Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Mad Ax

Budget Bruiser: Maverick Scout Class 1 Scaler

Recommended Posts

Also not in the above pic, I relocated the top link slightly as I was struggling to get the proper steering geometry through the full range of articulation.  It still looks off here because the back is so high.

I started bolting some of the other bits back on to see how I was doing for clearance.  I need a chassis-mounted front servo on this rig.

sm_P1280229.jpeg

sm_P1280230.jpeg

The aggressive angle on the rear shocks gives a progressive spring rate.  When the heavy body is added, the rear compresses quite nicely.  In this pic there is no transmission or electrics fitted but still the back end drops to a much more scale level.

sm_P1280231.jpeg

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Unfortunately, this is where we notice another weak point in the RC4WD axle.  The front hubs are very long, so the swept arc of the wheel is big.  There's probably a technical term for this but I don't know what it is.  Well, the arch is much bigger than on the cheaper, more basic Scout axle.  This is something of a crushing disappointment for a £100 axle set that's supposed to give a very scale look.  Although the Scout axle is wider (and less scale looking as a result), the wheel manages to move freely within the confines of the arch; with the ARB axle, the wheel hits the arch on full lock.

sm_P1280232.jpeg

This, I have to say, is something of a crushing disappointment.  I can make some small adjustments by extending the links slightly and maybe even cutting some meat out of the arches and hiding it behind the rubber extensions, but ultimately this is an inherent design flaw and there's nothing to be done about it, unless I can find a front hub and drive cup that fits the axle but is shorter.  I was hoping that with a decent investment in a scale axle from a company specialising in scale parts that I wouldn't face problems like this, but there you go, I'm two solid days work into the conversion and I'm not about to put the old Scout axles back on now.

Anyways - with the wheels straight, it looks pretty cool, I think.

sm_P1280233.jpeg

sm_P1280234.jpeg

sm_P1280235.jpeg

At this point I also put some thought into the transmission.  It wasn't going to be possible to get the existing Scout transmission up under the bonnet with the current spur fitted, and as the new axles have a lower ratio than the old ones, I can't afford to extend the gearing by fitting a smaller spur (I'll have loads of wheel speed but no torque).  So my choices were either to splash out yet again on a planetary gearbox, or try to mount the transmission backwards in the centre of the chassis.  The former felt like a step too far, as every penny spent on this truck has taken it further from its Budget Bruiser moniker and hasn't really improved it from where it started, and the latter couldn't happen because the spur interferes with the interior when the transmission is reversed.  So I opted for the cheapest possible way out, which is to run the motor in reverse.  It's currently fitted with an RC4WD 55 turn crawler motor, which AFAIK isn't timed, so it can run backwards without any problems.  It's been run forwards for a season or two, so it's broken in to run that way, but a quick dip in some clean water ought to encourage it to run as well in reverse, and if it fails prematurely it can be replaced with another zero-timed motor.  I quite like the 5-slot that I have in the CFX-W.

Another workshop day awaits tomorrow - further update to follow!

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

OK - back to work on the Toyota.  I wasn't quite happy with the rear suspension - it was too high even with the body and log load on, so I decided to try relocating the shocks to see if it would come down.  Moving to the forward position didn't really help - the arc lined up perfectly, and with a more upright angle there was less static sag.

sm_P1310001.jpeg

sm_P1310002.jpeg

The front shocks had softer springs fitted, so I thought I'd try going back to the angled shock position but with the softer spring installed.  Even without the body, there is now some noticeable sag

sm_P1310003.jpeg

Ride height is now better at the rear

sm_P1310006.jpeg

I also spent some time adjusting the front body mount by putting it on the sander to bring the body a bit lower (it never quite fitted square on the chassis), and adjusting the lower links to get the wheelbase right

sm_P1310007.jpeg

sm_P1310008.jpeg

sm_P1310009.jpeg

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Next up - steering servo.  This position looks about right

sm_P1310010.jpeg

Made a bracket from 3mm alu (quite badly I might say, the servo now sits on a slight angle :faceplam: ) and installed a bent link

sm_P1310011.jpeg

sm_P1310012.jpeg

sm_P1310013.jpeg

sm_P1310014.jpeg

Steering angle is barely affected by suspension movement, so the geometry is working nicely

sm_P1310017.jpeg

sm_P1310018.jpeg

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I dug out the same old forward battery mount that I made for the previous incarnation and modified it to fit with the new shock hoops

sm_P1310020.jpeg

sm_P1310021.jpeg

sm_P1310022.jpeg

sm_P1310023.jpeg

then I moved my attention to the electrics box.  Previously all the electrics were either under the battery (in full blast of water from the wheels) or in front of the body mount (where the servo now is).  There's buckets of space under the load bed, so I figured I could mount an old servo box there to give it a little splashproofing.

