Baja Blazer - aka. NotABlazin'ClodBuster

[Aerobert 2145]

Incredible as always. I wasn't sure if I would like it during the build but the result is really cool. I'm always impressed of your creativity and skills. Great work!

[JennyMo 3526]

Ooooh, a few little detail pieces from RC4WD arrived in the post, so I just had to fit them:

photo. these are the [now discontinued] '454' badge set they do - I couldn't say no for $3.99 could I? - and it turns out the three different sizes were perfect for this build - the largest worked well on the rocker covers (I had to grind the central rib down with a Dremel, otherwise the fitted perfectly).

photo. that is a 7.4 litre big block baby!

photo. one of the medium size fitted perfectly on the Chevy cross too, adding detail to the otherwise flat piece.

photo. while the smallest of the three sizes are perfect to compliment the K5 Blazer fender badges I'd already bought.

The other thing I finally managed to sort was a low profile front bumper - which at the same time would support the flip front at a suitable angle when open:

photo. After experimenting with a number of options (and discounting all but this one) - the simple tube bumper is constructed from a couple of [metal] shock rod ends, plus some 6mm diameter links... and I simply had to drill and tap the front chassis crossmember to mount it. note. a matching front licence plate too, of course.

photo. mounting the tube bumper in line with the chassis means the flip front lifts sufficiently upright to access the engine, and self supports in position. Ultimately my plan is to use a couple of short 1/18th scale dampers as struts to further support the hood and add detail.

Just waiting on a suitable lighting loom to arrive which I can cobble around to illuminate everything (including the speedo!), and then this should be up and running soon!

[JennyMo 3526]

On 4/29/2020 at 2:19 PM, Grastens said:

Another incredible build! Really liking this one - top work, Jenny 

Thank you! yes, like my Hopper's HiLux build this really has become a labour of love... and again I feel has benefited from not trying to do it all at once, with a number of solutions revealing themselves as it evolved.

 

8 hours ago, Problemchild said:

Wow

How do you make your HT leads?

 

JJ

Hi Problem' - those actually came as part of the engine kit, although you can make them yourself using servo wire (or other similar gauge wire).

 

3 hours ago, Aerobert said:

Incredible as always. I wasn't sure if I would like it during the build but the result is really cool. I'm always impressed of your creativity and skills. Great work!

I was the same - hence the initial indecision over which body shell to use... but ultimately, I really did want to build this as a Blazer - just not the stock RC4WD size one!

Interestingly, with all the body modifications, it is now much closer in scale size to the HiLux - which is actually what I wanted as a 'sister' model to that - the more aggressive and scary 'Upside Down' version if you like? ;o)

 

Jx

[Aerobert 2145]

On 4/19/2020 at 2:17 AM, JennyMo said:

 

photo. the interior almost complete - engine bulkhead extended across the full width of cabin and footwells created. 'Fuel cell' behind seats houses a square 6-cell NiMh battery, and one of the wheel-arch boxes will hide the Receiver (the ESC will mount on the rear panel of the fuel cell, hidden by the two spare wheels).

As I've just started to convert my MST Bronco to a roofless full-interior version I have a big space issue. That let me think about the battery size and therefore about the battery requirements for an crawler / scaler. What battery do you use? Are there any requirements beside a 6 cells for NiMH? E.g. can I use a transmitter battery or do I have to consider things like discharge rate?

Thanks.

[JennyMo 3526]

On 5/3/2020 at 3:19 PM, Aerobert said:

As I've just started to convert my MST Bronco to a roofless full-interior version I have a big space issue. That let me think about the battery size and therefore about the battery requirements for an crawler / scaler. What battery do you use? Are there any requirements beside a 6 cells for NiMH? E.g. can I use a transmitter battery or do I have to consider things like discharge rate?

Thanks.

Hi Aerobert - the battery I have in the Blazer is the one I used to run in Desmond (before he went all retro and FJ40 bodied - which gave me a lot more room for a regular 7.2v 6-cell stick pack), and still offers a healthy range/run-time from 3700mAh.

photo. these are the same size cells as a regular NiMh stick-pack, just in a cube - 2 rows of 3 cells.

