Maverick Scout project

[mr crispy]

I couldnt resist the crawling temptation any longer and having read the great advice on Static Age's budget rock crawler thread I caved in and bought myself a Maverick Scout. What a well made bit of kit for the price. I was expecting a lot less metal content from a £125 RTR deal. I've mostly been climbing around the garden but I finally managed to take it out today on some proper rocks and grassy banks.

So far all I've done is drop the body down about 1 inch, added 200gms of lead to the front wheels and 100gms to the rears & vented all wheels to 3mm. It performed great today climbing a huge pile of rocks down at Priory Farm which is a local family friendly spot just outside Redhill. I even had my 6 year old nephew teaching me the give it some welly technique of climbing boulders wear I'd failed miserably.

King of the castle.

Crawler nirvana

I hate that body though. I have an 80's era Jeep body on the way from the states along with a set of bent lower links to improve the ground clearance. I'm also thinking to slightly re-gig the chassis with the addition of some alum "L" beams and remount the shocks onto them for more of a scale look. It'll also hopefully counter some of the torque twist it has on the standard set up.

Im toying with the idea of changing the motor as I believe the standard kit one is 14T, is that right? Sounds more of a sporty motor than crawler to me but I assume its the reduction in the gearing that enables it to perform so well. Still think it might be worth swapping out, am I right in thinking a standard Tamiya RS540 would actually produce more torque being 27T? I have a few of those sitting around already.

All in all Im very happy and it certainly makes for a whole different type of R/Cing fun. I now find myself eyeing up rock faces, earth banks and tree roots while Im out and about and thinking hmmm, I recon if I approach from here I could make it http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/wink.png

I'll get some more pics up once the new bits arrive.

Cheers

Nic

[kaiser]

i love the "stack" of rocks.

it has a 14t motor in it? seems a bit to hot to me.

a nice 55t crawler motor would be your best bet if it's torque that you are after, but a 27t would have more tq then a 14t. are sure it doesn't have a 14 tooth pinion insted of a 14 turn motor?

[Gruntfuggly]

Great thread subtitle...

Looks like a nice bit of kit...

[mr crispy]

Great thread subtitle...

Give that man a cigar. I wondered if anyone would pick up on that

Yeah according to the Maverick spares page @ Wheelspin the standard motor is 14T which I thought was a bit odd. Im gonna try a standard Tamiya RS540 (27T) in it before getting anything more suited to a crawler and see what difference it makes. Im wondering if increasing to a higher "T" motor will just make the torque twisting effect worse on the chassis. Jumping to a 55T (which was also my initial thoughts) may make it virtually undriveable Anyone know any remedies for that? It'll also kill the top speed. As it currently is when flat out its bearly doing a brisk walking pace and thats with a sporty 14T motor? I'll mostly be climbing through woodland and trail driving so it'll need to have a little oomph between the rough bits.

I'll do a little trial and report what I find.

[Percymon]

I remember reading a magazine review of the scout maybe 6-8 months ago and again the numbers for the motor etc didn't seem to stack up. From recollection they stated 14t motor and 70t something else. I wonder whether it should have been 14tooth pinion, 70tooth spur or maybe 14tooth pinion on a 70turn motor.

Before you go buying anything else I suggest you pull the motor and have a look at motor and pinions

[Static Age]

The Maverick Scout is unbeatable value for money, glad to hear that someone else is enjoying one too.

I took the stock motor out of mine, its says its 25 turn on the label. I have installed a 55 turn crawler motor, its no slower but it does have more torque.

Things to watch out for: Check the pin in the prop shaft UJ's, if this partially drops out you can sheer the joint.

Also if you get a wheel jammed dont keep powering backwards/forwards trying to get un stuck (like I did). You will break a halfshaft or round out the centre of the diff locker.

Between me & my mates we have 7 of these trucks, ideal entry to crawling without spending a whole lot of cash.