First I made a tray to install it on

sm_P1310024.jpeg

and then I installed the tray

sm_P1310025.jpeg

sm_P1310026.jpeg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This box came from an Alturn servo.  I drilled some holes in the bottom for drainage, and in the side for  the wires to escape.

sm_P1310027.jpeg

then I realised I should probably have test-fitted it before I drilled the holes.  This isn't going to work - at least I have some spare servo boxes, so I can start again.  This one may get used on another crawler.

sm_P1310028.jpeg

At that point I decided to call it a day.  I was around 4ish, the fire was going out, I'd burned almost £10 worth of firewood and I load of music I wanted to finish before the weekly Zoom call with my old buddies, so everything got boxed up and the worktop swept down.  Further updates to follow on Sunday when I get back into the shop again :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Workshop Sunday seemed to take an age to come around again, but after sorting my daughter's FTX Outback and clearing the workbench I still had plenty of time left to dedicate to the Budget Bruiser.  Last weekend I had made an electronics box but cut the holes for the wires in the wrong place, so this week I started afresh with a new servo box.  Hot glue used to provide some waterproofing.

sm_P2070014.jpeg

Mounted on the radio tray.  Antennae, switch and LED power goes to the rear, battery, motor, servo and winch wires to the front.

sm_P2070015.jpeg

With the lid closed it should be fully splashproof.  There are drain holes in the bottom for any water than does get in and to help reduce condensation, but if I get it properly wet I'll have to remember to open it up to let it dry.

sm_P2070016.jpeg

sm_P2070017.jpeg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I saw a photo recently of motor plugs soldered directly to motors.  I like this - it's a neat solution.

sm_P2070018.jpeg

I refitted my winch, and noticed that it had been previously installed backwards.  it's quite a fiddle to fit this winch as the fairlead and mounting plate mounts up from underneath with tiny screws, then the mounting plate is mounted with screws and nuts.  There's no easy way to do it.  However this winch does have a tendency to skip its drum sometimes, and I recall at a national event some time ago (I mean, like, before 2020, because there weren't any) it got jammed up on the trail and I had to stop and dismantle it in the middle of the woods.  So I guess I fitted the winch back onto the baseplate in the backwards position, and never noticed.  I only noticed this time because I made my flylead for the winch too short, but by turning the winch around the right way again the connector was closer to the wire and everything was fine and dandy.

sm_P2070019.jpeg

I like tidy wiring installs, especially on trail rigs.  Having acres of plasticard gives me plenty of places to add zipties.

sm_P2070020.jpeg

Clearance for gearing is tight but acceptable.

sm_P2070021.jpeg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Finally - I had an idea about the body mounts.  The rear posts are a tight fit in the bumper mount (so tight I don't usually bother with pins) and the rear of the body has been cut to fit tight around the bumper.  This means the back end is quite sturdy.  So - I took out two of the screws securing the rear crossmember and slackened off the other two so it tilts.

sm_P2070022.jpeg

Now this isn't perfect, and the body is so heavy the whole thing wants to topple over, but for basic stuff like installing the battery it is perfect.  I used a big hex wrench as an idea but I'll make a body stand like this.

sm_P2070023.jpeg

This rig is now looking quite epic.

sm_P2070024.jpeg

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So - next week I need to add a battery connector, and then I can actually test-drive this rig.  Also need to fabricate a body stand, wire up some switches for the lights and set up the suspension.  As the amount of weight has increased the suspension has started to sink (I had to encourage it upwards for the above photo as it was sitting on the shock bottoms) so I might have to go back to the firmer springs, or at least tighten up the preload (all 4 shocks are on minimum right now).

Watch this space!

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Workshop Sunday's big project was to finish off the No-Longer-Budget Bruiser.  I didn't really have that much to do, and the only difficult but would be working out what to do about the front arches - or so I thought...

