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#58518 Super Clod Buster

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+ bare body and also size comparison's with Dynastorm and my sons Christmas GF01

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It's big! :D

So my next steps for this week is to hook up the electronics for a test run, Paint/Decal the body and also try out those shocks I bought. I'm still on annual leave this week so hopefully project Christmas Clod is fully rocking by next weekend!

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I think those shockers you have bought will look great on the Clod, doesn't say if they can be refilled with stiffer fluid if needed. Mind you anything is better than those awful plastic pogo sticks at each corner :lol::lol::lol:

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Here's a pic of mine after its first run without the body, battery is a gens ace 4000 hardcase .

I broke the rear body mounts because the brakes are a bit fierce and it went endo a couple of times, so I re-drilled the mounts and fitted steel mounts.

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Thanks for sharing this build...makes me really really want a Bullhead now :)

Those shocks are really disappointing though. Let us know how the other ones work out for you.

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Cheers for the input guys :)

I did a quick Dremel job on the battery holder and my Dynergy 2S Lipos fit quite well there now :)

The weather was not bad yesterday so I gave the body a solid wash, dry, and a few coats of primer:

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I've also been tackling the 'TwinSet' steering servo axle mount mod. The template is pretty close, but I'm tweaking it slightly to get it just the way I want it. Hope to have some final progress on that today but will provide proper documentation when I have the final formula worked out.

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Some nice Clod progress today :)

Firstly the rainy/windy weather cleared for the morning giving me a chance to shoot some colour. I decided I wanted to give this Clod a paint mod and have an aluminum tray (possible upgrade on a full size version?). So out with the masking tape and Humbrol metal coat:

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I shot a few light coats of that and in the mean time received the two sets of FTX 100mm coil over dampers that I received. They are not Tamiya (boo), but the Tamiya upgrades are super expensive so figured I would give these a try as my Clod will just be a basher anyway..

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As you can see the blue is off. The bodies are also plastic, but the metal parts are indeed light aluminium as opposed to coated plastic. The length is about right, I had hoped to be able to use my chrome springs but they will not fit the shocks as the body of the damper is too big for them. The only issues though is that the eyelit for the top and bottom mounts are a size too big.

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But what I found though is that by using some fuel tubing as a spacer on the top mount, and by taking off the lower mount and screwing on the factory clod lower mount, we're now back in business :)

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This is what the Damper looks like fitted:

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You can also see that it is possible to adjust the height (slightly) with the spring tensioner platform

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It would be easilly possible to run one shock per corner - the ride is a lot firmer than the standard Tamiya setup. I like the dual shock look though so went with two in each corner. It's super stiff now so I'll have to see how that goes. Maybe if it's too stiff when running I can drain the oil out of one shock per corner or something.

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Following the success of my axle steering mount on the front, I decided to mod the back axle too. As I knew my recipe and formula this time around I took some pics to explain for other folks who are looking to do the same thing:

Bumper - remove this and put it to one side

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There are two long self tapers that hold the bumper, axle reinforcement plates and gearbox together. I replaced these with two very short self tapers

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Steering arm, servo saver, and steering rod can all be removed and put to one side

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These two screws can be removed from the gearbox, this is where the servo plate will bolt in. Note that you need slightly longer bolts to account for the width of your steering plate.

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Next I removed the central steering servo and arms. The Tri-screw plate I bolted back in in case it was needed for re-inforcing. The body posts came in handy for mounting the servo to my new plate, and the arms you can set aside to leave in a later step.

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As noted earlier, I used Twinsets template to make my servo plate. It's a little too tall for a stock clod so I landed up moving the servo mount 6mm lower and also tilting the servo forward a little. The tilt is used so that you don't have to bend the new steering arm. I would have preferred to make an aluminium plate, however I didn't have any around so I landed up raiding my plane spares and using a carbon/poplar sandwich plate. These are extremely light and strong, how it will stand up to the Clod I am not sure but might as well give it a try, I can change to a different material in the future if I need too.

