Medium duty loosely based Mitsu-Fuso build

[Thorsteenster]

I think this is the proper forum for this as it'll be a construction/dump truck.

Well, I got my Tamiya Volvo cab parts a couple weeks back and have sat looking at it and pondering what I'll build with it. After many many different possibilities, I came up with doing a medium duty dump truck. It will be roughly based on a cross of 80's and 90's Mitsubishi-Fuso trucks. No one model in specific to keep mods to the Volvo cab minimal.

The frame will be made from 1/2" steel sqaure tube cut in half. The axles will be Losi Mini Crawler axles perched on Tamiya semi leafs. For the motor I'll use a Novak Mongoose crawler system powered by A123 LiFe batteries.
I'm not sure on what transmission yet, but may end up using the trans from the mini crawler as well.
For tires I found some on AFV I think I'll go with, Euro-tary Michelins that I think are for Wedico trucks. With a 76mm height and a 35mm wheel, I hope they'll be small enough in comparison to the semi tires to look like they belong on a medium duty truck.
http://www.afv-model.com/4711shop/sh...Full-tire.html
Any tire suggestions would be appreciated, I'm not set on these tires, but want something 2.75" - 3" in height with a 1.5" wheel or smaller to be an approximate 16" wheel in 1:14th scale.
The dumbody is still in the works but will be a screw drive lift. I'll have to research this some more and try to come up with a solution that's with in my current capabilities.

Then also to further this category being the right one, I want to build a trailer and mod a Bruder skid steer to RC to pull behind it.

All I have so far is the cab, I've just ordered the parts to build tha axles. I'll have to wait for them to see how much I need to narrow the cab.
The cab will be narrowed about 1", and I'll either extend it slightly to make it a crew cab, or shorten it and make a single cab.

[Stuff]

seems the foreign trucks are starting to take off I got a isuzu elf cab that Skl1cent made for me. just havent got it together.

[Thorsteenster]

Ha, I don't know about that! When I bought the Volvo parts it was only because of the discounts, I'm not really into Volvo Trucks. Which is why my Volvo won't even end up being a Volvo! lol.

Although really, I have an entire cab and will just be using a few of the parts so I may replace those to have a complete cab for something down the road. Otherwise I'll just have a bunch of leftovers most likely never to be used.

[Thorsteenster]

Oh well, forget the medium duty, I wasn't able to find tires in a size that would look scale for a smaller sized 1:14 truck.
So now it won't be narrowed, I'll use bigger stock for the frame, and I guess I'm back to TLT/semi axles.
Now I need to find a purpose for the Losi axles lol.

[CatdrvR]

Hey Thor,

Looking forward to this truck since not many build medium duty trucks. I have done a Bruder Skid Steer conversion awhile back that functions great. If you want me to throw you some pictures your way, let me know. Many of the conversions I have seen get the basic movements of the machine down but they aren't powerful. I have combined several electronic circuits in mine to give the lift and bucket functions tremendous power. Anyways good luck and can't wait to see progress on this one.

Dan

[Thorsteenster]

Yeah, please do send some pics. Smallhaul did one on Scale that I've been getting some ideas for doing mine. Always helpful to get different takes, I definitely want it to function, and function well!

[CatdrvR]

Alrighty! I'll have to hunt them down when I get back to my external hard drive. I have a couple videos up on youtube that are of tremendously crappy quality but you get the idea. The main goal of my project conversion was to be powerful, functional, and scale at the same time. Many people's projects only have one or two of the three things. You will also notice that the bucket on this skid steer also has full range of motion. Conversions of this type usually have to compromise on this aspect but not I! I will dig out everything I used to build it and put a list together for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLXMALMFjRs

Again, I apologize for the horrible quality and jerky control... I was a rookie operator!

Dan

[Thorsteenster]

More than accepted, the functionality is awesome!
I'm very interested in getting details on this.

[Finster]

I'd also like to know the details of your skid steer build. Perhaps a tutorial on improving the functions like you mentioned? Thanks in advance.

[CatdrvR]

Will do, I am having trouble finding the pictures of my build but I will keep at it. I will take new pictures and do a write up when time permits. They have to be on one of my hard drives. I have over 3TB of data storage so it's alot of sorting.

Dan