[Free Model #3] Tucker Sno-cat build

[SCEtoAux]

That is a nice looking vehicle. I remember seeing some of those kind of vehicles and was astonished at how big some of them are.

[redhorse]

Just read about the setback, good luck with the rebuild. I'm looking forward to seeing this one finished, I'm really impressed with the build so far.

PS: I like your cutting mat, does it work better than the green olfa ones? It looks better!

[outersketcher]

I made a big mistake. Was so "into" getting the stupid thing built that I just started assembling the snocat without even bothering to follow the builders directions. And so, I ended up with the chasis, body sides and back, but had no way to install the top! AAAAAAAUUAAHAGHAUUAGHglglglg!!...

I tried to force it to work.. I really did... but had to admit that there was no way to do it.

So... I had to tear it apart and salvage what I could. Luckily, the tear down and salvage went very well and I was able to reuse many of the sub assemblies that I'd so painstakingly built.

Using the salvaged sub assemblies, I rebuilt the body...starting with the top _first_ this time. Went together well. Those compound curves are tough to simulate accurately tho.

By far the most difficult piece to build was the front windshield and frame. Such thin frame edges next to the "glass" made it a holy terror to cut out. Add to that the fact that I needed to cut the same part out THREE TIMES.... the interior piece for the cabin, the outer piece with only the "glass" area cut out to show off the rubber, and the final, outer trim piece, with both the "glass" and the "rubber" cut out.... the latter two pieces are sandwiched to each other and then placed over a piece of clear acetate. The inside peice was glued to the back of the acetate making a complete, windshield sub assembly.

I'm not willing to admit how many of those I went through till I had three usable pieces... nor how many x-acto blades I used up in the process either. ; )

But the body is together now and looks good.

You'll see that although the designer did not provide an inside cabin roof piece, I was able to continue the color of the painted metal by simply reversing a section of the outer roof and gluing it upside down into the cabin roof. I think it looks great.

The last photo is my attempt to point out the little pieces of extra laminated details pulled from the prints. I'll go into this more next post.

[logicman]

That's a major setback, but you've coped well.

You could have ploughed ahead and not mentioned it.
It's great that you did, though - it alerts others to the need to
read the instructions - or at least think ahead.
It also says a lot for your honesty, and I admire that.

Those thin bits that need folding - I fold those with a lot of
waste still on the part, then cut off the waste after.
It's still fiddly, but a bit more manageable.

Anyway, great going!
That's a good, clean, square build.


Enough said, which is a very rare statement when it comes from
logicman.

[outersketcher]

Okay, I only have the one photo this time. I spent some time carefully cutting out door handles, door hinges and hood hinges and latches from an extra sheet of parts. I was even able to cut out a set of windshield wiper blades from the parts sheet as well. Hey, the designer included them in his artwork.... I'm installing them on my model. ; )

Each little piece was installed with a tiny drop of glue and much holding of breath.

The seats, steering wheel and dash are all installed as well.

I'm amazed at how effective just an extra layer of detail can add to a relatively simple model. The simple addition of a tiny strip of paper now says "hinge" and makes the door.... just... "feel" more like a door in my mind now.

I still have to build and install the headlights, exhaust pipe, roof hatch, and storage bins... but, I'll do them after I get the traction pontoons completed.

Next post, the traction pontoons...

[outersketcher]

thanks logicman for the tip.... yeah, I think it would've gone easier for me had I folded them all first.

David

[logicman]

That last photo looks great, David.

It inspires me - as if I don't have enough projects going -
to make one and convert it to a railbus. The body shape is exactly right.

What do you think?

[Art Decko]

Hey, the Sno-cat is looking great! Nice recovery from the mis-step! Looks like theose compound curves came out very well. I think you are right about the small details, they have an impact disproportionate to their size.

[Gearz]

Excellent!!

[outersketcher]

I picked up the cutting mat at an art supply store. Not a craft shop. They also have a translucent, milky white colored mat for use over a light table.... Bought one of those too. I love the light table mat.

I've use both the green, the black, the blue and the translucent mats and find them all adequate. Black just looks cool. : )


If by chance, you might be wondering what a "light table" is... well, it's usually a portable flat rectangular box; anywhere from 2" to 5" in height, with a piece of translucent white plexiglass plastic or frosted glass screwed onto the top. Florescent lights inside.

