[MOC] 'Dirt' small offroad pickup truck (V2.0)

[Rudivdk]

During TC18 I was fooling around with some panels and I came up with this pick-up style body. I liked it so much that I kept in on the shelve and continued to make a full model out of it.

I present you 'Dirt', a small-scale offroad pick-up truck:

It has the following features:

• Front suspended dead axle
• Rear suspended live axle
• Fake flat-4 engine driven by the rear axle
• Front axle steering with HoG
• Opening bonnet and rear hatch
• Entire body detachable in 1 piece

It can be fitted with above shown balloon tires, or the regular road tires it carries in the bed:

It has quite a nice articulation on both axles, considering the scale:

Unfortunately not all is perfect:

• The balloon tires rub on the chassis frame/wheel wells when the axles are fully articulated, the front street tires also (rear has a bit more room)
• The front axle's steering setup touches the underside of the engine when springs are compressed, severely limiting straight-up articulation of the axle
• The steering is VERY jerky (or even non-responsive), jumping from max-left to max right after a lot of pressure is built up through the HoG steering wheel.

I am already thinking about completely revising the front axle into a V2.0, but I wanted to show the model in it's current, originally intended state.

EDIT: see below post for the V2.0 update

Instructions and a video are (again) in the works, coming soon. I'll update in this thread once available.

 

As always: stay safe, and enjoy the holidays!

Cheers!

 

PS: A few more pics under the spoiler:

Spoiler

 

 

Full album on Bricksafe

Tell me what you think!

Edited July 20, 2020 by Rudivdk
V2.0 update

[ScT]

I really like this, well done!
I wouldn't worry about articulation causing tires to rub - that happens on the real thing too in some cases! (The guys at 4WD 24/7 have this issue from time to time!)

Can't wait for instructions. Might fix it to no-steering and add a pullback motor if that's possible with the space given :)

[Rudivdk]

I have succesfully redesigned the front axle. The steering now works smooth and the steering assembly no longer touches on the bottom of the engine/chassis. I had to make some small compromises though: the steering lock has decreased a bit and the trackwidth has increased 0.5 stud per wheel so 1 stud in total per axle. The rubbing of the tires remains as before. I can live with that.

Instructions will be made based on V2.0.

Pictures:

Old axle in the rear, new axle in front:

Reduced height (old axle on the left, new on the right):

Installed on the car:

[Jundis]

Looks good :-)

But why didn't you use the 10l gear rack?

[Rudivdk]

I could have but since that is 0.5 stud high it is way harder to attach it without wobbling all over the place. Also it is not a natural fit with the black 12t pinion gear.

Edited July 20, 2020 by Rudivdk