DUKW Scratch Builds 1/16 & 1/9.25

[Ecam]

Here is what three long days (8am to 11pm) looks like on the big duck. By the way I think I can say with great confidence, this will be the last DUKW I ever want to do!

That is just a piece of card standing in for my prop it has a 2.6" diameter (66mm).





On this one the entire nose will be removable. The Tiger below is resting on it.



And a Tamiya Tiger 1 on top to give some scale.

[Sub]

Hi,
Nice work so far on the build, regarding the prop you may wish to consider Simon at protean design for a scale prop when the time comes, he designs and makes cast props that are superb in every detail and one of his props will give you a huge performance and efficiency over a more lesser alternative, he has the correct WW2 patterns and designs.
Just a thought.
Regards and we'll done.
Sub.

[Ecam]

Cool. I have been toying with trying to make one, be he sounds like a much better alternative.

[Sub]

Hi,
Yeah, his props are cast, polished and balanced and are truly works of art, I have known people to buy them just for display on a stand...strange but true, he will also design one if he does not have one someone requires, I use all his props for my boats including 3 inch dia scale Submarine props, glad it's of use.
Regards.
Sub.

[Ecam]

Well I'm sure he'd have one that I could use. 2.6 was the max clearance I was working toward while building the propeller well. 2.4 (60mm) was the scale size for the propeller. And I would love to turn a large prop slow rather than a high speed small one.

[Ecam]

Here's a picture of where to put an oversized model while room is needed to build something else on the bench. Is the duck large or is the lathe too small....

I had some epoxy in the nose curing and it needed to be at this funny angle.

[Ecam]

Progress pictures

The propeller brace has no thrust ability. Like the real ducks my thrust and packing tube are in the pass through on the hull.





Rudder has its own servo mounted next to it.



Gobs of room this time around. Pretty sure if I did this one first I may not attempted to fit all those parts in the 16th duck. My guess is I wouldn't have attempted to make it swim...



I am a Ford man, but here is the start to the GMC 270 engine...



For the sharp eyed, the fan blades are backwards. The DUKWs drew air in between the cab and cargo decks. Air flowed under the cab and past the engine. The fan pushed the air forward through the radiator where it was ducted to the rear of the cargo deck for heat. Tarping was used to keep the heat in the cargo compartment and cab. If heat wasn't needed, the hot air was ducted to the vents on the sides of the cab.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

The fan seems to have a real miniature belt running to its pulley. Is the fan going to run, too, for show?

[Ecam]

They do turn, but no, just a static display. I am working on a functional winch this time around and perhaps a bilge pump system. Pulleys, generator and oil filter cannister were all turned on the lathe (still learning to use the thing). The block and head are one end of a cut out HL battery box. The rest is laminated .060 styrene with some whittling. The fan is .020 aluminum and a bit of sniping here and there.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

You mentioned "a functional winch." That sure caught my attention. Bravo! Since the cast winch housing Asiatam provides seems to have been designed at least to allow space for a small pulley and even a drive shaft from a servo, I had hoped for some way to rig up such a drive. But despite the size of the FAMO in 1/16, space is relatively tight, as there is no big hull for goodies, just open an frame. Then it occurred to me to simply have a "cable" run through the housing from a pulley on a servo toward the front of the FAMO, a kind of "smoke and mirrors" winch. That may be possible, but I am remarkably inexperienced with scratch-building. So I will be watching as you work up a winch for your "Duck."