It's relatively easy to make your own out of plywood, a sheet of plexiglass, and a couple of small kitchen lights. Don't use clear plastic or clear glass. The frosted side of the glass or plastic acts as a diffuser to distribute the light out over the whole surface of the table top...giving you a nice, uniform glow instead of just two or three harsh lines of bright light.

I'd love to see a rail bus version of the snocat!

[outersketcher]

Well, okay... not the pontoons yet. First the suspension assemblies. I chose to use the extra detail parts provided by the designer. This allowed me to build up the leaf springs and also had the added benefit of being stronger. (The specs require that the main strut pieces are laminated to a thickness of 2mm.) Coat those pieces with some super glue and you've got a couple of strong assemblies. You can see in the photos that I cut out and partially assembled one of the simpler suspension sections so that I could have a basis from wich to compare the high detail assembly.

Sanded the assemblies down a bit and raised the bolts up in detail.

Of course, I had to give the assemblies the ability to rotate just like the model on the designer's website. So, using a dremel tool, I countersank a cylindrical hole into each suspension unite and then drilled a smaller hole through the entire piece. Including the chasis of the snocat itself. Then I rolled up two super glue soaked "pins" from scrap paper and glued them into the chasis of the snocat.

The suspension assemblies will slip onto the pins and will be able to rotate freely. The pins will have a cap glued to thier ends to match the artwork provide in the parts sheets.

I tried to recolor the suspension assemblies with the orange marker... but it just couldn't cover the super glue soaked areas... so, I painted them with acrylic paint.

Before I install the suspension assemblies, I want to add those tiny little binding straps of steel that held the spring leaves in place. You can see them in the artwork of the simpler assembly piece in my hand.

Next... the axles

[Lex]

Those small parts look like they'll hurt... But you did a very clean job there!

[outersketcher]

Thanks Lex... the model is small and those itty-bitty-teeny-weeny parts are turning me cross eyed. I can hold the sno-cat in the palm of my hand.

Well, I glued the suspension assemblies in place. Don't they look great?

I cut out the axle pieces and spent some time trying to figure out what I was supposed to do with a couple of rectangles that were clustered in with the rest of the axle parts. Never did figure out what they were for. I ended up using them to both cover the brass rod I used for a rigid axle and as a spacer to keep the pontoons at the right distance from the body.

I tried two separate methods to create the dome of the differential hubs. In the first, I only cut out one side of the "waste" pie sections and used them as glue tabs to pull the colored parts together.

Didn't like it. Strong... but looks terrible.

The second method was to just cut out all the waste pie slices and then flip the piece into the palm of my hand and burnish it till the ends curled together naturally. Then it was just a matter of adding a dab of white glue to each joining area and set it aside to dry.

Much nicer.

The instructions call for a tooth pick to be used as the actual axle, but I couldn't find any toothpicks long enough to fit the needed length. So, I used a couple of spare pieces of solid brass rod.

[outersketcher]

Finished the axles. The cone pieces that come from the hubs down to the axles are supposed to be eliptical in shape... NOT round. Took me a bit to realize that.

Went to install the axles to the suspension and discovered that the spring leaves didn't extend far enough down from the main suspension pieces to clear the hub! And I'd thought I'd gone overboard by laminating each of those spring leaves three layers thick each.

Anyway, I had to remove those pretty little spring leaf sets from each suspension frame and began again. This time, I laminated each spring leaf four times. That did the trick. You can see the NEW and IMPROVED spring leaf sets in all their uncolored glory. I really like how those thin little binding straps, (two each per spring leaf set) help bring out the "gosh that looks real!"-ness of the model!

I glued the axles in place, and painted the spring leaves.... once again... with medium cadmium orange acrylic paint to maintain the original look of the design.

The last photo is just my tongue and cheek way of standing the sno-cat up for the night.

"NO PA!.. DON'T START UP THE SNO-CAT!... 'TAIN'T REAL YET!.."

okay, for reals now... it's time to tackle the pontoons. While the detail is impressive. You know I can't just leave it. Will have to laminate up some of that track detail... yes... gonna have to.

[Lex]

It's coming together nicely, can't believe those small bits are made from paper!