MystRacing
Active Member
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2023
- Messages
- 55
I decided to post this in the Armor area because it's 1/35 and Armor related. Kind of like a dragon wagon it isn't exactly armor.
I have been moving kind of slow on my Meng FT-17 the last few weeks and its finally time to explain why. I was doing some research on the FT-17 and came across a photo. It is of an FT-17 on some sort of really old semi.
One of the things I've wanted to do for a long time is build all of the tank haulers from WW2. The Scammel, M19, Dragon Wagon, Faun, Famo, etc. All with trailers and a load. Having been on a WW1 kick lately I decided to look into this a bit more. Shortly after I came across this photo which is what I would like to do a Diorama of.
Hopefully these photos are no longer under any copyright, they are floating around the net with no reference to any particular site or publication.
I know for sure the rest of what I will post is not. Not long ago I finished a model of the CA-2 Schneider French tank which is what is being hauled in the above photo. The Schneider company bought a bunch of these trucks from Knox to haul their Gun tractors and the CA-2. Here's my CA-2
After quite a bit of research it turns out the truck is a Knox Model 35 which was made in Springfield Massachusetts US. The trailer is a French made La Buire trailer. So, knowing what it is I went looking for a kit. Not at all surprisingly there isn't one. Blast Models out of France made a resin kit in both 1/35 and 1/72. However, there are a couple issues. The biggest being it isn't available any longer. The next being the model they made was actually a Model 36 chassis instead of a Model 35, and not all that detailed. Here is a photo of the Blast model kit. While not being really well detailed it does give a pretty good idea of the general appearance.
I really need one of these to complete my hauler collection and there isn't a kit available. I got to thinking about how I could possibly make one. I'm pretty handy with plastic having done a lot of scratch building over the years for railroad stuff. I got to thinking about kit bashing something like this. ICM makes a WW1 truck that I originally thought I could maybe kit bash a chassis out of and use the wheels and engine etc. I went down that road for a while until I kind of hit the jackpot and discovered a whole bunch of information about the Knox Model 35.
The following are from a book on Truck design that was written in 1919 and has been out of print for over 100 years and is also no longer under any copyright.
Amongst many odd features, especially for the time, the Knox model 35 had a really unique rear suspension setup as you can see below.
The 5th wheel setup where the trailer sets rides on a set of springs, but the chassis of the truck is split so the cab and front of the truck is attached via cantilever springs and radius rods. This allowed for a relatively light front chassis to haul a huge load. The load was limited to 15 tons in the UK but the truck was loaded up to 25 tons in the US. This is the chief difference between the model 35 and the Model 36 mentioned above. The Model 36 has a traditional style chassis with just the normal rear leaf springs. At the bottom of the page below you can see photos of the actual rear of a Knox Model 35.
Also on the page above you can see the brake assembly on the jackshaft at the rear of the forward chassis. The truck had a 14 inch diameter mechanical brake on the jackshaft. It also had an extremely unusual for the day, 20 inch hydraulic brake setup inside the rear wheels. The jack shaft brake is a really prominent feature on these trucks. At this point I was just getting more and more interested in modeling this truck because it is so unusual.
This page gives a good look of the tractor on its own.
At this point it was pretty clear that kit bashing this thing was not really a viable option. So I decided to just jump in and basically make my own kit of the Knox Model 35 and la Buire trailer. This is obviously going to be a fairly long project. I didn't want to post anything until I felt like the chance of success was up into the 90% or better range, so I waited until today. I should mention here this isn't a first time generating a scratch model kit, just the first plastic one the previous ones were wood ships.
I proceeded to take the information I was able to compile which included a lot of mechanical drawings and historic photos and brought them into autocad and started drawing. I began with the rear springs, being as odd shaped as the whole assembly is I figured if I could draw that I can handle the rest. I then brought my cad drawings into Fusion 360 and solid modeled the rear suspension. Here are the results. The different colors are just to see the different parts better. Quite a crazy suspension setup with the chain drive and cantilevered springs.
Here's a rendering that will give the overall chassis size. I've actually got quite a bit mode of the truck modeled, but don't have a rendering available.
And here is the reason I waited till today to post. I have a friend that has a bunch of nice manufacturing equipment including a really nice resin printer and he ran the first batch of prototype parts this morning. Here's a photo fresh off the press so to speak.
Here's a closeup of the 14 inch diameter jack brake. I'm amazed at the detail this 8K printer will do. Note the entire brake shoe assembly is here, it's missing on the Blast model kit.
This is the transmission and differential; another odd feature is the massive one-piece diff / transmission unit. The shafts supporting the gears are 4 inches in diameter in the real one.
I'm cruising right along now. I've pretty much totally given up on kit bashing. I might still use a few parts like tow hooks and wheels but at this point there isn't much that I can take from another kit. it'll probably be a few weeks before another update but I'm really encouraged at this point.
