JennyMo

cont. So while I was in the midst of this Ebay frenzy, I also decided to invest in an alternative set of aluminium front suspension arms - this time with matching upper wishbones, rather than the single (albeit adjustable camber) rods and eyes I'd installed previously... photo. if you plan to do anything similar, choose these - the are much more nicely machined and come with a full set of pivot pins and e-clips etc. photo. the moment I unpacked these I could appreciate the higher quality of this design/kit - yes they cost a bit more, but they are worth it! Indeed, previously the one thing I wasn't overly happy about was the amount of slack in the original front suspension set-up - it wasn't terrible, but sufficient that it didn't really appear to have the same 'high quality' precision action as the rear end, and the overall build of the buggy. Fortunately not only do these replacement lower wishbones fit with even more precision (and are very smooth on their own pivot pins, especially with a dab of grease on each one), but installing the upper wishbones immediately makes everything feel much more solid - and am confident will immediately improve the steering in future. photo. I swapped out the softer rate springs I had fitted for these medium versions - the damping action is still plush as you like, but the rebound a touch faster, and static ride-height increased - although they still offer a degree of sag which is what I wanted for cornering grip. photo. this is proper! The upgraded front end ought to be even stronger and more stable than before, just without the potential camber adjustment of course. photo. New front end re-installed, and the camber remains essentially neutral/the same as it was before anyway! Right, time to finish that hood paint, and apply a few sponsor stickers... then work out exactly how to create a suitable scale interior that hides the majority of the wiring, oh and ultimately get a driver figure installed too! More soon!

Ok then, time for a little update to this build... If you've been following from the beginning, then you'll know this was initially a bit of an experiment - to try and create a suitably fast rear-wheel-drive 'buggy' style vehicle that would be robust enough for more rough and tumble style driving (at RC tracks and skate parks etc.), but which still offered an element of scale detail and interesting features. Having successfully mated a 2WD Tamiya IFS with an Axail Capra, I consider the concept 'proven' now (once I'd replaced that original planetary gearbox with a high ratio 3-gear type transmission) - sure enough this little tyke will spin it's wheels, and step out of line at will using the throttle due to the relatively narrow rear tyres - and overall it bops along at a typical Tamiya buddy/SRB rate, which is more than fast enough for my high-speed driving skill level anyway! So in that regard I thought it would be worthwhile to invest a bit more money and spec this vehicle with some higher quality and more [scale] detailed components, to try and do the build justice other than simply as a basher... First up, I swapped out the Hooli aluminium panels with those currently on my 4x4 Capra in an effort to make things look a bit more sporty: photo. the nice thing about the Capra body panels is they are easy to swap around, potentially offering a whole range of different styles as desired. You'll also notice that I've changed the tyres from the 100mm diameter BF Goodrich MT style all-round, to a set of RC4WD Mickey Thompson 4.19s (so around 6mm taller) - the Baja MTZ version on the front (which are nice an narrow at 30mm, and more befitting a 2WD buggy), and the slightly wider (40mm) Baja Claw version on the rear (note. I'd have really liked to use their Baja Belted pattern on the rear, those being a really wide 47mm - however, I fear the nominal 113mm diameter would be a little too big in comparison to the fronts, and meant it might look like a tractor!). The other thing I realised in a moment of clarity is that I could also fit the same super-plush damping Tamiya Frog shocks I had up front on the rear end too, by simply inserting a 5mm diameter ball end (spare from the steering and camber link set) into the top mount of each shock - allowing both the top and bottom to pivot as required due to the sight side to side path of the solid rear axle - result! photo. Tamiya 5mm diameter M3 threaded ball end presses perfectly into these plastic top-caps, and I used a countersunk bolt to secure to offer more room for the shock top to pivot on the ball as required. So with both ends of the buggy super plush, it was time for a little more testing, and ultimately I settled on slightly stiffer springs on the front compared to the rear - keeping the front end nice and high to prevent the IFS bottoming out when landing jumps etc. and overall offering a pretty level stance now. Done! Increasingly confident that this build was now worth some further investment, I splurged on another set of bare aluminium body panels, with a dedicated paint-job in mind: photo. racy and retro - let's see what we can make with this little lot eh? I factored that since this was essentially a mash-up of a Tamiya 2WD buggy and an Axial Capra with it's inherent 'quirky' handling from having a solid/locked rear axle, that an SRB inspired paint-job would be just the ticket - and bought a set of Tamiya re-re Super Champ decals (known as the Fighting Buggy of course), which as it turned out, would be a neigh on perfect fit for the two-tone colour scheme I had planned... photo. "My name is Inigo Montoya - you killed my Capra - prepare to paint!" note. it turns out Inigo may or may not end up as the driver of this buggy, since I have an alternative which fits my proposed seat and interior even better! Having carefully masked the aluminium panels using the tri-colore stripes as a template, I blew over them with Tamiya TS-15 'blue' (aha, see what I did there?), before applying the stripes as a neat way to partition the bare alloy and blue paint: photo. very much the Tamiya Super Champ colourway. photo. I also felt this colour scheme is reminiscent of the recently introduced BBX buggy - which again harks back to the SRB buggies of old... and indeed, the lack of tail wing and relatively narrow tyres on silver wheels means this build is very much inspired by that new Tamiya BBX kit. photo. It's getting there - a few sponsor stickers and some window nets, and I reckon this will really look the part! Fortunately I already had a few left-over Super Champ decals in my sticker-stash, so was able to test-fit them against the panels prior to investing in a whole new set (even the re-re decals are rarely available, and not cheap these days) - and found that by mixing and matching lengths and angles, they offered three curved stripes which would all have the yellow against the blue (for contrast), and at the same time also allow each panel to have a portion left in bare aluminium, which I wanted to highlight. (note the hood is not finished in these photos - it's still in the paint booth at the time of writing - but follows a similar format with the centre portion left bare metal, while the blue paint and stripes taper along either side and meet in the centre). cont.

