Mad Ax
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Posts posted by Mad Ax
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Here's a better angle that I took today.
I wasn't just out to take photos - I wanted to update the chassis to take a modern battery. My plan had been to fit a shorty LiPo, but it wasn't going to be practical to do that and keep the nerf bars which are a main theme of the car's visual styling.
So I tried this square pack from my touring car. It's a perfect fit, just needs new battery posts.
Added battery posts
result!
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Here's a late update to this car. One thing I've never really liked about the Fox is the rear wing - it seems to far forward and too low like it doesn't really belong. Plus my body has got a bit battered over the years and the mounts are hanging off.
I was looking at adding some scale improvements to the car for some Club 380 racing, and my first thought was to remove the wing entirely and add something like a spare wheel, but it just didn't look right. So then I thought, why not make a better wing mount to move the wing up and back? So I made one out of brass.
These are the only photos I took at the time, and in this shot it looks like it's way too far back, but it looks better in the flesh.
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When I was putting it all back together, I noticed where this has previously been glued had started to come away again, so I decided to reinforce it with cable ties. I put one on each corner - if this is going to be turned into a backup hillwalking truck then it needs to be robust
Reassembled
Made the most of the sunshine and took some outside pics.
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Updates! I haven't run this truck in ages thanks to it having a bent axle shaft, and me not wanting to spend any money on it. But I had dragged it off the shelf to measure up for the F150 trailer, and while it was out I thought I'd have a look at the axle.
I spotted the pins were working out of the CV joints, so I put that right.
I then remembered that, having previously replaced both axle shafts, I should have one almost-good one in storage somewhere. So hunted around until I found it.
When I took off the hub to remove the bent one, this is what I found. That's the inner race of the inner bearing... So, this has had more than just a bent axle!
It took a while to drift the outer race out of the plastic hub.
This is how it looked when it came out. I thought just the axle stub was bent - I did not expect that!
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I found an offcut of L-section to get started
Tidied it up
And secured the body. Fingers crossed this holds up to light trail duty.
I'd actually like to start using this trailer to tow some extra batteries for this Land Cruiser, and use it as a backup for the Scania Hillwalking Truck for those times when it's out of action.
I'll have to make a towbar for the FJ, possibly install some smaller tyres on the trailer, and solder up another Arduino unit for the FJ. That's a story for another day...
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Updates! I haven't used this trailer as much as I should, but I gave it a run at the local Southern Scale Trail Pay & Play Day last weekend, whereupon the body kept lifting off. It was supposed to be a tolerance fit, but with the luggage net installed it keeps lifting the body off the floor pan.
This is how it should fit
I figured this bumper mount could be used to secure it.
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Shortened to fit
Installed
Looks like this ancient rig will live to fight another day
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Updates! Long time no post!
I haven't driven this truck for a while, and when I have, it's been perfectly reliable. I have some newer, more capable crawlers that get the bulk of the duties at scale events, and the Cherokee has been relegated mostly to the trailer-towing role, since it's the only truck with a towbar and light hookup.
However, I thought I'd take it to the local Southern Scale Trail Pay & Play Day as a quick shakedown before I take it to the UK Scale Nationals in a month. I was giving it a nice gentle crawl around the woods with the trailer attached when it suddenly started having trouble getting over a log. I noticed the front wheel was slipping, and I thought it was a worn hex - it still has 10mm plastic hexes, and the wheel nuts tend to come loose easily, so they slip and round off.
But then I noticed it wasn't just one wheel, and I flipped it over to see the front propshaft was slipping. Oh well, it had been on there for years, so it was long overdue for replacement. I carried on driving on 2.3 wheel drive, until suddenly it jammed up completely.
Turns out it wasn't slipping - the grub screw had some loose! If I'd actually stopped to check properly, I might have been able to save it - but alas, I didn't notice until the sleeve dropped right off and the hex part bound up and stalled the motor. Fortunately I was sensible enough to stop, and not try to power through and fry the motor. However I hadn't been sensible enough to bring any tools with me on what was supposed to be a light jaunt through the woods, so I had to carry truck and trailer back to the van. Which wasn't fun.
