The FJ40 I wish I could own in 1:1. MRC based, L Trail

[daign]

I started this after seeing a bunch of local FJ40s and falling in love with the earlier models and their simplicity. One guy even has a black water tank on his roof rack that heats up through solar with a shower faucet and a lifted wood shower floor above ground with a sit down area to dry off that all folds down so you dont get your feet muddy. Brilliance!

On with the build.
The roller and L Trail


Some of the the goodies.




These beautiful CNC bumpers are awesome but unfortunately will not work. They are made by RC ROCK ARMOR. They mount inside the frame rails and that will not work for me because I need to mount my CNC servo mount inside...


The wheels are RPP hobbies Gear Head RC. Absolutely LOVE them. Unfortunately they don't sell single wheels yet. The fit and finish is amazing.


RC4wd Wireless winch.


Tamiya Land Cruiser 40 Body with 3racing Roof Rack

[blakeski]

yup,,, i like where this is going...

[daign]

Bumpers test mounted. It was then I realized the issue with the front bumper


Shame they are so pretty too! :(
[IMG]Bumpers test mounted. It was then I realized the issue with the front bumper [/IMG]
Back bumper with hitch...


TrackStar Motor 18a 4300kv mounted up and Custom extended Losi Driveshafts.


Lots of flex!


Cut up some lexan panels for the receiver, LED controller etc. I was going to mount the ESC there but then realized how perfectly it sits on the transmission!




Up next is to wire up the Turnigy GTX3 AFHDS 2.4ghz 3 Channel Radio System, calibrate the drag brake and whatnot, and install the servo once my CNC servo mount arrives.. Really impressed with the quality for the price.




Paint wise, the body will be getting a washed out color, I have a grey, gunmetal, gold, anodized gold, anodized green and pastel blue.

What I'd really like is a beige/sand colored paint but I cannot find one.

This is the first of numerous scalers I'll be building in the next couple months. Next up is a Hummer HX dedicated to KingCobra, a Defender 90 and a few other surprises/throwbacks

[daign]

Body masked. Painting body details before basecoats start. Contemplating painting all the door hinges etc but I'm not sure my hands are steady enough...

Ordered new a new bumper. Stinger styled...

[bayareaaxial]

nice build for you can't wait to see the hx and others.

[Hi-Intentionz]

I have that winch just make sure u position it to a clear area if it's covered the signal is poor but overall it's great I just soldered it straight to the pos and neg wires on the ESC instead of having to batteries I just use a higher mah battery.

[ScaleReady]

Don't ditch the front bumper just yet. Try building a new bracket for mounting it. Looks to be a simple enough design

[daign]

Body rough cut and all decals done. Just need to break out the dremel to round out the wheel wells, mount the LEDs and LED system. Then time to mount the roof rack with all the accessories using the scale bungies. I considered painting the roof black but considering the roof rack is black and there will be lots of color up there I figured it was enough contrast.

I calibrated the ESC and set it up to run a 2200mah 2s lipo. Runs absolutely FANTASTIC. zero cogging and perfect trail speed at full throttle.




Only waiting on the Servo mount before finishing this build up. I will be selling this rig RTR with the 2s 2200mah lipo and I got a Turnigy GTX3.



Its actually a really nice 3 channel radio. I build up things to sell when I'm not feeling well. Its a form of therapy for me I guess you could say. I am stuck indoors for up to 4 days at a time due to chronic pancreatitis so I focus my energies on things like this and sell them to people who have the desire for a nice handbuild scaler but not the time or knowhow. Pretty fair trade. Sometimes I make a few bucks, but usually I take a $50 or so loss. Well worth the weeks of entertainment and creative energy I guess.

Some pix with the rough body. Chassis is 90% done, just waiting on the servo. Articulation is fantastic. Real happy with this build.







All the goodies to trick out this FJ...





Servo mount is coming custom CNC'd from canada so that may take a bit. I've got the body mount measurements and will try and pick up the parts from a local hobby shop tomorrow. No holes will be drilled in this body. Industrial Hook and loop will be used.

I plan on using the 3rd channel on the transmitter for the winch or perhaps the lights. Will see.

With no servo it drove a straight track and crawled right over the Maisto Hummer HX fully articulated. I was pretty impressed. My SCX10 would have trouble with that I think...

The SCX 10 will be getting a hardbody defender90 treatment soon.

[ethernectar]

Nice build. Where'd you find the '40 body?

[Daredee]

You can upgrade firmware of your GTX3 and it will be much better and can hold up to 8 channels. Search here at rcc topic about gt3b radio upgrading.

