SCX10 JK Scale Rebuild

[RMNixon]

THE BEGINNING

I got bit by the scaling bug last year and purchased my first SCX10, the JK kit. It was my first scale build, and even though I learned a lot I always thought it looked terrible. I saw so many things I could do better... I decided it was time to freshen up the ol' JK!

I've got another SCX10 done up in J8 fashion (you can see it here), and honestly having two trucks that handled the same was getting a little boring. So my first rebuild task was creating a working limited slip differential. I don't care if this rig looses some off-road ability if it makes it more scale.



LIMITED SLIP DIFFERENTIAL
I know this has been tried many times with Silly Putty, heavy weight silicon oils or springs but never with great results, at least not for a crawler. One day I came across a thread where a guy had mostly locked his Slash differential using the JB Weld Steel component (don't add the hardener). I had an old open differential from an AX-10 RTR sitting in a drawer and JB Weld on the bench, so I gave it a shot. I filled the diff up with the Steel epoxy and put it in the front of my (1st) SCX10. I took it out for a crawl and it worked, really well!

I ordered another set of diff gears and did the same to the back. It does loose a little bit in terms of pure crawling performance, but it looks so much more realistic! My open diff SCX10 can go 99% of the places my locked SCX10 can, but sometimes it takes a few more runs. I'll get a video up of it on the rocks once the snow melts a bit, but here it is in the garage to give you an idea:


To put it together, you can reference the instructions below (from the AX-10 RTR manual on Axial's site).


If you want to open up your own diffs, here are the parts:

AXI80002 Axial Differential Case - Small: AX10 Scorpion $4.69

AXI30390 Axial Differential Gear Set $6.39

SER110205 Serpent 3x22mm Pin (10) $5.19

AXIA1162 Axial 5x1mm O-Ring (10) $2.49

AXI30392 Axial Bevel Gear Set (38/13) $10.75

AXI30385 Axial 16x25x0.5mm Differential Gasket $5.98

JB Weld - any hardware store - ~$10


2WD/4WD - WRAITH DIG
Next up was a dig, but in reverse. I wanted to be able to switch from 2wd to 4wd from my trasmitter, just to be scale. I updated my transmission to the Wraith case and got the Axial dig kit. I used a Traxxas 2wd Slash driveshaft in the front, and ended up doing the same in the rear once I saw how much quieter it was. I had to drill out the output yokes just a bit to get them to slip over the Axial output shafts. Anyway, here's a little demo of 2wd/4wd:


As always, if you want to do the same, here are the parts I used. The non-Axial bearings and screws I used were simply because they were what was in stock. Any bearings and screws that match the sizes below will work if you can't track down Axial branded parts.

XFC6647 X Factory 3x16mm Button Head Screw (6) $1.59

AXI30793 Axial Dig Upgrade Set $31.99

AXI80051 Axial Dig Transmission Case $8.99

SER1337 Serpent 15x21x4mm Ball Bearing (2) $5.59

TRA5116 Traxxas 5x11x4mm Ball Bearing (TMX 3.3,Revo) (2) $2.99

TRA1951 Traxxas Half Shafts Long Truck (2) $5.09

TRA4628R Traxxas Differential Output Yokes (Black) (VXL) (2) $6.78

The dig kit doesn't come with any instructions, but you can find them on Axial's website. There's a link at the bottom of this page with a PDF download.


WHEELS AND TIRES
Next up - wheels and tires! I've been drooling over RC4WD's JK Stock Beadlock wheels for years now. This was the perfect excuse to pull the trigger and order a set, complete with matching spare!

I'd also been drooling over RC4WD's 1.9 Dirt Grabbers. I've seen so many pictures of them on white steelies in D90 builds, but never on the JK stock wheels. So I ordered up a set, complete with matching spare!

And finally, to freshen up the driveline I got a new RC4WD 55t motor. These are sealed can, disposable motors that are dirt cheap ($9.99) and take a beating. Highly recommended! I went with a 55t as I'll be running it on 4s!

Shipping from RC4WD was great, but it seemed to take forever because I was so anxious to see how the wheels and tires looked together. When I saw them in real life I was amazed! Take a look for yourself:









THE BODYWORK
Now on the body! As proud as I am of how this build came out, I know it's not perfect and there are some people on here who put me to shame. My only goal was to impress myself and keep learning. Mission accomplished on both. That being said, on to the body. I opted to stick with the stock JK Unlimited body. Why? Because I'm still learning, you can find pictures of 1:1 JKs built any way you can imagine for inspiration, and this will be the 3rd Axial JK body I've done. As I get better I'll try out different bodies, but I wanted to put my best work into something already familiar.

Blah, blah, blah... Shut up already and get to the part #'s!
Body Set

Roof

Paint

I painted the body and roof, backed them in white and followed that up with matte black on the inside and on the top of rear side of the roof (standard 1:1 JK top).