I love the fact you've got the whole gang in the front! - Epic! Jx

Hee hee - yes, I had a similar size tin of Isopon for years... and years and years! (fortunately it seemed to last well enough). The nice thing about Isopon in the UK at least is you could also buy it in toothpaste tube sized portions, which was typically more than enough for 1/10th scale modelling like you say... I did at least make a number of Willy heads out of that big tin mind you! Jx

I've always used Isopon P38 (in the UK) - works well, dries fast and can be sanded/sculpted as required (eg. my various custom Wild Willy faces over the years). The Isopon [brand] doesn't seem to be sold here in the USA, so I'm currently using the 'Bondo' equivalent - but any auto-parts store fine surface body filler ought to work... on hard bodies of course. Jx

Your last sentence says it all... I look forward to seeing you do just that! Jx ps. AMpro Engineering has a bunch of videos on YouTube regarding the various FMS models - he's a huge fan.

Hi Gibbo - small ones! In all seriousness, depending on the amount of detail you need to paint - ie. driver's facial features etc. - then you do need some very fine-tipped and soft bristle brushes. If you look online (ebay etc.), or in various model/hobby shops you may have near you, they typically sell a set of 5 or 6 brushes in various tip/width sizes, which will usually be enough to get you started - although I would suggest you don't buy the absolute bargain-basement versions, since you do want to make sure you have not only soft bristle for a more smooth and consistent finish, but that they don't shed the bristles too readily either. You may also find you need to purchase an additional brush or two with a really fine point tip which might not be included in those sets - and consider that one of the set ought to have a flatter profile along with those with a traditional round/tapered grouping of the bristles. As for paint itself, most detailing is done with acrylic paints - either those small Tamiya pots or similar model-shop brands - and being water based you can thin those, and it is also easy to wash your brushes afterwards. for info. I use regular rattle-can paint for the bodywork - either from a car accessory store if you want to colour match with a 1:1 colour/vehicle, or the Tamiya TS range of cans - which although small, do have a nice fine spray consistency which helps with bodies that have any fine moulded details. note. Obviously these suggestions for spray paint is when painting externally on hard bodies, if you have a clear lexan shell you're painting from the inside, then you need specific PS paints which are more flexible for polycarbonate bodies. Hope that helps to get you started!

