New project started, good news and bad news

[TWINSET]

The bad news is, I drilled thru me finger again

The good news is, it was only a 3mm hole [Y]

 

 

 

Anyway, it's pretty much stopped bleeding now that it's full of grease and superglue

 

So, the crawler;

Another Pede boxed TLT. Donor truck came from the Crawler Store (cheers Kevin) and the gearbox from Tower

Went for a real simple chassis design this time, no radio plates and shock plates. Got to get some alu cross braces done (1/4 dia rod) then just zip tie the radio gear to them

 

Here's the chassis, 3mm thick alu

 

 

Modified (hacked up) Pede gearbox - some of the meat removed on the left hand side, and also cut off the 'holes' for the suspension arms.

Drilled n tapped the 4 existing holes, for countersunk screws coming thru botoom of chassis

 

Good n low

 

New servo mount - 2mm stainless this time [H]

Triangle cutout saves modifying the axle cases

Drilled thru me finger doing the hole for the screw just behind the servo mount - Note for next time - Don't press so hard, it's plastic not steel

 

12.5" wheelbase jig, just started links, more tomorrow!

 

 

[backtomyroots]

Well, at least you weren't holding it over your lap [].

What shell do you have planned for this puppy ?  I imagine you can assemble these with your eyes closed by now ! (Which might explain the wound).  Happy building !

[Z]

Nothing Twinset does surprises me anymore[]!

[Shodog]

wouldn't be easier to drill into a block of wood for stability rather than your hand?[]

[TWINSET]

Not sure what's planned for this one yet, all the bodies I liked are discontinued now, so any suggestions outside of Proline and HPI are welcome []

 

wouldn't be easier to drill into a block of wood for stability rather than your hand?[]

It was a struggle to get my finger there in the first place, there's no way I coulda fitted a bit of wood there too [] 

[tupers]

Why not try a hpi landrover shell.

[MikeT]

HPI Defender is a short-wheelbase shell tupers, fits around the 11.375" Wheelbase....

As for a long shell, theres the;

HPI Rubicon;

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti00...=LXGTE7&P=0

 Nissan Titan;

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXKGN4

Think the titan is more around 12" though.. 

Yep, a proline and a HPI []

By the way fella, don't feel bad, i drilled into my hand doing exactly that

 

Mike

[TWINSET]

Defender is doable, I usually cut the rear arches off along the bed, so the wheelbase is kinda immaterial

The Rubi is ok, but I hate that winch, if they'd have done it without, I'd have owned loads now, and that Titan is just a characterless lump [+o(]

Other option at the moment is a stadium truck shell, getting into them

 

 

Proline usually release stuff on the 17th, hopefully they'll  replace the Crowd Pleazer with something soon 

 

Here's what I mean about the rear arches;

 

 

 

[backtomyroots]

How about an SUV style body:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti00...;I=LXNKS1&P=

 

See:

 

 

I don't think that Nissan is too bad with some paint on it:

 

[more-trucks]

Have you thought about Parma bodies ?

http://www.helgerracing.com/jproducts/jframes/jframeset.html

Click on parma - bodyshellls  then monster bodies, they are very strong, my clod crawler has the Parma Grave Digger on top and has put up with alot of stick when it rolls of the rocks,concrete etc

 

[TWINSET]

I don't think that Nissan is too bad with some paint on it

Sorry Chris, the Titan looks like a Juggy and a VW Beetle mated and had one helluva ugly kid []

SUV idea could be a goer though, provided I can find a decent sized one

 

More-trucks, cheers for the link fella, www.parmapse.com is another good one for them, I quite like their Bronco bod;

 

 

[Guest sk8te-penguin]

speaking of parma pse shells... would the clod fit the high lift? i mean would it cover the arches because it says its 9" / 230mm wide and i dunno how wide the lift is...

more to the point , the parma clod shell looks pretty good

[TWINSET]

Quietly chuffed with meself tonite;

Every time I draw up a chassis, I usually mess something up with the shocks.

This time, the length was almost bang on,  inact if the wheelbase was 1/2" longer, it'd be mint.

Anyway, different problem this time - The holes were fine, but didn't really allow for the angle of the shocks, in particular whether the cap of the shock or the spring retainer would rub.

So, of course, it did!

Now, I always end up limiting the travel by about 1/2", gets around 50°-60° at very most that way.

