Hey all!
My first two ACUTR builds will both be continuances of projects I've already started.

The first, this log, will be the Rail trucks for my railtank, Niamh. The second will cover the completion of the engine for that same railtank.

So, as to the trucks, let's do a quick photo-log of what's already been done, shall we?

The plan, is this:



This is a diagram for the GP powertrucks I'm hoping to recreate in 1/35.

Now, for the progress shots to this point in time.















I scratched one wheel and had some good friends make up some copies.


So, as of now, that's where I am on these babies. I still have to construct the power gearing box and axles, plus, gauge it to fit the tracks I'm using.

And, we're off!
Cuhail

A promising start Murphy, I wish I had the room for all the power tools.

Thanks man. In reality, the bench press and a Dremel are the only power tools in the shop. The bench press is awfully handy sometimes, I'll tell ya. I do a lot of plastic machining and lathe-like stuff with it all the time.

Cuhail

So, after a long summer of doing things outside this hobby, I went down and cleaned up the shop. Put away all the tools and debris that gathered on the bench. All the sandpaper, stains and such from scabbarding went into their spots and I made the workspace ready for gluing plastic again.
When it was all done, I pulled out the Railtank and did a quick dryfit to see where I am on it. I thought I'd snap a few pictures to show the overall progress.











So, that's where the Railtank sits. Today, I clean up the truck wheels, make the traction motor/axles and maybe set the gauge.

Enjoy.
Cuhail

Well Murphy I can see you are on work to rule or a go slow.

This is looking great, Cuhail.
Total scratch build
Is the hole in the bottom going to be for the porcelain throne?

Lookin good Murph!!! (Mental note: must clean cobwebs off workbench as outdoor stuff is finally winding down)

Ha!
@KSO- Well, it WAS going to be an escape hatch, but, I like you're idea! LOL

@Matt- You wanna talk cobwebs? LOL! It was ridiculous down there. Luckily I clean before the summer so there were no spiders living in models laying around! They would have, too!

Hi Murph:
I finally found your ACUTR build log, I've been in the wrong thread. I am immpressed with what I see, wow go Murph. Waiting to see what it looks like with paint on it.



Robert

Cuhail you are on the line of the masters. Nice job man.

Don't pat me on the back too quick, guys. There's sooooo much more to do. I have to do some engine room stuff before I can finish the engine. I have to make and fit the radiator (Luckily some 1/25 stuff may do the real trick) and route the intake and exhaust. I have to do the AC generator yet not to mention finish the trucks to get this monster on a track!

Long road ahead!

Cuhail

Cuhail,

Looking great, so far! Do I see an Abrams Driver's Hatch?

Keep the pics coming...

Yes, Jeff, you do. It won't be the only Abrams part. It will have an M1 turret as well. Thanks for looking.

I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to do the roof-mounted radiator setup. I want to do it like an M1 as well. Sorta. Similar. Dual fans, one radiator. Meh. It's never been tried before, so, I don't feel bad making it up as I go.

Right?

Cuhail

So, I did some work on the Railtank last night. I took the radiator parts that Bob Chawgo (old-dragon) sent on to me and made a cooling system start. I'll take and post some pics before the day is done. I actually did some of the railtank's roof. Two big hatches, one with a fan/radiator setup. I'm really starting to think about how I can keep this looking like the topside of an Abrams.

Cuhail

Okay, I promised some pics.

We have a rough, rear roof with left and right hatches, the right hatch having the fan and radiator. The radiator will be fixed in place and the fan assembly will be attached to the hatch door. The fan has a bit more work to go. Electrical conduits and the motor, most especially. The hinges will be working so the hatch will be openable.
Meh, anyway, pictures...







Comments ALWAYS welcome.

Cuhail

Murph, does it measure about a foot and a half from front to back? I can just make out a ruler but not sure on my screen. Nice build so far, and with the interior it looks like there will be a lot of work to go to the finish.



Robert

Front bumper to rear bumper- 20 inches.

or 58' 4" long in 1/35.

And yes. The Railtank is not the project I'm doing for ACUTR. But, there's a lot of subprocesses that will be ACUTR submissions. The V10 motor, the trucks and wheels. The turret interior and all the interior stuff too. The Railtank itself will be just itself. Since the whole thing is 90% scratchbuilt, I figure I can keep it all here and do a wrap-up thread accounting for all the subs.

