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Nikko85

Tamiya MF-01x 186mm 1/14 scale racing pick up

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14 hours ago, J@mes said:

Another option for tires is the TT02 racing truck tires, as used on the SW01 Lunch Box Mini 

I agree on the lunchbox mini tires they should fit well enough and handle what you need.... I myself would go for the 186mm option a slightly longer wheelbase gives it a smidge less body roll then the shorter one will have.. Of course it all depends on how hard you may endup pushing it but readin your posts before your not making a speed demon build.... JMO on the wheelbase

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Thanks,

I think neither are 100% optimal, but it's about seeing what fits and works. I've got three potential bodies for this so I can mix and match a little.

In terms of a speed, a little faster than the Heavy Dump on a TT would be nice - but not much more. 

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So, I picked up Rally Beetle! This will be my second Tamiya kit, and quite excited.

I've already ordered the bearings needed, but I'm considering upgrading the shocks, as the reviews do comment on the bounciness of the stock set up. I don't really mind this for the Heavy Dump, but for this a smoother drive would be nice.

It seems the CVA mini shocks are what I need, and some long ball connectors, are these the ones?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255025845426?epid=705205352&hash=item3b60b994b2:g:FQUAAOSwL3pg0dGZ

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/384192122980?hash=item5973a29064:g:lIQAAOSwopRYme4e

For the ball connectors, are they machine screws or self tapping? I assume self tapping, but it's hard to tell.

 Overall pretty excited, this really will be my last for a while, and I'll need to sell off a little to make some space and £££ for it too.

 

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That CVA says "super mini."  I am not sure if it's a direct fit. 

RC mart seems to indicate that a 2 shock "super mini" set is 50mm.  

https://www.rcmart.com/tamiya-50mm-c-v-a-super-mini-shock-unit-set-50746-00007834 

(Most M-chassis can take 50-55mm, so it would work.  But this is a rally car. You might prefer 55mm. And Super Mini includes "hard" springs. It might be okay, or it might be too stiff.)

 

I just built a Rally Beetle.  I'm using Yeah Racing 55mm shocks (orange).  I have a 60mm set too (gray), but they were too long. 

For the rear, even 55mm seemed tad too long but ball connectors should get rid of slop. (Yeah Racing shocks come with them--theirs and Tamiya's are machine threaded. Don't do what I did. I used Tamiya tapping screws first, now it's going to be a problem using machine threads of the ball connectors. Just go with ball connectors from the start).  For the front 55mm shocks are fine even with some slop.  

You'd have to judge how soft they need to be.  

I couldn't use the stock Tamiya springs; they were way too stiff.  1) I drilled 3 more holes on pistons (total of 6 holes each).  2) I used the softest aftermarket spring. Even that was too stiff.  3) I drained the oil.  Still too stiff.  4) So I had to cut the softest spring in half, without oil.  5) Plus 6 gram weight in the front bumper.  Even so it's not as supple as I would like it to be, but it's usable.  

fIYWbud.jpg

For the rear, Yeah Racing #300 oil and Tamiya springs are okay for now.  Still stiffer than I'd like, I might drain oil later. 

One other thing, while the chassis segment is strong otherwise, it is weak against twisting motion.  Since it has a propeller shaft along one side, I didn't think twisting is good for gear meshing.  So I solidified (w/ superglue + baking soda) each segment on the inside.  This mess cannot be seen from outside.  No more twisting.  

zywTXCK.jpg

 

  

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Thanks all, shocks, bearing and a 20T steel pinion ordered.

Now just a week's wait till it all arrives and I can get playing. In the meantime my Heavy Dump needs to hit the BMX track again.

 

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On 9/9/2021 at 9:06 AM, Original Jardasius said:

I agree on the lunchbox mini tires they should fit well enough and handle what you need.... I myself would go for the 186mm option a slightly longer wheelbase gives it a smidge less body roll then the shorter one will have.. Of course it all depends on how hard you may endup pushing it but readin your posts before your not making a speed demon build.... JMO on the wheelbase

I've just played around with some 58 mm wheels, the body and a ruler. I think that the 186 is going to be the better option. With a width of 163mm (I assume that's wheel edge edge to wheel edge) the MF-01x will sit a little wider than the body, so going a little longer is going to look more proportional.

In terms of body, height, tires and width I'm hoping to get a look a little like this

taiyo-racing-pick-up-4wd-002.jpg?ssl=1
So, not a full monster, but more than just a rally car too.