 

However, if you are short on space you can use a [physically] smaller battery - just be aware that they are unlikely to offer the same [milli]amp-hours as a full size cell, unless you go LiPo of course - and this is the battery I ended up using in Hopper's HiLux, which was very short on space as it had a fully detailed engine bay, full depth cabin and drop bed too:

photo. the green battery is essentially 6 AA size cells in shrink-wrap - it offers 2600mAh according to the label. Again it is a cube shape rather than a stick (regular stick pack shown for comparison).

These small NiMh packs are really good if space is a premium, and I ended up installing a pair under the HiLux bench seat - one for the main motor and one for the rear winch, although either can run either as required:

 

It's also worth noting that depending on your body and ultimate suspension layout, it is possible to squirrel away a regular stick pack with some creative thinking - my open top YJ Jeep for example has two full size six-cell stick packs - one horizontally behind the dash/under the scuttle, and a second between the chassis rails above the rear axle (since the leaf-springs allowed this without fouling).

photo. front (main) battery horizontal behind dash - charged in situ.

 

photo. second battery between chassis rails, can be removed/replaced easily to charge and extend running time/power the winch as required.

 

Hope that helps!

Jenny x

ps. for more photos and info. above the respective battery installations, do follow the links (highlighted in blue) to those respective build threads.

[JennyMo 3526]

A couple more details while I wait for the lighting loom to be delivered...

photo. masking the screen surround to paint in the rubber... 

photo. I know you'd most likely just leave the screen rubber off on a real vehicle like this, but I feel it helps to define the screen and cockpit area by having it blacked out...

photo. I also decided to fit a metal sun visor as well (this is made from a strip of styrene, covered in self-adhesive aluminium foil).

 

I also finished and fitted the exhaust tail pipes:

photo. tail pipes made from a length of aluminium tube, slash-cut, and glued into a small piece of styrene to mount inside the fender panels. note. the template for the hole in the fender to be cut.

photo. a piece of self-adhesive aluminium foil was cut as a heat-shield, and pin heads were used to represent rivets.


photo. the foil was then simply pierced and folded around the rim of the aperture.

photo. the styrene mount was painted matt black inside, and glued inside the fender panels, with the exhaust just proud of the outer panel.

 

And finally (for now) - while I was going sticker-crazy with decals, I thought this would work well by the fuel-cell filler neck:

Toot toot for now!

Jenny x

[Aerobert 2145]

Thank you for your detailed answer. This helps a lot and didn't leave open questions for now.

And the mounted exhaust pipes are awesome. 

[JennyMo 3526]

A few more 'finishing touches' arrived in the post the past week or so, and I've had the opportunity to incorporate them, and fundamentally get everything wired-up and running at last!

First up, was something purely visual (as it doesn't actually work), but a suitable extension for the steering column which is exposed when the hood is open - using [plastic] parts from an Axial SCX24 drive shaft set:

photo. 'bearing support' halfway along is a plastic shock eyelet, drilled out to 5mm.

Also under the hood, I wanted incorporate a pair of hydraulic struts - again, these are primarily visual as the hood rests on the front bumper when open, but it does add some extra engine-bay detail:

photo. these are RC4WD [aluminium] shocks for their 1/18th scale vehicles - with the internal springs removed.

photo. these 40mm shocks were only just long enough to offer enough travel between the hood fully open and closed - it took some working out regarding the location on the chassis and flip front... note. the L-brackets were bent from a spare set of Yeah Racing seatbelt buckles!

The other thing which arrived in the post was an RC4WD loom for the [Killerbody] Toyota LC70 set - which gave me a series of LEDs in the right colour combination for the lamps housings I'd fitted, with a little modification and removal of a few unnecssary/extra ones...

photo. The spaghetti incident...

