1/35 Tractor with crane and cargo

[frank2056]

I have over 20 shoebox sized plastic containers filled with parts from old builds. I recently finished three builds that due to their whiffy nature, generated sprues of unused parts and I was running out of room to store the leftovers. Two of build remains had enough parts left over to make a new kit, each.

My BTR-25 Mara left me with tracks and complete running gear, plus many other tank bits. I toyed with the idea of printing a lower hull to hold the running gear. I wanted something around the length of an M113, but was drawing a blank on what to do with the rest of the vehicle.

I saw Zenrat's Northrop Delta. Vic Air. Martha Island 1977 and Fred's reimagining of the Aoshima JGSDF Material carrier vehicle gave me the inspiration I needed.

My first decision was that this build would not require any new purchases - everything will have to come out of my spares box or 3D printer. The lower hull is printed in ABS and smoothed some of the print lines with Acetone. Since it's not going to be very visible, I didn't care too much about the print lines or the build plate pattern. It took a couple of prints to get the right spacing, but it looks OK:



Panda did a great job with the tracks for this kit. There are three parts to each link but they click together and only the pads need to be glued. It's a tedious process, but the tracks work well and are very strong. I may remove some or all of the small track guide wheels:



While this won't be a version of the JGSDF Material carrier, it's definitely a close cousin. I did a quick draft print of the cabins and engine box in ABS to see how everything fit. The main deck is also 3D printed in ABS, with a sheet of styrene glued on one side. The crane is from the Italeri M977 HEMTT:







I clearly have to move the crane up and back a bit. Once I finish the CAD changes, I'll start the resin printing.

[Old Wombat]

Nice start, Frank! Looking good! 

[Rick Lowe]

 

[zenrat]

This'll be good.

Not often I influence people in a positive way...

[Rick Lowe]

This'll be good.

Not often I influence people in a positive way...

A change is as good as a rest, they say... 

[frank2056]

This'll be good.

Not often I influence people in a positive way...

There's always a first time!

I'm ready for the resin printer. Ignore the lower hull and cargo deck, they're done. I added two equipment lockers, one smaller than the other to make room for the fuel filler:



Not really visible on these renders, but the crew doors have a single diamond/pyramid pattern on the doors; I think they're stamped in to strengthen them:



I'm going to add a PE mesh behind the radiator support:



This is the interior of one of the crew cabins (they're both identical). I'll add a joystick and controls for the crane to one of the cabins and add instrument panels from a previous build:

[NARSES2]

Some of this work just leaves me   

Terrific   

[Rick Lowe]

Some of this work just leaves me   

Terrific   

Agree. 

[frank2056]

Most of the parts are currently in the 3D printer - It's too late to don the PPE required to wash and cure the resin pieces:



The green color is from a yellow tape I put over the white LED illuminating the chamber - I don't think there's much UV coming out of the LED, but the clear tape will block any UV present. This printer's camera does a pretty mediocre job of imaging the build plate.

While the resin bits were printing, I printed the framework for the cargo area box in ABS on my filament printer, then glued some styrene sheet for the walls. Unlike the  Aoshima JGSDF Material carrier, the cargo area doesn't tilt up and only the tailgate will open:

[frank2056]

I somehow managed to print two right handed cabs and I knocked off the side mirrors, so I printed everything again. Here are most of the parts where they'll eventually end up:



The vents at the back of the engine compartment didn't print properly on either copy, so I removed them. They've been replaced by a  Gundam model vent part (not in the pics)



The cross bars on the radiator cover (not pictured) didn't print properly (they were far too thin) so they were replaced by styrene rod. The crane operator's seat is facing forward:



The two seats. The driver's seat shown has the pedal linkage going to the left; I've replaced it with one going right:



The original operator's seat had the controls at the level of the seat. I cut off the arm and glued it to a piece if styrene sprue, just to make it more accessible. The crane operator could move the controls in, out, up or down to get it out of the way:



Here's Nigel modeling the seat:

[Rick Lowe]

 

[NARSES2]

Every time I look at this 3D printed stuff my "gob is truely smacked"   

[Rick Lowe]

Every time I look at this 3D printed stuff my "gob is truely smacked"   

Yea, right?

I think that the design skills are the most impressive part, but the printing technology is up there, too. 

[NARSES2]

Every time I look at this 3D printed stuff my "gob is truely smacked"   

Yea, right?

I think that the design skills are the most impressive part,

Agreed 

[frank2056]

Thanks guys, but it's really just slightly faster, much, much messier scratchbuilding. Plus the PPE; you're either making meth or resin printing