Griz's Scale Adventure Trail Rigs/G6 Rides

[Grizzly4x4]

This build was actually started a year ago when I bought an Axial SCX10 Rubicon kit for my son. It turned out that he really liked my PSC Wraith better so I told him we could trade if he helped me finish building the Jeep.






The plans for this rig have been all over the place and I couldn't really find a direction. I wanted to build a more simple scale rig with less fabrication that I could just take out and enjoy, that much I knew.
Then life happened again and this rig sat on the workbench for a while.

A few weeks ago Lil Griz and I entered our first Scale Adventure event put on by The Crawl Space here in Colorado. Lil Griz enjoyed it so much that we immediately made plans to attend the next ones and I finally had a good reason to get back to working on rigs; father son time!


I then planned to build this into a 2.2 or a very large tire 1.9 as a replacement for Guido, but then while talking to a good friend on a camping trip he asked if he and his son could go with us to the next Scale Adventure.
They have box stock C/R and RTR SCX10 Jeeps so in the interest of us all running as a group I decided to turn this and the PSC Wraith back into 1.9 rigs.

I had come up with a theme for the build but still kept second guessing it: should I build a trail rig, a KOH style race rig, Jeepspeed, or what? I just couldn't decide.
Then the inspiration hit me as I came across pictures of Trump1's "Bad Ass" G6 SCX build. I loved the scale look he achieved with a bit of custom fabrication without going over the top and building a full concourse custom rig. Exactly what I was after and I liked the trail rig theme with old school looks.



The name for this build will be "Dutch". I came up with this last year when I decided to name it after the iconic character in one of my favorite movies, Predator.
This is why there will be some references to firepower in this build.


I decided that this rig would be an adventure rig; seemed fitting since the Scale Adventure run had brought this back to life.
This rig will be a hardcore trail rig, but one that is ready for long-term travel and adventure (not short rock crawling trips) to keep with the G6 format that this rig is meant to run.
There will also be just a touch of Zombie preparedness thrown in as well. Some people may feel the zombie thing is played out, but being prepared is never a bad thing and having firepower on board is always a good thing.

Early on when I came up with the name and the hunting theme the build was going to have a more subdued, military/hunting look. Since this is the 10th year anniversary of RCC I decided to honor that with more of a tribute to the colors.
I ordered a wrap from www.freqeskinz.com. I have been working with vinyl wrap alot lately, camoing my guns, iPods, sunglasses, paintball gun, and even the trim on the wife's Tahoe; so I felt it was time to try one of Neal's wraps.
I really liked the look and the colors in the "Shot Flames Neon Green" design.



These rigs are the main 1:1 inspiration for this build, but I don't plan to copy either of them. I like the elements like the wide stance and big tires.:

Cain


I like some elements of the front bumper but not the long front hoop.




Now that I have good direction I have been working hard on this for a couple weeks now and I'm loving how it is coming together so far.

[Grizzly4x4]

I won a Hand Brothers front and rear CMS kit at NWSC 2012 so I wanted to make use of the front one and show how it works on the Rubicon.
That is a bit of a moot point now since the kit is discontinued but it is a great kit and works perfect.


The servo mount required trimming off one leg of the front crossmember and that's it.


The truss bolted right on and all the parts needed were included with either the kit or in the Axial spares.
I did end up using a couple shock pistons from the spares to space the upper link a bit further from the frame.


The geometry of of the kit is spot on and there is no bump steer at all.

[Mongo]

Oh man Griz can't wait to see what you come up with. I sold Mongo years ago and just recently picked up a Rubicon kit to build and run with my daughters.

[Tmaxxed]

I love the G6 builds. I had the same inspiration you did Griz.

[Grizzly4x4]

Originally Posted by Mongo

Oh man Griz can't wait to see what you come up with. I sold Mongo years ago and just recently picked up a Rubicon kit to build and run with my daughters.

Hey bud.
Dutch won't be a concourse rig like Guido but you know me, I won't be able to settle for just a kit build.
My friend picked up an RTR because his kid drives the wheels off his SCX and had the same thought as me; quality fun time with the kids. So get yours going and get out there with the daughters.

[Grizzly4x4]

Originally Posted by Tmaxxed

I love the G6 builds. I had the same inspiration you did Griz.

Nice!!! Trump's rig is good inspiration for sure. Glad to hear that others took notice of it.

Those wheels and tires look killer on your rig.

[Tmaxxed]

Originally Posted by Grizzly4x4

Nice!!! Trump's rig is good inspiration for sure. Glad to hear that others took notice of it.

Those wheels and tires look killer on your rig.

