My Srb Projects

[VagabondStarJXF]

Hi All,

Back in May I'd thought I'd start building a Sand Scorcher. (see this post)

I just thought I'd post up some pics (at last) to show the progress of my Scorcher project. Well it was just a Scorcher project until I started finding out about the whole Mk1/Mk2 differences. Now it's 2 SRB projects, a Sand Scorcher and a Mk1 Rough Rider.

As it was last month.

It was just a single SRB project at the time. This was before I had the time to properly mount the radio box.

The underside.

I decided to keep the scratch plate on there even though it isn't really needed.

The 3 bodies I've got for it.

The black one is a Blitzer shell and the other 2 are original Scorcher shells.

The white one is one that was mostly stripped but has what I can only describe as some heat damage and some areas need rebuilding before it can be painted.

The red one needs stripping, a couple of cracks need gluing and the front arches need minor rebuilding.

Obviously all need Scorcher nose cones as well as the rest of the Scorcher body parts.

1 becomes 2!

On the left is my Mk1 SRB chassis with some used Sand Blaster Jrs and 915s. On the right is my Scorcher with new Padlatraks and Smoothies.

My Rough Rider

It isn't in the best condition, the radio box and gearcase are in particular disrepair, but it's Mk1. If I can source parts cheap enough I may even restore it as I go along. Even if I don't I'm gonna try to source Vintage Mk1 parts only to finish it, right down to the electronics. I've already got another vintage hump pack, a new resistor (with cage), an old 540 silver can and a NIB Circuit Breaker. I've even got a pair of early 80's Acoms servos ready and waiting to go with the old Acoms receiver!

My Scorcher

It's made up of mostly new parts thanks to a nice TC member (Thanks again old fella) and a couple of lucky eBay purchases. Even the used parts were hardly used. After a quick clean they could almost pass off as new. The main parts missing right now are custom made parts which means I'll throw out emails to all concerned once I can afford them. Other than that I just need to fit some ballraces and then wire up the electronics.

Now with the Kamtec radio box mounted properly!

The well nuts hold it down much better than I'd thought they would. I've got my hump pack and a couple of power caps in there for test fitting. I intend to run with a higher mAh NiMH hump pack once I've got everything hooked up.

A little chassis protection

It's only a bit of heatshrink over the brass torsion link bar thing.

I can't remember whose scorcher I'd first saw this on but I thought it was a good idea so, whoever you are, thank you.

My vintage Sprint Black motor

I'm not sure whether or not I'll use it yet. It's a recent eBay impulse buy. It's old and I don't know if it will work but I really liked this motor way back when...

A platter of wheels

I've got several plans for these. I just hope I get round to doing them.

I'm not sure if the wheels on the left, the ones without tyres, are Ranger or Brat ones. Can anyone tell me if there's any way to easily tell the difference?

I've still got plenty more to do and plenty more to buy before both of these are finished but I'm getting there. It's an expensive road to completion though.

[zulu69]

A little chassis protection

It's only a bit of heatshrink over the brass torsion link bar thing.

I can't remember whose scorcher I'd first saw this on but I thought it was a good idea so, whoever you are, thank you.

Hello mate..

That was me posting this simple way of protecting the chassis and I thank you for your kind words..!

Nice project you have there ,, MKI is my fav chassis for display and first ever SRB....Keep up the good work..That reminds me that I have to finish my two last SRBs .I have them waiting my attention for soooo long.....

Cheers

Thanos

[VagabondStarJXF]

Many thanks for letting me know it was you. I'd been searching for it so that I can add it to my favorites but after I'd seen it the first time I couldn't find it again. It's such a simple idea and that's why it's great. I'm going to be doing it to all my SRB torsion links, even on my spares! I'll especially do it on the new Buggy Champ when I get around to buying myself one.

[VagabondStarJXF]

So I decided to get a few Buggy Champ parts and got a bit carried away.

A whole Buggy Champ front end

With Buggy Champ front arms, uprights, torsion springs, towers and shafts

and

Vintage Ballraces (until I get some Buggy Champ ones)

A new Buggy Champ gearbox, UJs, rear arms and torsion bars

Still got my Mk 2 shafts and gears fitted

Ohh shiny UJ's! But what motor is that in there?

OMG! It's a Tamiya Super Modified 11T!

Even better is that it fits without any modification to the gearcase.

Now I really don't believe that I'm crazy enough to use an 11T motor in there but I had to see if it fitted. It just slid right in without any fuss. Nuts huh?

I ran into a problem with the new uprights. The screw point for the ballhead screws is a lot larger than the vintage uprights. I have some spare brass ones for various other kits so I thought that those would fit but to my dismay they were too large. Anyone know what size ballhead screws I'm supposed to have? Alternatively, which screws bag has the correct ballhead screws in there?

[VagabondStarJXF]

I've got a few quick Qs which I'd thought I'd post here instead of starting a new thread unnecessarily...

Scollins Scorcher Interiors. I've got what appears to be one from someone off of eBay. Is there any way of checking if it's a geniune article? What are they supposed to be made of? How much were they originally?

Repro Scorcher parts. Are they made of similar stuff to the originals? Can they be chromed with Alclad II chrome laquer or is it a 'seek out a profesional' kind of a job?

[VagabondStarJXF]

I've just ran into a problem with the Ranger wheels.

I've just test fitted them to my chassis and, despite having the wheel nuts done up to the max, the rear wheels still have about 1-2mm play which allows them to get clear away from the hubs enough to spin freely. I'm obviously a bit confused by this as I thought the wheels should just be 'plug and play' so to speak, easily interchangeable like the other SRB wheels.

Did the Ranger have different/shorter driveshafts? Or is there a part that the Ranger had that's missing? Or do I have wheels that look like but actually aren't Ranger wheels?

[Shodog]

I've just ran into a problem with the Ranger wheels.

I've just test fitted them to my chassis and, despite having the wheel nuts done up to the max, the rear wheels still have about 1-2mm play which allows them to get clear away from the hubs enough to spin freely. I'm obviously a bit confused by this as I thought the wheels should just be 'plug and play' so to speak, easily interchangeable like the other SRB wheels.

Did the Ranger have different/shorter driveshafts? Or is there a part that the Ranger had that's missing? Or do I have wheels that look like but actually aren't Ranger wheels?

sounds like your hubs have slipped on the shafts. put them in a vice and tap the threaded end to make them closer

[VagabondStarJXF]

Thanks for the reply. I'd thought of that already... But they're the brand new hubs from the Buggy Champ and all my other wheels still fit ok without any play. Any other suggestions before I scrap them and buy some new ones?

[dannos85]

Very cool projects!

So whats next?

[VagabondStarJXF]

Very cool projects!

So whats next?

Thanks dude and thanks again for the excellent wheel covers. I still can't get over the fact that it took 6 weeks for them to get to me. That's what RM strikes will do! I'll be sure to post up pics once I've got my Ranger wheels sorted. I guess that's what I'll be trying to do next although I'm not absolutely certian about how I'm going to go about it. I could get some alloy 5x8x2mm spacers but I'm not sure where I'll be able to get some. The closest one that I've found is actually an old brass bearing which might work but wouldn't look right under the silver lock nuts. Alternatively I might have to get some new wheels.

I'm trying to get round to doing some new pics but I'm kinda holding off until I've got a few more things sorted out with these SRB's of mine. Since my last lot of pics I've done a whole load of little bits 'n pieces (nothing exciting though), I'm awaiting another package containing parts and I'm trying to get some bits from rad22rad now... but things aren't exactly going according to plan.

Can anyone tell me what is the best oil/grease for the SRB gears? I'm getting to the stage where I'll be able to run at least one of them and I haven't got anything to grease them up. That means I need to buy some but I don't know which one to get.

