Another Maverick Scout:A Kirk kronical

[kirk13]

Starting things backwards,here's two videos from today's test drive

 

[kirk13]

 

[kirk13]

Now that we've done the TV style teaser,let's start the story in earnest....

 

Two months ago.

I took a look at a full crawler,to see if I could get something more capable than my Landfreeder. A bit of googling suggested that the Maverick Scout was a good budget option. Having missed a couple on eBay,and not finding any new ones,I opted for a FTX Spyder. 

What is it about budget crawlers? Why do they gave such ugly bodies? Anyway,I bodged a Kamtec T25 Kombi shell onto mine

I rather like the look,but the wheels arn't terribly to scale,and the rear drive shaft has a very bad habit of popping out if you try a vertices step of more than three inches. Funny enough it's fine on the trail,and climbs steep slopes well,it just ain't great at vertical steps.

[kirk13]

[kirk13]

 

[kirk13]

As to why I convinced myself I needed a Scout,I've no idea,but,I won one on eBay for £75,in the end. There were some tx issues,which us where we'll need to start the story in earnest😉

[kirk13]

By Thursday of last week the new receiver arrived,and was installed. Aside from the drive train showing all the refinement of a tractor,everything was now working as it should.

A test run through the Hogsmill trails was...well,a bit disappointing compared to the FTX. The Scout felt much less planted,seemed to have much less articulation,and,even though it never toppled over,it felt top heavy. In fairness,if I'd never had a crawler before,I'd not have been bothered,but I had,and I was!

Something needed to be done!

[kirk13]

Now,before I go into the mods I've done,I really need to give Mr Crispy and Trez1 all the credit. Everything I've done is in these two threads. If your going to get a Scout,read these!

 

 

So,now being fully read up,the plan had been to start the mods on Saturday,which was promised to be wet. Being the controlled soul I am,I started Friday lunchtime🙄

 

The first step was lowering the COG. In my case I removed the battery/electronics tray,and attacked it with a Dremel.

[Terz1]

Thanks kirk. It's all about passing along what you've found and learnt. I found a lot of stuff I did on the intenet and added a couple of my own ideas like you probably will too so I can't take a lot of credit,  I just tried to pool what I learnt in one place.  

The body does tend to lean to one side under acceleration and as standard but as you know the cog can be lowered on these really easily. I made two furtlher holes higher up on the standard shell to give it a lower looking profile when I use the original body. Doesn't look as lanky then. The spyder must have great articulation. I tried looking for a pic of my scout when I first got it and the rear wheels could be firmly planted on the ground and the front axle could be rotated to almost vertical. So I was pretty impressed. 

Look forward to seeing your mods develope. 

[kirk13]

Basically,I chopped the tray into three segments. I kept the end segment,with the aerial guide to use as the electronics tray. The mounting pins fitted into holes lower in the chassis plates,with the tension on the cross member keeping it held on an even keel 

I never reinstalled the Maverick ESC,and kept the Hobbywing 1060. The new receiver is a Flysky compatible with my FS-GT2E tx

[kirk13]

1 hour ago, Terz1 said:

Thanks kirk. It's all about passing along what you've found and learnt. I found a lot of stuff I did on the intenet and added a couple of my own ideas like you probably will too so I can't take a lot of credit,  I just tried to pool what I learnt in one place.  

The body does tend to lean to one side under acceleration and as standard but as you know the cog can be lowered on these really easily. I made two furtlher holes higher up on the standard shell to give it a lower looking profile when I use the original body. Doesn't look as lanky then. The spyder must have great articulation. I tried looking for a pic of my scout when I first got it and the rear wheels could be firmly planted on the ground and the front axle could be rotated to almost vertical. So I was pretty impressed. 

Look forward to seeing your mods develope. 

Terz,there's two things. Both yours and Mr Crispy's threads are very easy to read,and as you say pool a lot of good stuff together. The other thing is one of the reasons I joined TamiyaClub...the attitude! As a former moderator on a Multitool forum,I kinda very quickly see what a community is like. All the feedback here is useful,supportive and constructive. I couldn't say that about many of the others,especially the specialised crawler ones!

 

Theres more to be said on articulation,but I'll come back to that in due course👍

[kirk13]

The other end was used as a guide for the battery

I cut out a retangular section to control the lateral slice of the battery. The tray is mounted in the reciprocal holes in the front of the chassis,both is allowed to pivot. The back of the battery rests on the suspension beams,using the servo as a stopper. Initially,I'd had a cable tie to hold the battery in place,but it wasn't suitable. As the photos show,I'm using Velcro at the moment. Testing has shown this isn't fully suitable either.

To be honest,the battery mounting has been the bit I've got most wrong. I hadn't thought out how much the battery could slide backwards on a steep climb...in fact so much so,it slid clean out of the Velcro. The cable tie seen around the battery wires had to be put in to control the slide. It's been adjusted twice already...

[kirk13]

Additionally,I've had the wheels apart to dry out the sponges,and to add weight to the wheels. I've been using self adhesive lead strip used for adding weight to golf clubs. Basically,I didn't have enough,having weighted the Landfreeder and the FTX. I've more on order as we speak.

