MST CFX build

[neverfollow 599]

Hello friends. I picked up a non-Tamiya vehicle for my next build. It is the MST CFX. This is my second MST vehicle build, the first being the CMX. It has held up well, the build quality and design are excellent. A bonus is that many Tamiya bodies fit well in their chassis’. As with most of my builds, I like to source out as many factory hop ups to make it the best it can be. 

So on with the build pics, thanks for viewing and I hope you enjoy!

What the finished product should look like:

Kit and hop ups:

Unboxed:

Parts bags are arranged and numbered nicely:

Assembling the planetary gear set:

Assembling the clutch:

 Didn't realize this kit didn't come with a motor and esc, so progress had to stop until the motor arrives 

[ACCEL 247]

are you doing brushed or brushless? 

you sure have quite the selection of parts that'll keep ya busy for awhile.

what body will you use?

Transfer cases are so stout and rugged lookn'.

i really like MST back in December i purchased my first drift car, still working on the FMX 2.0

they have great looking kits, and the wheels seem pretty darn realistic looking as tires go.

well keep styln' 

[neverfollow 599]

 

1 hour ago, ACCEL said:

are you doing brushed or brushless? 

you sure have quite the selection of parts that'll keep ya busy for awhile.

what body will you use?

Transfer cases are so stout and rugged lookn'.

i really like MST back in December i purchased my first drift car, still working on the FMX 2.0

they have great looking kits, and the wheels seem pretty darn realistic looking as tires go.

well keep styln' 

Thanks for your comment! I’m going with a Tamiya torque tuned brushed motor. It’s meant for the 1/14 tractors so we’ll see how it turns out. I already have the body, kind of wanted to save that until the end of the build. And I agree, MST makes some quality kits. I did a build thread here on my CMX some time ago. 

 

 

[JennyMo 1892]

Nice! - I've always thought this chassis [and this front engine version particularly] is an excellent and affordable platform for custom build trail/crawler vehicles - I'm watching with interest to see what body you top it with!

fwiw. there was a discussion on here recently about how Tamiya seem to have 'missed the mark' with the current trend for more scale trail vehicles - especially when it was Tamiya who started the whole scale [hard] body thing in the first place back in the late 70s early 80s - and ironic that the now ubiquitous Trailfinder II is basically a copy of the Tamiya HiLux/Bruiser shell after all!

Personally I think there is room for a range of companies doing their own thing in the RC market - and it would appear that Tamiya have decided to concentrate more on offering a range of reasonably affordable and upgradable buggy and 'fun' models that bridge the gap between toy-shop and more serious hobby grade 'racing' vehicles... but I would certainly like to see them come out with a completely new chassis platform now - something akin to the MST here - which could accept a series of their original hard-body shells (eg. Wrangler, Montero, HiLux) and hopefully inspire a range of new introductions - afterall, Japan is full of classic 4x4s: the Nissan Patrol, Isuzu Trooper, various Landcruisers, and my particular favourite, the Daihatsu Fourtrak/Rocky.

Of course it's quite possible that Tamiya are more than happy to let companies like MST do the hard R&D work, and simply continue to offer their scale hard-body sets to builders...

Sorry for the thread hijack!

Jenny x

[Juggular 1912]

Well said, Jenny!

Nice build thread.  MST CFX is still on my list.  

 

[khyzersoze 257]

Nice work on the CFX.  I love my MST crawlers as well.

[ACCEL 247]

we want to see your BODY haha.................

[neverfollow 599]

17 hours ago, JennyMo said:

Nice! - I've always thought this chassis [and this front engine version particularly] is an excellent and affordable platform for custom build trail/crawler vehicles - I'm watching with interest to see what body you top it with!

fwiw. there was a discussion on here recently about how Tamiya seem to have 'missed the mark' with the current trend for more scale trail vehicles - especially when it was Tamiya who started the whole scale [hard] body thing in the first place back in the late 70s early 80s - and ironic that the now ubiquitous Trailfinder II is basically a copy of the Tamiya HiLux/Bruiser shell after all!

Personally I think there is room for a range of companies doing their own thing in the RC market - and it would appear that Tamiya have decided to concentrate more on offering a range of reasonably affordable and upgradable buggy and 'fun' models that bridge the gap between toy-shop and more serious hobby grade 'racing' vehicles... but I would certainly like to see them come out with a completely new chassis platform now - something akin to the MST here - which could accept a series of their original hard-body shells (eg. Wrangler, Montero, HiLux) and hopefully inspire a range of new introductions - afterall, Japan is full of classic 4x4s: the Nissan Patrol, Isuzu Trooper, various Landcruisers, and my particular favourite, the Daihatsu Fourtrak/Rocky.

Of course it's quite possible that Tamiya are more than happy to let companies like MST do the hard R&D work, and simply continue to offer their scale hard-body sets to builders...

Sorry for the thread hijack!

Jenny x

Thanks Jenny! And I agree with you 100%. It’s a shame Tamiya haven’t produced a CC02 or kept up with a category that they created. Makes me wonder who’s steering the ship over there. 

