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BloodClod

Bloodclod's Tube Frame Project MT

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This project has a long history but it's finally coming together... 

It's a Boyer frame but most of the scale details are 3D printed including the V8 engine.

Still a work in progress though. :)

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That's an awesome looking bit of kit.  What's the spec?  What axles are those?

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5 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

That's an awesome looking bit of kit.  What's the spec?  What axles are those?

Thanks Mad Ax. :)

Those are Axial AR60 axles under the frame, TLR big-bore shocks, a sensored Brushless Hobbywing 11.5T motor with Xerun V3.1 esc and a high-torque servo. As mentioned, most of the scale parts are all 3D printed which took a lot of time... lol. The fuel-cell box was designed from scratch and hides the RX inside.

Funny story is that I had slowly worked on the scale parts and was almost done mocking them all up in the frame when I realized I had forgotten that the truck needs a battery to work. lol!

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Cut the shell to fit today... It's a Chevy C10 body with a 13" wheelbase. Took a long time to choose a body... I wanted an older school look and many of the shells are more modern with smoother lines. 

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Love it!

 

I also have a hard Time to find any Monstertruck Body.

All Bodys that i find are way to modern and way to expensive.

100 Bucks for an unpainted Lexanbody ist to much for me.

 

 

 

It is asome what some People are able to create. Especially the Monstertrucknerds :D

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On 6/14/2020 at 4:05 AM, whahooo said:

Love it!

 

I also have a hard Time to find any Monstertruck Body.

All Bodys that i find are way to modern and way to expensive.

100 Bucks for an unpainted Lexanbody ist to much for me.

 

 

 

It is asome what some People are able to create. Especially the Monstertrucknerds :D

Yes, monster truck bodies do get expensive quick... especially for those like me who have to add shipping costs. I had considered doing a BIGFOOT body but unfortunately I couldn't get the decals to be shipped to me. 

 

Now trying to get some paint for the body... with the current situation, local hobby shops are closed and their stock also limited. White paint is as rare as gold here right now. lol.

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My magnets arrived in the mail so I designed a clipless system for mounting my body shell. I'm quite stoked about how it turned out. :)

First, 2 mounts to hold the magnets to the sides of the body shell.There is a custom "lip" designed into this so it doesn't just rely on the magnets to hold the body on.

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Here are the magnets mounted to the frame.

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There is a third mounting point under the hood to provide a bit more stability and also to keep the shell centered on the chassis. It consists of a slotted piece on the hood.

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and then a complementary part on the chassis that will fit into the slot on the hood.

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So far it has been test fitted and works great! Seems strong enough for general bashing. :)

 

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That's seems to be a very good stealth mount for your awesome truck. 3D printers have brought so much more, or at least, easier possibilities to this hobby. At least when you are able to use it (which I'm not).

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Painted and decaled the body - it's a USA-1!

considered a Bigfoot or Grave Digger but decided to do something a little different. The decals from MCI turned out very nicely and fit the shell with minimal fussing about.

 

I still have some stuff I want to do so this is still a work in progress but I'm happy it's looking like a more complete truck now. :)

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Stunning - great looking shell , almost a shame to cover up that luscious tube frame . A great addition to any collection . Awesome work !!

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The jconcept wheels come with center hub covers but I decided it'd be easy to print some. While I was at it, I customized it with some initials. Lol.

I also didn't enjoy removing 6 screws to access the wheel nut... So my covers have 3 fake screw heads. :)

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Worked on a flag mount for the truck. It clamps on to the tube frame and uses an antennae tube as a staff. The USA flag was unused from my Tamiya Bullhead. :)

It's just perfect timing for the US presidential elections coming up soon. lol.

 

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Tried to find a neutral spot to take some pics which don't give away the scale. :)

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These nice axles showed up in the mail today. I snapped some pics of the front one as I haven't had time to open the rear one yet. lol.

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I actually took a long time to decide if I would order these because there seemed to be a variety of options available for "budget" metal AR60-compatible axles. I've had my own poor experiences with blingy aluminum hop-ups from "brandless" sources, so I tried my best to find out what I could but the available information was limited at best.

So I slowly eliminated some of the options and ended up buying these axles from a manufacturer called "KYX". As opposed to other designs that seemed to be sold under different brands, KYX seemed to do these themselves and there were some pretty decent reviews about their products.

I haven't run these, but the first impression is pretty good. the axles seem very well made and the tolerances and finishing are very good. So I'm happy that they don't look or feel cheap straight out of the box.

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The front axle comes with universals and the CV joint is beefy - looks beefier than the stock axial ones. It looks like the bearings are larger too. The whole assembly feels smooth but dry (gonna need some grease in the axles). So the design and finish are great, the only question is whether the metal used is up to spec for such a high-stress part.

 

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The mount on top of the axle is anodized red and the finish is smooth and looks solid. The tubes and steering assemblies look anodized too. All that is good stuff. The servo mount consists a carbon fiber plate with aluminum mounts.

 

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The center pumpkin is the only part that doesn't look anodized. It looks like it could be powder coated but I'm not sure how to tell. Maybe when I disassemble it I might get some clues. Inside is a spool which I hope to change out for an Axial diff.

 

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All the link mounts are machined aluminum pieces. The finishing is very good and I have no complaints.

So the first impressions of this axle are very good. For a complete axle of this quality for $70+ I really can't complain. My USA-1 isn't going to be a hard basher, but I will put it through jumps and some bashing and will see if these hold up. So far I'm super happy.

Will post some pics of the rear axle later. :)

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It will be interesting to see how these axles work out for you. They look great! The standard AR60s are one of the major things that keeps me away from using them or buying an SMT10. From what research I've done, the standard gears are cheap cast zinc that wear out, the tubes crack and need internal sleeves, the C-hubs/knuckles are vulnerable and even the axles and driveshafts can have issues. I wish TXT axle hardware was easier to get.

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I haven't even opened the other axle but I took apart the front one to locktite all the screws and then test fit the axial diff which was a drop in fit. Took a bit of time to mate the axle to my truck's setup but got it all together!

Took it for a quick spin and so far everything seems to work great! The fit of the parts is really good and there is very little play in all the joints.

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The upper support of this axle is different from stock and incorporates additional mounting points for the shocks. This meant I couldn't use the custom mounts that were on the truck previously... but everything still fit. I like the red accents on the axle now.

The plan is to give this a bit of runtime to see how everything holds up and then put the back axle on as well.

 

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It's a tad messy here in this pic but all the components look stout. I'm really hoping the drive shafts hold up. :)

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17 hours ago, Saito2 said:

It will be interesting to see how these axles work out for you. They look great! The standard AR60s are one of the major things that keeps me away from using them or buying an SMT10. From what research I've done, the standard gears are cheap cast zinc that wear out, the tubes crack and need internal sleeves, the C-hubs/knuckles are vulnerable and even the axles and driveshafts can have issues. I wish TXT axle hardware was easier to get.

I had similar thoughts after reading about these axles as well. Admittedly, I haven't really given them a hard bash, but so far they "feel" very nice to run in that they are really smooth. The steering angles and smaller gearboxes are also a plus.

I bought these axles years ago (Boyer requires the axles sent to him to build the frame)... one plus I find working on them now is that they have become incredibly popular and as such there is a nice aftermarket for them now - so there are many options and some priced quite reasonably, so this is a project that is easier to find parts for.

Case in point, I read that the stock axles needed stuff like beef tubes and when I searched they were out of stock everywhere until I found a version made in China. Cost me $10 to outfit the whole truck with these.

Well... I'll post any updates on these axles as I go along. :)

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