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Mad Ax

SCX10 G6 - Jeep Cherokee Rebody

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LATEST UPDATE: The rig has now been fitted with the Proline Cherokee body.  See: https://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/94694-scx10-g6-jeep-cherokee-rebody/&do=findComment&comment=812097

 

I've been a bit fed up with my SCX10 G6 body for a long time.  Truth be told, I'm not much of a Jeep person.  I first bought the truck with the intention of fitting an old Bruiser body, but the wheelbase was off and, although changing scaler wheelbases is as easy as cutting threaded rod with a hacksaw, I never bothered.  For a brief time I ran it with a caged bobber body but never really liked that either.  I've started on various body swaps in the past and always given up and gone back to stock.

So yesterday, this happened.

This, believe it or not, is a very old Blackfoot body.  It's been well-used and came to me very much like this - a collection of bits - in a random trade with a former TC member.

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The wheelbase is a bit off, but I figured I could line up the rear arches with the rear axle, then chop the front end out to give better steering clearance.  It's going to be a ratty truck, after all.  I can always fill in the gap with an absolutely insane custom 3D printed grille anyway (I have a few crazy ideas).

I had to get started with some repairs to the body before I could work out how it was going to fit.  Then I had some issues with body depth - to clear the big wheels it will either have to mount quite high (high enough that there will be a gap between the body and the chassis), or I'll have to chop more of the arches out.  OK, I was going to do that anyway, but I'd be left with very little meat on an already flimsy setup.  With a crisis of confidence, I put the body aside for the glue to dry and grabbed out a JConcepts 1984 F150 body from storage.

I'd bought this body for my Clod rebuild, but the project got stalled while I wait for some other stuff on the slow boat from China.  I love the body but don't like the scale - IMO it looks more 1:8 than 1:10.  Now, OK, I know many 1:10 monster truck bodies are actually smaller than 1:10, but this one isn't even in scale with other 1:10 JConcepts bodies.  I don't really get it.  I can put my '90 and '93 F150 bodies right inside this one with room to spare.  It's humongous.  The 13" wheelbase makes it something of a beast.  Given how much I'm loving monster trucks at the mo, and how monster trucking started with early Ford bodies stuck over big axles, I figured this might actually be a good compromise between a capable scale crawler and an early-style monster truck, with a traditional ladder chassis and wheels that wouldn't immediately be illegal on the highway.

To make it work over the SCX10, I'd have no choice but to extend.  Last night I started stripping down the chassis.

This morning, this happened.

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It's a chassis jig left over from my TXT rebuild.  This rig is actually longer than my TXT.

Now I'm having another crisis of confidence.  The Ford body looks great, but somehow it still looks too big.  It seems a little lost over the SCX10.  It might be that I'll throw on some 2.2s with fat rubber and suddenly it will look great again, but it will no longer be a capable Class 2 scaler, which is kind of why I have it.

So - should I stick with the bigger JConcepts body, or should I shorten the wheelbase and fit the old Tamiya?  I can have the JConcepts rig ready in a few evenings as it's just extending links and finding body posts, but the Blackfoot body is going to need lots of work.  A complete cage to stiffen up the back end, covering panels to hide the wiring, a half-baked attempt at an interior (I could cut the lexan one out of the G6 body), and an entire custom front grille, because I don't have a proper Blackfoot item.

I don't know.  Answers on a postcard, please...

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Hi Mad Ax - I can't really help, other than to agree with you that generally speaking, RC bodies and especially the 'crawler' market have scales that are all over the place - not least as the manufacturers tend to make the bodies to fit their [predetermined] chassis/wheelbase length, rather than the other way around...

A classic example is the Land Rover Defender Ninety of course - which in 1:1 size has a 93" wheelbase, which ought to be 237mm or thereabouts in true 1:10 scale - but is typically on a 275mm or longer [RC4WD] chassis, and hence somewhere between 1/9th and 1/8th in size (sorry, I'm not that good at maths to be spot on ;o) - while the worst offender is their FJ40 Body (which is huge compared to a real SWB FJ Land Cruiser) - proportionally it looks even bigger than the D90!

