1/35 HEMTT Explorer

[Frank3k]

I have the Trumpeter 20 foot container, and it's almost a snap tight kit - and very heavy. Here it is on the back of the cargo floor:



It looks good, if a little tall. The main problem is the weight; the 20 ft container weighs almost as much as the rest of the HEMTT shown here. With the resin tires and motors, I'm afraid that it may break the axles or the spring supports (it's that heavy).

I Also printed a flat platform that sits (or will sit) level with the cargo floor.

Here's the lighter and smaller ICM "KUNG" truck box:

[Story]

Any sort of weight-reduction cheats you can do with a Dremel?

[ChalkLine]

Any sort of weight-reduction cheats you can do with a Dremel?

I've put my dremel in storage. It just lets me make my mistakes faster :)

[Story]

Eisenhower's post-WW2 autobahn system had height, width and (bridge) weight restrictions based on the MBTs of that period.  I'd have to dig but 14'6" seems to be a bridge clearance height that sticks in my head (although there are Route Calculators one can consult to see where the Low Clearances are these days).

As one of the components of the National Highway System, Interstate Highways improve the mobility of military troops to and from airports, seaports, rail terminals, and other military bases. Interstate Highways also connect to other roads that are a part of the Strategic Highway Network, a system of roads identified as critical to the US Department of Defense.[52]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highway_System

https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/summer/interstates.html

Fast forward 70 years, if this is a .mil project those constraints would still be in play?

That said, what's the scalar height of the Trumpter 20' container? Maybe you could shortenify  it?

The ICM and Trumpter box bodies could also be Swoppet builts (held in place with tiny pegs?)

[Story]

Any sort of weight-reduction cheats you can do with a Dremel?

I've put my dremel in storage. It just lets me make my mistakes faster :)

Live dangerously.

[Frank3k]

The wheels are solid resin and there's no easy way to lighten them; it would be easier to reprint as hollow, but i'm not going to do that. The Trumpeter 20 footer has a lot of material - the corrugations add a lot of area and mass.

The 20' on top of the H?EMTT (with the new wheels) scale out to around 16'/4.9 meters. It would make a mice target, plus making driving in a cross wind difficult, even with the added weight.

I think I'll go withe the shorter (but lighter) truck box and pimp it out.

[Story]

Pimped out short box it is!

[Kerick]

Just my $0.02 worth. I’d go with the truck box and lengthen it as much as you can with still leaving room for the generator. The connection to the cab is a good idea.

[Frank3k]

I've made progress - but it doesn't seem like it. I've been folding PE for the cockpit cabin and in general finishing it up. Here's the cabin with some of the PE installed, before a coat of primer:



I printed a small riser wall extension for the truck box, since it was too low for most of the standing figures I tried to put inside. I also leveled the "generator platform" to bring both platforms to the same height at the cabin.
I had printed a new back wall for the cabin with two hatches, but they would have been blocked by the platform at its new position. It may look like there's plenty of space where the current rear windows are, but there isn't. Instead, I used some spare hatches from the AFV Club M151 RWS kit (by itself a great source of unused parts) on the cabin:



I also swapped the box and the generator. Not sure about this layout:



One annoying thing about this ICM truck box is that the AC unit isn't included! I ended up printing a generic AC that I tacked on to the back of the box.

[Dr. YoKai]

 I like the second placement, on the rear deck, better than the the forward position. I think it would look good something like a roof extension over
 the generator.

[ChalkLine]

If you move the KUNG until the door is over one of the wheels you could have a groovy little fold-down ladder

[Frank3k]

I'm leaning towards Dr. Yo's suggestion, since the two spare tires will be around 1400lbs/635kg which is around the same weight as the generator. They can go in the space behind the cabin, which already has a tire crane.

The KUNG has a step ladder for that hatch. I just need to move the box back a bit

[Buzzbomb]

Yes the spare wheel/s, they need a home as well.

It will work out, bit of blue tack and tetris moves to find the ideal placement options

[Frank3k]

It's definitely a game of Tetris, but with only a limited range of positions!

