This will be heavily based off using several WPL trucks for the axles/running gear, due to the width of the stock trucks and the tyre dimensions it literally adds itself perfectly to the TOPOL truck dimensions in 1:24 due to approx Tyre size 1.5metre and width around 3.5metre
Got a whole album of pictures as reference so far, front, back, both sides etc, according to Wikipedia the Nuclear missile itself is 2metres wide so can ish assume around 2.2 or so metre diameter of the missile tube itself, truck itself around 20metres long (rear "bumper" to front of cab) estimated 2-3 metres overhang on the front and rear due to the missile itself.
Now I guess for the good bits you all want? specs and pics so far of my creation though please note some of this is also going to be done by eye on what looks visually correct/good with a teeny bit of artistic license ie having amber beacons on the thing due to the size)
First 3 and rear 3 axles will all be steerable, intention being all but the middle two axles having power too.
Chassis is going to be made of 10x13x1.5mm Aluminium U profile, this is a bit deeper and wider than the stock chassis on the WPL trucks but offers strength and means in the internal gap of the U it is exactly 10mm so can shove brackets in.
85 or so CM long
Height erm.......Pass for now
Twin gearboxes, One powering front 3 axles, second powering the rear 3 axles with the middle 2 axles being unpowered and axles cut so they are not a locked diff to help the thing turn.
Two ESC
Two Lipo? one big one? Unsure yet
Amber beacons (not on the real one but......due to the size think it'd be a suitable item)
Lights unit (All the "white" LED's will be replaced with warm yellow tinted light)
Sound Unit
Smoke Unit
Possible features (depends on space/feasiability and how much it'd cost to do but mostly first two)
Truck lifts itself on hydraulics off the ground when about to launch
Missile tube uprights itself ready to fire (cone opens up too)
Suggest things if you think of something
Rough drawing of the thing in 1:100 scale
Rough idea for the wiring "Steer 1" and "Steer 2" are just the groups of axles, Smoke unit will probably be controlled on/off from the Controller rather than a perma on.
1:24ish scale drawing, green slip of paper is A5 for some sense of scale of this thing, the front overhangs alot so this is one area that will probably be out of scale and shortened so I can have a bit better ability to go up slopes (See next pic)
Tested and found that the steering axles fit and with enough clearance on the twin axle setup from the B16 and B36....oh this will make things easier, will need to work out the servo locations so they can still move the steering without too much issue
Placed the wheels roughly where they would be going just to get an idea of where things will be, Yellow box on the left is roughly end of chassis and cm or two to the right was the front.
And now onto today.....as I cannot progress with the chassis till I get alot of parts in (2 more B16's to sacrifice themselves)
Using the below side on picture of a TOPOL truck I converted my screen measurements to real size and then down to 1:24
Left numbers = Approx real size of the measurements, right = 1:24ish scale
And now the joys of plasticard, sharp hobby knives and plastic magic glue (god damn that glue is good)
The bracing purposefully does not go far down as my intention is that it will "sit" on a brace directly from chassis at around that height which will be probably/partly formed by using the 40x10mm L profile I also purchased which gives me literally perfect width from the chassis rails.
More work will be done Later and tomorrow, off to sort dinner now!
Update 24th December 10:45pm
Lotsa lil brackets........will be making a load more of them
Lots of lil slopey boxey things!
Total when laid alongside each other is 48CM.......Sounds a fair bit until realising the truck is around 85-90CM and I only got as far as the lil ladder/step bit between axles 2 and 3 (when counted from the front)
Update 27th 9:30pm
Got a nice little delivery of bits today (3 steering axles, some diff covers, sound unit and veroboard (Breadboard)
Worked out what way around the axles need to go for making wheels all spin the correct way, will need to get a longer drive shaft for between axles 2 and 3 (right to left, the axle by itself) but not sure on exact size yet as need to test a bit more, metal strip covering the wheels will be cut down to form the outriggers which the bodywork and other bits will end up secured to, was placed on it to get a sense of placement, size etc
Also got the DasMikro sound unit, not really much point posting a pic of it as its well.........just a small PCB.
The Veroboard/breadboard stuff........Intend to make my own powerbus, + and - coming in from 5v source (probably just a lil voltage regulator) and going out to a load of servo connectors and the signal going off to receiver so I dont run the risk of overloading the receiver from the amount of LED's, beacons and servo's running off it, end result wont be hugely pretty but will work nicely for my needs and gives me something to do.
