Humvee TL01

[Nikko85 4205]

I picked up a vintage Radio Shack Scorpion car a little while ago with an aim to try a retro mod. For those who haven't heard of it the Scorpion is a custom made off roader with a fair few Humvee parts. Sadly the chassis wasn't in great condition and the hard plastic parts of the body cracked upon arrival leaving me with a frame of quite flexible tough plastic.

The car was around 1/12 scale with a wheelbase of 260 mm, so I decided to pick up a cheap TL01 chassis to make something happen. I've got quite a few MF01x and a GF01s, but I've never had the TL01, which I think was the original chassis from which parts for these cars were derived, so that will be fun. With IFS this will be more of a Humvee, so really I'm not trying to be too scale to any real vehicle, but will do my best to make it look scale in itself. I'll probably go for racing livery, as I'm not really a fan of the military look, so a stripped down Humvee for racing might be the feel I'm going for.

Looking at my parts in the loft I found bits that could fit; some nice soft wheels and an interior from 1/10 jeep that might just fit.

Here was the Tl01 has it was packed up. Plastics looks in very good condition.

Main tasks are going to be attaching panels and the interior to the frame in a way that's stong and flexible, and then adding this to the body. Mechanically I'll be checking for damage, adding lower gear pinions and making a aluminium shaft. I also am going to find a way of using a smaller battery and neatening up some of the holes in the chassis.

Tires are 90mm, so I'll use the lowest possible pinion and some high turn motor to keep speeds down whilst having enough torque for fun. I would love to get a lower gearing system in here, and maybe even portal axles, but that would bring the price really high, so trying to keep this cheap for now.

For a quick preview I put on some new tires, dropped the suspension down and tried the body

Oh yes, I think this is going to work!

At the moment it's all stuck together with tape and hope. Connecting the frame back together, panels to the frame, the interior to the frame and it all to the chassis is going to take quite a lot of fabrication.

 

 

 

 

[Mad Ax 11169]

That looks pretty cool!  The proportions feel about right for a performance off-road vehicle, although in my head it's a lot smaller than a Humvee.

The TL is a robust chassis and way more versatile than most people give it credit for.  My Mad Max-inspired survival truck uses a stock TL-01 chassis with locked diffs, 55 turn motor and CVA shocks.

[Nikko85 4205]

I think this might have been my most complex build so far. I had the frame, but the original plastic body which incorporated the hood, interior and rear, as well as locking the whole thing together cracked like, er a cracker on arrival. This meant I needed to fabricate or find these parts and then somehow fix it all up. 

The frame was made of five parts, the rear and front, two side and the roof. I fixed the sides to the roof by bending 3mm stainless steel studding approx. 20 degrees and pushing through the channel in the frame. This gave me sides and the roof. 

The front and back were fixed with ball connectors and then bracing to lock in place. 

I got lucky with the interior, I was able to find a Taiyo jeep interior that fit quiet well, and when added helped lock the two sides together.

Overall the shape is pretty nice and looks somewhat realistic. Little running at front but I am happy with basic proportions.

The original sides had corners with a little nub that slotted into the front and back panels (see first pic), which was then stuck together with hot glue. I couldn't find a way to use these, so I cut off the corners and added low friction 5mm adjusters which lock the front and back to the sides. I cut enough off to keep the same dimensions.

Thankfully the channel of the frame could be drilled to 2.5mm and then 3mm studding screwed to secure the adjusters. I went quite deep, around 50 mm or so to give lots of stregnth.

Interior fits better than I had any right to hope. You can also just see by the a pillar how stainless studding fixes the roof on. There looks to be a small gap I will fix tomorrow!

The hood and extra bed at the rear are made from 2 mm black plasticard. The bed from the Taiyo was too short, so this fills the gap. I cut out a small section to get the body low enough where the chassis rises at the rear. I quite like the way this looks.

All in very happy with this. Stance seems nice, body seems strong and seems to fit the TL01 nicely.

Going to now sort out the chassis, add a 19T pinion, servo, turnbuckles, torque tuned motor and see how it runs.

Also need to think about finishing, I may stick with the black but I need to remove some stickers, add a few vinyl and then a driver.

Not sure about livery. Not really wanting military but search and rescue could be fun?

[yogi-bear 2757]

that looks really cool!

[Mad Ax 11169]

That's awesome!  Great work so far  

[jonboy1 3755]

I love this to bits! It's such a cool looking body!! Why haven't Tamiya made something like this?!

