Tamiya Haulers - Update time again!

[Rich]

Remember kids, don't drink and drive. It was the 70's, a different time..



Aero fitted, CB antennas fitted, all there ready to rock and roll!



Money shot!







And a panorama with the stake bed. I've removed all the extraneous stickers, including the marker lamp stickers that were all on the wonk and the stickers that a shop should apply as a demo piece including the ones that said 'TAMIYA SEMI TRAILER' and 'RETRACTABLE LANDING LEGS'



Next up is make the lights on the trailer work and finish the load I'm prepping and add a little detail on the trailer like tanks and a chain box, that sort of stuff. I've also bit the bullet and ordered some proper malaise tractor truck steels. Seeing as they are from AliExpress they will take a month to appear and as markbognor pointed out to redress the balance will accidentally be 1:1 scale..

[vanpeebles]

Looks superb! Made a real good job of it

[Rich]

Dec 31, 2021 22:48:40 GMT vanpeebles said:

Looks superb! Made a real good job of it

Thanks man. Need to put some effort into the trailer now.

[markbognor]

That wasn't me, but I did chuckle when I read the comment.

[Rich]

Jan 2, 2022 20:15:12 GMT markbognor said:

That wasn't me, but I did chuckle when I read the comment.

Could have sworn it was. Mind ain’t what it used to be. All those paint fumes.

[Rich]

Took the Hauler to it's first circuit meeting. Did well other than servo horn issues on the steering which I 'fixed' with a little filing and the servo is a bit wandery so I've got a replacement coming. Had a good day, was a busy meet!

[vanpeebles]

That looks loads of fun

[Rich]

New wheels came Thursday!



Building them up..



Looks so good. A massive improvement over the stock wheels is the rear floating bearing hub, something Tamiya seemed to have decided wasn't a thing.



After the circuit driving day I did I realised I needed to throw some simple upgrades at it. First was a new steering servo as the old one was wandery and had play in the shaft.



Also, new motor. The Mabuchi 540 is IIRC 37T, swapped for a Carson Poison 80T for proper low speed control.



The gearbox is lovely. But can you see an issue?



Moulding flash left on the 2nd gear dog clutch stopping it engaging properly. Nice job.



I've also de-staked the trailer to allow for some load change possibility. Need to dechrome some wheels for it now too.

[quaggers]

Love this! I have a Scania R470 and the same trailer. Built it yeeeeeeaaaaaaars ago and its been sat on a wardrobe at my parents house for at least 7 of those years. Initially it went there when my wife and I moved to our second house and I wanted it out of the way for the move... Now on our third house and two kids later and after seeing this I am thinking perhaps I should bring it home!

Please keep the updates coming 

[datman]

I had no idea such awesomeness existed.

[Rich]

Feb 1, 2022 22:26:56 GMT quaggers said:

Love this! I have a Scania R470 and the same trailer. Built it yeeeeeeaaaaaaars ago and its been sat on a wardrobe at my parents house for at least 7 of those years. Initially it went there when my wife and I moved to our second house and I wanted it out of the way for the move... Now on our third house and two kids later and after seeing this I am thinking perhaps I should bring it home!

Please keep the updates coming 

You aught to get it back out. Upgrades are now cheap enough and plentiful, lots of local clubs offering circuit meets, and it definitely is quite enjoyable. I’ve do quite enjoy the euro tractors but I had to have a US unit, just so much more me.

[Rich]

Got some more little bits done before the next driving meet, hub covers for the front wheels (7MM nut caps)


And stripped and painted the trailer rims.



Next outing after the work was the West Country RC Truckers meet in Weston Super Mare. Mods paid off, much better drive this time with the new motor and steering servo.







BRS Fleet was lovely, weathered to filthy perfection.













Working weighbridge!



They run a big circuit. Was a good day. Definitely didn't take enough photos!

[tonycocacola]

Looks ace.
There's nothing like that where I live, to the best of my knowledge.
Can't find any for cars or crawlers either.

🙂

[Rich]

Feb 19, 2022 16:12:33 GMT tonycocacola said:

Looks ace.
There's nothing like that where I live, to the best of my knowledge.
Can't find any for cars or crawlers either.

🙂

Good few rc groups on The Google in the area, just got to have a trawl and find something you want to check out I guess. I got lucky I think, being in Bristol I’ve got a wealth of local clubs within a shortish distance. Got some pics from the Swindon meet to share later too 😆

[Rich]

Swindon RC Truckers meet was a good meeting, was busy! Varied selection of machinery on display. 

WPL C14






Live steam traction engine was lovely






Hauler posing with the Mercedes



Engine again









Picked up some parts from a member there to add some detail to the trailer. Tool box;





Spare wheel bracket

[skodacious]

This looks fantastic 👍 All your mods have turned it into something even better!

That is another eBay search set up! 🙂

[Rich]

Feb 25, 2022 14:28:01 GMT skodacious said:

This looks fantastic 👍 All your mods have turned it into something even better!

That is another eBay search set up! 🙂

Haha, thanks man, I like it anyway. I think she looks great. best place to buy a truck is via the clubs. I often see units for sale for around £300 on Facebook at the moment. Happy to forward links to any I see, even just for window shopping.

[Laters]

Just caught up with your thread Rich.
Some nice work there looking really good.
Especially from what it looked like originally its quite a transformation.

I can never make my mind up with the wheels on mine so left them alone for now.
Hoping to find some scale chrome full hub caps for my Scania as a sort of retro style mod rather than the usual route.

Just been on with a 1/14 trailer project thats been stalled for a few years due to fitment issues as I got the dreaded lurgy so what better time to try and get the project moving again.
I will update my trucks thread at some point over next few days with some progress photos.

[dodgerover]

Was that a Wilesco stream engine? They were always much more realistic than Mamods.

[Rich]

Feb 26, 2022 22:23:44 GMT dodgerover said:

Was that a Wilesco stream engine? They were always much more realistic than Mamods.

As far as I can tell it was a ‘proper’ engineer built type engine, I’ve seen Wilesco engines and it was more ‘real’ than that if that makes sense. Thing of beauty.