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Yeah, my guess is they will be OK without the brace (my other rigs with arch liners don't have braces) or I can find some way to brace them against the battery tray.

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Finally getting around to uploading some of the outstanding photos for this build.

Firstly, the decals.  Initially I didn't back the paint with black as I usually do, I put some silver on but obviously not enough as there's light coming through the body.  Normally a few heavy coats of silver firms up the paint but in this case I wasn't liberal enough.  I was worried that adding black would cause too much darkening through the thin silver coat.

Anyway, this became more of a problem when I added the white side panel.

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The decals are semi-transparent, and bth, they look a bit lame.  Certainly not as bold as the photos online.  As I've already said, I don't usually do boxart, I only did this time because I love the stock look so much.  But I don't love the look of my version at all - it looks cheap.

It especially looks bad where the body panel lines are.  Normally decals press down into these lines with no trouble but these ones don't.  Also there's the odd bubble here and there, nothing that I wouldn't expect on any other decal but it really shows thanks to the transparency.

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My first port of call for fixing this was to reduce the light bleed.  I didn't want to re-mask and re-paint as a) it would be a hassle, 2) it's no longer painting weather here and iii) if it didn't work right I'd have to try to remove all the paint and start again.  Instead I rummaged in my Fasteners, Adhesives and Tapes drawer and pulled out this.  It's called silage tape, farmers use it for taping down those big black bales, it's like gaffer tape but wider and blacker.

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Adding it to the entire inside of the body has added more weight and rigidity - it doesn't make that horrible plasticky vibration with every slight knock now, and feels much more like a sturdy body - and also has stopped the light bleed.  The adhesive residue stuck on the non-sticky face of the tape is annoying, I'm sure it didn't do what when I bought it a few years ago so either it goes off with time or it hasn't liked the recent hot weather.

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While I'm on the subject of things that aren't so good, here's another annoyance.

Dear RC manufacturers: please, please, try to attach cosmetic parts to the trees on an area that won't be visible on the finished model, especially if it's a chromed part.

This is the mirror:

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This is how it's attached to the tree:

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Not only is the attachment right on a really prominent part of the mirror, it's also angled to make it difficult to get a pair of side cutters onto it, so I inevitably take a chunk of the mirror off when I'm trying to snip the part from the tree.

Rant over.

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And now the grill.  I've seen some great-looking BOMs online but some look a bit pants because of that flashy chrome grill.  It kind of looks like it's desperate to be witnessed through the gates of Valhalla.  The better-looking BOMs all have some shading in the grille, but how to achieve that?

In the end I went for this approach.  I deliberately didn't get too close with the masking because I wanted some dark paint in the surrounding area of the grill, so no chrome would flash through any gaps I made in the cutout in the body.

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I gave it a super-quick shot of Tamiya PS-23 gunmetal.  IME PS paints stick better to smooth surfaces (like chrome), plus I didn't want to go full-black because full size cars rarely have any truly black parts.  When people do a genuine blackout on their grilles or other shiny parts it tends to look wrong and overdone, which is why manufacturers go for a dark shade of grey on factory blacked parts.

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Before the paint had a chance to cure, I used my fingertip wrapped in an old rag to wipe the paint off the protruding chrome part.  It was easier than I'd expected.

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I gave it one more light dusting, wiped it off, and this is the result:

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GMade have been very nice and given the grill some genuine holes, so if I had a scale radiator behind there, it might just about be visible.  I don't have a scale radiator.  What I do have is acres of bare space and wires.  I hate when daylight shows through under a scale rig, especially where an engine should be, so I put some black tape behind the grill.  I might regret this once I get out in dusty conditions but at least it will be easy to tear off and replace.

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Now it looks a bit more genuine.  Chrome surround, dark grey interior, black behind the openings.

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And not the bit y'all been waiting for!

I like the white panel on the side of the truck (at least I do when it isn't semi-transparent) but I felt it needed more, so I mocked up a matching panel to go on the bonnet.  This is a test sample printed on regular paper.

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Then I printed up a full-page sheet on white vinyl.

