Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Percymon

Project Cloider Begins...

Recommended Posts

I got a Turnigy 7.4v 5400mah Lipo for mine, it runs Clodzilla like a dream, oodles of power and a fairly decent run time, 25 minutes so far and the lipo cut out hasn't stopped it yet, so there's still more to go.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah racing blue alloy servo mounts arrived yesterday from RacingPunk - great quality, so much better than the Tamiya kit plastic ones (in fact i'll never use plastic ones again). Fitted those last night, set up the steering and tested out fine.

Had a play in the lounge, hooking up a single old 1900mAh NiCd pack -was able to get the chassis to hunker down on its springs and spin its wheels at take off.

Decided to go LiPo now, so will be running two 2S 25c 3800mAh packs going forward :):(:o

Lexan body is progressing - some more masking off to do before i start the painting. Original clod body needs masking for paint too.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I was looking at some alloy servo mounts myself, are the Yeah racing ones any good? Are they the little L shaped ones with the extended mounting hole that allow you to slide the servo slightly before you tighten it up?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I was looking at some alloy servo mounts myself, are the Yeah racing ones any good? Are they the little L shaped ones with the extended mounting hole that allow you to slide the servo slightly before you tighten it up?

I bought the simple rectangular block ones, same as Tamiya plastic. Supplied with screws and washersfor mounting to chassis and mounting servo. Racingpunk also sells the slotted ones but since I'd already tried the plastic tamiya ones i knew I didn't need that extra adjustability.

Last nights installment...

Finished masking and started painting my Clod project shell. Realised fastrax chrome paint is actually pretty good til it's backed with black when it turns more silvery (will back with silver next time!). Painting didn't go so well, I used some sheets of masking a friend gave me, and they weren't as effective as they should have been. Too late now, not too disastrous thank goodness. Got two more layers to add tomorrow and then it's decal time!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Painted in some red flecks using Faskolor pearlred, before firing the last can of colour - Pactra Fiery range. Then took out the window masks and tinted them with Tamiya smoke.

Pretty happy with the results - i know there are some areas of paint bleed/overspray , but once more than foot away frm it no-one will know :wink:

Another colour that doesn't photograph very well - under tungsten lighting its very much on the green side of teal, in daylight and flash lighting its a bit more blue - not too bad a match to the wheels. Quite pleased with my stencils, its no award winner, but for a first try with stencils, paint masks and 5 different rattle can colours its not too bad an effort.

I'll try to get some better pics up in daylight, these will do for now..

IMG_0162.jpg

IMG_0152.jpg

IMG_0163.jpg

IMG_0164.jpg

What do you think ?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Very smart looking truck, I've just added a General Lee Charger to mine, my painting skills are next to useless and my original Clod body is turning Ford signal green, jut in need of a good polish and the chrome refitting.

Have you got the light decals, or are you going to fit lights too?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Very smart looking truck, I've just added a General Lee Charger to mine, my painting skills are next to useless and my original Clod body is turning Ford signal green, jut in need of a good polish and the chrome refitting.

Have you got the light decals, or are you going to fit lights too?

Whole load of decals to go on yet including fake lights. The spotlight bar I have will go on the old clod body if anywhere.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wandered around the local B&Q DIY store yesterday and stumbled across some coax cable grommets, designed to fit onto furniture i think. There are basically a ca 1" plastic disc with a 1/2" tube through which the cable would normally pass. Anyway they are THE perfect fit for the top of my body posts and being ca 1" diameter the 'disc' gives a good area for velcro tape. Ideally the tube bit would be a little longer to let them slip over more of the body post but so far they seem fine, and the body pops off the top of the posts if i hit anything !

The bad news...

When doing some initial tests of the servo and esc using an old nicad 1400mah battery i noticed the truck hunker down a little on its suspension when starting off at full throttle. Last night i fitted a single 5000mah 7.2v nimh, and the truck now drops over an inch on its rear suspension at take off - it looks great, just like a 1:1 monster truck, but there's going to be a problem when i switched to twin 2S lipos.

I have Traxxas shocks - i believe they are standard T/E maxx ones - grey plastic with black caps, and red springs. I assume they are filled with Traxxas 30wt shock oil (i bought them unused second hand).

