Percymon

Last night i spent 40 minutes just removing the decals - majority were electrical insulation tape. The ones on the bonnet (hood?) in particular were created by putting down a strip of tape, then cutting letters in it with a craft knife, scoring the underlying shell ! Owner had a sense of humour, bonnet decals read .. "reconditioned Maclaren F1. NOT !" Oh well, its stripped now and the holes in the hood and bed have been filled with epoxy putty. Its going to need a good sanding all over to remove some of the scruffs n scrapes, then some filler/primer. It'll be needing some form of bumper at the front, maybe a styrene creation ? , and the rear chrome one needs paint or replacing. I'm no expert with bodies so i'm not expecting shelf queen standards ! I may well give up on this body, i'm not that fussed about the Clod look to be honest, but its cost me nothing but an hour of my time so far. I'm thinking about fitting a LED light bar on the cab, but i want all the wiring hidden so i may have to craft that and a roll bar from styrene myself to conceal wiring - i dont think i could fit leds and wiring into the Pro-line accessory light bar, and the 3racing version from Hong Kong looks like its wired externally too. If i stick with it i think it'll end up painting yellow on the top half and mid blue (to match the beadlock rings) on the bottom half, probably over lacquered with the Tamiya aluminium metal flake for a bit of sparkle. Going to be a bit of a clash with the red springs of the Traxxas shocks though !! My second hand aluminium beadlock wheels arrived today (thanks Ben) - a few scuffs on them, nothing that wasn't visible in the seller's photos, and i got them for half what a new set would cost to ship from RC4WD so i can't complain The Spider chassis has been despatched from Canada (thanks Gordon) who kindly sent it airmail rather than surface shipping so that should improve the original 6 week shipping time. Ordered a load of M3 hex head cap bolts today too - I think they look a bit more 'engineered' than Tamiya screws; maybe no stronger but i hope will add to the 'modded' look of the axles etc.

24th Jan 2011... Three months into RC and i'm embarking on a Clod project Why project Cloider - the fusion of Clod and the Spider chassis from Gmade. So the base Clod came from UK ebay and whilst not the cheapest place at times it wasn't too bad a purchase.. Body - no splits or cracks, never been painted, and the stickers are a combination of electrical insulation tape and company logos cut from magazines and glued on ! But the previous owner decided to extend the rear arches for some reason! All the chrome work is shot, and the front grill is scuffed from impacts but not irrecoverable. 'Windows' are pretty good now cleaned up, slight scuff on sunroof and windscreen but these should clean off with some mild cutting compound on the rotary polisher Chassis - broken, badly repaired, but of no consequence, and the reason i won the auction for little money. Shock absorbers rusty & some broken but again not a problem as they'll be binned anyway Axles/gearboxes - the usual scuffs and dirt on the casings from use, but internally they look pretty good, some evidence of the stock aluminium pinion gear wearing away, but far better than other cars i've opened up. The lot came complete with one new gearbox case which was a nice surprise. Wheels n tyres - Wheel rims bear the usual rim edge scars but nothing too serious, a clean up and paint will have those sorted i think. Tyres initially looked OK, but i've discovered a small split in one of them (repairable) - they all look pretty similar other than the split, so copious amounts of rubber dressing may be in order to keep what i have supple. Plans.. NIB Gmade Spider conversion kit has been purchased, but has 3-6 week shipping time from Canada Wheels n tyres will be repaired / refurbed although some alloy beadlocks would be nice Traxxas shocks - managed to stumble on 4 aluminium bodied ones last night on ebay again (part of an original set of 8) Body - Hmmm Got a bit of time waiting for the chassis to arrive so will clean up the shell and see what i have to work with, should be able to styrene repair the rear arches. Will probably opt for a lightish colour scheme and 'dechrome' matt black the existing chrome work. I'm also looking at other bodies (50's pick up style mainly although a Tamiya Unimog body may be another option) but i need to assess the amount of bodywork i'll potentially lose with the added articluation of the Spider chassis. I'd rather not mount the body high on the chassis if i can help it. Gearboxes / axles - these are being rebuilt with new casings and screws Powertrain - no idea as yet, i'd like twin EZRun brushless set up, but budget might not stretch to that initially. whatever it is it'll be running from 7.2V NiMH stick pack(s) Some pics , they aren't the best, but they'll give a reference point as the build progresses.

