Kol's ORV build

[Kol__ 3377]

Hi guys,

I recently purchased a pair of vintage ORV chassis' off eBay. One is a Mud Blaster and one is either a Blackfoot or Monster Beetle - one chassis came with a (seriously damaged) Blackfoot body, but the yellow oil shocks and one remaining rear body mount post make me think (in my limited knowledge in this hobby so far) that it is a Monster Beetle, not that there's much difference between the Blackfoot and Monster Beetle as I understand it anyway.

Part purchased already. Needs new rear body mounts and support, plus is missing the dust cover for the servo. I've gone with yellow Blackfoot wheels as I feel they will fair better than the gold as a runner, plus the gold doesn't really do it for me tbh.

Ordered a set of the bumper (Monster Beetle) and also no bumper (Mud Blaster) gear box supports from @Problemchild, thanks mate they look great! and thanks to @MICHAELs TopForce17 for pointing me in the right direction on that.

Also on order is a new set of ally gears for the gearbox, as the existing ones are likely worn from what I've read, and ordered a rear bumper as well.

Initial plans are to completely strip both chassis down, inspect and clean thoroughly. Then firstly to build a Mud Blaster out of the best parts of both chassis, that's because I have the Mud Blaster shell and it's the easiest way to get it running, but then turn it into a Monster Beetle - not box art. I look to have 4 fairly decent tyres out of the two chassis as well. I plan to strip and service the the oil shocks with new oil - I have some Factory Team 35w silicone shock oil that I assume will be suitable?

Undecided yet, but I will probably then build a Mud Blaster up out the remaining parts. Not planning to get into this one right now as I have another time sensitive build on the go that takes priority, but tbh can't wait to get into this one!! The future may see me fit the MIP diff (although I will need to buy additional parts as this is a vintage chassis not fitted with the pin drive as I understand it) and I am really liking Ampro's parts for this chassis, in particular the rear suspension conversion and the front uprights

Any input or advice welcomed!!

[Frog Jumper 3663]

MB, based on the broken bits of plastic on the bottom screw on the tranny. That was the skid plate…

But for all intents and purposes, the BF, the Monster B, and the Mudder are the same car…

Terry

[Frog Jumper 3663]

Look for the Zero Bump Steer knuckles on Shapeways…

The Landfreeder body will fit so you have a lexan alternative there…

Piece together the CRP tower braces…

Aluminum drive hubs…

Find a set of swing arm reinforcement things to go where the rear shocks attach on Shapeways…

50520s will fit all 4 corners…

Center servo mount plate on Shapeways…

Kimbrough SS and turnbuckles for steering…

Terry

 

 

[Problemchild 2149]

No probs - more thanks to @Xeostar for doing all the real hard work

 

zero mention of the DynaTech - what a lovely motor

JJ

[Kol__ 3377]

5 minutes ago, Problemchild said:

No probs - more thanks to @Xeostar for doing all the real hard work

 

zero mention of the DynaTech - what a lovely motor

JJ

Oh balls, got my peeps mixed up. Yes it was @Xeostar that I've been conversing with over PM's, DOH! Thanks to both you and Xeostar

Ah yes, I meant to mention the motor when I added those pics. It appears like that is a bit of a bonus and may be worth something? There's what looks like some minor discolouring and corrosion on it's underside, but I think it will polish up. Is it a fast motor? the kind of motor that will damage the ally gears in the gearbox? 

[Problemchild 2149]

No probs haha 

I’m running a 3s LiPo and brushless combo in my beetle - the gearbox brace deals with that so a dyna tech will be fine but yes it’s a tad more powerful than say a sport tuned and in that condition prob worth about £70

You can get replacement decals for them from MCI Racing in Canada 

I love my beetle 

 

JJ

[Frog Jumper 3663]

That DynaTech is a collectors piece.  Replace it and shelf it.  Congrats on the score!