At the front, the loom included 2 x 5mm white LEDs, and 2 x 5mm yellow/orange LEDs - which would be perfect for the four headlights (the inner pair having yellow lenses already) - and I simply snipped off one of the 3mm white LEDs (which would be for the fog lamps on the LC70 body)... and fed the other backwards into the cockpit for the speedo - using an M3 plastic washer to mount the 3mm LED in the original 5mm hole in the housing:

photo. yep, that works!

photo. I'm really pleased how this worked out! The LED is a little bright perhaps (I could always wash over it with some light grey paint), but the effect, particularly at night, is to partially illuminate the driver too - it's very effective!

Meanwhile at the rear, there was a little more mix-and-matching to consider... The rear loom is all 3mm LEDs, and included a pair of red, orange and white ones for the three lamp clusters on the LC70, so I removed one orange and one white, and painted the remaining white LED blue, then fitted them into the rear light-bar - again using an M3 plastic washer as a spacer in the 5mm LED holes:

photo. You can also see in this photo I also snipped off the second pair of orange 3mm LEDs which would be the side repeater lights on the LC70 body.

photo. That works too!

With the lights all working (and the individual strings shortened as required), it was then time to fix the ESC and Receiver in position and hook up the motor...

It was always my plan to fit the receiver in one of the side 'pods' by the rear wheel-arches, and ultimately this worked out very well with the on/off switch mounted above, and easy to reach between the cage bars behind the driver's seat:

Meanwhile, the ESC was attached directly to the back of the battery box/fuel cell, as it's low profile means it is hidden when the  spare wheels are in place, while being easy to access the battery connector (from underneath) for charging without having to remove the battery itself each time.

photo. Low-profile 'Sniper' ESC from Modelsport in the UK (not sure if there is an equivalent model in the US market?) - this is a regular ESC (not a crawler/drag-brake version) as this vehicle runs in 4WD high the whole time anyway.

Having tested the truck briefly outside, I can confirm that my gearing calculations (total guess) are pretty much scale accurate as it turns out! The acceleration isn't especially fast (as this is a heavy vehicle) - certainly no wheelspin on tarmac anyway - but once it's rolling it bops along at a reasonably pace, certainly as fast as I'd want for it not to crash and burn at the slightest bump!

cont.

[JennyMo 3526]

cont.

Another little tweak I wanted to incorporate was a rubber seat for the battery cut-out* switch, so it sits flat against the slight curve in the scuttle panel:

photo. the lever switch is scratch-built from an axle pin and a piece of styrene, and the socket is the odds and ends you get in a [cheap] servo mounting kit.

*note. the switch itself is fake in that it's not connected to the actual vehicle battery (that would be cool perhaps, but would also require some much heavier-duty gauge wire of course) - although there are wires under the hood that lead to the ProLine scale battery on the bulkhead. Also, the lever switch itself is removable as an added detail - as is the oil dipstick I incorporated on the front of the engine.

Other bits and bobs which arrived in the post this week included this 'theme-appropriate'* six-pack of beer, plus a milk crate for my hand-crafted toilet rolls! 

*Although due to licensing issues, more theme-appropriate to an episode of Vic & Bob's Shooting Stars perhaps? ;o)

 

And of course were duly installed in the passenger side of the cockpit:

And finally (for now), I also wanted to incorporate a suitable recovery/towing hitch on the front too, and ended up utilising a shackle bracket from an unused Gmade bumper, with a suitable recess drilled centrally in the underside of the front chassis crossmember:

photo. and finally the proper K44 axle track-rod link arrived from RC4WD too!

 

More soon - just got some paint touching-up to do, and a few more decals to apply, then I can call this finally finished and add it to my showroom!

Jenny x

[Aerobert 2145]

8 minutes ago, JennyMo said:

photo. the lever switch is  scratch build from an axle pin and a piece of styrene, and the socket is the odds and ends you get in a [cheap] servo mounting kit.

This is the level of detail I probably wouldn't have think about. And even if there is no window the window rubber is a good idea. 

[JennyMo 3526]

More Powwwwwwerrrrrrr!