Back in the workshop, it was time to inspect the damage.
Sleeve completely missing.
I'm not sure if these might be the original Axial shafts? The cheap Chinese ones don't usually have proper UJs.
I've got a few spare Chinese sleeves, but they have a hex receiver and the Axial UJ is round.
Some careful drilling, and they are ready to receive one another.
Fixed
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Ready to go
Yes, the battery posts stop the battery sliding out.
OK! More work to do, but as a proof of concept, it works - and saves me so much manual fabrication!
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That's better. Perfect fit now.
I was planning on making some kind of clip to stop the battery coming out, but actually, the battery posts will stop it coming out. I just need something to stop it sliding the other way.
It went out of focus, but I cut away the battery hole to allow the LiPo in.
Reassembled.
New electrics loosely stuffed in for a test run.
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Updates!
My start-of-month spending splurge arrived earlier this week, so I took a lunchbreak in the workshop to get everything fitted.
1060 ESC, Xtra Speed motor mount, 4/5mm battery posts and a steel 17 tooth pinion.
I decided to remove the rear gearbox so I could see if it would be possible to fit a short LiPo in here somehow.
Kinda looks like it'll fit? Needs some ribs removed, though.
Ribs removed. Less sensation, more battery.
Also had to grind away at that little bulb.
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At least the terrain was fairly smooth all the way back to Imber Path, although driving in 2wd proves just how bad the suspension is - the rear axle is constantly skipping over the bumps. It's obvious because the transfer case is unbelievably loud, but when the axle leaves the ground it unloads and goes silent, so it almost sounds like it's misfiring.
2wd and still fighting.
Finally, we reach Imber Path. Now we've got 1.4 miles of gravel and a gentle uphill slope.
You see that sign where it says No Entry? We're not allowed in there.
And finally we're back where we started. 8.3 miles and almost 4 hours later. A couple of rollovers and a broken propshaft, but otherwise unscathed.
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At this point I've got a choice. I can head to the right, down a slope and onto an old road, where there's a derelict barn that looks like something out of Stalker. From there, I can take the old road up a very steep hill and head back along The Ridge, or I can head straight across the valley and climb up what I call The Spine. The valley can be very rutted and hard to pass even on foot, and I don't really fancy the long climb up the road to The Ridge, so the other option is to bear left - straight on, in this photo - and follow the treeline in the distance back to Imber Path, and from there it's a straight walk for a mile and a half to reach the van.
The going looks hard, and in the summer the grass is way too long to go this way, but this time of year it's easily passable.
A few minutes later, the truck suddenly jumped up into the air, as if it had run into something. It came down on its wheels and carried on driving, but I could see that it had gone over something. I was going to ignore it, but sometimes the military leave stuff lying around here, so I thought I'd check it out. That was when I realised what I'd run over.
It was my front propshaft.
The only cheap shaft left on the truck. Well, not any more, eh?
It wasn't repairable, as I'd lost both pins - in fact I wondered if I might have lost one of the pins some way back and it had taken this long to fall out, but I probably would have noticed it being 2wd.
As much as possible, I try to drive the truck out of any situation it gets into, but it took some while to unbeach it from this rut after I flipped it back onto its wheels. 4wd makes a huge difference.
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2 hours and 15 minutes, and the first battery finally gave out. Around 4.7 miles. That means I should easily get 12+ miles of daylight running out of 3 packs.
Having a play with a loose climb. Not really a challenge for a truck like this.
This next section is a long flat walk, and for the first time all night I'm heading into the sun, which is kind of nice.
It takes over 10 minutes for the other end of the field to come into view, with a gentle slope into the trees. This was a good spot to sit down and eat the rest of my sandwich. My brain is having a hard time adjusting to the fact that it isn't dark yet. Last time I did this route I had to divert because it was way too dark to go through the trees, and I went back along The Ridge under the light of the stars.
