1:24ish TOPOL-M Launcher truck (16x16)
1:24ish TOPOL-M Launcher truck (16x16)
So.......I've had this slightly crazy idea for a few weeks of making a TOPOL-M launcher truck (16x16) approx 20metres long for the truck itself.
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.
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.
Last edited by Mishka on Thu Dec 27, 2018 9:52 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Slightly crazy Londoner, fondness for motorbikes (driving them), Tanks (admiring them) and Trucks (wanting to own them)
Re: 1:24ish TOPOL-M Launcher truck (16x16)
First update of 2019!
4th January
So.......metal gearbox/transfer case/motor mount arrived today, nothing special really its just the standard WPL Metal one with the 370 motor.
The shaft will be cut down so the drive shaft is as shallow as possible angle, will be making my own drive shaft but utilising standard 3x3mm universal joints so it will just mount onto the stock metal gears.
Toyed with a few locations for the thing but settled on having it "infront" of the two non steering axles, the second one will be mounted on the other side, this does mean the truck is "only" going to have 12 wheels powered but means I dont have weight hanging over the front or rear of the truck.
Due to the geabox turning up it has allowed me to place items where they will end up being mounted (give or take a few mm), Servo's are just held in by some clear tape to get an idea of placement of them and clearances due to the suspension travel, not shown are ESC's, receiver, sound unit, smoke unit nor the lighting bits although majority of the lighting will feed off the vero board in the centre as my powerbus (may end up with 2 of them)
Will need to buy some servo wire and make extensions or custom length cables straight from the servo\lights etc just due to the length of this thing
Update 9th January
So.....I got my hands on the drill today and started to mount things to the chassis rails (only doing one side atm so I can then mirror things onto the other)
Currently using the stock WPL screws, will be replacing them with longer ones as I intend to use washers on things.
First of the custom length drive shafts cut to length and placed roughly into position, need to make a flat spot on one side so the grub screw can grip properly though it grips enough at the moment for hand turning.
4th January
So.......metal gearbox/transfer case/motor mount arrived today, nothing special really its just the standard WPL Metal one with the 370 motor.
The shaft will be cut down so the drive shaft is as shallow as possible angle, will be making my own drive shaft but utilising standard 3x3mm universal joints so it will just mount onto the stock metal gears.
Toyed with a few locations for the thing but settled on having it "infront" of the two non steering axles, the second one will be mounted on the other side, this does mean the truck is "only" going to have 12 wheels powered but means I dont have weight hanging over the front or rear of the truck.
Due to the geabox turning up it has allowed me to place items where they will end up being mounted (give or take a few mm), Servo's are just held in by some clear tape to get an idea of placement of them and clearances due to the suspension travel, not shown are ESC's, receiver, sound unit, smoke unit nor the lighting bits although majority of the lighting will feed off the vero board in the centre as my powerbus (may end up with 2 of them)
Will need to buy some servo wire and make extensions or custom length cables straight from the servo\lights etc just due to the length of this thing
Update 9th January
So.....I got my hands on the drill today and started to mount things to the chassis rails (only doing one side atm so I can then mirror things onto the other)
Currently using the stock WPL screws, will be replacing them with longer ones as I intend to use washers on things.
First of the custom length drive shafts cut to length and placed roughly into position, need to make a flat spot on one side so the grub screw can grip properly though it grips enough at the moment for hand turning.
Last edited by Mishka on Thu Jan 10, 2019 10:12 am, edited 3 times in total.
Slightly crazy Londoner, fondness for motorbikes (driving them), Tanks (admiring them) and Trucks (wanting to own them)
Re: 1:24ish TOPOL-M Launcher truck (16x16)
Reserved for future updates
Slightly crazy Londoner, fondness for motorbikes (driving them), Tanks (admiring them) and Trucks (wanting to own them)
- c.rainford73
- Major
- Posts: 6104
- Joined: Thu Aug 25, 2016 7:34 pm
- Location: Connecticut USA
Re: 1:24ish TOPOL-M Launcher truck (16x16)
This is quite a challenging build you have decided on, but absolutely fantastic
It's amazing what can be done with these trucks. I will be following with great interest
It's amazing what can be done with these trucks. I will be following with great interest
Tanks alot....
- Will01Capri
- 2nd Lieutenant
- Posts: 2704
- Joined: Tue Jul 18, 2017 5:34 pm
- Location: South Scotland
Re: 1:24ish TOPOL-M Launcher truck (16x16)
Excellent. Go for it
Waiting patiently for progress updates
Waiting patiently for progress updates
HL camo E' Tiger
HL L' Tiger
M26 Pershing WW2 project
Tam K'Tiger project
HL Walker Bulldog project?