As I recall Loops RC used to make one, but unfortunately they have closed down last year, and I don't think anyone else has a mould/their moulds... You could potentially buy the Killerbody LC70 pick-up and convert that to a station-wagon perhaps - but that has the later more rounded front end compared to the 1989/90 era you're talking about. Also, if you want something in 1/10th size to fit on a 313mm wheelbase chassis, it would have to be more the 5 door shell than the SWB 3-door - the 3-door models had a pretty short wheelbase (around 95" as I recall in 1:1 size), so you'd need a shorter chassis - something like the RC4WD Gelande, or possibly a CC-02 if you want to keep it Tamiya. Alternatively you could simply shorten your existing 313mm chassis wheelbase with different links etc. of course. As a suggestion, it might be worth asking the question over on the Scale Builders Guild forum - there are any number of odd-ball body builds on there, a lot of stuff scratch-built or modified of course, but equally these days someone there may know of someone who prints 3D bodies of the version you're after - or might even sell you the files to get it printed yourself. Hope that helps!

And even if it doesn't it will still look kewl! Jx

Thanks for mention Bus' - yes, this is the result of my folly: https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=130097&id=25648 And if you want more info. there is a full build thread here which catalogues how it evolved over the years: Jx

Yep, I'm with OldSchool' on this one - of course there are 'better' crawlers out there (and fwiw. the best one - both quality/performance and value for money wise - is the Vanquish Phoenix which they've just released as RTR now at $479... I would suggest that every time, or the kit version for $100 less, but that is without any electronics of course) - but equally, there is a charm and a challenge in running a technically 'sub-par' crawler over the same terrain as a more performance orientated crawler might walk over... I still enjoy running my leaf-sprung crawlers for exactly that reason - and like anything in this hobby, with a few choice upgrades and personal tweaks/modifications, they can provide an even more rewarding driving experience than a higher specification vehicle. For that reason alone, you've now got me thinking about buying a Rock-Socker [for the chassis] myself! Arrrrrrrgh! Jx

Hi similarion - to be fair, I also run those exact same 25Kg servos in a number of my builds (typically with slight smaller tyre diameter than the Rock-Socker has) and they work fine - I was only suggesting that if you're buying one specifically, I now prefer this type - which have a slightly better build quality and more power: https://www.ebay.com/itm/363533434366 However, I'm sure the one you have will work fine too. Jx

I'd echo what OldSchool' suggests - if you want a Tamiya, the Rock-Socker is the cheapest way to get a CR-01 chassis vehicle, and you can always swap the body over for pretty much anything else in time as you surmise. Built it, run it stock, and then consider any upgrades (to the motor/suspension) as you find it's limitations... as markbt73 says above, if the kit doesn't come with an ESC, get a dedicated 'crawler' one - either the Hobbywing 1060, or their 1080 version (which is programmable) which features a drag-brake and different throttle responses... A 35Kg servo ought to be considered minimum for something that size and weight (and tyre size) too - you can typically get a decent one on Ebay for around $25. Have fun! Jx

Where are you located Saito2? - this company in the UK sells NiMh batteries in various shape combos: https://www.ebay.com/itm/122356944958?var=422840645352 I have their 6-cell 'square' pack in my Baja Blazer, and they do ship internationally if required. Jx

You can fit Sand Scorcher/Frog/Hornet front tyres onto 1.55 wheels - they would be pretty narrow and ribbed in a period appropriate style? I did this with my Tam Mater build a few year's ago - on narrowed Low-ride Pumpkin wheels - but you could probably find something more traditional in 1.55 size? - although I guess you'd really want wire-spoked to be truly authentic? ps. have a look at the second page of that build thread in the link above for how I narrowed the wheels to better suit the more narrow tyres. pps. The other thing you might want to consider is some 1.7 tyres for the Tamiya 1:14th truck range - again, nice and narrow, and with a scale tread pattern too typically... you'd just need to source some suitable wheels - although you could get creative with some plain truck wheels (which ought to be suitably narrow to begin with), and perhaps fabricate either some hub-caps or even wire spokes of some kind - using very narrow styrene rod for example?

