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Forums - Site / Build Logs

Messages in this Build Logs forum are automatically posted when new Build Logs or Chapters are added. Other modellers can then comment on them. Refer to the Build Logs section for more information.
Topics  81
Messages  3066
 Subject:  [Chapter] The Body and Wheels – Part 2List thread.  
  
 Date:  Nov 5, 2007
 From:  James Wechsler 
The Body and Wheels – Part 2

Sorry, same photo as last chapter. I’d originally planned on this being one chapter but there’s a word limit on each blog chapter so I had to break it in two.

Well now that I’d gotten the body and chassis together, I started to think that I should probably attach the wheels. I’d originally planned to actually wait until the end since it would make painting and weathering much easier. But after the problems in the last chapter I was suspicious that they wouldn’t line up right.

Good call on my part.

After I glued the wheels to the axles, not one was properly lined up. The two on the rear were not too bad but there were canted, rotated (i.e. not facing straight forward) and displaced (i.e. their front to back position in the wheel wells was not centered). Fortunately, a little time with the hair dryer was enough to sort them out.

The real problems came with the front wheels. Like the rear ones, they were canted, and displaced. The worst was the front left wheel which was displaced forward a good 3mm! Also of note is that the built up photos provided by Accurate Armour show the front wheels turned (i.e. the vehicle is making a turn) but there is no provision for doing this in the kit.

But since I was going to need to serious hair dryer time anyway, I figured I’d just bend the front wheel mounts at the axle to turn the wheels. To be honest, I needed to do this to hide the positioning problems. The displacement problem on the front left wheel was really critical. To fix it, I ended up massively heating the whole front axle, link arms, and chassis. I then pulled the wheel back to the correct place. It took more attempts than I can remember over about an hour. I think I finally got it but in the process all of the mounts, steering link arms, and the front strike plate got massively warped. After the whole thing cooled down, I went back and straightened them as best as possible but it’s far from perfect. Fortunately these are all on the underside and can’t be seen.

Holy smokes what a nightmare! For perspective, I’m not new at this. I’ve built many all resin kit and even scratch built an MBT-70 tank from sheet and tube styrene. But this was nuts. I think that only my stubbornness and desire to complete this blog got me through this step.

Looking back on these steps, I think there’s actually a much easier way to handle all of this. I would recommend that you first build the body parts (bed, cab, fenders and radiator) as I described in the last chapter. Then, place the frame (without any other parts on it) on the body parts (but don’t glue it) and use the hair dryer to fix any warping. With the frame still in place, mount the front and rear axles as in the first two steps, ensuring the proper positioning front to back.

Had I known to do this, I think I’d be a lot happier right now.
 
