Meng D9R “Doobie"

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Adam Durrant
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Meng D9R “Doobie"

Post by Adam Durrant »

So after putting this out for open discussion as to what I should build next, I went with Olivier's suggestion of opening one of the big Meng boxes so that I made a bigger visual "hole" in my stash! ;)

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I bought this in 2015 from "Sincere Hobby" in Hong Kong while I was there visiting a mate. This is the first release without the slat armour. The only aftermarket I have for it is a set of Voyager lenses for the flood lights.

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The box is totally jam packed with plastic, clear sprues, vinyl tubing, poly caps, wire and a small amount of PE. Build reviews on the net are good, but always come back to the issue of the track tension being hard to correct. Multiple builds therefore substituted aftermarket track sets, I plan to use Gary B's method of making the track tensioner workable as per his nice tutorial viewtopic.php?f=15&t=87 in the "tips and techniques" section.

So away we go.... :D
Last edited by Adam Durrant on 18 Dec 2020, 11:15, edited 1 time in total.
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Steve Hutchinson
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Re: Meng DR9 "Doobie"

Post by Steve Hutchinson »

Daring choice Adam

I don't think Gary finished this one?

Greta fix and a real blast from the past too.

I am surprised the photos are still live and kicking from photo bucket!

Enjoy the challenge, all you need is the giant transporter next, which I think Gary was building in a duel blog too

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Adam Durrant
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Re: Meng DR9 "Doobie"

Post by Adam Durrant »

Last time I saw Gary, which was over a year ago, he had finished the build on the DR9 and the big HobbyBoss transporter, but both were still unpainted.

I’ve started building and plan to follow the instructions rather than jumping around a bit. So far the fit is OK, but like a lot of early Meng kits there is a fair amount of clean up to do. Detail is excellent, and due to the complexity of the subject the instructions work in sub assemblies which I plan to leave apart for paint. The instructions themselves are fairly easy to follow so far....
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Adam Durrant
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Re: Meng DR9 "Doobie"

Post by Adam Durrant »

Main body completed. Meng has chosen its usual approach of mitered butt joints with no locating pins so you have to be pretty careful to get it all lined up before the glue sets.

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The ripper at the back is next. There is a bit of clean up necessary, and a bit of filler on the hydraulic rams but otherwise its not too taxiing to build. The only bit that is a bit frustrating is having to shave bolt heads off the sprue and attach them to the ends of the cylinders.

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Dry fit...

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This is all workable, but I won't assemble till after paint as there are a lot of awkward places to get too. ;)
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Adam Durrant
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Re: Meng DR9 "Doobie"

Post by Adam Durrant »

Got stuck in to Gary's modification idea for the running gear.

Cut off the front idler wheel and glue on a piece of 8.7mm Styrene tube (Evergreen 231)

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The hole on the opposite side needs to be drilled out to the same diameter as the 8.7mm tube. Then a piece of tube that will slide inside the idler side is needed. This is not the next size down as Gary suggests, that is 7.9mm (Evergreen 230). After a second trip to the LHS I had 7.1mm tube (Evergreen 229) ;) This is shimmed inside with a piece of the larger tube and a few offcuts. You also need to reinforce the lower edge of the hole you just drilled out as it is a join between the two halves and tends to pop apart as you drill.

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Works quite well, and solves the biggest problem of this kit which is the track tension.

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If you can't be bothered with the fiddle you could just skip the smaller tube section, I discovered that it was pretty solid when you just slide the idler tube into the hole you drilled out. To keep everything square though I persisted with the whole construct.

Whats the best paint for chrome? I want all the pistons of the hydraulic pistons to be highly polished.
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Olivier Carneau
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Re: Meng DR9 "Doobie"

Post by Olivier Carneau »

Good and quick start !
In my opinion the best chrome paint is Molotow which is more an ink than a paint.
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Re: Meng DR9 "Doobie"

Post by Adam Durrant »

Thanks Olivier, I’ll see if I can source it in NZ. I was thinking of replacing all of the rams with polished tube or rod but can’t commit to all that work!
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Re: Meng DR9 "Doobie"

Post by Adam Durrant »

Making steady progress on this one. I hate builds with interiors as it ends up being twice the build with half it only partially seen. This one can be built so the door of the cab is open, and there are lots of windows. You can also leave the roof removable.

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Weathering yet to come...
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Olivier Carneau
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Re: Meng DR9 "Doobie"

Post by Olivier Carneau »

Excellent job on the interior. ;)
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Re: Meng DR9 "Doobie"

Post by Bryan Krueger »

Alclad airbrushed over gloss black yields some very good results. I recently sprayed Polished Aluminum over Tamiya gloss black and it looked amazing. They make a Chrome.

I've read the Molotov can take days to try properly.
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