Styudebaker US6 Katyusha...........
 

Recently, I realized I joined this forum 5 years ago (on February 24). Gosh, how time flies......I have posted photos of a number of my finished projects before, but I never did a photo WIP thread that showed my progress as it got done from the start. I want to try to do that. Last week I remembered that I had a large scale R/C truck model that was begging me to use it for some kind of a project. It is one of those toy like 1/16 (1/14?) RTR trucks that I got on the internet for $60 a couple of years ago. It's a model of a King Hauler, and it is going to donate itself to be cannibalized and converted into a Studebaker deuce and a half. It won't be Tamiya or even Heng Long quality, but it will work out well enough to suit me (I'm easy to please). It's going to be fun (for me), and maybe provide you guys with a few laughs about "Why it might be easier to scratch build something than convert anything into something else". I hope this works.

Here's what I started with ....

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968236http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968237http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968238

The dimensions of this truck were close to the dimensions of the Studebaker, but could be improved. I shortened the frame by cutting out 25mm. I also cut out the battery box on the bottom to get the ground clearance more accurate.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968243http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968244http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968245

The Way this toy was built required amputation of the front end, which had the centering adjuster for the front wheels, and the rear end which had a spring thing for the suspension. I built a mickey mouse rig to replace the wheel centering thing.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968246 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968247http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968249http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968250


http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968260http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968261

If you have any suggestions about building this thing ..... please speak up ..... I'm open for good ideas.

Rex

this is going to be nice can't wait to see more great job so far

I got a bit more progress done and thought photos of my crude start of a Studebaker US6 cab, and a few other things, was in order. The cab is kinda rough right now but after some hammer and hacksaw adjustments, it should get better eventually. It will take a bunch of cutting, bondo, file work, more bondo and sanding, and then a thick coat of paint should make it look decent (from a distance). Things are working out well so far, and I am beginning to think about all of the different kinds of load beds that were put on this truck in WWII. I am building the bed to be interchangeable with other types of load beds besides the Russian rocket launcher "Stalin's organ"


.http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968797http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968798http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968799http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968802http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968805http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968806http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1968807

nice one rex i gonna follow these great project

Rex you are the King of styrene!!!!:o

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Thank you Maus45.........

I agree. King Rex really sounds good to me. But before I can accept that exalted title, I must improve my spelling and typing skills in order to be worthy..


I direct your attention to the title of this posting.


Styudebaker ?????? ........ Nobody noticed the "y" in that goof ?????


Also, that "attached thumbnails" photo at the bottom of the first bunch of pictures is a mystery to me. I have no idea how I did that, or how to delete it, and for some reason I can't edit that title.


However, if I should ever qualify for Supreme Styrene Royalty Status, I will expect the customary yearly tribute in the form of my weight in gold .......... but
if you knew what I weigh you would rethink your suggestion.


But thank all of youse guys for your kind comments. Anyone who makes nice comments about my stuff shall be Knighted in my Plastruct Palace when I assume my Eternal Evergreen Throne.


I must take my medication now ......Nurse !!! ..... my glass is empty !!!!!!

Rex I laughed my Axx off. Very funny!!! has the nurse filled your glass yet? I just thought the "y" made it the Russian spelling? :cool:

I decided to take a break from doing the cab and do some work on the bed for the rocket rack. Not bad so far but the rocket rails and support rack for the rails are gonna be a pain. I think I have a plan for rigging up a fixture that will allow me to stack and clamp 2 or 3 beams on top of one another and drill all of those holes in my drill press. Drilling them one at a time on each styrene beam is out of the question.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1970142http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1970144http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1970145http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1970146

Only 7 more rails and the tubular support frame to go .............. I'm getting a headache .............

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1970148http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1970149

Looks great!!!

Today I am going to buy a cake to celebrate the fifth anniversary of my joining this hobby forum on 2-24-2009. Since then, I have enjoyed the text postings of the members, and the project photo threads posted by those members over the years. As a result of the great work of the RCU members, I have been inspired to scratch build a number of AFVs ---------- and my thanks to all of you for the kind comments about my projects that I have posted.


