Ford HN80

[Quad-Dog]

G´Day everyone.

After some time of just reading and having a look at your trucks I decided to open a new topic.
I bought the Tamiya Aeromax about two years ago. The idea was to learn how to use cad software making some oz style parts for it.
The sleeper that comes with it was of course much to big for an australian truck.
First I had the idea of making a daycab panel for it. Drawings are ready but some of you have already come up with it.
About 3 years ago I met a truck driver from Coonabarabran, NSW driving a Sterling with a rather luxerious sleeper. I forgot to take at least one photo so I had to have a look around on the internet. So I decided to let my driver have some more room during the night not forcing him to get out the swag if he can´t return on the same day
Last week I finally fired up the mill and machined the first part.









I can´t handle the imperial system but those of you who can I think it is an incredible 16" sleeper.
It is all 3D machined havn´t even used sandpaper
Little accident on the one part as you can see. Still thinking about fixing it. Might just make another one
Hope you like it.

[dabears]

thats awesome!! i hope to see more pics soon

[1985 kenworth]

yea some of our gravel trucks in canada has these small sleeper bunks on them too...like having the wheelbase of a daycab with some comforts of a bunk truck nice idea for a build .i will be watching this so keep the updates comin

[Quad-Dog]

All right, I´ll keep them coming
I expected this to be a quite quick job but it took me ages to machine it and getting it out of the block took me just as long.
The backside looks a bit rough though.







One more part and it´s ready to see some glue.

[aussietruckerguy]

looks like a great part. To my eye its a bit short if its for a bunk. If you can have a look at a scania bunk. There about the same size as the main window on the side of the cab. Or a kenworth cab will be easier. A few companies ive worked for have the small sleepers in them. There more useful for the woops you have to wait for ten hours for that load, not going interstate for any good hauls... No room to store your stuff.

[Quad-Dog]

Hi aussietruckerguy,
I have to admit that you shocked me a bit with your posting.
The sleekline page says that the minimum size is 16 inches, which is about 40cm or about 3cm in my case.
As I didn´t take a photo back then I found a sleeper looking quite similiar to the one.
http://www.trucksales.com.au/buy/det...d=1348DE96CA61
I remember having a look into a small Kenworth T608 bunk and it was far smaller than a european one. It is really small no doubt and I´d prefer a comfy seet over the sleeper

[Quad-Dog]

Ok, I now got some more info.
I decided to write an email to the manufacturer of the small sleepers (sleekline). Within less than a couple of hours I think I received a reply explaining what the go is with the small sleepers. Apearently such small boxes have a fold down section to turn the bed into a legal sized sleeper and it says that a bed has to be 600mm wide. If not it is only called a rest cab. He also confirmed that 16 inches is the width outside.

So when I decided to make the sleeper I only sticked to what I still could remember, had a look on the page of the manufacturer, read 16 inches and for some reason thought that the white/yellow Sterling has a 16 inch sleeper. I imported the picture last night into a program and it seems that this one is a little bit bigger than 16 inches. This is usually how I do it and I can´t explain why I didn´t do it. So at the moment I´m wondering about machining a new one as I´d like to have the on in the photo rather than the 16 inch box.

To show at least one picture today, I´ve been thinking about what taillights to use. As far as I know the latest Sterling models had much smaller lights the ones with the black frame around it.
But for the moment I only got those ready:



We´ll see if they end up on the prime mover or on a trailer.

Ok, one more photo for today
I got a whole selection to chose from:
3 lights, 4 lights, integrated reverse light.
So I might just have a look what sort fits the best.

[justin]

Looking great lov the look of the sleeper keep up the great work

[Quad-Dog]

Thx Justin. That´s what keeps me going especially now thinking about getting a larger sleeper. Just ordered some tools by the way

[Quad-Dog]

Cheers Chris what an honour
There will be a little break as I have to swop materials. I got some aluminum to machine next. Might shorten the frame after that.
Today I wrote a list what the truck needs. So there are some more parts that have to be machined

[Quad-Dog]

Alrighty, time for a new picture.
It took me a while but I just needed it as I wanted to make a start on the fuel tanks.
There is still a bit of a gap between the two parts but the plan is to make it look like it is one part.
The tank shown in the picture will be replaced. -like most parts of the Tamiya kit

[Quad-Dog]

I got a few questions:

• I found a second hand truck on the internet saying that it has a wheelbase of 4400mm. Am I right that the wheelbase meens the distance between the steering axle and the centre of the boogie?
  It works out to be something like 330mm. I added the length of my sleeper to it but it just looks like it is still too long.

• Currently I´m working on the fuel tanks.
  I found a 40mm pipe that is just as big as the Tamiya fuel tank is. The problem is that there is a pretty huge gap between the tank and the frame. Is the tamiya frame just not wide enough or is the tank to small?
  I imported some pictures into my cad software and it confirmed the 40mm
  No one would probably ever notice but I know that it is not 100% correct
  Has anyone got photos of the brackets?

[Quad-Dog]

A couple of new pictures. Still thinking about the two questions of my last posing. Does no one know anything about it?





I´m not a hundred percent convinced over the look but I don´t know where the problem is eigther. Currently I´m thinking that the width and the position of the Tamiya frame might be the problem.
But you might be able to help me. Hope to get some imput.

[Quad-Dog]

Thx Chris!
I bought another pipe the other day. It is 50mm but it is too big. 45mm might be perfect, but there are only aluminium pipes around. I put the truck on the table I go past serveral times a day and had a look at it again and again and again. When I´m sitting at the computer comparing my truck to the real one I see the difference but when I walk past it not comparing it, it looks allright. -and I guess that is what others usually do when they see the truck driving past them.
If you ever notice something you think should be in some way changed, please let me know. I´m always happy to to get some real opinions even if it might be a bit of a downer.

[Espeefan]

Nice work! What material are you machining the parts out of? The sleeper is really narrow! I've never seen one like that. How do they expect anyone to sleep in a space that tight? Is there a bunk in there, or does the drive's seat just recline?

[Quad-Dog]

Thx Espeefan,

It´s a polyurethane based prototyping material. I don´t know where you can get it over your way.
All I know is that it has got a fold down section. It´s probably not the place where you want to live for four straight weeks but it´s better than resting in the drivers seat.

[Quad-Dog]

Havn´t got any news, but I got the feeling that some can´t quite belive that small sleepers like these are around. After hours of surfing the web I found a few fotos: small sleeper

[Quad-Dog]

Hi Chris,

I quite like it. My favourite quad dog with skirts is the lodehaul sterling. It was based in the Riverina before it was replaced by an Argosy 19m stag.
To be honest I still don´t quite know what is going to happen next.
One thing I know for sure is that the fuel tanks will be replaced with bigger ones. I tested 50mm pipe but it was a bit too big.
The sleeper won´t stay on. I designed a new one that is much closer to the real one. The problem is that I got two or three different sleepers I quite like but can´t decide. Two would 'only' have to be machined the third one has to be designed as well.
Luckily I can´t work on it at the moment so it safes me from having to make a decison

[Quad-Dog]

Took a few month as I had a lot of other things to do.
I´ve shelved the idea with the small sleeper as I don´t have enough info to get a drawing ready that would satisfy me.
What happens if you take a few small endmills, wait for 4 hours and let them travel for a few hundret meters?



It is straight from the machine table and hasn´t seen any sandpaper.
The four rectangular shaped areas are only 1mm high but feature a 30 degree chamfer and a 0.5 radius to make it look right

Hope I can fit it on to the cab in the next few days

[glorydays24]

That turned out pretty sweet, and no sanding yet, WOW!!!

Big John