johnnyluv's 1st scale build - STRC short wheelbase SCX10
 

This is not going to be impressive, by any means, since I'm one of the least experienced scale builders, or even model builder. Seriously, I didn't build models, legos, or anything, growing up, because I never wanted to stay indoors. However, here I am, decades later, getting into scale RC crawling, and I end up picking a custom, short wheelbase build as my first kit. Talk about choosing the hard road.

It all began in the early spring of 2014, before I had a working crawler. I purchased an SCX10 JK kit from Tower Hobbies, during a good sale, heeding the advice of many, that building a crawler would provide an invaluable level of knowledge and self-sufficiency. The kit arrived a week later, but as I was not ready to start the build, the box was gently stowed beneath the bed. Shortly after that, while perusing through a thrift store, I found a Nikko FJ Cruiser on the used toy shelf. I didn't even know, at the time, that it was, or had been, a highly sought after RC hard body, so I whipped out my phone and Googled it, to make sure I wouldn't be wasting $6.00. Within a few search results, of course, I discovered that I had found a gold nugget in a stream of useless sediment, and quickly grabbed it with both hands and proceeded to the checkout. I got home, removed the body, disassembled the chassis, and discarded the useless pieces. The body had working headlights, which tested positive, but now I could only shelve it, until some time in the future, when I figured out what to do with it.

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As the months wore on, I researched, reading many forum threads and watching many YouTube videos, but it wasn't until mid summer, that I learned about the STRC Short Wheelbase Conversion Kit. Seeing that summer was most likely going to pass before I could dig into a custom kit build, I chose to spring for an RTR SCX10 Deadbolt, so I could jump into crawling, and learn what it was about. My plan was to get an STRC swb conversion kit, to supplement my SCX10 JK kit, for a short wheelbase build, later on, in the fall season. I had wanted to do it before winter, but was having too much fun getting out with my current truck. Also, I took the Rubicon body (and links) from the JK kit, painted it up, and swapped out the Deadbolt body with it.

As it commonly goes, I ended up waiting until winter time, to finally begin the kit build, having almost an entire week off work, which really helped me get focused. That was over the Christmas week.

Now, since I was building a new SCX10 kit, and not performing a conversion, as the STRC kit instructions are based on, I had to fill in the process gaps, myself, and go back n' forth between the SCX10 build guide and the STRC conversion guide. It wasn't too bad, for getting the axles & tranny built, and putting the frame together, until I chose to start with my FJ Cruiser body, which had a greater than 9.8" wheelbase. You see, I had been lucky all summer, finding additional toy RC hard bodies, and a couple of them would've fit the 9.8" wheelbase that the STRC kit provides, but I wanted to do the FJ first. Therefore, I had to figure out the wheelbase on my own.

Frustrating enough, I got mixed measurements, since, when I first measured it, it seemed 10.75", but later it looked more like 10.6". Then, as I worked with it, I settled on 10.75", because of the front wheel well. If you look closely at the Nikko FJ Cruiser body, you'll notice that the back side of the front wheel well is more straight than both sides of the rear wheel well, which are more slanted. Because of that, the front wheel needs to set a little further away from the back side of the wheel well, to avoid rubbing under articulation, seemingly.

Now, since I'd never done this before, I used wooden skewer sticks to mock up my links. This was a pain, at first, because even with some paper shims, the sticks kept falling out of the rod ends. Being greatly upset, I had to walk away, and leave it for the next day.

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I went ahead took care of waterproofing my new servo, a PowerHD 1501 MG, which I had also purchased, many months before, from ValueHobby. It's not shown in the picture, but I added a good layer of marine grease on top of the topmost gears.

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To overcome the challenge of my wooden links falling out of the rod ends, I cut small strips of a rubber balloon, and pulled each one tightly over the end of the stick, before inserting into the rod end. This provided a gripping effect. It also helped to turn the chassis upside down, and once getting the links in place, using rubber bands to pull the axles in toward each other. This probably sounds nuts, but it worked for me, and kept everything in place, for transporting it up to my in-laws, where I got help from my father-in-law, cutting and threading steel links from a 3/16" steel rod from Home Depot. We threaded it using an 8-32 thread die, and tapping the rod ends the same. By the end of New Year's Day, I had all my permanent upper & lower links in place, and was very satisfied.

