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Author Topic: Scratch built 1/10 crawler trailer  (Read 1206 times)

Andy M

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Scratch built 1/10 crawler trailer
« on: February 05, 2021, 11:43:38 pm »

Here is my new project, a 1/10 th scale trailer for my rock crawler. I was going to 3d print it, but decided that it would be a better project if I scratch built it from materials I have in my collection. I swapped two odd sized buggy wheels I had for a very nice pair of wheels with Tamiya tyres on them. I am not sure if the wheels are Tamiya ones or not, doesnt matter, they are perfect for my project.
 First job was to find a suitable axle, I ended up using 2 front axles and hubs from a magazine partwork rc car I got from a neighbour years ago when he figured out he would be better spending about 1/4 of the money and buying one that was ready to go. Anyway, the hubs have already been used on an rc car I built to use motor etc from a dead electric heli, the car was incredibly fast but ended up getting rolled a lot. I used the front end of the car again on a trailer for my 1/24 scale crawler truck. Now they are on their third contraption. The wheels needed thin tubing added inside the hex drive pieces to match the smaller axle diameter, just as well I keep everything in case it comes in handy! 😁
 I made up spruce top and bottom mounting rails to hold them the right distance apart and proceeded to build a 3mm liteply base with 3mm x 10mm spruce frame around 3 sides of the underside and a 6mm x 10mm bit at the front where the tow hitch arm is going to be fitted. This has all turned out quite well so far, next was to build a frame for the top, again, 3x10 spruce with 3mm liteply corner gussets and filler pieces to make the top flat. 4 corner uprights and gussets has given me a nice box frame. Not tried the wheel assembly back on it yet, will save that for later.
 After hijacking someones post on mayhem with pics of my Vic Smeed Vivacity, I was seriously thinking of building a half-ish scale version and looked at prices for 1/32 ply. Jeezo, prices have sure gone up!
 Well there goes my idea for using ply for my trailer sides and top!
 I am lucky enough to have thin aluminium printing plates (litho plate) given to me by a friend that used to work printing newspapers. I have had a small number of these for about 15 years, saving them for a nice project. There are a few small creases, scratches and dings from storage, house moving and more storage, but I think I can avoid the worst of them.
 I still have to decide how I am going to do the rear door, but I made a start on the outer skinning, here is what I have so far. I am very happy with how I managed to get the corner folds so nice, and it hasnt even been glued on yet.
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Andy M

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Re: Scratch built 1/10 crawler trailer
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2021, 03:18:54 pm »

Ok, I know I said I was wanting to scratch build this trailer but I didnt fancy angular mudguards so I went looking on Thingiverse and found these nice curvy ones. Printed not bad, first stuff I have printed in quite some time, took me a while to remember how to work it.
 I had 3 previous goes at printing them but it kept picking up the outlines of the attachment holes and blobbing them about. I slowed the speed down to 50%, filament flow down to 96% and turned the fan up until the first two layers went down nicely, it worked, although the filament flow could have done with being at 98 as it was only laying down slightly too much, will know the next time.
 The mudguards have still to be sanded a bit and painted but I think the curved shape was well worth going for. I have ply reinforcement plates on the inside of the trailer frame to screw them into once I finish the alloy skinning.
 One good thing about 3d printed ones is that if they get damaged, I can just print new ones. I also printed an adjustable drop link tow hitch, it printed without any issues at all. Again, its still to be sanded a bit and painted.
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Andy M

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Re: Scratch built 1/10 crawler trailer
« Reply #2 on: February 11, 2021, 02:52:40 pm »

Ok, I fancied another 3d printed bit for my trailer, this time its a roof rack, narrowed, lengthened and raised from original 3d file.
 I did this on Cura, easily done but it will have altered the cross sections of the tubes, doesnt matter to me, I am sure it will still look good. The photos show the print 10% completed, I ran the first layer at 50% speed to make sure it laid down well then changed back to full speed.
 Its still got a long time to go but it is going well so far. I will put on photos of it finished (if it goes well!)
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Andy M

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Re: Scratch built 1/10 crawler trailer
« Reply #3 on: February 11, 2021, 05:56:41 pm »