[mr crispy]

Right, I've had some time to tinker with the Maverick this week. First I've fitted a set of alum high clearance links from Dyamite. Needed to fit a spacer under the front shocks to help clear the links. I also angled them and sanded a small amount out of the links to help the front tyres clear them on full lock. Next up I decided to ditch the axle bumpers as they were just getting hung up all the time and the hubs look pretty tough anyway. I also removed their mounting points under the axles so it now has a nice clean scale look

I also had time to test fit a standard Tamiya RS540 motor in the chassis to gauge how it compares to the standard Maverick MM25 motor. It effectively doubled the top speed of the thing. Now Im thinking the Tamiys RS540 is about 27T so I'd agree the Maverick motor is around the 50-55T area as Static Age mentioned earlier. Here's a quick film of the Maverick with the RS540 motor fitted

Way to fast and I couldnt take the sound of mechanical butchery anymore I think the next mod will be moving the lower link mount inboard.

Its been out on a few trips now and preformed really well. Just waiting for the Jeep body to arrive and I can get rid of the awful original.

[callisr]

Can't believe these things-they seem too good to be true!!!!! Is the standard radio equipment any good? Thinking of getting one for my 9yr old (and maybe one for me too!!)

Cheers,

Rich

[mr crispy]

Yes. Its the first 2.4ghs system I've used but has great range and a tiny antenna. Not had any gliches and the motor comes supressed as standard. Although the TX is 2 channel the receiver is a 3 channel model so you could add a winch or lights for the price of a suitable tx. I got mine through modelsport and it came with a 3000mah nimh rather than the 1800 batt advertised. Many parts seem to be compatible with the Axial AX10 so theres loads of upgrades already available. Even the standard tyres which most people will replace have actually surprised me with what they can do.

Im very happy with it, well worth the £125 including postage I paid

[TWINSET]

I think the next mod will be moving the lower link mount inboard.

As well as inboarding them at the chassis end, you can also run them in or outside the brackets on the axles - just space the bracket apart where the link would be

This'll help to stop shocks and links clashing too;

[mr crispy]

I'll have to try that out twinset, great advice.

The Jeep body arrived so I've done the initial cut and fitted the alum L beams to the Maverick chassis.

Here's how it looks after another trim & a few test runs today now the body mounts fitted. Battery is currently just held in place by a rubber band until the mounting is finished but will be in a similar position over the steering servo. The reciever and ESC will be relocated once the layout is sorted.

Obviously the body limits the articulation at the extremes but its better than I was expecting. Im planning to move the top shock mounting points away from the centre which should help with the torque twisting the kit suffers from, although its bothering me less the more I run it. Im also thinking to use some tubing on the shock shafts to control their maximum movment and stop the body catching. Paint wise Im thinking I'll paint the inside of the lexan in a rusty steel effect and then give the outside a dirty old paint job. As it picks up knocks and scrapes it'll show through rusty underneath the paint.

[mr crispy]

Took the Maverick out to Leith Hill for a little trail run to make sure the body lines are working before the painting starts. Its performing very well all around, climbing better than I'd have expected although the top speed it a bit slow for the long stretches between the bumpy stuff. All I've done since my last update is fit some tubing on the shock shafts to limit the travel and protect the body.

Leith Hill is great for trail driving, lots of dence woodland with walks and paths running through it, it even has some green lanes for real offroad motoring which get nicely calved up and produce some good climbing challenges. We parked at the landslip car park and me and my co-driver took the Maverick all the way up to the tower which at 965 feet above sea level is the highest point in the SE England (if you dont count George Michaels garage )

If we hadnt spent so long mucking about with logs and craters on the way up we would've made it to the top on the 3000mah nimh battery it came with. As it was it ran out of juice just 150 yards from the tower but it had been going for about 30-45 mins by then.

We came across this little twig and I wondered "will it make it"

Not bad but I figured it'll never make it back over...

Now thats not bad concidering the pretty limited mods I've done so far.

A quick battery change and we were soon mounting an assault on the defences.

