Not as little but still small Suzuki samurai 4x4

[T_Tank]

So... I might be going a little overkill now.. Just realized I didn't have door handles latches or a window crank


and a inner door section to give the door some extra thickness but I really don't think this would all printed nicely together as one part and it gives folks a option


well that an it lets me add just that tiny bit more detail! if I had a sla printer I could probably add diamond platting to the door card that is ALSO another separate part but its only 1.75mm thick!

[T_Tank]

Panel door card and hardware took about two an a half hours to print but hey can't argue with the results!





might have to make the door card skinnier if i want to use a sticker to simulate diamond plate.

[T_Tank]

Some more progress added a actual windshield with a couple of retainers in the frame one acetone glued to the back section of the windshield opening nice an flush an the other that sits on the outside that keeps the windshield from falling out.


Then while that was being set in I quickly threw together a replacement "seat" that lets me use my old fatshark pilot HD camera inside while the back cap hides the extra battery and fpv transmitter.





might need to adjust the camera back a little bit to get a better point of view but happy with the results sofar!B

[apex]

Oh my, the level of detail is amazing! I can't wait to see how it turns out!

[T_Tank]

Thanks I been having a lot of fun getting this together.
Today I went ahead an ran the truck around some in FPV and I will need to get used to the offset of the vehicle but thats all with practice

[T_Tank]

Well made a attempt to print out the grill logo about as small as I could without having harder issue with layer thickness I mean.. the grill logo is about... 1.5mm thick...

[T_Tank]

Well took a hour drive out to Superstition Hobbies and took the little samurai up an down an all over shaking the drive train down and well... body held up a half dozen roll overs till it end over ended an knocked the front upper braces out of the roof!





a basic photo of what broke or unintended popped out (in the case of the front windshield "gasket"

Roof an back floorboard were just out so I could work with the truck easier.

And everything back in its home



also at one point a door hinge gave up the ghost on a side roll over luckly the magnet that held to door in kept it from swinging out!

It performed pretty well for a 1.55 scaler crawler on a 1.9 course but least here an compared to the metro center crawler course (2.2 setup) I was able to run around most of the course where my little tires could find enough grip.

[T_Tank]

Decided to add some scale roof support bars and redo the roof a bit to be more in line with my rallytops hardtop so it squeezes a little more ceiling space while also making things a little more rigid.







I also reprinted the door hinges to be a bit beefier, I do need to sand an shape the back of the roof hardtop to be a bit more round and still need to figure out if I can squeeze enough space for something to keep the rear cap from falling off while crawling.

Also printed out a new extruder housing for some knock off bondtech gears for some experiments to find replacements for my printrbot gearhead extruder system I put on my cetus mk2... I really should just get a tinyfab cpu so I can easily adjust my printer extruder values.

[T_Tank]

Found out Mr Hobby made a oxide colored version of their surfacer 1000 primer/filler so you can imagine what happened next!



ran out on the gray surface 1000 so I have some more coming along so I can put about 2/3 coats of the gray then sand everything as smooth as possible. Also have some mr putty coming in that I can use like bondo for any deeper pittings or grooves that I can't fill easily with the surfacer.

[T_Tank]

light update got the body exterior almost completely primed and smoothed! Will use some filler putty and some 400-500 grit sand paper on the main shell inside just to get it mostly smoothed out then hit it with paint... aaaand maybe find some thin fabric for the floor carpeting.





And even though she's not painted I did take her out for a little crawling at a local park an had fun though need to fix the window frame on the door and the locking method for the rear cap needs to be repaired.

[jjcsr74]

Amazing work!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by jjcsr74

Amazing work!

Yep! Wow!

[Zukiiholic]

Awesome Looking Lil Zuki..

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

I just remembered GCM Racing has some Radius arms from their Bronco build, they use a diamond shaped bushing at the axle to allow it to flex and pivot freely.

Good idea, that's how early Ford Broncos front axle bushings work, those with straight axle not TTB.

Originally Posted by T_Tank

haven't tried that cause acetone just works perfectly and works with my model kits as well

Agreed, tried MEK, CA, acetone...acetone is cheap, plentiful (not quite as nasty as MEK) and can make slurry for filling/gluing all at once by chopping up tiny pieces of plastic to stir into it and sit overnight, then stir again and adjust mix to be little thinner than you want as it dries fast!

Originally Posted by T_Tank

Found out Mr Hobby made a oxide colored version of their surfacer 1000 primer/filler so you can imagine what happened next!

Looks great, that color is very close appearing at least on pc screen to 1986 Samurai brick red of coworker's.

[T_Tank]

Thanks guys and the oxide is very much a dark rust. I do plan on doing acetone smoothing by brush on the rims so they look better when painted a silver. I might even go as far as to stain the abs with a silver sharpy to make sure if they get scratches that it still looks good.

[T_Tank]

Fun little experiment today when sanding some new fender flares in black abs. After sanding heavily with 800 grit dry I took a low rpm dremel with a old wire brush an very lightly started to attempt to polish. Needless to say it came out looking like a old sun faded plastic fender with a carbon fiber likeish pattern where it was facing down on the printer.



there still little nicks an scratches which actually is fine I don't want to paint these black abs parts as they are the most likely to get the #%(* scratched out of them.
Did this with the front an rear bumpers as well and looks rather nice, printing out the rocker molding now.

Edit
Also printed out a little bracket that hangs onto the motor to let me hold the esc in place. really will clean up the engine bay a lot!



Thinking about print out some things to either replace the top of the servo or cover it to make it look like partially a radiator/shroud with a coolant res off the side. Not gonna make a fake engine to go over the esc an motor but I can try to make it look like a ev conversion!.

[T_Tank]

A bit more under hood progress!
Printed out a face for the front rad cover for the servo as well as the overflow bottle an did some more cable management.

Hood shot an there is a little rad cap thats printed in place though not easy to see


Yup thats a printed radiator core thats about... 2mm thick


And with the grill removed you can see the radiator an the overflow bottle next to it.


Not super noticeable with the current grill but the options there still but I don't think it'd work with another chassis with how the the rad setup glues to the servo front and the location of the servo on the printed chassis.

[T_Tank]

Made a 88.5ish style grill that has larger openings so you can see the radiator more easily


Really happy how the lettering came out to been dialing my printer for .1mm layer thickness without support and this was the first try. I do need to hook in my dial indicator so I can get this level of accuracy across the entire print bed.

[T_Tank]

Well the paint I got was a bit lighter then I thought it be but its looking awesome! I do know there some blemishes but I'm sure I'm gonna get some more on the trail!



Also body off shot showing how cleanly setup this thing is.

[Zukiiholic]

Nice color, Don't worry about blemishes, it'll just get scratched up trailing anyways. ;)
Like the added Turbo hood scoop.
Tight little package..