[Kol__ 3377]

So wasn't planning to do much yet, but found time to service the shocks

First time I've tinkered with oil filled shocks and now I know what those little holes in my RC car stand are for! Left them sitting for quite some time to let all the air bubbles out, activating the rods up and down here and there and they seem spot on now.

[Kol__ 3377]

On 10/14/2021 at 12:36 AM, Problemchild said:

I love my beetle 

 

Yes JJ, I'd actually seen your vid the other day prior to picking up my MB! Man that thing is quick!!! Did you have any problems with keeping it under control? I saw Mateo RC's vid where he did something similar after fitting the MIP diff and he cracked the shell front and back on the test run! Was also a great vid though

[Kol__ 3377]

On 10/14/2021 at 12:05 AM, Frog Jumper said:

Look for the Zero Bump Steer knuckles on Shapeways…

The Landfreeder body will fit so you have a lexan alternative there…

Piece together the CRP tower braces…

Aluminum drive hubs…

Find a set of swing arm reinforcement things to go where the rear shocks attach on Shapeways…

50520s will fit all 4 corners…

Center servo mount plate on Shapeways…

Kimbrough SS and turnbuckles for steering…

Terry

Cheers @Frog Jumper, thanks for the advice on mods, very much appreciated. I had the ally drive hubs on order already and they've arrived now

What's the deal with the CRP tower braces and Kimbrough parts? And are 50520 shocks a bit short for the ORV chassis? Cheers

[Kol__ 3377]

Gearbox stripped, cleaned with brake cleaner.

The finished gearbox, with new bearings both the 1150's at the diff and the 850;s at the spur gear. I think it looks great with the skid plate and brace...

Parts order for rebuild - 

New diff gears

Aluminium rear drive hubs

Brat grey chassis

Etronix rx

Etronix servo

TBLE-04S ESC

[Kol__ 3377]

Had some time to do some more work on this one...

Chassis completely disassembled and cleaned.

The chassis itself was not really faded and in pretty good nick for its age, just some damage to where the rear body posts mount. I have a particular colour scheme in mind for this one though, so went with a new grey Brat chassis instead.

The rebuild

Rolling chassis, including 2 new tyres for the rear, as the others in the original bundle deal were either worn or rotten...

I went with 35w oil in all the shocks. They feel pretty firm, so perhaps a softer oil with be better? However, tbh the springs themselves seem quite stiff, so not sure a softer oil is needed.

Next job will be adding the rest of the electronics and getting it running. Still undecided about the body shell, but I think for the moment I'm going to restore the Mud Blaster shell - it's a little battered with some cracks, but certainly looks repairable.

[Kol__ 3377]

So she's up and running, with the Mud Blaster shell for the moment. Still some tweaks to make to steering turnbuckles and gear box braces. Kimborough servo saver on order.

Fitted with the below -

*Mabuchi RS-540SH Brushed motor

*TBLE-04S ESC

*Etronix Pulse RX

*Etronix ET2047 servo

Safe to say it has as many new parts as original now, but I think that's often the way with these if built to run rather than sit on a shelf. Plus I swapped out the chassis, which wasn't really a necessity.

Next I'm looking to fit some stronger rear shock mounts, although I may make my own. Also, I saw some interesting points on another thread about drilling through some of the self tapping screw holes and fitting bolts with nuts on the back instead to spread the load to both sides of some of the joints, rather than just the one side.

Very tempted by the MIP ball diff, but as mentioned previously, I'll need more parts to fit that, as this is the 1986 OG version (for the most part now anyway, lol), so adds up to a fair old cost there. Will see how I get on with the current set up for now.

[Kol__ 3377]

So I decided to drill through the rear shock mounts and fit nuts and bolts in place of the 10mm self tappers.

This is the original screws...

Replaced with these...

Also glued some washers to the end of the forward rear shock mount, as these are clearly a weak point and one already has a crack which I've filled with glue.

Hopefully they'll last a while, but still plan to knock up a set out of say maybe 3mm aluminium at some point.

[Goudar 526]

I got an eye for an auction on a Mud Blaster, I really like ORV chassis this one of the best for having fun and chilling.

