1/25 6 Axle Lattice Crane

[Southgate]

Thank you for the comments, gents.

Stuffing that equipment in the upper was one thing, but the carrier is just about as stuffed. That mechanism that lifts the counterweights up off the deck so the upper can glide under uses up all the space between the rails for about 8 inches or so.

As the weather has finally gotten cold, I have started back in on this. A few small refinements at first, and now I'm building the deck on the carrier, including the fenders, cab, all the cosmetic stuff. A change in it's looks will start taking place here soon.

Kerst, do you also model plastic trucks in 1/24-1/25? Just curious. That's my favorite scale to work in.

I'm still blown away by your crane, all that machining and engineering is stunning, especially in this scale.

[kerst]

Originally Posted by Southgate

Thank you for the comments, gents.

Stuffing that equipment in the upper was one thing, but the carrier is just about as stuffed. That mechanism that lifts the counterweights up off the deck so the upper can glide under uses up all the space between the rails for about 8 inches or so.

As the weather has finally gotten cold, I have started back in on this. A few small refinements at first, and now I'm building the deck on the carrier, including the fenders, cab, all the cosmetic stuff. A change in it's looks will start taking place here soon.

Kerst, do you also model plastic trucks in 1/24-1/25? Just curious.

No, I stay away from these plastic kits. They are very beautiful and detailed, but i am too rough for that. And i like to play with my cranes, which means overloading it, moving it fully rigged, climbing inclines, go in the sand, etc. The 1/25 or 1/24 scale suits me also very well, not too big, not too small.
I built one crane in 1/20, because Then I could not achieve the whole drive line in a smaller scale, but it is almost too big to handle.
Looking forward to more pictures of your crane,

Kerst

[JAMMER]

This is quite a project and you have been doing a great job keep up the good work. Ed

[Southgate]

Again, thanks for the nice comments.

I have "play" in mind too, and here is an early look at the crane running a couple laps around the back yard to see how it behaves off road. Note that it's set up for transport, no counterweights or boom, beyond the base boom.



The suspensions are equalized to take up some uneven ground, but it's not intended to be a rough terrain crane. If it gets in to too soft of ground, it will bury in and spin the drivers (all rears are driven, fronts just steer)



I call this a 1/24 model, but it actually may be a bit large as that goes. It could more easily pass as about 1/20 to 1/22 or so, but I want it to fit in with all my 1/24-1/25 models, so I'm making the cabs and other details to match that. There may well be 1/1 cranes out there this size, I just haven't seen them. Link Belt and P&H have some that actually come close in some respects, ang Grove has some that come close in other respects. I'm combining several basic designs to freelance a passably realistic model, even if not specific prototype.

Since it is freelanced, I want to come up with my own manufacturer name. CONCORD is one that I am gravititating toward. Say, CONCORD LT6-4000

L= lattice boom, T= truck type carrier, 6=number of axles. 4000; number of tons (400), plus a zero, as so many crane companies do this! What do you think?

A side note. The basic crane, as this scales out could reasonably be able to lift 400 tons or even more at maximum, but has to be set up properly to do so with a short range, heavy duty boom, and appropriate rigging. I'm building high range boom setup, so it won't be attempting to lift the base unit's full capacity. Maybe down the road, I can build the additional equipment for heavy lifting, that remains to be seen...

Heres a mock up using a Payhauler front end just to look at proportions. Not what I'm going to use

[Southgate]

Here's an update on this li'l project. I've started on the carrier's deck and bodywork. Styrene is my old comfort zone, it's nice to be working in it here. The cab is styrene, I penciled in the windows for now, but they'll be cut in time.


The raised fender areas will be covered in diamond plate, painted to look like aluminum. The rest of the deck will be whatever color i decide on for the bodywork, to look like steel.



I like how the rear fenders look, leaving the frame extending where the outrigger attaches. Both the front and rear outriggers will remain detachable for transport mode.


That's how it looks as of this writing. More later. Dan

[td9clyde]

looks great!!!! crains and drag lines are cool very nice job

[ihbuilder]

that looks real good Dan

[sparkycuda]

Nice workmanship on the boom! The whole rig is looking great - keep up the good work!

Nice RR layout in the background. Seems there are quite a few folks on this forum that are also into trains. Particular road or era you model?

Ken

[Southgate]

Thanks, Guys! Ken, I have to admit I haven't been real active on the model RR since I started with the crane, but I am partial to Southern Pacific, and I want to model the general feel of the area I grew up in, Coos Bay Oregon, mid to late 60s.

[dirtpusher9]

Nice work Dan, glad to see you working on it. Still don't understand how you guys do all this soldering without messing up what is right next to it.

[Southgate]

Originally Posted by dirtpusher9

Nice work Dan, glad to see you working on it. Still don't understand how you guys do all this soldering without messing up what is right next to it.

Joe, soldering is not one of my strong points, more a necessary evil. Often I have to clean up joints with a file, whereas a person skilled in soldering can just do a clean joint.

I do use a pencil torch for everything but electrical or electronic wiring. I've never had good success with solereing irons for flat work, and I absolutely HATE soldering guns.

