Cat 777D Mining Truck

[td9clyde]

looks great!!!!!!!!!!!!

[modelman]

Thanks fellas-lot's of finish work to be done but as you all know that's part of it.

[modelman]

I built the fuel tanks and attached them. I am not going for a highly detailed truck but as I look at pictures of these trucks a few things jump out at me such as big tires, dump box, fuel tanks and such. These are the things I am trying to add. The hand rails and front steps are probably the only things left that I will attempt-

Papy is checking the size of the hand rails on the 1:1 trucks so I should know something on this in a couple of days.

[pugs]

Looking great

[pumptech]

Very nice job on the mining truck ,great work modelman

[CAT315C]

Very Good!!!

Congratulations

[9W Monighan]

You gotta have the hand rails and steps Tom. That will set any model off. Have you tried the perforated metal on the grill yet?

[modelman]

Thanks a lot everyone-steve you are right. The hand rails are important to the look of these trucks. And the steps make the front end complete. After I find out the size of the rails I am ordering some brass wire. I have built a couple of sets of steps out of .060" music wire just for practice and they are a complete disaster. The music wire will not bend without heating it up and I can't heat it and get it on my bending jig before it cools down so it's impossible for me to make 2 pcs. alike. I hope the brass will bend easy but making steps that small is going to be a huge challenge for me. I am going to use the wire mesh from McMaster-Carr for the grille but I haven't ordered it yet.

[Tamiya Cowboy]

Great looking truck Modelman you have done a great job.. Any idea of how much dirt it will hold yet..

[tracksntreadslou]

Exelent work Tom..Looks really good.Amazing outcome on those tires too..Really looking forward to seeing some paint on this brute...Can you post a few picks on size comparison next to you shovel...Cheers lou

[lorenzo]

Really nice work Tom. Did you already weight it?

For your handrails just a thought. Take a brass or cooper wire in the desired size, put one side in the vice and the other in the drill and twist it a few times. Now it will be smoothened and stiff enough to stay in the shape you bend it.

Just like this:

[modelman]

Tamiya cowboy-thanks a lot. The box holds 3-1/2-4lbs. of dirt. TnTlou-thanks for the nice words-I have the shovel stored away while I am building the truck but I will have it out soon and I will get some pics. Lorenzo-thanks to you also.Now that I know the size of the hand rails I will get solid brass rods for that. I don't have a weight on it yet but it is heavier than I thought it would be and there is more weight to be added.

[modelman]

While I am waiting on parts,(seems like that is a constant problem), I got the steering worked out. Very tight place to work but that has been the theme for this entire build. I had to make various parts to get it to work without binding but I finally got it right-

The servo is hanging below the truck but I had no choice. Space is a big problem-



I still have a lot of parts to go into the small radio compartment but-1-step at a time and hopefully it will all work out.

[pugs]

Nice work, looks like the servo was made to fit there

[9W Monighan]

Tom, would one of those micro sized servos work? I'm not an expert on them but can somebody recommend one?

[Espeefan]

9W Monigham, you are making some great progress! I love how the 777D is coming along!

As for micro servos, I would stick to Hitec brand micro servos. They are the best bang for the buck, and the some of the strongest.

I'd say take a look at the Hitec HS-82MG, HS-5085MG, or HS-85MG. I believe they all have metal gears, hence the MG designation. They are around the 39 ounce to 59 ounce torque rating. I'm not sure how much power your truck will need, but these mirco servos put out the same power as the standard sized cheap servos.

[modelman]

Pugs-thanks it worked out good I felt. Steve-the micro servos don't have much torque in my experience with them. I felt I needed good power to turn the wheels with the truck loaded. The servo I used has 110 in. oz. of torque @ 6V. That may be overkill but better over powered than under powered I think. Espeefan-thanks for the comments but I don't agree with you on the hi-tec servos. They are very short lived in my opinion. I believe in Airtronics, but everyone has their own opinion. I ran Airtronics in my race boats for 10+ years and never had a problem with servos, recs. or transmitters and boats are killers on radio equipment.

[modelman]

I got the hand rails and ladders made.These pcs. did not turn out as good as I wanted but I knew this was going to be a problem for me. Some things I cannot do with bad eyesight. In my mind I am a perfectionist but with bad vision perfect is only a dream..

I scaled from the Norscot model to get the height of the hand rails so I don't know if this is correct or not-

These ladders are only 2" tall X 3/4" wide.

These parts will not be attached until all the body work is done since they would be too hard to work around. I will try to build the screw drive next so we will see how that goes.

[9W Monighan]

I'm having trouble seeing too Tom. I get really frustrated trying to see up close juggling between reading glasses and open eyes. I think part of the problem is the fluorescent lighting in my shop and the walls not painted white. I want to go to the eye doctor soon after taxes and some insurance payments.

[sparkycuda]

The truck is lookin' great. And, yes, the handrails and ladders add hughely to the overall look. This is really a cool build and looking forward to seeing how the screwdrive comes out. Are you going to put fake hydraulic cylinders on the truck or just go without any?

Ken