How did you clean your shocks ? I got a set but every try I got some residu. Yours look nearly pristine !

 

 

[Kol__ 3377]

25 minutes ago, Goudar said:

I got an eye for an auction on a Mud Blaster, I really like ORV chassis this one of the best for having fun and chilling.

How did you clean your shocks ? I got a set but every try I got some residu. Yours look nearly pristine !

Yeah the ORV chassis is fun and pretty robust. The old plastics have been weak though. Luckily the rere parts are readily available. However, if you want a basher you might want to just pick up a rere Monster Beetle or Blackfoot and the Subaru Brat body

For the shocks, I just disassembled as you see above and scrubbed them up with an old toothbrush in soapy water. Takes a bit of attention to detail on the knurled shock caps, but with a bit of perseverance you can get them clean

[Kol__ 3377]

I ran the Mud Blaster a bit here and there, but the shell needed a fair amount of repair due to being battered in the past prior to my ownership. It was fun having it for a while though.

I decided to build up the other chassis and sell it on with the Mud Blaster shell. Can't justify two ORV's at the moment, plus they are a pretty big RC so take up space. So I serviced the diff and off she went.

So, onto the next phase of the build. I've picked up a Blitzer Beetle shell and intend to use it as a basher shell on my ORV chassis and also a parts bin Blitzer I acquired that I'll build up before the summer kicks in. I've also picked up a standard Monster Beetle shell and accompanying parts, which I'm going to paint up as a shelfer display shell, possibly box art.

As this Blitzer Beetle shell is mainly for bashing, I was tempted to just leave the black shell unpainted and sticker it up with the box art stickers. I decided not to fit any of the extras such as the rear lights, rear number plate parts, wipers and wing mirrors as they'll be bashed off in 5mins I'm sure! So then I decided to fill all the holes and as it will then need paint, I'm going to go with a dark grey colour. I used some 0.5mm styrene sheet and plastic weld to glue to the rear sides of all the holes.

Filled and sanded...

I don't really rate that Humbrol filler. It comes out of the tube either as a grey paste or black oil, as if it's not mixed properly when the tube is filled. It'll do for this shell, but then I picked up some of this...

...and decided to delete the sunroof. The sunroof is glued into the roof body with such a thin edge I can see it getting easily knocked out in a big tumble so I'd rather just get rid of it on this shell.

Filled the seem from the top with more plastic weld...

Sanded it with various grits down to 60grit as per the instructions. In retrospect I feel that grade is a bit OT for a plastic 1/10 shell.

Filled with the Big Boy filler. Man that stiff stinks, it's an outside job for sure!...

And sanded. It dries very hard and says on the tin don't sand it back with anything less than 100grit. Well 100grit did ****** all, so I start with the 60grit and worked up to 180grit and a then a 400 Tamiya sanding pad. Took about 45mins to complete

[Goudar 526]

On 2/13/2022 at 5:24 PM, Kol__ said:

Yeah the ORV chassis is fun and pretty robust. The old plastics have been weak though. Luckily the rere parts are readily available. However, if you want a basher you might want to just pick up a rere Monster Beetle or Blackfoot and the Subaru Brat body

Eeeeemm I got a bad experience on my last run with my Blackfoot, tumble over a snowy hill. Rear post/attach point being broke...

 

Wow the Beetle looks perfect

[Kol__ 3377]

2 hours ago, Goudar said:

Eeeeemm I got a bad experience on my last run with my Blackfoot, tumble over a snowy hill. Rear post/attach point being broke...

Ah no mate! Must've either been some really brittle old plastic or a really big tumble!!

At least a new chassis is only £10

[Kol__ 3377]

Some progress with body shell. I decided to reinforce the underside of the sunroof with some more plastic weld and styrene strips.

It was messy and it ain't pretty, but it certainly does the job.