Just need to buy the prop shaft now - is 5 mm correct? I'm planning aluminium round bar and drilling myself. It'll save a little weight over the stock too.

 

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1 hour ago, Original Jardasius said:

I am not 100% sure but 5mm does sound right on the shaft size

Given the large number of 11x5x4 washers in the build that does make sense.

Anyway, I've just ordered 500 mm of it, which should give me enough to make a couple of mistakes! 

I may well craft anything I don't use into a bumper, as the one on the Beetle is non existent, and I'm used to trucks with a large front bumper.

So, steel 20t pinion, bearings, aluminium prop shaft, CVA dampeners, longer ball ends - all ordered, let's just hope the chassis fts the bodies I have and it all looks ok.

 

 

 

 

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Postman was nice today, and everything has arrived.

Tomorrow night my wife is out at a work's party, so I'm going to be putting most of this together then. I may decided to finish work a little early, or even *gulp* buy a couple of beers. Crazy Friday night I know.

I don't like doing metalwork when I'm doing other hobby stuff, so this afternoon I cut down my aluminium rod to make the prop shafts.

I'm going for a 186 mm wheelbase. The Beetle Rally uses the 239 mm chassis, with a 203 mm prop shaft. As I'm losing 53 mm (239mm - 186mm) you would expect the shaft to get cut down to 150 mm exact, but I kept it at 152 or so, following Jenny's advice to make the sure the drive pins fit snugly in the bevel gear.

Making the aluminium prop shaft was a real pain - the drilling was actually quite easy but the aluminium tube was ever so slightly larger than 5mm, meaning bearings wouldn't fit. I put the aluminium rod in the dill and rotated in some sand paper to take it down. 

I also cut down the the steel shaft provided, I thought that was going to be really hard to drill, but it was super easy, (thank you HSS-G drill bits) so I've got a couple of options now. Ideally the aluminium will work and I've not messed up the measurements.

ThRcrAW.jpg

Aluminium shaft is 8 g, which is a decent saving over the steel shaft at 23 g. I'm not sure what performance that will have, but every little counts.

Apart from the aluminium shaft the only other upgrades will be 

20T stainless steel pinion
CVA dampeners
Full bearings all round

Everything else  on the chassis will be stock, which suits me fine.

At 186 mm wheelbase and 163mm width the car is going to be very close to the Ford Ranger XLT dimensions at 1/14 scale, with similarly scaled down wheels. This is perfect for what I wanted (ok 183 mm x 159 mm would be perfect) but close enough. I'll raise the body to a similar height, top of the wheels just brushing the line across wheel arches.

Although the car will be 1/14 scale, it's still have a 540 motor, so will hopefully move ok! 

This is only my second proper rc car build, so hopefully I've not bitten off more than I can chew.

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Great progress Nikko85!!

I've been saving the body of a Tyco Fast Traxx pickup version for over 25 years (thanks mom for keeping all my old junk in your house). The thing broke ages ago but one way or another the body has survived, great memories from my first RC car.

After looking at your thread, it seems there is finally a great way to revive the body on top of the MF01X chassis. Thanks for the inspiration!

Time to put my Ford Escort on the parking space...

IMG_0756.thumb.JPG.7e50fc5973051391e42bcf4b687c8a2e.JPG

...these guys will go on vacation...

IMG_0722.thumb.JPG.64f1a5bb32d093daddb75c0ae5cdba0c.JPG

which opens up the MF01X chassis  for this:

IMG_0755.thumb.JPG.2824c2fc33082d2f3214c4b6a157ee71.JPG

 

The 186mm wheelbase indeed fits nicely. The propeller shaft got removed and measured but I really struggled to get the little hole drilled. Ultimately I admitted defeat and gave up. The difficulty was getting the shaft clamped down and the drill aligned orthogonally to make the hole (working on a tiny backyard coffee table with only a hand drill available :( ). I filed a small flat section right where the hole goes to prevent the drillbit from sliding off, but still couldn't get a nice solid way to clamp and drill. The next steps are in mind:

1) Buy an aluminium shaft and see if it's easier to drill with what I have.

2)  It that doesn't work I'll probably abandon the idea, disable the front end and make the car RWD. If later I get access to a proper workbench (I would love to have a nice vertical drill :P) then I can resurrect the front end.

For wheel options I'm considering (on all four wheels):

- Sand Scorcher rear tires. I had the MF01X Mercedes on these for a while and it looked fantastic with lots of climbing grip.