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This proves the concept, but also shows just how bad the stock decals are.  In fairness I could have printed these logos on clear vinyl and they would have been fine, but I don't like wasting an entire sheet of vinyl for a few small logos and I don't have any other decals to print right now.

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I'm also still not 100% sure about the front panel.  The problem with printing on white vinyl is the surround.  The unprinted 'edge' of the vinyl (even if it's a fraction of a millimetre thick - I don't know exactly how thick white vinyl sheet is) is always visible.  Also the colour doesn't seem quite right.  The panel on the side is too transparent, but the one of the front is too...  I dunno...  White?  I'm not sure if it wants to be a bluer white (like an arctic white or an ice white) or a creamier white.

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I also have the slight problem that my laser printer doesn't officially print on vinyl.  It generally comes out the printer OK provided I don't do too many large areas in a single colour, but the toner isn't durable and it doesn't take much to flake it off.  Clear vinyl seems to fare better than white which is why 99% of my designs have a light colour section for my custom decals to go on in clear and a dark section where I put the shop-bought decals.

So my next plan is to redesign the side panel as an SVG file with all the sponsor decals already in place, so it can be printed and fitted as one single decal.  I'll also resize it slightly because it's too big and doesn't leave the bodycolour gap around the edge like the boxart does.  (Either I fitted my decals wrong or, more likely, the box image is actually painted, not decalled).

Then I have a choice: print on white vinyl and lacquer it before fitting to seal in the toner; print on white vinyl then layer a sheet of clear over the top (if I reprint the black border on the overlay and trim the white sheet a bit smaller, this will hide the white edge too), or send the whole lot off to MCI to be professionally printed on clear plastic.  Ultimately, the latter is what I'll do.  Before that I think I'll print and fit on plain white just to prove the concept before I spend any money on it.

I'm also thinking this is a good opportunity to go away from boxart.  Keep the side panel and bonnet panel, but change the background colour.  Silver would probably look good, and is a solid choice.  It goes with everything.  Or yellow, maybe?  Does yellow and red work?  I think I need to get out a colour wheel.  Even orange, perhaps?  Maybe I should print off a few sheets on plain paper and stick them on with blu-tac.  This is my last opportunity to do something unique with the paint, so I'm running with it.

Alternatively I could just do away with the panel altogether and just make up my own stripes or sponsor stickers to go on.  It's an exciting time, right?

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The sun came out for a bit yesterday so I grabbed the camera with the bigger lens and got some outdoor shots.  It actually looks really good in these photos, semi-transparent side panel notwithstanding.

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The toner is already starting to come off the SCRAPSpeed logo

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This was my 1:10 scale mountain until the herb roberts, Japanese anemones and roseless rose took over

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Loving the black fenders! 

Glad I’m not the only one that struggles to cut the chrome parts. Ended up using a pair of toenail pliers! Got it nice and flush but chipped a bit of the chrome off. 

 

Get out out and find some nice big rocks, it’s a really fun drive. Bit of extra weight on the front is good. I used the electronics box on the bottom and filed it with as many wheel weights I could cram in there. 

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I'm waiting until September when I can hopefully justify a 1080 ESC before I can drive it.  There's an event happening mid-sept called Southern Scale Trail, which is a gate-based crawling event in an old quarry.  The BOM should get its first proper outing there, along with the CFX-W, which was built nearly a year ago but has only had one semi-proper outing,  at a muddy country park in deepest Somerset just before Christmas.  I doubt I'll be able to afford any proper tyres, so I'll either have to see how good the kit tyres are or swap the wheels off something else.

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@Mad Ax
You've inspired me to try painting on the outside for my BOM->Komodo conversion. And I'm pretty pleased with it so far!

This is Halfords Satin Black. Seems pretty durable on the bench, but the real test will be rolling down a few hills.

I wouldnt recommend this as a backer on the inside though, tried it on a test piece and it burned straight through the Hobbynox acrylic I'd airbrushed on.

PXL_20210817_101456167.jpg

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Halfords paint is generally good - I use it for most hard bodies.  Don't expect it to last forever if you're trailing hard but it's easy to touch up if you scratch it.