Unfortunately what happened next was unexpected. The plastic weld seemed to react with the filler and push up the filler in line with where the reinforcing strips were placed on the underside of the roof. In fairness I did use a lot of plastic weld on it, so it was probably just a bit OTT. Using a brush to apply the plastic weld isn't great at it takes too long across larger areas (anything bigger than an inch or so) as the liquid eats into the plastic and starts to harden off very quickly. So for this application I bought a glass dropper to be able to apply a decent amount at a time across a large area. And this is what happened...

I sanded it down and then the lumps came back again slightly. So I the left it for a good few days and sanded the remainder off. Seems ok now, lesson learned though.

As this will be a basher shell and one that is to be used on two cars and will get some quite regular use, I added some more reinforcement around the mounting holes in the body. No idea if this will do much, only time (and bashing) will tell.

Lightly sanded the body all over with 400grit Tamiya sanding pad.

And removed the mould lines from the front and rear arches...

Cleaned up and ready for primer...

The first 2 coats of primer shows up all the imperfections as usual. The scoring in the roof from the abrasive grades of sandpaper that used to sand back the filler and then didn't rub back enough with the finer grades. The tiny pin prick holes in the roof filler. The depressions where the poor quality (or maybe just not suitable for the job) Humbrol filler is just too soft a filler and rubs off too easily and too deeply compared to the surrounding plastic with even a light rub over with a sanding pad. Probably all of those imperfections I could live with on a basher shell, but I'm not done yet.

Gave it a sand over with a 600grit Tamiya sanding pad in an effort to smooth things over.

And a third thicker coat of primer and things are looking better. I think another sand and another heavy-ish coat of primer and she'll be good enough to be ready for the top coat. I'm also going to apply a small amount of the Humbrol filler to the pin pricks in the roof filler, as it's good enough for that sort of job.

The actual roof blend with the filler appears to be spot on, so I'm happy with that. This is all a big learning curve, but it's getting there now.

[GeeWings 2830]

@Kol__ wow! that reaction between the weld and filler is quite something! Very odd. All the sanding, priming and more sanding looks to have paid off though. It looks perfect and looking forward to seeing it painted...

[GeeWings 2830]

Just looking at your pictures again on a proper screen rather than a phone. You've really managed to create a great base to paint from despite all the hiccups! Great work.

[Kol__ 3377]

21 hours ago, GeeWings said:

@Kol__ wow! that reaction between the weld and filler is quite something! Very odd. All the sanding, priming and more sanding looks to have paid off though. It looks perfect and looking forward to seeing it painted...

Thanks @GeeWings mate, it has become a bit of a labour of love and that is particularly odd when you think it is destined to be a basher shell. I just cant bring myself to do things by half though. Plus there is merit in putting in the time here and doing a good job on this shell as it's all a learning experience and building up the skill set.

That said I have filled the pin holes in the roof, albeit a bits messily...

Sanded it back (again!)...

Then gave it a final good coat of primer (with an additional layer on the roof)...

The sunroof and holes on the bonnet, roof, rear wings and boot cannot be seen, which is a result. However, the same can't be said for the wing mirror holes. As mentioned the Humbrol filler just rubs aways so easily, but that area is so tight I am loathed to put the uber hard Big Boy plastic filler in there, as it will take an age to sand and I fear that the detailed areas of the window that frame that area will be damaged. So I'm just going to move onto the top coat now.

24hrs for the primer to fully cure, followed by a light rub over with a 1000grit Tamiya sanding pad to remove any imperfections in the primer and it'll be getting a few coats of Tamiya TS-48 Gunship Grey tomorrow pm. 

[Kol__ 3377]

21 minutes ago, GeeWings said:

Just looking at your pictures again on a proper screen rather than a phone. You've really managed to create a great base to paint from despite all the hiccups! Great work.

Thanks mate, appreciate the support! It's been a bit of a slog so far on this one!

[GeeWings 2830]

2 minutes ago, Kol__ said:

Thanks mate, appreciate the support! It's been a bit of a slog so far on this one!

By the time you are done it's going to be hard not to just display it on the shelf!