Midnight Mud King (and short introduction)

[tedo]

Hi, Name's Ted. I am new scale / trail / crawling, but not new to rc. I race 1/8 truggy (currently I race a mugen mbx6t with a Tekin rx8 2000 combo on 4s). I wanted something to do over winter, so I picked up a a Mud Truck from rc tech. Some of you may reconize the body from an old member here. My first hobby rc was the Lunchbox / Midnight Pumpkin back in 1987. Saw this on rctech for sale and had to have it, and thought it would be a great winter tear-down, build and have fun in the basement over the winter, and take in the 100 acres of trail behind my house in the spring, summer, etc.

Anyway, I am kinda winging it as far as what I am doing. I guess I know a little from surfing around, and will have a lot of Noob questions, so bear with me.

First things first. This will be a heavy duty trail, mud truck. Not super concerned with scale right now (obviously look at the servo mount I made, haha), but I could see myself getting way into it. I love the look of the leafers. Looks so bassass. Here's the break-down of my rig:
- Hilift axels locked
- WK tranny (meh, hangs kinda low, may get something else)
- Diaz chassis
- SC10 shock hoops with trx body posts
- Rc4wd front leafs & Diaz rear. (getting some Tamiya helpers... The rc4wd ones are real soft)
- Integy 35T
- trx Waterproof Xl-5 and servo (usually can't stand trx, but these are great for trail and mud)
- e revo receiver waterproof box.
- Home-made ESC, Battery, and RX tray.
- 1800 2s Flightmax (the best for the money! Even for 1/8 scale racing!)
- unknown shocks with 60wt because the leafs are just way too soft right now.
- MIDNIGHT PUMPKIN mud, rust body! This is what made me pick this up! Love it, and brings me back.
- Proline Hammers on 8 holes (cheap) Kinda want Mudslingers... Hammers so far are pretty alright in my basement. Time will see if they are a good all purpose tire.

Again, new to this, so comment , critisism, and tip appreciated.
Thanks, I could see myself getting really, really into trail scale...
Ted







It actually crawls way better than I thought. With everything close to the front axel it's very steady and stout. Can't wait for the dirt, rocks, roots, and MUD!

[tedo]

Heres my 1:1. 1988 Toyota with 110k. Perfect. The Toyota Hilux body is next on my list. That thing is so cool.

[bmx_ican92]

Diggin the toy!

[tedo]

A few updates. I got some helpers for the rc4wd leaf springs. Now I have them front and rear, not to soft, not to stiff. And I put a 93 tooth spur (18 x 93).

I took her out today and wow. Exceeded all my expectations. It's one thing in the basement, it's another when you are outside with numerous terrain. The truck simply has so much grunt with the right amount of speed. It was breaking small branches and twigs left and right. Drove for 25 minutes when my lipo cut-off came on. So different from racing truggy. Heres the pics:

[shaunleger1]

this thing looks like a hole lot of fun !!!!!

[tedo]

Originally Posted by shaunleger1

this thing looks like a hole lot of fun !!!!!

It's seriously a little powerhouse. I can't believe the stuff it can go up and over (and it's waterproof). It's aweome.

I love the leafer look. I am also thinking about adding some Rok Lox next pay day.

[super mud]

I'm suprised you didnt 45min with that battery. But yea, it's weird going from high speed (electric or nitro) and being able to run 5-10 times as long. And I like your truck too.

[orange-appeal]

Yeah when you get some scale tires it will really set it off. And if it was me I'd spray paint the servo black to hide it....

I'm digging that body man.... looks great !

[tedo]

Originally Posted by orange-appeal

Yeah when you get some scale tires it will really set it off. And if it was me I'd spray paint the servo black to hide it....

I'm digging that body man.... looks great !

Yeah, some tall skinny rok lox or slingers will look nice. I am learning here in the whole scaler trail thing.

I can't take credit for the paintjob of the body. I bought it used like that. It was one of the main reasons for buying the truck. It brings me back to the late 80's with my Lunchbox (same truck, different bodies).

Super Mud, I may have gotten more time. It was freaking freezing, so I really wasn't keeping time.. haha.

[gapjr]

Love the Pumpkin body. I was considering doing a build with the Lunchbox body and your build has inspired me.

[tedo]

Originally Posted by gapjr

Love the Pumpkin body. I was considering doing a build with the Lunchbox body and your build has inspired me.

I have my Lunchbox still and the van wheelbase is actually 1 inch (25mm) shorter than the Pumpkin wheelbase even though they were originally based on the exact same chassis.

Trust me, I tried mounting the van body! Would look so mean and creepy!

Basically with my Diaz chassis is a shorter version than normal SCX or Bruiser / Hilux chassis rails. It fits the 1/12 scale Pumpkin body perfect, however I ordered a Hilux body to match my 1:1 but the 1/10 wheelbase is about 3 inches too long. So if you are thinking of building a scale truck with the Pumpkin / Lunchbox body, make sure you match the wheel base.

[gapjr]

Thanks for that info

[tedo]

Well, RIP to the Midnight Mud King, you served me well and taught me a lot.

This is what I did on Friday night... Decided to lengthen the chassis to fit my Hilux body and 2.2 rok lox (the Rok Lox looked ridiculous with my short Diaz chassis).