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Looking good. I really like the GMade Trucks. I have the Buffalo, Komodo, and Bom all with the GS02F chassis. Waiting for the new Buffalo Pick Up to come out now. Very nice kits. I have full led lights on all, spektrum radio gear, Traxxas servos and electronic switches to turn the lights on and off via the remote.

 

Cory

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Nice trucks @RC4x4.  I'm liking the BOM so far, although I haven't driven it in anger yet.  I really like the Buffalo, I'm considering adding one to my stable later this year.  I really enjoy building and detailing these scale rigs even if I hadn't driven them nearly as much as I thought I would.

I took a load of pics of Sunday's workshop day as I finished off the electrics installation and got it ready to drive - I'll do a proper update later this week with all the pics, but a couple of things I noticed:

The transmission was whiney as badword when I first hooked up an ESC.  After stripping it all down, I found it was quiet until I put the motor in.  Turns out with the stock 13 tooth pinion installed and the motor in the positions marked 13, the mesh is waaaay too tight.  I installed mine in the 14 tooth position and it seems perfect.  I'm not sure how it can be that far out unless there's a production problem or a serious mistake in my build.

Stripping the chassis down is a pain.  On the earlier GS-02, pretty much everything must come off to get to the transmission case.  I hope I never need to do a full tear-down during a crawling event (although in fairness I have enough spare rigs I'd probably just box it and drive something else).

The stock tyres are really good.  I didn't glue the tyres to the wheels (waiting on some deep dish steels to arrive) but I took it up over the first part of my 1:10 scale mountain, and it went straight up with no problems.  My CFX-W on stock tyres simply didn't want to know, it wasn't even getting up off the pavement.  I'd say the BOM on stock tyres is easily as capable (at least on rough rock) as the CFX-W on Hyraxes.  That's a huge surprise because so many rigs come from the shop with awful tyres, and it's a serious investment to upgrade them to something capable.  Not having to buy new tyres has saved me enough cash to get the genuine roof rack and light bar.

I'll hopefully have more to share next week - there's a major crawling event taking place just 30 mins from my house this weekend in a dis-used quarry, it makes such a change to have something big to do that doesn't require a 5-hour round trip, so I'm taking all 3 rigs (SCX10 G6 Edition, CFX-W and BOM) and will give them all a good work-out.

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So here's the update I promised.  Not really much to add from what's above, just a couple of pics.

First with the eltrics half-installed.  I went with the ubiquitous Hobbywing 1080 again, I can't get enough of these.  Radio provided courtesy of my FS-i6 handset.  I relocated the radio box from right to left, as it made more sense for cable routing.  Even so, the 1080 servo wire barely reached from one side to the other.  I didn't get any better pics of the finished install, I tried to make it super-tidy but the wires had other ideas.  I'll probably come back to it later and maybe relocate the ESC, although I have shortened the motor wires and direct-soldered them to make it tidier.

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Looks good with the lid down.  The semi-transparent side panel stickers don't look quite so bad in this light.

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I took it for a brief run.  I'm having trouble with sticky brushes in the motor - new brushes and barely-used motor - but otherwise it went alright.  As I said above, it climbed my usual challenge area with no problems.

I ordered some new wheels for it - but that's another post (when I get the pics of the camera, maybe later).

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I also redesigned the graphics.  I haven't done a full print yet (no idea how easy those side panels will peel off or how much scraping I'll have to do with the sticky stuff remover!)

I hope this image shows OK - I didn't put a white background behind the side panels (printing on white paper on a printer that doesn't have white toner, the point is moot) but it seems to show OK in a browser for me:

sm_graphics.png

 

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OK, those new wheels I was talking about!

I didn't want this rig to turn into a crazy over-the-top bling machine, just wanted some simple, classic-looking wheels.  I've been wanting to try RC4WD's deep dish steels for a long time, so I finally splurged on a set:

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the problem is - they really are deep :o

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I love how the tyre looks on these rims - the wider hub really pulls the tyre out and gives it a more balloony appearance, like an oldschool off-road tyre.  These modern tyre profiles are all very capable and stuff, but sometimes they look a bit like dinner plates with those big flat sidewalls.  Give us 80s balloons, please!