I used Hunger Games action figures for a driver and passenger. I've seen them used in a few other scale builds and I really like them because they have a lot of articulation points and they look like real people! For what it's worth, I used a Walter White action figure from ThinkGeek.com in my original JK body. It's way too terrible to show a picture of, but Walter made a pretty good scale driver. He's got no articulation points, so I had to use a hairdryer to heat up his arms and move them into place. Just thought I'd mention it in case any one is looking for a unique scale driver.

I didn't want to drill holes into this body as I think body clips really kill the scale look. I read that many folks were having luck with rare earth magnets. Based on a post I read over at RCCrawler I ordered a set of 1/4" rare earth magnets off Amazon. When they came I was surprised at how strong they were, but I didn't have much luck using them as body mounts. I started by using a Dremel to sand down the body posts flat. Then I Shoe Goo'ed one manet onto each body mount. I wanted the body to look as clean as possible so I Shoe Goo'ed the magnets to the body after it was painted. It was impossible to get the body perfectly centered and once I got it to a point I was okay with I found the magnets weren't nearly strong enough. The front of the body would start break off at a ~30 degree incline - not good!

I ditched the magnet idea and went to velcro, much better! Now I can center the body on the frame each time I put it on, and it's much stronger.

One little detail that always bothered me on the Axial JK body was the roll-cage. I get why they made it so beefy, but it looks nothing like a stock JK roll bar. So I trimmed mine to match the 1:1 version. It retained most of its strength as well, enough that I not at all concerned.




Ok - parts & links!
My driver

My passenger

...and Walter White!

All the rest of the scale accessories I got from AsiaTees.com. They've got some cool scale accessories there, go take a look for yourself. If I posted links to just the stuff I got you'd miss a ton of cool stuff!


THE STEREO


Last on the list was something I'd seen in posts but always wanted to try - a car stereo! I basically copied a post I saw on RC Crawler and it came out great. I used a generic Bluetooth pill speaker off Ebay. You can see the type here.

I pulled it apart, and mounted the speakers in the back of my JK. I glued the battery and control board to the underside of the body. Now I can listen to music off my phone while I drive around! I know I could get a pair of headphones and knock about a 1lb of weight off, but I think this is just too cool! Check it out:

[RMNixon]

PICTURES
That's it. Here are some pictures! It's been brutally cold the last two weeks and we've got about a foot of snow on the ground, so these are all garage pics from a cell phone. :( Once things thaw out a bit I'll get some running shots/videos. Feel free to ask any questions or provide any suggestions for how I can do better next time (please)!

Mandatory flex shot with stock 1.9 Trepadors -


RC4WD 1.9 Dirt Grabbers next to stock 1.9 Trepadors -









TOPLESS










INTERIOR




Lucky Dice hanging off the rearview mirror -


"Are we lost??? I'll check Google Maps..." -

[Nappy]

Looks great! I have those figures in my amazon cart. Glad to see they look so good in there. Killer job!!!

[RMNixon]

A few updates:

Cut the stinger bar off the front bumper, made some license plates and painted the shackles...


...exhaust on the rear end

[Zukiiholic]

I love the 2wd to 4wd conversion..
Your jeep is looking good..

[RMNixon]

Thanks guys!

I made a few more changes, I printed up a few bumper stickers for the back:






And now that I got my exhaust I better have my emissions exemption sticker, and Colorado State Parks Pass sticker on the windshield!

[saiyan46]

Nice ultra scale looking JK.

I also modded my roll-cage back to a more stock looking set up.

I also down-sized the tires to rc4wd's Rock Creepers and think it actually looks like the 33" to 36" popular among the everyday 4x. The FlatIrons and Ripsaws are like running 44"s and that's just to tall for your average Jeep.

I put a speaker box set up in mine for some trail tunage and I can still hear what's going on around me.

[RMNixon]

Originally Posted by saiyan46

Nice ultra scale looking JK.

I also modded my roll-cage back to a more stock looking set up.

I also down-sized the tires to rc4wd's Rock Creepers and think it actually looks like the 33" to 36" popular among the everyday 4x. The FlatIrons and Ripsaws are like running 44"s and that's just to tall for your average Jeep.

I put a speaker box set up in mine for some trail tunage and I can still hear what's going on around me.

Wow! Sound like you've got a very similar setup! I'd love to see some pictures if you have them. Do you have a build thread? If not, feel free to post them up here, I don't mind!

[RMNixon]

Now on to the next scale touch - brake rotors! I originally tried the Tamiya plastic rotors for the TT01. They;re replica brake rotors with a 12mm hex on front and a slot in the back for the drive pin. My RC4WD aluminium wheels destroyed them within minutes, but they sure looked good. Then I saw Asiatees has the exact same rotors in aluminium! Check them out here!


Here they are over the drive pin with no wheel. I dabbed a bit of anti-seize compound on the hex before I put my wheels back on; not sure if this is needed but better safe than sorry.


Here they are with the wheel back on. I love 'em!




Here's what they look like from behind:



Well, that's it for now!