Quote from: kerick on March 03, 2025, 06:53:23 AMI built the rear axles last night. Test fitting the wheels showed that the wheel with the longer hub is the inside dual so that the rim clears the springs. Not by much but better than the other way around. Problem solved! 

Sorted   
Now onwards and upwards matey 😀

I puttied that ridiculous gap in the rims too. Now that I know which is the outside wheel I can fix that one. The trick now is sanding it down again.

Quote from: kerick on March 03, 2025, 01:20:03 PMI puttied that ridiculous gap in the rims too. Now that I know which is the outside wheel I can fix that one. The trick now is sanding it down again.

Flexible and nonflexiable nail files mate..perfect for wheels and dirt cheap from $2 shops 

Quote from: Wardukw on March 03, 2025, 06:15:43 PM

Quote from: kerick on March 03, 2025, 01:20:03 PMI puttied that ridiculous gap in the rims too. Now that I know which is the outside wheel I can fix that one. The trick now is sanding it down again.

Flexible and nonflexiable nail files mate..perfect for wheels and dirt cheap from $2 shops 

Sounds good. I have a few and need to get more.

Quote from: kerick on March 03, 2025, 08:09:24 PM

Quote from: Wardukw on March 03, 2025, 06:15:43 PM

Quote from: kerick on March 03, 2025, 01:20:03 PMI puttied that ridiculous gap in the rims too. Now that I know which is the outside wheel I can fix that one. The trick now is sanding it down again.

Flexible and nonflexiable nail files mate..perfect for wheels and dirt cheap from $2 shops 

Sounds good. I have a few and need to get more.

I've got dozens em Ken mate..don't buy the Xcell ones.. there exactly the same as the ones in the 2 dollar shops .

Quote from: Wardukw on March 03, 2025, 09:05:13 PM

Quote from: kerick on March 03, 2025, 08:09:24 PM

Quote from: Wardukw on March 03, 2025, 06:15:43 PM

Quote from: kerick on March 03, 2025, 01:20:03 PMI puttied that ridiculous gap in the rims too. Now that I know which is the outside wheel I can fix that one. The trick now is sanding it down again.

Flexible and nonflexiable nail files mate..perfect for wheels and dirt cheap from $2 shops 

Sounds good. I have a few and need to get more.

I've got dozens em Ken mate..don't buy the Xcell ones.. there exactly the same as the ones in the 2 dollar shops .

The store close to me only has 180 grit. I'll hit the next town over.

Quote from: kerick on March 03, 2025, 09:28:57 PM

Quote from: Wardukw on March 03, 2025, 09:05:13 PM

Quote from: kerick on March 03, 2025, 08:09:24 PM

Quote from: Wardukw on March 03, 2025, 06:15:43 PM

Quote from: kerick on March 03, 2025, 01:20:03 PMI puttied that ridiculous gap in the rims too. Now that I know which is the outside wheel I can fix that one. The trick now is sanding it down again.

Flexible and nonflexiable nail files mate..perfect for wheels and dirt cheap from $2 shops 

Sounds good. I have a few and need to get more.

I've got dozens em Ken mate..don't buy the Xcell ones.. there exactly the same as the ones in the 2 dollar shops .

The store close to me only has 180 grit. I'll hit the next town over.

There's quite a few different ones ..ones on ice block sticks ..ones with foam in the middle and ones made of foam and flexible ones with a hardish plastic in the middle.
I use em all ..the ones I like the most are the ones with the plastic in the middle..there about 7ins long and 3/4in wide ...I cut em up ..in half ..comes in packets of 2 or 4 ...bloody useful 

I've gotten a little progress on the Slammer. I shortened the frame behind the rear axles by 1/2". This still leaves some room for a platform behind the M113 hull. I've been working on the wheels and have them sanded down to something that looks like a real tire. You can see the pic of the first four I did with the shortened frame behind them. I also added some thin spacers to bring the wheel out a little more as one was touching the springs.



