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JD's Bruiser build

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Ok so heading towards the home stretch now, but MAN this body's killing me. I have firmly applied the 85% is good enough rule... (it's normally 90% is good enough, anything above that leads to insanity and broken dreams)

Masked off the window frames, probably one of my least favourite bits of any build, not sure why I just feel that whenever you get to this stage you want to get it done and be driving!

I did, however, get some bleed on the bottom of the right-hand side of the windscreen which is KILLING me. There's no way I am re-spraying, so I'm thinking I either:

a.) leave it

b.) decanter the blue TS-15 and brush over it

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Like a lot of people I also decided on a black bed, chose the Tamiya Matt Black rattle can for this one, I just feel it always looks better with a contrasting bed:
 
28313884079_3253d8e14e_b.jpg

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Putting the body together gives an immensely satisfying feeling I must admit.

I have given it a polish and also a coating of power lock, but in hindsight, this might be a terrible move before decals... I get too excited about shiny paint ;)

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Next project are the decals, then working out the LED lights then it's off to the beach ;) However this body can never be rolled, there's just no way...
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Would some gentle T-cut or similar get that black off? Obviously you dont want to go through the paint though. Like a real car though, you have some defined segregation on that panel so worse case you could just mask up around that panel if the worse happened.

I'd consider another non box art body for running, that's what I've done though I haven't painted that yet. The actual front and rear halves aren't that dear (about £35 pair from Tamico, or they were) it's all the others bits that add to the cost and take it up to around the £100 mark (lens set, chrome set, bumper set, sideskirts/cabin set, front grille and bracket, driver etc).

I'd also dab some blue paint on the screws that sit against blue paintwork just to take the edge off them.

Nice to see another Bruiser come to life :) congrats!

Judging how neat your cabling has been so far, I look forward to seeing how you tackle the Led install which is quite challenging to try and keep neat.

Enjoy,

Nito

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Couldn't resist taking her out for a run.. scary is un understatement on the body. I think if I run her again it will be on the sand :P

Found out that I need to pull out the gearbox and tighten the slipper clutch, the recommended setting is way too loose and there is far too much slip... dam it.

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.. scary is un understatement on the body. I think if I run her again it will be on the sand :P

Thats the trouble, especially with hard bodied models - you put so much time into making them nice you then don't want to scratch them !

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Ok so a bit of an update (over a year since I last posted!)...

Bought a brand new Futaba 4PV (along with my re-re Avante 2011 :D) and decided that it MUST be used for the Bruiser as can't stand the ugly Turnigy 9ch stick radio...

However took about an hour of playing to work out how to get it to work the 3-speed gearbox properly. This might also serve as a good record for people searching google for the same issue, as there aren't many answers out there!

Futaba 4PV for a Tamiya Bruiser 3-speed gearbox setup:

Set EPA low to start off with, maybe 20 or so.

TRIM DIAL > set DT3 to CH3 > Scroll across and set it to 100/NOR (this makes it act as a 3-way switch)

Play with your EPA and off you go! 

Pretty happy to have this working with a pistol transmitter, especially the stunning Futaba 4PV

 

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Well, thanks to nde63h doing a thread on a Bruiser, the flame has been ignited to complete this (now over 2-year old) project. 

I left this with the decals off for over a year and a half, just lost the energy as we all sometimes do, but getting back into it for the past 48hrs has fired me up to no end (I just bought a re-re Javelin due to the 48hr passion!) Anyhow, less talk more photos.

I had to finish off the windscreen wipers as never mounted them, decided to paint them as all the good modellers tell me you have to paint plastic even if it's the same colour as it comes out looking far more realistic.

28351487939_63442c34c3_k.jpg 

I said it before, and I'll say it again, it's a pain to cut out these stickers. For the level that this model is, they should be decals, would look a lot better on if they were... anyhow, it's a painstakingly slow process.

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Soapy water method for me thanks, will never put them on again without it.