- Mud Block tires. A bit on the large side but should give a great deal of ground clearance.

IMG_0757.thumb.JPG.4e51dff6ca7c24f34845ccbbac1bde24.JPG

Perhaps another option that could look more scale would be to use the tires and wheels the TT01 Racing Trucks use. The small wheel with thick rubber walls would look nice. With these tires & wheels and some paint on the body, it should be achievable to end up with something like this:

Nissan-02x.jpg.9cbd82d38afe8da01976d30481dc0fb6.jpg

One remaining issue would be the transversal battery at the belly of the MF01X. It will rob the model a lot of good looks. I'm considering using a small 6xAAA 1000mAh battery pack, which should fit right inside the center beam, leaving the underside a lot cleaner. Coupled with a 55T motor, it would hopefully give some good running times.

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On 9/17/2021 at 10:23 AM, OoALEJOoO said:

Great progress Nikko85!!

I've been saving the body of a Tyco Fast Traxx pickup version for over 25 years (thanks mom for keeping all my old junk in your house). The thing broke ages ago but one way or another the body has survived, great memories from my first RC car.

After looking at your thread, it seems there is finally a great way to revive the body on top of the MF01X chassis. Thanks for the inspiration!

Time to put my Ford Escort on the parking space...

IMG_0756.thumb.JPG.7e50fc5973051391e42bcf4b687c8a2e.JPG

...these guys will go on vacation...

IMG_0722.thumb.JPG.64f1a5bb32d093daddb75c0ae5cdba0c.JPG

which opens up the MF01X chassis  for this:

IMG_0755.thumb.JPG.2824c2fc33082d2f3214c4b6a157ee71.JPG

 

The 186mm wheelbase indeed fits nicely. The propeller shaft got removed and measured but I really struggled to get the little hole drilled. Ultimately I admitted defeat and gave up. The difficulty was getting the shaft clamped down and the drill aligned orthogonally to make the hole (working on a tiny backyard coffee table with only a hand drill available :( ). I filed a small flat section right where the hole goes to prevent the drillbit from sliding off, but still couldn't get a nice solid way to clamp and drill. The next steps are in mind:

1) Buy an aluminium shaft and see if it's easier to drill with what I have.

2)  It that doesn't work I'll probably abandon the idea, disable the front end and make the car RWD. If later I get access to a proper workbench (I would love to have a nice vertical drill :P) then I can resurrect the front end.

For wheel options I'm considering (on all four wheels):

- Sand Scorcher rear tires. I had the MF01X Mercedes on these for a while and it looked fantastic with lots of climbing grip.

- Mud Block tires. A bit on the large side but should give a great deal of ground clearance.

IMG_0757.thumb.JPG.4e51dff6ca7c24f34845ccbbac1bde24.JPG

Perhaps another option that could look more scale would be to use the tires and wheels the TT01 Racing Trucks use. The small wheel with thick rubber walls would look nice. With these tires & wheels and some paint on the body, it should be achievable to end up with something like this:

Nissan-02x.jpg.9cbd82d38afe8da01976d30481dc0fb6.jpg

One remaining issue would be the transversal battery at the belly of the MF01X. It will rob the model a lot of good looks. I'm considering using a small 6xAAA 1000mAh battery pack, which should fit right inside the center beam, leaving the underside a lot cleaner. Coupled with a 55T motor, it would hopefully give some good running times.

Awesome ideas, that Tyco body is amazing.  Another option for those bodies is to get a GF-01 and turn that Tyco into a monster truck too.

It was much easier drilling the aluminium. However I do have HSS-G drill bits, which work well in the steel too. Aluminium bar is really cheap you can buy a meter and have lots of practises, just don't make the mistake I made, and check the o.d carefully. 

I'd say a sharp drill bit is key, and a punch. Other than that just go slow. I did mine with a hand drill and a very small clamp, but I used to make drum kits with aluminium hardware, so I guess I learned something.

I personally think the blue wheels you have now would look amazing, I'm debating how big I can go with tires - I don't want it to go into Bruiser territory, but  I also find the Toyota high lift has wheels that look too small for the height and body.

You are right about the battery, I've got a 7.2v AA flat pack in a 3 x 2 configuration that I might try. It's still 2400 mAh so not tiny. However the higher the battery the greater the chance of rolling. There might be space to get a 9.6v 2x2x2 AA stick pack too that'd really give it some speed. 

However it may be a 7.2 Sub C pack strapped underneath is just a conceit I may have to live with.