Still, if ya wanna make brass parts, soldering is a necessity, and the joints are strong, and can be reworked if needed. Dan

[ihbuilder]

Originally Posted by Southgate

Joe, soldering is not one of my strong points, more a necessary evil. Often I have to clean up joints with a file, whereas a person skilled in soldering can just do a clean joint.

I do use a pencil torch for everything but electrical or electronic wiring. I've never had good success with solereing irons for flat work, and I absolutely HATE soldering guns.

Still, if ya wanna make brass parts, soldering is a necessity, and the joints are strong, and can be reworked if needed. Dan

Dan I've found that filing or sanding your joints before soldering to give the best results and strength . same for me , irons are for electrical work

[Southgate]

Originally Posted by ihbuilder

Dan I've found that filing or sanding your joints before soldering to give the best results and strength . same for me , irons are for electrical work

Yes, I do clean up my joints before soldering. Fit isn't so much the problem, as sometimes I get too much solder in or near the joint, and have to file it away. Overheating a joint can certainly lead to the next nearest joint coming undone, a real pain to deal with. I had to deal with that when makng this whole front end assembly. The trouble was when soldering the spring hangers, but i finally got it whooped.

[sparkycuda]

Really nice work under the front end - axles, springs & hangers, etc! A lot of close and complicated linkage for the steering - a great job of engineering and fabrication. Are your springs brass, phospher bronze or something else?

Ken

[Southgate]

Thank you, Ken. The springs are K&S Brass, curved to look like springs. The "leafs" (leaves?) are simply soldered together. The springs themselves don't flex, but the equalizers in the front end do work, so the machine can move over uneven ground and keep all wheels on the ground. (the rears are equalized too) Dan

[Kid@heart]

Dan, that is an amazing build! I'm contemplating building a crane myself, and will have some questions for you...

Spencer

[Southgate]

I'd be glad to help you with any questions you'd have. Also check out hte cranes in the section called "6x6 8x8 Big boys of the road"

I have been working on this thing lately, but nothing that would show up in pictures, I don't think. Dan

[Southgate]

OK, I've been busy working on the crane, then we got a break in the weather, so I kinda slacked off. but here's what I'd been up to. In order to make straight accurate boom sections, a better way was needed than doing my best at pinning the components to a board. I designed and built, and modified this jig until it worked.


One side of the boom is constructed on each side of the jig. Then it is bolted together, and the edge lattices are added in. The big holes are actually recesses so that the aluminum doesn't sink the heat away from the joint.





This makes assembly go pretty fast, and accurate. The time consuming part is marking and drilling the holes in the brass tube where the lattices solder in place. Building this monster was a pretty big task in itself. It's 2 feet long.

I built 2 new 40 foot (20 inches) boom extensions and put the original one in the jig for a chiropractic adjustment of some warpage. It's much better. The connecting ends weren't done, but that's when the weather got nice...



It seems winter came back, driving me back to the workshop. For about 4 years now, I've had nothing but trouble with the base boom on this crane. It was warped and bent, and I've gone to lengths to fix it, with actually favorable results. But one more tweak was needed for an alignment issue with the other sections, and in so doing, it warped way out again. It was time to do what I'd been putting off. I built a new one. The new one is built on the assembly jig too, but set up a bit differently.



It is lacking the large sheet metal spans at the bottom, something that I discovered after building the original rather back dated it about 30 years.

So with a shiny new straight and modern base boom, I need to be able to attach the extensions. The original connectors on the existing sections were difficult to work with and really fragile. New ones were fashioned more in line with 1/1 practice.

The old ones were kind of like stinger and receivers, you had to stuff all 4 corners at the same time.




The new ones can be connected jut 2 at a time, and they allow pivoting, as in 1/1 cranes. Stronger, easier, and more forgiving of necessary handling.




Making those connectors all fit accurately is just plain hand labor extensive, and time consuming, tedious. But it paid off. Now I can much more easily pin them together and take them apart as needed.

here's a look at all 7 feet, four inches of the boom, including the new base and 2 new extensions.


This shot is from a ways back, and then zooming the lense. It condenses the look, showing the number of lattices. (there are exactly 100 peices in a scale 40 foot section) I just like how it looks.


The day after I got it this far, I took it over to a friend's house where we played with it for a couple hours. It comes to within about 1/2 inch from his ceiling! Guess who forgot his camera

The mechanisms all work fine with the extended length, and the outriggers and counterweights really do their job well.



A few more pictures...
These spacer-retainers keep the ends at exact tollerances when the connectors are being soldered in place.


The brass tube is clamped into place on the jigs by screws and wingnuts.


I intend to eventually build a couple more smaller extensions, a scale 10, and 20 footer. But at this point, I'm almost burnt out on boom construction, I'm moving on with getting the cabs built and other cosmetic improvements. More pics as progress is made. Dan

[lorenzo]

Wow, what an amazing work. The jig is interesting too. I have to keep that in mind because I think I'll need something like this in future.
Keep up the good work.
Are you able to make a short movie of the crane in motion?

[ihbuilder]

I was wandering where you were now that is really nice

IHSteve