Need your suggestions before I buy and build

[hozer]

I want to build a scaler that looks like my all silver hard top wrangler unlimited. I just bought a New Bright body in good shape. I'd like the members' input on my build plan. Tell me where I'm making a mistake and add your ideas.

Goal: lowest cost method for the best near factory scale look i can get. My only 1:1 mods I want to mimic are a 2.5" lift and 34" tires. Performance is secondary. It should crawl OK and be fast enough to worry me about my pretty paint job.

Plan:
1. Buy a used low hour scx10 RTR since $275 is cheaper than buying the individual scx10 components I intend to use.
2. Only use the Tx, Rx, ESC, motor, trans, drive shats (if I can), axles, skid plate, front and rear bumper mounts.
3. Mount them on GCM crosscanyon rails ($40)
4. Position the trans at a point where spur gear sits under center console without cutting. I only want 2.5" of 1:1 lift, SO I'M NOT SURE IF THIS WILL WORK. YOU TELL ME!
5. Custom links to get 13.25" wheel base
6. Use stock 90mm shocks if possible, if not buy King 70mm dual springs.
7. Cut off and make custom rear shock mount if necessary so tower sits in void of rear seat back.
8. Buy Wraith Anti Sway kit from Hot Racing. Mount front and rear. (If I'm going fast I can't afford to roll this body)
9. Locate battery, ESC, Rx under hood.
10. Wheels: I need to find 1.9s that look like AEV savegre and dont cost a fortune. Taimya Pajero wheels is the best for now, but far from a 5 hole design. NEED IDEAS HERE
11. Tires, something that looks like a goodyear duratrac and is 100mm tall +-
12. Paint the body OEM bright silver once I've mounted everything and ran it a few times to make sure all is well. I plan to keep front and rear new bright bumpers and side steps. I will mount a real spare tire and wheel that match the other 4.
13. Add the rubber mirrors I saw somewhere
14. Add tinted lexan in the hard top and small vertical glass area of rear doors.
15. Find a cool driver
16. What pinion should I run for acceptable crawling and just under scary fast?

Problems? Better ideas?

[Bulldog]

Best advice...keep reading and searching and learning from what others have done. When you find similar ideas...take notes and follow.

From your plan, it looks like you've done some research and are taking notes. Keep that up! The more you read and follow builds, the more you'll see trends, tips and tricks. I always say it takes a minimum of six to twelve months of forum life to get comfortable with all the options out there.

Also utilize the other sections of the forum...and search through them for any questions you have. And don't forget google. Google what you want and add rccrawler and you'll almost always get ten answers to your question. 99% of the time, the question you are asking is covered somewhere in the forum.

The bad news...a lot of this hobby is trial and error and learning from experience. We can explain a lot...and give advice...but time and research is the only thing that's going to really help make your project successful.

Also...these questions would best be asked in this section. Many members eager to help.
http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/newbie-general/

[kaneohecrawler]

Originally Posted by hozer

I want to build a scaler that looks like my all silver hard top wrangler unlimited. I just bought a New Bright body in good shape. I'd like the members' input on my build plan. Tell me where I'm making a mistake and add your ideas.

Goal: lowest cost method for the best near factory scale look i can get. My only 1:1 mods I want to mimic are a 2.5" lift and 34" tires. Performance is secondary. It should crawl OK and be fast enough to worry me about my pretty paint job.

Plan:
1. Buy a used low hour scx10 RTR since $275 is cheaper than buying the individual scx10 components I intend to use.
dont do this esp if using cross canyon kit. It has all its own skids and mounts and such. Youd be wasting a lot of money
2. Only use the Tx, Rx, ESC, motor, trans, drive shats (if I can), axles, skid plate, front and rear bumper mounts.
3. Mount them on GCM crosscanyon rails ($40)
get the full kit and save yourself the heartache
4. Position the trans at a point where spur gear sits under center console without cutting. I only want 2.5" of 1:1 lift, SO I'M NOT SURE IF THIS WILL WORK. YOU TELL ME!
5. Custom links to get 13.25" wheel base
6. Use stock 90mm shocks if possible, if not buy King 70mm dual springs.
7. Cut off and make custom rear shock mount if necessary so tower sits in void of rear seat back. The cross canyon is set up for the nb jk. As far as shock mounts your good.
8. Buy Wraith Anti Sway kit from Hot Racing. Mount front and rear. (If I'm going fast I can't afford to roll this body)
9. Locate battery, ESC, Rx under hood.
10. Wheels: I need to find 1.9s that look like AEV savegre and dont cost a fortune. Taimya Pajero wheels is the best for now, but far from a 5 hole design. NEED IDEAS HERE
11. Tires, something that looks like a goodyear duratrac and is 100mm tall +-
12. Paint the body OEM bright silver once I've mounted everything and ran it a few times to make sure all is well. I plan to keep front and rear new bright bumpers and side steps. I will mount a real spare tire and wheel that match the other 4.
13. Add the rubber mirrors I saw somewhere
14. Add tinted lexan in the hard top and small vertical glass area of rear doors.
15. Find a cool driver
16. What pinion should I run for acceptable crawling and just under scary fast?

Problems? Better ideas?

Keep your first build simple till you get the hang of it. Then once you got a good general idea of how things roll, you can dip your hands a little further into the custom world.

