1/12 Hilux build - thoughts wanted

[Nikko85 3766]

Another scaled down build for me. 

A little while ago I picked up a 1/12 Hilux shell from Thunder Tiger. It's got a 225 mm wheelbase, and fits nicely with all my collection. It's a lexan body, which is pre-painted. It's not super detailed, but it looks ok.

My first thought was to pair with a Thunder Tiger chassis (one from the PUBG range) which can be had really cheaply, but a super light weight crawler with a 370 motor doesn't really appeal to me and the chassis is now discontinued so I was wondering if I could to something else, and this is where I'm stuck and need ideas.

I've got two directions I might want to go down. The first would be a 1/12 Hilux Mountaineer look vehicle, and the second would be a King Cab/ Monster racer style car. The chassis won't have to match the style of car, but I like something that from a distance looks about right.

The wheelbase is 225 mm, so an MF01x would fit perfectly, but I've got a couple of these already, so wondering if there were any other options from Tamiya that might fit, perhaps with some modification and fabrication? Annoyingly the MF01x is 4WD drive which matches the Mountaineer, but has the motor sticking out the back which really matches the King Cab. 

I was debating if at DT02 could be cut down (it looks quite simple) to fit - but that would probably be too wide? 

Any thought on what you would do with a 225 mm Hilux?

 

 

 

[OoALEJOoO 3239]

Maybe the recently announced MB-01 can be made 4WD and offer a different option vs. the MF-01X

[Nikko85 3766]

46 minutes ago, OoALEJOoO said:

Maybe the recently announced MB-01 can be made 4WD and offer a different option vs. the MF-01X

Afraid the MB-01 looks like it's 2WD only and the chassis would be quite exposed. I really wish the MB-01 had been designed be 4WD or front motor RWD, still it's something to consider.

I've got to admit a 4WD MF01x with 90 - 95 mm tires looking like a Mountain Rider would be pretty sweet. The MF01x is a great all purpose chassis, widened up with TL01 arms and bigger tires it makes for a great brasher too, it's just a shame the motor is right at the back.

 

 

 

[Busdriver 6270]

1 hour ago, Nikko85 said:

Another scaled down build for me. 

A little while ago I picked up a 1/12 Hilux shell from Thunder Tiger. It's got a 225 mm wheelbase, and fits nicely with all my collection. It's a lexan body, which is pre-painted. It's not super detailed, but it looks ok.

My first thought was to pair with a Thunder Tiger chassis (one from the PUBG range) which can be had really cheaply, but a super light weight crawler with a 370 motor doesn't really appeal to me and the chassis is now discontinued so I was wondering if I could to something else, and this is where I'm stuck and need ideas.

I've got two directions I might want to go down. The first would be a 1/12 Hilux Mountaineer look vehicle, and the second would be a King Cab/ Monster racer style car. The chassis won't have to match the style of car, but I like something that from a distance looks about right.

The wheelbase is 225 mm, so an MF01x would fit perfectly, but I've got a couple of these already, so wondering if there were any other options from Tamiya that might fit, perhaps with some modification and fabrication? Annoyingly the MF01x is 4WD drive which matches the Mountaineer, but has the motor sticking out the back which really matches the King Cab. 

I was debating if at DT02 could be cut down (it looks quite simple) to fit - but that would probably be too wide? 

Any thought on what you would do with a 225 mm Hilux?

 

 

 

DT02 can easily be shortened and narrowed. I’ve done it for a more scale look Sand Rover. I’ll measure it and let you know the dimensions. 

[ad456 455]

WR-01 shortened with TL-01 arms, Wild Willy rear wheels and Lunchbox/Pumpkin tires? It’d be like a wee Mountaineer?

[Busdriver 6270]

50 minutes ago, Busdriver said:

DT02 can easily be shortened and narrowed. I’ve done it for a more scale look Sand Rover. I’ll measure it and let you know the dimensions. 

245mm wheelbase and approximately 16mm from the back of the tires across the width. Could be shortened more you would just have to be inventive with battery choice, but I know you’re well versed in that kind of thing. Doubt if it could be narrowed any more though. 

[Nikko85 3766]

1 hour ago, Busdriver said:

Edit. Many thanks for measuring!

 Yes that big flat chassis tub looks like it could be cut in half then almost bolted together with an overlap. I think I'd need to take out around 30 mm to get the wheelbase to 230 mm (as the chassis is slightly larger than the body on the King Cab). It might be much too wide however as the track width is similar to the 1:10 King Cab, but I need to scale everything down a little. That could mean new dogbones, arms etc. which gets expensive.

But I've not got a buggy chassis so the plus points are this is something new!

[Nikko85 3766]

1 hour ago, ad456 said:

WR-01 shortened with TL-01 arms, Wild Willy rear wheels and Lunchbox/Pumpkin tires? It’d be like a wee Mountaineer?

I love the idea, but I'm afraid the WR01 is a little too long at 281 mm and the WR02 much too short. The LB tires would also be a little too big as they are 115 mm when I need to get around 100 mm (or slightly less) to match the Mountaineer in terms of scale. I do love the idea of a WR01 however, great looking thing.

What I've learned is that having a 1:12 collection is ridiculous. 

Some great idea to think on, thanks all.

[Busdriver 6270]

35 minutes ago, Nikko85 said:

Edit. Many thanks for measuring!