[neverfollow 599]

OK...so the motor arrived and I was able to get some more done to the chassis.

I went with Tamiya's Torque Tuned motor.  33T, meant for the Tamiya tractor trucks.  Not sure how it will work out, but I'm guessing it shouldn't be much different than the CR Tuned 35T motor.

Added MST's heat sink and an electric fan:

Next was the transfer case:

 

[neverfollow 599]

Next up was the assembly of the frame rails/chassis:

A few chassis hop ups:

Fitting the transfer case:

Suspension links and the hop up alloy links:

Suspension links assembled and assembling the steering links:

MST's hop up skid plate:

Assembling the front axle:

Some more hop ups:

On to the CVD's:

Some hop ups for the front axle:

Servo mount:

ECO Power waterproof servo:

Due to the shape, I could not use this alloy servo horn:

Front axle complete:

Tomorrow, I start the rear axle:

 

 

 

[speedy_w_beans 2660]

Wow, the drivetrain looks pretty serious on this chassis.  It looks great with those metal gears and beefy axles!

[neverfollow 599]

On to the rear axle:

Simple solid axle design:

 

Hop up link mount:

Front and rear axles completed:

Hop up front and rear drive shafts:

Front axle fitted:

And the rear:

I had ordered the wrong drive shaft (too long), so the original is on for now:

On to the suspension-MST's hop up dampers:

Impressive that both the original and hop up dampers come with soft/medium/stiff springs:

Fitted:

Can't say I'm particularly impressed with them though.  Since they do not aerate they don't feel as I would expect a crawler's suspension should.  Additionally, there is a lot more room in the suspension for some longer dampers (these are 70mm).  So I placed an order for a different set, hopefully they'll fit 

 

 

 

[neverfollow 599]

Next up, the front bumper and the battery tray:

Test fitting a battery (I plan to order a hard case battery):

Routing the wiring and electrics:

Had to make a little extension harness for the motor to the ESC:

Wiring to the receiver:

Pic of the Axial waterproof ESC:

MST's alloy wheel hexes:

RC4WD's 1.9" Mud Basher Tractor tires, with Gmade bead lock wheels:

On it's feet for the first time:

Not 100% that I will keep these wheels on.  They are very light, so not the best for what I'm going for:

A little articulation:

And finally, the body.  Rough trimming of the Tamiya Unimog 425:

Amazing how its almost like this body was meant for this chassis.  Body posts line up perfectly!  

Still need to decide on a color and to decide if I will attach the body with magnets or attach it conventionally.  Also toying with the idea of an interior and a drop bed like I did with my Unimog 406.

Thanks for viewing, there will be more to come!

 

[JennyMo 1892]

Aha - the big reveal! What a great idea body-wise!

A couple of thoughts with regard to what you said about the wheels and also creating a drop-bed.

I've used wheel-weights in the past on a couple of builds with plastic wheels - not sure if there is a seller of something similar in the US, but I got mine from RCBitz in the UK - they are basically a string of self-adhesive wheel weights you'd use for balancing 1:1 wheels, and you simply stick them around the internal bead-lock ring (or directly to the inside of the wheels themselves depending on the design), and you can add a surprising amount of weight if needs be - for info, I added two strips to the front wheels and one strip to the rear wheels on Desmond, and it really make a huge difference to how the wheels/axles articulate and helps to lower the centre of gravity too of course.

photo. these are a single strip I added to my Jeep build recently.

As I say, you can buy them in dedicated sets from RCBitz in the UK (for 1.9 or 2.2 size wheels), but equally, I'm sure you could get something similar from an auto-parts store?

As for the drop bed idea - like you I'm impressed with how the MST body posts line up with the dimples on the Tamiya shell btw. - looking at the space you have under the bonnet/hood of the Unimog, I think you could easily make a shelf that sits in front of the motor and mount the RX and ESC there? - and you ought to also be able to create some kind of  interior (at least seats) - although the motor assembly is pretty far back in the cab for a dashboard to work (out of interest, do you consider the powered fan is really essential, and/or could it be relocated to the front of the engine too? - in fact you mount the fan in the 1:1 location behind the grille, and the RX and ESC either side perhaps?!

Either way, I understand you can buy magnetic mounts that attach to the top of traditional body-posts - I'd agree that would be the way to go for mounting the shell.

Can't wait to see more!

Jx

 

ps. with regard to my engine bay suggestions above, plus adding more weights to the front wheels vs the rear - it seems the general consensus amongst crawler builders/drivers is to have a weight bias towards the front axle - it's certainly helpful when climbing... although conversely too-light a rear end can cause the back wheels to skip/lift off the ground on really steep descents. Fortunately the battery location on this chassis (it's where I have mine on the D90 build) helps to redress this, and certainly the Defender is very stable going both up and down.

 

 

[neverfollow 599]

Thanks for the reply Jenny!

Don’t know why I didn’t think of the wheel weight idea, especially when I’ve done that in some past builds-but thanks for reminding me!

I used a band style-cut to desired weight style on my Tundra build a few years ago. But..I did order a set of alloy wheels from RC4WD and 2 of them arrived today.

