Project Pumpster....

[wolfdogstinkus 1893]

Hi stuntmanphil, I am just not sure I could go back to the pod and look at all the bugs knowing that I have bought a ford to please the Mrs because she said she wouldn't get in another beetle with me because I always used to drive it sideways. lol .

All my RC's are VW's though so it would go down well at VW action. (VW wheelie bus, blitzer beetle, maisto bug with m04 xl chassis and the sand rover)

Had my brushless qd beetle stolen at bug jam a few years ago.  

[billg4 25]

Great picture, really liking it

They certainly do wheelie well. I only ran mine the once, i was stupid enough to put an 11 turn motor in it for it's first run...it went straight up on its back wheels,flew down the road like this for about 50m (gathering speed all the time) ....

[Andyrt200 201]

That's no excuse...i haven't had a road-worthy vw for years! (loads of aircooled projects that i'll never finish but none that actually drive!) I'll be going to vwaction in a citroen......again!

We race in the monster-truck arena, we just set up a scale 1/4 mile on the tarmac. Generally have a practice on Saturday morning, and then the main competition on Sunday morning.

details here...... (ignore the rules and regs, we've ditched them, this year it's 'anything goes' )

http://www.vwaction....tion/rcdrag.php

Snap, two 1:1 bugs in bits & not been to a show in a VW for years, still going though. I was hoping to get down to VW action anyway, so if I can take my Sand Scorcher with me to play that would be even better, sure it will be rubbish at drag racing but as I can’t take my 1:1 VWs the Scorcher seems like the next best thing! I did the RWYB a few times but as it go more popular I ended up missing most of the day sitting in the fire up lane waiting for another go so got fed up with that, the RC version sounds much more fun

Is it bracket racing like the 1:1 racing there (so speed of car not important) or is just who gets to the finish line first?

Could always stick my new brushless system in the Scorcher for a laugh anyway.

Love your Pumpster, looking forward to the next update

[stuntmanphil 2]

Hi stuntmanphil, I am just not sure I could go back to the pod and look at all the bugs knowing that I have bought a ford to please the Mrs because she said she wouldn't get in another beetle with me because I always used to drive it sideways. lol .

All my RC's are VW's though so it would go down well at VW action. (VW wheelie bus, blitzer beetle, maisto bug with m04 xl chassis and the sand rover)

Had my brushless qd beetle stolen at bug jam a few years ago.

yeah we avoid bugjam now for just that reason dude....the last time we went me and the mrs were woken up by a third person in our little 2 man tent going through our bags at about 4 am.

Great picture, really liking it

thanks!

Snap, two 1:1 bugs in bits & not been to a show in a VW for years, still going though. I was hoping to get down to VW action anyway, so if I can take my Sand Scorcher with me to play that would be even better, sure it will be rubbish at drag racing but as I can’t take my 1:1 VWs the Scorcher seems like the next best thing! I did the RWYB a few times but as it go more popular I ended up missing most of the day sitting in the fire up lane waiting for another go so got fed up with that, the RC version sounds much more fun

Is it bracket racing like the 1:1 racing there (so speed of car not important) or is just who gets to the finish line first?

Could always stick my new brushless system in the Scorcher for a laugh anyway.

Love your Pumpster, looking forward to the next update

yeah bring the scorcher along fella!...we had a couple of scorchers racing last year,they did pretty well. The runner up last year was a hopped up Hornet too!

No our timing system isn't that great so we have a few qualifying runs each. Then, based on our qualifying times we get paired up and it's into eliminations (first one over the line goes through to the next round, loser is out for good).....We're not on a glass smooth surface though so spins/crashes do happen...it's not always the quickest car that wins in the eliminations!

[Flat_Out 57]

All my RC's are VW's

Mine too!!!!

[stuntmanphil 2]

A pic or two of the LRW chassis next to the Digger chassis would be very helpful. I like the idea of modifying a Digger to stay with the original "wheelie" nature of the vehicle, but I could also go with a custom street truck on a 1/12 chassis or M-chassis...

-Paul

finally got a couple of pics of my 'little red wagon' chassis next to the 'digger' chassis for you Speedy.....

....having told you that they are very similar,on closer inspection they're actually pretty different!

Many of the components are identical (axle,front springs,cross-members), but the actual grp flat bits are actually cut pretty differently....i still reckon it'd be fairly easy to make your own LRW chassis using the shared bits from a digger chassis and making the other parts needed from some 2mm grp sheet. Let me know if you need any measurements in the future.

LRW on the left......Digger on the right.

Digger in the foreground on this one.

[stuntmanphil 2]

Done a bit more to the pumpster over the weekend.

This was probably the hardest part of the build so far...i wanted to remove a bit of the weight from the original rear bed since i'll be adding a fair bit of weight with the new bed. The cotton-sawing technique didn't really like cutting through the corrugated bits and kept snagging and snapping (probably a few hundred times!), but i got there in the end.

Added a rear brace too (for the new bed to fix onto)

.

cut and stuck on the new bed.

added some sides..

...then some strengtheners before forming a new top lip and side lip....

Nowhere near finished with the rear end yet (i keep getting new ideas ).....but it's getting there!

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

Your truck is looking better and better all the time. Thanks for the side by side shots of the LRW and Digger; I'll have to stew on what to do with this LRW body...

-Paul

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

I just ordered a Digger to convert into a LRW chassis; I think there is a way to do this with some Pro Mod front and rear tires and a few small chassis modifications. In the meantime, here's a fun video to set the mood:

-Paul

[billg4 25]

ha ha, that was an awesome video!

[bromvw 744]

almost as good as this one

lol

[Kevin_Mc 411]

just stumbled across this thread, love the work on the shell!

I've been considering making a rat-look Pumpkin truck on a non-monster chassis and was thinking it would need to be extended slightly so seeing this has inspired me. If i can source a suitable chassis I may give it a go, it doesn't have to be a dragster nor would it have to be a capable touring car, anything that moves is good enough

any more progress since the last post?

[Singleseven 70]

Just came across this thread; brilliant! For a first thread, or any thread for that matter, it's spot-on, very informative and funny too.

Please can you explain more about the cotton-sawing technique?

[Percymon 2184]

Just came across this thread; brilliant! For a first thread, or any thread for that matter, it's spot-on, very informative and funny too.

Please can you explain more about the cotton-sawing technique?

this thread should help...http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=43633&hl=%2Bcotton+%2Bsaw

[Singleseven 70]

Wow! Thanks for the link Percymon. An amazing technique, I would never have thought possible!

[stuntmanphil 2]

Thanks for the comments guys....and for the videos (particularly loving that crazy brushless digger!!).

I've stalled a bit recently with the Pumpster build, but since i'm racing it tomorrow i thought that i'd better get it at least running!....if it survives the weekend i'll pull it back apart and finish it properly (i've got lots more planned for it)!

So...i made a simple chassis to suit the body length, and then i stuck all of the components on!

Bolink motor-mount, axles, wheels and rear bodymounts.

Tamiya abarth 1000 front bodymounts.

Acoms servo and receiver.

novak gtx no-limit esc.

team checkpoint 7x1 brushed motor.

hpi spur and pinion gears.

bit worried about the ground clearance.....the body-mounts are a bit short,so this is the highest setting.

got a couple of other cars running again....in the background you can see that i've strapped a gopro to my top-fueller...hopefully i'll get some video over the weekend

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

Your truck looks totally cool with the front end slammed down like that! That head-on shot (third pic in the post) would make a great desktop wallpaper!

-Paul