TOPIC:

Index

Page one: drawings, starting on the chassis,winch motor, front axles, "articulation";
page two: Spintires screenshots, winchdrum design & turning, jerrycans;
page three: paint selection, winch parts;
page four: winch issues, beacon turning, more chassis parts, spars, sound unit;
page five: chassis deck, starting on body;
page six: body details, interior
page seven: speed discs, more body details
page eight: more body details, load area (incl. sides & brass frames)
page 9: tailgate, canvas top
page 10: wiring, winch test, resin
page 11: drive battery relocation, wiring complete. Dismantling, primer.
Page 12: paint, diff locking, axles & chassis reassembly, detail painting & weathering
Page 13: reassembly, wiring, weighing
Page 14: test drive, outdoor & lighting pics





I've been wanting to build a 8x8 MA3 543A out of two Clod Busters for some time, but repurpusing parts from my Lunchbox and Midnight Pumpkin to build an 8x4 of it's smaller brother - the Maz 535A - is a much cheaper plan B.

First steps (as usual) was to buy a small scale version, photograph it, draw up a plan from that, then print it out & do a bit more thinking.

The cab & engine housing need to be stretched a little vertically, and according to my calculations it's 100mm too short as a whole - but I kind of like the proportions as they are, especially with the compromise of the smaller lunchkin wheels.

First step will be to build a spine for the chassis, dimensions will be on the close order of 755mm long, 82mm wide, 23 mm deep with a lazy Z-bend at the front to suit the drop to the front bumper.

AFAIK suspension on the 1:1 version is double wishbone all round, but on my version it will be minimal, the front axles will be simple beams with maybe some sort of central pivoting, rear axles will be pivoted at the front a la Pajero wheelie/Grasshopper, have locked diffs, and the ability to droop to cope better on uneven ground. The two Sport Tuned motors will be swapped out later for something a bit more tame.

Plans are for at least one Willy driver figure to be in the cab. I'm not sure what I want for the payload yet, having done canvas on a couple of builds recently I might just leave the back open with side pins/mesh. And maybe a fake load to hide a lead acid battery or two for extra weight for traction. The engine cover area does have scope for a bigger than average speaker so an engine sound module is very likely, as are basic running lights, roof mounted spotlight and amber beacons. I'm also thinking there might be room for some fairly serious winchitude.

Nice project! I'm hereby following

Another killer project. Woohoo
Jonny is back yeahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

Starting on the chassis, first with brackets (complete with 1480 bearings) to support the rear axles ...




Chassis spine (more to do underneath and on top) with brackets & rear axles fitted - may go back to some sort of springing but ATM the CVAs are just stopping the axles from swinging out of control ...




Starting on one of the front axles - still needs a hoop on top to permit rudimentary suspenion ... and a 2nd axle building...

Minor update, in hindsight I made the front axle articulation hoops more fussy than they needed to be ... I've done the CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) for the chassis brackets & will do some work on them, final sizing/fitting will be when the thrust bearings arrive

In other news the Popcorn machine motor arrived, there's no doubt that there's some torque there, but at 7.2v and even 14.4v the rpms are really too low to be useable - so my running it from a 6V lead Acid battery is right out the window. I had hoped the 550 motor might have a removeable pinion but it looks not, so an 8A convertor board is on it's way. That means I'll be able to run it at the full 24v, at which the specs claim it will be able to _lift_ 14kg ... I just need to turn a spool to wind the winch cable on to... And get some cable (1.5mm Bowden cable), and fittings, etc...

There was a nasty clacking from the end float on the ouput shaft, popping the gearbox open showed there was already a shim there, but clearly one that is just thrown in all the units rather than there to make a proper effort to get the end float to an acceptable level ... raiding the pot of shim stock (which is older than me) for a bit of 4 thou " brass soaked up most of the issue (picture shows my DIY shim before I'd done proper filing & flattening), but there's still a bit of a clack if you really pull on it. Screws were awful & have been replaced already.

Bearings didn't arrive so I turned up some temporary styrene spacers so I could carry on with the top fittings for the front axles:





Bits for the front suspension:




Got lazy here & used the final 2.5mm drill bit rather than starting with a tiny pilot ... of course it wandered, so i had to make a repair ....




Letting a fitting into the chassis for the winch:




....

Front axles & winch motor/gearbox fitted:

That is a nice hard work Jonny.

Chassis so far ... I know 2 of the tyres are on backwards, but it's either that or have 2 yellow, 2 chrome ATM. Next task is probably turning up the winch drum so I can work out how much it compromises the boxing in under the chassis. Axle articulation isn't great, but TBF it is based on Lunchkins. It looks like I'll be able to go back to a sprung rear & still have a full droop setup, it's getting rather heavy already.