TN's Unoriginal TXT-2 Agrios Project

[Truck Norris]

The Agrios is not a pretty truck, but after seeing what people had done with them this inspired me so last November I bought one from Tamico for a very reasonable 299 euros. I won't go through every step of the build, as that's been done many times before so I'll just cover what's different about my truck.

Copying the ideas of a well known Swiss Tamiya fan I bought some upgrades before starting the build:

The motors came from Banzai, the ESCs from Tamico, which at 70 euros each amazingly made them cheaper than Banzai even before import charges.

Banzai again for these, and despite the customs hit still cheaper than anywhere else.

Some power for those motors:

And some better (TXT-1) wheels and Clod tyres:

Yes, the exact same motors, ESCs, wheels and batteries as Matteo. I told you this was unoriginal!

Now to copy some more people, I'd seen Arcocustom's Agrios and liked his idea of replacing the stock alu side panels with lexan, so I bought two A4 sized sheets of Palram polycarbonate sheet (£7 from eBay). One sheet would be enough for both panels but I bought a spare as I knew I'd probably mess up the first attempt. I did. Rather than use the existing panel as a template and mark the positions for the holes I stuck the panel to the polycarb sheet and drilled through the exising holes. This worked much better:

Servos bought. I'll be using rear steering so needed two:

Copying from Arcocustom again I went off-piste with the box art and did the front half PS-16 Metallic Blue rather than black. I also blacked out the rear cab windows:

I started the build in January then got distracted and left the TXT-2 for a couple of months while I built some other kits. I resumed last week and completed the chassis. For now I'm using the standard kit wheels, shocks, 540s and NiMHs. I want to see how it performs as stock before upgrading.

Please excuse the messy cat's nest of wiring. This motor / ESC setup is temoporary.

I don't have a dual motor ESC and I didn't want to buy one for the short while I'll be running this stock, so I borrowed a couple of 105s from some unbuilt kits and used two batteries, held in the compartment with a velcro strap. There's a splitter between the receiver and the ESCs, with one live wire cut so as not to overload the receiver.

I bought a super cheap wheel transmitter just to see if I could get on with them (I've always had stick) before splashing out on a Futaba. The build quality is pretty poor (the LCD screen cover had fallen off in the box) but it works great. As it has 3 channels I'm using the 3 position CH3 slide switch for the rear steering. This way I can have normal front wheel only, rear crab, or rear normal. This is exactly how a 1:1 monster truck's rear steering works.

Today's job is to paint the standard kit wheels black, sticker up the side panels then it's ready for proper photos and a test run!

[Jeffyboy403]

I watch his videos too, I'm on the edge of my seat right now. Can't wait to see this beast

[Scapelnz]

Great build! Looking forward to seeing it finished!

[Truck Norris]

Standard truck build complete:

It's a fair size!

Looks better than I expected with the standard wheels. I think painting them black really helped.

How it looks with the TXT-1 wheels:

But I think I'm going to have to do this:

[Theibault]

Very nice. I love my Agrios. Dual brushless might be overkill. You'll get the same performance from using just one esc and motor. Yours looks awesome.

[backtomyroots]

Indeed, Theibault.

I run the Traxxas Velineon brushless system in mine - works just fine.

Those Juggernaut wheels and tires always look great on any Monster - wish Tamiya would re release those tires in a slightly softer compound.

[berman]

Nice! Save the Juggernaut ones for your Jugg though

[pawong888]

I like your remake of the box art by using blue instead of black. I'm thinking of using blue stripes on white body, just like the real Blackfoot 18.

[zomboided]

God dam n Mr Norris, I've ordered one of these now you pointed out the bargainous price from Tamico. Yet again, a Bullhead eludes me.

Interested to see how you get on with the dual brushless. I'm still reading around the web on what to do to hop this baby up, and Matteo's build is certainly appealing.

Are you thinking about beefing up the drive shafts or not?

[fullspectrum]

God dam n Mr Norris, I've ordered one of these now you pointed out the bargainous price from Tamico. Yet again, a Bullhead eludes me.

Interested to see how you get on with the dual brushless. I'm still reading around the web on what to do to hop this baby up, and Matteo's build is certainly appealing.

Are you thinking about beefing up the drive shafts or not?

I think your going to like it. I saw one built at my LHS and it looks awesome. Looks very tough and has nice articulation to the suspension. The body looks pretty good to me even though some dont like it. The tires didnt seem small either. Stock it looks like a fun rig.

I have one on order too. Im going to put a couple of HPI Firebolt 15T motors in it. I may put the stock motors in just to try it out for awhile.