We made it back to the car park with lots of battery left. It even survived a sideways roll down the hillside into the under growth, no harm done just bad driving on my part

Lots of fun had and no issues so its time to get the paint on.

Nic

[mr crispy]

I got the rusty paint effect applied to the inside of the lexan this week. The lexan is so thick and has hardly any flex so I used normal acrylics laying down a heavy dusting mix of orange, red and brown, then over layed with a light silver and toning down through gunmetal to a dark steel colour. Once fully dry I backed it all with Halfords semi gloss black primer which I've found to be very tough and protects the other layers well and also gives the underside a uniform colour.

I forgot to cover the rear lights so I'll have the scrape the paint off the lenses carefully. The bodyshell came with very good masks for the windows and front lights.

Its a little hard to see the rusty effect through the glossy apperance of the lexan. Once I've given it a coat of Humbrol matt varnish on the outside it'll transform the look to the "old rusty bucket" look Im going for. I've found the varnish also sticks to the lexan well and provides a good key to paint the outer layers onto.

Im thinking to go with a faded red paint scheme on the outside probably starting with a mix of red/tan to get a dirty light colour and then increase the red to get what would've been the original base colour. I'll then lighten the panels and upper surfaces to get a sun bleached look and have a few rust spots poking through. The idea of the complicated paint scheme is that as the bodywork picks up knocks and scapes it'll show some realistic damage right down to the rusty steel I've painted on the inside. Although the last time I did this on a Beetle shell I liked the rusty look so much I didnt bother with painting the outer shell at all

[Leethal Driver]

I bought one of these off Bfst24 for a knockdown price a couple of months ago (cheers Ben) and it's been sat in the box ever since it arrived. I got bored trying to work out how to mount the servo in my Paj trail project this evening, and in a moment of inspiration dug it out and changed the esc battery connectors to Powerpoles, chucked in a stick pack and some AA's in the tranny and ran it round the lounge for a while. Built a little course out of some of my daughters toys and some kindling Can't wait to take it out at the weekend for a proper run

Agree with Mr Crispy, these are great value for the money, and you can mod them straight out of the box as well.

First up, new shell as mine's got a split in it.

[Kevin_Mc]

i realy like the rusty old banger look, will keep an eye on this

[lupogtiboy]

I almost bought one of these a while back, so may have to save up and actually get one now!

And whereabouts are you in Redhill? As this is my stomping ground too!!!!!

[Tamiya1/10]

Are the tires on the right direction? No sure if the direction makes any or big difference....

Like to see how your truck compares to an Axial.

[mr crispy]

lupogtiboy - Im in Merstham, just outside Redhill I know but its easier than having to explain where Merstham is. Do you know of any good rc sites locally mate? You cant go far wrong for this sort of money, they're well worth it.

Tamiya1/10 - I thought the same as you and tried the tyres around the other way but had to change them back as they grip better this way around. The outer lug doesnt work well when reversed and rather than gripping the rocks it slides the tyre away from any edges. Im intended to get a set of HB Sedonas evertually but the originals do a pretty good job. AFAIK its pretty much a clone of the Axial AX10 with many parts being interchangable... or so I've been told. Annoyingly the skid plate has the mounting holes for the transmission in a slightly different location so that part isnt a direct swap. Which brings me to my recent mods.

I finally had the time to get the lower links inboard. Didnt take long and I marked out, cut and fitted one link end first to make sure it all worked, then copied the method to the others. Its not as neat as I could've been but I was under a time limit to get it all done before "The General" started nagging.

While the links were off I stripped the blue anodising off with some Mr Muscle oven cleaner and sprayed them with Halford satin black primer. Again they couldve done with another soak in fresh cleaner but as they were gonna be painted it didnt matter.