Today was another day of a lot of work, but not much progress to show.

I made two 3D printed laptops and a 24" monitor a while ago. I painted the screens with Molotow chrome paint, and when dry, I added color laser printed decals. The panel in the middle is just a a decal of EV status display I found online, sandwiched between a clear sheet and a piece of white plastic. All of these items look better at normal viewing distances, rather than zoomed in like this:



Placement in the cabin. It's nowhere near finished; the radio (with the light blue screen) will probably be moved and so will the M151 RWS joystick. The 24" monitor is on a (working) swivel arm. The black box under the small table in the middle is actually the power supply for the radio, here used as a controller box:



As for the rest of the vehicle, I'm adding the electric motor wiring and coolant lines. The two spare tires weigh about as much as the generator (1400lbs/635 kg) so if I place the two pares behind the cabin they can balance the generator.

[Story]

Don't forget the micro-reflectors of extreme reality.

[Frank3k]

I painted most of the vehicle with a coat of Tamiya NATO green (that's not going to be the final or only color). I also painted the batteries, motors and the coolant and electrical distribution boxes:



The motors are painted with AK Interactive Atom Aotake blue and the batteries in  AK Interactive Atom Aotake green. There are some gaps and build issues with the batteries, but they'll be mostly hidden. I modified he kit's transmission transfer box to convert it into an  electrical distribution system for the motors. The coolant system box is a random plastic part. The coolant lines are from a Hasegawa 1/35.

I'll do some cable management before I join the two sections.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Fantastic work on the small details.  The shiny bits really do stand out in the middle of all that drab green. 

[Frank3k]

I printed some parts: Antenna mounts that I found online (see a couple of posts up) and some fire extinguishers I drew up (I was tired of making them out of sprue and bits of plastic). I also combined the radio unit (receiver, power supply, external speaker, handset) and drew up a camera ball. I think I'm set with antenna mounts, radios and fire extinguishers for a while.

Here are the parts off the supports and washed; they still need some cleanup:



The thin wire for the large antenna mounts printed in most, which is surprising since they were very thin and I didn't add any supports. I made four types of fire extinguishers - small, medium and large (with and without mounting straps). The ones that had hoses mostly printed out - a few hoses broke off during cleaning.

This is a view of the camera ball. It's a quick and dirty design loosely based on some pictures I found online. The ball doesn't move (didn't feel like going that far down the design path):



These antenna mounts printed well. The bases are very thin:



Thes printed less well. The shape made it difficult to place supports and I forgot to properly support the antenna end, so they mostly failed, but it's easy to drill out a new one:



Some of the medium size extinguishers:



Large ones without mounts and the small ones. I'll trim off the excess supports at the bottom as needed:

[Kerick]

No need to buy kits anymore, just print them out at home! That pretty much what Industria Mechanika does any more. You pay for the file and print it yourself.

[Frank3k]

In theory.

In reality, designing the model, getting it into a printable form, optimizing the printing and iterating the process until you get the best results can take a long time.

[Frank3k]

Some minor work in the "office" - I think it's almost ready to close up:



The radio is a recent print of all the radio parts combined. I added a small monitor on the driver's side to cover the otherwise blank space and I relocated the 24" monitor to the top of the dash. It can still sing out and face either side.

Still need to add a few PE bits, the cup holders, water bottles and piss containers, add a gun rack, fire extinguishers and emergency supplies box to the back wall.

[Old Wombat]

Looking seriously good, Frank!

[Frank3k]

Thanks, Guy.
Almost ready to close up the cabin.

Added an AC unit to the roof, which is the cut down original vent that intruded into the cabin, with some extra bits. The back wall is pretty bare, except for the emergency kit.
The main cabin has two fire extinguishers, cup holders and two gun racks and two AK rifles (without their stock):

[Kerick]

Needs a few can’t wrappers and a McDonalds bag.
Seriously, awesome job. Lots of details I wouldn’t have even thought of.

[ChalkLine]

I love the gun racks