clamp bar as intended. Don't really know if I can safely shave of a mm or so from the housing on the servo. I will dig out the one I burned on the AROCS and see.



So now have to find the time to enlarge the holes in the frame and sort out fitment of the servo so that I can take care of the bowden cables or the rear axles.

(I seemed to have gotten a scratch (bleu line on the right) on the lens too or else a cat hair has found its way into the camera housing)