ScaleART - Assembling a MAN TGX/XL 6x6 tractor & Trailer

[Rakthi]

Hi Calum, thanks for the complement!

Spend today bolting most of the stuff back to the frame so I can get this thing moving again.

Painted the inside of the front fenders black - tried to tape it off for spray painting but that wasn't really practical. So just used a brush. Not that great a finish, but being mat black, will be barely visible anyway once the truck is finished.



Re-assembled the painted exhaust. Was of two minds to put the speaker in there, but in the end decided against it.



The board will have to go like this over the exhaust. If I do it over the fuel tank, there would be no access to the fill opening.



Rear fender supports back on



Plenty of Loctite on these. Also changed the provided philips head screws with these bolts. They are smaller at top and fit without hassle between the M1.6 bolt heads where the heavy duty rear is bolted to the frame



Moved the actual fender one bolt hole in compared to how I did it before.



Rear fenders and rear lights installed.



Air tanks support and air tanks installed





Mud flaps attached



And bolts cut as close to the nut as possible



Painted all the stainless steel screw heads matt black (as per a tip from Newcomer_2) and finally got the rear wheels back on.







And bolted a short M2 screw in the opening of the front differential to prevent muck from entering.



Next up the fifth wheel, cabin attachments front and back, motor/gearbox and then finally the servo for the front differential.

[Prop Shaft]

Such a detailed rig. Loving watching this come together.

[Rakthi]

Hi Prop, detailed it is. And slowly getting back together too.

So yesterday I re-attached the rear cab support which has to be at 90°.



Then got the servo for the fifth wheel in it's neutral setting.



Re-assembled the fifth wheel and bolted it in place.



After that I re-installed the engine/gearbox and propshafts, and today I finally did the servo that goes into the fuel tank.

The servo holder that goes into the tank is actually for 2 servos and the bigger tank, so will need to shorten it a bit. On the bottom right you can see that the holder has a "foot" - I was a bit worried that I would have to sort something out about that to keep things stable, but it all worked out in the end.



Bolted the servo onto the holder and inserted it into the fuel tank. Very very tight fit. The Hitec servos are just a bit thicker than the Robbe ones ...



View from the other side ... pressed a bit too hard and slightly bend the servo holder. No big deal, easy to straighten out again.



Realised that I better install the filler cap first because I had to drill out the hole to 5mm to fit the cap. Would have been awkward with servo etc in place.



Filler cap glued in place with super glue



Servo centered etc etc



The servo was a bit wobbly because of the 2 pieces of shoulder on the housing. Decided to file them off so the servo would be more stable.



Servo horn drilled to 2mm to take the cable clamp



Continued ...

[Rakthi]

The cable clamp installed and testing fit in the tank ... the servo horn hits the edges, so will have to do something to get the servo further back



3 M3 washers on each side solve the spacing problem, but now the thread from the cable clamp is hitting the edge.



So this gets cut off, the outside cable tube is attached so I can define the exact length I will need before I insert the steel cable.



The servo in place, and the cable and servo wire pulled through the 4.5mm hole I had drilled in the back of the fuel tank. (The cable has been pulled through that hole so many times all the black paint got rubbed off ...)





After this final fitting and cutting the cable hose to size, the steel cable installed, everything back in the tank, the sides clipped on and the tank attached to the frame. Forgot to take pictures from the bottom, but will do when I attach the cable to the front diff lock and adjust the servo.



Set the cab in place to get an idea what it will end up looking





Next up will be the servo block that goes in front of the motor/gearbox, and then have to get out the receiver etc. so I can adjust all the servos.