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Rob's projects (latest - Willy's Brat, Hazard Willy, WW2 cutaway)

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Over the last couple of months I've taken a break from my HEMTT project and tinkered with a couple of other builds instead. Here they are...

First up is my Axial Exo buggy. Definitely inspired by some of the Exos I've seen on here, especially SRB Bloke's.

It was a fun build and I like the look and stance of the completed buggy. It has a few mods but nothing major - alloy shocks, stainless hardware, Traxxas turnbuckles replacing the upper arms, STRC rear knuckles (these have a larger outer bearing than stock) and a pair of Fastrax spotlights at the front. Front and rear lights are wired to a basic light unit, works well enough. No interior at the moment, I find it too restrictive when trying to change batteries and I'd like a bit more airflow for the motor and ESC. I'm going to build a basic, partial interior because it doesn't look right without a driver. More STRC bits will probably follow too :)

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More to follow...

cheers,
Rob

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Great job so far, it really looks the business.

The colour scheme and the detailing work very well too.

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Thanks gents, and yes it will be going to the beach next year!

Next up is this E Maxx. It was mainly bought and built with my eldest daughter in mind. She's 13 and quite a good driver. Her favourite is my TXT-1 but she also grabs the E Revo whenever she can. The Revo has a 775 motor and it's a bit of a handful for her so a fairly stock Maxx ought to be a little more sane. This is a short wheelbase 3906 but I've added the wider arms and beefier drive-shafts, diffs, knuckles, slipper etc from the later version, along with a RPM true-track kit, GPM bulkheads and steering kit. It was a very scruffy ebay buy, but with a good clean and a spare TXT shell it looks fairly decent. The wheels were a mess so they were stripped and sprayed matt black to tidy them up. Of course Wild Willy had to get in on the act too! It's a lot of fun and I think it looks a lot better than when it arrived :) 

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My daughter says she's 'quite pleased'!!!

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My daughter says she's 'quite pleased'!!!

It doesn't get much more enthusiastic than that for a 13 year old girl... :lol: My girls just give me sideways looks...

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Oh I get plenty of those, along with the rolling eyes, tutting and general melodramas! Though to be fair, her 10 year old sister is much worse!!! :D 

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That EXO means business with just the right amount of detailings. That E Max looks pretty nasty too and tougher.

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I bet that E-Max has some serious torque!

Nice to see some of your other builds, I really like the EXO! To the point, I'm trying not to buy one!
Cheers,

Skottoman

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The E Max looks pretty mental, I'm sure it must be a lot of fun.

I've got 3 daughters and that is a lot of tutting, 'oh dad' and eye rolling!

So I'm totally with you guys on that front!

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The joys of dads and daughters - no wonder I've got no hair left!!! ;) They're good kids, and the great thing about this hobby is it's something they will join in with. It's not unusual to have me, my three and a couple of their mates buzzing 6 or 7 cars around. Even my 4 year old gets involved, she's claimed my VW camper wheelie as her own, though she's set her sights on the TXT!!

The Exo is a nice kit. There's a lot of opportunity for detailing and things like the fuel cell and cam covers are good quality stickers. It seems quite tough, the chassis is pretty beefy and the whole things looks and feels like a quality product. The only things I didn't like are the upper arms and steering arms, they looked a little flimsy, which is why the upper arms have been replaced with Traxxas bits. People have reported issues with outer hub bearings failing - the kit uses 10x15x4mm bearings on the inside but 5x10x4mm outers. The STRC hubs/knuckles replace these with 10x15x4mm which seems like a better idea.

The Maxx is what it is, a big tough basher. The training mode is a good idea. I quite like Traxxas stuff, we've been running 2 2wd Slashes and an E Revo for a couple of years with very few problems or breakages. The twin-motor trucks are a bit mental, the 550 Titans are relatively mild motors but kick out a LOT of torque. The wheelie bar is there for a good reason!!

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My son had one of the original short wheelbase brushed E Maxx over 10 years ago . Their tough as old boots and can take whatever abuse you throw at them . No matter what it just kept running . Huge jumps where no problem at all . I am trying to track one down at a reasonable cost to create a Grave Digger look a like . I know its not the most scale looking Monster Truck chassis or even correct it terms of having live axels but its a heck of a lot of fun and IMO just about the strongest basher ever .

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I wish my e maxx was the short wheel base with the twin speed. My long wheel base version is fixed in second. But then don't think the 2 speed would last long with my motor so perhaps for the best.

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Mine was a two speed but I've locked it in 2nd. I had to change the input shaft to fit the new slipper clutch and I'm pretty sure that would rule out being able to change gear anyway.

