TL01 Dakar race truck

[TurnipJF]

Awesome job! That turned out great!👍👍

[Chris.B]

This is really a great project with an awesome result.

[OldSchoolRC1]

Came out fantastic! Very nice work!

[Nikko85]

12 hours ago, TurnipJF said:

Awesome job! That turned out great!👍👍

 

11 hours ago, Chris.B said:

This is really a great project with an awesome result.

 

7 hours ago, OldSchoolRC1 said:

Came out fantastic! Very nice work!

Many thanks all. My skills are nowhere near some here, but I enjoy doing the bits I do well.

I can't wait to drive it around a little, but that will be in a few weeks time when work is less busy. Might take it around the garden this evening, but there's very little space for it to run there.

[JimBear]

I just happened upon an example of a scratchbuilt race truck on german ebay - probably an older one since this one is done on the 959 chassis (!). There is another from the same builder, done on the FF01 chassis. Pretty nice, I think.

I nabbed one of the photos, just to show you - no affiliation, etc:

[Re-Bugged]

Excellent job @Nikko85 👌🏻

[Nikko85]

I've realised something.

Looking at the MAN TGA Dakar trucks the lowest part of the front bumper is often removed, allowing more ground clearance. You can see here that it is gone

So that will be the next part of the project, and I'll add a bumper!

[Nikko85]

Sometimes cutting or removing material you need to go slow and piece by piece.

I've learned sometimes you just need to go hard and confidently. Always a little nerve wracking taking a saw to a car you're spend hours in, but nothing for it.

Thankfully the line I wanted to cut had  nice groove cut in for the saw to follow.

Nothing for it...chop.

Steady hand and it's all done.

I will add a bumper to keep the front alive. Previously a bumper would have to sit too low but now I can tuck it in the gap between the lights.

It will also give a little symmetry to the car. Now the front looks too high/short compared to the rear, but I can't bring myself to cut off 10 mm from the rear so a bumper will fill that aesthetic gap.

 

[JimBear]

It struck me now, looking at the last photos that the 1:1 truck shown in the post before seems to have something like a metal bar in the area where you now have the sawn-away gap. Maybe that is an idea to copy, to keep it from looking too empty down there?

[Nikko85]

9 hours ago, JimBear said:

It struck me now, looking at the last photos that the 1:1 truck shown in the post before seems to have something like a metal bar in the area where you now have the sawn-away gap. Maybe that is an idea to copy, to keep it from looking too empty down there?

Agreed.

Imgur is being terrible at the moment but the plan is to do something like this

This is a LB bumper which fits in the gap well. It's not very scale, but bumpers and body posts are a conceit that I can live with.

Also if I want to drive at more than 5 mph I need to be happy it is well protected in a collision!

Once that arrives a will add and then take for a drive. 

 

[Nikko85]

I took for a simple test drive. It's quite slow at the moment with a 35T motor.

The rear axle was moving backwards under acceleration causing rubbing, so I shimmed with a .5 washer.

It seems to work quite nicely. I need a bumper and to secure up the front where I cut away but overall pretty happy with it. I also need to find a better way to attach the cab, as it flops around  little but with the hair band attachment!

Slowly getting there, and one of those that may never be 'done' as there's always something to try or add.