Percymon

Never got a reply from rc end of line about the Atomik shell, so kicked that idea out. Found an XTM Racing MT shell that looked right, but at 220mm wide it fouled the wheels after about 2 inches of articulation. So the hunt was on for a long enough wheelbase shell but not too wide. Most shells are just not big enough - this things need a shell wheelbase of at least 320mm to look right. The XTM shell was 360mm but too wide, and at £50, a bit pricey. I narrowed my choice down to the Pro-line Beetle Baja Long shell and the long version of the Ford F-650 pick up. Have ordered the latter as at least its a truck type body and it measures 505mm overall length, 180mm width (supposedly) and wheelbase of 350mm. Should fit OK without trimming ? ? ? Got some Pactra Chezoom Teal, Pactra Fiery Orange and some paint masks coming along with the shell. Have extended one set of motor wires, and got the velcro stuck on the RX and the ESC.

Given the fees for eBay and paypal these days you'd be better using forum classified sections.

Always a good read this thread, and good to see you have overcome some of your earlier electrical issues on track. Pity about the lipo pack but goes to show that rc lipos have a lot more issues than those in mobile phones and the like - whether a dream or not . Sounds like you are at the point of enjoying the racing challenge now rather than being frustrated by shortcomings in the car and ancilliary equipment

If its cutting out on a fully charged battery pack (you don't say what battery you are using) then perhaps the battery just isn't up to the current demand being put on it by the ESC. Either that or the ESC is overeating due to the gearing and motor combo, does this happen from straight away or after a few minutes running ? I'm not familiar with the Holiday Buggy itself, but having a Fighter buggy which isn't an awful lot different in terms of chassis technology i'd say a 4.5turn system is way over the top for the chassis.

A good screwdriver is essential - i personally wouldn't go the electric driver route as its too easy to slip and damage a head. A good pair of pliers and some thin rubber to grip the shafts when installing nuts (rear suspension link, dampers etc). Patience is another good thing - read twice, then assemble

Apologies for hijacking tony's thread a little, but hopefully its on topic for both of us.. Looks like my Traxxas ESC has a BEC rating of 6V and 2.5A - is this enough ? or should i be looking at alternative devices (BEC/UBEC ??) to feed more power to the servo ? Idiots guide required !! Editted as i just found this pdf which is pretty good at explaining the set-up (i think)... http://www.4-max.co.uk/pdf/How2wireupaUBEC.pdf

Welcome ! That's one heck of a find - you have good quality bins in your neighbourhood ! The Re-re can only help on the parts front, although i believe a few parts are not identical to original (someone more informed than me will no doubt clarify on this) Great project - look forward to seeing this one progress

Good point Andy I've not got my electrics wired in yet, but i too might have issues with the Traxxas EVX-2 ESC and the Towerpro steering servo, especially coupled to my heavy wheels.

Ordered 4 wheel hexes for my Clod project - £30 Only consolation is that buying from the US, at $30 a set, would work out the same or more with shipping and duties ! Plus I realised that £30 for 4 hexes is nothing compared to some of the stuff that King Cobra Distribution stock !

3racing light bar with 5 led spotlights arrived from RCMart this morning - well packaged and no duties to pay again. Thats the good news, the bad news is if you are thinking of buying this DON'T BOTHER. I've seen better quality on toys in the pound shop; flaking chrome effect finish and wiring to 2 leds has already failed after just assembling it, never mind trying to route cables !. Had it been supplied in the UK i would have sent it back for a refund.

Kamtec do a repro lexan body for the Manta Ray for £12-13 from recollection - might be easier than trying to strip paint with £10 worth of brake fluid !

Check tamiyaparts.co.uk and fusionhobbies.com. Between them you should be able to find 95% of the parts.

Body wise I'm going two fold ! I'm trying to repair the original clod shell. I've added some styrene repairs to the rear wings where previous owner hacked lumps out. I've skimmed these with epoxy resin today so i'm hoping I can pretty much hide the damage externally. All being well it'll be two tone paint - metallic blue lower and yellow upper, the later over lacquered with pearl clear for a bit of sparkle. I've plans for a matching blue roll bar with spot lights. As an alternative I'm looking for a narrowish 1/8th shell, maybe a proline baja, maybe an old American truck or car with flaming skulls on it?. Just spotted a painted T MAXX F350 shell for under £20 so that might be the decision made!!

Nothing wrong with your choice of esc or motor ( maybe look at the LRP ones as an alternative). Trouble isuou can buy a programmable ezrun from hong kong for the same money. I have a ezrun 9t/4300kV in my hotshot and that cost me £41 delivered!

Some pics of the completed chassis... Still got the electrics and servo to sort out. It sure is a big boy !, that IS a stock Hotshot next to it, not a QD version !!

