New Wedco 345d Quick Release

[titandigs]

HI Ian,
I think by adding 5kg to the model with the original belts will be a big problem. Do you have the plastic belt pullies or the aluminium pullies? You may find that the belts will slip because they are only 3mm wide unless this has been changed. I changed mine to 4mm wide to give more area over the pullies with better performance. The chain is better again. Where did you get your chains from I got mine from TTM in Germany at a better price than in Italy. The extra pieces I have put on are from Leimbach purchased from TTM in Germany I have found the service from TTM 100%. The new grab will be shipped next week so it should be here and fitted in about 4-6weeks so will be able to give comment on the grab then. I think the people having problems loading onto the trailers may???? have the plastis pullies as I did. My machine number is 102 and as you may know the first 100 were pre ordered so my model was in the first run and had the plastic pullies. Ian how much of the model is complete?
If you look on youtube at titandigs you will see on of my vids showing the build process by still photos.
Paul

[Ian (the norwegian)]

Hiya Paul.

Yes, I have seen that the earliest machines had plastic pullies and narrow rubber belts. A friend of mine fron Denmark told me about that. He also had that first edition of drive system. But he got it replaced with the alu pullies and wider belts from WDC.
On my machine, who are number 203, there's only alu pullies and 5 or 6mm belts. But there's still no kind of tentioner on the belt. So I'm thinking that I might make a simple tentioner if there are problems.

I got my chain drives from TTM also. Great guys. I've been there a few times on my travels to Germany.. I actually baught my first Scania there

Well, yes. They might have the plastic pullies, or, they might also not have been careful when the assembled all the wheels and bearings in the undercarriage. I noticed that if one just slams it together, a lot of wheels get half stuck. Including the sprocket wheel. I have seen at least one Cat 345 with that problem. Wheels didn't turn freely. And, of course, the guy that had built it was NOT to blame While others don't have a single problem.

I've also been looking at the hydraulic cylinders on this machine. The couplings are all wrong, compared to the 1:1. And there are supposed to be metal pipes along the cylinder with couplings near the end og the cylinders. On top, the WDC couplings are standing WAY to far out from the cylinder sides. Look darn, right ugly.
As far as I have seen, the hydraulic pipe set from Leimbach also seem to contain replacements for the original cylinder couplings. Is this so? Kind'a hard to tell by the tiny photos in the Leimbach homepage.

So far there's not all that much of the model that I have completed. I am rebuilding quite a number of things as I go along. Detailing, making new parts and modifying existing parts to make it look more like the 1:1. Undercarriage are complete, and now I'm working on the boom.
All the yellow parts have been repainted, since the original WDC color are not correct. I'm lucky enough to be living not very far from a Cat dealership So I could take a lot of pics of a brand new 345. And also purchase the original paint.

In my singature, there's a link to a forum where I have a building thread. It's not in english, but there's a lot of pics there, if you wanna have a peek

[doodlebug]

I've had really good luck with Cat spraypaint!
Cheer's, Neil.

[titandigs]

Ian Do you have ant photos of your mods?

[Ian (the norwegian)]

Originally Posted by doodlebug

I've had really good luck with Cat spraypaint!
Cheer's, Neil.

Me too. The finish of that spraypaint are great..

Originally Posted by titandigs

Ian Do you have ant photos of your mods?

Not many. About 30 or so, I guess. You can see them here:

http://www.rcmodeltruck.dk/forum/vie...hp?f=83&t=8253

The text are not english though. Sorry about that

Tried to create an album and upload pictures here, but that didn't work. After uploading 10 photos, it won't upload anymore.. Sort of useless..

[titandigs]

After saving a bit of coin here is a video of my latest attatchment from leimbach. I have only reiceved it on Friday 10/2/12 so some testing will prove it's ability, but at the moment I'am loving it.