Knightkeeper Tacoma build

[Devwon]

That looks awesome indeed! I have good luck using CA and clamps or tape to hold body sections together, then go back and weld from the inside for a cleaner finish and less body work. Nice first gen in the garage too, def share some pics when it's done!!

[tigris99]

Originally Posted by Devwon

That looks awesome indeed! I have good luck using CA and clamps or tape to hold body sections together, then go back and weld from the inside for a cleaner finish and less body work. Nice first gen in the garage too, def share some pics when it's done!!

Thanks guys

Outside edges arent perfect either, printed on ender 3 pros I havent gotten quite running perfect yet after 3-4 months of running it lol. So that fills the gaps outside too.

Updates, some coolness came off the printers. The figures could have used more work but till I have a grasp on fusion 360, do what I can in tinker cad lol.

[tigris99]

Dremel is making light work of this. Welds and major imperfections sanded out. Gotta fill a couple seams better with the pen and finish sand. Won't be perfect but for my first attempt at a printed body with a filament I've never used (and is a pain in the A$$) lm insanely happy with how it's coming out!

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[tigris99]

Progress report

So being my lame skills with PETG thus far, I gave up trying to perfect the body. Instead now (except some of the seams not being as clean as I'd like due to being too uneven) I'm going with its got "trail damage" lol. Once paint dries cause I found paint in the green I wanted which was only a couple shades more green than the print, I can add stickers and clear coat.

Today's real progress:

I'll let the pics do the talking. One note, petg and model paint don't play nice together along with rather thinned new jars of paint, getting clean lines with layer lines wasn't happening.

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[Goro Majima]

Interior looks cool!

[B-MOW71]

Wow! Great job on the interior! That turned way better than I would have imagined! Your 3D design and print skills are top notch!

I'm not sure how similar PLA and PETG is, but I've had great luck with the cheap Walmart acrylic craft paint. I coat it with a clearcoat spray to keep the elements off of it and make it last.

[tigris99]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Wow! Great job on the interior! That turned way better than I would have imagined! Your 3D design and print skills are top notch!



I'm not sure how similar PLA and PETG is, but I've had great luck with the cheap Walmart acrylic craft paint. I coat it with a clearcoat spray to keep the elements off of it and make it last.

Thanks!

Credit for the design goes to Knight Customs. Knightrunner interior, of course seriously tweaked to fit. The decals for gauges and the head unit are actually from the GK kit decals lol. Fit perfectly.

I don't have a good understanding of the differences myself other than PETG handles much hotter temps without warping. But it's a much bigger PITA to get to print decently. I just happened to find that Model Masters paint sticks better to PLA when applying. Seems fine as the paint starts to dry, like it takes a bit of time for the paint to bind to PETG at all.

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[tigris99]

IT'S COMING TOGETHER!!!

As I said body not perfect, pretty rough lol. Think my attempted high speed sanding made things worse lol. But it's character!

Sliders are full custom design except I incorporated the actual scale rock sliders I have on my knightrunner into the skids. Wanted true scale sliders.

Body actually loosely interlocks into the sliders/skids on the sides. Debated on making it a tighter fit but rather have the body come off more easily with velcro or magnets where the stock body posts would be.

Found a cool sand ladder file to print that has brand names, so in this case I got the toyota file and printed them. WAY WAY LIGHTER WEIGHT design over the Knight Customs plastic bricks.

Also saw the SSD aluminum scale rotors, had to go there, going to get another set for the knightrunner.

Headlights are coming. I decided to expirament and found I can heat shape lexan onto the light buckets, creating lens'. Have one done, gotta do the other.



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[Goro Majima]

Once you damage the body a bit, it'll be fitting. Still looks sweet though and from the front looks aggressive. Def coming together nicely!

[tigris99]

Well damn, more I look at it more I want to change the front skid a bit. The face of it can come up and back a bit. Every little bit helps.with approach angle lol


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[B-MOW71]

I think it looks great! Will be perfect for what you have planned for it!

Nice find on the sand ladders. I have the same file saved and have printed out them out for my Yotas and Jeeps. They are a perfect size and weigh next to nothing.

Great idea on the headlights! Curious to see how they turn out.

[tigris99]

Alrighty!!!

Might be able to do a shakedown run Sunday, shall see.

Front skid change printed and installed. See how I like it after bumper is made and on. Probably get a couple more mm back but starting to steepen the angle of the skid more than I want.

New mid skid (connects IFS to transmission plate) with the set up to hold the battery is printing, should be done in the morning.

All electronics wired, tested and set. Holy S@%$ thar NSDRC servo is crazy. Thought I was going to break something before I got travel limited down. Just gotta finish wiring up the lights.