[AxialJeepster]

wow nice, I was wondering about that esc/motor combo for a MRC scaler. is it slow? fast? and you say it has a drag brake you can dial in on the esc??

been wanting to buy one at 14 bucks thats insane.

keep up the good work man!

[ColquittCustom405]

Make sure you turn off your soldering iron....Sick rig..those wheels are money!

[finishline]

Clean little rig! makes me wish I didn't sell my L Trail MRC Scaler

[DRW-FJ40]

LOL. love the title of the thread. I too live vicarously through my RC FJ40 because this is what my real one looks like:

[pixelnate]

Originally Posted by finishline

Clean little rig! makes me wish I didn't sell my L Trail MRC Scaler

I am using this one as inspiration for my L-trail scaler. And I might even use those wheels.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

[BigSki]

What's the wheelbase on that Tamiya FJ body?

[bayareaaxial]

Originally Posted by DRW-FJ40

LOL. love the title of the thread. I too live vicarously through my RC FJ40 because this is what my real one looks like:

I'm sure he would work out a trade with you 1:1 for scale LOL.

[daign]

Originally Posted by ethernectar

Nice build. Where'd you find the '40 body?

Thanks! Tamiya CC01 Land Cruiser body...

Originally Posted by Daredee

You can upgrade firmware of your GTX3 and it will be much better and can hold up to 8 channels. Search here at rcc topic about gt3b radio upgrading.

Its a fantastic radio for the price. I plan on selling it rtr with everything.

Originally Posted by AxialJeepster

wow nice, I was wondering about that esc/motor combo for a MRC scaler. is it slow? fast? and you say it has a drag brake you can dial in on the esc??

been wanting to buy one at 14 bucks thats insane.

keep up the good work man!

I was concerned it would cog or be too fast, but its actually very smooth upon throttle and you can program in drag brake.

Originally Posted by ColquittCustom405

Make sure you turn off your soldering iron....Sick rig..those wheels are money!

LOL my soldering iron is almost always on. If I'm not building a scaler or rc roller, I'm building a multirotor, plane or FPV rig. Hell this week I've been soldering SMD5050 LEDs all around my house shining up at the wood.

Originally Posted by finishline

Clean little rig! makes me wish I didn't sell my L Trail MRC Scaler

Originally Posted by DRW-FJ40

LOL. love the title of the thread. I too live vicarously through my RC FJ40 because this is what my real one looks like:

Do want! I'm glade I hit a factory color. I wanted a more Sandy color and came somewhat close. Looks better with all the accessories on it.

Originally Posted by BigSki

What's the wheelbase on that Tamiya FJ body?

252mm

Originally Posted by bayareaaxial

I'm sure he would work out a trade with you 1:1 for scale LOL.

Absolutely. I have too many 1:1 projects already though. I'd love a Defender 90, an FJ40, CJ40, FJ60, or an early bronco/k5 blazer. Problem is, gas prices

[daign]

An update before completion. Front servo is connected with custom 70mm GCM racing servo mount, just waiting on the horn. Roof rack is glued to the mounts up top, and those mounts are screwed to sandwich the body. Its not going anywhere! I have a 6 Light Pro-Light unit I may use, or might have to drop it to 4 lights. I used 35mm axial arms and 40mm axial arms with a 1mm thick lexan strip with velcro attached to it. This allows the body to be mounted with no visible body mounts. Its solid enough to pick up the car as well. Also have to wire up the headlights, tail lights, add the rc4wd winch.





I was going to add a rear bumper and spare tire but I think the FJ40s look better without rear bumpers. The tamiya body has a build in one somewhat. Do you guys think I should add a simple one? I'd add a spare tire but RPP doesn't sell single spares of the ENK gold wheel. (they really should.) ahem RPP!



The stinger front bumper with winch mount.


I think I'll start wiring up the roof LEDs, headlights and tail lights. They add a TON to scale. I feel like it needs an interior of some kind with a driver. Any suggestions. Pro-line interior/driver set? Axial Exo?

Should get it done soon then its off to the next build (hummer HX)

[daign]

Finished wiring all the lighting, mounting the light bar, actually spent quite a bit of time figuring out a way to stuff the 5 light bar into the FJ40. The result was worth it and I still have full tilt functionality. Really happy with how it turned out. I still feel like it needs an interior.
Cleaned up all the wiring using heatshrink as much as possible.
















For some reason the camera processed the left lights as blue...




All wiring is cleaned up with zip tie attachments to a generic 3racing LED light box. I use all these light boxes on all my builds, so I keep the leftovers for future builds.





Chassis with velcro body mounts.