Scale-O-Rama Glencoe Models M274 Mechanical Mule 1/15th to 1/35th

[Jeffry Fontaine]

My prototype scaled up Mule has been destroyed in the process of prototyping.  It had lasted as long as possible before realization finally checked in to make me finally admit that this horse was indeed dead. 

Not a complete loss though as I learned what not to do on the next iteration of this idea.  This after all was a learning experience and that means mistakes will be made in pursuit of the idea.  Sharing the WIP will continue as I began again on Mega-Mule Mk.2. 

Some work was done on the new cargo platforms last night/early this morning to assess how badly warped they are.  Also some minor cleanup of surface features that are out of scale. 

Thank you all for the support given and suggestions on the Mk.1 Mule.  I hope to get further with this second attempt. 

[Claymore]

You have my sympathy and heart-felt respect - sometimes things work and sometimes they don’t. For what it’s worth, I am hugely impressed that you are moving on to the Mk 2 - remember, that which does not kill us makes us stronger! 

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Hi Claymore.  No need for the sympathy.  The prototype Mega Mule Mk.1 was just that, an experiment to see what could be done.  While along the way there was some "permanence" to the modifications so disassembly to continue the process was a dead end on progress going forward with the existing Mega Mule Mk.1. 

The next iteration of Mule will continue with the modifications once I can get the cargo platform a bit less warped.  Out of the box, the Glencoe Mule suffers from major warping issues with the cargo platform.  So much so that I have had to remove the side railings on the cargo platform in order to even try and make the thing flat.  A minor win on that effort is to take two of the cargo platforms and glue the things together to give it more strength but one platform looks like a a "C" in appearance from the end on view.  The second platform has a bowl shape to it so combining the two is probably the best solution to the problem.  Getting the damned things flat enough to do so is the challenge.