I thought I might dust this project off and see if I can't give it a little more performance to go with it's looks...

To recap, this was always meant to be more of a scale [detailed] build than a serious runner - but other than it's overall weight (which is pretty considerable!) and relatively high centre of gravity, the suspension feels really plush, and currently woefully under-used due to the rather Heath-Robinson transmission I'd installed... You see in an effort to give this something approaching a decent top speed, I'd forfeit any reduction gearbox on the motor, and just driven a 2:1 transfer-case directly with a prop off the back of the motor, then to the pair of RC4WD K44 axles - factoring that those differentials already had around a 2.64:1 reduction (as I recall).

To mitigate the potential lack of torque, I'd used an old 70T motor - although even that struggled to pick things up off the line unless the surface was smooth and flat - certainly no wheelspin rooster trails from this truck, which was kind of disappointing really.

Now I'm sure those of you who know more about this stuff will be shaking their heads in recognition already, but I think I've realised that what is actually needed is some kind of primary gear reduction (ie. a pinyon and spur gear) to multiply the torque of the motor, then adjust the overall wheel-speed using the gearbox/transferbox and ultimately axle ratios. Consider this my enlightenment moment*!

*note. I came to this conclusion having recently installed a 13T 5-slot motor in my Capra with a standard 3-gear transmission driving the same pair of axles - and it's an utter rocket in comparison - certainly acceleration wise!

 

So first of all I swapped that original 70T motor for a [now spare] 55T I'd taken from the Capra, which ought to give me a little more overall RPM (although this may still not be enough, we'll see), and will install a new 3:1 planetary gearbox in place of my non-reduction motor-mount shown in the photo below (cobbled together from parts of a 5:1 reduction gearbox, without the planetary gear section installed)...

 

Ultimately this will all be hidden by the scale engine cover as before:

...and I will either replace the transfer-case with a 1:1 version (currently 2:1 ratio), or should that not offer enough wheel-speed, could even flip the current transfer case upside down and essentially use the output as an input, and have a 1:2 - ie. gear up the final drive, although that may well result in a similar lack of performance as I currently have, other than having now tripled the initial motor output torque of course.

Wish me luck!

Jenny

 

ps. I've also added a pair of traction boards bungeed to the rear cage - because, Baja.

[GeeWings 2830]

Wow! It’s my first time viewing this thread. Mind-boggling and totally inspiring!

[JennyMo 3526]

I freely admit that maths is not my strong point, well, not complex calculations at least...

Following on from my post above, while I was heading down the right lines with my faster motor and some [primary] gear reduction, it turned out the 55T motor combined with the 3:1 reduction planetary gearbox was 'better' - certainly with a 1:1 transfer-case I'd temporarily mocked up - but it still lacked any meaningful acceleration and still appeared to have a limited top speed...

 

photo. 55T 3-slot motor is still relatively slow spinning... and while the torque was improved with the 3:1 gearbox (above), it didn't offer the kind of 'racer' performance I was looking for.

 

I'd read somewhere that the 'trick' in gaining performance is actually to 'power-up and gear-down' - ie. fit a faster motor, and correspondingly utilise lower [overall] gearing to maximise the torque from the motor, and give it a useful burst of inital acceleration, while the faster motor overall would correspondingly give a higher top speed... it was worth a try.

I factored that fitting a 13T 5-slot motor (which I robbed out of another build to test the principle) to the 3:1 primary reduction gearbox together with the original 2:1 transfer case would give me a lot more acceleration, while the motor itself would ultimately spin twice as fast as the current 55T 3-slot... in other words, the [twice as] faster motor would compensate for the 2:1 reduction in the transfer case, resulting in better accelleration, and the same overall top speed (which it ought to reach much quicker too).

And what do you know, it worked!

 

photo. Holmes Hobbies 13T 5-slot motor, 3:1 planetary gearbox and 2:1 transfercase... RC4WD K44 axles offer a modest further reduction.