HL Panzer IV Munitionsschlepper für Karl-Gerät
HL Sherman project?
1/24 Leopard 2 Custom mod
2 many trucks to list!
HL L' Tiger
M26 Pershing WW2 project
Tam K'Tiger project
HL Walker Bulldog project?
HL Panzer IV Munitionsschlepper für Karl-Gerät
HL Sherman project?
1/24 Leopard 2 Custom mod
2 many trucks to list!
Re: 1:24ish TOPOL-M Launcher truck (16x16)
Cool, interesting project.
There is not a lot of space between the axles to install the planned 2 gearbox with drive shafts to the road wheel sets. You might want to finalize the rolling chassis before the plasticard bodywork so that you have a working base design to build on.
Regards, Louis
There is not a lot of space between the axles to install the planned 2 gearbox with drive shafts to the road wheel sets. You might want to finalize the rolling chassis before the plasticard bodywork so that you have a working base design to build on.
Regards, Louis
Re: 1:24ish TOPOL-M Launcher truck (16x16)
The bodywork does not go "deeper" into the truck than the chassis rails and Yea will be a bit tight for the gearboxes due to the drive shafts but I have a few idea's for them, waiting for the metal one to turn up so I can get measurements, angles etc, chances are they will sit just ontop of the chassis and have an extended drive shaft going down at as shallow angle as possible even if it is a "long" run though they might be not directly in the central line of the chassis but offset near each other.lmcq11 wrote:Cool, interesting project.
There is not a lot of space between the axles to install the planned 2 gearbox with drive shafts to the road wheel sets. You might want to finalize the rolling chassis before the plasticard bodywork so that you have a working base design to build on.
Regards, Louis
Slightly crazy Londoner, fondness for motorbikes (driving them), Tanks (admiring them) and Trucks (wanting to own them)
Re: 1:24ish TOPOL-M Launcher truck (16x16)
Small update to the first post as I got the additional steering axles/diff covers today, Also got the DaskMikro sound unit and some veroboard.
Intention of the veroboard is to make my own powerbus for controlling things that can get power straight from battery/voltage regulator so I dont risk melting the receiver, wont have anything hugely high draw but alot of small things so dont want to risk it, would be vaguely the below image, wont be pretty but should work nicely and allow me to add or remove items as required from each channel signal rather than hard wiring in everything.
Intention of the veroboard is to make my own powerbus for controlling things that can get power straight from battery/voltage regulator so I dont risk melting the receiver, wont have anything hugely high draw but alot of small things so dont want to risk it, would be vaguely the below image, wont be pretty but should work nicely and allow me to add or remove items as required from each channel signal rather than hard wiring in everything.
Slightly crazy Londoner, fondness for motorbikes (driving them), Tanks (admiring them) and Trucks (wanting to own them)
Re: 1:24ish TOPOL-M Launcher truck (16x16)
Updated the second post of this with a nice sized update of what i've been upto today due to the gearbox/transfer case/motor mount.......whatever you want to call it turning up.
Link to Second post for very lazy people
Should hopefully be soon actually mounting bits to the chassis and getting a chassis at least moving (although maybe not steering) due to needing to make the servo brackets, steering linkages (once the bits turn up).
Will be ordering the second gearbox soon though its not required to get a running chassis it just will help alot.
I have also been learning some 3D Modelling as I was thinking of potentially having some of the body 3D printed rather than plasticard and then using plasticard to detail the heck out of it.
Link to Second post for very lazy people
Should hopefully be soon actually mounting bits to the chassis and getting a chassis at least moving (although maybe not steering) due to needing to make the servo brackets, steering linkages (once the bits turn up).
Will be ordering the second gearbox soon though its not required to get a running chassis it just will help alot.
I have also been learning some 3D Modelling as I was thinking of potentially having some of the body 3D printed rather than plasticard and then using plasticard to detail the heck out of it.
Slightly crazy Londoner, fondness for motorbikes (driving them), Tanks (admiring them) and Trucks (wanting to own them)
Re: 1:24ish TOPOL-M Launcher truck (16x16)
Nice chunk of work done today due to having the desk vice arrive, second post updated as I have been mounting stuff to the chassis.
Link to Second post for very lazy people
Nice lil stanley one.
Link to Second post for very lazy people
Nice lil stanley one.
Slightly crazy Londoner, fondness for motorbikes (driving them), Tanks (admiring them) and Trucks (wanting to own them)