Let me know how you get on, might be a bit narrow, but can only help

Did some more work on the Cloider project.. Remounted the shocks , the Traxxas shocks didn't come with ball joints for the upper mounting points. Trial fitted the servo behind the front bumper, need a horn that'll take 3mm bolt now. Dropped the wheels on to assess clearances, think i may get away without axle wideners now The 550 motor cans don't actually foul on the anti-roll bars now all the shocks are in place Realised the wiring loom of the Traxxas motors and EVX-2 ESC isn't designed for a 15" wheelbase, so i'll be building a loom for one of the motors at least So only a few bolts to swap for the correct length ones, electrics to install, wheels to mount properly on 14mm hex's anda body or two to sort out now !!

eBay is often more expensive than buying from parts suppliers and model shops. A few to check.. Modelsport.co.uk Fusionhobbies.com Vintage-tamiyaparts.co.uk Tamiyaparts.co.uk

Either that one or the sport auto 20, both good cheap escs

If you want a budget ESC with reverse then the mtroniks sport auto 20 is nice n cheap (£17), has auto set up and on experience seems to be pretty reliable (waterproof too). Allows a bit of scope for a warmer motor too with its 20 turn limit. At that price its hardly worth continuing with the limitations of the MSC to be honest

If you want a budget ESC with reverse then the mtroniks sport auto 20 is nice n cheap (£17), has auto set up and on experience seems to be pretty reliable (waterproof too). Allows a bit of scope for a warmer motor too with its 20 turn limit. At that price its hardly worth continuing with the limitations of the MSC to be honest

Hotshot does have adjustment for different sized pinions,achieved by moving the small metal plates at one of the motor mounting screws. It's described in the manual. There is no other adjustment.

Tonight's progress, and some build pics to feast your eyes on... Front axle, complete with axle stiffeners, lower and upper 4 link mounts, front steering rods and front bumper. Where possible i've replaced Tamiya/Gmade bolts with M3 hex cap head bolts and nyloc nuts (steering rods just mocked up with Gmade bolts for now). Rear axle is in similar state, although needs the rear steering lock out adding. Aim for tomorrow is to replace a few bolts, mount the rear steer lock out and fit the Traxxas Titan 550 motors.

I like your idea of the car bra, a think sheet of rubber taught n glued would give it a bit more strength (and avoid those nasty stone chips lol!)

Update from last few days.. Sunday 6th Feb... Lack of E parts is holding things up now - i've ordered another 2 sets from the scaler store based in Italy and i'm hoping they do have physical stock as there are currently none in the UK. Uk sellers are quoting 2-3 week lead time, shipping from Italy should be a week. Today i used the old battered e parts to loosely build up one axle and mount stock Clod plastic rims and hub carriers, measured the distance between inner face of tyres to assess stock track width. Built again with just hex drive nuts and the beadlock rims, and i've gained approx 32mm in total track width through the change in wheel offsets and mounting. Whether this is enough to prevent body clearance issues under articulation is debatable. May need wideners still, but its nigh on impossible to find anywhere outside the US that stocks them, irrespective of make Its not all bad news though - just won an almost new Traxxas EVX-2 and two Titan motors for £55 Tuesday 8th Feb... Today is a truely great day for me - this morning the post man delivered my Traxxas EVX-2 ESC and twin Titan motors, but also in his hand was a box marked 'air mail' . Woohoo, my Gmade Spider chassis kit has landed !! - 8 days from Canada - RESULT ! My axles E parts are on route from Italy too, so with a following wind i'll have all the bits n bob i need by the weekend . Today I've ordered a Acoms Technosport II 2.4G radio kit, nice n cheap for the youngster to use, and hope this won't get fried on the Clod ! Ordered two steel pinions (13T, 32dp) and battery lead adaptors. More money gone, but its a Clod project after all so thats to be expected Been looking at bodies too, think i will go for the Pro-line PL3238-60 Baja shell - its got a nice 318mm wheelbase, and overall length is 54mm up on the Clod so should look ok on the extended chassis. Some pics of the Spider kit... Every stage of the build comes in a separate labelled bag, hence all the plastic packaging. Manual comes on a CD with both jpg and pdf files of the build process. Very well laid out and logical. As standard the kit comes with rear steer lockout and front bumper; I have an additional bumper for the rear (another 200g of metal to haul around lol!). Whatever this thing hits when its built will certainly bare the scars ! Original Clod Body... I have added some initial styrene repair sections to the existing Clod body where the rear wheel arches had been cut - will see how these hold up when i refine them. I built a new roll cage from styrene, but promptly snapped it test fitting - serves me right for not letting things harden off. I have some Al tubing to hand so i may just combine that with the bits of the original roll cage into something a bit more presentable, and no doubt more serviceable. YeahRacing spot light set now on its way from Dinball. Thursday 10th Feb.. A little progress last night. Managed to complete the first 3 bags worth of the assembly (front bumper, upper 4 link mounts and lower link mounts at the axles) which was very easy. My only difficulty was that the chassis instructions only show the Gmade components, so you have to constantly reference the Clod manual to tie the Gmade and Tamiya components together. It doesn't require rocket science but it did take me a while to get my head around it, particularly which bolts connect to Tamiya bits and which don't ! My new E parts (clod axles) arrived from Italy yesterday (next day delivery, marvellous), and the steel 13T pinions arrived this morning so i will be able to get the axles, gearboxes and bracketry fully assembled today (hopefully !). I had to drill an additional 3mm hole in each of the four Tamiya E parts for the second screw that ties the axles end stiffeners and the 4 link lower mounts either side of the Tamiya 'C' section (no different to other manufacturer's axle stiffeners). Will get some pics up again once i have the axles assembled.