[kirk13]

Heres a a few overall shots of the rolling chassis as it currently sits

There's  one last refinement I forgot to photograph though...

[kirk13]

...which I've now corrected. The big eight mil bolt heads might be a giveaway

Yes,axle extenders. I'd bought these off eBay for another project,but set them onto the Scout,hoping that widening the track might help some of the issues 

[kirk13]

Well,enough geeking for the moment,time for a few beauty shots

[kirk13]

Saturday saw the heavens open...perfect for getting into the moving parts.

 

Given that my Scout was bought second,and that the original owner didn't just drive to church on Sunday,the big thing was cleaning and greasing.

Its a well known fact that the Scout diffs and tranny arn't lubed,so that was done. Bearings were cleaned and greased too

 

Axle striped down

 

Motor and gearbox removed

And striped

Once it was reassembled,I'm not sure it was that much quieter,but it moved a lot more freely! I started wondering how much of the tractor noise was coming from the motor can itself. I resorted to an old slot car trick(also good for model railways too😉) and sprayed Servisol super 19 switch cleaner into the gubbings. 

[kirk13]

And brings us up to where we came in in the OP,and the videos.

Sunday's test drive was a major improvement,but a lack of articulation  really hampered the run,leading to car falling into the river. It wasn't articulation that caused me to fall in myself a bit later,that was just stupidity🙄

 

The dip in the river didn't slow the Scout down(thankfully),but it's was looking like back to the drawing board,and possibly stripping the shocks.

 

Just before bed,I was sitting looking at the Scout scratching my head when I saw it,and promptly kicked myself very hard! 

It's a well documented Scout trick,to fit a wide spacer to the left back shock(the black one😉) to counter the torque roll. Well,my scout had spacers on all four shocks,robbing them of about six mil of movement,and adding horrible amounts of preload. I popped them off,and woohoo!

 

[kirk13]

To round off the opening leg of this thread,here's a few pics comparing the Scout to the Spyder. I hadn't realised just how much wider the Spyder is!

 

[Illogical]

Could you use a strip of velcro tape on the battery itself, then flip over the velcro strap so that it not only ties down the battery, but also prevents any longitudinal movement?

[kirk13]

30 minutes ago, Illogical said:

Could you use a strip of velcro tape on the battery itself, then flip over the velcro strap so that it not only ties down the battery, but also prevents any longitudinal movement?

Hmmmm🤔

I like that...let me have a think😉

[mr crispy]

Only just seen this thread. Thanks for the kind words Kirk, like Terz1 I was just passing on info and this forum is great for that. I really enjoy modifying and personalising my cars so crawling is right up my flag pole 😉 And you're so right about the standard bodies crawlers come with... so ugly. 

Ive haven't done much to my Scout since the last update (had a bit of a year off from RC) but the bug is biting again! I have added a plasticard battery tray, bonnet and new 130mm tyres. Wasn't too sure about the body panels but I've kept the card templates. The GMade rollcage really opened up the full articulation to be used and the 4ws makes it a lot easier to get around tight corners.

So what's next on the mod list for your Scout?

[Terz1]

@mr crispy Mr crispy could I do a request? I know you've got a maverick scout and in another thread you had some 1.9 wheels with 96mm tyres, think they were on a pajero sport. Could you put these wheels on the scout and then may be place a truck body on the top (even if it's just balanced on your fancy cage), something like the blackfoot shell.

I'd just like an idea of the proportions of the 1.9 wheels with 96mm tyres with a truck body on the maverick scout. My scout is going from crawler to scaler.

I've had a break from rc too for the most of 2016. The bug has bitten back hard again now . I'll never lose interest, just have lulls ever now and then.

Yes, anymore updates kirk? 

[kirk13]

I've been back at work,which puts the kibosh on tinker time

 

I've put more weight into the front wheels,about 50g or so,and added a little to the rears. I need to try the tires without the foams(just to eliminate the option),but the next two things will be cutting star shapes into the foams,and rebuilding the shocks.

I have dropped the body by about an inch. Not sure it'll work any better,but it looks better proportioned. I've bought off eBay a figure of the 9th Doctor(Chris Ecelstone) as a possible driver,though I'm feeling tempted to using a Slytheen.

I've been looking at swapping over to a hard body,but I can't quite find one I like at a price I'll pay

[Terz1]

I think the weight difference between the front and rears was about 50g on mine. I'll find out the exact weights for you as it works pretty well. I understand about the bodies. Finding one that fits well and at a reasonable cost is quite difficult. My proline jeep wrangler rubicon wasn't cheap especially factoring in the cost of paint accessories and lights etc. Hope you find a good one, and at a reasonable price. 

The figure I used was a WWE figure. The reason I choose him was because his size was more in fitting with the shell and he was the only guy with his top on . Can't remember the exact wrestler he is. I originally wanted a han solo figure but the scale was wrong.

With regard to lowering your body if you do have clearance issues some rubber tubing on the shock shaft or actually in the shock itself prevent the shock from fully compressing and stops the wheel fouling the arches. I think I took some pics in my thread when I did it. I'm moving the scout to be more of a scaler though so you may want to keep the full shock compression.