In that regard, I've built both of those with larger wheels and aimed for an overall larger scale to keep things in proportion; and that would be my suggestion - match the wheel & tyre diameter to the body you want to use so that it looks 'right' - and adjust wheelbase and axle width/offset with spacers and different rod lengths etc. to keep everything dimensionally correct overall?

Jenny x

ps. conversely, when I was building the Baja Blazer recently, I wanted a slightly smaller body to fit around the Twin Hammers cage, so bought a genuine Clod Buster shell - only to find that while the wheelbase and overall length was similar to the RC4WD K5 Blazer body, it was far smaller overall - the Clod being based on the longer wheelbase K10 pick up of course - so more like 1/12th scale when you look at the size of the doors and the cabin... ultimately I ended up extensively butchering the original oversize RC4WD body to make something that worked proportionally closer to 1/10th with the rest of the chassis and driver etc. - although it is far easier to achieve successful surgery with a hardbody rather than lexan of course.

 

 

 

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I had the same problem when I wanted to build a truck out of a body I had already bought, the wheelbase was too long. In the end I used the cab and attached it to a bed made from aluminium which I'm still waiting to finish. 

I would say that the second body and some bigger wheels would look good, if you are going to alter the chassis anyway.

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19 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

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Love the scale G clamp B)

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Had a lot more scale G clamps than that when I left the glue drying :D

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OK, further updates from the past couple of weeks.  I wasn't happy with the chopped body so I made some extended links and test-fitted the JConcepts body.

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I think it looks great, but to run this body over these tyres I'd either have to mount the body very high, chop out the arches, or restrict the articulation - and I didn't want to do either of those.  So, back to the drawing board.

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I ended up going back to the Proline Cherokee body that I originally bought for this rig way back before the Axial Cherokee body was released.  So with the jig re-assembled again for the shorter Cherokee wheelbase, I made up some new links.

The interior in these pics is not a genuine Proline item - it's a cheap knock-off from China.

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This is (still) going to be a Class 2 rig, so cut arches are the norm

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That's about as far as I've got - the arches are cut, the interior is mounted, the next big job is to mask and paint the body.  Got a few ideas for colour schemes but there's a lot of little details to mask on that Jeep body if I want to keep it scale.  Updates to follow whenever I can be bothered to mask the body.

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So - I came up with a colour scheme and, in between rounds at the Cotswold Model Car Club race event last weekend, I got the body masked for painting.  Last week was kind weather-wise so I managed to get into the workshop and throw on plenty of coats of paint, much to the complaint of my lungs, which spent the next 7 days convincing me I had the 'rona.  Note to self: trying to bodge carbon filters designed for fabric shopping masks into a knock-off 3M respirator mask is not sufficient to prevent the user from breathing large quantities of paint dust.

Basically- black with orange bits.  Or orange with black bits.  The two-tone scheme meant I kept some variety to the body without having to mask around all the window edges.  I did trim off the overspray film and paint the bumpers and lower side panels in an automotive satin black paint, to represent plastic parts.  This may well scrape off in use but maybe it will look like the truck has gained some scratches?

As usual I'm a bit disappointed in the orange paint.  I didn't want it dayglo bright, but to me it looks a bit too plasticky, a bit too kid's toy orange, a bit too primary colour.  Having been stung by backing Tamiya PS-2 Red with white last month, and discovering that although the colour looks great the shell is still translucent so anything on the back of the shell affects the final colour seen, I decided to go back to my old tricks of backing this with silver.  That's probably why it looks a little dull.  Maybe I should back with white and then silver..?

Results are reasonable - TBH I kinda rushed it a bit and put some marks in here and there, but no bother, the finished truck will probably get run hard (unless I raise the cash for a new scale truck next month) and will pick up plenty more marks.