25260346167_9c65f885af_k.jpg

 

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Next up was the lighting system, I got the Tamiya TLU-01 / TLU-02 system - WHAT A PAIN THIS SYSTEM IS TO INSTALL!!!!! (More on that later)

Decided that I had to hard wire the power for the unit into the main battery system, as who the badword wants to use a separate battery when the LED draw is so low these days?

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Then I thread it all through the rabbit warren:

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It, of course, didn't fit as there are now farrrrrrr to many wires, so had to cut the box a little bit:

39420377964_72d155c402_k.jpg

Worked like a charm:

28351490009_6526cdbc18_k.jpg

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Next was the actual LED light installation, I was short 1xrRed 3mm and 1xYellow 3mm so painted two spare whites I had with translucent paint, it works ok, but it's not ideal... 

28351488829_66ae7ece16_k.jpg

After messing around for what seems like 2hrs on 'programming' the TLU-02 got it to a level that I was happy with, not ecstatic, but happy. Then found this AMAZING wire braid wrap that you don't have to feed the wires through, you can just open it and it self-closes - changed my wiring life!

Notice anything wrong with this perfect first attempt?

25272527547_a24a9462f1_k.jpg

ROOKIE ERROR! Forgot that I can't exactly mount a body with the wire braid running directly down the middle - many swear words later, had to pull the entire thing apart and re-think it all.

Came to the conclusion that I would have to split all the wires in two so I could run down either side, so I pulled out the pins from the housing and made that happen.

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I ended up breaking two lights solders as when this was done, had to troubleshoot and find the issues then re-solder the broken ones. This process was a VERY slow and painful process, but I just had to get it right, I'd come this far...

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Well, that was about as good as my patience and skill level allowed. It's now 'perfect' and fits on the body so well.

Three things really annoy me about the TLU-02:

  1. You can't remotely turn the unit on and off 
  2. You can't change modes (daytime, nighttime etc) remotely
  3. The mode that you were last in doesn't stay there - it reverts back to mode 1 (daytime)

I think that I can work out how to turn the unit on remotely, with this kind of thing: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-receiver-controlled-switch-1.html

But as for changing modes from the receiver, I am totally stumped... Would LOVE some advice, as this will take the build from good to great. 

Personally, I have no idea why Tamiya made such complex and expensive units, I would personally never buy one again, I would just try something like this: https://www.killerrc.com/products/killer-light-kontroller-v3

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Anyhow, ta-daaaaaaaaa!

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This was a quick iPhone shoot, I am going to set up a proper shoot and do her justice!

I must admit that I aspire to shoot models as well as Truck Norris! (Will see what I can do!)

Out of 10 (10 being the best bruiser ever made of all time), I give her 9.

Stoked.

 

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Congratulations, 

Looking very good indeed :)

I use these LED's...which I have running off a different channel to the main steering/throttle which is mirrored on the fancy Futaba 10J radio (I use a 6ch receiver) so effectively I can select when I want the LED's to light. IIRC the running lights are always on, but the headlights, brake lights and indicators I can select. I have a toggle switch which allows me to select the indicator manually, or it comes on automatically with steering. Same with throttle/brake and I can also separately flash the headlights and in the case of the Mountain Rider, the big light bar which is awesome. Although as you know, I'm in the same position you were in before you got re-inspired :) so yet to do final assembly!

------------------------------------------------------

(Here is some spiel copied from my Mountain Rider thread which may be useful to some as it's much cheaper and easier to setup than the Tamiya LED's....)

medium.image.jpg.870ac105c65fd0b62a08433

Left kit came from Amazon, centre Hobbyking and the right from Modelsport. Now I know this is the same kit, in future I'll just buy from Modelsport, for £11.99 it does everything I want and is only a couple of quid dearer than elsewhere but with Modelsports superb backup and service. In order for the kit to work correctly with the Bruiser/Mountain rider, you need an extra pair of 3mm Led white and 3mm LED red, I got them for a couple of quid each from Modelsport made by Killer Bodies.

