Big 6 - Custom 6x6 Element Enduro Scale Builder's Kit

[Mad Ax]

Yes @MadAnt and @Re-Bugged much better now, thanks - I meant to add that I took myself to A&E on Monday morning and was diagnosed with a bacterial infection, a week of antibiotics and the swelling is way down.  I even managed a 4-mile walk without too much pain tonight

[Mad Ax]

Updates!  I took this truck on a shakedown at the SST quarry day a few weeks ago.  It went well, apart from the wheel nut coming loose again, but I'm still constantly frustrated by the body mount situation.  It's been a bugbear of mine since I built it, and I've always wondered if there's a better way.  Of course, there is - it just requires a few hours in the workshop with a hacksaw, a file, and a drill.

Here's how the back of the cab looks.  It's a 2-part body, so theoretically it could have been moulded with a flat rear panel, but it wasn't made that way.

I've been using adhesive hook-and-loop strips on the sills, but it's really awkward to get the body on and off, never sits straight, and tends to peel off at the wrong moment.

The proper solution will be adding some modern-touring-style rear-facing body posts, for extra rear downforce.

I need to add a body mount on the floor panel, but this screw boss is in the way.  It mounts the rock sliders.

Nothing a pair of snips and a scalpel can't fix.

Fitted some L-section.

Drilled an extra hole underneath to keep it located.

[Mad Ax]

Cut a piece of GRP to mount the body post on.

Added one to each side, and drilled a hole in the top for mounting the body posts on.

Yes, I managed to drill one of the parts the wrong way round :faceplam: - extra hole is weight saving

Working out where the body posts would touch the body was awkward, but I added a screw, thus:

Then fitted the body, pressed it into the screw to deform the plastic, marked it with a pen, and drilled a hole.

[Mad Ax]

Location is about right

Now for some body posts!  The uprights are so close to the body that it will be hard to get a proper body post on there, but we'll have to try!  I found these rattling around in my body posts box.

Cut one off under the top had, and drilled a hole.

Screwed it into the upright

et fin.

Now the body is much easier to put on and off, doesn't come loose while driving, and always fits in the same location.

It will get a good testing on the trails next week - let's see how it goes!

[Mad Ax]

This truck survived 2 lots of 100-gate courses at the Scaler Nationals last weekend with only a loose wheel to fit.  So you'd think it would survive a day it with my daughter, right..?

It was a warm Saturday (in fact it was just last Saturday) when we went to my usual walking spot for some crawler action in the woods.  My daughter has shown 0 interest in any of her RCs for well over a year, but suddenly she became full of the idea of going out for a crawl.  So, I charged up some batteries and got her truck running again.  It's an Element Enduro, or various bits thereof left over from other builds.  Here we are at the place where we parked the van, next to a field of long grass and wildflowers.  Take note of this field, it will be important later.

She was a little uncertain about the controls at first, but she soon got the hang of it.

It was around about this point, when I was attempting this tricky climb, when she called me over to say something had gone wrong.

What had gone wrong was that a screw pin had backed out of the front propshaft, and it had fallen off.  Fortunately I found the shaft parts, but not the pin.  I didn't have a spare with me, so I decided to remove the complete front prop and make it RWD only.  That made it a little harder to drive, and it took us a while to get back to the flat and level section.

[Mad Ax]

At this point she decided she'd had enough of driving, and wanted to go play in the field instead.  So I had the genius idea that I'd tow her truck with mine.  I removed her rear prop, extended her winch line, hooked up my transmitter to my Belly Rig and held her transmitter one-handed so I could steer both at the same time.

This arrangement actually worked pretty well, and I'm sure if we'd stayed on the track all the way to the van, we'd have been fine.  Unfortunately she ran off into the wildflower field and went in the wrong direction, so I had to chase after her to get her back.  Then we were slap in the middle of the flower field with a very long uphill trek to get back to the van.

The Big 6 seemed to be doing very well, until suddenly all the magic smoke came out from under the body.  Obviously an extended run on long grass, with the drag of the 6x6 and the extra weight of the Element out back, was too much for the 16-turn 5-pole motor, and it cooked the windings.

In fairness it was actually still running, but once a motor does this it doesn't have long left, and if the insulation burns through completely and the motor shorts out it can take the ESC with it, so I opted to carry both trucks back by hand.  Which was a pain since Big 6 is seriously heavy, and we still had a long uphill slog to go.

[Mad Ax]

During Monday's lunchbreak, I pulled the motor out to inspect it.  It's a Ruddog 16T 5-slot, as you can tell, because it says 16T 5-slot on it.

The can got so hot the label had started to peel.

I'm not sure if the insulation is supposed to be black, but it certainly isn't supposed to be bubbly.

I found an 80-turn modified motor in my parts bin, but it's so slow the truck barely moves at a walking back, so I think it will come out pretty soon and maybe get used in a big rig project instead.

I do still have a spare Novak Fifty-Five motor, which must be a decade or more old now, but last time I ran one of those it got very hot at the SST, so I think maybe I need to budget for another 5-pole, and this time, run it with a heat sink, thermal paste and cooling fan, and be very careful about extended runs, long grass, or towing, because I can't afford to keep on burning out motors.

[JimBear]

10 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

So you'd think it would survive a day it with my daughter, right..?

Well ... knowing our own Junior, although he is a pretty careful driver, I'd say it's a good day for Dad when the run is over and nothing has fallen off any given RC vehicle.

That said, I've been lucky lately - the Pumpkin, the C11 and the 380 Schrott Racer have survived several runs. The 380 Racer is pretty much the sweet spot - take it out, have a blast around on the road outside, chat a bit, enjoy the moment ... and then go inside for cookies.

The crawling should generally be more gentle, since you seldom crash horribly above the speeding limit, but big wheels and gnarly terrain can put some sticks in the works.