I made a mistake and forgot to mask off the indicator sections so I cleaned them off with cotton swabs and Carson paint killer.  Considering how seriously thick I slammed these coats of paint on, it came off really easy a day later:

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Anyway, enough faf - here it is:

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Still plenty of work to do in these photos.  I want to add some kind of arch extension (3D printed sounds great but my resin prints will be too brittle for practical use) and I still need to sort a body mount solution.  I thought I had something but it's too awkward to use in practice.  I also need to redesign my front winch mount - not sure if I'll build something from ally or update my 3D print design.  A mate now has a pretty big FDM printer so I'll be able to get things done locally and reasonably.

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More work achieved on this little beastie over the last couple of weeks.  I decided to fabricate a front bumper, figuring it would give some definition to the front of the truck and hopefully make it feel a bit more real.  Unfortunately I seem to have lost the photos of the build process, but basically I took two lengths of 10x10 alu square, screwed them together, and drilled and tapped the ends to fit the SCX10 ladders.  I had to file off the edges so they'd fit neatly into the channels.

This gave me a sturdy platform to tie the front of the chassis together and also to mount my 3Racing winch on.  I also thought it would make a good mounting point to put a solid alu bumper on, but it didn't look right.  Instead I used some 4mm threaded rod and alu tube to bend up a stinger.  Unfortunately the pairing of steel rod and alu tube was too brittle and it fell apart as I was putting the final bends in it.  In fairness I should have used some brass rod I had lying around, but the wife stole it 2 weeks previous to make something else.

At this point I threw my teddies out of the pram, before hunting around in my Forgotten Bits drawer and pulling out a set of bull bars that I bought for another project and abandoned because it was too chunky.  However it seemed to be about right for the slab-fronted Cherokee, so it got fitted.  I had to trim part of the bumper away to fit it.

Apologies for the poor quality pics - I added a new shelf above my work area and it is cutting out a lot of my light.  A new striplight is on my wishlist.

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Remains of my alu bumper can be seen here, acting as a cross brace and mount for the bullbar.

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Anyhoo - I felt a bit more was needed, so I went floating through my parts bin to try to find more randoms.

I found this - which is a skid plate (I think from Radshape RC or something) for a Grasshopper, or maybe a Frog, or something.  It's been in my parts bin for ages and I thought it would make a nice skid plate.

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It was almost a good fit, but would have required some chopping which would have reduced its strength, so I figured I'd use some of that 2mm alloy sheet that I ordered a month ago for some other urgent project and which is still in the pack untouched.

I like to start by making a template

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then make a rough cut into alloy

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then bend it into shape

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I needed something for the winch lead to go thru, so I pulled a nice fairlead that I got from RCBitz from my old resin bumper and drew around it to get the right hole spacing.

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This is one aspect of fabrication that I totally hate.  I'm sure professional fabricators have a better method and/or tool for this.

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Several short lifetimes later and a few years closer to crippling arthritis:

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Then it was time to stick the whole thing in the bench polisher.

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After a quick test-run on my 1:10 scale mountain, I added some spacers to the front and rear shocks to reduce articulation.  I'd already chopped as much as I could out of the arches and wasn't prepared to go any further or raise the body.  Articulation is so overrated anyway...  No pics of that because it's boring.

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At this point I did kinda fall in love with the SCX again.  With the bumper fitted and some rear body mounts properly sorted out, it looked and felt like a proper truck.

So I went crazy with some decals and made it look like a proper adventure truck.  I kinda think it needs more, but I'll let it evolve over time.

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Last Friday night the rig got a half-decent test run.  I went to Box Woods, a local woodland site, with a friend and his TRX-4 Defender to give the Cherokee it's first proper run.  I've never been to the area before but it's a fairly open woodland area that is also the remains of a quarry used in the building of a nearby train tunnel (trivia: at the time of its completion, it was the longest railway tunnel in the world).  Actually the tunnel goes right under the woods, which is a strange thought.  There's a few mine entrances around the area which were deathly cold despite it being a 30 degree evening.