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The place you chose to mount your led controller seems to me to be the best place for it, here was my attempt using straws for conduits on the mock up with the idea being to run styrene tubes ultimately and milliput them in although your installation looks mighty neat and I may emulate it as it would be a lot easier to fix if something went wrong!

med_gallery_28308_3720_51902.jpg

In some ways, I don't envy you, because what will you do now lol!!! ;)

It's very hard to top the Bruiser build. Well done on tackling the decals, its very rewarding to see the end result and that you've applied them so perfectly :)

 

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ive used the tlu-01 and the tlu-02 also in my bruiser build but like you i cant get the tlu-02 to work with the dx6 ao it is sitting on the shelf under the bruiser until i can find out how to make it work.

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6 hours ago, Nitomor said:

Congratulations, 

Looking very good indeed :)

I use these LED's...which I have running off a different channel to the main steering/throttle which is mirrored on the fancy Futaba 10J radio (I use a 6ch receiver) so effectively I can select when I want the LED's to light. IIRC the running lights are always on, but the headlights, brake lights and indicators I can select. I have a toggle switch which allows me to select the indicator manually, or it comes on automatically with steering. Same with throttle/brake and I can also separately flash the headlights and in the case of the Mountain Rider, the big light bar which is awesome. Although as you know, I'm in the same position you were in before you got re-inspired :) so yet to do final assembly!

------------------------------------------------------

(Here is some spiel copied from my Mountain Rider thread which may be useful to some as it's much cheaper and easier to setup than the Tamiya LED's....)

 

Left kit came from Amazon, centre Hobbyking and the right from Modelsport. Now I know this is the same kit, in future I'll just buy from Modelsport, for £11.99 it does everything I want and is only a couple of quid dearer than elsewhere but with Modelsports superb backup and service. In order for the kit to work correctly with the Bruiser/Mountain rider, you need an extra pair of 3mm Led white and 3mm LED red, I got them for a couple of quid each from Modelsport made by Killer Bodies.

--------------------------------------------------------

The place you chose to mount your led controller seems to me to be the best place for it, here was my attempt using straws for conduits on the mock up with the idea being to run styrene tubes ultimately and milliput them in although your installation looks mighty neat and I may emulate it as it would be a lot easier to fix if something went wrong!

In some ways, I don't envy you, because what will you do now lol!!! ;)

It's very hard to top the Bruiser build. Well done on tackling the decals, its very rewarding to see the end result and that you've applied them so perfectly :)

 

7

Yep, the realisation that after the many, many hours spent and the end result isn't due to user error, it's just an issue with the orerall design of the TLU-02 is pretty frustrating. But we have to go down thte rabbit hole to learn theses things don't we! If it was a daily driver / basher I would definitley do the lights again with a different product but for now, it's a shelf queen so will leave it. But I will never use the Tamiya TLU-02 system again.

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2 hours ago, JNSD1 said:

Yep, the realisation that after the many, many hours spent and the end result isn't due to user error, it's just an issue with the orerall design of the TLU-02 is pretty frustrating. But we have to go down thte rabbit hole to learn theses things don't we! If it was a daily driver / basher I would definitley do the lights again with a different product but for now, it's a shelf queen so will leave it. But I will never use the Tamiya TLU-02 system again.

mine is a daily basher and i found the slops between knuckle arms and front axles are quite obvious.

any ideas how to deal with this?..

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1 hour ago, nde63h said:

mine is a daily basher and i found the slops between knuckle arms and front axles are quite obvious.

any ideas how to deal with this?..

I haven’t looked into it yet but have definitely noticed how loose the steering was from day one of the build. Moving the servo to the front mounted position would be the first step as the further away the mechanism is to the wheels the loader everything gets. Then the biggest culprit would be to replace the knuckle joints on the wheels with a more modern style or bigger balls if they would fit... 

