forklift to unload railcars

[hjlyuen]

I have several bulkhead and centerbeam rail cars with lumber loads and therefore modeled a lumber yard for set outs and pick ups. Lumber yards in turn need forklifts to load/off load the rail cars and to move the lumber loads around the yard. I could easily buy a forklift but there is something satisfying about designing and building one in 1/87 scale from scratch. The challenge in building this particular forklift would the curves over the rear wheels of the vehicle. I think that part of the forklift truck is called the counter weight (the engine is actually between the counterweight and the cab) and the taper over the wheels is to improve the rear visibility for the operator. A month ago I began work on the 3D drawings in Sketchup which I will unfold to create the patterns. Once all of the parts are unfolded, the next step would be to paint the patterns using Inkscape. I expect this project will take many more months to complete.

[hjlyuen]

Designing this forklift is turned out to be different from designing a rail car where ladders and other safety appliances are added on to a one-piece car body. I could not find a way to build a frame without a lot of formers to maintain the curves and tapers of the rear counter weight. So the easy way out was to divide the model into sub-assemblies: the rear counterweight being the most complicated and the cab with the curves under the cab to accommodate the pistons that tilt the lift tower forwards and backwards. The other sub assemblies, mid body, engine cover and front fenders, are simpler with straight edges. The first test fit would be the rear counter weight. I think I was able to capture the rounded end when viewed from the top and the taper from top to side when viewed from the ends. Together parts 2 and 3 act as a formers for the curved end in Part 1. But that created a problem because there is not way to reach inside the model. Therefore the order in which to glue the part 4 onto part 1 became important. I had to glue the part 4 onto the side of part 1 and let it dry before gluing it on the top of part 1 because I had to be able to pull part 4 outwards to line up with the top of part 1. There was no way to reach underneath or inside the model to push the sides of part 1 out to line up with the edges of part 4.

[MacSongLi]

You're off to a great start. A great project.

Gary

[Siwi]

Fascinating to see the design process evolve into a test build. May I ask, what was the process for adding textures to the 3d model and unfolding it? Did you use pepakura or something else?

[hjlyuen]

Hi Siwi, good question. I export from Sketchup to .svg file which I open in Inkscape. For each part, the workflow is (1) combine paths, (2) join nodes, (3) fill color, (4) stroke width, (5) trace drawings or photos for details (textures), and (6) add glue tabs. As you can see in the example below, there are many layers in Inkscape: the original part from Sketchup which often has to be cleaned up, 2D drawings with details to trace, photos with colors to copy, etc.

[hjlyuen]

I forgot to answer your first question. It was unfolded in Sketchup

[hjlyuen]

The next most difficult part is the “Hyster Vista Cab”. The forward lower edge as two reverse (S-shape) curves joined end to end. The former (part 10T) is to help get the shape of the curves right. But it also gets in the way so you can’t reach inside the model and push the sides out. I could have made part 10T 2 or 3 layers thick to stiffen it and then cut an “access” hole in the center of the former.

[hjlyuen]

Still trying to recover from a computer crash. I had to buy a new SSD drive, install Windows and files. There are still some missing software like Sketchup. I had backed up all my data 3 weeks earlier but a lot work since then had be reconstructed from memory. Thankfully, the rest of the body had straight edges so the only difficulty was folding and creating square corners. As the parts came together, I began to have doubts about the scale. The forklift was turning out to be a very large piece of equipment. I double checked, the measurements of the model was equal to the manufacturers specifications (dimensions) divided by 87. I now understand why Hyster describes their H360 in the US (H16 in the EU) as a truck. This forklift is as wide as the pneumatic bulk trailer that I built earlier and posted in the downloads section.

Next is the mast and fork and then the wheels.

[Siwi]

Yes, it certainly looks larger than the sort of yard forklift used for unloading trucks, but it has to be able to deal with a full shipping container.

[modelperry]

Actually all forklifts are considered trucks by the standards organization that writes the standards for them for North America. ITSDF.org is the standards organization and their publications are free to download. They might give you a little bit of guidance....

Yes the big cast lump at the back is all counterweight.

The company I work for makes Rough terrain forklifts similar to the one you are scratch building, but they are quite a bit smaller. Ours are actually built on a backhoe tractor frame that has been turned around so the steering axle is in the back.

Unless you are set on a particular model of fork truck you could easily take a few design liberties in the cab and fender areas to improve ease of design and build. The ITSDF standards may actually help you in those areas to get some reasonable alternative figured out.

Your progress looks good so far, I look forward to seeing more.

Greg