It was nearly dark by the time we started (such is the way of our rapidly-shortening summer days and the fact that we are stuck in front of a screen during daylight hours), and the flash on my camera is pretty bad when pointing at small shiny things like RC cars - I really need to fix up my DSLRs so I can get some better night crawl photos, especially as the night crawling season approaches and the days get ever shorter.

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The rig performed faultlessly, the body didn't rub and it looked great the whole way around.  There was one near-disaster when it flipped over at the top of a very steep part of the quarry - the descent was a 40 degree slope of hard-packed dirt with old quarry rocks buried just beneath the surface.  The truck barrel-rolled all the way to the bottom, a crash that probably would have turned a hardbody truck to scrap.  The Proline body is thick, heavy and tough - I thought that might make it brittle, but it absorbed the impacts well and reached the bottom with only some scratches.

It took a hard enough impact to bend the bull bars, which required quite a lot of muscle to pull it all back into shape the next day.

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My next mission was to fit a roof rack from another truck - but the photos are stuck on the other camera.  More to follow when I get around to pulling the images off it :) 

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BRAVO Sir!!!  👏👏👏👏👏👏👏🍻🍻

..... I'm one of MANY Yanks who have been amazed at how not only the UK and Europe have taken to Scaler/Crawlers in the past few years - but are ASTONISHED by how Good most of these Rigs are!!  Considering that most of you over there don't have the number of 1:1 examples on the Streets like we do... 

I've seen absolutely stunning work, great Detail - and SOLID performance!! 👌💯👍👍

I am curious about something on yours... Are those the stock SCX10 II Axles? Are they XR width Axles?  I mean, with the first Bodies, I just figured they were semi-scale Basher and Monster Truck Bodies...  But THEN the JConcepts Ford. 😲 

Granted, JConcepts is well known here for Flawed and out of proportion Bodies - even if they DO have decent details on several of them. Many of their Car Bodies look like you're seeing it through faulty Eyeglasses!! 😧

Then the Pro-Line Cherokee Body. That IS a Scale, correct proportioned Body!  But, as You mentioned, the Tyres stick out quite far, and you had to cut the Wheelwells. (And you know and already said, Fender/Wing cutting is perfectly accepted in Class 2 Competition) 

NOT just a shameless plug for my own... But nobody here has seen anything of mine except Tamiya. 😜

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This is my SCX10 II, with Pro-Line Comanche Body. SAME overall dimensions as your Cherokee. 313mm Wheelbase, about 170mm wide.

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Axial Beadlocks, 112mm Tyres. Sticks out a little, like most, but I've had no clearance issues. Even with Steering.

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Granted, mine does sit a bit higher than yours (I've since lowered it about 10mm), but it looks similar to others in my Group, and at Comps.

Now.... The Pro-Line Jeep Bodies do run a bit narrow. Worst offender is the Jeep Gladiator Body they recently released. It almost looks SILLY, especially if the wrong colour is chosen. 😲 

In the never ending conversations/debates around here in the Colonies, SCX10, TRX-4, Redcat Gen 7 and 8, and most other front line Scalers - are NOT 1/10th Scale! 😖😧  Most fall into 1/9th, the Gen 8 Scout and Vaterra Ascender are closer to 1/8th Scale!! 

I'm merely curious - and certainly don't want to offend!! 😁 

If this might be any help to you, depending on how far you want to delve into details, but don't want to add a Ton of weight, or spend a Ton of money....

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Redcat Gen 7 Inner Fenderwells, with just a little trimming, work a treat on the SCX10 One and II. Cheap as Chips, at least here... Maybe there too. I hope! 😉 

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The Lexan Interior came from an Axial Wraith Spawn, $17.99 USD. Comes with a choice of three Heads. I call mine "Skeletore"!! 😄😂  Most People use Axial Bomber Interior Plates. Same dimensions basically, but has Driver and Co-Driver. It's a couple of bucks more, but still under $20.00 USD!! 

