Backhoe Contribution - adrian2301 - Chassis/Stabilizer/Fenders and the Engine. And the hydraulics for the swing frame.

A few images of my contribution to the DOG.

I am loving the look of that chassis. Can't wait for those braces to get to work! I am imagining Wayne animating them and slamming them into the ground and the earth shaking and a slow motion dust pile fly up. Oh the beauty!

Comparison of hydraulic lines between the originally modelled and resized to "authentic" 1/2 inch diameter.

First the original:

and the resized:

Note: I have resized the lines, fittings and the holes in the brackets but not the overall size of the bracket.

Thus leaving a large gap between the lines.

If I resize the bracket I can close these gaps, I like the spacing of the original lines.

However this would mean moving your lines also blanchsb to line up again.

I think your right in saying the smaller diameter will look better but only if I also resize the bracket and move them closer together.

What do you all think??? @theluthier spikeyxxx duerer dostovel @ritag ketre blanchsb and I can't remember everyone, but if your reading this, please let me know what you think.

@dogpound Can we get this, a group tag. 

I have the time to do this as I don't have much else to work on this month, except for a small hump on my fenders.

I have made a start on the CD player:

I say follow your heart, it got you the engine and the cd player and the whole other truck and the lines and the chassis, so hear what it has to say.

Just leave them the way they were originally @adrian2301

I can increase the size of my lines to match. I am sure ppfbourassa can agree with me. We have fewer lines than you do and Kent is leaving his as-is since his reference "Mesh-Man" does look pretty decent next to the lines. I'll up my Bevel Depth to 0.5 and 0.75 so that my lines and fittings double in size.

Let make sure we are in agreement together though before I do that. 

@adrian2301 I really think the original ones look better, a lot more convincing to me.

Thanks guys.

If I follow my heart, dostovel , then I guess I would agree with spikeyxxx and go with the original, as It does look better from this perspective, however in the bigger picture.......... and if I listen to what it has to say........

 blanchsb, as I discovered it's a lot more work than you first think, I can take it  further and resize the brackets as I have already started, and take another look, with the rest of the dog. I can probably do that tomorrow and post again in the evening. Then all you would need to do is realign the connections.

My lines will only be visible at certain angles between the battery box and the cab, and at the point they meet yours.

Yours are perfect as they are. I think they will look noticeably over sized in comparison to the loader arms if you made them bigger.

That works. I thought they looked weird on my end when they were bigger. I'll let you follow your inner voice(s). Mine all usually lead me in the rough general direction I want to go. 

Might wanna re-watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JFcvA9O8YE

There are some better shots in there, it gives a bit of an idea as to how big those tubes are.

Yes spikeyxxx  this was a great find, Iv'e already noticed  a couple of things just from these images, thanks for the reminder.

yeah thanks for the reminder on that video spikeyxxx  it was the best find for close ups!

I feel like my tube sizes look good based on that video. Those totally look like half inch and 3/4 lines on the front to me. Or am I wayyyyy off base here?

I wonder if the lines in the back are larger? I’ll look into my SIS access tonight to see if I can clarify. The maintenance manual may possibly call out sizes......... wait! Oh man I have a buddy who worked at the facility near Waco that made buckets. i’ll shoot him an email today!

Kent always is too kind. If he were my current manager he would say: "Move on, you guys are spending way too long on this. It looks good enough."

I checked my Bez Scale on the curve diameters. They are good and applying scale makes no changes to my lines. I used template curve circles for the diameter on all hose and tube curves in case I needed to change all my hoses in one fell swoop (I actually planned ahead this time, yay!)

Based on spikeyxxx video he posted. I tried to frame my reference similar to the video and maybe mine are a little skinny but I think I am close. What do y'all think? I'm going to leave mine as is and it sounds like the Big Cookie is happy. Maybe you should leave your's as-is too @adrian2301 and we can just work on the transition?

I think I do need to shrink mine a least a little bit. The joints are way bigger, if I just shrink them to match yours the lines will be to large. If I do that you will just have to move your connections over a little, which maybe for the best as the second image shows.

They bracket is to big, and they are way out west at the moment, I think they need to be closer to the chassis a little. Individually they look OK but next to yours they are obviously oversized. I should have been more diligent from the start, but it's fine, I'll fix it.

I think the good enough believable strategy is healthier and more effective than to Fletcher it insane up.

You are right dostovel I'm looking at it too much, I need to know when to say that's good enough.

Anyway............ I remembered their was a collision with my hydraulic lines and dostovel 's battery box, so I had to resize a little to get them to fit nicely.

So I made a compromise, but it does mean your, blanchsb , 3 lines at the top just need to move over an inch or so at the joint, and that's job done.

I meant to look, but I'll ask you instead as I have just tucked Blender in for the night, where the loader arms attach to the chassis, do the holes line up ok???

I can definitely move those over. Won’t be nothin-but-a-thang

As far and the arm connections, I will check tomorrow. Been busy with planned but self-accomplished Jeep repairs today. 

Lined up the front drive shaft with spikeyxxx front axle.

And the Front Fenders.

duerer tried to do the same with rear drive shaft and rear axle, however when linking your axle it falls apart.