 

In fact, I'd say it's a real rocket now - well, allowing for the fact that it's a heavy and top-heavy brut in general... it is certainly faster than I would feel prudent driving such a detailed 'scale' model, while it will spring off the line in a far more realistic way now - result!

 

So, with that technical element solved, it was time to rewire and reassemble the vehicle - and incorporate a few modifications which I'd identified over the past year or so of running (or rather not running all that much) the vehicle...

 

photo. scale V8 motor cover with custom detailing 454 badges, [working] oil dipstick and radiator/cowl with hoses and filler cap. I love the RC4WD twin-shock towers and scale Superlift dampers.

 

As part of the re-wiring, I repositioned the ESC in a new [larger] side pod behind the driver's seat, and relocated the Receiver to the existing pod behind the passenger seat:

photo. low-profile 'Hobbystar' ESC fits neatly in new pod - power switch easily accessed inside rear wheel-arch.

 

photo. I also shortened and tidied the existing wiring with braided wrap, and rerouted it either side of the chassis rails under the interior floorpan.

 

photo. and also endeavoured to tidy-up the rear light-bar wiring routing too (now that the Rx is on the other side of the chassis).

 

So with everything refitted, tested and working again (and better than ever!), I thought I'd snap a few more photos for posterity, and highlight a few of my favourite features and elements of this build:

photo. Originally conceived early last year (2020), I felt the 'Corona' colour-scheme and other detailing an appropriate if slightly obvious theme...

 

photo. note twin-shock front suspension and battery detail under the flip-front hood.

 

photo. all four wheels still in contact... despite being designed primarily as an off-road 'racer' the combination of leaf-spring front and 4-link coil rear suspension also offers an impressive degree of axle articulation... now it has some proper low-speed gearing, I'm confident it will make a fun trail explorer and even mild-crawler too.

 

photo. driver is a customised Jim Hopper [Stranger Things] figure with a Sand Scorcher helmet and painted in 70's double denim. Bandana to help protect against dust and viral diseases! Note the speedometer is illuminated along with the rest of the lights.

 

photo. flip front hood reveals fully-detailed engine bay - Big Block Chevy engine, battery, brake master cylinder, oil-dip-stick (removable), radiator, hoses, and even a steering column. Note scale battery cut-out switch on the cowl, is actually removable too. Hood is held in place with magnets, and supported on the front bumper and with scale hydraulic struts on either side of the chassis.

 

photo. front panel is a ProLine spot-light rack, with four [Axial] lamps, and the centre grille portion trimmed with an aluminium mesh panel and Chevy/454 badging. Front bumper-bar is assembled using a series of 6mm diameter link rods and rod-ends.

 

photo. at the rear, matching central recovery tow-point shackle, and California B.I.T.D licence plate. Tailgate net is removable to access the pair of spare wheels. RC4WD K44 axles offer more scale detailing than their typical Yota II style casings... and the front comes with XVD heavy-duty steering-shafts already installed.

 

photo. fuel-filler neck detail to fabricated fuel-cell behind seats (which contains the 6-cell NiMh battery - charged in situ). Mild weathering to represent sand-blasted paintwork over a bare-metal body.

 

photo. 1.55 size wheels and tyres more suited to this size build (note the original RC4WD Blazer body has been narrowed by 30mm overall, and every single panel altered in some way) - tyres are Associated/Element Trailwalker General Grabber AT pattern, just under 100mm overall diameter.

 

photo. while carbon fibre panels may not be period correct, my backstory is this is a vintage vehicle still being raced in the modern day, and the original [heavy] hood and door panels have been replaced with lighter-weight alternatives.

 

photo. along with , the Baja Blazer has pride of place in it's own dedicated display cabinet, complete with LED lighting.

 

I hope you've enjoyed the initial build and subsequent evolution of this particular vehicle, and that it might inspire others to combine a seemingly random combination of parts from two or more different sources, to ultimately create something unique!

Toot toot for now!

Jenny x

[M 800STD 586]

@JennyMo  Brilliant!