JConcepts Bigfoot #4 Louisville Clodbuster (Now With 4WS)

[MadAnt]

I will admit, I'm a bit of a fan of monster trucks(just not the new stuff). So of course I know of Bigfoot and the historical significance of some of the Bigfoot trucks that Bob Chandler has created. Bigfoot #4 is definitely one of those historically significant monster trucks, being one of the first stage 2 trucks and being extremely competitive in racing during the late 80's. Those trucks back then were primitive compared to what exists today, but I find watching those old bouncy monsters racing each other more entertaining than the modern stuff. I'm sure plenty of you reading feel the same way. I'm also sure some of you are Clodbuster owners who want to make your RC trucks look like one of these legendary monsters from back then.

JConcepts has been hard at work over the years to feed our interest in monster trucks and one of the lexan bodies they make is the 1990 Bigfoot #4 that they dubbed with "Louisville" at the end of the name for it's appearance with some new modifications and performance during figure 8 racing in Louisville with Andy Brass behind the wheel. Anyway, to get to the point, I bought one of these bodies after looking at it on the website for too long and I have to say, it's good bang for the buck. 

The body comes with all sorts of cosmetic add-ons to make your RC Bigfoot look as detailed as possible. Bumper sets, hood accessories, decals, a moulded chrome grill, faux light buckets, light bucket covers, rubber flags and role cage support for the racer back and light buckets. If you bought all these items separately it would cost more than this entire kit. Yes I'm calling it a kit, there is quite a bit of work and assembly that has to be done to achieve the such a beautiful product at the end. This is not just a simple spray job, but trust me, it's worth it.

On to building this kit. To start I do a rough cut to get a general idea of how everything will fit and make needed changes from there. One thing I see is that the body needs to sit lower on the clod chassis for the correct stance and my liking. It was apparent that the bumper mounting perches were in the way, so rather than cutting them off, I notchted the front of the body under where the bumper gets mounted to the lexan and used short universal posts in the front.

After I got the holes drilled, fitment good and everything lined up good, I start making my final cuts. For a better look closer to the real thing, I cut extra material off of the wheel arches, lower rockers and lower sides, which took more time to do, but was worth it in my opinion. After all that was done, I needed to decide if I was going to use the chrome grill insert, or take the easy way and use a grill decal. The marked out lines for the grill are lower than they should be and the hole would need to be slightly tappered with curved corners at the bottom, which would not be easy to do without power tools. I decided to take hard way and also correct the height of the grill. 

I used no power tools, just a reamer, lexan scissors, a knife and a sanding file. Lots of sanding was done just to get the shape, fit and finish right, it's the little details like these that can make a big difference. After all that, it was time for a cleaning, applying the window masks and a wipe down with alcohol. 

Now to paint, and thanks to @MetalMilitia I used two cans of Tamiya PS-16 metallic blue for the base coat and PS-5 black for the back coat. To get good coverage you will need 7-8 light coats of PS-16 and a back coat is a must because the metallic blue is transparent. I laid the black cover a little bit heavier with two coats, which got good coverage. Painting was the easiest part of the project since just one base color and back coat color is needed.

For bit of extra detail I sprayed the bed with PS-5 black on the outside and got a semi gloss finish.

Once the paint was dry it was time to assemble the body again and apply the decals. This body set comes with two sheets of decals, one for the normal 87-91 Ford F-series and the other for Bigfoot, so using a combo of both sheets is necessary.

The decals from JConcepts are easier to peel than what I'm use to and can be peeled off if it needs to be corrected after being lightly applied, which I like. One thing I did not like was how the decals were sticking to the pink rubber light covers, they just did not stick right and can still be moved around. Anyway, once the decals were applied to the body shell and the flag was in its post, it was looking like the real thing. With Bigfoot #4 now mounted on top my Clodbuster, I took a good look at the finished product. And wow! This thing looks awesome, it is almost too nice to run. Looking so good, I had to take some photos while the day was nice.

I am very pleased with the results and this is definitely something that looks better in person. Taking my time cutting, sanding and measuring has definitely paid off. I know some people like to do rush jobs on lexan bodies, you can't do that on this one and achieve a better product. 

Also, some info to add, the normal retail price as of writing is $60 USD, but has been cut down to $51 USD for a good while now and the only extras you need to buy unless you need tools, is three cans of paint. 

 

[MadAtComputer]

awesome builds. I too am  a fan of the older monster trucks. Back when they raced and were not all pretty much the same thing doing flips.

[Heavy Duty TLT]

Thank you for sharing!  I've had this body for a over a year and have been contemplating if I should go with the decal grill or cut a hole for the inserted grill for whenever get started on that Clodbuster project.  Great job on making a very clean cut and getting it to the correct position.  I'll make sure to do the same thing.  What did you used to fix the grill in place?

[MadAnt]

28 minutes ago, Heavy Duty TLT said:

What did you used to fix the grill in place?

Thank you.

I have double sided foam tape holding the grill in place. 

[Heavy Duty TLT]

I like that you mounted the body lower on the chassis, I did the same thing to my old TBG Ford body.  Is all torn now and why I’m replacing it.  Also I used the wrong color paint. 😅

I might design and 3D print the post for the new body, maybe I’ll go with magnets so they’ll be hidden.  😬

[MadAnt]

Since Bigfoot has four wheel steering, I figured it would be cool if my Bigfoot bodied Clod had four wheel steering as well. So while I was at the hobby store a few more times, I purchased another one of those BTA kits by JConcepts and a nice high torque metal case servo by Powerhobby, model 633MCW. 

For $60USD Powerhobby has pretty nice servo with an all metal case and steel gears. It may cost more than the 25kg Hexfly servos, but whoever manufacturers these for Powerhobby seems to make a way superior product, because it just is. This thing is actually faster at 6V, I was expecting the speed to be the same-ish or slower, but It seem I was fooled by RedCat's false marketing for their 25kg Hexfly HX-3225 servo. Yes I'm comparing two different spec servos, but the HX-3225 claiming 0.14 seconds at 5.0v and losing to a servo like the 633MCW that claims 0.16 seconds at 6v does not look so great when comparing speed. Anyway, of course the more it costs, the better product you get, most of the time, but enough of that. I just wanted a great servo to keep the rear steering under control and to hold up during rough driving situations and the 633MCW looks like the right servo for the job.

The JConcepts BTA servo mounting kit sure is nice. The fact that I don't have a servo or bracket getting in the way of suspension travel with it hitting the chassis is a very welcomed nice to have, plus I like the cleaner look on the outside.

I'll have more photos later and show off the 4WS and crab steering.

 

[MadAnt]

Alrighty, back to the four wheel steering. Using the 4WS function on my Futaba 3PL transmitter, I can mix channel 4 with channel 1 and get 4 wheel steering, then by operating the D/R switch I can go from normal 4 wheel steering  to crab steering mode. Also, since I have the linkage adjusted so the steering is set straight, I can return to 2 wheel front steering only just by turning off the 4WS function.

Crab-

Normal 4WS-

Now this Bigfoot is a true 4x4x4.

[Heavy Duty TLT]

Nice!  I use a FlySky GT3-C with “upgraded” firmware to turn it to 8 channel.  I have all 3 color variant for less than $40 each on Ali.  I can’t find an 8 channel receiver that will work with it though, so I’m using a 6 channel receiver for now, which should be good if I want to add lights, engine sound simulator and such in the future.  😊

[MadAtComputer]

Awesome build, love the steering setup! We need a video of it crushing some cars now.