Galvatron - Hercules Semi Build

[OSRC]

Most of my old crawler club has migrated to semis and construction kits. Cool stuff, but I've never taken the plunge myself. After going to a local show and seeing everything in action, decided I needed to add one to my collection. Most of my crawlers are good to go, all winter maintenance is done, I need a project!

A Tamiya kit would have been my preference, but the prices have skyrocketed over the past few months, and there's no way I could swing one of those. Using some X-mas money, bribing the wife with flowers and the promise of some home renovation, and the remaining funds in my PP account, I cobbled together enough to pick up a Hercules Hobby Actros kit.

Had to have a theme...and it's about time I merged some of my interests. Prime has been done several times, but I don't know that anyone has attempted Galvatron from TF4 AOE....I think he's badass! Too bad Michael Bay seems to have totally abandoned him between movies, but that's another thread.

I know that he's a Freightliner Argosy and I've got an Actros here so it's not quite going to be the same, but I thought it was a close as I was going to get. I'm going to use the color scheme and add similar lighting...should look pretty cool when done.

Enough blather, let's get some pics. Going way, way out of my comfort zone on this one....this is as much a model as it is an RC kit. I've built gobs of kits, but never anything this involved. Staggering number of parts. Too bad you can't see them since the chrome is messing with the damn camera.

I did pick up some cheap alloy wheels while I was at it. Galvatron has black wheels, but ain't nobody got time for that. He's getting an upgrade whether he likes it or not.

First thing I do with any kit is fondle the tires.... Tires feel pretty soft, but have the hardest foams I've ever felt. Maybe this is normal in the semi world, I have no idea but these suckers have NO give.

Oh boy....I knew I wasn't getting Tamiya quality, but the first plastic part I screwed into cracked. That's not good! (Crack is on the right screw hole) - I replaced the tapping screws with machine screws and used locknuts instead. I've been heavily greasing the screws before threading them into the plastic and so far it's been going better.

Hopping around a bit, step one is chassis rails. Chassis rails are aluminum channel instead of steel like Tamiya. They were a little warped out of the box, I gently bent them straight again. With all the cross members installed, should be plenty solid.

Directions are somewhat iffy. Not a beginners kit for sure. Occasionally, there's a step where there are no part numbers, and I'm left searching though all the parts trees for matching parts. And not all of the parts trees are labeled either. Note on the right - no parts numbers!

Found them!! After a while, I clued in that the parts not labeled are specific to the rear 4 wheel assembly. Assuming they just added a few additions from the previous 2 wheel kit.

Rear cross members are multiple pieces, took a little bit of hunting to track them down.

Here's where Hercules quality is nowhere in the same league as Tamiya. The servo holders were just held together with standard head phillips screws, even where they are slotted to allow for servo size adjustments. I know better, and added some washers under the screw heads so the plastic doesn't get warped.

Same with the servos...mounting servos with standard head screws is a no-no. Found some large flat head servo screws in my stash and mounted them both. Much more solid. Std. Futaba servo for shift duties and a Hitec 645 for steering. Should do I would think.

Took nearly 3 hours to get to this point... it's coming together slowly!

Rear leaf springs... pretty cool setup. Had a nice diagram, but again, no parts numbers. Had to do some hunting...

And mounted up, they mount inversely.

Steering block steering is the same setup as Tamiya and very similar to the Hi-lift kits. Had a ton of play, I added some 5mm washers to get the slop out. Kit does have full bearings which is nice.

..... and I'm out of threadlock, so it's off to the hardware store! "thumbsup"

 

[hiluxxury]

I got a Hercules Hobby Actros kit as well for Xmas. I agree, not the same as a Tamiya, as some of the clear plastics were warped but still a good build and it will be great once I finish printing a lowboy trailer.

 

[Shinchu]

You had me at Galvatron!

I will be coming back here daily. And you said prime has been done? Where?! I tried finding any and found little to nothing.
Anyway yes this is looking great, better than tamiya maybe?

 

[indybama]

Great start! Cant wait to see where this build goes. Subbed! Goina go check this truck out, ive been wantin to build a semi for quite awhile

Sent from my SM-J327VPP using Tapatalk

 

[OSRC]

It's interesting for sure. Never built anything like it. Can say for sure I'm not pleased overall with the quality of the kit (maybe I've been spoiled by Tamiya) but I've made it work so far.

 

[OSRC]

Moving along slowly...the kids may never have school again apparently, and it's cutting into build time. We did make princess cakes yesterday, so at least something's getting done! Managed to sneak down into the shop during a Sponge Bob marathon and make a little progress..

Went back to step one and worked out the steering linkages. The kit did not come with a servo adapter for Hitec Servos so found a Tamiya compatible one that worked in my stash. The kit lengths for the links in the manual was not even close - all way too long.