I printed these jerry cans at 1/10 scale to go with my trailer and also at 1/16 to go with my 1/16 wpl trucks. Only thing is that my 1/10 crawler jeep style body makes them look far too small so I actually think it is closer to 1/8 scale. I have scaled them up to 1/8 now and will print them once my roof rack is finished printing. It has hours to go, so will have to wait patiently before I can see if the jerry cans look big enough this time.
 You may be asking yourself why I am printing accessories when I havent even finished building the trailer?
 I want to fit anchor points on my trailer framework for these bits to bolt to, with my luck, I just know that the bolts are going to miss the frame or worse still, be half on them, so I will check these and add supports as needed, before I finish skinning the trailer. The alloy sheet would probably be strong enough by itself, but I dont want any bits wrinkling or bowing when the stuff is bolted on.
 I never saw any jerry can holders on Thingiverse that I liked the look of, so I will probably scratch build these to suit, once I have printed the jerry cans, I will do 2 or 3 depending how they look. Each one is about 2 and a half hours of printing at the bigger size.
 I have been doing all my printing in the kitchen as the shed is still too cold, even with the fire on, the printer shows 'error min temp' and wont do anything.....
 I am not that popular just now as the printer is parked in front of some 'high traffic' cupboards and my comments of 'watch the printer' every time someone is in the kitchen are not very welcome! Ah well, my trailer roof rack will hopefully be finished in another 5 hours or so, lol. Maybe have to wait and do my jerry cans tomorrow.
 The project is still moving forward, just a bit slower than I would like.
 The last 2 pics show the roofrack progress after 4 and a half hours of printing and also my handy percentage gauge showing print at about 45% complete. Still a good while left to go.....
 
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Andy M

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Re: Scratch built 1/10 crawler trailer
« Reply #4 on: February 11, 2021, 09:30:32 pm »

Worth waiting for, roof rack looks pretty good, still to remove some printing support but well happy with the print. I have even managed to get a jerry can printing now. Be around 11pm by the time it is finished.
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Andy M

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Re: Scratch built 1/10 crawler trailer
« Reply #5 on: February 12, 2021, 11:27:17 am »

Here are the jerry cans in 1/8, 1/10th and 1/16 scales. The 1/8 size seems to suit my jeep body a lot better. I have added mountings on my trailer frame for the roof rack, as the mounting holes didnt land on any structure. I have to work out where my jerry can rack/holder is going to go and add some structure to bolt that to.
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Andy M

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Re: Scratch built 1/10 crawler trailer
« Reply #6 on: February 15, 2021, 12:58:33 pm »


 Here it is so far. Spare wheel would look good, but I only have 2 wheels.
 Printed roof rack looks good now its painted. I printed one jerry can at 1/8 scale and it looked much better, so I went to do another one and it 'birdnested' 3/4 of the way up. 2 hrs in. Not to worry though, I measured the height it had printed then using Cura, I dropped it down and printed just from where it had failed, sanded the remains of the failed bit off the lower section and glued it on, saved it. Lol. Think it was borderline freezing up in my attic and never stuck on right once it got far away from the heated printing bed/area. Best doing it in the kitchen. I got 2 big ones now, lol, I am going to make some kind of metally looking structure to hold them on. And maybe some fake ratchet straps.
 I am tempted to leave the trailer nice and shiny bare alloy but my plan was always to do it matt green to kind of match the jeep. I can take ages deciding colour schemes. Usually turns out not bad. I have a load of tiny screws to still put in along the panel edges but dont know if I have enough, I might just use cut heads off pins, to look like rivets but wouldnt be holding skin on as well as the screws would?
Theres no glue holding the alloy on the spruce frame, just 4 screws on top corners and 2 beside the towbar so far. Definately needs a few more but its pretty tight fit on the frame. I like the roofrack and mudguards and jerry cans as they would have been a pig to make from scratch 😁
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Andy M

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Re: Scratch built 1/10 crawler trailer
« Reply #7 on: February 15, 2021, 01:00:20 pm »

Mudguards
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