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So, What Have You Done Today?

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3 hours ago, Bromley said:

Not Tamiya...but my FTX Outlaw has seen some work. I painted the driver insert, made new body panels from plasticard, fuel cell from aluminium sheet, extinguishers from various leftovers, light bar and the grill are made of aluminium angle.

Still needs some more stickers and the light bars not finished yet...

Very happy with how it goes now. I fitted a 3500kv combo and got 29mph on 2s with a 17t pinion.

It's a really fun basher with some scale looks. 

Also in progress is my Hornet restoration, just waiting on parts for that.

 

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Love the look of these and there is a great thread on MSUK (dare I say that here? Of course, we're all friends) detailing mods.

How are you finding it? Is it robust? A good backyard basher?

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1 minute ago, Badcrumble said:

Love the look of these and there is a great thread on MSUK (dare I say that here? Of course, we're all friends) detailing mods.

How are you finding it? Is it robust? A good backyard basher?

I did run it completely stock at first just to see what it was all about.

Sadly the standard esc and motor didn't last more than about 4 or 5 2s lipo packs. The gearing is pretty tall in these, even with the smaller 17t pinion.

Shortly after getting the truck I installed a number of the FTX hopups. Just to future proof against silly breakages. 

Alloy chassis plate, lower and upper links, axle top and bottom mounts, lower link to chassis mounts and steel drive shaft.

The brushless is a Goolrc 3500kv 60amp combo.

On it's 1st run it threw the drive shaft which was a little disappointing. The cross pins are held in with grubs, but they pins are very hard and the grubs don't bite into them at all. So they tend to shake loose, even when locktite is applied. 

I bought another shaft stripped it completely, degreased it and built it up again very carefully with locktite. 

Same thing happened...so I went again but making use of the old shafts parts.  This time I ground a flat on the cross pins so as long as the screw doesn't back out the pin is retained mechanically. 

So far so good, even on 3s lipo.😁

As for...is it any good...

The weakest point of the stock truck is the chassis plate, they tend to snap right were the lower links attach. That's why I changed mine out straight away.

The stock axle mounts are pretty vulnerable, as are the top links themselves. 

And the brushed motor/esc, while fairly quick, they just don't last.

The spares are dirt cheap. The genuine FTX hopups are cheap and made well enough.(steel drive shaft needs subtle re-work)

Running this thing is a complete hoot. It lifts a wheel on hard throttle application. Rides the ground really well on stock shocks. Given a little power boost and some sensible mods it makes for a fun rig.

The only part I can't comment on is the stock radio gear. I ripped this out before I even put a battery in it. I just can't get on with pistol TXs. I run a FlySky FSI6 Stick TX.

So in summation...buy one, but reckon on getting a budget brushless combo for it and the alloy chassis plate as a minimum. The rest can be upgraded or replaced as it breaks...or not.

I keep looking at the Losi Rock Rey kit. Trouble is I only have about £200 in the Outlaw, I'm not sure the Losi will give me much more in terms of grin factor.

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Rebuilt my FF02 mainly to see if I had all the parts, was originally planning on turning my TL01 into a TL01B but I'm sure I'm missing a lot of parts 😂

 

 

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On 3/30/2020 at 11:10 PM, Ferruz said:

Any pictures? Always had a soft spot for the Super Sabre

20200401_102020

Far from done. The chassis still needs cleaned/detailed and I need to find a driver head but its getting there. I wasn't overly impressed with the repro body (my HS2 was better) but the Super Sabre body is one of the trickier ones to remake so I'm satisfied for now.

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8 hours ago, Supercoolnothing said:

Thanks for the pics, I bought that decal sheet when I ordered my Clod a couple of months ago. I'd actually went onto MCI racings site to order original clod decals ended up in the Monster Truck section, saw them thought "those look cool" (no pun intended) googled the original truck saw it was a square body chevy c10 fleetside same as the clod shell albeit with a couple of minor differences that I'm not going to bother changing because no-one will ever notice and went for it. 

Today I decided to strip the horrible nasty cheap looking chrome from the plated parts and respray them with alclad lacquers because I prefer the finish and in my opinion it looks a lot better. I then glued the blower together, filled all gaps with tamiya putty and smoothed it off. This way the bug catcher will look like it's a one piece unit and will look much more realistic when painted. 