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I felt it best to note that I used two MIP Rear C-Drive "Dig" shafts, due to their short length (thanks to Lobonyc). Consequently, the MIP shaft uses a set screw, but neither my transmission or axle outputs had flat spots, so I had to match up the holes, to make sure the set screw would at least have some indentation to hold against.

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I don't have the body mounted yet, but as it sets, it looks like I nailed that wheelbase. Not too bad for a Johnny-come-lately. ;)

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The chassis was now ready for the receiver box, battery tray, and finally, the electronics. The STRC kit recommends using their optional STRC aluminum rear brace, but I used the SCX10 plastic brace. In the conversion kit instructions, they use servo tape to mount the ESC down on the rear brace, because the aluminum STRC brace is flat & smooth. The stock plastic brace didn't provide that, but as I looked at my spare parts on the table, I noticed I had an unused stock metal front servo plate (since the STRC kit provides its own servo plate, which also serves an upper link mount, for a front 4-link setup, which I did). Soooo, I tapped three holes in the plastic rear brace, and mounted the servo plate on top, which provided me a nice smooth plate to mount my esc. :D Speaking of esc, I took the AE-5 off my RTR Deadbolt chassis, since it has a smaller footprint, and a new Castle SV3 will take its place.

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I decided to use the Titan12T brushed motor that came out of my Traxxas Son-uva Digger, since I was most likely going to toss it, sooner or later, so why not use it? Since it is a lower turn motor, I simply put on the original 14T pinion that came with it, which was perfect, because it reduced speed significantly, and added sufficient torque, as far as I can tell. I haven't been able to get an outside test, yet.

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Just for an initial test, I mounted some Pro-line 2.2 Dirt Hawgs, intended for the 1/16 Traxxas E-Revo, since their overall diameter (OD) matches the FJ Cruiser's wheel wells, almost perfectly. However, I have a set of heavyweight, 1.9 alloy beadlocks, that will be going in their place, with some rock crusher style tires that measure about 94mm OD, just a wee bit larger than the Dirt Hawgs, but with good crawler tread.

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And with that, I'm going to publish this thread, as I'm now waiting on a special 1.5mm hex socket driver, in order to use my new beadlocks, which I'm expecting to arrive later this week. I've also got some brainstorming to do, regarding the body mounting, and other stuff, like tail lights. More to come, for certain, as time allows. ;-)

Re: johnnyluv's 1st scale build - STRC/SCX10 Nikko FJ Cruiser
 

I would have never guessed you were not a scale truck builder! This looks pretty boss to me!
Subbed, and keep up the good work!

Re: johnnyluv's 1st scale build - STRC/SCX10 Nikko FJ Cruiser
 

Nice narrative and a quality build from what I can tell from the series of build pics. Nice score on the FJ body too!

Re: johnnyluv's 1st scale build - STRC/SCX10 Nikko FJ Cruiser
 

Hey Johnnyluv,

Thanks for the mention regarding the MIP's dig cvd's

Man i must have been out of the game since i dont recall Axial changing the output drives from setscrews to pins.

Im stoked to see your build thread and will be gathering my pics to start my short wheel base build here as well.

IT was great doing Parallel builds with you man. Ive sent you some finished pics upfront before doing the build thread since you've been there from the start.

"thumbsup"GREAT JOB"thumbsup"

Re: johnnyluv's 1st scale build - STRC/SCX10 Nikko FJ Cruiser
 

Looking good so far!

I've been eyeing up those beadlocks for a while now....first set I've seen in a forum. Curious to hear any feedback you have on them.

Re: johnnyluv's 1st scale build - STRC/SCX10 Nikko FJ Cruiser
 

Thanks, man. Regarding those MIP's, I'm certain the noise I'm hearing is coming from either the tranny outputs or shaft swivel points, so I may go ahead and get that older Axial output gear, that has the flat spot. While I'm in the tranny, I'll go ahead and replace the plastic internals with metal. Hopefully that'll be sufficient noise reduction. Fortunately, it's just a minor, irritating noise, and not an actual binding. Motor doesn't overheat in the slightest, and it wheels just fine. Very happy about that! :mrgreen:

Thanks! Hey, so far I'm liking them, especially with the HPI Yokohama Geolandar tires on them, which I'll post up about, soon.

Re: johnnyluv's 1st scale build - STRC/SCX10 Nikko FJ Cruiser
 

The MIP's are designed to use a pin through the hole with threads on one end, not a set screw I am 99% sure.