This section is treacherous in the dark. It's steeper than it looks and very slippery when wet.
Finally we're back on tarmac, although I'm not sure why, it's a sort of nothing road that goes nowhere. A long, straight climb taking us back towards the van.
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After a few switchbacks we emerge into what I call "The Ridge" - one of my favourite parts of the route.
My CFX-W usually needs a battery swap about here, but the Scania, despite being several orders of magnitude heavier, was still pulling like a train.
Depending on the route, The Ridge is also one of the few places where you can see civilisation. There it is, in the distance. Well, it's kind of civilisation. It's mostly farms and small villages. Under that ridge of hills in the very far distance is the town of Devizes.
Nearly 15 minutes later we can see the same view, this time framed nicely by some trees.
Me and My Truck
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1 hour in, and we emerge into field and beaming sunshine. We're only about 2.4 miles in here, but it always feels further. If I check my phone around this time I'm often somewhat dismayed by how far I still have to go - this section across the fields must occur at a particular low point in my mood, possibly related to how I'm burning energy during the walk, and probably means I should switch my routes up a little, but there are logistical challenges.
Because I was able to leave so early, I hadn't had time to eat lunch. Instead I'd slapped some ham between two slices of frozen bread, and by the time I got here, it was thawed. I sat under the tree and ate half a sandwich before moving on.
Back into the woods again. This is the first time I've seen daylight on this path since last year. This path is steeper than it looks, and I had a full sweat on by the time I got to the top. It was warm enough that my jacket hadn't even come out of my rucksack - I'd been in a T-shirt the whole way round.
Hey! You can't park that there!
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This is the lowest point of the walk (altitude-wise). Wellhead Pond isn't the nicest body of water in the world - it's murky, green and stagnant - but it makes for a nice photo op. However I was nervous about letting the truck get too close to it, because it's easy to knock the transmitter and set the cruise control off.
It's been a while since I saw this much light in the woods.
There are some steep climbs, and the truck definitely has less traction with the stiffer tyres installed, but it's still got enough to make the climbs. The ground being so dry and dusty doesn't help, but it was fun watching something so lumbering and heavy fishtail and scrabble up the slopes.
This section is more for dog walkers and deer, but still makes for some nice scale trails.
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Life has kind of gotten in the way of things over the last few weeks, and I haven't been able to get out for a long walk for a while - so the latest round of mods have gone untested. I was able to finish work a little early on Friday, so I made sure my batteries were charging during the morning so I could head straight out as soon as I was done.
The weather here has been pretty good for the last few days. Some rain Friday morning wasn't enough to wet the ground, and the skies were clear by mid-afternoon. Daylight Savings began last weekend too, and the sunset is much later than it was just a few weeks back. It would have been impossible for me to finish a walk in the light just 3 weeks ago, now it's going to be hard to be out until dark! In fact I might have to make the torches removable, as there's no point in lugging all that weight around if I don't need it.
This update captures the best bits of the walk. I took 80 photos, and if you like you can view them all here:
https://tcphotos.net/album/egy9
I used my phone for the photos this time, because I wanted to share the walk on Scaletra as soon as I'd finished. I'm not sure I like the brightness of the phone photos, plus it took way longer because I had to keep getting it out of my pocket and unlocking it. Next time I'll just use the camera that's attached to the transmitter.
It was 15:30 by the time I got to my usual parking spot, changed into my walking clothes and powered up the truck. We were ready go to. Fingers crossed, if all went to plan, we wouldn't be back for a few hours.
The big descent at the start of the walk. The gravel is very slippery underfoot, but the truck managed it well with the new tyres.
Mountain bikers use this area, and make trails that are the perfect scale for trucking.
Spring sunshine has turned the chalk to concrete. Some days these ruts are deep enough to drown the truck.
30 minutes into the walk and we reached the Walled Garden. The cricket club is here.