Steering servo hanging off the side of the chassis and connected to the steering block. Having Hi-lift flashbacks from my old F-350 kit!

Front axle is cast metal and leaf sprung. The leafs are hard as hell compared to the crawler leafs I'm used to. I assume once I get the body on and the sound unit and what not, it's going to be a heavy truck so I'll wait before making any changes from stock.

Assembled the front "shocks" - they have an internal spring and a greased O-ring for dampening. I left out the internal spring for now since the leafs are so hard. Easy enough to put back in if needed. Again, more cracked plastic - the plastic joints at the bottom cracked when I threaded in the screws. More Tamiya parts to the rescue! I drilled them out to 4.5mm so they could move freely on the step screws.

Front axle hung in all its glory! Does look pretty cool hanging under there. It has about 1/2 in. of total travel.

And with the steering knuckles and linkages installed. Built to the directions, it had a ton of toe-out. Shortened the link quite a bit to get the axles parallel.

 

[OSRC]

Finally got cracking on the rear axles. I expected something similar to the Tamiya Semi axles (TLT based) but these are very different. Cases are much more scale and the internals are totally different. The diff cross pins had a lot of flashing on them at the mold lines, I filled down the flashing as much as I dared.

Internals assembled, used Red and Tacky on them and may have been a mistake as the gears turn pretty hard. Not sure I'm going to have the wheelspeed to fling off the excess. Oh well, lesson learned. Leaving it for now. Can see the axles have provisions for a locking mechanism which is pretty cool.

And assembled and joined! Not sure what happened, the diffs turned by hand before I put them in the cases though were a bit notchy due to the flashing. Once assembled though, I cannot get them to turn by hand at all. I'll wait until I get the wheels on for some leverage and see if I can break them free. They rotate fine though ...just a bit hard due to the grease. I'm sure everything will wear in as cast axles usually do. They are assembled with 2mm hardware and a lot of nuts - very scale, very fiddly. Hoping I don't have to crack them back open.

 

[Mike Flea]

Hope it all works out and breaks in, sound like it's been a pain from the start.

 

[Arctic Cat ZRT]

Still waiting on my Hercules rig to arrive. Its kind of nice to be a bit behind you though as I can see what you are running into. Looks like I will be ordering some stainless steel hex hardware from McMaster Carr. Plus looks like I will need to open up the tolerances on the plastic parts a bit. I personally hate using phillips/flat head hardware on hobby stuff, so easy to screw it up and strip. Since mine will be 4x4 I got the upgraded Hercules/lesu front aluminum drive axle that is lockable. It will be interesting to see the quality/function difference between the two as they didn't have the upgraded rear axle in stock. I would definitely suggest just putting a bit of diff silicone oil for lubrication if you are looking for easy turning/etc.

 

[OSRC]

Hope it all works out and breaks in, sound like it's been a pain from the start.

It has. I think this is the worst quality kit I've ever built.

Still waiting on my Hercules rig to arrive. Its kind of nice to be a bit behind you though as I can see what you are running into.

I hope yours goes better than this one. Steve said his went together fine, but mine has been a hot mess from step one.

 

[OSRC]

Started putting on the bits to hang the axles. 4 more shocks with Tamiya rod ends built up, again without internal springs. They mount on little metal brackets attached to the axles. I didn't like how much play there was on the rod ends - they could slide back and forth quite a bit. Just seemed sloppy to me so I used some old Tamiya O-rings and "shimmed" them in the middle of the bracket. Much better. Shimmed on the left, stock on the right.

Had to pay close attention here, very easy to get the brackets the wrong way, or one of the axles upside down. The directions are correct, though the detail in the drawings is a bit hard to make out.

And hanging on the chassis. Pretty cool setup. The axles move up and down as the leaf pivots from the central mount point, and the leaf acts as an upper link.. Terrible geometry for a crawler but for something with as little suspension travel as this truck, seems to work well.

View from the bottom. Not sure why, but the diffs now spin...all they did was sit on my workbench. Huh. Maybe the Hercules fairy stopped by, felt bad, and sprinkled some magic semi dust on them, I don't know. Rear one is fairly smooth, the front axle is very notchy. Again, I'm sure they'll wear in.

Almost starting to look like something here!

 

[OSRC]

Next step. Rage. Ooops, I meant transmission. This did not go well at all.

Built a couple of Tamiya ones for some scaler projects, and still have a new one laying around. Debated building that instead since I know it'll be trouble free, but was curious how the kit trans would assemble. I should have just saved my self the trouble, as things got ugly quick. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Lots of parts. As far as I can tell, it's identical to Big T's...

The gears all looked fine, but the shift dogs had a ton of mold flashing on them. I sanded them down on the outside and in the channel where the shift fork rides. Had to really, no way that was going to ride smoothly.

Trans components assembled. Constant mesh 3 speed...other than the mold lines, thing are going smooth. Ish.