Been thinking about adding some lights to my Clod project - front and rear lights are easily sorted, but what about roof mounted lighting bars ?? Options seem to be the Pro-Line bar or the 3Racing set sold by Dinball Anyone used either of these ? Is it possible to hide the wiring - if i can't keep the wiring hidden then i'm not bothering - last thing i want is a working light bar with spaghetti on show. Another option may be wing mounted spots or a spotlight bar ont he front bumper (less vulnerbale ina roll over !!) - but again i want concealed wiring Thanks

Set of aluminium beadlock wheels for my Clod project, courtesy of MADD MONSTER here - thanks Ben for the prompt despatch Still waiting on a whole host of clod bits from TimeTunnel.

Looks the same as the one i bought - check ebay for better deals than you quoted.

Of those 2 then it'd have to be french blue to set off the wheels. Most original 500s were white, navy or red. What about an Abarth scheme?

This may not directly translate to the Clodzilla set-up, but there's some useful guidelines about how different arrangements affect things in the Gmade article.. http://www.craftlab.net/bbs/zboard.php?id=...sc=asc&no=6

13T steel pinion and a EZRun brushless system - i got a 9T, 4300kV with 35A ESC and programm card from Hong Kong for £41 delivered, pinions £3. Significantly better performance over the stock motor, and thats with very conservative settings programmed in.

Pretty much any 12mm hex from eBay will do you, under £4 a set delivered

here you go.. Seben Racing chrome star dish... and original rims painted with fastrax black and Fastrax chrome..

The clod shell measures 280mm (11") between the wheel arch centres, about 30mm longer than most 'long' Tamiya shelss. If you mount the Clod shell a touch higher on the frame it won't look so bad, or you could cut the shell behind the cab, and take an inch out of the rear section. Trouble is there are plenty of Clod like shells in true 1/10th scale from the likes of HPI and Pro-line at reasonable cost that you've really got to want to do the cut n shut as the time involved doesn't really warrant the work.

slightly off topic, and not the best pictures but here's my Manta Ray resto, painted with Fastrax Chameleon Jade, and backed with Fastrax Jet Black. Colour changes from bottle green metallic through bronze to a sort of dark gold. Needs natural light to show off the flip at its best, and its a bu66er to photograph !

Browsed the net for more ideas for project 'Cloider' Found a set (4) new Traxxas alloy shocks n springs on ebay, so bought those up quick. Chased amazon for my missing LCD TV

will see what i can do tonight for you.

They come with a foam sleeve to keep some of the dirt and dust out but it also restricts air to the motor for cooling. Dirt Tuned Motor is a high performance motor designed for off road cars. It features a sponge cover to protect motor from debris and replaceable brushes to ensure a long running life. The end bell features special vents for maximum motor cooling and incorporates a detachable inboard capacitor. Features Number of turns = 27 Usable Voltage = 7.2 Torque at best efficiency = 380g/cm (7.2v) RPM at best efficiency = 17,000rpm (7.2v) Dare i say it yet again, but at £35 for a motor you might as well go brushless

Just done mine boxart, and i have to say Tamiya did a good job with their original choice - i've painted the wheels Fastrax chrome (which i more bright silver with a little extra mirror effect rather than true chrome), and a set of Seben Racing Chrome star spokes and both klook great against the red. I have a second body i'm doing Tamiya Racing Green, but that will have alternative decals, maybe just the freebee Hobbywing ones that came with the brushless motor set. Another option is to use the clear aluminium flake spray first, then red, to give a bit of sparkle to the boxart theme.

After reading that thread I went looking at my box of old silvercans, taken out of wrecks I'd bought on eBay. Found I had 2 of the four vent variety, one of which came from a £10.50 hotshot wreck. Not tried any of them to see what they're likevondition wise but they might just do as a short term powertrain for my clod project

Tamiya would be fools to end the lunchbox, timeless design that probably sells as well year after year. Cheapest way into what the average Joe in the street wouldcall a monster truck!