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After cutting out the plate, I then drilled the mounting holes, counter sunk the screw holes, then applied CA to every open surface. The Poplar is treated at manufacturing to react to CA and the whole thing locks up tight like one solid piece of epoxy plate. It's very strong.

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Test fit on the steering servo

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Test fit on the Clod

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Servo bolts nicely in to place

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Because the stock servo savers are out of the picture now, I used a Serpent unit that I had kicking around (same on the front). It's an easy install by re-using the ball link and nut from the stock Tamiya unit. I put the ball link facing inwards so as to keep the steering rod at an agreeable angle.

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The final step then is to make a longer steering rod as the Tamiya one is just too short. I happened to have some 3mm rod handy so I used that, it would however be possible to cut down one of the steering rods from the central servo position to do the same job. I cut the rod at 100mm and it is a smidgen too long, probably 98mm would be a better length.

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Using a 3mm metric die, I wound a thread on to the rod

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The factory rod ends fit well so it's just a case of winding these on, clipping it on to the ball link and hey presto

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I then clipped my shocks back on - it's easier to get in at the servo with at least one side off

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And here is the Clod back on it's tires with front and rear steering servos and actual oil dampers fitted

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I am using a four channel TX, so in my case I am mixing the steering channel with Aux1. If you only have a two channel TX and want to do the same mod then you just need to get hold of a Y lead to run both of your servos from. It's a pretty simple mod, however has a huge impact on the steering and drive ability of the car. I really think Tamiya should have used this system (or something like it) from the factory - Thanks heaps to Twinset!! :)

Tomorrow.... hopefully tomorrow will be dry again and I can try and shoot some more colour on the Clod. You can see the Aluminium tray in the picture above. I gave it three coats throughout the day gradually building up the thickness. I'm very happy with how it turned out and I think that when the main body colour lights up it's going to really gel nicely with the tray.

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Some really great mods there mate, very impressive and they look seriously trick as well ;)

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Just a little update on the Clod. I've been working on the body off and on for a few weeks. It's not that I've been putting in vast amounts of effort, the time is really going in waiting for the paint to dry. The Super Clod is a big kit and takes a lot of paint, so it takes a good few weeks to cover, and also given the time of year I have to leave the body near the heater to harden the paint properly. At any rate I got the Met Blue body to a point I was happy with during the week so on Saturday morning I decided I would mask off the body for the second colour (gun metal).

As you know from the box art, the Super Clod does not just have a straight line style division between the two tones. It's more based around making a 'mountain ridge' type of look and feel. I really thought I was going to have to mask by eye the shapes of this but as I sat down to open the box I found that Tamiya had provided a masking sheet that was marked out for cutting - phew!

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Irrespective of that realisation and accompanying relief, I still found that the shapes took quite a while to cut out accurately. Still it does come together well though as Tamiya's masking sheets are equally as effective as their tape - pretty much the best masking material I have ever seen!

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I found that shooting the gun metal spray was quite a bit easier than the metallic blue. For whatever reason the blue goes on quite 'dry' - a bit too dry infact, and unfortunately it is also prone to runs if you linger in one place for just a micro second too long. There are a lot of other colours that are easier to apply however for me I just really love the tone and flash of the metallic blue.

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I've just finished applying a couple of coats of lacquer and will let that dry overnight and then, finally, my Super Clod will be ready for decals and finishing touches :) I'm quite looking forward to this as the car is just not that impressive looking driving around without the body on.

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Cracking job there mate. I can remember doing a custom job on my ex wife's Clod, it does take a bit of paint right enough and my job was rather choice as I made up all the masks myself using friskette. That was apart from the lettering which I had a mate vinyl cut The masks for, but great when it's all done though :)

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Well folks, just back from my summer hobby and checking over my threads. I don't seem to have posted up a finished pic of my Super Clod so here's one I grabbed last weekend:

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Clod is going great although it only gets used occasionally. I'm hoping for some actual snow this Winter to have some real fun with this :)

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I must admit, that Clod looks very good. You've done a great job with your steering mod and those shocks are a perfect match.

It was a pleasure to follow your build.

Marcel

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