Bitza 1/10 Semi Trailer

[commiedoor]

hi , after getting all enthused by gothcat , you got a lot to answer for mate ! , i had decided to build a 1/10 semi prime mover. ( thats a '' semi tractor trailer truck '' for our yank friends and a '' lorry '' for the poms out there ! ) i bought a used bullhead body from the states for less than the postage to oz ! then watched the old movie '' DUEL '' check it out on youtube ! . i then picked up a shagged out hornet rolling chassis with a spare diff assembley . to my surprise , the wheel track is righ and the wheel base is too , even with the extra diff ! . i have a set of 1.9 crawler wheels for the rear and a pair of 1.9 landrover looka-likes for the front . i have to decide if i am going to use abrass hex adaptor to mount the hex drive front wheels or modifiy a set of traxxas rustler front axle hubs to fit and go with a hex drive bearing set up ....i have jury rigged the rear diff on and now think i might go twin motor !. just need to find some were in australia that sells hobbist aluminium square tube or C section and plastic sheet . i knew things where going to well ! pic come soon . ..or i might just wack on a tracked rear end and make it a bullhead half track ! ..just to stir up gothy !

[commiedoor]

ok boys and girlies , here is the hornet semi at the mock up stage ! .. i have attached the spare grasshopper diff and need to make chassis rails to hold the short shocks that will be fitted . the possibility of twin motors looks good too ..

[skarecrow]

dude thats awsome im working on the same idea with a blackfoot that has dual rear axles/diffs and twin motors but im just extending the truck bed another bed side length

[commiedoor]

heres the bullhead body on it

[commiedoor]

well , been spending time and money on the semi the last couple of days . bought drive wheels and steer wheels , adapters for the hornet axles so i can use hex drives , pull both hornet and grasshopper diffs apart and fit bearings in botrh , found out why there was a spare diff ! both axles were bent at the ends , hammer , block of wood and a keen eye fixed them . i statred to fit the short shocks and make the chassis rails but a slip with the hacksaw put a stop to that ! ouch .. " she be right inna coulpa days mate ! " ..lol .. am looking for a amax twin motor esc ( yes , its going to be twin motor drive ! just because i can i spose .) , i bought a while back for the dagger but carnt seem to find one on ebay ..8( . will keep the forum posted if any body cares that is .. here a few pic of whats going in to it ..

[Butler]

Love it.

[commiedoor]

ok , finger heeled up nice , so i have been hard at while it been rainning for the last week , i made the chassis rail extensions to mount the dual diffs and hang the shocks off . i could have made the suspension leaf spring like normal trucks but this thing is going to be a off road banger too . one thing that i didnt notice is the battery box is off set to one side ! i dont know why it is but i had to make a spacer to fill the gap in side the tub chassis to be able to bolt the rails in place .

[commiedoor]

i have used this method to fit hex drive axles to 2wd cars before and it worked again ! you get a set of traxxas rustler front axles and hexs for about 12bucks , trim the top and bottom so they fit in place of the normal axle carrier and just fit what ever 12mm hex drive rims you want ..if you buy the right set , you get rear carriers too and all sealed bearings !

[commiedoor]

i have a twin motor esc , h/d servo , twin 540 motors to fit with 18th gears , a set off lower profile tryes for the front and since the bullhead body has light shells built in , i'm fitting red leds rear and if i can find some orange running lights and i've made a turntable for the back . the only thing i really would like is genuine tamiya pinion covers for the gear boxes , if any body has any laying around , let me know .. i dont want to have to spend $25 or so buying the 2 B parts bags which have them in it . i am not looking foreward to scratch building the tanker . big job !

[commiedoor]

ok , work resumed after a bit of a blow from thinking too hard .. the body is mounted , the electronics are in , it runs , boy does it run ! it goes like like the clappers ! it will smoke up both sets of rears which are kommodo crawler alloy wheels and the fronts are some imex chrome ladrover/hilux wheels . a few problems poped up like the front suspension was too soft , the rear wheels where just touching the ground and steering was limited , all fixed now , i lengthened the rear shocks to level the duel wheels , put stiffed springs on the front shocks and ground away some of the body where the steering arms come through . i made a turn table for the back and i bought a cheapo 1/14 r/c semi and used a lot of the bits off it cause they dont look 1/14 to me ! , like the hydrolic oil tank and fuel tanks with built in steps . the mirrors , air horns and running lights are next when i find some 3mm 6v leds , the taillight bar and mudguards are coming along too . some people will say the chassis is all wrong but i wanted some thing that will go off road too , a leaf spring set is too limited so it has the off road semi look now !

[commiedoor]

[commiedoor]

[commiedoor]

well , all the parts scavanged that i want to use of the 1/14 scale semi are now on the hornet like the tail light bar , air horns , roof marker lights , front indicators , an air line bracket with air lines and some imatation grease on the turn table i didnt put the wipers or mirros on cause they are a bit to fiddley to have on the cab . the roof marker lights are not operational yet , having trouble getting 3mm 6v white leds . the only thing left to do is make and mount the rear mudguards , paint the chassis and add a weathered look to the whole thing . the wiring for the head lights and tails was a easy job . the lights are 5mm 6v white leds for the front and 5mm 6v red leds in the taillights , all with on/off switches , i really wanted the headlights to be mounted on the chassis but it was going to be a big job so i put a plug in the lead .

[commiedoor]

well , 2 months of rain will help you finish any project ! . i finaly had an idea on how to make the rear mud guards . i purchased a black plastic 10lt motor oil bottle for my car . the plastic bottle has a curved profile with the width about the same as rear axles . i had some mounts left over from a light bar kit and some body posts laying about . 20 minutes latter , black plastic guards fitted .. once the weather clears up i can paint the chassis and add some weathering to the body .......what does every body think ? project worth while or a waste of time ?

[Yonez]

Absolutely incredible, great work!

[commiedoor]

ok , lights working , a few more bugs sorted out a few oil stains added and the chassis painted . this is the end result .

[commiedoor]

hi , heres a quick phone vid of my 1/10 hornet based semitrailer in action running on the road at home .. from this to this ......

[SteelRat]

Very cool.. love it!

Do you have any build pics? Would be good to see how you've attached the second rear axle.

[Percymon]

Very cool.. love it!

Do you have any build pics? Would be good to see how you've attached the second rear axle.

Build thread here..

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?...c=58139&hl=

An excellent project, well worth the effort and imagination - a one off, that'll be admired many times over. Congratulations

[SteelRat]

I'm hoping these two topics have been merged, because otherwise I feel a right pillock asking for a build pics within the build pics thread *D'oh*

[commiedoor]

lol not quite a pillock .. the build thread was below this one and ongoing for 6 months on and off .. only trouble with build threads is .. sometimes you can end up with '' twins'' running around all over the place .. i have changed a few things and would have done a few things differently now thats its finished , like i found out you can buy a polycarb semi body , the hornet front end isnt all that suitible and i could have made the rear chassis a bit lower , but in the end i'm pretty happy with the end result .. total cost was about $250au with 99% of the parts comming from good ol' ebay ...now .. for the next project ? hmmm a trailer for the semi ? the mate wants to build a car trailer tow his onroady behind his hbx ? hmm or maybe a ..........

[gothcat]

Really nice build mate

[mongoose1983]

That's one amazing creation. I don't think I would have had the guts to cut off an original 1990 BullHead body that way, but then again, the truck you created is very very interesting.