Dan, I'm no expert but I'm sure I read elsewhere that the johnson silvercans with 4 vent holes around the casing were better than the same motor with 2 vent holes. This may be for older motors, so used on eBay, but possibly still holds true although I have no idea what tamiya stock silvercan is these days Found the article now.. http://home.intekom.com/modelboats/car/pitalk/cheat1.htm

The biggest news at Nuremberg is likely to be the sell off of Hamley's toy store - Tamiya news will barely make the back page news bulletins !

Having painted and decalled son's shell at the weekend make sure you have a beer handy. The first two decals to go on aren't the easiest to align at all - as a rough guide there is a slight kink approx half way along the decal to coincide with the 'air intake' at the rear of the side window.

I have a clamp, so thats one less thing to buy lol ! You're probably right about the Unimog, i was shocked at the length of the Clod shell when i unpacked it - the body was more a shock than the wheel size ! I've editted this post yet again, as i keep finding conflicting info !... looking at the front-on shot of the rubicon its clear that anything much beyond 195mm wide at the wheel area is going to be an issue (rubicon is supposedly 194mm wide at the door area, 216mm wide at the rear arches and a smidge less at the front arches). That photo is very deceptive to newcomers, as initially it looks like a narrow body, where as in fact its actually quite a big body but its on a big chassis/wheels. The Unimog is supposedly (according to Tower) 190mm at the midpoint (so should be same at the back), and the wheelarch spats are about 10mm wide each. I might get away with mounting a bit higher, or shaving a bit off the arch spats. That aid, not sure a Unimog body is good for anything other than crawling, imagine a Unimog with twin brushless leaping off earth mounds lol!!

Well a worthwhile trip to the LHS.. ThunderTiger MTA based Sledge Hammer has a 14.5" wheelbase, and whilst the wheel track is wider than the clod the body is pretty narrow (didn't measure but ca 6" at a guess) with no bulging wheelarches etc - not exactly my cup of tea, but it may be an easy fit option ! Most 1/8th truck shells they had seemed to be around 13" wheelbase, which wouldn't be too out of place with a 15" wheelbase of the Spider. They had a Tamiya Unimog shell in stock (and i'd love a CR-01 Unimog kit) so my brain cells started racing... the distance between the centre of the front wheelarch and the rear edge of the truck bed (there is no rear wheelarch on the shell) is 12", so if i got the front wheelarch aligned with the front axle, the back wheels would be almost clear of the end of the body. Only issue i can see is the Unimog Body shell is 8" wide at the front arches, 7" the rest of the body, which probably puts an end to this idea Twinset - thanks for those pictures, very useful and help clarify comments about body width - i'd really need the wheel wideners of your first pic on the grave robber body by the looks of it, and definitely on the Unimog shell! Tower also list the grave robber as 1/10th scale

Good point about the wheelarches and the articulation - no point buying a wide 50's pick up body, only to hack off half the styling features ! Will nip out the local Traxxas shop and have a look at an E-Maxx , its suspension travel and get a feel for bodywork dimensions. Thanks

HPI quote 'thick 0.040 inch" lexan for their bodies, but i've read people say some poiunts of their shells are extremely thin. I really need to see some shells in the flesh as veen HPIs website for 1/8th bodies has listings for cars with 200mm wheelbase, and my 'Cloider' will be nearer 450mm !! I like the Proline Baja shell (thank Clodparts logo for that one lol!), the HPI Bronco you suggested and three other HPIs.. The Ford F-100 pick-up.. and the Bounty hunter for all its graphics.. plus the Grave robber (lowers the overall vehicle height).. I wish websites would quote length and width, plus distance from wheelarch centre to centre to assist in buying suitably sized shells. Something like the Baja shell with only half wheelarches allows a lot more scope for wheelbase. I already have a NIP Monster Beetle shell, so i'll see how that compare to the original clod sheel to give me a feel for things.