As for the esc and receiver, do you think bringing it up front would bring too much weight forward? I know they don’t weigh much but just considering. Also with the fan, it’s probably not necessary. Just wanted to use it since it was sitting in my spares bin. The heat sink does have a provision to mount it sideways instead of on top. 

Additionally, I did pick up an interior for an Axial Wraith which I plan to chop up and modify to fit the passenger compartment. Fingers crossed I can get it to work. I was somewhat successful in doing so with my Unimog 405 build. 

And lastly the drop bed. If I do a small drop (again like my 405), I think I can be a little conservative yet still get away with adding some scale items. 

Another pic from my 405 build:

Thanks for your help and insight Jenny, it’s greatly appreciated! I hope to get some more work done this weekend

[neverfollow 599]

Some more parts arrived, so that means more work can get done

The new wheels arrived (well, only two of them), so I anxiously started the disassembly of the Gmade wheels and the assembly of the RC4WD Humvee wheels.

So many little nuts and bolts!

The Axial Wraith interior that I plan to modify to fit:

The correct MST rear prop shaft:

And I used some of JennyMo's great advice and moved the fan to create a little more room.  Moved it from the top, to the side:

And finally, I ditched the MST "hop up" dampers in favor of some 75mm Gmade piggy back shocks:

These new shocks look and should perform much better than the previous ones.  I have these Gmade piggy backs in some of my other vehicles and they haven't disappointed.  Best part about them is their ability to change stiffness with the turn of a screw.

Thanks for viewing, more to come.  Still having trouble deciding on a color.  I've narrowed it down to two choices, but am open to suggestions!

 

[OldSchoolRC1 190]

Very nice, I've got a relatively stock CMX Bronco and a wild CFX LC40  they are GREAT little trucks. Very durable and perform great.  Love that the body posts are designed to match the standard locations of CC01 bodies - makes mounting so much easier.  

[78Triumph 1694]

Hey, where are you at in Northern NJ?  I'm in Morris County!

 

[neverfollow 599]

On 2/16/2019 at 6:58 AM, 78Triumph said:

Hey, where are you at in Northern NJ?  I'm in Morris County!

 

Small world! I’m in Bergen County, near Paramus. 

[78Triumph 1694]

On 2/17/2019 at 7:03 AM, neverfollow said:

Small world! I’m in Bergen County, near Paramus. 

Cool!  There's a few other members here from the Tri State area, we should get together when the better weather comes and have a Tamiya RC jam session!

[OldSchoolRC1 190]

Small world indeed, I'm across the river about 30 minutes on the other side of Philly.   

[neverfollow 599]

On 2/18/2019 at 12:59 PM, 78Triumph said:

Cool!  There's a few other members here from the Tri State area, we should get together when the better weather comes and have a Tamiya RC jam session!

That would be great!

[neverfollow 599]

Sunday, fun-day...got a little more done to the Unimog.  Started with trimming the Axial Wraith interior in hopes of making it fit.

Before modification:

Moved the dashboard forward a bit and started some trimming:

Also cut the bed out, I'll be doing a slight drop to make it useable:

Now to make it sturdy:

I used some styrene sheet to support the interior.  drilled a hole and affixed it to the transmission:

Looks like it's going to work

Using more styrene sheet, I boxed in the interior for added rigidity:

3M double sided tape holding the pieces together for now:

My only issue is that you can see part of the interior from the front wheel wells.  I think I will have to try to make some sort of wheel liner to hide it.  Also, I will need to find a proper driver, and then sever his legs below the knee 

Next will be paint, hoping for some fair weather next weekend.  Thanks for viewing!

[neverfollow 599]

Got a little bit more done to the Unimog..drop bed nearly completed.

Some sheets of styrene, some angled pieces and some glue:

Temporarily holding it together with some double sided tape:

Glued and test fitted:

Some corrugated styrene:

Glued in place:

And added some more to the front and rear of the bed:

Next, I will prime and paint it.  And then paint the body.  Still up in the air for a final color so I may just have to leave it up to a coin toss 

 

 

 

[neverfollow 599]

Had some free time today and was able to get more done to the body.

Primed the bed and masked the body, ready for paint:

I was going to go with PS12 Silver, but I was torn.  Mercedes does silver so well it would only be right.  But I have a few silver vehicles and wanted something a bit different.  But it had to match the grey interior I had chosen from the Axial Wraith.  So I asked my wife for her opinion and she liked PS32 Corsa Grey.  So here we have it, PS32 Corsa Grey:

Married the bed to the body:

I've learned a lot this go around with making the drop bed.  Easy to tell where I rushed and mis-measured, but it will do the job.

Body on chassis, setting the body mount height:

Toying with the idea of mounting spare tires:

What really was bothering me was this huge void in the middle of the chassis.  So a little creativity was needed:

The remains of the cut bed:

Some pieces cut out:

Test fit:

And painted:

With the body on:

I think it's a perfect fit!

And lastly, I touched up the edges of the bed:

If time permits, this weekend I will apply the decals, fit the light buckets and start figuring out the scale bits and led's.