Now, they look OK side-on:

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but - from above, or the front, they stick out way too much

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compared to stock

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On my first test-run, the stock wheels and tyres seemed to cope with steering and articulation without any arch rubbing, but with these?  No chance

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So - that's the last of September's budget spent (already) on wheels that won't actually work on this rig.  Dang.  I'm not overly upset - I'm sure I'll find something to do with them - actually I'm considering an old monster truck style build with a clod body and TLT axles, and if I can get some monster-type chevron tyres over these wheels, that might just be the perfect match.  But it's a bit of a blow to run out of money so early in the month and not be able to actually take this rig on the trails.

Of course, the sensible option is just to swap the wheels off the CFX-W so I can run it with Hyraxes this weekend, so what did I do?

That's right - I placed a special order for some SSD slot mags with rcbitz at 5:40am today, so I can have this rig running on some classic-style wheels.  I think the SSDs have a wider offset than stock but are a more standard width, so shouldn't punish the axles or the arches quite so much.

Anyway - that's enough updates from me for now - I'll post again when either:

  • the roof rack arrives and is fitted
  • the new wheels arrive and are fitted
  • I have printed and stuck on the new graphics
  • I have run the rig on a proper comp course and have some feedback
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 I stopped reading the last post half way through when I got to the wheel issue. I knew I’d seen it before so went searching… @JennyMo did this with herRC4WD wheels.

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photo. RC4WD deep-dish wheels flipped inside out to narrow track width 

But I see that you have followed my usual method of sorting an issue like this - purchase your way out! 

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Yeah, that's a neat solution - I briefly wondered about it, then figured it probably wouldn't work before I tried it :p 

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Yes, with those deep-dish wheels, you can simply swap the hex hub to the other side and you reduce the offset by around 5mm per side... obviously you need to make sure the deeper dish clears your C-hubs, but because these wheels are pressed-steel rather than with external bead-lock rims, there is actually plenty of room - I have mine mounted on some portal hubs, and they just fit inside the inner [what was outer] rim lip, and the C-hubs/steering gear clear the fat tyres with 9mm wide axle hexes:

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The only 'downside' (not that it's really a big deal) is that the rim lip detail on the inside (now outside) is not as defined as the original - so it's a simpler style wheel... however, a bit a rust and scale hardware and I think it's a perfectly acceptable option?

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Hope that helps someone - if not Mad Ax in this instance - 5 slots are going to look awesome of course!

Jenny x

 

 

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Thanks @JennyMo and @Badcrumble for the heads-up.  Hopefully the 5-slots arrive today so I can get them fitted tonight.  The 5-slots were actually my second choice for this rig anyway, I saw some photos online of another BOM wearing SSD 5-slots and Pitbull tyres and it had a real chunky look that most modern scalers seem to miss.  Hopefully mine will look good enough with the stock tyres so I don't have to spend a fortune getting the look I want (as I already have a couple of other rigs that get regular use, this one is more about achieving a particular look than going directly for course performance).

Anyhoo, being able to turn the rims inside out might work well for a backburner project that I've been thinking about for a while...  Updates when I get around to it - maybe 2025 :lol:

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You can get some nice bead locks on Amazon. They are like 45-48 for 4 of them. I like the RC4WD Tires in the 118-120mm range. I used the kit tires on the Bom. The Buffalo I used the RC4WD Ground Hawgs, and the Komodo got RC4WD BFG's that are 116mm. Great tires. Here's the link to the rimes.

These fit the RC4WD tires perfect. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F6XC33D/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here's the spoke wheels. These are both nice. The have a weighted center ring too to put some weight down low. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08THH461S/ref=twister_B08THGJG49?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R6WYLB9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Cory

 

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Updates!

My new wheels arrived in time for the weekend, so I went in the garage on Friday evening and got them fitted.

SSD 5-slots:

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Front wheel fitted to the right (or the left, if looking at the photo.  Difference in overall width is clear - the other side still has the deep dish steels fitted.

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Offset is not much wider than stock, which is nice, and they look way better.

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That's the look I was going for.  Chunky vintage-style with proper balloon tyres.

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