Can I ask, what are those tyres you've used, they look perfect on this!?

[Nikko85 4205]

4 hours ago, jonboy1 said:

I love this to bits! It's such a cool looking body!! Why haven't Tamiya made something like this?!

Can I ask, what are those tyres you've used, they look perfect on this!?

Thanks!

Tamiya did make the Humvee M1025 but that was more of a military model. I'm not sure if Radio Shack had a licence for this, or just went with it, but it is pretty cool. They probably "borrowed" quite a lot from the Nylint Scorpion to be honest too.

Tires were from a Funtek CR12 I had spare. They are pretty soft, so I'll run this in dirt and gravel.

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=58187

I'm not the first person here to do this, but I think getting a new interior has allowed the body to sit a little lower; the interior I had was part of the hood and rear which all just broke in seconds. Thankfully the frame parts seem really flexible, almost rubbery and tough.

I'll try and get some more done tonight. My little one has a cough at the moment and has been up quite a bit, so not had any real time to do this, but tonight I plan to open up the chassis, check for wear and bearings, oil and add the parts I need to complete. Not going to hop up much (I may keep the simple shocks) but might at the TL01 Stainless suspension pins and a new pinion as they are really cheap. Will also switch to stainless screws.

I am also going to use 21700 Li-Ions, which allows the chassis to have a smooth profile (other than the motor) and really helps the look of these cars. Also save weight and give a power boost compared to NiMHs. Torque tuned should be enough for this. 

[Nikko85 4205]

So a little more work on the chassis! 

I dissembled everything. The previous owner had kept the bushings and the inside was quite clean, but covered in oil. I think they pretty much filled the inside with light oil, which probably kept things running smooth, but it seems to be coming out of every pore of this car. I will clean out. The spur gear is full of aluminium slush, so will clean up. I will order a stainless steel pinion, but I will briefly test the 17T pinion first to make sure I'm happy with the speed and temperatures. 

The c-hubs did have metal shielded bearings, but were covered in anti-wear grease. I gave them a good soak in oil to clean and loosen them up. I will try and recycle these  internally as they are metal shielded. I did pick up some rubber shielded bearings, but were total junk and really gritty so have ordered some more! 

[OldSchoolRC1 1127]

Looks fantastic! One would never know there's a TL01 hiding under there at a quick glance. 

[Nikko85 4205]

On 2/21/2025 at 10:08 PM, OldSchoolRC1 said:

Looks fantastic! One would never know there's a TL01 hiding under there at a quick glance. 

Many thanks.

Well, this has turned out to be a bigger build than I thought!

Firstly I replaced all the screws with 12mm stainless steel hex bolts. Some of the screw holes has stopped gripping the standard screws, so I find this helps. I got rid of all the bushings and added bearings too, and removed the copious amounts of oil.

Two of the shock towers were cracked, which is a common fault on the TL01. I picked up a cheap spare chassis, but I thought I would try and fix what I've got, using the new one as a spare if needs be. Firstly I superglued the hairline fractures, is there a better glue for this?

As you all know the shocks are attached with step screws, so I wanted something a little stronger. I drilled out the holes to 3mm and put a bolt through them with a nylon nut and one end and a 4x6 flanged tube at the other to take the shock. When tightened the nut helps grips the bolt in place, and the longer length means the force is more equally distributed.

I did this to all four towers (although only two had cracks) and I will see how it goes. I could try a 3D printed surround or cable tie to also experiment further.

I then made an aluminium main prop shaft from 5x3 (OD/ID) aluminium tube. It should hold up to 2S and Torque Tuned power. Tested it and it runs smooth! Just drilled carefully by hand.

Next up is the camber issue. I didn't realise it as first, but with the longer shocks the TL01 has a slightly positive camber. As the shocks compress this turns neutral right at maximum compression. This is due to the non identical arm lengths and slightly squiffy geometry. For most users this wouldn't be a problem, but with long shocks and large tires it looks quite noticeable.

This means I need to make upper arms. I could print some, but I want to go for adjustable versions.

For the MF01x this is pretty easy, but for the Tl01 you have a 4 mm hole in the chassis to attach a 3mm screw for the 5mm ball. Once again the flanged tube and ball nut will come into play. A flanged tube makes the hole 3mm and then a we use a 5mm ball nut and bolt.

Other mods will be to produce a small cover for the MSC heat sink, find a way to neatly add the Li-Ion battery and add stainless adjustable rods for the steering, eliminating all the step screws.

