Ideas to build a fast semi?

[jsg]

My son is already thinking about next years PWD. He wants to build an optimus prime semi. I'm naturally thinking about how to make a semi that's competetive. I've thought about cutting down a block to as thin as possible and building up with balsa wood. He could do a lot of that with guidance. Just looking for ideas to construct a light weight body. I thought about putting small LED headlights and tailights on it and somehow creating the duals on the back. It's beginning to sound like a lot of work but he's starting to do quite a bit himself.

[axlegrinder]

are you building a car ??
or are you building a truck ??

[khouse]

I use a lot of 1/8 inch plywood. Strong and lite - cheap too.

[jsg]

It would be a semi truck without the trailer. I'm thinking of cutting the block down to 5/16" of an inch or so and hollowing out the area between the axles. Then I could use the 1/8 plywood ( thanks House) as sort of an underlayment to the frame and to make body parts. I want to make the body as light as possible to overcome the tendancy of a semi to be heavy in the front. I'm going to build a prototype first and see how well it does on the test track I recently built. Some things will be fun to figure out like if it's possible to have a dual wheel double axle on the rear while only having two rear wheels touching. Anybody ever do anything with LED lighting? Maybe I'm getting carried away with it but I'm looking forward to spending time with my wolf cub on it this summer when we have more free time.

[khouse]

I wonder if you could buy some of that Dow blue foam. Then carve your truck from it. Then glue it to the wood frame.

[jsg]

How do you finish off a foam body? I would think you couldn't paint over the foam.

[khouse]

Maybe water base paint? Google - painting foam.

[FiRENZE]

JSG,

Good luck with building your semi. My son and I researched several different types of manufacturers and decided on this shape. The body has been cut-out and laminated from sheets of Basswood. The independent chassis is fabricated with 1/4" x 3/8" wood strips. The dimension of the semi truck with sleeper is 2 1/2" wide by 6" length. Overall length of body and chassis is 8 3/8".


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Tom

Firenze Derby Sportscars

[khouse]

Very cool!

[srcracing]

wow!!! Tom i gotta hand it to ya ,,the craftmanship in your derby cars ,,and trucks are incredible.

[Go Bubba Go]

Apr 28, 2009 21:45:23 GMT -6 jsg said:

Some things will be fun to figure out like if it's possible to have a dual wheel double axle on the rear while only having two rear wheels touching.

Front set of duals slightly elevated i.e. no touchy but still "looks good".

Rear axles canted very slightly.

Lube the stuffin's out of the contact patches between the rear dualies, and the outside wheels will barely ever move. Ours didn't move at all under slow speeds.

Bubba

[jsg]

Wow! That semi is awesome. Do you know how much the body weighed before adding weight?