 Yes that big flat chassis tub looks like it could be cut in half then almost bolted together with an overlap. I think I'd need to take out around 30 mm to get the wheelbase to 230 mm (as the chassis is slightly larger than the body on the King Cab). It might be much too wide however as the track width is similar to the 1:10 King Cab, but I need to scale everything down a little. That could mean new dogbones, arms etc. which gets expensive.

But I've not got a buggy chassis so the plus points are this is something new!

I used the original lower arms shortened and made up upper links out of threaded rod.. The only thing I needed was dogbones. 

[Nikko85 3766]

2 minutes ago, Busdriver said:

I used the original lower arms shortened and made up upper links out of threaded rod.. The only thing I needed was dogbones. 

Hmmm interesting! If you could measure the width (or if you've got a build page) that would be incredible. Looks really cool I should say.

[ad456 455]

4 minutes ago, Nikko85 said:

I love the idea, but I'm afraid the WR01 is a little too long at 281 mm and the WR02 much too short. The LB tires would also be a little too big as they are 115 mm when I need to get around 100 mm (or slightly less) to match the Mountaineer in terms of scale. I do love the idea of a WR01 however, great looking thing.

What I've learned is that having a 1:12 collection is ridiculous. 

Some great idea to think on, thanks all.

You could easily chop 50mm out of the centre by swapping the chassis plates for angle aluminium and relocating the battery. The tyres are a problem though.
Depends on how strong the want of serious modifications is. I’m sure there is one shortened in the Showrooms on the main site. It was a Blackfoot 3 with 4WS if memory serves. 

[Busdriver 6270]

3 hours ago, Nikko85 said:

Hmmm interesting! If you could measure the width (or if you've got a build page) that would be incredible. Looks really cool I should say.

DT02-N/ Sand Rover into Beach Buggy is the name of the thread but I can’t seem to drag it across. Posted 16//4/22. There’s a members showroom details that gives details of where etc to cut

[Busdriver 6270]

 

[Nikko85 3766]

On 3/2/2023 at 5:19 PM, Busdriver said:

 

This is great, thank you. Certainly one to consider and looks like it could be the best bet for a buggy based 1/12 hilux Monster Racer. The other option would be an MF01x with a one way bearings in the front, so I get 4 wheel breaking and 2WD. Similar motor placement and drive train that way.  One the plus side of the MF01x is that I've already got the arms, dog bones to widen a little too, although this would be my third, which is a little boring.

I've also had thoughts about the mountain rider. On paper the WPL C44KM would give the most realistic option, it's metal, 4WD, two speed gear box etc.... but... it's not Tamiya, and I'm not really into crawlers per se.

Once again an MF01x could work well, I could get the 225 mm wheelbase with a stock option and then get some tires. the TLT wheels and tires would be perfect, but I can't find any stock at all.

Still something to ponder!

 

[Nikko85 3766]

Having given this some thought I've decided to go down the mountain rider route. I'm not confident I could paint the Hilux well, and given where I drive my cars having 4WD makes a big difference.

I will probably have to do another MF01x as I can get the WB and Width perfect but would be interested in other chassis.

Once question I did have was wheels. The Mountain Rider had 123 mm wheels, so scaled down to 1:12 that would equate to 100 mm wheels. Can anyone think of a good option please? Ideally they'd have that slight monster truck look (the MR wheels are quite wide). I had though of the TLT wheels but those look really hard to get, even as farm king spares.

Although it may well be another MF01x (quite cheap and good quality and I've got the longer TL01 arms already) i would be interested in other chassis that could work. Any other out the box ideas will be considered!

 

[ad456 455]

There are regularly crawler chevron type tyres, 97ish mm on eBay touted for the CC01 but not sure they would be wide enough or have the right vibe for what you’re doing. There maybe some for one of the WL Toys models somewhere or another 1/14 model. 

[Nikko85 3766]

Thanks everyone. I think I am going to have by best luck looking at 2.2 Stadium truck type wheels. Ironically I do have a couple of almost perfect tires on a Nikko Buggy which are 100 x 50 mm and they are exactly the right size but I've only two and the wheels are non-hex. However I can use them to size up what I need, so I'm confident that this size is perfect, and 2.2 truck tires are usually around this size.

These look almost perfect. 102 x 51 mm standard 2.2 wheels. Not Chevron, but close enough.

https://hobbiesdirect.com.au/HPI-2.2-Yokohama-Geolandar-MT-Tyres-w-Foam-Inserts-2Pcs-4456

It's a step between a monster truck and something more scale. I tried more traditional 83 mm crawler tires (too small) and 115 mm Pumpkin tires (too big). The real Mountain Rider tires are 123 x 61, so this is as close to a 1:12 scale as I'm likely to find!

Even going with a 13T pinion it's going to have a pretty high FDR ratio with these tires, so will certainly be more of a brasher than a crawler, but that's ok. I think it'll resemble a Mountain Rider from a distance, but it's a totally different vehicle really.

Edit: After all that I've decided that another MF01x is perhaps a  little boring and it's a Monster Racer/King Cab I really want. I do think I could make something that works quite nicely with the above described set up which would really look like a small Mountaineer, but I've already got two MF01x chassis set up as off road trucks, and don't need a third, as cool as the mountaineer is.

I think perhaps that @Busdriver idea of a DT-02 might be the one. With Blitzer tires (100mm) and a 1/12 Hilux body the proportions would be pretty good. I might not even need to decrease the width that much, if I can get some tires with the right offset.

However I think will wait for a decent body first, the Hilux I have won't really work for the idea I've got.