Artful Dodgers Design Ground Rat

[HumboldtEF]

I picked up an Artful Dodger Designs Ground fox (1.1 I think) using the Element Enduro as the base combined it with a Trophy Rat body from Associated. I guess I'm building a Ground Rat



I'm impressed with the Ground Fox chassis, really nice fit and finish and the anodizing seems way tougher than I'm used to. Even the 3D prints are impressive, really good quality prints and the material seems slick (I think its ABS). I ended up ditching some of the prints so I could design my own, kinda felt bad because they are truly impressive prints.





Enduro Axles with Beeftubes up front SSD knuckles, C hubs, link mounts and diff covers, servo on axle mount included with the Ground Fox kit. The Enduro axle looks so much better with the SSD diff covers.



I went with GTS shocks because they worked amazing on the last build I did like this. Thinner oil and these shocks was a great combo on my sort of Twin of this build: Venduro X4.2 Dumpster fire build

Instead of running Enduro springs I picked up some of the softer Yellow Traxxas springs. I had some WB8 HD drive shafts on hand but had to grind down the ends a bit to get them to bolt up to the outputs on the Enduro tranny



Nice balance


I've used this body before, its nice but thin so I've made a cage to reinforce it. The rock sliders also protect the body. The body is from the Trophy Rat racer/basher which is why the lexan is pretty thin.





I built in a suck down winch using a RC4WD replacement winch motor/gearbox which is about $10. For those not familiar a suck down winch pulls the chassis down to the front axle. On a steep climb you can reel the suspension back in.



I 3D printed a spool and used a 3mm aluminum spacer as the center of the spool, tapped and threaded 2 holes to secured it to the winch motor shaft and to secure the winch line.



I'm using the HH Crawlmaster mini V1 ESC with a 2500kv Revolver running 3S. I added KNK 25% overdrive gears, had an issue meshing gears with the machined gears from factory team and had to pick up a set of the plastic gears. HH SHV800 servo and a Spektrum radio. There's and ESC under it but all you can see is the castle BEC which just runs the receiver and winch at 9v (6v wasn't really enough) the servo is running direct power.

[Goro Majima]

Looks like it's already a good start to a build. Love Artful Dodgers stuff. Can't wait to see more progress.

[CODYBOY]

Casey, I'm loving where you're going with this build!!!
Sent you a PM.
Ernie

[durok]

Gonna enjoy watching this come together - I bit my tongue and didn't order their whole chassis, though I did get just about everything else...

[B-MOW71]

I'm excited to see this build take shape! I've been eyeing the Artful Dodgers chassis and other items.

Subscribed so I don't miss seeing the progress!

[CODYBOY]

Casey, who makes that motor/tranny mount?
Ernie

[Lashlee]

I was about to ask the same question!!! I could use that on my Enduro.

[HumboldtEF]

Thanks guys!

The transmission mount is from Artful Dodgers, Fox Belly: https://www.artfuldodgersdesign.com/...unt-p451696636
They now include a Delrin skid instead of the ABS 3D printed one. They make a version of this for the Axial 3 gear tranny too.

[HumboldtEF]

Hey Ernie I dont see a PM did you end up sending something?

Instead of the using the stock battery tray I designed my own that sits lower. I also integrated the suck down winch and body post mounts. I ended up putting the holes in the hood to mount the body a bit off but was able to just shift the body post mounts over a smidge to get it back to center.



I added a spot on the rear of the battery tray that I could mount a wire guard that keeps the battery wire out of the revolver.



I'm using a little 850mah 3s pack.



The battery sits just above the upper links at full compression



I made up some inner fenders for the front using .5mm styrene. I started by transferring a few mount points to one of the side pieces, tracing the outline of the bottom of the chassis rail. I transferred the holes and shape over to the other side piece.
I bent the top pieces into a shape using the square edge of a table and heated it with a lighter. If you bend without heat it may crack. I shaped these so they left room for the shocks and cleared the hood. Then to match that shape I bent over the tops of the side pieces.



I made them oversized and slowly trimmed them down to shape fitting the body to check as I went.







I made new sliders with a groove for the body. I used that groove to help position the body while I figured out placement and the mounting.

[Goro Majima]

Those styrene inner fenders are clean. I haven't seen enough styrene versions myself and these look really good.

