Early Bronco (oh yes it is!)

[Arnel]

I always love seeing these metal bodies you do! how do you straighten out the panels after carnage like that? or do you just make new panels?

[LoneRanger]

he beats em out with a 10# sledge! hahaha


L.R.

[Bogncrawl]

I really want body built guy this guy, for the real damage effect and its crazy detailed

[2003EDGE]

I am late to this party but these things are awesome!

[LoneRanger]

Bump for a few unanswered questions~

L.R.

[LoneRanger]

BUMP,

my only other question would have been are you using some kind of release agent? (but I dont think you are)
when you say the 2 gallon kit, do you mean a gallon of part "a" and a gallon of part "b"? That's the one they are selling for 85 bucks or so?

need more pics!!!

[Metal Masher]

Originally Posted by desertmaxx

i hate photobucket. all the pics say that your pics are too popular for me to see. i am guessing its amazing though. keep up the good work i think.

Yah, i hate Photobucket

Originally Posted by ngward79

So is this the same Bronco that got all smashed up at the East Coast RC4WD event ? We may have to change your screen name to metalsmasher lol... I also have a question , what do you use to glue your corners and the cuts you make and get them to turn out so smooth ?

Yep John is right. I was hoping to get this updated before the pics of it started showing up but I just haven't had time.

Originally Posted by Rckcrwlr

The same...

But the funny thing is there was a hit and run accident that RockedUp Ricky witnessed.

The Bronco was parked...another guy backed into it and gave it that front passenger side dent. When told about it, he said it was already there and then drove off.

Really?! Which dent? The big one or the really big one? LOL!

Originally Posted by Moorin90

Wow bit of a difference and a real shame considering the work gone into that body! Hope you get things sorted out.

No not really. It didn't take long to make and besides I made it to get trashed

Originally Posted by FORDROX97

Meh, it'll buff out.

Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Tapatalk 2

Originally Posted by Arnel

I always love seeing these metal bodies you do! how do you straighten out the panels after carnage like that? or do you just make new panels?

Originally Posted by LoneRanger

he beats em out with a 10# sledge! hahaha


L.R.

LOL your funny! actually i just grab the panels from the inside and pull and shape them. Sometimes i'll put them off and reshape them on a flat surface. When they get to beat up to reshape them i'll make new ones.

Originally Posted by Bogncrawl

I really want body built guy this guy, for the real damage effect and its crazy detailed

Originally Posted by LoneRanger

BUMP,

my only other question would have been are you using some kind of release agent? (but I dont think you are)
when you say the 2 gallon kit, do you mean a gallon of part "a" and a gallon of part "b"? That's the one they are selling for 85 bucks or so?

need more pics!!!

Sorry i didn't get to this sooner but I've been trying to get other threads updated and been doing the family thing this weekend

Anyways the only thing i use is a light coat of baby powder. it's more to release the bubbles from the surface when pouring the resin then releasing the cured resin from the body but it does help.

Yes you are right about the resin, it' 1 gal of each part.

Ok time for more progress

Once i got the main hoops done the next step was to make sure the body fits







Happy i started adding the stringers



The ones on the sides will support the rear quarters

Fits good



Then i added cross bars to make it legal



Then came the front fender supports



I did this one different then my class 2 Toyota in that the supports are under the hood instead of inside the fenders. I'm hoping to show more damage this way



It was now time to glue the body together. you can never have too many clips!



Another deviation from my Toyota was that i completely glued the body together (except for the roof) my Toyota has separate panels that get bolted on. I did it this way to make it faster to fabricate. it required less tabs to add to the chassis



With most of the chassis done it was time to mock up the ride height. I settled on TSL SX swampers and used the set off my Class 2 Toy for mock-up. The looked the best to me.



once i was happy i made new lower links



then cobbled together the uppers using spare parts i had lying around



Then it was time for shock hoops





And finally it was standing on it's own













At this point it was still sitting a bit tall but once everything gets added it will settle down a bit

Happy with the suspension and tires i threw together a set of spare swampers and wheels i had acquired some time ago



Before i could do the steering i added a set of high steer knuckles



Then to mount the servo i made a mount



Then welded it to the chassis





Then mocked up the steering



Next i made a mod to the tranny that i had done before but this time i recycled a broken TLT shaft for the mod



The shaft was cut down to this



Then the stock diff gear was drilled and the shaft pinned in place



Now i was able to take it for a test run. I used the tired from my Scout as it they were the only ones i had that were assembled and weighted



The test went well. I threw the body on to see how it looked with the smaller tires.



I think it would work good for class 1 if it was lower and had narrower axles.

that's it for now

[Bulldog]

This is scale craftsmanship at its finest. I've followed your builds for years, I"m ashamed to say I haven't posted more. Absolutely amazing work. Loved your interview at the ECSC, it really showed how passionate you are about your builds. The level of detail and determination is absolutely awe inspiring. Keep bringing the talent. Greg

[LoneRanger]

I am going to give it a go- I would have never thought to use baby powder as a release agent, but it does make sense.
I'll get everything ordered up on Tuesday-

When you use the putty to damn up the parts (like the long sides you did) I would like to see a picture of how you actually did that-

Thanks!

L.R.

[LoneRanger]

got all my stuff ordered up this am- I would like to see how you mount the body to your frame/ cage work.

thanks!