I also wonder if I can use the M05 RA rear hub carriers to allow some rear toe in for stability? The MF01x ones I have (sadly red) seem to have the same geometry as the TL01 ones.

I'm a little worried after all this work the body is going to somehow snap in half on first use, but we'll see!

[Nikko85 4205]

So we are pretty much done mechanically! What's been awesome is looking over 20 year old forum threads and realising my fixes are the same as those done for a long long time!

 

 Now it's just a case of getting in the electronics and making driver and adding a few aesthetic details. I quite like the colour palette so I am going to remove the old stickers and add black vinyl in the panel sections to match the hood. I am not sure about a livery, I might try some numbers and racing sponsors too.

I may also try and paint some details in the interior but my goal is always more to make it look like a production line model more than a hand painted work of art.

Anyway now the chassis and body are structurally complete let's see where it leaves us.

Camber is actually almost neutral, just funny angles, which is probably why similar shots of postive camber looked neutral!

The rear of the body is a little higher than I would like but can't bring the front lower and want the body flat so it is what it is. I may put something in the gap to fill the space like another bumper or Jerry can.

[Nikko85 4205]

Family illness has taken its toll on me and any spare time, but I did order a stainless steel 19T pinion. With oversized tires I went for the smallest pinion, I am hoping it won't melt.

Although the body is heavy I have saved weight by going for a Li Ion battery, so it should be about the same weight as the TL01B with similar sized tires.

 

[OldSchoolRC1 1127]

2 hours ago, Nikko85 said:

Family illness has taken its toll on me and any spare time

Although the body is heavy I have saved weight by going for a Li Ion battery, so it should be about the same weight as the TL01B with similar sized tires.

 

Very sorry to hear, hope all is well! 

If it's helpful, I trimmed the battery "wings" down quite a bit - just wide enough to cover my 2200mah pack. I use velcro strips on either side to hold the pack in. Works great and doesn't interfere with the narrow New Bright body. 

I think with some dremel work, I could have gotten it to lay flat lengthwise on the floor of the chassis, but I didn't have the heart to hack it up. 

[Gratuit 143]

If you have access to a 3D printer I can send you the STLs of my shorty mod for TL01, maybe it's narrow enough to fit under the body

 

[Nikko85 4205]

On 3/7/2025 at 6:50 AM, Gratuit said:

If you have access to a 3D printer I can send you the STLs of my shorty mod for TL01, maybe it's narrow enough to fit under the body

 

Many thanks. I may try those for the Dakar TL01, for this I went a little more old school!

Well, the truck is almost finished.

I have only driven it indoors but it seems to run nicely, very very quiet and smooth. It's higher gear than I would like with the larger tires, but I will wait and see in the real world before I decide if I need  brushless motor. At the moment it's a 1060, etronix waterproof servo and torque tuned motor.

I am just using the cheap friction shocks, but they seem to work pretty well. It's around 1595 grams, and feels light given the size. The springs seem to work well; although it's heavier than a lexan shelled TL01 I am saving a lot of weight with the battery, so it probably evens out.

To get ready to drive I added a driver, put black vinyl on the frame and added a few stickers. I also made my own battery doors to house the Li Ion batteries.

Overall stance is nice.

I find a driver adds gritty realism. 

Matt black paneling makes the blue tubing pop. 

High end stickers! Not a fan of painting lights, so it is stickers if I can.

Battery door. Clips keep it in place.

Other door is bolted. Electronics are a little messy and squeezed into the small space for them. The interior floor touches the chassis so there is little  space for electronics or even wires above. 

Where to now driver?

So what's next?

I may add a Jerry can and a few little details to add some realism, as well as some extra liver, but I think I am mainly done, so it will be driving time and I will see what breaks!

 

[JimBear 1305]

@Nikko85 - "I find a driver adds gritty realism." Especially with this tough fellow! Love it. Keeping my thumbs that nothing breaks. 

[Nikko85 4205]

On 3/12/2025 at 9:11 AM, JimBear said:

@Nikko85 - "I find a driver adds gritty realism." Especially with this tough fellow! Love it. Keeping my thumbs that nothing breaks. 

Thanks. Not been able to drive yet but does feel quite solid, although I can see one area that needs reinforcement at the back to stick the bed and the tail gate together.

I still need to add the jerry can and add details too.

I may also try with slightly smaller tires, there is a little rubbing and worried about motor temps, so dropping tires a few mm might help!