Looks nice

Wes

Re: johnnyluv's 1st scale build - STRC/SCX10 Nikko FJ Cruiser
 

These were the MIP C-Drive Dig Spline Kit(Rear only), and they came with set screws, with a threaded hole on each side of the coupler. The reason for using this kit was because the rear shaft was made to be shorter, to make room for the DIG unit. I ordered two of them, since I needed short, but equal length shafts.

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Re: johnnyluv's 1st scale build - STRC/SCX10 Nikko FJ Cruiser
 

They were a little work, with the twelve hex screws, but I know there are wheels out there, with more than twice as many screws, so I'm not complaining. I will say, because of the plastic rim pieces, that gentleness is needed when screwing them in, or they'll strip. I think I had a couple of screws begin to do the endless turning thing, before I even felt much resistance, which was a little disappointing. However, you do have twelve screws, so one or two bad ones is not a total loss. I don't run 3S LiPo power, so I'm not worried about tire blowout.

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I was thinking I would keep these 2.2's on the FJ for most of the winter, but they're just a little too big for curb appeal. After a good Simple Green treatment, the HPI Yokohama Geolandars were fairly sticky, although a little harder than what most scalers would prefer. Plus, I overweighted them, and ended up getting only 1/2 the run time on my 6900mAh 2S LiPo. :lol: Going forward, I think I'm going to remove some of the lead weight and put these on my Jeep Rubicon, then pull the beadlocks out of the Maxxis Trepadors (currently on my Jeep) and mount smaller tires (< 4" O.D.) on them, to put on the FJ. This will bring it into a better scale proportion. Eventually, I'd like to get K44 axles, to tuck the wheels in a little more. Plus, I have several other short/narrow hard bodies I plan on using on this chassis, which would benefit from narrower axles, but that's a lot of $$ for just axles.

Re: johnnyluv's 1st scale build - STRC/SCX10 Nikko FJ Cruiser
 

This is where I left off with my FJ Cruiser build, and where it's going to end, as far as the FJ Cruiser is concerned. I'm unwilling to do further modification, or spend more $$, to get this body to look right in my eyes. I simply got tired of it. On the other hand, having recently assembled a Gelande 2 chassis, I see that the Nikko FJ Cruiser body is actually a much better fit on that one, without the need to cut away fender flairs, or whatnot. Eventually, I'll repaint the FJ a darker color, then try it on the G2. Until then, it's going into the storage bin.

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Going forward, this STRC SWB chassis is slated to be used for my Radio Shack Jeep Icon Concept hard body, once I get the motor & transmission mounted up front.

Re: johnnyluv's 1st scale build - STRC/SCX10 Nikko FJ Cruiser
 

If you dont mind me asking what were your link lengths? I am building one of these now and am having a difficult time figuring them out. Great job by the way

Re: johnnyluv's 1st scale build - STRC/SCX10 Nikko FJ Cruiser
 

Thanks! Yeah, I went into this build having no kit building experience, so it was a bit overwhelming, mostly because of that custom wheelbase. I wanted to run with that FJ Cruiser body bad enough, though, so I soldiered on.

I ended up with the following link lengths:

• Upper Front - 72mm \ Upper Rear - 86mm
• Lower Front - 91mm \ Lower Rear - 90mm

Those lengths are the full length of the link, from tip-to-tip, and I used Traxxas Revo rod ends. I should also note that I had to back out the rod ends on my upper links, making them longer, to resolve drive shaft binding. Luckily, those rod ends are long enough to keep sufficient thread depth, so that they didn't seem to lose any holding strength, otherwise I would've had to make new, longer links. So, you might want to go with a slightly longer upper, perhaps increasing each link by 2 - 4 mm (upper front - 75mm \ upper rear - 89mm?). Then, if they're a little too long, you can easily grind them down, instead of making new ones. Good luck with whatever you do. "thumbsup"

Re: johnnyluv's 1st scale build - STRC/SCX10 Nikko FJ Cruiser
 

Hi johnnyluv - Great thread! I know it's a lexan body, but why not try the Tamiya FJ body? It's wider and a slightly longer wheelbase, and highly detailed even though it's lexan. Might still get you the scale FJ you were looking for.

