Midnight Express '53 Ford - My 1.9 Trail (Class 2) for 2015

[dna4engr]

The cold has been keeping us all cooped up so I figured its time to start my 2015 1.9 scale build for the next Mnrcrc season.

2014 was pretty good to me, got lucky enough to win the 1.9 trail class. So why build a new rig? Cuz that's what builders do, we build!

To start off I have to pay homage to my inspirations. When I first got into rc, I always loved the midnight pumpkin. I never got one. I picked up a couple MP bodies off of the classifieds and figured its time to get into customizing styrene. The other inspiration was sam63's build with the same body. Just loved how he modded the body and I'm going to use a similar process.

Bunch of other things I'm using for the first time so this should be a fun build.
Here's the tentative plan...
Scx10 axles, rcbros burly tubes xr width up front (ironically picked up from sam63 himself)
Axial OD up front and UD in rear
TSS frame rails and Delrin skid
TSS Robby Gordon 1.9. Proline swampers and CI foams
Ax10 trans with mip and maxx drivelines
Castle mmp with tekin roc412 (haven't decided on 2300 or 3100)
Futaba 9157 and my 4pls
Winch will either be tzi world or a servo winch, kinda depends on the space and orientation
Custom rear tube bed - 3/16 Dom tubing.
Scx10 shocks with Al bodies





Also picked up a hulksta rear upper link mount from a buddy (yea I know it's not too scale but I also want this to perform)



Axles roughed into place





In order to proceed on the chassis, body needs some work.

Oops it fell in half.



And then it just came apart in the middle.



To get the front tires in legal for class 2 I had to add an inch to the body width.









Lots of body work left. Filler, sanding and paint are going to be fun. It's my first time doing a body with styrene and it's pretty dang fun. Glad I had a great reference thread to work off of.

Dna


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[n_d_fox]

Looking forward to seeing this progress and taking some tips along the way... im also just doing my first hard body / styrene build using a clod shell. So far all ive done is cut the bed off and smooth out the rib in the bonnet (hood).

Thanks, Nige

[jerrodww1974]

Looks good so far, can't wait to see what the finished product looks like

[Big Daddy]

Looks good, I totally dug Sam's rig at SWSC 2014. One thing though, the inside of the tires can't be wider than the cab at the doors according to SORRCA rules. May not matter where you run, but something to keep in mind.

[79SCX10]

Very cool! I'm a Ford guy so this is going to be a sweet truck to see be built! Going to subscribe to this one!

[fr8cture]

this looks like it could turn out very look. Looking forward to it.

[dna4engr]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Looks good, I totally dug Sam's rig at SWSC 2014. One thing though, the inside of the tires can't be wider than the cab at the doors according to SORRCA rules. May not matter where you run, but something to keep in mind.

Yea, the xr10 conversion was a little wider than expected.

Do the running boards count as part of the cab or not? Can't tell from the pic but those are wider than the inside of the tires.

We don't run by sorrca rules up here (usrcca trail mostly for comps), but I may try and make some events out of mn next year.

Dna

[sam63]

Hey man, looks great!! Im glad you liked my old Ford.

Heres one thing that you might have to check though. I was never running xr width and it looks like your body is as wide as mine. The running boards that are on that body don't count toward your width which is going to make your front end way too wide I think.

Here is basically the mod I did on mine---http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/axial-scx-10/387262-how-do-narrow-xr10-mod-axial-axles.html

You might be a full inch wider with running the full width XR set-up....that I sold you.

[Maddog Madigan]

Glad to see a hardbody is being used. Looking forward to see this pumpkin grow.

[dna4engr]

Originally Posted by sam63

Hey man, looks great!! Im glad you liked my old Ford.

Heres one thing that you might have to check though. I was never running xr width and it looks like your body is as wide as mine. The running boards that are on that body don't count toward your width which is going to make your front end way too wide I think.

Here is basically the mod I did on mine---http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/axial-scx-10/387262-how-do-narrow-xr10-mod-axial-axles.html

You might be a full inch wider with running the full width XR set-up....that I sold you.

After getting going, I kinda figured I'm out of class 2 rule spec, just wanted to be ignorant and hope . I'll definitely look at narrowing it a little, thanks for the link. But I'll get the body done and start the tube work first. See how she looks and go from there.

Like I said, we don't run sorrca rules, just our own variation of usrcca trail class.

Originally Posted by Maddog Madigan

Glad to see a hardbody is being used. Looking forward to see this pumpkin grow.

Yea, this is my first one and it's surprisingly not very heavy...yet. We'll see after all the support and e6000 glue to keep it from falling apart.

[BadWagon]

Man I dig the midnight pumpkin bodies. I have a vintage pumpkin myself. I've never seen one widened. That should look sick when your done!

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by dna4engr

Yea, the xr10 conversion was a little wider than expected.

Do the running boards count as part of the cab or not? Can't tell from the pic but those are wider than the inside of the tires.

We don't run by sorrca rules up here (usrcca trail mostly for comps), but I may try and make some events out of mn next year.

Dna

Full width XR mod is a wide axle. I went with the narrow mod with splined burly tubes and I just barely make spec with my LURC wheels and .185 hubs, I might be able to use .225s but not sure. At SWSC I ran Axial wheels and had no issues with width...but its close and thats on a tundra body.

[STANG KILLA SS]

loving the chassis and wheels choice

[War Pig]

Looks great! I absolutely love Sam's rig (yes, even when he's kicking my ass with it). Doing the narrow XR10 mod will narrow it almost an inch from where it's at now, and can be done very easily with the items you have now. Just cut the splined part off your beef tubes (ouch) and you should be able to follow these directions:

How to do the narrow XR10 mod to Axial axles

Good luck! I can't wait to see this done.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by War Pig

Looks great! I absolutely love Sam's rig (yes, even when he's kicking my ass with it). Doing the narrow XR10 mod will narrow it almost an inch from where it's at now, and can be done very easily with the items you have now. Just cut the splined part off your beef tubes (ouch) and you should be able to follow these directions:

How to do the narrow XR10 mod to Axial axles

Good luck! I can't wait to see this done.

Someone posted how they cut the ends off the tubes and kept the splines. You just have to trim the axle housing back to the shoulder.

[War Pig]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Someone posted how they cut the ends off the tubes and kept the splines. You just have to trim the axle housing back to the shoulder.

Yeah, that would probably be better.

You just need to figure out how to get the shoulder of the Wraith "C" right up tight to the link/shock mount on the axle housing.

[Big Daddy]

I just put it all together and then drilled and tapped a hole in the splines to hold the c-hub.


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[dna4engr]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to cut those burly tubes up . If it doesn't look right with the body and tubework, then we break out the hacksaw

It's actually been really fun learning with the Styrene and ABS. I'm looking forward to seeing it evolve. I truly have to give credit to Sam63 again. I'll take this thing a different route, but I only hope to match the look and performance of his rig

[RcBro]

We do offer SCX10 width tubes. Or cut your tube down to 2" in length. Its pretty straight forward once you start. A simple hacksaw will do the trick.

[sam63]

Just for the record, here is where I got my inspiration...all thanks to the Baddman BaDDMaNs C2 Hotrod with a dash of MuDD bogg racer

Really an awesome rig with lots of cool details, way more than mine.

Hey, one more thing. You mentioned using shoegoo. Before you do add in styrene strips that over lap all of your seams on the under side. I did the shoegoo and eventually had cracks. Had to rip off the goo and add in lots of styrene reinforcement. My A pillars are another story all together. They crack no matter how I try to beef them up and the cage is even super tight to body to help it out. But then again my rigs live on their lids.

Keep up the good work......no pressure or anything