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Blakbird's Hercules Hobby Stanchion Trailer Build 4 years 10 months ago #55649

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Hercules Hobby makes clones of various Tamiya 1/14 R/C products and based on the reviews I have seen, the quality is pretty good. While I don't normally like to support clone manufacturers, Tamiya doesn't actually make a stanchion trailer. This trailer uses the same 3 axle frame as the 56319 Reefer Trailer or the 56326 Container Trailer. The only difference is the addition of the stanchions. After playing Spintires Mudrunner (an off road logging video game) I found that I wanted a stanchion trailer to load with logs, and this was really the only option.

This is a very long 3-axle trailer which uses wide tires instead of dual tires. Nearly every part of the trailer is metal from the frame rails to the stanchions. As far as I can tell, everything is either directly copied from Tamiya or at least Tamiya compatible like the kingpin and the leg retraction system. Even the instructions are quite good. I've had no trouble with the quality at all. In fact, I originally loaded this trailer with very wet wood that weighed at least 50 pounds and neither the trailer nor the tractor had any problem with it. As it dried out, about half of that weight went away. I added an official set of Tamiya trailer lights later.

This is a really long box because this is a really long trailer. Once opened, you can see that the entire length of the box is used by the huge frame rails. There are a handful of plastic parts trees, but most of the model is aluminum parts and steel hardware. It is quite heavy.
For some reason, instructions that are printed in landscape orientation always seem odd to me. Other than that though, these Hercules Hobby instructions are of quality similar to Tamiya. This is a dual purpose manual also covering the flatbed trailer which is identical apart from the stanchions.
The aluminum bodied shocks are the same type you see on the tractor trucks. These are internally sprung with no damping, so they are really just for appearance. Two shocks are attached to each of the three rear frame cross members as shown.
Now we'll add some extra details to the frame rails. Up front is a nice solid metal plate joining the two rails which will also serve as a mount for the leg release mechanism. In the rear I've attached all the hangers and shackles for the leaf springs and radius arms of the suspension.

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Blakbird's Hercules Hobby Stanchion Trailer Build 4 years 10 months ago #55650

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The six leaf spring stacks each contain 3 leaves and must be bolted together before attaching to the axle housings. The are no differentials here, just independent axle shafts, left and right, allowing the tires to turn at different rates. The bushings you see are just being used as spacers until I install the wheels later. The trailer kit came with full ball bearings.
Time to install the axles and suspension to the frame. The center axle shares a leaf spring rocker with each of the other axles, meaning that if one one them goes up, the other one goes down. A set of radius arms on each axle keeps them centered and prevents wandering front to back.
The support legs work exactly like those on a Tamiya trailer. The legs are spring loaded to be retracted, but can lock down manually. A touch to the trigger driven by the tractor's 5th wheel will automatically retract the legs and allow the trailer to be driven away. Extension is manual. You can see the spring system inside one of the legs.
On the left you can see some of the parts of the mechanism including the kingpin, the link, and the levers. On the right we can see the completed mechanism with the cover removed to show the inner workings. A touch to the cam on the left pushes the rod. The rod slides another cam which pushes the two "claws" outward. Those push the triggers on the leg supports which release the ratchet, allowing the spring loaded legs to retract. Voila!

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Blakbird's Hercules Hobby Stanchion Trailer Build 4 years 10 months ago #55651

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Now I've enclosed the whole leg mechanism and installed the front guard which will keep logs (or other cargo) from sliding forward into the tractor under heavy braking. The guard and stanchions are all nice machined aluminum parts. The bottom toothed parts and the side rails are separate and are bolted together. If I have any complaints about the design of this model, it would be that there is only a single bolt holding each vertical rail to the bottom rail. This means there is nothing to react prying loads except the head of the bolt, therefore you don't want to put anything really heavy on the trailer. I've also installed the plastic fenders over each wheel.
Here I've started on the plastic rear bumper and the rubber mud flaps. On the right you see them installed on the trailer frame. I haven't decided whether or not I like the white, but that's what was called for in the instructions.
This front box would be a control panel on a real trailer, and maybe an attachment for the air brakes and lights. It can serve much the same function on the model. If the optional trailer lights are installed then the diamond plate cover must be removed to allow the wires to pass through.
Here's the rear tail light housing. It is provisioned for turn signals, brake lights, and reverse lights but the optional lighting system does not include reverse lights. There are no stickers included so nothing to use on the license plate. You can also see the tire chocks installed here. There is a mount for a spare tire in the same area, but no extra tires or wheels come with the model.

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Blakbird's Hercules Hobby Stanchion Trailer Build 4 years 10 months ago #55652

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The last detail to add are the nicely plated (but plastic) side guards which do a lot to fill out the otherwise narrow trailer frame.
The completed trailer is a lot heavier than it looks, very sturdy, and fills my whole table.
There wasn't to do here in the way of upgrades. The whole thing is already metal. I added the standard Tamiya trailer light set to integrate with the MFC systems on my various tractor trucks, and then installed the optional spare tires as well. This model didn't come with any stickers, but I was able to salvage some extra decals from other trailers to fill in some of the empty spots. I also added the optional spare tires at the same time I did so to the container trailer.

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Blakbird's Hercules Hobby Stanchion Trailer Build 4 years 10 months ago #55653

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I suppose a stanchion trailer could carry things other than logs, maybe pipes or rebar, but logs look the best. I harvested these "logs" from fallen branches in my back yard, trying to find things which had a reasonable diameter and were straight enough over the required length to fit. Even so, a couple of these at scale would be very large logs indeed. The chains are from a local hardware store. I've included pictures of the trailer behind a couple of different trucks. These huge logs would seem to be more appropriate to an American style longnose truck, but for some reason I still think the scale of the trailer looks better with the Scania. This trailer has a very long overhang in front of the kingpin. In fact, it couldn't be towed by the King Hauler without moving the kingpin forward into another hole because the front of the trailer hit the sleeper on the tractor. Once the kingpin is moved, the leg retraction system doesn't work any more. The Scania fits with the kingpin in the stock location.

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Blakbird's Hercules Hobby Stanchion Trailer Build 4 years 9 months ago #55656

Woohoo awesome. Tamiya did a similar wood trailer. Your pictures are fantastics.

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