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15 minutes ago, JNSD1 said:

I haven’t looked into it yet but have definitely noticed how loose the steering was from day one of the build. Moving the servo to the front mounted position would be the first step as the further away the mechanism is to the wheels the loader everything gets. Then the biggest culprit would be to replace the knuckle joints on the wheels with a more modern style or bigger balls if they would fit... 

to be exact, the slop occurs between the bearing in wheel hub and the knuckle arm. 

wheel to rim, very firm, no slop.

rim to wheel hub, all 3 screws tightened, no slop.

wheel hub and the bearing, as far as i can notice, no slop.

slop exists between the big bearing in wheel hub and the knuckle arm. 

do you think adding spacer(s) as shown in pic would help?

2018-02-09.png

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if you add spacers then that might effect the wheel seating propperly.

look at it this way you get "slop" cause its metal to metal i would think a rubber seal might solve it but tbh it is one of the bruisers/mountian rider's carataristics

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15 minutes ago, topforcein said:

if you add spacers then that might effect the wheel seating propperly.

look at it this way you get "slop" cause its metal to metal i would think a rubber seal might solve it but tbh it is one of the bruisers/mountian rider's carataristics

you're right. i think i should accept it..^^

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This is what I wrote about it on page one, it still doesn’t fix all the play, I would have to fix the knuckles now as I said to get it now to a place that was really

good. The below however fixed a lot of it:

 

So after looking and looking and thinking about shimming (which wouldn't work I don't think), the solution was to go back to the installation on step 15, which is putting the plastic housing into the casting that you screw the rims onto. I (like most people I assume) pushed the black plastic housing for the bearing all the way into the casting. If you want a play free experience on the front wheels you need to not push it in all the way as this is what causes the play. However once you have pushed them all the way in they are a pain to try to pull out even a little bit, the fit is incredibly tight, so it was gently and slowly with good leverage!

We need videos for this to make sense...

Before:

After: (mmmmmm nice)

See how the black plastic is all the way down -

40094890031_8ff1e88a00_b.jpg16
 

Then I've pryed it out a little:

28313883179_8264b48bb2_b.jpg
 
Bearing back in:
 
40094890301_4a513028f9_b.jpg

The result:

During all this I made the 4-piece hop up wheels... However to be honest, I am not sure I like them as much as the stock... while seeing the nut is somewhat appealing, I'm just not sure...

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With regards to the hop up wheels, I bought some gmade hubs for mine, had to modify them slightly to fit but they look great. Next time I would paint the inner piece of the rim black so that it looks like holes through the wheels which would make the screws stand out less.

gallery_28308_3720_958033.jpg

 

gallery_28308_3720_183347.jpg

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7 hours ago, JNSD1 said:

This is what I wrote about it on page one, it still doesn’t fix all the play, I would have to fix the knuckles now as I said to get it now to a place that was really

good. The below however fixed a lot of it:

 

So after looking and looking and thinking about shimming (which wouldn't work I don't think), the solution was to go back to the installation on step 15, which is putting the plastic housing into the casting that you screw the rims onto. I (like most people I assume) pushed the black plastic housing for the bearing all the way into the casting. If you want a play free experience on the front wheels you need to not push it in all the way as this is what causes the play. However once you have pushed them all the way in they are a pain to try to pull out even a little bit, the fit is incredibly tight, so it was gently and slowly with good leverage!

We need videos for this to make sense...

Before:

After: (mmmmmm nice)

See how the black plastic is all the way down -

40094890031_8ff1e88a00_b.jpg16
 

Then I've pryed it out a little:

28313883179_8264b48bb2_b.jpg
 
Bearing back in:
 
40094890301_4a513028f9_b.jpg

The result:

During all this I made the 4-piece hop up wheels... However to be honest, I am not sure I like them as much as the stock... while seeing the nut is somewhat appealing, I'm just not sure...

it seems to be a good solution. but, as you said, pulling the plastic things out is very difficult. 

the final result is amazing.

i hope i know this method before the build and do it in the beginning.

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