Thread Listing 
  [BLOG] SAS Land Rover 110 DPV - James Wechsler - Sep 26, 2007
. . . [Chapter] A Simple Build? - James Wechsler - Sep 26, 2007
. . . . . . Re: [Chapter] A Simple Build? - Chris Oldfield - Sep 26, 2007
. . . . . . Re: [Chapter] A Simple Build? - Michael Powers - Sep 26, 2007
. . . . . . . . . Reference Pictures - James Wechsler - Sep 26, 2007
. . . . . . . . . Zip file - Chris "Panzer" Mrosko - Sep 26, 2007
. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Zip file - Bruce Oomen - Sep 26, 2007
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Zip file - Chris "Panzer" Mrosko - Sep 26, 2007
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Zip file - Michael Powers - Sep 26, 2007
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Let's see - James Wechsler - Sep 27, 2007
. . . Re: [BLOG] SAS Land Rover 110 DPV - Mike Powers - Sep 27, 2007
. . . [Chapter] Maybe Not - James Wechsler - Sep 29, 2007
. . . [Chapter] Getting Started – Rear Suspension - James Wechsler - Oct 8, 2007
. . . . . . coil springs [IMG] - spencer norcross - Oct 9, 2007
. . . . . . . . . Re: coil springs - James Wechsler - Oct 9, 2007
. . . [Chapter] The Front Suspension - James Wechsler - Oct 13, 2007
. . . [Chapter] The Engine, Drive Train , and Exhaust - James Wechsler - Oct 15, 2007
. . . . . . Radiator Mounts - Hans Haase - Oct 15, 2007
. . . . . . About the Radiator - Michael Powers - Oct 15, 2007
. . . . . . . . . Re: About the Radiator - spencer norcross - Oct 16, 2007
. . . . . . . . . . . . Hilarious! - Jim Wechsler - Oct 16, 2007
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Looking good so far - Chris "Panzer" Mrosko - Oct 26, 2007
. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: About the Radiator - Chris Oldfield - Oct 27, 2007
. . . [Chapter] The Body and Wheels – Part 1 - James Wechsler - Oct 31, 2007
. . . . . . About the hood - Michael Powers - Nov 1, 2007
. . . . . . . . . I can attest to that! - Hans Haase - Nov 3, 2007
. . . [Chapter] The Body and Wheels – Part 2 - James Wechsler - Nov 5, 2007
. . . . . . build/rebuild woes - spencer norcross - Nov 6, 2007
. . . [Chapter] Roll Cage and Weapon Mount - James Wechsler - Nov 12, 2007
. . . [Chapter] Front End Details - James Wechsler - Nov 18, 2007
. . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Front End Details - Michael Powers - Nov 18, 2007
. . . . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Front End Details - James Wechsler - Nov 19, 2007
. . . [Chapter] Cab Details - James Wechsler - Nov 23, 2007
. . . [Chapter] The Driver - James Wechsler - Nov 26, 2007
. . . [Chapter] Truck Bed Details - James Wechsler - Nov 29, 2007
. . . [Chapter] Roll Cage and Weapon Mount Details - James Wechsler - Dec 5, 2007
. . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Roll Cage and Weapon Mount Details - Glenn Bartolotti - Dec 5, 2007
. . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Roll Cage and Weapon Mount Details - Michael Powers - Dec 5, 2007
. . . . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Roll Cage and Weapon Mount Details - Jim Wechsler - Dec 6, 2007
. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Roll Cage and Weapon Mount Details - Brian O'Donoghue - Dec 8, 2007
. . . [Chapter] Commander and Machine Gun - James Wechsler - Dec 17, 2007
. . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Commander and Machine Gun - Michael Powers - Dec 18, 2007
. . . . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Commander and Machine Gun - John Desrosiers - Dec 24, 2007
. . . [Chapter] Gunner and Grenade Launcher - James Wechsler - Dec 23, 2007
. . . [Chapter] Construction Complete – Perspective - James Wechsler - Dec 25, 2007
. . . [Chapter] Basic Painting - James Wechsler - Dec 27, 2007
. . . [Chapter] Camouflage - James Wechsler - Jan 1, 2008
. . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Camouflage - John Steinman - Jan 3, 2008
. . . . . . Re: Excellent Wheel overspray... - Michael Powers - Jan 4, 2008
. . . . . . . . . Re: Excellent Wheel overspray... Maybe not - James Wechsler - Jan 4, 2008
. . . [Chapter] Detail Painting – Step 1 - James Wechsler - Jan 6, 2008
. . . [Chapter] Decals and Dash Board - James Wechsler - Jan 13, 2008
. . . [Chapter] Drybrushing - James Wechsler - Jan 19, 2008
. . . [Chapter] Wash - James Wechsler - Jan 19, 2008
. . . [Chapter] Figures - James Wechsler - Feb 2, 2008
. . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Figures - Michael Powers - Feb 3, 2008
. . . [Chapter] Putting it all together - James Wechsler - Feb 2, 2008
. . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Putting it all together - John Yarosh - Feb 2, 2008
. . . . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Putting it all together - James Wechsler - Feb 4, 2008
. . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Putting it all together - Chris Oldfield - Feb 3, 2008
. . . . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Putting it all together - James Wechsler - Feb 4, 2008
. . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Putting it all together - Steve Camley - Feb 3, 2008
. . . . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] Putting it all together - James Wechsler - Feb 4, 2008
. . . . . . Still more chapters - Paul A. Owen - Feb 3, 2008
. . . [Chapter] The Groundwork - James Wechsler - Feb 9, 2008
. . . . . . Re: [Chapter] The Groundwork - Michael Powers - Feb 10, 2008
. . . . . . Re: [Chapter] The Groundwork - Jason Bobrowich - Feb 10, 2008
. . . . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] The Groundwork - James Wechsler - Feb 11, 2008
. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: [Chapter] The Groundwork - Walt Babst - Mar 13, 2008
. . . . . . Re: [Chapter] The Groundwork - spencer norcross - Feb 13, 2008
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