Defender D90 Rat Rod

[valheru]

Getting close... very close to finishing the front bumper/winch mount/front fenders and skid plate assembly or should I just call it the multipurpose front bumper?!?

The inner pieces of the front fender frame were welded, but required some creative jig design to hold in place for the welding.

I ended up using a block of wood and my hot glue gun to temporarily secure them.






Afterwards, one reinforcement per side was added which goes from the fender inner frame to the rear mounting plate, which completes the upper portion of this mini project within project D-Rat.







Left to do are the front skid plate and figure out what material to use to close off the front fenders.

Moving to the front skid plate; again, Mr. wood block and Mr. hot glue gun provided the initial isostatic condition which permitted the tack welding of the cross piece.






Then, the first two pieces were added and the design of the last two pieces is in progress.

I maybe have another 4-5 hours of fabrication time left to finish the multipurpose front bumper before I can go back to working on the body and the scale motor.





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[durok]

Very creative solutions being utilized here!

Clean welding, too...

[Brian5582]

I like your version much better than the original you got your inspiration from. The original is cool but the front bumper looks like something some redneck in Alabama welded up with some spare 6” sch40 he stole from a pipeline somewhere... it’s just too much.

[valheru]

Originally Posted by durok

Very creative solutions being utilized here!

Clean welding, too...

Thank you

Originally Posted by Brian5582

I like your version much better than the original you got your inspiration from. The original is cool but the front bumper looks like something some redneck in Alabama welded up with some spare 6” sch40 he stole from a pipeline somewhere... it’s just too much.

Thanks, love the comparison!


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[valheru]

The front skid plate of project D-Rat is done and work has started on the fender liners.





Oh the joys of sheet metal work... you can see the progression of the first panel, from the rough cut, through progressive refinement, to the finished shape.

The fender liner panels, all 4 of them, are unique to the actual shape of its corresponding frame.






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[valheru]

The multipurpose front bumper is done!

Both front fender liners, all 4 of them, were successfully designed and welded in place.

The winch mounting holes were drilled and a decorative aluminum checkered plate was added.














I didn’t have the courage to put it on the scale yet, but so far it’s “slightly” lighter than Big Blue without a battery.... Insert caveat; this is without the following: motor, electronics, battery, the 2 spares, no driver or any scale and recovery items...

And a quick D90 family portrait.





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[Crawler Cads]

That's bonkers good right there! The fit is outstanding. Seems a shame to cover some of that up!
Hats off, excellent metal work

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[mudbeast2]

Absolute stunning build, Makes me love the D90's even more!

[Brian5582]

What size wire you using .023? That’s what I use but I usually only use it to tack up then braze. Without changing my gun liner it feeds like crap and being the perfectionist I am I can never get the welds to look like I want so I just tack and braze.

[valheru]

Originally Posted by Crawler Cads

That's bonkers good right there! The fit is outstanding. Seems a shame to cover some of that up!
Hats off, excellent metal work

Originally Posted by mudbeast2

Absolute stunning build, Makes me love the D90's even more!

Originally Posted by Brian5582

What size wire you using .023? That’s what I use but I usually only use it to tack up then braze. Without changing my gun liner it feeds like crap and being the perfectionist I am I can never get the welds to look like I want so I just tack and braze.

Thank you all.

Yes I use .023" wire with the shield gas on my Lincoln MIG 180 (208V) and stock gun/lining. I tack, then full weld before cleaning up the excess with a carbide burr on my Dremel and finalize the shape with hand files.


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[valheru]

Work in progress... a cover to hide the steering servo on project D-Rat.

Styrene construction with a working fan to cool the servo and provide a touch of realism.

The radiator core is made out of trimmed zip ties.










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[rs10man]

looking sweet as, looks to be a fair amount of front overhang

[valheru]

Busy evening yesterday, but I did take time to work on project D-Rat and finished the steering servo cover.








Today I hope to fine tune the fitment of the cover with the multipurpose front bumper.



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[OSRC]

Some super fab work going on here! Keep up the great work!

[valheru]

Originally Posted by OSRC

Some super fab work going on here! Keep up the great work!

Thank you

[AaronXIV]

Love the use of zipties for the rad

[valheru]

Originally Posted by AaronXIV

Love the use of zipties for the rad

Thanks, I found the ziptie hack a few years ago while googling for photos of RC radiators, and I have been using it since.

The only issue is getting a good bond between the styrene/ABS and the zipties; regular CA glue just doesn't cut it, you either have to use Goop/E6000 and attempt to hold the pieces for the whole curing period (24H) or use a CA adapted to plastics like one of the 2 following:

Super Glue for Plastic | LePage®

Loctite Plastics Bonding System from Loctite Adhesives


I've been using the Lepage system for a while now, with good success.


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[pana651]

Originally Posted by valheru

And a quick D90 family portrait.

Both Landies are great in their own way, love your craftsmanship and skills!

[valheru]

I finally fitted the servo cover with the front bumper, but I had to modify it a bit to fit under the cross-member as I kind of overbuilt it without paying attention to the maximum height I had measured...






And since I added a working fan to cool the steering servo, the scale engine cover I previously made is now too long to fit! Guess I will have to modify it as well.





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[valheru]

Well… I spent the day trying to modify the scale engine I previously made in an attempt to make it fit with the servo cover, sadly the axle and the panhard link also make contact with it.

Therefore, instead of hacking it to pieces to make it work, I decided to fabricate a new scale engine cover, this one a 4BT instead of a 6BT as I originally wanted to do, as the space between the transmission and the steering servo do not allow a 6BT to be fitted.

The new scale engine cover will have the electric motor flipped 180 degrees to have the wires coming out on top versus the bottom, this providing an extra 1/4” of clearance with the front axle.

So far so good, and as part of the redesign, I incorporated the space required to fit two (2) 25mm cooling fans in the cylinder section to keep control of the electric motor since it will be almost completely enclosed.










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