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MadInventor

Mad Max Fury Road War Rig build

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I recently saw Mad Max - Fury road, and rather liked the 'War Rig'. I've given up on the steel king tiger, which now leaves me without a major build project.

img33435_16072015214809_2.jpg

and thought it would make a great 1:10 model. I'm still at the 'do I want to spend the next 3 years making this' stage, so I'm just airing a few thoughts about how I might go about building it to see what people think.

A little research on the internet reveals the 1:1 is 78ft long, which equates to roughly 2.37m in 1:10 scale.

By using a drawing I found on the internet I estimated the tractor unit to be roughly 82cm long, the main trailer 135cm, and the rear fuel pod 36.5cm.

Which makes it rather large :)

Rc4wd do these tires:

img33435_16072015214809_3.jpg

which are an exact tread match for the tires used in the film, and at 132mm diameter I think are probably about the right size for the tractor unit, but not cheap at £25 a pair in the UK.

I haven't found a tidy military tread for the trailer, but as this would be a 1/10 model I think that high lift tires would probably be alright doubled up, and the hard compound would help to support the weight of the trailer without too much sag in the sidewalls

The bad news is that I would need 11 pairs of tires, which at a conservative £10 a pair, would give a total cost for the just the tires of £185. I've also made the assumption that I would make all the wheels on the late

Then it's going to need a serious power plant, I've been well impressed with the raw torque of the 800Kv turnigy model ship motor I used in the skidder build,

unfortunately hobbyking don't have any at present, but they do have a 1000Kv version (Even more power :D ), which is a 2KW motor.

img33435_30102013162223_3.jpg

img33435_30102013162223_4.jpg

Too much power maybe, perhaps a EZrun 4274 would be ok running on 4s.......

Then I'd have to decide on whether to fit a 1, 2 or 3 speed box in it, or just make do with a single speed transmission. Given the whole thing would be nearly 2.5m long it's going to be quite heavy, but then I don't want it going too fast (15mph tops I think) and the big turnigy motors are very strong (I only run mine on 3S, and they can use up to 6S). I thought I could probably get away with fitting 3 2S hardcase LiPos between the chassis rails of the main trailer, this would help spread the weight and keep the CoG or the trailer low.

The next design decision would be the type of axles to use, I think tamiya high lift axles would not have strong enough gears in, I'd be tempted to use the traxxas summit diffs I used in the skidder as I could control the diff locks with them, use a single rear axle with dual walking beams or bogeys (Not scale for the machine but would give great traction, and some form of home made suspension for the front axle. (it would have to be a proper 6x6)

I could use a beetle shell cut down for the rear turret on the trailer (This gives a good indication of the size), but the rest of the bodywork would be tricky to say the least. (Hopefully I would be to find some parma hot rod shells to cut down.)

lastly I thought a good item to base the fuel pod on would be a tidied up plastic float from a toilet cistern. Probably about the right size and won't be too heavy.

Interested to hear what others think, I haven't got any where near deciding 'Yes I'm going to build it', have I got the tire sizes right, are there better alternatives, etc, etc. It would be a monster project, but would be very cool tearing up a beach being followed by wild ones, rough riders, sand scorchers, etc, and it all be in the correct scale. :)

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I like the idea... and I'd love to see someone tackle it, because I certainly don't have the patience (or the pocketbook) for such a project.

Of course, you'd need to also build a Gigahorse to chase it...

Gigahorse_mini.jpg

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<makes big pot of coffee, sits back and waits for build pictures to start rolling in> B)

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<makes big pot of coffee, sits back and waits for build pictures to start rolling in> B)

I'm going to take more persuasion than that ;)

I've been looking into the tire options a bit more, and it's not looking positive. For 1/10 scale, the tractor unit requires tires 126mm tall, and 38-39mm wide, however most tires that size (including the ones I'd already looked at) are around 130mm tall / 50mm wide.