Headlight lens deal, NOT BAD!!! Have to perfect the method to do it, my finger isn't exactly the best choice at temps enough to deform lexan and melt PETG. But for this attempt it worked. And at least with PETG when hitting that temp, the lexan will also bond to the PETG headlight housings, so no gluing required. Goal was to keep mud and crap out of them and this will do just that.

I have mirrors I printed in 2 pieces each so I had the actual 2 tone look, but no idea how to put them one where I won't loose them on the first scrap on a rock. May have to design something folding.

Suspension needs some minor tweaks, mainly a slightly higher hole in the shock keys and bit thicker oil. Got springs figured out. FYI the TA red springs are an upgrade for the IFS springs, even with this body. No problems taking the weight but since the rate is a bit lower, not near as stiff and can actually get all of the travel.

Final remaining too do's:

BUMPERS, brazing brake line is easy, bit gotta do something more fitting than just plain straight bars.

New chassis brace that goes where the battery tray mount would be is printing. However instead not much too it besides a bridge to zip tie the writing to.

Put new mid skid in when done and pray I measured right so both battery sizes fit securely.

Get body mount posts installed. Will be using commercial velcro as the body locks into the sliders decently. More so body stays in one place and can't be knocked off in a roll over.

AND FINALLY THE FIRST SHAKE DOWN RUN!!!

Then little remaining details like I got stuff to make my own kinetic recovery rope, finish the lights and sort out roof rack as I want to do the flat piece thing everyone does but have something more scale looking. So something I can strap things too like a 1:1 roof rack. And the bed rack so I have the headache bar (scale points)




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[tigris99]

PS so peeved right now lol. NOW I GET PETG PRINTING PRETTY like I do PLA. And on the second printer that I've been trying to get dialed. Main printer is tell it to print and walk away for PLA. Petg I don't know, been running tough pla parts (the bright colored stuff) on it since the body was done.

Plus side, means my plans for the C2 Hilux makeover is a go....

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[Goro Majima]

Wicked bro, you're definitely grinding on this build and seems you made good time.

[tigris99]

Originally Posted by Goro Majima

Wicked bro, you're definitely grinding on this build and seems you made good time.

Thanks, sadly the event that was to be this rigs first event was today :( is what it is though.

Did finally play with a rig after work a tad. Got my knightrunner really dialed and able to do some stuff I never thought possible. Like the flat transmission skid (my own design which ain't hard), weight just right and foams dialed. Taking what I learned there and applying to this rig. .ight just be able to make IFS actually competitive, shall see.

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[tigris99]

Backyard test run. Pile of rock I have for making the mini crawler course in the back, got some bigger took going to get a bit more just for somewhere to do quick tests. Can't believe how far this thing can lean without going over. Expected way worse due to heavy body and minimal brass.

I'm shocked at how smooth this spektrum 2300 2n1 is, and punchy as hell, need to gear this down a little lol. Thought my knightrunner was a bit much with axe 2300 (which isn't near as smooth at low speed, gotta look at settings) but this thing is geared a bit too high with just a 20t instead of 18t pinion.

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[Goro Majima]

That lean shot, at that angle, it looks like it would tip over if you had the heavier sand ladder instead of the lighter one. Looks unreal!

[tigris99]

Only got 1 pic but shake down was mostly successful. Body is holding up to being bashed and roll overs. However NSDRC clamp on servo arm seems to have stripped out at the end for the linkage screw.... didn't bring any tools so that was the end of the run. But had boys with and my knightrunner so we still got to play plenty.

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[B-MOW71]

Nice outdoor pics of it out on the rocks! Looks like it's balanced pretty good to get that much of a lean without a rollover!

I really need to try out one of them Spectrum 2300 2in1's! Nice to hear how smooth it is. Like the fact that is saves weight and space!

[tigris99]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Nice outdoor pics of it out on the rocks! Looks like it's balanced pretty good to get that much of a lean without a rollover!



I really need to try out one of them Spectrum 2300 2in1's! Nice to hear how smooth it is. Like the fact that is saves weight and space!

I need to actually go to the park up the road and really check lean, not sure if that front tire was helping since it was kind of hanging on or not. Be sweet if that's how far it can actually handle without going over. I had it close to that a couple times without issues, way more than my knightrunner can do lol.

I have the hobbywing 2 n1 1800 in the hilux and it's nice too. Toss up on which is smoother, but both at least right now are smoother than my axe 2300 which they claim is smoother than castle. However have to take one thing into account, element stealth trans. That's going to mess with things when one axle can't just spin easily to match wheel speed.

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