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How did you get the chrome off of it?

A couple of years ago I got my Kyosho Corvette's blower stripped and painted it afterwards. I wasn't and will never be happy with it, but the AH who owned it before thought it was cool to get it painted in red. And then while removing the red I happened to get the chrome off, too. I'd be interested in seeing how does the alclad thing looks over that Clod blower.

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55 minutes ago, mongoose1983 said:

How did you get the chrome off of it?

A couple of years ago I got my Kyosho Corvette's blower stripped and painted it afterwards. I wasn't and will never be happy with it, but the AH who owned it before thought it was cool to get it painted in red. And then while removing the red I happened to get the chrome off, too. I'd be interested in seeing how does the alclad thing looks over that Clod blower.

Quite easily, what you do is put a plastic tub (ie an old ice cream one or something similar sized) pour really hot water into it till about it's about halfway full and CAREFULLY add some caustic soda. Then holding the part in a pair of long nose pliers or something similar put the part you want stripped into the solution. It'll probably fizz up like crazy and the chrome will start coming off pretty quickly. If it doesn't then CAREFULLY add some more caustic soda and dunk the part again. Repeat until the chrome is stripped along with the yellowy coating underneath and then rinse it under the cold tap to wash away the residue from the caustic soda. Then put it to one side and use your pliers to CAREFULLY tip the contents of the tub into the sink and once again rinse with lots of cold water. 

It's a very quick process tho you're going to be working with some pretty nasty stuff which WILL burn if it gets onto your skin so make sure you're well protected (skin and eyes) and make sure you have a window open and try not to breathe in the fumes. 

This method is also a great way to strip paint from plastics and just about anything. I use it a lot when I'm restoring die cast cars and toys because it's so quick and easy to do. 

What I did find interesting was I did both the old school clod bug catcher and the super clod version and they are actually made from different types of plastic the original is made from proper abs like tamiya use on their plastic kits and hardbodies and the newer version is a different colour and made from a much softer plastic which goes quite soft during the stripped process but hardens up again after a few hours. 

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started to build my Tamiya Ta-03rs porsche, today I build the front gearbox,  did a home made turnbuckle rod end, I do not like the plastic ones with stepscrews, I hate stepscrews never use them. 

I have ordered alloy c hubs with bearings and knuckles for the front so I replace the plastic ones later.

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1 hour ago, Supercoolnothing said:

Quite easily, what you do is put a plastic tub (ie an old ice cream one or something similar sized) pour really hot water into it till about it's about halfway full and CAREFULLY add some caustic soda. Then holding the part in a pair of long nose pliers or something similar put the part you want stripped into the solution. It'll probably fizz up like crazy and the chrome will start coming off pretty quickly. If it doesn't then CAREFULLY add some more caustic soda and dunk the part again. Repeat until the chrome is stripped along with the yellowy coating underneath and then rinse it under the cold tap to wash away the residue from the caustic soda. Then put it to one side and use your pliers to CAREFULLY tip the contents of the tub into the sink and once again rinse with lots of cold water. 

It's a very quick process tho you're going to be working with some pretty nasty stuff which WILL burn if it gets onto your skin so make sure you're well protected (skin and eyes) and make sure you have a window open and try not to breathe in the fumes. 

This method is also a great way to strip paint from plastics and just about anything. I use it a lot when I'm restoring die cast cars and toys because it's so quick and easy to do. 

What I did find interesting was I did both the old school clod bug catcher and the super clod version and they are actually made from different types of plastic the original is made from proper abs like tamiya use on their plastic kits and hardbodies and the newer version is a different colour and made from a much softer plastic which goes quite soft during the stripped process but hardens up again after a few hours. 

Thank you! I've used caustic soda many times, but never on chrome bits.

Now I'm curious on the alclad chrome ;)

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7 hours ago, Bromley said:

I keep looking at the Losi Rock Rey kit. Trouble is I only have about £200 in the Outlaw, I'm not sure the Losi will give me much more in terms of grin factor.