All fitted and test driven. Its already climbing better with this small change and it only cost me the price of 4x 3M nuts

I also opened up the tranny and found it was totally dry inside. That explains the awful gear meshing sound so that got a thorough greasing. In fact it seems the standard Scout doesnt have any lube in either diffs, the universal joints or transmission so its well worth stripping it down to do this if you get one. It now purrs around my garden like a kitten.

I'm also trying out a new battery position by resting the racing battery pack on the upper front links and a bit pf plastic tubing held between the chassis side plates. Its secured at the front with a loose rubber band to keep it inplace and of course the servo stops it moving forward. This lowers the COG nicely while keeping the weight over the front axle but importantly doesnt interfere with the articulation of the front end. I'll give it a proper test run like this and if Im happy I'll repace the rubber band & plastic tubing with something a bit more professional.

Here's how its looking now.

LED's are on the way from HK so I'll be making some light buckets from plasticard. Need to get on with the outer paint job when I get the chance.

Cheers

Nic

[Will16]

Looking great! The Jeep body is such an improvement on the standard one! I love the rustic look that you have done with it!

Will

[Static Age]

Looking cool. I got those high clearance links too, thanks for sending me the link to the supplier.

I have been running a kamtec landrover shell on mine since day one, I prefer a proper looking truck body over the stock maverick item & your jeep body looks just the job.

What brand is it, might get one when the landy gets too beat up?

I also tried having the battery in the same position as that, I found it was affecting front axle articulation. I have a couple of old stick packs that I might re arrange into the cells either side of the front axle style.

[mr crispy]

I got the body shell from an Ebay seller in the USA called "steggun29" but he doesnt have anymore ATM. I dont remember it having any branding on the box. It was listed as "Venom Truck Cree 80S CRAWLER PICKUP BODY" but thats not finding anything now Its a shame as it was only £24 incl p&p to the UK, its well detailed and made from thick lexan. Came with good window masks and overspray film but no decals.

Yeah Im still not 100% on the battery position. I've made a stretchy velcro stap that looks better, holds it well but still allows a lot of front end articulation. I also replaced the plastic tube for alum.

L beams are completed. Played around with reposisitoning the ESC and receiver. Once I get them both waterproofed I'll make a alum bracket to mount them under the L beams to help the COG and leave the upper level clear for a cab interior.

Im really happy with how its going.

Nic

[Will16]

I'm really looking in to getting one of these and turning it into a FOFF rig with a Proline tuber body!

Oh, and I found a very similar body-

http://www.ckrccrawlers.com/rj-speed-80s-c...ody-p-2257.html

[mr crispy]

Yep thats the exact same picture of the bodyshell I bought. Go for it, I've seen plenty of AX10 chassis with the Proline tuber cage and the Mav is a clone of the AX10 so it should work out well for you. Just keep us posted with a build thread. Im tempted to try that myself one day once I've completely trashed this jeep body.... shouldnt take long

[Will16]

Yeh, I've noticed that the Scout is very similar to the AX10. If you like crawlers, a great forum is www.rccrawler.com . I've just joined to get information, and inspiration.

[mr crispy]

Yeah I found rccrawler when I was looking for advice on my CC01 build. Not sure if I joined but they have lots of good stuff on there and the site is huge. Another good crawler site is www.ukrcrc.com which Im a member of.

Got the windows and lights masked up today and gave it a quick coat of Humbrol matt varnish. It sticks like the proverbial to fur on the lexan so gives a great key for painting.

It really transforms the look of the rust effect. I did this to a Kamtec Baja Bug shell and liked it so much i didnt bother to paint the outside (funnily enough I had to remove the matt varnish on the Bug later and it looks good even through glossy lexan). What do you guys think, should I still go ahead and paint the outside of the Maverick? I always intended to paint the roll bar and its triangular side panels matt black so I might do that first and then see about painting the rest of the body work. I wondered about masking and painting each panel separately to get an old battered car look thats been repaired throughout its life and now the panels dont quite match. Maybe have one panel or door a completely different colour like its been salvaged from another vehicle.

Your opinions would be much appreciated.

Nic