On assembly, found that 3 of the 4 aluminum posts that cinch the trans together wouldn't screw in fully. in fact, one of them wasn't threaded at all. Had to tear it back down and run a tap through them. More swearing ensues.

Now tapped, putting it all together. Again. Frustration mounting bigly. When I tried to bolt the front and rear plates together, the trans wouldn't spin. Couldn't see anything assembled wrong, everything is in the right spot...WTH? After trying a few times, eventually I took the rear plate off and used a BFH to tap in the molded bearing seats in the rear plate. Looked like they were not fully flush like they should be - maybe off by a mm or two. Only a guess, but the right one apparently. Finally got it to the point where it would cinch together and allow the gears to spin. Swear words flowing like wine by this point.

Greased the gears, bolted on the cover and done. Blood pressure sky high, but at least that's over with. No idea what the kit motor is, but have a 65t on standby if needed. I want this slow and scale, I'll wait to see how fast it is once I get the chassis done.

Dropped into the chassis, fairly painless. Or is it?

Something's not right...had a heck of a time getting the trans in while the chassis was sitting on the bench...trans wanted to sit too far forward and couldn't get the mount holes lined up. Picked the chassis up, put it on the jack stands and it went in much easier. Hmm...

Oh, that's why - the %&$#@# driveshaft is too long! it's pushing down on the front axle, causing the rear to pivot up... so as it sits, the axles will not sit level. Can see in the pic the front axle sits much lower - won't go up any higher due to the long driveshaft, so the rear wheels would be up in the air.

Had to walk away from the truck at this point. Blood pressure is through the roof, I'm inventing new swear words, and 7 more hairs have now gone gray.

Will dig in my parts box for a crawler driveshaft to make this work, I'm sure I can find something. NOT a happy Hercules customer.

 

[OSRC]

A little Galvatron trivia for fellow nerdery:

As a toy, Galvatron was the replacement for Megatron. The original Megatron was modeled after a Walthers P38 pistol and he looked VERY real when transformed - Die cast, chrome plating, etc. Congress passed a law in the mid 80's banning the sale of realistic toy guns, so Hasbro needed a replacement. During the "kill off" of most of the G1 characters, Megatron was transformed into Galvatron and was sold as the new leader of the Decepticons. He transformed into a cybertronion cannon. Purple and orange - no mistaking him for a real gun!

Anyway, back on point. A wild boar was fitted for the too long driveshaft. Solution? Maybe. I did test out the drivetrain though, and runs and shifts smooth though a bit stiff until the grease all settles in.

Got flashing? Jeez...most of the parts trees were clean but this one was pretty bad.

Took me until 1/2 way through the manual until I clued in that the metal parts bags were labeled based on the steps in the manual...so parts bag "24-25" for example included all the metal parts/screws, etc for steps 24 and 25.

Now that I've got a rolling chassis (kinda) moving on to more of the body related items. Started on the rear flaps and taillights. The tailights were a bit fiddly - the reverse lights and turn lenses were molded in clear, and just kind of sit in the housing pinched in there. I picked up a cheapish GT Power light/sound kit that should do just fine. Not using the shaker, but will be using the sound unit for sure.

Watching TF4 AOE for a little inspiration...

Taillights glued in with some E6000, and taillights and reverse lights glued in. Didn't bother with the blinkers...it's a cool scale effect, but looks a bit cheesy sometimes. Plus, no one around here even knows turn signals exist apparently.

5th wheel assembled and ready to go. Lots of little parts here, quite a bit tricky to assemble but it's pretty cool how it all works. Mounted on the plate which I dressed up a bit with some silver paint.

Battery tray..all went together without fuss. Hangs under the chassis and the battery goes in from the bottom. Pretty cool. I'll say one thing about this kit - for all the headaches, I haven't found a single missing part - everything's been accounted for so far.

Ruh-ro! Wild boar is a no go....the driveshaft passes though the battery box slightly - WB shaft is way too thick and the box won't sit flush on the chassis. Going to have to come up with plan B.

 

[OSRC]

A little more nerdery: In the 1986 movie, Megatron was of course voiced by the legendary Frank Welker. After Unicron rebuilt him into Galvatron, They decided a new voice should be added, and Leonard Nimoy took over voice duties. Only for the movie though. A few other lesser known voice actors took over again in the TV series, and Welker returned to voice him in Age of Extinction. On a side note, Orson Welles's voice is so deep when watching the video with the stereo on, it badly vibrates the entire room... "proceed on your way to oblivion..." So cool!
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OK - Plan B! People on this forum with actual talent I'm sure would have just done some cutting and welding on the stock shaft....since I don't weld, and posess questionable talent I needed a simpler plan.