The more I look at that jerry can holder on the battery box the more I think it's got to go. It's begging for a brass or thin plastic replacement. I've started on building the cab. It's mounted on the frame now so I can start working on the M113 hull cuts that fit around the dashboard and firewall. I have some plastic sheet that is the same thickness as the hull sides and roof so I cut and glued in some replacement for the engine grills and such. I'm probably going to box in the area where the tracks were for gear storage lockers. I'm looking at cutting a small part of the truck bed for the platform behind the hull. Now I have to fill all the little ejection pin holes on the inside of the bed sides and ends so they don't look silly. I guess someone thought the shelter box would hide them all. And then sand down the bed floor as the kit provides nice wood texture but the real truck beds are steel sheet. Question for when I get that far is whether to use the front of the bed with nice wood rails so no one falls off a moving truck or the rear part of the bed with the handy tailgate? Or figure out how to attach railings to the tailgate. I'm trying to remember if the 5 tons I saw had railings there or not. I was too busy looking at the .50 cal MG mounted on every vehicle in sight.
I'm debating whether to add another drivers hatch over the passenger's seat. It would be right where the engine grills used to be. There will be windows to see out of but you know how everyone likes to ride around with their head out in the breeze. 

Quote from: kerick on March 06, 2025, 10:21:57 AMQuestion for when I get that far is whether to use the front of the bed with nice wood rails so no one falls off a moving truck or the rear part of the bed with the handy tailgate? Or figure out how to attach railings to the tailgate. I'm trying to remember if the 5 tons I saw had railings there or not. I was too busy looking at the .50 cal MG mounted on every vehicle in sight.
I'm debating whether to add another drivers hatch over the passenger's seat. It would be right where the engine grills used to be. There will be windows to see out of but you know how everyone likes to ride around with their head out in the breeze. 

If the tail Gare is going to be open permanently then just attach rails straight to the ramp ..if not then left it up then build a custom deck and the crew can use the door in the ramp to get in and out .
The deck would be steel plate with welded hand rails made of steel tubes .
As for the passenger..hell yes..also makes an extra escape hatch just in case 

I don't think the mechanics got far enough to deal with the M113 ramp coming down all the way or not. What I'm building still has a longer frame so the ramp could only come down to a horizontal position. Looks like I'll just go with the ramp shut and the door open. I'll have to come up with some sort of retractable boarding ladder. Don't want to make it too easy for someone unwanted to climb up on the vehicle. I don't think the ramp comes down fast enough to use in an emergency. Two or maybe three hatches to use on top so lots of exit choices. I found a random road wheel from the junk parts box that will make a perfect hatch over the passenger seat. I'll probably make a UV resin cast of the driver's hatch cover to use on the passenger side. Only one side will show anyway.  I found the unused tool lockers from the M41 assault gun. They'll fit perfectly on the M113 hull where the tracks used to be.
This one is on hold for a few days so I can get the M41 assault gun Badger and Weasel done. I've just GOT to get something off the desk and onto the display shelf!

I found a photo of a real gun truck with a battering ram built from steel tubes, angle irons and I beams. Super bad a$$!  It will be a real Alabama Slammer with that! I think I have the right parts to build it.

Italeri included it in their M923 hillbilly gun truck kit. A little too expensive to buy just for the battering ram. Plus it's the Bigfoot version and everyone says the tires suck. That would be another expense to replace those.

Quote from: kerick on March 07, 2025, 09:30:42 PMI found a photo of a real gun truck with a battering ram built from steel tubes, angle irons and I beams. Super bad a$$!  It will be a real Alabama Slammer with that! I think I have the right parts to build it.

You'll have the parts Ken ....plastic sprue for the tubes ..those bull bars are built from what ever comes to hand and what's borrowed 
Sheet styrene for bracing ..end frames ...just smack together what looks right and if it don't...add more 
That's pretty much exactly how've built all of mine .

I've got tons of rods and angle iron. I'm going to try and make it as close to the original as I can. Can't say what color it may be.

When I do get around to building this thing it's gonna have to be fully armoured ..wheels covered with integrated storage..fully armoured front ...and based on the Bigfoot as I don't have that version you've got bud ...which is fine 🙂
I'm not even sure I'll even cut the chassis down ..then I can't cockup any measurements