A quick update to this thread, now my [larger] motor pinion gear set has arrived... I'm delighted to say that the 20T* gear has solved all the previous issues with regard to wheel-speed and/or the motor over-heating with the previous gearbox arrangement! *I thought I'd try the second to largest size in the set first (the largest being 21T, or approx 5% faster still) - not least as there was limited room inside the gearbox for such a large diameter motor pinion. This is thing is FAST! - I mean proper fast now, while the 550 motor also has plenty of grunt to spin the wheels off the line as desired, do donuts at will, and all manner of other silly things - helped in no small part I'm sure by what are pretty modest width rear tyres, and a locked rear diff. In fact I go as far to say as it's almost too fast for the current tyre set-up and wheelbase dimensions - requiring judicious use of the throttle if you're to avoid spinning the car either on acceleration or on the overrun (I've reduced the drake brake to zero on the ESC, but an aggressive throttle off can still cause the rear end to slightly brake traction)... Fortunately it remains just this side of drivable - and indeed provides more of a challenge that simply full-throttle squirting everywhere - it really is a fun little buggy to drive now! HUGE fun! for info. there was only one issue with my revised pinion set-up which caused me some consternation initially - in that once I'd screwed everything back together, for some reason the motor would not turn, and got very hot, very quickly?! Thinking I might have meshed the gears too tightly, I stripped everything down again, only to find that the chunky pinion gear (and 3.2-5mm adaptor sleeve required to mount it directly to this particular motor shaft) was ever so slightly rubbing on the inside of the gear case, once it was screwed together - so all I needed to do was drill a 6mm hole in the cover (see photo below) so that it could spin freely - and boy can it now spin freely! photo. hole drilled in casing so that the end of the motor-shaft/pinion adaptor is free to spin - note I also bought a dedicated UJ prop-shaft for this transmission, in an effort to have something pretty bullet-proof for high speed running. So that is the initial development phase completed now, and the proof of concept, erm, proofed... and while it would probably have been far easier to just buy either a 2WD Traxxas Slash or even a cheaper Tamiya DT-02/3 chassis based RWD buggy, there is something about assembling a custom vehicle from a seemingly random and disparate collection of parts, especially when it turns out to be rather good as a whole after all! The next phase is to fabricate some sort of interior and fit (re-fit?) a driver or sorts... the Hooli logos (along with my "I need TP" licence plates currently on the Capra Cornholio) would suggest that Beavis will once again find a home behind the wheel - not least as this really is a Hooligan vehicle now! However, I've also had another mash-up idea seeing that this is such a 'fast car' now, which I might further experiment with first... stay tuned! Jenny x

The chassis does, but you'll need the Ranger front and rear body mounts for the pick-up shell - the rear uses a shorter roll hoop so it fits under the bed. Jx

Yep, for the longest time I resisted going for a pistol grip style transmitters - but once you use them, it soon becomes far more intuitive to use, especially for cars... I'd buy a cheap one (Flysky GT3C as Jonathon suggests) and see how you get on with it for a while - you can always sell it on if you honestly can't get used to it. Jx

Hee hee - wait until you see who's going to be driving - animated Beavis (from the original Capra Cornholio) will return! Jx

Yes, I did look at/consider a number of options at first - and went with this particular one mainly because it was only $28 on ebay (and made of metal) - and I'd say the internal layout is actually pretty similar to the stock transmission you get in the Axial Capra - ie. it is not as low geared since the Capra uses portal axles (with a further 2:1 reduction as I recall)... Ultimately this is all a bit of an experiment for me (since I'm terrible at working out gear ratios, albeit pretty good at guessing and getting myself in the ballpark perhaps), and fortunately it would appear that this particular gearbox actually offers plenty of scope for fitting a much larger pinion gear if I desire - so once I get the 21T (vis the current 14T I have fitted) I'm going to try that first, and as long as the motor still has enough grunt to spin the wheels off the line (which I suspect will be the case), then I reckon I should have a pretty rapid buggy after all... Fingers crossed! Jx