I have to finish my rock rey kit almost done only have to paint the body and gleu the wheels, but it is a lot more expensive then the outlaw, bought the kit for 250 euro, put in a 110 euro of nessesary upgrades to run it on 3s, alloy diff cups, alloy third member and alloy front bulkhead and diff gears for the rear to run an open diff, then a hobbywing max 10 sct esc and a castle 1415 2400kv motor  70mm lenght can, and a power hd servo, so I have 550 euro in that car.

The rock rey is  big its more  a 8 scale car then a 1/10 and it need  a good motor and esc, normal  size 1/10 are not going to work.

The funny thing is that I was looking at the outlaw for some time but I allready  have the rock rey.

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Found some time between the whole family being at home and me working to 3d print some body post supports. Few minor issues with settings but will do the job

20200401_192229

 

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Also made some body post extensions for my lads mighty bull

20200401_195633

 

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4 hours ago, Saito2 said:

a driver head

What kind of head do you want. I have some going begging. Not sure what is stock in Super Sabre?

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2 hours ago, Supercoolnothing said:

the tub into the sink

This also cleans fat out of the drains. Double Bubble

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1 hour ago, mongoose1983 said:

Thank you! I've used caustic soda many times, but never on chrome bits.

Bleach works as well. Just cheap basic stuff, nothing sweetsmelling or fancy

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15 minutes ago, Busdriver said:

This also cleans fat out of the drains. Double Bubble

Exactly, gotta win those brownie points wherever you can. It certainly doesn't hurt to have loads stashed away, especially when you're planning on bringing more rc's into the house 

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Checked to see if it was only 1 part (A5) I needed to finally get my thunder dragon running, I'm glad I checked, I need so many 🤣

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So I find myself "enjoying" my 2 weeks of annual leave at home. So I decided to set myself a 2 week project of improving my RC shelving in the garage, because the original shelves had been added to with various off-cuts leaving a decidedly average look, and install some LED lighting, hidden behind beading.

I finished it in one day. Now I have 2 weeks left and no more DIY projects, so I'll probably just build some Gundams and install the clear chassis in my Konghead.

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I started to clear out the shelves before realising I needed a 'Before' photo!

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Putting up the beading yesterday morning. 

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Some paint, no lights yet.

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Finished painting, time for lights. AUD$10.90 at Bunnings for each 1m long strip.

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First light installed - happy with proof of concept!

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No lights on, and you can see that even with natural light it's still dark... 

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Not anymore! I think I need to make one more (essential) trip to Bunnings - one more strip of lights for the X-Maxx, and beading to put in front of it (and on the UDR shelf, too). My wife was happy, too, because the Mini only had to spend one night out of the garage!

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I finished work at about 8:30 this morning, as we have no tool setters still working, I have reached the limits of my usefulness, get in on time, unload furnace then pack and re load for another 24 hour firing. Not bad getting a full rate for 3 hours. When the post came I was able to try out this paint remover and wow am I impressed. 

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Bit of elbow grease, kitchen roll and cotton buds. Happy days. 20 minutes of scrubbing and it's ready to be painted again. I was a bit less careful than maybe I will be in future but the shell will be mostly covered in white again and it's a runner so perfection isn't absolutely necessary. If I like the design I can always do one from new. 

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Did a bit more on my dark impact (last night actually) still having trouble with the thick wires and the lack of space!

20200328_152931.jpg

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10 minutes ago, moffman said:

Did a bit more on my dark impact (last night actually) still having trouble with the thick wires and the lack of space!

20200328_152931.jpg

I LOVE THIS

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3 hours ago, moffman said:

Did a bit more on my dark impact (last night actually) still having trouble with the thick wires and the lack of space!

20200328_152931.jpg

Is today opposite day? It doesn't look that dark? :lol:

I'm with @mtbkym01 on this one, looks amazing! B)

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I had been contemplating ordering a Comical Hornet and Comical Grasshopper for my lads as Jadlam had them at £85.

Had to wait until today (payday) but just been on the website and the price of the Comical Hornet has nearly doubled.

Oh well, shan't be getting those then.

Now where on Modelsport did I see that Losi Tenacity DB Pro...

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Comical cars have been selling like hot cakes during this lockdown. Apparently there's a shortage of UK stock because of Brexit related fears too, so that will start to affect us on spares in the coming weeks. Just what we need!

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