The railtank itself already has 3-5 years of benchtime. It's been a log build.

Cuhail

Oh, and the interior...yeah, what a task! The inherant problem with designing something like this is I can only go through and look at the interior builds of Strykers, Abrams, LAVs, etc to see what goes on in there and then decide what, in those vehicles, goes into this monster. On top of that (where I am right now), I have to take many facets of a railroad diesel AC unit and incorporate it in there too. Piping, ductwork, electrical conduit, it's all going to have to go in there, so, I have to make it reasonably believable.

For the interior walls of the main battle compartment, I think I'm going to build panels outside the model and fit them to slide right in.

I have interior lighting ideas to solidify and enable. They have to work. White and red. There will be lighted-button panels in the engine room. There will be lighted-button/display panels in the generator room. Flat-panel, wall-mounted monitors. A communications/defense station

I have exterior lighting that I want to work. Working headlights and taillights. I want an open box next to the main door to be open and have lit-up buttons for the door controls. I want ditch-lighting to work. I want FLIR equipment on this vehicle. (Not real, but, represented.)

The diorama I am planning, is going to represent the last few minutes before its roll-out and maiden voyage onto open tracks. Final loading. Cables running out of hookups behind doors on the side of the vehicle. Sitting on a pad with ammo loads and a forklift. Workers doing the final checks, the vehicle crew loading in personal weapons and supplies.

I figure it still has a few years of building yet.

Cuhail

Hey all! Update coming! I think you'll all be pleasantly suprised with my progress. I'm only typing this to get it in the recent posts so when I get out of the shop and upload pictures, I can find my thread easier.

See ya soon!
Cuhail

This is pretty bad a** Murph. Sooooo many possibilities. Take off the trucks and replace them with tracks........or giant wheels (2 in front per side and 3 in back). This would be an awsome EOD entry. Matter of fact, I'm gonna use some of these ideas in my build. I'm thinking a whole front end redesign on my big rig now that I see the nose on your railtank.

Really slick,
Hermon

Thanks Hermon. Your enthusiasm is welcome. Glad I could inspire!

Let's get to pictures, though, huh?
First, let's look at a few of the whole railtank and then focus on my ACUTR-specific building.







Okay, that's the bulk of her! Now, what's so ACUTRiffic? The Engine and it's room. I started the engine a long time ago and had to stop because the rest of the engine depended on space in the room I had to account for after I slapped it together. We're now getting to that point in the build. With no more ado, the engine room (and generator/electrical room).










And, Hermon, I took another pic of the nose so far. (Which hasn't changed yet)


On the back-end, above the door, there will be a light array for rear-facing headlights.
The face


The back of the array with routing for wires (Oh yeah, this feature will be powered)


And dryfit to the hull.


And that's where we're at. The hull placement is all dryfit at this time. All the walls you see are all INTERIOR-based and there will be angled armored sides covering most of what you see there.

See ya in the Wars!

Cuhail

very nice, Cuhail. I assume the light array will be LEDs?

Cool progress..... I've got a garage shop to get cleaned up.... then hopefully that'll leave some modeling time in the next 2 weeks I have off........

Great progress! More Abrams parts like you said, too!

By the way, are you going to need the running gear and lower hull parts?

I had a few ideas to put the lower hull to work in the EoD campaign... Ooppps, maybe let the cat out of a bag there... (whistling innocently)

I still have yet to do all the ceiling stuff, pipes, intake for the engine and the exhaust dispersion system to dump and not set off heat sensors. I also have the opposite wall to fill up in the engine room and, other than some serious dial-filled paneling, I don't know what else to add.
The front-facing end of the engine still needs the AC Generator and all of it's accoutrements. The panel in there (with the wires) is lighted and will be part of the electronic goodies. The opposite wall of the AC Gen room is another enigma. At first, I was only going to build what was viewable to the observer, but....you know...it's...just...not...there! And, accordingly, I want to know it's there. So...what the heck else would go into an engine room and an AC Gen room on a ficticious railtank?
By the way, this was on another thread of mine over in Armorama...The turret as it goes.













Yeeeeaaaahhhh! That was a fun cut and sand.
Dryer lint trap screening. Hermon never even thought of that!



Cuhail