1/35 Mirror Models Diamond T dump truck.

[Guest]

Andy.
Will join in please. Your quite right to say about how small some parts are. One of my early kits was a Mirror Model

The tracks were so small I had to end up turning it into a wreak . On some sections of the sprue the parts were so small I just gave up, even with the optovisor.
A sprue saw is a must, think this was when I ended up having to buy one.

That's a nice model and will be worth finishing.Keep going.

[outrunner]

I knew what I was getting into with this as I have built a MM kit before so I have handled the small and fragile bits in their kits. It is nothing to be scared of, it just takes a bit of care and a fair bit of time. Not having a razor saw puts me at a bit of a disadvantage but a few clicks on the internet will fix that. Hoping to get a lot more done over the Xmas period, good paractice as there are 2 other MM kits on my to do list.


Andy

[outrunner]

I spent a few hours in the attic fiddling about with the dump truck as there was nothing much to watch on tv. The bench is a bit of a shambles as I keep moving on to another part of the build when I get fed up of tiny bits.
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The instructions say to fit these parts after you have the axles on the chassis but I reckoned it was going to be much easier to build them up first then stick them to the axles afterwards, time will tell if I am right.
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It took a bit of time to get all the tipping mechanism fitted in there although I could have done without it as I am going to build the model with a load of gravel in the back and it would never bee seen unless you turned it over.
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The next problem will be trying to set the axles to give me a slight nose up attitude to create the illusion of the truck being heavy. Simply putting spacers under the front axle will not do without altering the rear so that I do not end up with a set of rear wheels off the ground.

Andy.

[Guest]

Nice progress, often think fitting sequences are strange.

[Tim Marlow]

Looking good Andy. I agree that construction sequences are sometimes strange. Surely the most logical build sequence is that which would follow the build of the real vehicle.

[outrunner]

Nice progress, often think fitting sequences are strange.

Thanks John, I have noticed this on other models.

Looking good Andy. I agree that construction sequences are sometimes strange. Surely the most logical build sequence is that which would follow the build of the real vehicle.

Thanks Tim, as long as it looks right at the end it does not matter if you change the order of things.................................mostly.

Andy.

[Jim R]

Hi Andy
Nice start. I think once you get into dealing with the many small parts things will get easier.
Jim

[outrunner]

I gave the engine a bit of paint and a dirty up, probably a waste of time as unless I can figure out how to make the bonnet openable no one will see it.
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While waiting for some other bits to set fully I decided to have a play with the PE.
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A few months ago I iinvested in a small PE bender, a pair of Tamiya PE pliers and a diamond file which at the time I thought was a bit of a waste but today I was pleased I had them. Now all I have to do is stick it all together properly, that will be fun I reckon.

Andy.

[outrunner]

Well, that is time I will never get back but it seemed to go quite well for someone with very little PE experience.
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Sorry for the picture quality, or lack of it but the camera battery was running down and it shows I really do need a better light for the bench.

Andy.

[Tim Marlow]

Looking good Andy. Don’t worry about the time, you can never get any of it back, so you might as well do this as anything else!

[outrunner]

The build is moving along nicely and almost ready to fit the axles.
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I know it does not look much but there is a lot work with fiddly bits in there.
While waiting for the springs to set fully I thought I might start on the cab, this is where it goes from fiddly to downright fragile. first thing to stick on are the handbrake and 3 gear levers like those shown below.
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In the absence of a razor saw which is still in the post somewhere I manged to make a tool using a very fine piercing saw blade, it wasn't easy and it took a while but I got there with two parts before calling it a night.
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You can see by the blade just how thin these things are. I am sure I have mentioned before that Mirror Models have a lot of detail but they are not for the faint hearted.

Andy.

[Guest]

Think Determined should be your middle name Andy.There is nothing more nerve racking than cutting fragile pieces. You just wait for the snap !
Good going to cut those parts of the sprue like that .

[outrunner]

Think Determined should be your middle name Andy.There is nothing more nerve racking than cutting fragile pieces. You just wait for the snap !
Good going to cut those parts of the sprue like that .

Thanks John, I was sweating a bit when cutting them as the piercing blade is hard to keep in line, I might wait untill my razor saw arrives before I break something.

Andy.

[outrunner]

Well I was going to show you the almost complete chassis including the obligatory mistake but the memory card in my camera seems to have locked itself and the tab is missing so I could not take any pics. I did a little work on the cab floor including those pesky levers and found something not right about the kit. The sprues contain a few parts that are obviously for the wrecker model, but no front bumper for the dump truck, the bumper that is there is for the wrecker which is different but I have a bit in the spares box that will do as the bumper is just a length of c section, nothing fancy so not a big deal. A trip to the shops tommorow for a new SD card should see things OK for my next report.

Andy.

[outrunner]

Nearly there with the chassis, engine just dry fitted to check all was lined up.
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There is a lot of time consuming work in there.
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No doubt you will have spotted the mistake, but by the time I noticed it it was too late to do anything about it as the diff drive on the top of the axle is so thin that even flooding it with TET trying to remove it would have been fatal, anyway, that's what universal joints are for. :smiling5:
Started work on the cab floor, that lever set is very fragile and took ages to remove from the sprues and quite a while to clean them up and fix in position.
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As a distraction from throwing plastic around I cut up the colour scheme picture to match up the grey tipper body to the red cab, the top one in the photo and I think it looks good, opinions welcome.
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Thats all for today, I need a rest.

Andy