Kingfisher 1171 Posted June 23, 2018 In December, I got my girlfriend a RTR Axial Wraith Spawn. She liked it so much, that she went and got me the kit version. I've got it just about finished and thought I would show what I have done so far. Metal front diff cover digital servo moved all of the electronics and battery under the hood for better weight distribution Dinky RC rear tray for a more scale interior look Axial 20T motor and AE-5 ESC Roof rack with working switchable LED's Treal adjustable metal steering rack Integy lowering kit Yeah Racing Desert Lizard 120mm shocks Traxxas battery posts being used as body mounts (2 in front 1 in rear) I brush painted the interior and used a Tamiya driver figures head. Body is painted using Tamiya Translucent Green backed with Bright Silver and I cut out the door windows to give it the "windows rolled down" look. Currently, my rear upper links are made from M3 threaded rod. I broke the plastic links that came with the kit. I had the slipper clutch too tight and tried to go full trigger on carpet, which ripped them right out rather than allowing the clutch to slip like it's supposed to. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Only4Fun 169 Posted July 25, 2018 Very Very nice Wraith my friend. I love the choice of colour, and that you have used Tamiya figures. I have two first issue Wraiths. One is heavily modded, and one not so much. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kingfisher 1171 Posted August 8, 2018 On 7/25/2018 at 11:57 AM, Only4Fun said: Very Very nice Wraith my friend. I love the choice of colour, and that you have used Tamiya figures. I have two first issue Wraiths. One is heavily modded, and one not so much. Your's are also nice. I like the silver metal panels on the first one. Have you upgraded to metal hubs on both or just the silver one? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Only4Fun 169 Posted August 8, 2018 19 hours ago, Kingfisher said: Your's are also nice. I like the silver metal panels on the first one. Have you upgraded to metal hubs on both or just the silver one? Hi. The panels are a RadshapeRC Aluminum Panel Kit, Version 2 with wrap under sills. Radshape are a UK metal work company who sadly do not make RC parts any more. The hop ups on the black Wraith are, Fastrax Aluminum C-hubs and Steering Knuckles, with brass beef tubes in the front axle, Aluminum steering links, Savox servo, fastback mod, front battery mod, cheap aluminum shocks (that came with it when I got it), and a 27T Axial motor because I use it more for crawling and climbing. The rear axle and everything else is stock. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kingfisher 1171 Posted October 11, 2018 1 hour ago, PoormanRC said: NICE Wraiths!!! 👍👍👏👏👏👏 All 3 of them! I guess I can Post my Wraith on here. Still a work in progress but is at least a runner! @Only4Fun - those Shocks are CRAZY cool!! I have the Wraith Spawn Kit Shocks, because they're IKON's. If assembled with AE Green Slime and Tamiya Red 2.7mm TuRD O-Rings, they DON'T leak! Mine haven't leaked a drop, since I built them over a Year ago!! 👍👍 Mine also started as a Wraith Spawn..... but looks nothing like one now... Kept the Body, it's just VERY Modified! @Kingfisher have you had any problems with the 20T Motor? My friends who had them, burnt them all up. It's much happier with the 27T... And you've got REALLY Crazy Shocks!! Best thing is, they've got more than enough Droop to not look like you're TRYING to be "Mr. Flex Friday"!!! LOTS of extension too. Since mine is primarily a Crawler, I may look into those. Can I ask how much? ~ Carmine 💥 ⛽ I like the mods to your Spawn. What all do you have done to it? The cut out hood looks great. I haven't had any issues with the 20T motors yet, and my girlfriend runs the heck out of one in her RTR box-stock Spawn. The shocks are 120mm Yeah Racing Desert Lizards and they go for about $19.95 a pair. I really like them for crawlers because you can build them with droop or a sprung suspension, and they come with plenty of springs to build both ways. You can maintain a nice low ride height and still have tons of articulation. The holes in the piston of the shock are really tiny and make for some very firm shocks right out of the box. I take a tiny drill bit just slightly larger than one of the holes, and open up the holes one at a time until I find the valving I want for the vehicle I am putting them on. This is one of the reasons why I like them, and why I am soon to put them on my WT01 and CC01. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Only4Fun 169 Posted October 15, 2018 @PoormanRC Hi, your Wraith looks great, and that's some excellent hood cutting ! I have never really been happy with the gold shocks on my Wraith, a bit too long and also very leaky, but have just read about the Yeah Racing Desert Lizards and will take a look at those. Thanks @Kingfisher I will take a look at your build thread too. Have a great week Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Only4Fun 169 Posted October 15, 2018 On 10/11/2018 at 4:46 AM, Kingfisher said: The shocks are 120mm Yeah Racing Desert Lizards and they go for about $19.95 a pair. I really like them for crawlers because you can build them with droop or a sprung suspension, and they come with plenty of springs to build both ways. You can maintain a nice low ride height and still have tons of articulation. The holes in the piston of the shock are really tiny and make for some very firm shocks right out of the box. I take a tiny drill bit just slightly larger than one of the holes, and open up the holes one at a time until I find the valving I want for the vehicle I am putting them on. This is one of the reasons why I like them, and why I am soon to put them on my WT01 and CC01. Hi. I have just been looking at the Lizard shocks and see that they don't come with any oil. Did you add some and if so what would you recommend. I mainly use my Wraith for crawling over roughish terrain and occasional jump/bashing. Thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kingfisher 1171 Posted October 15, 2018 5 minutes ago, Only4Fun said: Hi. I have just been looking at the Lizard shocks and see that they don't come with any oil. Did you add some and if so what would you recommend. I mainly use my Wraith for crawling over roughish terrain and occasional jump/bashing. Thanks Yeah, they don't come with oil. I have so many cars with Tamiya CVA shocks, that I have a lot of the included Tamiya Soft oil left over and have used that. That's all my Wraith Spawn gets used for as well, except I try to avoid jumping it. With all of the weight up front, it just wants to go face first into the ground once it's in the air. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kingfisher 1171 Posted October 15, 2018 We took both of them out yesterday evening, but the mosquitoes were so bad in the woods that we just goofed around on concrete until we ran out the Nimh batteries. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Only4Fun 169 Posted October 16, 2018 @Kingfisher Thank you. I know what you mean about jumping. Here's mine last weekend 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kingfisher 1171 Posted October 16, 2018 35 minutes ago, Only4Fun said: @Kingfisher Thank you. I know what you mean about jumping. Here's mine last weekend Nice. In slow motion, your driver figure looks realistic bouncing around with the motion. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kingfisher 1171 Posted October 16, 2018 Yesterday, I was setting up some more Desert Lizards for my CC01 and took some pictures to show an unboxing and brief setup for those interested in them. @Only4Fun @PoormanRC Like I said, I have a bunch of this left over from previous damper builds, so this is what I use. No reason other than that. Here's how they come when you get them. These are 120mm. The instructions. They come with hardware, springs, a wrench, and an extra set of O-rings. This is how the springs come. A bit annoying trying to figure out how to get them all apart, but it's doable. Once you got them apart, here's what you get. Soft, Medium, and Hard springs for both a sprung and droop setup. The shocks come preassembled with the soft droop springs already installed. Here's an example of what I was talking about. Sometimes, the pistons aren't drilled all of the way through. This is actually one of the better ones that I have gotten out of 12 total so far. My first 4, you couldn't even get a sewing needle through the holes. I take a tiny drill bit and redrill the hole, not trying to go any bigger than what's already there. The bottom eye of the shock has a hole which accepts a snap ball. The ball only goes into the hole one way, and one side of the eye is smaller than the other. Snap the round end in through the bigger side. Once I get to that point, I put a drop of oil on the shock shaft and work it up and down to get it moving through the O-rings real easily. Next, i'll put some drops of oil on the piston and and reassemble the shock and move it up and down to get it sliding freely. Then, I put them on the car to figure out what spring setup I like. I don't fill them completely with oil yet, as I will be taking them apart a few more times to try different springs. I do this with a Nimh battery in the car to account for that extra weight when running. Once I know which springs I want to use, I fill them up to the bottom of the threads like this: I don't have any more pictures after this as it was impossible to do and take pictures at the same time. Wait and let the air rise out, then screw the shock back together to the point that the O-ring on the cap almost makes a seal. Wrap a paper towel around the shock and slowly push the piston all of the way in. There is a little channel cut in the threads to allow air to escape while you're doing this. Some oil will seep out as well. Once you have the shock squeezed all of the way in, use the wrench to tighten it up. Wipe off the excess oil and install on the car. I've found it easier to have a 2nd person tighten the shock cap while you compress the shock, but it's manageable to do by yourself. I put a screwdriver through the lower shock hole and use that as a handle to hold it steady. My experience has been that the dampening will be very firm. If you like this, then you're done. For crawlers, I like to have a slightly softer shock. I'll take the shocks back off of the car, remove the top cap, and find a drill bit just slightly larger than the piston holes. I'll redrill one hole larger than the others, top off the fluid, reassemble, and test fit. Then, I repeat until I have it where I like it. On my Spawn, I redrilled one hole in the front slightly larger, and 2 holes in the rear slightly larger. You don't have to go overboard with the hole size. Just want to allow a little more fluid to pass through. This allowed the rear of the vehicle with less weight to feel a bit more soft than the heavier front, and works well for me. If you make a mistake and drill the holes too big, no big deal. They give you extra pistons, all of which are more firm than what you started with. Also, remember that they will soften up a little once you wear them in and put some use into them. Also, another note. If you get, for example, the 90mm or 100mm and the 120mm versions, they come with different length springs. The springs in the 90mm are shorter than the springs in the 120mm. But, all have the same Soft, Medium, and Hard spring rates. So, if you wanted your car to sit lower, but have a lot more suspension travel, you could mix the shorter springs with the longer shocks. Combine that with the sprung or droop suspension, and redrilling the pistons to accommodate your car, and you have a ton of options. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Only4Fun 169 Posted October 16, 2018 Many thanks for doing this. It is very informative and will be extremely useful to refer back to if I buy some.I have only built Tamiya CVA's, which I found easy enough to do. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Only4Fun 169 Posted October 16, 2018 2 hours ago, Kingfisher said: Nice. In slow motion, your driver figure looks realistic bouncing around with the motion. He actually threw up when we had finished lol Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kingfisher 1171 Posted October 16, 2018 1 hour ago, Only4Fun said: He actually threw up when we had finished lol Haha! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kingfisher 1171 Posted October 16, 2018 What happened to @PoormanRC? All of his posts have disappeared. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Only4Fun 169 Posted October 16, 2018 I thought I had a dud link on a notification email earlier because the page it took me to said "We could not locate the item you are trying to view" ? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites