Progress on my "next generation" 'Streets 18-wheeler tractor - beta version (pictures and video)

Very cool!  Now all you need is a factory in China, packaging and a distributor.

Lee, that is terrific. I've been wondering how to do some big rigs and you have shown the way. I have a Lionel truck that has TMCC fitted, so I think that it will be fun expanding this idea too, using the ERR Mini Commander.

Fantastic work, Lee.  Can't wait to see the finished product.  Quite ingenious.

Ron

Thanks guys.  Its a fun project. 

 

BTW - when I finish these, and the country road for them to run on (A 'streets 1950-ish rural highway made from Atlas track rather than actual SS road-track section) I plan to put all I have learned by then into another report, sort of the like the two I posted long ago (All I have learned about Superstreets and Anatomy of a $110 Supersteets 18-wheeler) which I will post here as a .pdf as an attachment to download from here.

Nice work, Lee.  Your SS customs are always interesting to follow.  Thanks for sharing.

Impressive Lee! Thanks in advance for keeping us updated.

TJ

WOW, Lee that is amazing

Lee...this is another one of your ground breaking projects that is simply fantastic!!  This will be a lot of fun to follow...

 

Thanks,

Alan

That is really great, can't wait to see different stages and the finshed project.

Great work Lee. Can't wait to see it all finished.

Mike R

Your talent never ceases to amaze me. Do you ever build one for a customer!!

Nice Idea, Lee, I hope to see more soon.

Truly outstanding Lee.

 This is very cool. Since following this overall story, i started looking at others out there. I saw a HO scale version at the LHS. I don't remember any Tractortrailers when I was young.

 I kind of dreamed by now that there would be no grooves needed in these vehicles. It seems like the technology is still where it was back when I was a youth. I remember when the AFX's came out with the onboard magnets, how fast they ran. I had preferred the bigger 1/32 scale. Those were getting expensive back then and I grew out of running them.

 I always thought something would be developed to allow grooveless racing and the ability to change lanes anywhere. More on the lines of tiny remote cars that needed to be driven. Looking at these brings me back, though.

That is wayyyyyy cool.

.....

Dennis

Lee,

 

You are truly the Master of Superstreets.  All of your custom vehicles are top notch when completed.  i can't wait to see this finished.  Are you still going to pursue the horizontal drive when you finish this one?

 

Joe

Lee thank you so much for posting these. They are always an inspiration.

 

Have you thought about using a drive shaft, so that the motor isn't vertical?

 

I was looking at this and was thinking that you might be able to use the HO athearn motors and gearing.   Wish I had more time and money (college does that).

 

A horizontal drive, using an Athern type motor does interest me, but I am not going to pursue it. 

 

If I were designing an 18-wheeler for factory production and had the means to make/machine parts finely and precisely in repition, I would take that route.  But the vertical drives I make work very well with what is relatively (to a factory's work) very sloppy work.  I have no machine tools in my workshop, just a drill press, bandsaw, and bench sander.  I have difficulty making precise (less than 1/2 mm) cuts, drillings, and fittings.  I can make an robust tower drive like in this truck, or angled, reduction geared drive as in the city buses I made about a year ago, with these tools.  I have experimented (bought an Athern drive and a Bachman dual shaft/flywheel motor and driveshaft set I bought, etc. and can't make good horizonal drives with this level of precision. 

Lee,

 

Have you looked at using a 'Beep' chassis for the underpinnings of the tractor? The chassis itself is plastic, which should make it fairly easy to kit-bash fuel tanks, etc.

 

Very cool - thanks for pioneering a great idea and sharing with us!

Excellent! Keep up the good work!

Great job looks like a fun project.

 

I have been wondering if it might work well to have an HO drive system like they have in most Atlas and walters and other brand engines. Has a can motor in the middle and then a drive shaft to the gear set. Perhaps for a truck the can motor could mounted under the cab and a drive shaft running to the rear axle where you would have the HO gear tower and then run out on longer drive shafts to the wheels??

 

This would give a nice slow low gearing for climbing and power. 

http://www.faller.de/App/WebOb...cm.p/Car-System.html

 

There is the Faller HO trackless system that would be nice in O scale!

just great, lee. and your city block is looking great as well. 

 

jerrman

Some comments. 

