M8E2 Cargo Tractor

[wibblywobbly]

Decided to do something a little different with this one, and built a storage crate to go on the rear instead of a generator.

Although the slats might look like they have been made from styrene strips, I actually cut everything from a sheet of styrene, then gave them a woodgrain effect by scratching them with a razor saw. Took a while, but it works. They converniently came out brown for some reason best known to the manufacturers of energy efficient lightbulbs, in reality nothing is painted.

The only places that I have used pre-made shapes are the tubes on the rear loading deck and some fine edging for the doors, and the cab side storage bin doors.

Still lots to do, I still haven't mounted the gearboxes permanently.

[wibblywobbly]

Last pic for today, my eyes are going funny!

[SovereignZuul]

my eyes are going funny!

I know dat feel.

The wood grain looks great and progress is flowing though!

[wibblywobbly]

I had to stop cutting the slats, my grandmother wanted her false teeth back so that she could eat her pie and custard.

[jagman62]

hi, fantastic build,could you tell me what thickness of styrene you used to make the base of the upper hull & how did you attach it to lower.

[wibblywobbly]

Thanks, though cutting all of the slats is becoming a bit of a chore now.

I used 2mm and 3mm for virtually everything. The 3mm is a pain to cut with a styrene cutter, but it makes the structure very solid.

The lifting crate at the rear is 1.5mm, but it flexes a bit too much for my liking, so I will have to reinforce this at some point.

Still plenty to do, including more of those slats.

If you want to know how I have everything looking like it is assembled, I use something called JLB Grip n Fix. This is a small pot of almost solid tacky gel, it's excellent when building something as it allows you to temporarily assemble parts to check alignment etc, without taking that irreversible step of using the dreaded super glue. It peels straight off with no residue, but stays sticky forever.

There are vertical panels front and rear, these are a snug fit inside the upper hull. I will use screws to keep everything together when it is all complete.

RobG

[wibblywobbly]

Almost there with the slats from hell, pretty much got them accurately cut so that they all line up all over to within a fraction of a mm, which is always something that concerns me.

Just one small section left to do.

Will have to pay another visito the modelling shop and buy some C section rods, the uprights on the slats are reinforced by steel on the real thing, so it makes it a bit more authentic if I add them.

[Merlin707]

Great looking build thus far, look forward to seeing the finished article.

[tomhugill]

Absolutely fantastic! Did you have to score the planks or did they come like that?

[971wright]

Hi Rob Looks better than the first one ,Must be the lay off giving you a buzz.


regards pete