 

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I found that when I tried to use the Pumpkin body on this chassis it fitted until I fitted the battery retainers. The body was too narrow at that point, but it is a step side. Also I was going for the lowrider look

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6 minutes ago, Busdriver said:

I found that when I tried to use the Pumpkin body on this chassis it fitted until I fitted the battery retainers. The body was too narrow at that point, but it is a step side. Also I was going for the lowrider look

full size or QD pimpkin?

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9 hours ago, OoALEJOoO said:

but still couldn't get a nice solid way to clamp and drill. The next steps are in mind:

1) Buy an aluminium shaft and see if it's easier to drill with what I have.

2)  It that doesn't work I'll probably abandon the idea, disable the front end and make the car RWD. If later I get access to a proper workbench (I would love to have a nice vertical drill :P) then I can resurrect the front end.

For wheel options I'm considering (on all four wheels):

I was thinking about getting a cheap drill press for $40.  I do have a Dremel somewhere.  Very hard drill bits would be needed.  

https://www.amazon.com/Milescraft-1097-Stand-Drill-Rotary/dp/B0001GMENE/ref=asc_df_B0001GMENE/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309807921328&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10389995620707150125&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007298&hvtargid=pla-435539745523&psc=1

As for tires, Traxxas 7674X looks to be in good size for the stock body as this youtuber demonstrates (I have them on mine too).  These are just as fat, but the diameter is exactly what I wanted.  (But probably too tall for the Nikko body? It barely fits the VW wheelwells.)

 

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So, I was able to get quite a chunk done today.

MCq1T6W.jpg

These are my main tools. I use this flat headed screwdriver pictured for these screws, it's the best thing I've found, and helped undo many vintage Nikko and Taiyos without damage. It's the perfect width and never seems to strip anything.

uUiky7s.jpg

Using an Etronix servo for this build. I thought these colours looked cool. 

Aq5Qksm.jpg

Moment of truth...... and.....I messed up on the prop shaft length. Following Jenny's advice (and perhaps not understanding it) the whole prop shaft was too long, and the holes too close to the ends. I cut it down and re-drilled the holes, and it works, but I want to make new one, as I feel the holes are still too close the ends, forcing the bevel gears at each end too close together and a less than perfect mesh perhaps. Serve me right for not measuring myself! It's only a few more quid for more aluminium tube so not the end of the world.

However the front and back gearboxes did come together with just the small spacer, giving the 186 mm wheelbase! It's such a nice system, I find it odd Tamiya have not done more with this set up. It also gives a great option for 1/14 cars to go on the backs of everyone's 1/14 trucks.

Tomorrow I'll finish off the shocks.

A quick teaser of the body fit 

4nwvVpP.jpg?1

I've had to take away most of the bed to get the body low enough. The body has a roll bar that will cover some of this, and I'll make some bracing.... but.... it will work! 

 

 

 

 

 

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14 hours ago, Nikko85 said:

It was much easier drilling the aluminium. However I do have HSS-G drill bits, which work well in the steel too. Aluminium bar is really cheap you can buy a meter and have lots of practises, just don't make the mistake I made, and check the o.d carefully. 

I'd say a sharp drill bit is key, and a punch. Other than that just go slow. I did mine with a hand drill and a very small clamp, but I used to make drum kits with aluminium hardware, so I guess I learned something.

My current tool repertoir includes a steel pick and $3 drill bit set :) The steel pick bent when I tried to create a punch mark and the drill bits did not bite into the steel at all. A trip to the hardware is my next stop. I'll try first in Aluminium and see how it goes.

7 hours ago, Juggular said:

Good suggestion! I'll probably try to clamp the shaft between two thick wooden boards bolted together. Will do a wood / thin rubber / shaft / thin rubber / wood sandwich, all bolted down tight, with only the shaft end sticking out. It should be much easier to hold the sandwhich than the little shaft and would ensure coming perpendicular with the drill, which hopefully would now be wielding a HSS bit. If this doesn't work I'll consider the drill press.

7 hours ago, Juggular said:

As for tires, Traxxas 7674X looks to be in good size for the stock body as this youtuber demonstrates (I have them on mine too).  These are just as fat, but the diameter is exactly what I wanted.  (But probably too tall for the Nikko body? It barely fits the VW wheelwells.)

The difficulty with the pickup body is how shallow it is on its underbelly, specially on the bed end. Unless you cut the bed, it would have to sit on top of the MF01X chassis. Being higher-up, it now suffers from the Hilux High-Lift syndrome: if you put "scale" tires, they would look too small. Moving into monster truck territory seems innevitable.