[VagabondStarJXF]

Who sells repro Scorcher nose cones? I used to able to find them on eBay but I haven't seen any in ages. On top of that I can't remember who used to sell them so I can't even email them to ask if they've got any. Help please!

[gazwilts]

jsourbeck sells repro nose cones, he is on here and ebay under the same name, top bloke i have bought many from him and postage from the US to UK is pretty fast.

[VagabondStarJXF]

Thanks for that. I thought it was him but couldn't remember exactly how his user name was spelled so every search I did was wrong.

I''m going to email him about getting some nose cones. All my Beetle shells look decidedly faceless without them.

I think I've asked these Qs before, either on this thread or on someone elses (or maybe on another forum somewhere... I can't remember), but I don't think they've been answered on here. I'm also looking at some other repro parts and I'm just wondering how easy it is to chrome them. I'm not even sure what to use to chrome them. Would the Alclad II chrome laquer work ok on these bits? Or is something else better to use on them?

[VagabondStarJXF]

I've been meaning to do an update for absolutely ages...

Here goes:

I got some Awesome Alloys parts from rad22rad just after I'd found out he'd quit making parts. I grabbed what I could which he told me was pretty much the last of what he'd made. I only left him with one skid guard that I kinda wished I'd bought off of him now, even though I didn't need it at the time.

I ran into a problem with the Cherrybomb chassis in that it's designed around the Mk1 chassis. It simply didn't like me using anything other than a Mk1 servo saver on it. So I had to rethink my plan of restoring up an entire Mk1 kit to include this chassis. That meant I was no longer getting just original Mk1 parts and could now use the Cherrybomb chassis on my Mk1 project as well as using whatever parts I could to get it back into shape. I then decided that I wanted an original Rough Rider shell to go on it and, lucky me, I got a couple off of eBay in one auction. Both had broken roof struts and one was in serious need of repair bu they were still pretty much intact. But then the seller took his time shipping and when they arrived I'd found that he'd sent them broken. The packaging was near pristine (a rarity with RM in my area at the time) but the contents were damaged. I had sent him a couple of emails but he never replied. Then I had computer problems so I couldn't do anything until I reinstalled the OS (again) and I missed out on filing a complaint because I took so long about it. One shell was snapped clean in half but the other was still usable so I figured I'd just try repairing and restoring the both of them. (And I'll get round to that at some point! ) The Mk1 gearbox was corroded and quite rough all round but I lucked out and got a near mint Mk1 gearbox via the bay to replace it. Not even a single scratch on it! Then I got some original dampers along with a custom made coilover kit from mikea96 (again via eBay). (For anyone who's curious about cross compatability I've tried fitting the coilover kit to the Buggy Champ dampers but the new dampers are wider in diameter so the coilovers simply won't fit.)

My Scorcher project got an Awesome Alloys chassis and I got some other nice shiny bits to go with it but ran into another minor problem with the set of alloy gear case covers I got (which I got with the dampers and coilover kit). They're designed around the Mk2 gearbox so didn't fit on the Buggy Champ gearbox I'd fitted to the chassis. So back I went to the Mk2 gearbox I'd originally bought for this project because I didn't want to modify the covers. Other parts... I got an alloy bumper and rear cage off j-man (whom I'm sure you all know by his excellent work) and a mock engine block off of another person via eBay. I have diverted away from my orginal plan of having a different exhaust setup in order to have this engine block but I don't care. It looked so nice I just had to have it. I then went for Buggy Champ parts to finish the chassis off. Now all I'm doing is accumulating parts for the Scorcher body shells I have before I fit in some radio gear. I managed to get a nice original Scorcher nose cone as well as some repro parts too (thanks again to Wrecked) which I'm sure will look right once they're all painted up. One other problem I had on the way was the left front tower. The top hole wasn't threaded so the damper couldn't be secured. Thankfully I'd acquired a metric tap & die kit to sort out the problem but it was one problem that was totally unexpected.

Anyways... On to the pics!