Steve

Re: johnnyluv's 1st scale build - STRC/SCX10 Nikko FJ Cruiser
 

Thanks, pastimesteve. I mostly wanted to use that Nikko FJ because it seemed special, being the first toy hard body I had found, getting into the scale truck side of the hobby. You're right about the Tamiya FJ Cruiser body being wider, but its wheelbase is a quarter inch shorter than the Nikko. I won't argue that it's a good looking body, though.

No, I don't think I'll pursue another FJ for the SCX10. However, I had the fortune of getting a Gelände 2 kit, earlier this year, and I think the Nikko FJ will eventually find a new home on that chassis, because of the narrower Yota II axles. I think I'm even going to use the G2 for my Radio Shack Jeep, because it already has a forward motor & tranny, and that Jeep body has a deep interior.

I'm currently running a Redcat Baja body on my STRC/SCX10 shorty, and I have one other body to try out, and after that I plan to extend the wheelbase for a Camel Trophy Dingo.

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Re: johnnyluv's 1st scale build - STRC short wheelbase SCX10
 

Here's the next installment of my STRC short wheelbase SCX10:

The SCX10 Telluride!

I was on RPP's site, a few months ago, looking for a new scale body to fit my rig's 10.75" wheelbase, and stumbled on the clear Telluride body. I didn't even know it came in a clear body, and when I looked up the dimensions, sure enough, it was just my size. [emoji13] What I liked about this body is that the wheel wells looked large enough to house Trepadors, and I had a set of four, which came off my RTR Deadbolt, last summer. I had been running the PL Super Swamper SX's on my Baja, which I felt were too short for the terrain I tend to wheel around on.
Another cool aspect about using this body, is that since the SCX10 axles are narrower than a Traxxas Telluride, the wheels would set right inside the wheel wells, looking much more scale.

Finally got around to painting the body, starting a few weeks ago, after getting tired of the Baja, and finished it up Wednesday. Thursday night I got all the wheels assembled, and bumpers on Friday. My wife had gotten onto me about having too many blue RC's, so I went outside my preference zone, and picked Tamiya translucent red and gunmetal gray, backed by anodized aluminum, then silver. I thought the anodized aluminum would work by itself, but it, itself, is a translucent type of paint. The overall look of this thing makes me think of some futuristic military SUV. [emoji1] I love it!

I'm only having one problem, which is with both bumpers being in close proximity to the tires, especially on the front. This is due to the short STRC frame rails, and lack of a buffer between the front of the wheel well and front of the body. I'm having to dremel out much of the lower section of the front bumper, to keep the front left wheel from jumping out and biting it. The right side is fine.
Regarding the rear, the bumper simply sits behind the body's edge, so it's hidden. I'd have to fabricate some sort of extension, to push the bumper out and make it flush. Maybe in the future.

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Re: johnnyluv's 1st scale build - STRC short wheelbase SCX10
 

Well, here's how the Little Red Riding Truck is fairing these days. He got upgraded with a legit RC4WD Rampage Recovery universal bumper, for which I had to modify some Trailfinder style, bumper mounting posts in order to fit properly.

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Also installed some lighting, on both the bumper and in the body, but I'm going to have to redo the plugs, because they started cutting out on me.

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It's been too soggy to get out much this winter, but I've managed a few outings.

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Re: johnnyluv's 1st scale build - STRC short wheelbase SCX10
 

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I'm guessing that since I did nothing festive, whatsoever, for Halloween last year, that I'm getting the festive bug early this year. Last week I started thinking about Halloween, and some of the RC photo/video ideas I had had in the past, but hadn't followed through on, and ended up buying an SMT10 Grave Digger chassis off eBay. That was going to suffice for having a Halloween-themed truck for this season, but just yesterday I was on the Traxxas forums, surfing the Stampede 2WD subforum, looking for opinions on the Bigfoot/Monster Jam tires, and started thinking about getting the actual Bigfoot #1 body for my STRC SWB SCX10 chassis. That, of course, wouldn't look well, because my chassis is now too heavily accented by gunmetal, black, and red aluminum (due to upgrades this past year). Somehow, at that point, my mind went straight to the Traxxas Skully body, which fits the same wheelbase (Stampede 2WD), and I realized I could make another fun, Halloween-themed scale truck, with just a body and some tougher looking wheels!

Unfortunately, I can't turn it into a Monster Truck, because increasing my shock length would cause binding, and I wouldn't want to mess with trying to open my differentials or whatnot. No, this will simply be a sort of Monster Scaler/Crawler...just for fun.