That said, the Sand Scorcher tires seem like a good compromise (the pictures show them fitted into M-size wheels). The rally block tires, with their 70mm OD also seem good, however their walls are too thin because of the touring car 1.9" wheels. The TT01 truck wheels maintain the 70mm OD but have M-sized 1.6" wheels. These would probably be ideal. I don't have any at hand though but will probably buy a set eventually.

Tires-1.thumb.jpg.a44041060e6f3ec476f8a30650344a4a.jpg

Tires-2.thumb.jpg.344c775355d84bcc85aebbf42a0265fc.jpg

 

14 hours ago, Nikko85 said:

I personally think the blue wheels you have now would look amazing, I'm debating how big I can go with tires - I don't want it to go into Bruiser territory, but  I also find the Toyota high lift has wheels that look too small for the height and body.

You are right about the battery, I've got a 7.2v AA flat pack in a 3 x 2 configuration that I might try. It's still 2400 mAh so not tiny. However the higher the battery the great the chance of rolling. There might be space to get a 9.6v 2x2x2 AA stick pack too that'd really give it some speed. 

However it may be a 7.2 Sub C pack strapped underneath is just a conceit I may have to live with.

The blue wheels would indeed look excellent with the current black body, matching the tone of the blue stickers!! I might actually go this route. Once/if I do the final paint job, will probably switch to the TT01 truck tires and rims, which should look virtually identical to the real racing version.

Fitting a 6xAA would be ideal but will not fit the stock space by a tiny margin. Perhaps a small bit of dremelling would be sufficient. On the other hand, the 6xAAA is so small that it would move around the space, probably needing a foam craddle of sorts to keep it in place.

Great progress on your build!

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Wow, actually the sand scorcher rear tires look pretty good to me. I'm quite surprised!

(The Traxxas tires are about 66 OD. So they are slightly smaller than Sand Scorcher tires, but noticeably larger than Rally Block tires.)  

 

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1 hour ago, Juggular said:

Wow, actually the sand scorcher rear tires look pretty good to me. I'm quite surprised!

(The Traxxas tires are about 66 OD. So they are slightly smaller than Sand Scorcher tires, but noticeably larger than Rally Block tires.) 

I think the 60D Rally Blocks have 60mm OD (perhaps a tiny bit more) vs the touring Rally Bocks at 70mm (pictured). The Traxxas tires are great additional option that would fit in-between.

The Sand Scorcher tires measure 82mm OD when fitted on the M-sized rims (free state without any squeeze).

Edit: Rock block 94mm, Mud Block 86mm

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again for info. I used Sand Scorcher rear tyres on my Short Willy/Nailer-Scaler, which had the MF01x chassis in the shortest iteration (170mm)... there are a number of photos in my showroom here:

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=130199&id=25648

And re. my previous post, you can see what I mean about the overall diameter of the [rear] tyres with regard to the horizontal battery holder if you're using the stock wishbones.

Hope that helps!

Jenny x

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I remember that MF01X IDF jeep! 

With that body, the tires look so much like Wild Willy tires. I must have glanced over the fact that those were smaller tires!  

That thread has a lot of very useful info. 

 

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Yep, it was Jenny's thread that send more down this road.

A little more progress

aTnzz70.jpg

Chassis completed with CVA dampeners

I did the trick that that a few have suggested of using longer ball studs on the rear struts to avoid them clashing with the prop housing.

I've read a few threads that suggested that you'd need an internal spacer on the CVA Super Mini shocks, but I did not find this to be the case. 

Edit: After running the car you really do need to use the spacers, otherwise the car will drop dog bones, at least on the rears.

Front went on fine, I couldn't see instructions to add a o-ring to the wheel drive cup, so I didn't. I hope that wasn't an oversight (by me or Tamiya).

dx7s8yP.jpg

First mock up with body. You can see I've had to take quite a bit of the bed out (nearly all of it in fact) but it allows it to sit so much lower.

9nKSIY9.jpg

I'm now going to power it up, check it all works then add some body mounts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Looking great!!

I guess you finally sorted out the prop shaft length. What dimensions did you settle with at the end?

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What I've got is working ok, but to be honest I still don't think it's perfect, so don't take my advice.

In the end it was pretty much exactly the original dimension cut down exactly by the size you shorten the car, but I'm going to re-open and do again.

Are you UK based by any chance? 

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