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1 hour ago, Re-Bugged said:
100% 👍🏻
absolutely
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Nothing specific is on my list. Money was already going to be tighter than usual this year for various factors, and now my wife has switched to a lower-paying career so I have to personally fund some things that previously came from the joint account.
That said, things I would like, if the cash allows:
Squash Van - loved this when it was announced and I'm sure it will be a hoot in the garden
Mercedes C11 - almost hit the BIN on one of these several times over the last couple of years. I thought we were going to use this for an endurance series, but that never happened. I literally have nowhere to run it - no tarmac tracks near me, no clubs run them, so it would be a shelfer unless someone organises a one-off race meet. But I still want one.
I'm sure there's millions of other cars that I'd like, I just can't think of them right now.
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@Starky_UK there are a few clubs running one-off endurance events this year. I think South Hants Model Car Club are doing one, and Mendip might be doing some too. Hopefully the trend grows and more clubs will do one or two special endurance races each year.
Keep an eye on the Colchester club, they are hosting a round of the BRCA championship later this year but they might do a one-off endurance before then to test out their timing equipment.
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The sensible answer, obviously, is to keep your money in your pocket until you've got these other things sorted. But, if you've got a personal spends budget besides your other stuff, and you've got money in it, why not go see what takes your interest?
To be honest, these days, walking into a shop thinking "hmm, maybe I'll buy a kit?" is a thing of the past. The romance of it still appeals, but...
- all the shops near me list their stock online, so there's no "hmm, I wonder what I'll buy..?" before I get there
- the closest one to me (walking distance) charges way over the odds for kits and doesn't stock bearings (I can usually get a kit, delivered, from a UK stockist, with bearings, for less than I can buy locally)
- I never visit anywhere on holiday that has a reasonable model shop
I still remember the good old days (around 15 years ago) when there were more small local shops, who had tardis-like stock rooms, and walking in with a wallet full of cash meant rifling through their shelves to see what jumped out at me.
The last time I tried this was at Wheelspin Models, back in 2020 - it was my birthday, a month before lockdown, and I was on my way to a Tamiya Junkies meet. I walked in expecting to see a big warehouse full of boxes, but they just has a big desk with a few Traxxas RTRs in glass cases. Buying something was done by using the web browser on the desk, which was exactly the same site as you'd get at home. I was able to talk to a member of staff, who pulled a few boxes out from the warehouse for me to check, but I found it a thoroughly soulless experience. I haven't been since the store was redeveloped a couple of years ago, so it may be different now?
Actually, I went into Jadlam about 18 months ago, and they had a lot of kits in stock. Very much a modern superstore instead of the old, dark, dusty hobby shops of old, but would be worth a visit again if I had a day spare and some money to burn.
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The MTX-1 in 4wd form is a great shout. I have one and it's one of my favourite backyard bashers. With a mild brushless system, on 2S it's perfect in the garden and on 3S it's a hoot in wider spaces. Only fragile points I've noticed are the stock suspension links, which bend - there is a hopup metal part available - and the body posts, which snap easily.
Tamiya-wise, my suggestions would be:
G6-01 - a really fun and solid basher when it's got a good power system installed.
Squash Van - I don't have one, but seems this is the modern equivalent of the WT-01 4wd trucks, which I would suggest if they were still available.
CC-02 with monster sized wheels - although the MTX-1 does the same job better.
It's hard to think of anything else that isn't going to get in a pickle on that sort of terrain.
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10 hours ago, tamiya monkey said:
Sounds like you have a full month, hope to catch you at a few through the year Alex.
Literally while I was writing out my last post, my wife was in an interview for a job that required her to work every other weekend. She's now accepted one that only requires every other Saturday, but for much lower wages. Which puts a bit of a dampener on getting to more meets this year - but we'll see. I'll do what I can
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Novafox racer / basher
in Re-Release Discussions
Posted
I also decided to trim off the wing mounts and make a closing panel
A bit of ABS. I'll glue this in place and add some decals later.