As for the rear tires, for 1/10 I'd need tires that are 119mm x 28-30mm, high lift tires are nowhere near that at 94 x 32, so I think they are out of the running. I have reasonably 1.9" tires which are 108x39, still too wide and not tall enough.

If I went for 1/14 scale I could get away with using 'off road' 1/14 tires for the trailers, but they are prohibitively expensive, and it would then be very awkward trying to find bodyshells for the 'turrets' on top of the main trailer in 1/14. For 1/14 scale, the high lift tires are not a bad match size wise for the tractor unit.

I found this pic of on the internet:

img33435_16072015214809_4.jpg

and couldn't help thinking that a couple of rolls Royce meteor engines would have looked good in there.........

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Repurpose your metal King Tiger and make this? You have many of the bits already... Maybe start with a twin vertical plate chassis similar to the HPI Savage, mount up the tank bits, and pound out a body with sheet steel and an anvil? I know you love machining stuff; my son and I have been playing with blacksmithing and metal forming for some time...

landscape-1431451955-peacemaker.jpg

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I have a pair of those RC4wd tyres I recently bought to try as Wild Willy M38 replacements. A little too tall and narrow for my liking so they are in a drawer.

Pm me and cover postage and maybe a pint and I will send them over to you.

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I have a pair of those RC4wd tyres I recently bought to try as Wild Willy M38 replacements. A little too tall and narrow for my liking so they are in a drawer.

Pm me and cover postage and maybe a pint and I will send them over to you.

Which RC4wd tires do you mean ? I'm still scratching my head over this, can't decide whether or not to start on it. It would certainly be an expensive build, no two ways about it, I think at least £500-£600

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I'd love to see the Gigahorse done, but oh, the work involved

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Still can't quite bring myself to start buying bits for this yet, had a little tot up of the expected cost today:

3 pairs rc4wd zxl tires £75

brushless motor and ESC £110 (Either a 2000KV 4274 or a 5674 1050KV)

shocks 3 pairs £30

2 traxxas summit locking diff units £80 - £100

14 gears for the rear walking beams £110 (Might be cheaper to buy an extra summit diff, but then I'd need an extra transfer case as well)

3 speed gearbox ? £35

That's £450 for a rolling chassis, not including the 22 tires required or the leaf springs for the trailers :o

I'm also concerned that the only tires I can find for the trailers at an acceptable price are rock crawler tires (£10.99 on ebay for a set of 4 with foams), which I think will probably be too soft to hold up the weight of the big trailer. Anyone know any tricks for hardening tires ?

What would you do with the motor & gearbox options ?

a 2000KV 4274 running 4S and a 3 speed gearbox,

or a 5674 1050 KV running 6S and a single speed gearbox (too much torque for a 3 speed to handle I think, especially on 6S ?, but it would probably be more fun to drive with a 3 speed box.

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I'm also concerned that the only tires I can find for the trailers at an acceptable price are rock crawler tires (£10.99 on ebay for a set of 4 with foams), which I think will probably be too soft to hold up the weight of the big trailer. Anyone know any tricks for hardening tires ?

I suppose you could put really hard foams in them? Or maybe even fill them with silicone or similar firm rubbery stuff?

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I suppose you could put really hard foams in them? Or maybe even fill them with silicone or similar firm rubbery stuff?

I thought about the silicone, but thought it would be easy to unbalance the tire, and would also make them heavy (There would be 20 of them to do.... )

Stiffer foam might be a good call though ....................

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...I've given up on the steel king tiger.....

Is same likely to happen here? If so that's a lot of cash sitting potentially sat around doing nothing.

Would be good to see the build though, love watching your stuff :lol:

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Is same likely to happen here? If so that's a lot of cash sitting potentially sat around doing nothing.

Would be good to see the build though, love watching your stuff :lol:

I don't think so. I came up against some fairly serious engineering difficulties in getting strong gearboxes to fit in it, and to be honest it's been 5 years since I started it and I've just lost interest in it now (I did actually have it working briefly!).