Front Shot - Side By Side

Rear Shot - Side By Side

I decided not to go 'Box Art' for the bumper

Engine!

This is the usable shell (only broken on the side of the driver mount but otherwise ok)

I know the Rough Rider isn't supposed to have a stinger exhaust but I had it in my spares box and I thought I'd use it just because it's there. The front tyres are indeed original Sand Blaster Jr.'s and they're in pretty good condition as it goes. I'll get round to painting out the lettering once I've gotten myself another paint marker (I ran out while repeatedly messing up the Scorcher tyres! )

It's taken me absolutely ages to get this far (not to mention that it's cost me a small fortune too!) and I've still got quite a bit of work to do. I'm not going to be finished before Christmas, which is when I was originally planning to get everything done by, and I'm probably going to need a few parts from the re-re Scorcher when it comes out in February next year in order to complete the body properly. It's just a pity that the re-re body is the same as a Blitzer Beetle. I've got one of those already and was really hoping for something in the original body shape, just like the Rough Rider re-re... But that has been discussed to death in another thread so I won't continue my griping here. I'm still going to get a re-re Scorcher body or two (or 3 or 4 ) just for bashing instead of the Kamtec shells I was originally going to buy and, if I do get the whole kit, I'll just use the chassis for display purposes once I've got the original bodies I have all done up nicely. That's the plan at least. After all, that's why I bought up a load of Buggy Champ shells. That way I can really thrash them without all of the 'crying like a baby' afterwards.

So what do y'all think of my SRB's?

[mikef350]

WOW!great work on all of them fella they look the mutts nuts matey . i am gutted rad isnt doing any of the alloy stuf any more as i realy wanted one of them chassis and gearbox protector .

[mikef350]

and where can i get one of them engines?

[VagabondStarJXF]

and where can i get one of them engines?

I got mine back in August from an eBay seller called jeepcj81. I don't know if he still makes them though. Just to warn you, it cost me well over £100 for it back then. It was a totally crazy impulse buy (for me at least ) because I'd just gotten paid and decided at that moment to not buy a load of parts in favour of the mock engine block. It's also the reason why I missed out the rest of the rad22rad parts I wanted. Oh well, cest la vie and all that!

[mikef350]

do you reckon its a fair swap for my original srb complete rear end and full front end with original chassis and stiffener for the same in return but rere?

[VagabondStarJXF]

I think it's ok but honestly I'm not sure. Why do you want to swap them?

[mikef350]

because it will all look new

[VagabondStarJXF]

because it will all look new

Well that's as good a reason as any I guess!

[VagabondStarJXF]

These just arrived today! My new chrome wheel covers!

Front

Rear

Even though they're plastic instead of the aluminum ones I'd originally wanted I've decided that they look good enough to make me change out my black wheel nuts for some plain silver ones. One little Q though... The seller said they're CRP's. I'd always thought CRP ones were alloys but as I've never seen a NIB set I simply don't know. Can anyone tell me? It doesn't really matter because I still think these are really nice but I'm really curious about it.

[Shodog]

The CRP's are chrome plated plastic that is really good. When they click together in the bag they sound like metal but they are not. the only aluminum ones I've seen from CRP are the holiday buggy rears.

[VagabondStarJXF]

The CRP's are chrome plated plastic that is really good. When they click together in the bag they sound like metal but they are not. the only aluminum ones I've seen from CRP are the holiday buggy rears.

Thanks for the reply Shodog. That's good to hear. I think they look really good on these wheels with these tyres. I also have a set of Super Champ tyres that I was going to fit them to but I'm glad I didn't.

Does anyone make a coil over kit for the Buggy Champ dampers yet? The standard front springs aren't as strong as I'd like them to be and the coil overs on my Rough Rider look so nice so I basically want them to match. If not I've already got some other dampers I can fit but I think it'd be nice to convert them to coil overs aswell.

[wolfswest]

nice restaurations, keep up the good work.

What are the differences between a mk1 and mk2 srb?

thx in advance,

Dem