After pondering a day or two, I decided to cut up an old Kyosho shaft, grabbed a BFH, and very, very gently .. pounded the hell out of it, forcing it into a long term monogomous relationship with a piece of brake line. I'm sure it would be strong enough just by the press fit, but I brazed it together just in case.

Painted black and in like flynn.

Success!!!

Wheel guards are mounted up. Got a ton of wires on the chassis already and I barely started on electronics.

The manual shows this plated part, and shows how to bend it into shape. All well and good, and got it bent cleanly...however, doesn't show where it goes! Went though the directions until the end, and I never see it again...hmm... I'll keep building and hopefully figure it out.

Now that most of the mechanicals are done, moving into some of the body components. I'm not much of a model builder or detail guy, so it could get ugly quick. The fuel and air tanks get screwed together, then mounted to the chassis. Chose to glue them instead to minimize gaps, then sand off the mold lines as much as possible. One of the parts was on the white body parts tree and needs to be painted black to match. Breaking out the airbrush and giving everything here a satin black coat. Usually I use spray cans, but with it so cold out, I'm going to try acrylic paints and an airbrush. We'll see how it goes.

 

[OSRC]

More nerdery: Galvatron in AEO was again built from Megatron's remains (kinda) - Kudo's to Michael Bay for sticking to a similar story progression. Although he completely disappears after this movie, which is a shame. I though he was badass. Great to hear Frank Welker as always. What a cool voice.
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Anyway, rolling on....

Trailer release installed and 5th wheel bolted to the chassis...the release lever slid right over the screw that's supposed to hold it down. Whoops! I added a washer on top to keep it on.
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Started painting all the gas tank parts. All black to match the 1:1, everything is blacked out from what I can see

Rear fender flares installed in the meantime.

Had to put the wheels on just to see what it looked like. I can dig it! I'll probably pick up a second set of tires and paint the stock rims black to match the 1:1

Chassis is starting to fill in slowly...

Semi assembled the body and scrubbed it all down so it's ready for paint. Figured it was easier to paint it assembled than on the parts trees, though some of the parts can't be added yet for various reasons, so they'll get painted on the tree and touched up later. I need to wait for a warm(ish) day for the body - using Krylon for durability, and have to do that outside unfortunately.

 

[OSRC]

Got the side tanks painted. Found that I need to sand them a little finer, this paint is very thin and shows the sanding marks. A better modeler than I would have re-sanded and re-painted, but meh, it was good enough for me.

Fully assembled with the photo etched parts. Blacked out almost everything like the 1:1 - couldn't bear to paint the etched parts though, they look great. I did glue a few parts together, didn't like that some of the screws threaded in only a little bit...seemed a bit iffy to me.

Mounted up on the truck

Love the little compartment on the side. The controls for the MFU go here, but since I'm not using an MFU, maybe a swing up rocker launcher like the 1:1? hmmm..

And from the other side. The step was broken on the sprue, I had a hell of a time gluing it back together...and it's a little crooked once glued. Whoops.

Hey! Found out where that photo etched part from a few steps ago goes!! Waiting until the body is together before putting it on - just mounts with double sided tape.

Breaking in the driveline with 4.5v... runs and shifts nice and smooth, I let it run for about 10 minutes, it has already quieted down a bit and the diffs feel smoother already..

Mounted the tires just for giggles, and hey, what's this??

Yup, picked up a Galvatron transformer to match. Can't help myself. Though I have to say, he looks cheap as hell.

Looks super plastic-y, and though there's a lot of detail molded in, it's all gray. Think I can do better...

So while I had the paints out, I decided to give Galvatron a makeover. He looks SO much better!!! Never painted a transformer figure before, but wow - what a difference!

Next up - wiring in the electronics, and I ordered a flatbed trailer to go with. Just waiting on the slow boat for that. Can't do any more painting really until the weather changes.

Despite some headaches, this has been a fun project so far - definitely something different! Good way to keep busy during the winter downtime.

 

[OSRC]

Slow, slow progress. I keep getting distracted with other stuff.

I don't like stick radios, so I bucked current convention and used my trusty hacked GT3B.. more than enough channels for now. Threw some electronics at it and test drove it around the basement. Ran pretty smooth, though the stock motor in the kit was way, way too fast. I mean, semi doughnuts are fun and all, but that's not really the point.

I replaced the motor with an 80T, and it's still too fast. I'm thinking an outrunner would be a perfect motor in here. Lowish RPM and a lot of torque. Plans for the future...

Steering was just awful, even with a somewhat light bare chassis . The servo saver was a complete POS, so I replaced it with a solid horn. Much, much better.

Still can't paint, so bought a few other things to keep me busy. Flatbed trailer and some "cargo.." Prime was a "for parts" cheapie on Ebay which is fine since I plan on hacking him to bits. Already started removing the bulky electronics pod from the back. I'll eventually have him chained to the trailer and he needs to lay somewhat flat.