L.R.

[WraithVader]

Amazing work, truly a work of art!

[Tantaran69]

Not sure if I like it better before or after the Comp, LOL!!!!!
gREAT JOb!!!!!!

[blakeski]

MORE BANDWIDTH!! I cant see the pics :-(

[Metal Masher]

Originally Posted by blakeski

MORE BANDWIDTH!! I cant see the pics :-(

It's fixed now. I'll get some more progress pics up later

[blakeski]

dang , this thing is rad!! I cant wait man... I cant wait

[Metal Masher]

Originally Posted by Bulldog

This is scale craftsmanship at its finest. I've followed your builds for years, I"m ashamed to say I haven't posted more. Absolutely amazing work. Loved your interview at the ECSC, it really showed how passionate you are about your builds. The level of detail and determination is absolutely awe inspiring. Keep bringing the talent. Greg

Thanks! Don't feel bad not posting. i do the same thing on other threads i follow.

Yah, I never hesitate to tell people about my trucks. I've been in to RC's since the 80's but i've never had as much enjoyment as i do building metal bodies. To say i'm passionate it probably an understatement. my wife leans more towards obsessive

Originally Posted by LoneRanger

I am going to give it a go- I would have never thought to use baby powder as a release agent, but it does make sense.
I'll get everything ordered up on Tuesday-

When you use the putty to damn up the parts (like the long sides you did) I would like to see a picture of how you actually did that-

Thanks!

L.R.

Originally Posted by LoneRanger

got all my stuff ordered up this am- I would like to see how you mount the body to your frame/ cage work.

thanks!


L.R.

Good to hear you taking on the project! I can't wait to see the progress!

Originally Posted by vmcb

OOHHH my god
Another great building...amazing!!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Tantaran69

Not sure if I like it better before or after the Comp, LOL!!!!!
gREAT JOb!!!!!!

You should see it now! I ran it in another comp this past weekend

Originally Posted by blakeski

dang , this thing is rad!! I cant wait man... I cant wait

Wait no more!

Once i had the chassis sorted out it was time to mount the body.

Similar to my class 2 Toyota, i made tabs to mount to the cage



then welded them in place to hold the front fenders



for the rockers, i bent drilled and tapped some tabs



and welded them just above the sliders



with the body in place you can see how they hold the body from below and are hidden at the same time



Before i moved to the rear i decided to tackle the seats. I decided to use Axial Buckets and mount them like i would in a 1:1 with tubing

I started with the main tubes and some more tabs




then tacked them in place and fixed them to the seats



next i added a bar between the hoops to mount them to and tacked them in place



Now i could add the door bar



I needed to keep the space in between to clear the tranny so i added some bars to tie everything together



Next i decided i needed a spare tire mount so i added one between the rear hoops while i had the room to get into it





Then i made more tabs an added them to the rear of the chassis



then i test fit the body















It was looking real good at this point with most of the weight on the suspension. the 1000+ on the RTI was a pretty good indication of how it ended up performing

The last item i added before brazing was the D ring mounts

I cut them out of heavy stock and notched them to fit the bumpers







All brazed up



Now here is where i screwed up. I was rushing to get it done for the ECSC and after i had the whole thing blasted and painted up real nice i realized that i forgot to make the mounts for the hood

Easily fixed, i cleaned the paint off the dash tube and added some bend and tapped tabs



Then i used some model airplane hinges glued to the hood with the windshield frame sandwiched between.





This ends up being the front mount for the whole roof. i opted to glue the windshield to the roof as i could not figure out a practical way to mount the front of the roof to the windshield after it was in place. i figured if i ever wanted to run it with ought the roof i would just make another windshield frame

Now for the grill i realized that the Tamiya Bruiser/mountaineer/high-lift headlight lens fits perfectly in the grill.





Then i glued it in place

[Metal Masher]

Before the final assembly i aded some upgrades to the front axle in the form of aluminum C's and some CVD's



It was getting down to crunch time and i needed something to mount the electronics and battery so i rummaged through my scrap plastic and found some thick PVC sheet

I cut a sheet for a firewall



Then another for a battery mount that snapped in between the shock hoops



The slots make it easy to mount the battery



I wanted to hide the tranny a bit more so i threw a quick piece of metal in place to resemble a tranny hump



I'm running an FM radio in this as it is the only thing i had available with 3 channels so to hide the receiver wire i simply taped it to the cage.



now i could clue the windshield in place to make it legal



and mount the roof and hood. here is a shot of all the electronics in place



to hold the back of the roof on i made small tabs that clamped the sides to the cage



Finally i made up a new set of my steel tire inserts, mounted the new tires and wheels togterh and it was almost ready to go save for the winch controller





WOW that was long but i finally got it updated to before the comp. next will be after shots and some mods i have done so far

[B94Cast]

Awesome! I would imagine that all that metal makes it sound as unique as it looks when it is running. Any vids maybe?

Thanks!

[Metal Masher]

Originally Posted by B94Cast

Awesome! I would imagine that all that metal makes it sound as unique as it looks when it is running. Any vids maybe?

Thanks!

I just uploaded one gary class 2 run 1 - YouTube

[B94Cast]

That's pretty sweet - dents and mashes just like a 1:1 would with those impacts. Although its kinda like watching a puppy getting kicked when it gets munched - lol.