Soze's HoBao DC1 Kit Build

[soze]

Originally Posted by 2mtech

Slime am your friend

Yeah the o-rings are slimed. Didn't do anything to the pistons though.

[2mtech]

Originally Posted by soze

Yeah the o-rings are slimed. Didn't do anything to the pistons though.

I'd expect they'll wear in some too. How's the external interaction? Any binding between the body and springs, and does it seem like the springs will remain seated in the cups?

[soze]

Originally Posted by 2mtech

I'd expect they'll wear in some too. How's the external interaction? Any binding between the body and springs, and does it seem like the springs will remain seated in the cups?

No body/spring binding. All clear there. Springs don't seem like they'll get unseated anytime soon. I even have the top retainer spun up about 6 threads from the top.

The springs are a bit stiff though. I'm waiting to see if the body is heavy enough to warrant the stiffness. If not... I'll look into getting some softer springs.

[soze]

Steps 29-32: Battery Tray, Bumpers, Body Posts


So the DC1 Gives you two options for mounting the battery tray, which is nice.


Battery tray mounting Option 1 - This is probably the options I'm going to use




Battery tray mounting Option 2




Again, here we see some nice thought put into the kit. Stick on cushion/padding for the battery tray.






Rubber battery strap.






Here are the body posts. Again, enough thought put into the kit to include body post cushions for the body!




Body posts all mounted up




Front bumper




Front bumper mounted up




Rear bumper and spare tire mount




Rear bumper assembly put together




Rear bumper assembly mounted up




This part's complete!

[2mtech]

Those bumpers look like they'd be right at home in a Road Warrior flick. Good choice on the battery mount location, too.

[soze]

Step 33: Wheels & Tires

Alright, so the DC1 comes with 5 plastic glue-on wheels and 5 tires.


These tires really aren't much to write home about. Not very sticky and I don't think they're going to perform any good.




Stock plastic wheel on the left, and the chanquish wheels that I might replace them with on the right.




All mounted up.

[Teng]

Wow, the chassis without the body already impressive for me. ( just beautiful) Cannot wait to see this when complete with the body on.

[2mtech]

Those stock wheels actually don't look half bad...but looks aren't everything. My love for gluing tires to plastic wheels falls just above mounting Pro-Line tires to RC3WD bead locks, meaning one notch from rock bottom.

[soze]

Originally Posted by 2mtech

Those stock wheels actually don't look half bad...but looks aren't everything. My love for gluing tires to plastic wheels falls just above mounting Pro-Line tires to RC3WD bead locks, meaning one notch from rock bottom.

The tires need softening up and soaked in whatever it needs to be soaked in to become sticky. As of right now, they're as good as slicks. They do look decent though.

[TooOldForThis]

I don't have any need or use for this truck... but the want is getting strong! Very impressed by the quality and attention to detail. Also, great job documenting the build Soze. I'm enjoying this one.

[JatoTheRipper]

Very impressive truck. It looks like the highest quality crawler I've ever seen. I'd love to know what it weighs. I bet it's not light since it appears to be so well built.

[soze]

Note: Stock the truck setup had a sort of imbalanced axle shift biased towards the driver's side. I've lengthened the panhard rod and steering link by 1mm by adding 0.5mm spacers to each side of the rod to balance the shift from side to side so that it's more equivalent in shift towards each side during the length of the suspension travel.

Well folks.... I'm onto the body, but it's going to take a while to get updates up as this part requires more careful handling since I'm not allowed to bring recently painted bodies into the house. I'll start posting as soon as I get started on putting the window decals on. The body is like building another kit in itself. Lots of parts, lots of hard plastic details. Only the seats are still lexan, and I can see why with all the other stuff likely making the body heavier.

Here's a list of some of the things the body entails that are usually extra "add-ons" that you need to buy for other kits.

1. Wheel wells
2. Fender Flares
3. Hard plastic dash and steering wheel
4. Windshield wipers
5. Rear Light Bucket
6. Snorkel
7. Hard plastic side trim instead of decal

Here's a preview of what's to come...


If you hate trimming bodies raise your hand. *raises hand*

Well good news. HoBao has trimmed and drilled all the holes for you so that you don't have to deal with trimming and screwing up.

[2mtech]

My hand's up on appreciating pre-trimmed bodies. Last one I had like that was a Sawback.

I'd rather trim three bodies than apply window masks though...looks like you had fun with that one in that department.

Cool that the myriad of holes was pre-drilled.

[soze]

Body Step 1-6

So, I finally got started on the body.

I painted the body using Tamiya PS-12 Silver.

Window masks and trim also applied.






Also used a Pilot Extra Fine Point Silver Marker to add some detail to the side moldings.




Here are the door handles that are included. (5 of them)




Side moldings and door handles attached.






Step 2 for the body is the front grill assembly.




Reflective sticker in the headlight housing. Nice!




Front grille all put together.






Time to put the mirrors on, here are the parts. Nice thick reflective stick on side mirrors for the mirror housing. Also has reflective sticker for the rear-view mirror. Many other kits half-ass this with gray or non-reflective stickers.




Side Mirror and snorkel put on...






Parts for the rear tail lights.




Tail lights done.





Parts for the roof rack. Notice the indentations on the parts that make it really easy to put together...unlike the SCX10.2 roof rack.






Roof rack on the body.




A look inside to see how the roof rack and side moldings are attached.




Rear windshield wiper.



All done for now.

[Teng]

I like the body. Land Rover body looks solid.

[calcagno45]

Originally Posted by soze

Nice key there in the top left. What ya starting up with that one?

Originally Posted by soze

I think those wheels look pretty good by themselves, but not so much with the defender style body. They’d probably look sweet on a K5 Blazer. And not sure what scale tire they were going after but those look terrible. Maybe the Interco Trxus STS??
Otherwise, based on your descriptive posts, I’d say the truck looks solidly built and would give it a shot. Who keeps stock wheels and tires anyway.

[soze]

Originally Posted by Teng

I like the body. Land Rover body looks solid.

Land Rover Defender... Mercedes G Wagon.... it's one of the 2.

Originally Posted by calcagno45

Nice key there in the top left. What ya starting up with that one?

997.2 PDK

Originally Posted by calcagno45

I think those wheels look pretty good by themselves, but not so much with the defender style body. They’d probably look sweet on a K5 Blazer. And not sure what scale tire they were going after but those look terrible. Maybe the Interco Trxus STS??
Otherwise, based on your descriptive posts, I’d say the truck looks solidly built and would give it a shot. Who keeps stock wheels and tires anyway.

Yep, plan is to use other tire/wheels.

[2mtech]

I still really like those wheels/tires. Let me know if you decide to part with them

Originally Posted by soze

997.2 PDK

But of course...had to be a 997 in the OC

We'll need pics.

[soze]

Originally Posted by 2mtech

I still really like those wheels/tires. Let me know if you decide to part with them



But of course...had to be a 997 in the OC

We'll need pics.

You know what they say about VW GTI drivers.... eventually they become Porsche owners. Anyway, got a superb deal on a used 2009 car with only 35k miles on it that was more than half off the original price. Yeah, I had to do it. It cost less than some brand new trucks.

[soze]

Did some prep work yesterday for some of the interior parts. Just waiting for the weather to warm up later in the day so that I can rattle can the seats. I'll need to clean up the lines on the paint off that oh sh*t bar though.