The war rig will be much less technically challenging, I think probably I can get to the working rolling chassis stage within 12 months, then after that it will be all cosmetic work.

I've ordered the 2300W brushless motor (XK5674 1050Kv) and 3 Revo diffs for starters, on the assumption of using a single speed gearbox and 6S LiPo. I thought the diff locks in the summit diff would not withstand the motor, so went for the cheaper revo diffs instead.

And so it begins again .............. ;)

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Excellent! Looking forward to watching the build as it progresses!

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Have started building the chassis for the fuel pod today. Will have to start a build thread in the builds forum once I've got something substantial to show

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After a little discussion in another thread, I've decided to have a go at building a 1/10 RC 6x6 truck, based upon the 'War Rig' in the new Mad Max film.

The inspiration:

img33435_16072015214809_1.jpg

So I started off by buying some parts. I've now got another Turnigy XK model ship motor, this one quoted as being around 2330Watts, or 3hp :).

img33435_07082015182428_1.jpg

I also bought 3 traxxas revo diffs. I did originally think about using 2 summit diffs with rear walking beams, so I could lock the diffs, but thought the motor would probably destroy the diff lock mechanism, so went for a 3 axle setup with open diffs instead (Was also considerably cheaper)

One of the first things I've done is to use the spare Revo diff I had left over from the skidder build to make a diff assembly with an output:

img33435_07082015182428_2.jpg

This means I can drive both rear axles without requiring an additional transfer case between them.

I then went to B & Q and bought 3m of 25mm box section, to slit down the middle to make C channel for chassis frames for the trailers and the truck.

I ended up ordering some 108mm rock crawler tires for the trailers, 24 tires in all. While I was waiting for the first batch to arrive, I started building the chassis for the fuel pod trailer:

img33435_07082015182328_1.jpg

I made the tow bar from 12mm box section, slotted and then bent to shape, then brazed to give the bend strength.

img33435_07082015182328_2.jpg

The second pic shows the tires that will be used for the trailer, 8 in all.

I've now started making the wheel and hubs to carry the wheels on:

This is the first hub, it has one 1260 bearing in each end, and can have 2 wheels bolted to it:

img33435_07082015182238_1.jpg

and this is the first wheel:

img33435_07082015182238_2.jpg

img33435_07082015182238_3.jpg

and the hub fitted to the wheel.

img33435_07082015182238_4.jpg

img33435_07082015182238_5.jpg

The wheels are a very basic design, but will be mostly covered by what I can only describe as 'boudicas'.

It took me around 8 hours to make the wheel, and about 4 to make the hub, taking just over a week. There are 22 wheels to do, just for the trailers, so around 6 months work to make wheels and hubs for the trailers. I'm going to need 132 M3x8 socket cap bolts just to hold all the trailer wheels on.

To paraphrase Captain Oats, I'm going to the workshop, I may be some time......

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Nice Rim's and hubs you've made there :) Do you have your own lathe setup or a work one?

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Awesome work!

....

MadInventor! This build is awaited in Valhalla! Build Faster!!!

img42077_31052015033338_2.jpg

(please read that in Immortan Joe's voice)

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Nice Rim's and hubs you've made there :) Do you have your own lathe setup or a work one?

Both, I have access to a small hobby lathe at work in my lunch hour.

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Both, I have access to a small hobby lathe at work in my lunch hour.

Wow..!...can't wait to see this coming together...six months for wheels huh?

That's the current estimate, but I'm hoping as I make more I will find faster ways of working, plus with the first one I had to establish the exact dimensions required, which always takes longer. Now I have working patterns to go from, I'm hoping they won't take that long.

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Both, I have access to a small hobby lathe at work in my lunch hour.

Sweet, You certainly have skills with one. I was lucky to pick one up early this year for a great price but I'm still learning what I can do ;)

mnml.jpg

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