Mirror Models Diamond Wrecker...

[John Rixon]

Slow progress, nothing really fits, it the way I am accustomed to! Any location holes need drilling out, any recesses that components are meant to fit in are too small, necessitating radical trimming of said component, and I am genuinely concerned that, with this kind of sloppiness, I'm gonna really struggle to get all ten tires touching the ground! So I'm being really careful.










I'm hoping that once the chassis is done, it'll be coasting from there... But there's a lot to do yet, and some of the parts on the brake system are smaller than a gnat's knacker!

 

[tommy1drop]

Looking good John, I know these kits have a few problems, but this is one kit I wouldn't mind in my stash, so I'm looking forward to seeing more of your build fella

 

[Fenlander]

Mmmmm, wonder just how big a gnat's knacker is I do fancy one of these though. Great work John

 

[0ne48thtel]

Mmmmm, wonder just how big a gnat's knacker is I do fancy one of these though. Great work John

The kit or the gnats knacker Graham? I do hope it isn't the latter:D

 

[0ne48thtel]

Good progress even with all the problems John.

 

[geegad]

Doing a great job and how did you get on with that steering wheel bud

 

[John Rixon]

Looking good John, I know these kits have a few problems, but this is one kit I wouldn't mind in my stash, so I'm looking forward to seeing more of your build fella

Only time will tell if I have the drive to complete it! At the moment, I am determined, purely based on the fact that I want a model of this truck, I suspect that it will be a labour of love!

 

[John Rixon]

Doing a great job and how did you get on with that steering wheel bud

Haven't confronted it yet, although I ought to very soon and put it in the bits box, mainly as it would easily get destroyed whilst still on the sprue...

 

[John Rixon]

Mmmmm, wonder just how big a gnat's knacker is I do fancy one of these though. Great work John

It's pretty small! I'm sure you'd find it ok, looking at your Hanomag build, which, if it was anything like mine, needed a fair bit of cleaning up. I just hope and pray that the body panels fir together nicely, as this will be vital to it looking any good.

 

[John Rixon]

Getting more little bits done, really tricky carving job on the two components below, you can see the substantial buttressing moulded into the part, this has to be pared off with a knife, basically planing the surface to be flat!






Am now fixing the suspension and axles to the chassis, and getting very concerned about the geometry of it all. The twin axles at the rear attach to the two leaf suspension units by a vague pin/hole method, I say vague, as these things are poorly moulded, and don't give me much confidence about their accuracy.






The leaf suspension,above fits to the chassis in a way that doesn't ensure their angle (!) and they need to be exact in all three axes , which was really tricky, given that they attach at one very small point. So I had to do them one at a time, constantly checking them for "creep" and eyeing them up for around half an hour before I was happy that the glue had cured. If all 10 wheels make contact with the ground, when they are attached, I'll be amazed, and not a little chuffed.


This kit is certainly making me think constantly about solving each sub-assembly stage, but the axles really should have had two pins each, to give some semblance of chance to get them all identical - oh well, the proof of the pudding, etc.










I feel I have made fair progress so far, I could have completed a Tamiya Deuce and a Half in the time its taken me to get to this stage, but my rewards will be an unusual model - well, that's what I'm telling myself, anyway.

 

[Fenlander]

This is what they call modelling John. You will have an enormous sense of satisfaction from building this.