 

Here's the regular setup;

The black tubes come with the TLT, but I don't use them, no idea what they should do.

The disc on the right is a shock piston, just to stop the tubes hitting against the seal in the shock

So, in an act of sheer genius, I realised the bottom spring retainer would slide (tight slide [] ) over the lower tube;

This moves the spring retainer a good 1/4" away from the chassis - even at full travel, the retainers now miss the chassis [Y]

[bangstick]

This is the body i decided on for my crawler project, i had the same problem as to what body to go for so thought about something a little different, not sure about the silver windows though. I don't even know what car it's supposed to be?

[MikeT]

 

The Rubi is ok, but I hate that winch, if they'd have done it without, I'd have owned loads now, and that Titan is just a characterless lump [+o(]

 

 

Forgot you were a fussy git Andy!

Personally, i love the Titan, and i forgot about your method of cutting the rear, i was thinking you were doing a scale crawler ( too much time in S4x4!)

Mike

[TWINSET]

Forgot you were a fussy git Andy!

[] I aint fussy chap, just not much point me making a nice purdy chassis and then sticking the RC equivalent of a butt-wart on the top

Keep meaning to do a scaler too, got a couple more sets of axles to play with yet, and I really fancy doing one of them Bruder trucks [H]

[MikeT]

I don't speak of the Bruder incident [:@]

 

And fella, it aint normal to " have a couple of pairs of axles to play with " !!!

[Ryan L.]

How about the HPI Wheely King Body, I think it's a chev truck. Not that good looking but if you're gonna cut it anyways... Just my 2 cents

[TWINSET]

Well, the hunt for the body continues - Ventured into my local shop where they had a pretty pathetic (even for them) range of shells, which consisted of 4 or 5 tourers (HPI Audi Estate, 2 Alfa summats and a couple of Vectras) a selection of naff pre-painted stadium truck shells, and a couple of Grasshopper 2 shells!

When I asked if tha was it, I was told "bodies don't sell very well, there's not much demand" - Hardly surprising really [:|]

Anyroad, bought the least worst of the lot, a Thunder Tiger ST shell.

These are bad - the moulding isn't even symmetrical - The rear body post looks likes it's about 10mm off centre, but it's not, it's the shell!

This'll be replaced dead soon, but for now it keeps the dust off the shiny bits.

So, here's the latest pics.

Gonna try a mini stick pack and see what it's like - it weighs so little, I could always double up somewhere else on the chassis if need be - it's small enough [Y]

Obligatory artic shot

Couple of shots of awful body

Top off [H]

Receiver mounted on gearbox

All the really heavy bits as low as I could get them

Rear body post (2 on sideplates wouldn't work, bodge-up [])

Rear steering lockout if I ever need to (disconnect servo as well)

'Neo' battery retainer and new servo/link mount

Shock travel limiters; Tubes from TLT kit I think, and left over TRF shock pistons to stop the tube hitting the shock seal clip

[backtomyroots]

That is a great looking truck, looks like you took the time to enjoy the build.  Now, I'm not usually picky but that shell must go !  Makes my Nissan Titan look like a "king" eh Andy [].  Don't like the new "Bushwhacker" by Pro-line ?

 

[TWINSET]

Now, I'm not usually picky but that shell must go ! 

Amen to that, just gotta get inspired.

Still not even close to having to use a Titan though [] and the Weedwhacker just doesn't do anything for me either.

 

At this rate it'll either be an HPI D90 (when they're over here) or (gulp) another Rock Pleazer (bleeeuuuuurgh)

Why couldn't Proline 'disguse' their CJ8 like they did the FJ?

[TWINSET]

It runs [Y]

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/moviecomment.asp?id=2273&uid=

 

Run time with new 1400 mini-stick is in excess of 35 mins (I ran it for 35 mins then it started raining) so we'll be getting some more of them.

Front suspension seems to be affected by driveshafts, will add some weight around the wheels, and see if it makes any difference... 

 

[TWINSET]

Is this better or worse?

Just my luck that the same time I finish painting, I find out the HPI Defender is now available []

 

 

[Guest joelvardy]

looks good - not sure about the cut off back...

Will look much better when you have supped that Stella

[Z]

Anything's better than the body you had on before, and this body looks pretty unique in its own right!