Mercedes Truck

[Dalboy]

It's a lesson I'm still only slowly but surely learning, but at least with these relatively small toys (in Dalboy's case they're models not toys of course!) at least the wasted material doesn't amount to much (except lost man hours of course).

Looking forward to more Dalboy

Thank you AES. This build is a toy not a model and is to be played with unlike some of my models like Old 99 and the Tractor that I am currently making at the same time. Some of the parts I have scrapped get reused as smaller parts especially if they are large so keeping waste down.

 

[Dalboy]

Started today by cutting and sanding the end of some dowel to 2" these are for the bed of the truck. I put a piece of wood in the lathe chuck and drilled a hole so that the dowel just fitted in easily so that I could sand the ends and round them off slightly.

I could put them in and take them out without stopping the lathe this made the job go very quick.

With the side pieces which I had drilled undersize the other day attached them with double-sided tape to the bed and drilled the holes right through to the correct size

Glued up I used some thin wood to get the protrusion top and bottom all to the same height

Also glued in the roof supports as these were the same diameter and length as those on the bed of the truck

Getting close to finishing this one still need to turn some wheels

 

[bourbon]

The holes I have problems with are the ones for the roof supports. I always seem to drill off square, too far back, too far forwards. Any tips? I have a radial pillar drill so it should be straightforward, But, It isn't!

 

[Dalboy]

The holes I have problems with are the ones for the roof supports. I always seem to drill off square, too far back, too far forwards. Any tips? I have a radial pillar drill so it should be straightforward, But, It isn't!

I assemble the cab minus the two dark wood panels and put a piece of wood across the front to make the height up to the same as the back piece as this sits slightly higher than the rest. Cut and mark the roof with the position of the holes lay this in place and clamp it to prevent it moving and drill through This puts the holes in the correct place if you have got the marking out correct.
Measure as many times as you feel that it is correct. I use a small starter drill bit used in metalwork to drill a starter hole then change to the correct size to drill right through.
It takes longer to type out than do.

It does not show it in THIS slide show I produced of the first one I did but some of it may help you

 

[bourbon]

Thank you for the info. I did try it without gluing the cab (almost) together. It moved when I tried to drill it. Assembling in the way you have explained makes a lot of sense, The video explained a lot about correct sequence of assembly. Thank you

 

[Dalboy]

Thank you for the info. I did try it without gluing the cab (almost) together. It moved when I tried to drill it. Assembling in the way you have explained makes a lot of sense, The video explained a lot about correct sequence of assembly. Thank you

You are welcome.

Today been slow as I masked up where the roof sits so that I could apply finish to the inside of the cab as this makes it easier to do now rather than later. Once that had dried I glued the roof in place.

The second photo shows the back just resting in place that will be attached tomorrow.

 

[Dalboy]

Managed to get the bed glued down and make up some exhaust pipes the original plans called for two 1/4" pieces of dowel which were about 4 1/2" long and only held at the bottom in a hole and glued.
As this is a plaything I changed that design so that it had a silencer halfway up which meant they could be glued to the back of the cab as well.
The top of the exhaust is about 1/4" away from the cab back and just a little shorter than the roof.

 

[bourbon]

Nice Idea with the silencers, Makes a really strong joint there

 

[Dalboy]

Well besides the tractor and loco I have managed to complete the truck and even start to make a very basic quad bike which will be sent with the truck to the new owner.

 

[bourbon]

I like that quad bike, was that one of John's plans or freelance?

 

[Dalboy]

I like that quad bike, was that one of John's plans or freelance?

I don't think it was it started out as a motorbike and I made it into a quad bike.

 

[AES]

VERY nice Dalboy (as ever). =D>