Sand Rover SRB

[rc-martin 218]

Thought I'd start a new build thread for my latest project. 

I've entered in the 2022 Iconic RC revival with my trusty Sand Scorcher but thought I'd try something different body wise this year.

I'd seen a few people mount Sand Rover bodies to SRB chassis in the past but wanted to go a little further and add a couple of figures with some animatronic actions also.

New, reproduction Sand Rover shell was acquired and got stuck straight in with chopping out the original interior panel with the dremel tool.

[rc-martin 218]

I was going to use an old Sand Rover chassis tub under the body, attached to the SRB chassis like a few other people have done but after watch a few of Danny Huyhn Creation videos I thought I'd have a go at custom making a tub from 2mm black styrene.

Made a cardboard template first of the base and then just built up from there

[rc-martin 218]

I spent ages searching for suitable figures that where sufficiently articulated, the right scale and looked like they would belong in a beach buggy.

Finally decided 7 1/2 inch action figures where approximately 1/10 scale and that WWE wrestling figures where going to be the best option, just need ones now that would look good in a beach buggy. Decided on a Undertaker figure and Trish Stratus as the passenger.

The Undertaker arrived first and I didn't hesitate at getting stuck into him 

Sub micro servo added into his body for his head movement and freed off his shoulder and hip joints for looser movement 

[rc-martin 218]

I needed some seats now for Trish and The Undertaker, I was going to go for some scale bucket seats from Killerbody but didn't think they suit the beach buggy look, then realised I had two perfectly good seats from the section I removed from the body, they needed a bit of filling as they have a raised section that needed removing.

[Grumpy pants 5503]

Nice work, I will be watching progress with interest 👍

[KEV THE REV 2433]

Me too - looks like a great build

Great wheels on there and nice headlamps on Trish

[rc-martin 218]

To animate the driver I made him a separate cockpit that has all the servos attached and can be removed from the chassis if any work is need on it, again 2mm styrene sheet was used to construct. A servo for the steering wheel, one for the accelerator pedal and one for the gear shift where installed and The Undertaker suitably placed in his new seat. 

Trish lost her legs for the moment and received a tiny 1.7 gram servo in her back for her arm and another servo to enable her upper body to turn

 

[rc-martin 218]

Other Sand Rover conversions I'd seen used a cut down SRB rear roll bar hoop bit I really didn't want to chop up any of my original ones, I could have got a re-release one but instead I went a different route.

I had Ford Ranger Rear roll hoop which are a lot shorter, so I fitted this and then used the original Sand Scorcher rear body clip to fasten to the Ford Ranger hoop. It sticks up a little but I can live with that as it's easily accessible and uses original parts.

I have an original Super Champ front servo saver fitted and used a cut down plastic body post extension over the top of the original SC post.

Battery placement was going to be in the original position but I found it would be a pain to remove easily with all the wiring for the animation servos in the way so have decided to use a shorty lipo mounted on it's side just in front of the roll bar hoop, it fits really nicely here and with a couple of notches out of the rear of the underbody fits in snuggly.

With the battery mounted sideways it stopped the main body from sitting on the chassis so again out came the Dremel and a suitable hole was relieved for the battery to poke through. I then made a cardboard template and transfered this to some styrene sheet to make a cover for the new battery position.

[KEV THE REV 2433]

Nice work   it's coming along a treat 

[KEV THE REV 2433]

Just saw the battery sticker - very apt

[rc-martin 218]

Now I don't know why I have never seen this before but a couple of weeks ago I came across a picture of a beach buggy. Turns out it was driven by Steve McQueen in the 1960s version of The Thomas Crown Affair. 

I just love those headlights! So out came the Dremel.... again.

I designed a light pod and 3d printed a couple of them. 

[rc-martin 218]

One thing that just didn't look right to me was the long 'snoot' at the front. I don't need the extra length here as the SRB front suspension is about 15mm further back. 

Guess what? 

Dremel time!!! 😂😂

I also removed the part on the inner wheel arch that used to be the mounting point for the original Sand Rover light pods

[KEV THE REV 2433]

Thats well cool , would be nice to have Steve in the driving seat again , not sure if they are available though .

Great work there .

[rc-martin 218]

Today's body mod is the transition between the bulkhead and body, the straight down body line just doesn't fit with swoopy body work so I made a couple of inserts from 2mm styrene to add a curved transition