Container Trailer Project
Page 2: Upgrades!
I added the standard Tamiya trailer light
set to integrate with the MFC systems on my various tractor trucks, and
then installed the optional spare tires as well.
While it isn't exactly an upgrade for this trailer per se, I really
wanted to have the option of using two 20' containers on the trailer and
to be able to stack multiple containers with a crane. Tamiya
doesn't actually make a 20' version of their container so I went to
Hercules Hobby for a solution. These are a near perfect copy of
the Tamiya container at half length but with a couple exceptions.
First, as you can see above, the panels arrive clear instead of
white. I'm not sure what material they are made from, but it is
very thick. In another way, the Hercules Hobby 20' containers are too
good a copy of the Tamiya. By this I mean that they copied the
gooseneck channel in the floor grid, but 20' containers actually don't
have these. It should have forklift slots on the side instead.
I didn't want all the containers to look the same, so I picked dark red
and dark blue for the other two which seem to be the most common
container colors in my area. I'm using the decal set from the
Tamiya NYK trailer on the blue one. This is a decal sheet for a
full sized 40' trailer, but I was able to use a subset of what was
available and make it look pretty good. It had enough extra decals
to use them on the red container as well, but a close look will reveal a
combination of NYK logos with Maersk identification numbers.
20' containers are stackable with 40' containers as long as you put the
smaller containers on the bottom. You'd never stack them on a
trailer like this, but they are sometimes stacked on train cars and
certainly on ships. This also opens up the option of having some
sort of RC port where I can use a crane.
©2019 Eric Albrecht