Sorry this was SO long!!! Couldn't stop writing. 😖  BTW, that first Body, the cut up Blackfoot - looked promisingly GOOD! I hope you revisit it.

YOU KNOW WHAT?? Rule #1.... Do YOU like it? That of course, is all that really matters. There's really nothing wrong with the wider Track. It even improves stability! 

IF you don't like it, and do want to try to narrow it.... MAYBE I could help?? 😊

OR, Leave it! It honestly looks GREAT!

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SORRY!! 😖  One more thing, I promise. 

Another hidden Treasure, I've fitted on mine also. Redcat Gen 7 Pro or Gen 8 Shocks perform AMAZING! Better than most Aftermarket Shocks costing more than twice as much. They've been on my Rig for over 2 years... They've NEVER suffered from sticking, are smooth as Butter and have never LEAKED!! 

The only small thing is, they're 100mm. Which is why mine initially sat so high. I disassembled them, and cut 10mm long pieces of 3mm Fuel Tubing, fitted on the Shock Shafts, under the Pistons. That's IT. 

I got the set of four for only $23.00 USD! They're "brand new", but sold as "New take offs". Popular here. Some even buy a stack of Kits, and TRIPLE their Money by reselling all the new Parts separately. 

I don't know if anyone does that near you - but some Ship Overseas.  Absolutely worth looking into! 😁

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The axles are stock Scx10. This is a pre-II truck (it is a G6 edition) so the axles are slightly different and less scale. The wheels are aftermarket and probably have a wider offset than stock, plus I have wider hexes installed. I forget why, probably because the bigger tyres rub on the links. Worth another look later I think. Anyhow, they are very big tyres, so. Some arch choppage and wide stance is to be expected. A friend is printing up some arch extensions for me that I found on thingiverse, which should drastically improve the looks 

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It absolutely will improve the looks! If I had access to a 3D Printer, I'd chop off the Lexan Flares, and do the same....

I have an SCX10 One myself. The stock Axle Housings ARE a bit clunky. I got the SSD Axle Housings for it. The C-Hubs are a bit more compact... but even though they have a better looking one piece Housing, with bolt on Rear Diff Covers that look more Scale... 

It still has those large Diff Gears and Pumpkin. To me, it just adds a little bit of a challenge. I like it! In fact, the SCX10 One actually has much stronger and smoother Diff Gears!! 😊  Also 4 different choices of Gear Ratios. SCX10 II, only 2, and NO Underdrive.

SCX10 II, although a slightly better performer, has those brittle, Sintered Metal Gears. They're prone to chip Teeth! Unless of course you upgrade to expensive Forged, Machined Gears. YES they're smoother. Even quieter. BUT, SCX10 One only has about 6-7mm less ground clearance in the center! 

However, the SCX10 II KIT only Gearbox is far better, and lower center of gravity than the "AX10 3 Gear" Gearbox in the One and RTR versions of the II.

You could probably afford to get narrower Hexes... but if it WORKS, like I said, that stance actually improves your stability!! 👍👍

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Updates - I've been a bit lax on updating recently, as I've had some race events and some family excursions and haven't had the time to put my latest progress pics on TC.

Anyway, since scalers are supposed to be constant works in progress, I figured I'd add some rock lights to the G6.

I started by drilling into the inner arches and glueing in some LEDs

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Wiring is messy but isn't it always?  An electric drill helps to form wire spirals

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BTW apologies for poor colour - I recently installed another shelf above my workbench and it shuts off all the light from the fluro strip.  New strip now fitted to underside of shelf :)

Two switches added - rock lights and main lights will be controlled separately

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Fitted

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Will have to see how well this works in practice.  The lights might be too far inside.  But I'm sure it will make a difference in dark conditions.

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