First thing I did was make a body stand.  I had planned on bending some wire to make a hinged stand like a car bonnet stay, but I couldn't find a good place to mount it where it wouldn't get in the way.  In the end I figured a piece of metal tube would be ideal since it can be stowed in the kit box when I don't need it.  I'll just have to remember to take it with me if I go out on the trails and have to do mid-country battery swaps or repairs.

sm_P2140030.jpeg

Then I soldered on some XT60 connectors, since my only small 3S pack has an XT60 fitted.  I don't really like soldering these - for some reason I seem to put in enough heat to melt the metal contact right out of the plug before I get enough head for the solder to flow, but this time it went fairly smooth and I got both wires soldered without too much fuss.  The winch controller also needs to be soldered to the battery connector, as it needs 3S power to give it any kind of torque - the 7V BEC isn't enough.  Of course that makes soldering a bit more tricky, but even so, I was "dead chuffed" when everything was securely soldered and I didn't have to abandon yet another melted plug.

Next thing was to hook up a battery, which was immediately followed by a lot of cursing and rapid unhooking of the battery when clouds of smoke started billowing out of my fresh new wiring installation.

At first I feared the 1080 ESC had somehow failed or that I'd melted through some insulation when I was hot gluing the wires into the radio box, but closer inspection revealed this:

sm_P2140031.jpeg

This is the positive wire for the winch controller where it connects to the battery plug.

This is the cause of the problem - the wires entering the winch controller aren't well supported and they have twisted together and shorted.

sm_P2140032.jpeg

Under the heatshrink, the board looks burned but fortunately this was just heat soak from the short, no traces are burned and the components are OK.

sm_P2140033.jpeg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I was able to fix the winch controller by soldering on some new wires.  I also re-soldered the output at the other end, which was looking badly frayed (I had previously stuck this down with hot glue since it looked suspect).

sm_P2140034.jpeg

I then covered all the wires with hot glue to top them twisting again.

sm_P2140035.jpeg

Fortunately my bundle of wires survived with minor scorching from the burning winch controller wires, so I was able to pull them out, drill a new little hole in the box for the new winch controller wires, then splice them into the tails on the battery connector.

sm_P2140036.jpeg

At this point I had intended to mount some switches into the body for the lights, but I went to my components drawer and found I didn't actually have any switches.  I was feeling fairly disheartened with the whole affair, and I've been on this project for weeks with at least another week to go before I could fit the switches, so I aborted and went off to do something else.

Switches arrived in the post yesterday so I should be able to make another stab on Sunday.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I figured this week would be the last week on the Budget Bruiser.  It's gone on for weeks longer than I had originally planned and just recently has felt like it's falling off the rails - the wiring is not as tidy as I'd hoped, the front wheels catch on the arches and I still have to sort the lights.  So Workshop Sunday was billed as a big push to finally get this project done - or at least, done enough that I can go drive it.  I have two other scale rigs, both of which need work doing, but I didn't want to take them apart while this one is out of action as I don't like to be without a scaler - trailing around the woods is a good way to spend a lazy afternoon during lockdown, especially as it's getting warmer now.

Anyway - I began by making a switch bracket for the roof light and head/tail lights.  I do have plans to automate all this from the transmitter but my Arduino project wasn't working when I debugged it a few weeks ago I can't be bothered to resurrect it, since I spend far too much time cutting code as it is.

I used a piece of 15x15 alu angle.

sm_P2210001.jpeg

Mounted some single 1-way switches and screwed them to the body

sm_P2210002.jpeg

Switches accessible through rear screen

sm_P2210003.jpeg

and unobtrusive when the load is loaded and the net in place

sm_P2210004.jpeg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Next task was soldering.  I wanted to use heatshrink to insulate the switch pins (just in case they are shorted in a rollover) but I didn't have enough length to stop it from shrinking on the wire during soldering.  I find this a perpetual problem when trying to solder small lengths.  My solution here was to use hot glue so insulate after soldering.  I also used hot glue to secure all the wiring against the inside of the body.  I did a little bit of tidying of the existing wiring but it still feels messy - maybe I would rip it all out and start again.

sm_P2210005.jpeg

Plugging the chassis into the body is always a challenge with LED lights - nobody likes fiddling around blindly with short flyleads under a body.  Having a flip-lid allowed me to run the wiring down to the hinge area so the wires can be plugged with the lid up.  In theory this was a brilliant idea, in practice the wire is visible above the tyre in the arch.  This might be another area that needs more thought.  And perhaps I need to slow down my work and do more prototyping before breaking out the hot glue gun!

sm_P2210006.jpeg

Anyway, finished project looks pretty good.  At least, everything works.