 

Again, I tried various HO and other drive system, to the point of buying parts and trying it in a couple of cases.  the problem is that the precision needed exceeds what I can build without machine-shop type tools, whereas the tower and angle drives I make for my trucks and buses I an assemble with just normal woodworking hobby tools. 

 

The Faller Car System.  Oh you got me started now!!!!! I had alot of that (over 100 feet, typically six vehciles moving at once) on my N scale layout.  When they worked, they were fantastic.  No slots, no strings: just little buses and trucks (we're talking N scale now) that roamed around the downtown area, turned at corners, went up and down mountain roads, even pulled into bus stops, etc.  But:

- lthey were not cheap, not cheap at all

-they are the most cantakerous, delicate, fussy things you have ever imagined.  Nearlevery day eveyr one had to be adjusted, cleaned or fussed over. 

- in spite of a lot of effort (I doubled the iron wire they follow so their paths were absolutely unambiguous to them and buried it shallow,  adjusted the magnetic steering perfectly, etc.) they had a "mean time to get lost" of about ten minutes per vehicle.  I had six running.  I never went even five minutes with one or more running off where they shouldn't.  remember, they were delicate; some damaged themselves doing this.

- they had to be recharged, and then when recharged they ran a bit too fast for ten minutes, then just right for five minutes, then too slow for ten minutes, and then they needed to be recharged for an hour. 

- they wore out and broke alot and I could never, ever, fix even one (and I can fix most things that are broken)

But they were cool when they ran, and the HO version, which has one truck that drives itself up a ramp and loads its container on a flatcar - well, that is just as spectacular.

That's awesome!

You might consider using MTH Scaletrax flex for building the rural road you mentioned.  The narrow center rail will hide nicely and the flextrack is very flexible and easy to work with.

Lee,

 

I realize others are talking about horizontal drive systems with drive shafts  and HO drives but I thought you were considering a similar, smaller motor in the horizontal position to drive the front wheels of the tractor in your original post.

 

Joe

It did not work well.  I was a bit surprised but when I got the thing built, the problem was slightly more than half of the motor's weight was actually over the rear axle (the motor was a bit farther back than I expected with the long shaft to the front) and the power went to the front but the traction was to the rear.  As a result it would barely pull itself along.  Pulling a trailer around a curve even on the level made it spin its wheels.  I put all the weight at could inside the cab but . . . sometimes you do a lot of work just to learn - that wasn't a great idea.  

 

One thing I ought to do more of is post pictures and explanations of what doesn't work . . . 

Lee,

   Fantastic stuff no doubt about it!

PCRR/Dave

Very impressive, Lee.  Can't wait to see the finished product or products.

Nice work Lee, I can't wait to see the finished product. You got talent kid!

Lee,

 

thanks for the update on your attempt at front wheel drive.  Too bad you had to do all that work and got no return for your effort.

 

Joe

Hi Lee,

 

I've just had a thought, and I was wondering if it might be of any help in your quest.  In H0 scale, Faller make a variety of powered vehicles for use on their roadway system. I was wondering if perhaps you could adapt the drivetrain from one of their larger vehicles to propel your tractor-trailer units?  Here's a link to their website: http://www.faller.de/App/WebOb....109/Car-System.html

Lee:

 

I'm working on a 1:48 Burt Reynolds, Jerry Reed, Sally Field and Jackie Gleason.  You have to come up with a Firebird Trans Am and you'll need a whole lotta scale Coors.

 

Let's see, a 1:48 CB on Channel 19 would be around 1.3 GHz.

Very nice!!! All you need now is a sleeper cab to hide that motor.

 

I just bought a 1:48 model tank on the Bay for about $7.00.  It is motorized.  That motor runs on batteries but it is very small.  I bet you could add a few resisters to it and run it on track power.  Maybe.

 

Rick

I had not thought of that.  I will look into it but I probably will not pursue it. I did look at using HO train drives, and the Faller will be even more delicate and expensive, I think.  Plus this is working out pretty well for my 18 wheelers, so I'm tending to go with it. 

 

However, I will look into it for converting small cars.  On another thread I talked about how, while I have converted many 1:43 sedans and such to 'streets, I can't manage to squeeze any type of drive into a 1:43 sports car, such as TR3 or XK120, or a mid '50s Ferrari (or any year Ferrari at all, for that matter): sports cars are just too small. Maybe the Faller drives will fit . . .