I made this alteration to both the 16.5 ton 8x8 and the smaller 4x4 making later cab construction much easier.

Spent last night working on shortening the loadbox. Inside dimension of the box should be 109.6 inches long.

Chopping the loadbox floor. Vehicle front is to the right.

Top view:


Bottom view:


Portion removed approximately 1 - 1/4 inches wide.

Plan for chopping the sideboards of the loadbox:


Note that the center division of the three uprights on each sideboard panel is slightly wider than the other two.

By any chance would someone have straight-on, photos or dimensional drawings for the Container Handling Unit (CHU)? Clearly overall dimensions of this lifting structure (less attachment hooks) must be 8 x 8 feet.

(Original CHU design shown in line drawing.)



(Enhanced design (E-CHU) shown in photograph.)

Working now on the bobber short bed undercarriage:

Re-spacing some of the support gussets and slightly relocating the smaller front mud flaps towards the rear of the box.

A couple of progress photos on the short bed:

Bottom view of the 4x4.

We LIKE!

Many thanks Evan - - Mike

Another small detail that I just "HAD" to add to both the 4x4 and the 8x8:

The two mounting brackets under the hydraulic oil reservoir (just behind the cab) are supposed to be perforated. I think Trumpeter really should have added these two items to the PE sheet.

I used a twist drill to give myself a starting hole and then finished by enlarging the starting hole with a #11 E-Xacto blade.

For the finished tank I also needed to add the missing filler cap. A piece of sprue and a little bit of plastic rod did the job.


There will be input and outflow hoses added to the reservoir as well - more on this later.

Footnote: That small detail on each end of the reservoir is the sight glass for checking the fluid level.

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For greater clearity I am going to split off the construction of the 4x4 bobber truck to a separate thread.

Here is the link to the new thread:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/255243

Time to get started on that rear steering gear for the big MTVR:


Scratch built pitman arms and cross link:

Top view of steering gear with pitman arms and linkage installed:


View from below:

Still need to finish four more brake cylinders.

Final addition for the time being: first section of steering column shaft with universal joints and bearing (pillow) blocks.

A few more progress shots:

Those rear drives are a work of art. Very nice job!

Thanks Taylor. I think we can thank Oshkosh for the easy way these modular units go together, building block style. And it works equally well in both 1/35th and 1 to 1 scales.

More progress on the rear steering shaft. In front of the transfer case the shaft will angle down, duck below the transmission and then run forward to the main steering boxes.

Nice job on the rear steering shaft.

Thanks Gino.

The only reference I have shows the rear steering shaft angling towards the passenger side of the cab. Therefore I have to assume it connects to the slave steering box up front.

What the mailman delivered . . .

Today I received my second copy of the "new" Italeri HEMTT with the LHS flatrack gear.

Nice. Now what are you going to do with that extra HEMTT? I have a spare cargo bed if you want it. Just let me know.

Gino here is my plan for using the leftover HEMTT vehicle - a totally freelanced dump truck with a mid-ships mounted crane:



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Now back to the LHS equipment:

This mechanism built by MULTILIFT of Britain is going to be a necessary addition for building my Mk ?? 16.5 ton Navy LHS.


Look at all that beautiful bolt head detail!

Very glad to report that the frame rail spacing on the HEMTT and the Mk23 IS THE SAME! (I think Oshkosh might have had a plan in mind here.) So the LHS MULTILIFT equipment drops right onto the Navy truck!