sm_P2210007.jpeg

sm_P2210008.jpeg

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's been weeks since this rig turned a wheel in anger, so I figured I'd give it a quick test-drive before I did anything else.  It made it this far up the scale mountain - probably would have gone further if I'd broken out the winch.  The lower ride height is very definitely a problem and it drags the rear bumper when climbing - now a dedicated climber would be taller and have a shortened rear, but this is supposed to be a class 1 rig, and with my SCX10 G6 and new CFX-W I don't really need another capable crawler.  But still, there's probably a fair bit of suspension tuning to do to get the best out of it on the trails.

sm_P2210009.jpeg

sm_P2210010.jpeg

And then it all went a bit Pete Tong

sm_P2210011.jpeg

sm_P2210013.jpeg

This is a re-re Tamiya bumper that's been on this chassis in one form or another for years, and never shown signs of breaking.  So I think this is partly a result of being low and catching on the rocks, and also forming part of the support structure for the body hinge.

So - back to the drawing board.  I think I'll fabricate a new bumper form aluminium and incorporate a stronger body mount, as the current solution was a bit insecure and flopped around a lot when driving.  So - still more work to do before I can put this project away!

Also I got notified yesterday of a new servo winch on the market which has a built-in winch controller (i.e. not an unlimited rotation servo with no neutral locking facility), for less than the cost of a sail servo and winch controller.  So I might revisit the installs on my other rigs and even consider a rear winch install for this one (it's certainly nice for attacking the technical areas with friends - remember those?)

More to follow, maybe this weekend if I can be bothered, but I'm considering putting this one away for a few weeks and doing something else instead...

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

OK!  Time to take this project back to its roots and get a bit more budget in the bruiser.  No £100+ machined aluminium bumper parts here.

We begin where we left off last time - with a broken re-release bumper attached to a 10mm delrin plate.

sm_P3140026.jpeg

And we cut a new bumper from some alu bar stock.  This is 10mm square, it's actually a bit small but I didn't have any bigger bar stock and I don't think it can be made from U-section without looking odd.

sm_P3140027.jpeg

Temporarily screwed into place.

sm_P3140028.jpeg

Here's roughly how it should look when it's all done:

sm_P3140029.jpeg

sm_P3140030.jpeg

The next thing we need to do is add some kind of bracketry to lock the hinged section into the body and stop it flopping around.  More to follow...

 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Here's the underside of the body, with the posts poking through from the little recess above.  Pins now added at the correct height.

sm_P3140031.jpeg

I pulled the hinged section off the chassis to make all the modifications easier.

sm_P3140032.jpeg

Then I added this bracket made from L-section, recessing the screw holes from underneath so they don't catch on terrain.  I almost ruined this bit by recessing the screw holes with a cobalt bit in a cordless drill, which dug into the delrin and almost pulled right through in a fraction of a second.  Then I pulled it out and had loads of delrin spirals to clean up.  Lesson learned - use the drill press and go slowly into delrin!

sm_P3140034.jpeg

sm_P3140033.jpeg

Fitted again to the body, and measuring for the upright.

sm_P3140035.jpeg

et voila

sm_P3140036.jpeg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The vertical plate sits snug in the body moulding and keeps the entire assembly locked in one place.

sm_P3140037.jpeg

Refitted

sm_P3140038.jpeg

sm_P3140039.jpeg

sm_P3140040.jpeg

sm_P3140041.jpeg

sm_P3140042.jpeg

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Finally I recessed the bumper holes and filed a radius into the edges

sm_P3140045.jpeg

All batteried up and ready for a test run in the garden

sm_P3140046.jpeg

So - how does it run?  Well, it runs pretty well.  I forgot to put the body pins under the back, so in theory the body could have pulled out or rocked from side to side, but it didn't - it remained perfectly stable.  I will add pins for proper running and trim the posts down also.

The velcro under the front end isn't as secure as it once was, so if the front bumper gets hung up the body tends to open.  I might need to fabricate some kind of pin or tie-down up front.

It's now too low to the ground to do much in the way of rock crawling.  It will get up the start of my 1:10 scale mountain but can't make it any further without the winch.  I still need to sort the winch out anyway.  This rig has devolved into a true scale trail truck, so it should be great for accompanying me on woodland walks.

I'm also still having problems with the wheels catching the front arches on full lock, so I might have to pull off the rubber extensions, trim back the plastic and refit them.  In fairness if the rubber extensions weren't fitted it might not catch at all.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Random update here - I wasn't planning to work on the not-budget-budget-bruiser at all this winter, since I'm still feeling bitter about the scrub-radius-the-size-of-saturn's-rings on the expensive RC4WD axles, but I had an idea last week and I wanted to check it's going to work.