Todays posting is a WIP upgrade on my effort to build a Studebaker US6 with a Katyusha rocket rack. I've never done a build thread exactly like this before, and today I am going to show additional progress, including an embarrassing learning experience (dumb mistake) that I made that I was able to correct (Mickey Mouse Modification). I seem to recall an old saying ..........


"Measure twice, cut once". That is advice I will try to remember in the future.


The eight rocket rails needed a bunch of holes drilled into them. That didn't turn out to be too bad once I was able to put together an alignment frame so that I could drill a couple of them at the same time, I used the first one I made as a template so that all of the holes would be uniformly spaced in the others.


Things went ok until I discovered my bad judgement at proper.rail spacing. The rails were too close together. At least 3mm more of space between each one was needed. Since I already glued the heck out of that rack, the only choice I had was to cut the three connection rods and insert a hollow tubing sleeve (21 pieces) in between the rails and reglue everything. That "redo" worked for a plastic toy, but I think it's a good thing I didn't try to become a brain surgeon, rocket scientist, or bomb squad technician.

Some additional progress photos ...........

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1971813http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1971814http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1971815http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1971817http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1971818http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1971819http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1971820http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1971821http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1971822

Here's a photo of the rocket rack before I widened it by 23mm

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1971820

rex thats awesome nice details

I know the feeling. Just discovered that I will need to reverse the bolts on the schuzen I am working on for my StuG. not a big deal except I had reheat the solder on the rail hangers and it seeped into the threads. So now I have to heat them to get them loose!!!! :eek: It looks great Rex!!!

I'm beginning to ask myself ......"What the heck was I thinking when I thought a Katyusha rocket launcher on a Studebaker truck chassis is a model I need to build"? Then I answered myself, "I guess I was thinking ..... because I just don't have one".


So far, so good ....the cab and chassis mods were easy.... but the launcher rails and tubing frame were nothing but pure details to build. I kinda felt like a spider building a web. I still have to build 16 rockets, but that's OK, finishing the cab will be easy by comparison...... when I get around to it.


Google searches came up with a heck of a lot of detail reference photos that enabled me to put together a fairly accurate scale model of this rig. I found out a lot more about Russian rocket launchers than I ever thought I would want to know.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1974210http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1974211http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1974212http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1974213http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1974214http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1974215


Somewhere on the launch rail superstructure there was a mount for a dial sight, possibly with range and angle of sight scales and leveling bubble, this was the normal Soviet sighting arrangement. The sights may have been removed before firing.


http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1974218



The dial sight would have been oriented using a director type instrument oriented in a centre of arc or zero line. Calculations, or more likely measurement of bearing and range from the map was probably at battalion level.


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A ranging gun would have acted as a rangefinder. The difference between rocket and shell ballistics was such that the effects of atmospheric conditions on projectiles would have been somewhat different so the correction derived would have been approximate. With a BM 21 a low level wind measuring system was sometimes used, I've no idea if such arrangements were used earlier.


On my scale model of a type BM 13, had this type of device on the side of the tube frame that is articulated to correspond with the launch rails and used to aim the rockets (see photo and drawings). I was able to find some info on how it was configured for operation in the field under intensive battle conditions. Using ranging tables to compute azimuth and elevation (corrected for temperature and humidity) a firing trajectory solution could be calculated. This usually also involved spherical trigonometry parameters (which every schoolboy knows) so aiming the rockets for maximum pinpoint accuracy was assured. This was PLAN A. In case these instructions could not be followed, just pointing the truck at the bad guys and hoping you hit enemy stuff was PLAN B.