[HumboldtEF]

I already posted this up in another thread so some of you may have seen the bumper already.
DIY Pipe Roller

Using my homemade pipe roller I made up a small loop to cut into the front bumper. For mounting tabs I found a skid/link plate from RC fab tabs that matched the mount points and had the drop I needed, I cut it in half leaving longer than needed while I fabbed it up.



I took a scrap of wood and made a jig by drilling some holes I could mount some rods in, I just happened to have a bunch of 3mm drill bits so thats what I used.
I used this to keep the pieces aligned while I tacked it together with my mig. This was longer than needed so I could nicely cut it to length.



Then I carefully cut the ends to length squaring them up with my eyecromiter .

I bolted up the mount tabs and tried my best to get it lined up with the body. It was a tight fit so it stayed in place just fine. I then tacked it in place on the rig with some rags thrown over the chassis, still end up with some slag on the a link and the servo mount but it was easy to clean up.





The tube is 3/16 stainless and the mount tabs were mild steel so I painted those silver.

Originally Posted by Goro Majima

Those styrene inner fenders are clean. I haven't seen enough styrene versions myself and these look really good.

Thanks, they're pretty easy to make quickly.

[Lashlee]

That bumper is killer!!

[B-MOW71]

Wow, that bumper is a beauty! Nice work sir!!

Nice progress. Those are some sweet lookin' inner fenders!

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by Lashlee

That bumper is killer!!

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Wow, that bumper is a beauty! Nice work sir!!

Nice progress. Those are some sweet lookin' inner fenders!

Thanks!



I ended up needing to re-work the front body mounts again, the body is ever so slightly tweaked which is bugging the crap out of me. Anyway that meant I could try out an idea I had after I was stress testing the suck down winch. I saw it would bend when I pushed it too far which I dont plan to do but if I can I'll over engineer it. I rounded up some 1/8" steel rod and added a hollow spot where I could insert it.









I decided to embrace the Ground Rat and made a stencil for the doors.



I painted the outside of the body with black then red and a gold stripe. I plan to weather the body too.



I even added some texture to the undercoat for when I weather it.

[distinctive pd]

Looks rad!

[CODYBOY]

Looking good Casy, any new progress? If you ever need any painting stencils or soild color decals made just let me know.
Ernie

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by CODYBOY

Looking good Casy, any new progress? If you ever need any painting stencils or soild color decals made just let me know.
Ernie

Thanks Ernie

I'm about 3/4 of the way through weathering it, just been distracted lately. I added some rust and need to do a few final washes. I am finding it harder to find the right wash for the black but I'll just keep experimenting.

I took these after I thought I was done weathering it, I decided to add a bit more rust and a few final washes which I still need to get to.







The body is still a bit tweaked due to the cage but I think I have it where I can live with it. The thing that was bugging me was how the bumper was made to fit perfect but after I attached the cage it twisted the front end a tiny bit. Oh well time to move and and scratch this thing up.

I got it out for a short test drive in the pouring rain

[CODYBOY]

I think I'm going to Rat Rod mine and get it as low as I can on the chassis. Primer'd either grey or rust primer. Some flames and maybe some rust. V3 chassis and a G-SHOT Performance Package with SSD portal axles front and rear.
Ernie

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by CODYBOY

I think I'm going to Rat Rod mine and get it as low as I can on the chassis. Primer'd either grey or rust primer. Some flames and maybe some rust. V3 chassis and a G-SHOT Performance Package with SSD portal axles front and rear.
Ernie

Its a great body to slam. I ended up raising mine a (shock mount) hole because it was rubbing the fender a ton, I couldn't bring myself to cut the fenders any more.

[HumboldtEF]

The gap between the body and bumper had been bugging me because it was slightly tweaked but I finally got it to where I'm happy with it. This was the main thing keeping from saying DONE! (now its only slightly off)




I think the fix came down to me adjusting the height of the front body posts to fix the off center holes in the body (since its hood isnt flat) and adding a spacer under the lexan on the body post.




I decided I needed this thing lower so I put the suspension back to where it was sucked it up and cut the front fenders up to the gold stripe. I liked the looks before I cut it, having the stripe of red looked nice but this isn't terrible.

I added more rust and 1 final dusty white wash.







I may paint and weather the cage but that would require me to sand it so it probably wont happen.

Once I know I'm set on these wheels I'll do a wash on them.

Now I'm gonna go run it on my rock pile for a bit