TOPIC:

More progress - rounded some more edges & but a basic floor in.

Not sure what to do about the top of the nose - some models have the radiator & pipework completely exposed, most have a very basic cover, only the French Fire & Rescue model (the 1:48 diecast model I have) has the protective box around it.

It's sort of important to the order of doing things as it's either bodywork, or a detail

 






Hinges for the roof flaps have arrived, it wasn't much more expensive to get 25 pairs than 2 ...




Also bought another FS-CT6B radio set - this one was sold as new and "only been out of the box for photographs" but the trim mechanism on the left-right axis on the right stick (steering on most vehicles) was irreparably broken & the battery cover laughably loose. Using it for the Hagglund "fixes" the first problem & a bit of tape will fix the second - I just CBA to send it back  

Lookin' good 

Having a rethink on the Wild Willy driver … he’s a bit undersize TBH, and driver = some requirement for an interior, even a partial one = more weight <> low pressure ground vehicle.I’m now thinking smoked or silvered windows with no view inside. So no Tamiya parts whatsoever. Well, possibly some paint on the details.

I've purchased four 48”/1.3m ARNO straps, apparently these are OE on the Bv206 (not sure where). I’m hoping to use these to hold the completed beast down on whatever transport “solution” I come up with






I’ve made some side rails to fill in the gap underneath cabs, reinforce the floors & give some more options for holding the body to the chassis, these needed to be held on by more than the 1mm thick edges so I had to wait for some Evergreen styrene 1/4" L- forms - those are pretty poor value at only two strips per pack. 




I've also fitted the roof cutouts back on each cab, hinged at one end. having them meet in the middle like that was a deliberate choice, but I'm not sure it was the right one ...

Basic structure of the fuel tanks:

 

Rounded the corners on the fuel tanks, and started on detail work:




I would have got further with that, but changed my mind on the interior back again - if performance was the goal, I should have stuck with one chassis & kept the small Lexan body rather than deviating off in to large styrene bodies ...

Very recently I bought a Wild Willy 2 (M151 Mutt) main body part to aid with arm alignment. I'm thinking I'll have to remove parts of it to take it down to a bare jig, as it "seemed a shame" not to _use_ the previous one, and turned it into an M38 & build a chassis for it...




Started on 6 lightweight seats:




Completed the tops with round pipe cut into quarters, the seat are arranged something like this in the front cab:




The cab floor is where it needs to be to make a box and line up with the chassis, but on 1:1 versions it would be stepped, with the portion the seats a bolted to much much higher.

To make up for that, the seat frame needs to be 3cm taller than I'd like. I need to make another 11 sides and 5 bases, and probably some triangulation/boxing, at least on the driver seat: 

Such a lot of work Jonny but it looks brilliant. You have a lot of patience, certainly more than I have and the attention to detail is super.
This is something I really enjoy seeing done as I am planning to get into too at some point.

I want to build some hotrods / ratrods from scratch and maybe a crawler of some type. Ambitious on my behalf but with time I think I could do it.

Lee

Made all the seat parts needed:




Baby high chairs, but they need to be that high (or put another floor in):






Right side double seat needed sections removing to clear the snow blade servo arm:

Jonny you are a machine ! 

Awesome!

Back to the rear of cab one - added side bumpers, mudflaps, hydraulic connector ports, rear work light, air filter & exhaust, fuel line stubs (not going to fit full lines at this point), a few detail bits (all in styrene), and filler neck protectors (in brass).