I have been moving kind of slow on my Meng FT-17 the last few weeks and its finally time to explain why. I was doing some research on the FT-17 and came across a photo. It is of an FT-17 on some sort of really old semi.
One of the things I've wanted to do for a long time is build all of the tank haulers from WW2. The Scammel, M19, Dragon Wagon, Faun, Famo, etc. All with trailers and a load. Having been on a WW1 kick lately I decided to look into this a bit more. Shortly after I came across this photo which is what I would like to do a Diorama of.
Hopefully these photos are no longer under any copyright, they are floating around the net with no reference to any particular site or publication.
I know for sure the rest of what I will post is not. Not long ago I finished a model of the CA-2 Schneider French tank which is what is being hauled in the above photo. The Schneider company bought a bunch of these trucks from Knox to haul their Gun tractors and the CA-2. Here's my CA-2
After quite a bit of research it turns out the truck is a Knox Model 35 which was made in Springfield Massachusetts US. The trailer is a French made La Buire trailer. So, knowing what it is I went looking for a kit. Not at all surprisingly there isn't one. Blast Models out of France made a resin kit in both 1/35 and 1/72. However, there are a couple issues. The biggest being it isn't available any longer. The next being the model they made was actually a Model 36 chassis instead of a Model 35, and not all that detailed. Here is a photo of the Blast model kit. While not being really well detailed it does give a pretty good idea of the general appearance.
I really need one of these to complete my hauler collection and there isn't a kit available. I got to thinking about how I could possibly make one. I'm pretty handy with plastic having done a lot of scratch building over the years for railroad stuff. I got to thinking about kit bashing something like this. ICM makes a WW1 truck that I originally thought I could maybe kit bash a chassis out of and use the wheels and engine etc. I went down that road for a while until I kind of hit the jackpot and discovered a whole bunch of information about the Knox Model 35.
The following are from a book on Truck design that was written in 1919 and has been out of print for over 100 years and is also no longer under any copyright.
Amongst many odd features, especially for the time, the Knox model 35 had a really unique rear suspension setup as you can see below.
The 5th wheel setup where the trailer sets rides on a set of springs, but the chassis of the truck is split so the cab and front of the truck is attached via cantilever springs and radius rods. This allowed for a relatively light front chassis to haul a huge load. The load was limited to 15 tons in the UK but the truck was loaded up to 25 tons in the US. This is the chief difference between the model 35 and the Model 36 mentioned above. The Model 36 has a traditional style chassis with just the normal rear leaf springs. At the bottom of the page below you can see photos of the actual rear of a Knox Model 35.
Also on the page above you can see the brake assembly on the jackshaft at the rear of the forward chassis. The truck had a 14 inch diameter mechanical brake on the jackshaft. It also had an extremely unusual for the day, 20 inch hydraulic brake setup inside the rear wheels. The jack shaft brake is a really prominent feature on these trucks. At this point I was just getting more and more interested in modeling this truck because it is so unusual.
This page gives a good look of the tractor on its own.
At this point it was pretty clear that kit bashing this thing was not really a viable option. So I decided to just jump in and basically make my own kit of the Knox Model 35 and la Buire trailer. This is obviously going to be a fairly long project. I didn't want to post anything until I felt like the chance of success was up into the 90% or better range, so I waited until today. I should mention here this isn't a first time generating a scratch model kit, just the first plastic one the previous ones were wood ships.
I proceeded to take the information I was able to compile which included a lot of mechanical drawings and historic photos and brought them into autocad and started drawing. I began with the rear springs, being as odd shaped as the whole assembly is I figured if I could draw that I can handle the rest. I then brought my cad drawings into Fusion 360 and solid modeled the rear suspension. Here are the results. The different colors are just to see the different parts better. Quite a crazy suspension setup with the chain drive and cantilevered springs.
Here's a rendering that will give the overall chassis size. I've actually got quite a bit mode of the truck modeled, but don't have a rendering available.
And here is the reason I waited till today to post. I have a friend that has a bunch of nice manufacturing equipment including a really nice resin printer and he ran the first batch of prototype parts this morning. Here's a photo fresh off the press so to speak.
Here's a closeup of the 14 inch diameter jack brake. I'm amazed at the detail this 8K printer will do. Note the entire brake shoe assembly is here, it's missing on the Blast model kit.
This is the transmission and differential; another odd feature is the massive one-piece diff / transmission unit. The shafts supporting the gears are 4 inches in diameter in the real one.
I'm cruising right along now. I've pretty much totally given up on kit bashing. I might still use a few parts like tow hooks and wheels but at this point there isn't much that I can take from another kit. it'll probably be a few weeks before another update but I'm really encouraged at this point.