[hozer]

Thanks for the input everyone. I am familiar with the GCM cross members and xfer case, etc. Awesome kit for sure, but I'd have to add that $160 on top of $300 worth of tx rx esc, axles, etc. The other benefit besides savings of using scx10 stuff is all the aftermarket stuff available and the great knowledge on these forums about axial and aftermarket scx10 stuff. I've studied a lot of pix and I am quite certain I can make the scx10 materials work on the CC rails. afterall, they're just rails and I have a drill press at home and a machine shop at work. Everything else is just plug and play axial gear. The big question remains, can I get the body tight enough to the rails so I get just a 1:1 2.5" lift and scale spacing above 100mm tires while still fitting in the axial trans in the middle between the console. I guess I won't know till I have the motor trans package in hand.

Good points about reading, searching, and more, reading. The current plan is like revision 6. Everytime I was sure of what I wanted to do and about to buy, I'd stumble accross something that changed my mind.

Thanks,

[Jeepfixer1]

I have a couple builds under my belt and agree with the guys here. Get a Cross Canyon kit. It's what I just did as I am fixin to build one too. Just accumulating parts right now. I bought a used one in the classifieds on here for 120$ . You can get the rest of the stuff off here too and wind up with better stuff than you would get in a new kit (already modded ie aluminum knuckles, RR gears etc...) might run a little more up front but would be cheaper in the end if that makes sense. Either way I look forward to seeing your build!

[sweli]

Just some thoughts.............

I believe the Newbright JK body is +/- 1:9 scale.

So that puts your 1.9 wheels at 17".
RC4WD and another knockoff make Jeep stock wheels.
If you really are after your AEV savegre wheels, then search Ebay for drift wheels that look close, or buy some HPI Stock Car wheels and cover the face with styrene and filler, then drill your 5 holes. That is a difficult wheel because of the angled face.

34" tires would come in at 3.77" OD.
Closest tires, size and scale looks are going to be RC4WD Dirt Grabbers, Rock Creepers, or maybe Tomahawks.
These might look small under the New Bright body.

Take a look at some of the builds.
Will Axial axles with the wheels you decide to use, put the track at what your 1:1 looks like?

Trans/body/lift: Depends on how low you fab a trans pan to go between the rails. The Cross Canyon pan is pretty flat if I remember right. It will set the spur gear too high and you'll end up cutting up ond of the front seats.
Your spur is the highest part. You can go with a smaller one, but it will impart more speed. You can center the spur, which offsets your shafts, or you can offset the spur (under one of the front seats) which will center the shafts.
Depends on who you use for a driver or passenger figures. You could cut up the front face of a seat back, and the figure and hide the spur in them.
Or go with a transfer case.

On your first build, the sway bars are going to be difficult to integrate.
Pick a chassis and axles.
Get the links right to hold them to the WB needed with the body on.
Dry fit everything in place and measure what shocks you need.
You could go with a coil over adjustable preload shock. Dial it down a little stiffer and use some thicker shock oil (maybe 60-80wt). It will make it not crawl as well, but give enough, and help prevent some of the roll at high speed.

If you use frame rails that you bolt shock towers on, you could adjust the width, so the towers sit up in the the stock rear wheel wells.

Tamiya and others make spray tint paint for plastic windows. Doesn't that do away with the need to keep the interior spot on??

[hozer]

Sweli - thanks for the detailed thoughts.

I calculate the New Bright at 8.75 scale when using an estimated 13.25 wheel base. This makes the 1.9's just under a 17" wheel. Thanks for the ideas on the Savegre. I'll look into it.

Tires I'm thinking 1.55 Invaders or 1.9 Mud thrashers. Track width? I hope the tires tuck under the wells. I think they should given the NB is wider than SCX body.

As for the sway bars, the hot racing wraith kit should work well with the mounts in the axial front bumper mount. For the rear I can just drill holes in the frame rails and use a rubber servo bushing. My only concern is are the sway bar mount locations the same on the wraith axles as the SCX axles. ????

Window wise, all 4 will appear down. I just need to tint the hard top back windows and the split windows in the rear doors. I want to show the interior with my "kids" in the Jeep.

Keep the suggestions coming. Much appreciated.

[hozer]

Found the wheels I want. BWD vertex 1.9. Anyone have some to sell?

http://a1.l3-images.myspacecdn.com/i...db5341c7/l.jpg

[hozer]

Against all your good advice, I may go custom chassis. The gcm crosscanyon combo looks great but not perfect for low lift. I want a straight to the front rail over the axle and ill add width so I can lower the motor trans. I'll also,get the rear towers perfect behind the back seat. Maybe an ax2 trans. There goes the budget build!

[hozer]

After talking to Chris at GCM (great guy), I decided to go all out. I bought the Crosscanyon combo kit, AND I bought the SCX10 front motor mount conversion for the AX2. I'm hoping to locat it with the spur shaft going in behihd the dash and the back of the motor and trans somewhere just short of the pumpkin so I can get full compression. I'll be trying it with a 4 link upfront first.

I also bought the trans and 1.9 mud thrashers from rc4wd today, the SCX10 axles, a motor, and temporary 1.9 plastic wheels (for chassis set up) off ebay today. From modelex I bought the rubber side mirrors and a 5th mud thrasher.

I'll buy the shocks, driveshafts, and other misc. items once I get the axles and chassis all mapped out.

Operation Cross Breed has commenced. Don't hold your breath for the build thread though. I have to sell a house and move out of state in the next 2 months, so I don't think there will be much building going on. I just had to pull the trigger on the items while the ideas were hot.

Thanks again for your input.

P.S. I still need 1.9 Vertex Wheels if anyone wants to sell them to me!!!

[Jeepfixer1]

Well good deal, glad you went cross canyon. I think you'll be glad you did. Also hope the move goes well, we will be waiting for more updates as you can!