Part 1b of the plan involved robbing the Stocker wheel and BFG tyres off the Budget Bruiser, since they are an absolutely perfect spot on grade A match for something else I want to do later this year, and so that meant Part 1a of the plan had to be swapping the wheels off something else.  Despite being in the works for best part of a decade, the F150 CC01 has been going nowhere for ages and has got a set of wheels that might work nicely under the Toyota, and reduce the problem I was having with the scrubbing wheels by 1) being smaller and ii) having a narrower offset.

To start with, I took a photo of the Toyota with the super-expensive Stocker wheels and BFG tyres, just so I could look back and remember how good it might have looked if RC4WD had made an axle and not a seesaw.

sm_P1090058.jpeg

Then I reminded myself how bad the scrub radius was.

sm_P1090059.jpeg

sm_P1090060.jpeg

Then I dug the F150 CC01 out of storage and had another look at it.  It's really quite a sweet thing, and would have been a nice shelf piece, but that's all it would ever had been.  I'm sure I can do something better with it now.  MST CMX, maybe?

sm_P1090061.jpeg

I'm not sure you can get these Mickey T's any more, they're a tiny little tyre and very narrow.  Just what you need for a stock build.

sm_P1090062.jpeg

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Paying homage to the style on which I shot the F150 project a while back, I dug out my old axle stands.  They are made from styrene parts and are really thin, light and flexible, and amazingly strong.  This rig isn't light, by any means.

sm_P1090063.jpeg

sm_P1090064.jpeg

Doesn't quite have the same look on the CC01

sm_P1090065.jpeg

New wheels now in place on the Toyota.  Those arch extensions now look a bit overkill, but the front wheel will still catch on full lock.

sm_P1090066.jpeg

sm_P1090067.jpeg

sm_P1090068.jpeg

I noticed the back end had sagged a bit under the weight, so I gave the rear springs some more turns.  It looks a bit high now but that will sink once its under power.

sm_P1090069.jpeg

So there you have it.  The rig still needs a bit of TLC under the hood, but at least it should run along a trail without trying to drive into its own wheelarch.

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This was one of my absolute favourite cars, from the moment it was put together, right up until I started throwing big money at it in 2020.  Since then, it's mostly been a pain in the backside.

The decision to remove the big-budget billet wheels was a good one, as it looks so much happier on those 1.55s, but it's not properly run since 2020.  With the Scaler Nats just around the corner, and hopefully a course that will suit a truescale rig with smaller wheels, I figured it was time to give it a quick check-over and fix a couple of little issues.  Now that wife is at work and child is at school, I can pretty much do what I want on my lunchbreaks, so today I carried the rig to the workshop and spent 30 minutes fixing some super-quick problems.

Here's how it looks right now, still with the logs in the back that my daughter collected two years ago.

sm_P9220001.jpeg

Back when I fitted these propshafts, I didn't have any grub pins that would fit properly.  They are the same thread size as on the Element Enduro, used both for the propshafts and also the body posts (which I'm not using), so I had some spares at last to fix this rig.

This means I can get rid of these awkward things:

sm_P9220002.jpeg

These are the spare pins from the Enduro kit:

sm_P9220003.jpeg

However, these propshafts don't have the 2.5mm hole on the opposite side to accept the end of the pin

sm_P9220004.jpeg

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've documented this kind of mod before but here it is again.  If you're going to do this, you're really best to use a drill vice and drill press if you want to avoid damaging the thread.

Here's the UJ clamped into the drill vice.

sm_P9220005.jpeg

And here's the finished hole.  I started with a 2mm drill and went up to 2.5, to make work easier on the drill.  Breaking a drill bit in there could damage the thread.

sm_P9220006.jpeg

And - fitted:

sm_P9220007.jpeg

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I threw a battery in and went out for a quick test-run, but I don't really have any truescale trails in the garden.  It certainly ran smooth enough on the grass and patio, in fact it feels smoother than some of my all-new big-budget rigs, but it no longer has the tyre for my 1:10 scale mountain.  In fairness, it managed to get a wheel up on the rocks in a few places, but just didn't have the clearance to get up over the entry.  The pumpkins are fairly big on these axles, which might rule me out of any truescale courses at the Nationals.

My battery only had a storage charge in it, so it volted out after a couple of minutes, but it feels like the truck is solid enough for some trailing.  I'll see what the situ is at the Nationals, hopefully there'll be a trail I can test it out on.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What a great project, great mods and ingenuity and you’ve ended up with a very cool result. Love it! 

  • Thanks 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...