Scratch Build of W900L - Simulated Air Ride Suspension - Scale 53' Trailer

Here is an update on what I have done. Looks so much better with the rails painted. Engine is in, tranny mounted, working on reversing the electric motor. I am thinking of putting the shifting servo in the passenger side step.



You can see I mounted the steering servo up front. I am going to detail more of the engine and put in a radiator that will cover the top of the servo.



You can see the base for the body is started, it is .100 aluminum, aircraft grade. Living in the air capital of the world has its benefits, cheap and plentiful aluminum. I am going to be putting angle aluminum around the outside of this base and the building the body from there. I mounted the base on the frame rails using grommets, this gives it some suspension and lifts the body off the frame, just like the real trucks have air suspension for the sleeper.



I know the body base is a bit wavy, but when I put on the angle aluminum, you won't even be able to tell.

I angled the frame rails and put in a piece of angle aluminum to connect the two sides, I don't like tamiyas angled plastic. They seem to like plastic for everything. I was going to get a King Hauler kit, but there are too many things about it that I would have changed. I have learned my lesson over the years, "If you want something done right, do it yourself." I am not knocking Tamiya by any means, its just I have owned many of their kits and I mod them to the point that it really didn't make sense to buy the kit.

I got some drawing done today. Here is what I came up with.



Then I am transferring it to the aluminum and then I will cut it out sometime this week.



I am also working on the AX10 diffs and I will post progress of them as I get them done. ( I got rif of those and went with regular semi axles)

I finally sold my ol' Mustang and now have a cleaned out garage. It is great to have all that space to work in. I am working on custom trailers for some customers and in between that and spending time with my family I work on my truck. Here is what the trailer looks like so far. I need to get the axles done on the truck so I can move onto the suspension, I want to get the truck setting on its own soon.



Here is what I am going for with the rig.

I have finished up the machining of the engine to accept the motor. I am still working on the mounting of the tranny. I think the pictures speak for themselves. I like the way it is turning out.

The black things on the cab subframe are what I am working on for simulated air bags. They will have a spring inside. I am always messing around with something.

I got the C-15 mounted today, the axles are done, and I am working on the rear suspension.







Here are the mounts for the control arms. I am working on the simulated air bags. This may take a while.



I can't wait until I can start working on the body.

So I am waiting on my axles and other bits, I decided to get working on some other things. Here goes, I have made the side step/boxes, cut the fuel tanks, the sleeper step, and made the rig master box that will house the esc. I also got some work done on the trailer, got the landing gear mounted and I started working on the sliding tandem axles.

I forgot how much work all these little parts take, but knowing what the end product will look like is well worth the effort.

I have diamond plate that covers the side step/boxes and I am in the process of making the cover for the rig master.

Got some more done today, I am excited to start working on the body. Everything goes slow when scratch building, but it is much more rewarding in the end.

This is taking some time getting all the cuts, bends, corners, etc done, but I am enjoying it. Just in case you were wondering, I am cutting all the aluminum with my stationary scroll saw. It is not CNC, but it gets the job done. :banana:

I got a lot more done on the trailer, but I will have to post some pics of that later. I may end up going for a look like this, what do ya think?