Ray_ve

It's a beautifull day out, so time to slap some electronics into the Jugger and do a garden testdrive. It drove well for a monstertruck. Turn radius was good on 4 wheel steering, large on 2 wheel steering, no suprises there. Stable, did not flip on its side. Speed is a bit on the slower side, nothing a 3S shorty LIPO won't fix, but for a fun truck that is not important. And quite a bit noisy, that's probably a thing from those 90 degree angled gears on the gearboxes. Oh well, pleased with it so far.

The Nitro version, about 25-ish years old? Had one back then, so a nostalgia thing. Meanwhile, finished the decorative roll-cage /semi-dashboard for the Juggernaut. It came out pretty good I'm happy with it, mounts to original mounting points so no further body mods required.

I.... may have.... ACCIDENTALLY bought a Kyosho Corvette ZR1...

Started work on the Juggers rollcage, which is show only, no need for actual structural support. I wanted to make it from aluminium tube, but that was a bridge too far for my modeling skills. Tried a 3D print, but making a 3D model was frustrating. So I reverted back to the good old classic, wood!

Tidy up the Ray-cave. Unbelieveble what a mess 1 custom car build can make.....

6 Channel transmitter set for the Juggernaut. It looks great, and was half-price on Aliexpress, a steal for 35 euros. Ch1 and Ch2 are steering and speed as normal. Ch3 is a pushbutton, will use that to switch between 2 Wheel and 4 Wheel steering mode. Ch4 has a 3 position switch, will use it for lights OFF, normal, high beam. Ch5 and 6 are small turn knobs, no use for them now but who knows at some point...

If you can measure the current that would help. A normal LED is about 10 to 20 milli-amps.

The difference between a 5mm LED and 3mm LED is the amount of translucent plastic that surrounds the actual LED that is inside. The only issue is that there are many types of LEDs. For example normal, high power, low current... So you would need the same type of 3mm LED to replace the 5mm....

I want to use a 4 channel system on the Jugger to control Speed, Steering, Switch between 2 wheel and 4 wheel steering, and control lights. Been working on a circuit to capture the output of a 4 channel receiver (test first with 3 channels as I only have those). When the processor captures all the channel information, I can use that data for the various functions. It's only a matter of programming from that point on... Edit: Ok so far so good. The ESC needed its channel switch in reverse to operate correctly. The processor now reverses this channel so the channel switch can be set to normal. The steering needed the front sero reversed, so the processor reverses that channel and leaves the rear servo as-is. That works well. The Ch3 pushbutton can alternate steering mode between either 4 wheel steering, or 2 wheel front steering. Nice! Happy with this so far, and ordered a new radio as Austar 6-channel radio/reciever combos are half price at aliexpress today. To do: Normal lights (easy on/off), and brake lights! (less easy??).

More baby steps on the Jugger. Cut the rear wheel arches to the desired shape. Drew a new version of the pickup bed hinge. Drew and printed a base shape for the new rear bumper to check fitment of the 3D model. If I can just squeeze in some time during weekday evenings, it may actually be paint-ready sometime May or June...

Printed Jugger's pickup bed hinge V2.0. It fits a lot better, happy with the dimensions but it just hits the battery tray due to the changes. So one more round to the drawing board.... Looked for a place to put the ESC, that is turning out to be a challenge with the car's decreased space due to the lower body.

3D drew a new hinge for the Jugger's bed. The printer is running now so check if the fit is correct this evening. Edit: The hinge fits, but needs some small adjustments. Forgot to compensate an offset. Happy with this, one step closer to a finished jugger again.

It was a Marui Big Bear, loved the look of that car and somehow my parents bought it for me. My father assembled the wheels/tires, I did the rest. It chewed up 2 gear sets from all the driving. Made lots of kilometers with it. Don't have it anymore, as it was completely worn and broken at the end of it's live. But I now have some other ones to rebuild for nostalgia's sake. 2nd was a grasshopper, as it was cheap (below 100 buck back then) and I could recycle the bear's radio and battery. Also ran that one to the ground, but had lots of fun with it after the 540 motor and 15t pinion.

Step 1: buy all WP880 ESCs on AliExpress. Step 2: add Tamiya sticker Step 3: Profit!

The 3D printer finally finished the new Juggers battery tray after 8 hours of printing. Sadly, there was a misprint due to an incorrect setting causing the printbed to warp up. Oh well, live and learn. I will need to do a re-print at some point anyway and correct the settings then... (probable some time during summer, when the garage is quite warm which is good for ABS printing, and I can just leave the hole thing to print on its own). However, it was still usable to check if the basic idea was OK. Some minor adjustments are required but overall I'm happy with it. A shorty LIPO will fit behind the engines so the front has space for a driver figure in a recessed area (due to the body being lowered 3centimeters from original with regard to the chassis), and it will also give me a hinge point at the bottom aft to keep the hinging action on the pickup bed for battery replacement. So overall, a good step in the right direction.

Turned in the 3D printer to make the new Juggernaut battery tray, a 7 hour print. Abs printing really stinks up the Ray-cave so no access to that today. So time to do the downstairs skirting boards, they have only been on the to-do list for 5 years....

With the forward progression of age, the inverse progression of eyesight is becoming apparent. Came across some cheap LED lighting a few weeks ago and got around to mounting them to the work area.

I was looking into low temperature soldering.... And it will probably end up being JB weld as is is a show roll cage only, no structural forces required.

Came across this little tool. https://m.nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005005118677830.html?spm=a2g0n.productlist.0.0.63f95a1fTWpZG5&browser_id=e831e9d0c09c4f77a182487dc808b5eb&aff_trace_key=c59567440a584b17a3d1eb4d8bbfce14-1671306243154-08724-UneMJZVf&aff_platform=msite&m_page_id=s5cng59rhx8cas2g1860eefdf401cba96c4011a5d8&gclid=&pdp_npi=2%40dis!EUR!6.78!3.59!!!!!%4021038ed816752878469645917e9531!12000031723193356!sea&curPageLogUid=yCZL6YaoP8Wf&algo_pvid=23cd85d5-af99-4938-aa37-7f784a279a38

Want to start work on the Jugger's roll cage, made from 6mm aluminium tube. Never did that before so some curse words are in my future. To help I ordered a 6mm pipe bending tool that should make that job a bit more manageable.

If I would buy a 2wd buggy, this would definitely be the one. Love the looks of it, 80s looking buggy with the large rear suspension arms. Nice!

Needed some progress on the Juggernaut to keep morale up, so slapped in a steering servo and the new drive shafts, and took it for a small spin around the room. Steering circle as is to be expected from an extended wheelbase monster truck, but the speed was very decent on 2S.

2 new extending driveshafts for the Jugger, the originals don't fit anymore due to the extended length.

Busy making 3D models for parts to add to the Jugger. New shock mounting because the suspension geometry is slightly changed from my previous set-up. Some spacers I need for the pick-up bed. A battery tray, that required 9 hours of printing.... So save that for later. And still need to do a new hinge system for the bed, but thankfully the plan for this car does come together.

The shorty Lipo for the Jugger came in. Quick check on the charger showed good balance and storage charge. Also, 1 meter of 6mm aluminium tube. Nice material for a rollcage.