I'm so impressed with the Maxx I've started building a second. This will be a LWB and probably brushless. I'm still waiting for parts but by the end of next week it should be a roller, just need to decide on (and save for!) motor, ESC and body. Here's the progress so far -

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This one is basically stock except the GPM chassis rails and home-made centre skid.

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Nice projects. I will advice you to use some countersunk screws for those Maxx skidplates, if you plan to ever change them again. The ones you have there, will be destroyed after a few runs.

If you miss parts I have a few things for sale at the moment. UE shocktowers, UE shocks, HCR shocks and rear titanium bumper.

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Thanks guys.

Dyahipfakta, I could probably use a motor mount. I'll PM you.

Klausen, thanks for the offer. The UE stuff looks very nice but probably outside my budget. I've ordered some countersunk bolts, thanks for the advice.

cheers,

Rob

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Last but not least is my E-Revo. It's been one of our main bashers for the last couple of years and was due some proper maintenance. It's been incredibly reliable, I don't think I've had to fix or replace anything. We took it to the beach a couple of times this summer and almost inevitably screws started to rust and bearings stared to seize so it was time for a tear down and rebuild.

When it was in pieces I found that one of the tie-rods was bent so that was a good excuse to buy some alloy hop-ups. One of the old (unbent!) tie-rods became a brace for the rear wing mount. I also fitted a GPM alloy servo-saver, basically because I liked it! New bearings, new shock oil, new diff oil, a couple of driveshaft boots and stainless steel hardware completed the rebuild. The chrome on the wheels and bumpers was looking rather tattered so they were all stripped and sprayed matt black, which gives the beast a nice air of menace IMHO!

De-chroming the wheels meant removing the glued tyres first, something I'd never done before. I've seen people recommend heating them in the oven but as I was supposed to be cooking a roast chicken lunch the following day I decided to boil the tyres off instead. The darned things are so big I could only fit one in a saucepan! But it worked and the roast chicken was delicious too :)

I talked to my kids about changing the body and we decided we wanted something that looked a bit more like a proper vehicle. We chose the ProLine Desert Militia because it looks a bit mean n moody. I wanted a military-ish paintjob but the girls banned green or sand so I came up with this winter/urban type scheme. It's not based on anything specific, just wanted something a bit different - and it was approved by my troublesome trio :D

But they told me it looked 'a bit silly' without a driver so you-know-who makes an appearance too (a standard 1/10 driver would be lost in this thing!). I think I'm going to paint the base black and see if I can find a NOS bottle or two but mostly I'm happy with it.

I'm talking far too much! Pics -

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More pics of the finished beastie in my showroom.

Cheers,

Rob

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I haven't forgotten about the motor mount buddy just been stuck at work last few evenings. Will have a look for any other bits that may or may not help. If you pm me your addy too I will hopefully post the mount Saturday morning.

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You should try a set of Proline 3.8 Badlands or 3.8 Trenchers for your Revo and E-maxx. It makes a world of difference on these trucks.

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Dyahipfaktor, thanks buddy. You have a PM.

Klausen, stop spending my money! :D I'm hoping to get the basic build finished before Christmas but new tyres and any hop-ups will have to wait until new year at least. I like the look of the Big Joe tyres too, are they any good? Your help and advice is very much appreciated, even if I can't act on it straight away!

thanks guys,

Rob

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Willy is the perfect driver choice. He looks mental as is your Maxx and Revo.

James.

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BigJoes are looking really great, but they are very heavy and haven't got the same grip as the others. I had them on a brushless converted Revo 3,3 and wasn't that happy with them. But for looks they are great.

As for spending money, you can check out my trade section :P Shall I put in some Badlands and Mashers as well :)

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Thanks James. One of these days I'm going to treat myself to a couple of your moto heads/figures for that extra dose of awesome :)

Klausen, thanks again for your advice. So the BigJoes are for show but Badlands for performance? I checked your trades, very tempted but I'll have to see if you have anything left in the new year. For now I have to put RC on hold and play Santa! (I'm a single dad with 3 daughters, great fun but expensive!!).

The Exo now has a driver, no need to guess who! A 'normal' 1/10 figure looks a bit lost in the Exo, it's a fairly big beast (that's my excuse anyway!). The stock interior looks good but makes battery changes difficult, my batteries and/or fingers must be too fat! So I've made a simple mounting plate for the driver and tie-wrapped it to the cage. I will add something to cover more of the interior, just not sure what yet.

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Cheers,

Rob

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The second Maxx is gradually taking shape. Most of the parts have come from the US in small batches, usually taking 2 - 4 weeks to arrive. But it's nearly complete now, only needs an ESC and driver figure and they should both arrive in the next week or so.

The body is a ProLine F150 Raptor designed for the Maxx and Revo. It seems pretty strong and has a nice level of detail too. Painting lexan shells always makes me nervous but I think this one looks ok.

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cheers,

Rob

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