A quick update to this thread... Having finally got the chance to reconsider my transmission set-up in this build recently, I stripped out the 3:1 planetary gearbox which I felt might have been causing the issue - and sure enough, it would appear that something inside was dragging (not really being designed to spin at such high rpms perhaps, or equally just because it's a cheap Chinese ebay gearbox with dubious machining tolerances perhaps?), so elected to replace it with a more conventional 3-gear style transmission - all be it a 'high speed' version in this instance. photo. looks like something was definitely rubbing/wearing inside here, generating all that heat and creating drag... photo. My solution - for now at least - is this low profile 'high speed' transmission, although it does mean that the motor is now off-set to the centre line of the chassis... It is interesting that while this new transmission (essentially designed to replace the standard SCX10 II style 3-gear transmission with the same mounting-bolt pattern) doesn't have a large spur gear/slipper and pinion in the same way - the fact it uses a tiny 8T pinion gear as standard means that the actual top speed is still not especially high - think the top gear of a 2-speed crawler gearbox* rather than an actual racing buggy. *which of course it was designed to replace in a typical trail-runner installation. photo. the very small pinion gear supplied means overall top speed (especially through an solid axle with a further reduction or around 3.5:1) is not much more than a brisk trail runner... Fortunately there appears to be plenty of room to fit an appreciably larger pinion on the motor output - and indeed with this motor fitted, the 8T pinion was only just meshing with the gears - and I soon swapped it for a 14T version I had in my spares - instantly increasing the speed by around significant amount, although still not really anything like as fast as I'd wish it to be... photo. revised gearbox installation on my custom chassis plate - the motor is now offset to the right, and the corresponding output to the axle further to the left - rather than the in-line installation I had before... still, that ought to give a little more room for a dropped interior and solo seat driver figure - Beavis will find a home again! Factoring that the 550 motor has plenty of grunt to spin a larger pinion gear still, I've ordered a set of Mod 0.8/32P pinions (the same pitch as this gearbox, and the RC4WD pinion I'd subsequently fitted) for a Traxxas Slash, and will now have the choice of 17T through 21T to experiment further. One thing is for sure, if it will pull the 21T then this thing ought to be pretty **** rapid at last! More soon, once more parts arrive! Jx

I'm ashamed to say when I first saw the name 'BBX' - my immediate thought was: 'Big Boll oX'. fwiw. I think it will be an excellent/tough runner with a vintage look... very much the WildOne/Rought Rider mash-up other people have suggested... I'd hoped it would more like $275-299 USD (particularly since it doesn't come with a motor or ESC) - and I guess it might well end up around that price once the initial demand quietens down? - if so I might well get one! Jx

Yes, I wonder if that planetary gearbox is the main issue - as you say, drag from the gears, primarily designed for either crawling or the 1:14 scale trucks really... I can certainly experiment with a different motor - my current go-to is actually the 13T 540 5-slot 'CrawlMaster Sport' motor from Homes Hobbies - I've slowly been replacing all the old 45T and 55T 3-slot RC4WD motors in my crawlers with those, and you do get a useful increase in wheel speed, plus some very nice slow-speed control... Unfortunately I don't appear to have any traditional silver-can style Tamiya motors lying spare around these days (and as I recall very few of my models sitting on the shelf have them either) to compare, but I'll see if I can rob something perhaps... Thanks for the suggestion!

Hi Thunder' - yes, that is my current (aha, see what I did there?) conclusion... The issue is I'm using a planetary gearbox with a 3:1 reduction, so there is no way to change that initial reduction ratio in the same way as you might with a pinyon and spur gear... and that while there is an initial reduction of 3:1, the prop-shaft then directly drives the rear axle with a further reduction of around 3.2:1 (since those Axial axles tend to have an 8 tooth pinion and 24-30T ring gear), which is pretty reasonable for this style of vehicle? However, this means that while the overall wheel speed would appear to be similar to something like an SRB for example, it appears that potentially the motor (and ESC) is working harder to get the transmission to turn - ie. it requires more torque, resulting in more heat being generated - than it might otherwise? - certainly initially, and that the motor and initial reduction of 3:1 from the planetary gearbox is having to spin up the prop-shaft before it gets to the second/final reduction gears in the rear axle. for info. the reason I went with this 550 12T motor is because it does appear to offer a lot of power and spins/accelerates very fast once the vehicle is rolling, so no issue there - however, it's possible that the relatively few turns (as I understood it, traditionally with 3-slot motors, more turns = more torque, but at the expense of overall speed) means it does struggle to get it moving initially, which as you suggest is could potentially be compensated for with a change in gearing... it's just I'm not sure where to begin if I'm to retain that planetary gearbox as the primary reduction? I shall continue my experiments!