So i think my current shock springs are traxxas part 4957, which i've found to be 2.5 rate (Lb/in). Traxxas do a progressive spring set 4957R but i've no idea if these are overall any harder?. Fastrax (same UK distributor as Traxxas) do a hard spring set (again i have no rate information).

Do you think the issue is the spring rate or the thin shock oil or both - i suspect its both !

I'm thinking i might go for the Fastrax springs, and maybe up the oil to 60wt.

Any suggestions ??

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

just a though buddy if you said you bought them second hand but unused are you sure they have oil in them,, have you had the caps off to have a look, although your suspension would be pretty bouncy with no oil at all, but worth a check

Rudi..

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
just a though buddy if you said you bought them second hand but unused are you sure they have oil in them,, have you had the caps off to have a look, although your suspension would be pretty bouncy with no oil at all, but worth a check

Rudi..

Thanks for the suggestion Rudi.

I did compress the shocks when i got them and it was clear they were fairly smooth and contained oil.

Anyway i took them all off this afternoon and opened them up - all were a smidgen less than full and the oil looked a bit aerated (i'd compressed them by hand a few times beforehand). The 'old' oil looked quite thin when pouring it out, so could well have been Traxxas 30.

Have refilled them with 50wt pure silicon shock oil for now. Compressing the cylinder now creates suffucient pressure to push the cylinder back out slowly when i let go; ot as much as on Tamiya units i've used this same oil in, but better than it was with the old o

When building the shock units back up i noticed 2 of the 4 springs had white marks on them and maybe they were a little stiffer than the others. I've out the ones with the white marks on the rear, on the off chance they are marginally stiffer. All four shocks reinstalled and i've fitted the one each of the three largest preload spacers , so overall there's about 10mm of preload.

Quick test suggests they are better, with less acceleration sag - may still have to go for 60 or 70 wt oil, or perhaps some harder springs, but for now its definitely better.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
cool man glad you got it sorted....

Thanks again for making me look at the shocks first !

Now realised the ESC doesn't have lipo low voltage alarm or cut off, so better get myself a couple of alarms - another long wait for HK post :rolleyes:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Quick update..

have ordered some Traxxas 4957R progressive springs so will see how they compare to the current stock Traxxas ultra shock ones. Also picked up some alternative shock oils (35et and 80wt) which should give me enough scope to find a reasonable set up (when combined with the std and progressive shocks and the current 50wt oil).

Pro-line body is complete now - will get some pics up soon

Clod body needs a bit more work and then paint - i'm trying to build the 3racing light bar into the roll cage and hide most of the wiring (i've ditched at least half of the wiring it arrived from China with !). Day off Friday so perhaps i'll get it done this week :unsure:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Gave the truck to my son for his 9th birthday - i've never seen him so emotional, nor me given what its cost lol!! ;)

WE actually ran it for the first time last weekend, no issues bar losing the wire link in the second battery connector of the traxxas esc (i was running one battery to keep his speed down). Could we find the link ?, not a chance, so out came a second battery ! Two packs livened it up no end, although its not easy to appreciate its actual speed. When you are used to seeing a 1/10 buggy zipping around, to see a 5Kg, 20" long, 15" wide monster truck going at similar pace makes you look twice B)

I've revised the mounts for the body now, four vertical mounts into the cabin roof wasn't stable enough as all the posts were too close to each other. So now i've used the body posts from a Gmade R1, mounted horizontally and these attach to the body inboard of each wheelarch for a clean, but secure hold.

A few pics..

revised body mounts..

108_2226.jpg

Body fitted...

108_2229.jpg

Duelling with its smaller Gmade brother..

108_2234.jpg

:o:o:o:o

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As far as wheelbase is concerned I'm already at 16" and bar building longer links there's not much I can do. Wheel track increased by 19mm each side because of the different offset of the beadlock rims over the STD clod rims. I gained another 4mm per side with the 12-14mm hex adaptors. Overall I'm almost 2" wider than a stock clod, which is probably as much as you'd want to go with plastic gearboxes, axle tubes and hubs.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
...its not easy to appreciate its actual speed. When you are used to seeing a 1/10 buggy zipping around, to see a 5Kg, 20" long, 15" wide monster truck going at similar pace makes you look twice

It looks cracking - and built like a tank too. Congratulations on a job well done. B)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Looks sweet buddy, I really must get started on mine sometime soon

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...