I absolutely refuse to try to build that aiming device in 1/16 scale. It has been built with a dust cover to protect it from the hazards of the environment.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1974221


I cut a finger off of a latex rubber glove for that accurate 1/16 scale part. The 16 rockets are next

WOW you are the Master of Detail ...Great work as always Rex Ross

I wasn't too interested about building absolutely accurate models of the BM 13 rockets, and I almost decided not to build any at all because there were16 of them and that meant 64 stabilizing fins needed to be glued on.....evenly and straight. The wooden alignment block that I made was the solution. Then I thought that making the bodies out of some felt pens I had might be close enough to serve as a similar looking weapon. They are supposed to represent the 133mm, 42.5kg rockets, of which 6 million were built during WWII. Those will be on top of the rails. The rockets on the bottom of the rails will be the smaller ones made out of old Bic pencils. I figured since they wouldn't be very visible, it didn't matter if they were a little different looking.


Out of the 7,000 Studebaker trucks equipped with the launcher, 4,000 were lost in battle, according to my Google.search sources.


http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1975381http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1975382http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1975383

Good job Rex. but King Rex? Rex is latin for King so your name should be King KIng or Rex Rex (the wonder dog) Yes I noticed the "Y" but figured you were just being provocative (since I know how you are). As usual your imagine and skill are wonderful.

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Good job Rex. but King Rex? Rex is latin for King .........


Dear Mr. clank I thank you for your kind comments. But for the sake of accuracy, I would like to point out that the word "Latin" should be written with a capital "L", not with the lower case letter.


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so your name should be King KIng or Rex Rex (the wonder dog) .......


Yes, that is the favorite laughing and giggling name that I have heard a jillion times before ......... and don't forget Tyrannosaurus Rex and Oedipus Rex. You might also Google the name Rex for other sources of amusement.


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Yes I noticed the "Y" but figured you were just being provocative (since I know how you are).


Me? provocative? Absolutely NOT !!! .... sadly, that was just a careless typo that I missed in proof reading and editing the text.


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As usual your imagine and skill are wonderful.


Finally!!!! Something we both can agree on. Sir, your judgement is impeccable and above reproach. That's what I really like about ya good buddy !!!


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However, In order to preserve the topic of this WIP thread, I humbly offer this update on my progress......

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1975601http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1975602

I cannot read latin so i do not know the capitalization rules for that language, however since it is a dead language why would you be concerned with it? So Terrible Lizzard King is a bit different then King Rex. I am not bringing your mommy issues into this discussion by commenting on Oedipus. Live long and Prosper Mommie Loving Rex. :)

Progress on my Styudebaker cab is going well. With any luck, this thing may end up looking very similar to a correctly built (and spelled) Studebaker US 6 truck cab.


The plates on the top of the cab are blast shields to protect the cab when the rockets are fired.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1977341http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1977342http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1977343http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1977344http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1977345http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1977346

real nice Rex

I still have a few details to clean up but I think I may be close to a paint job soon. I'm gonna use thick paint that I hope will cover up (or disguise) all of the inaccurate things about this project that I didn't do correctly.


http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1979532http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1979533http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1979534http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1979535http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1979557

Let the painting begin !!! ....... Or at least continue when I get the paint I just ordered because I ran out of what I thought I had in my paint stash. I may get a new rattle can of Model Master olive drab sometime next week.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1980204


Until then I may start on some other projects that are kinda dusty from months of neglect. I gotta catch up on my backlog before I start anything else.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1980206http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1980211http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1980212http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1980213http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1980207http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1980208http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1980209http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1980210

I had to order more paint in order to finish my Katyusha. This week should see a paint job on those parts.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1982710


While I was waiting for delivery, I sent the Studebaker cab and chassis back to the motor pool to be fitted with a cargo/troop carrier truck bed that would be interchangeable with the rocket rack. That conversion went a heck of a lot faster than the rocket rack frame. I think there are about six or so other truck bed types that I think would be fun to build on the Studebaker bed frame. If it could be done to the real 1:1 scale truck, I think it would be fun to do that to a 1/16 scale project (that could keep me busy for a year or so).........I gotta order more paint and plastic!!!!!

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1982711http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1982712http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1982713http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1982714http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1982715

Always Amazing :D