Thanks. I'm just waiting on a few parts that should be here tomorrow then this weekend i can finally run it.

[Tmaxxed]

Predator is one of my favs BTW.

[Mongo]

Originally Posted by Grizzly4x4

Hey bud.
Dutch won't be a concourse rig like Guido but you know me, I won't be able to settle for just a kit build.
My friend picked up an RTR because his kid drives the wheels off his SCX and had the same thought as me; quality fun time with the kids. So get yours going and get out there with the daughters.

I guess by recently I meant this spring. Where did the summer go? Anyway, it's just a basic build with a few bolt ons. Mongo's SCX10 Rubicon

[Trump1]

Hey Grizzly,

I look forward to seeing your inspiration, Dutch, come to fruition.

[JohnRobHolmes]

It will be sweet, thanks for sharing

[ecoli]

Originally Posted by Grizzly4x4

I wanted to build a more simple scale rig with less fabrication that I could just take out and enjoy, that much I knew.

Will be watching this one.

[Grizzly4x4]

Originally Posted by Tmaxxed

Thanks. I'm just waiting on a few parts that should be here tomorrow then this weekend i can finally run it.

Very cool!

Originally Posted by Tmaxxed

Predator is one of my favs BTW.

Originally Posted by Mongo

I guess by recently I meant this spring. Where did the summer go? Anyway, it's just a basic build with a few bolt ons. Mongo's SCX10 Rubicon

Great rig Mongo. Glad it's working out good for you.

Originally Posted by Trump1

Hey Grizzly,

I look forward to seeing your inspiration, Dutch, come to fruition.

Thanks Trump. I'm excited about it.

Originally Posted by JohnRobHolmes

It will be sweet, thanks for sharing

Thanks John, I hope so.

Originally Posted by ecoli

Will be watching this one.

Good to see you are still around Chris.


I knew I was going to be running some large tires so I decided to extend the wheelbase. Rather than just making some custom links I thought I'd show how to accomplish a wheelbase stretch with off the shelf parts.
First thing I did was replace the Axial lower link rod ends with Traxxas #2742 rod ends (Traxxas #1942 set). The traxxas rod ends are just a bit longer and give you a perfect stretch for this body.
It doesn't seem like much, but it makes a noticable difference.

Here is the difference on a lower link.



For rear upper links I went with the Traxxas 5138 T-Maxx turnbuckles. These were a mainstay for links in the old days and I still have lots of them laying around.





Here is a comparison between the original rear tire position and the extended.



This mod pushed the rear axle back by about 0.4 (3/8 ) inches.
You can see in the pics that I also mounted my fender flares higher and further back than stock. I did this in preparation for the big tires and wheelbase stretch.
Even though I now plan to run tires about the same size as stock, the wb stretch and flare repositioning still works and changes up the look a bit.


I did the front stretch as well but it did not work out. I simply could not get the panhard bar to stop hitting the Hand Bros truss.
If you have an axle mounted servo then this much stretch will work.
The front did get a bit of a stretch but I still need to get new pictures of the setup.

[k goodrich]

Try some Jato rod ends and see what happens.

[Grizzly4x4]

Originally Posted by k goodrich

Try some Jato rod ends and see what happens.

The Jato ends are sized for a 4mm thread if I remember correctly. You can't use the 3mm setscrews that the Axials use.

That would stretch the wb way more than I want anyway.

[JohnRobHolmes]

Emaxx and Revo turnbuckles are still great to use, I just rebuilt an SCX10 using nothing but the parts bin of links!

[Grizzly4x4]

Originally Posted by JohnRobHolmes

Emaxx and Revo turnbuckles are still great to use, I just rebuilt an SCX10 using nothing but the parts bin of links!

Whenever I'm at the LHS I find myself buying some just in case.

That's how I threw together the Wraith. Just opened up the link parts bin and pulled out some Revo pushrods.

I was stoked when I put the Maxx turnbuckles in this one and they just needed a little bit of adjustment.

[Grizzly4x4]

Late last week I finished up the floorboards, which I made from 0.060" thick angle aluminum.
Also got the firewall and inner fenders finished up out of styrene. The battery mounts to the back side of the firewall.


Didn't really like the stock sliders but wanted some kind of slider to protect the body and keep it in place.
So this weekend I built some new sliders. I cut up a 1/2" square tube of steel to make two L-brackets. Then welded some 1/8" steel rod to it to jazz them up a bit.
They bolt to the floorboards with 3x M2 button head screws. I'm really happy with how they turned out.

[STANG KILLA SS]

good to see you back building!

[Trump1]

Rock sliders look good.