☆ Apocalyptic H3 SUT ☆

[team3six]

Let me see a straight on side shot? Just curios why exactly your 13mm off and where?
Setting up a truck tomatch it's 1:1 counterpart is one thing, expecting to match performance in an RC application is another.
I am gonna look at the info and pics again if you do t mind and just offer you a quick opinion.

[Hoosierdady]

Originally Posted by team3six

Let me see a straight on side shot? Just curios why exactly your 13mm off and where?
Setting up a truck tomatch it's 1:1 counterpart is one thing, expecting to match performance in an RC application is another.
I am gonna look at the info and pics again if you do t mind and just offer you a quick opinion.

Your opinion is always welcomed. I dont have a profile shot though.


the extra 13mm came from dropping the bed down. This body has a drop bed in it. The rear portion of my Xtrail frame has the shock risers. So my initial measurements were taken before I cut off the bumpers and got the bed to lay on the frame rails by cutting 2 oblong shaped holes in the bed floor. After cutting the bumper out everything was still fine. But when I got the rear portion of the body to lay on the frame rails it actually raised the front of the body up (go figure). The frame rails and the rocker on the body are parrallel, so I know I've got that part right. But like I said, when the body lays down flat on the back of the frame it raised the front bumper up off the frame 13mm. It has to be set up this way for the hinged body mount I'll be using on this rig. Ill do the piano hinge in the back and use a couple of small clips in the front somehow.

[Hoosierdady]

I got the body painted with three good coats of Banner Red, and two coats of clear. Shes smooth and shiney

Im going for satin black on the grill, mirrors, etc. I used some silver mesh to put behind the grill.

I've also just completed the assembly of my new shocks

[Hoosierdady]

I've got about another week before my bumper is done, so in the mean time I've gone ahead with attaching the body to the chassis and applying the black accents here and there.


These shocks are sweet. Very soft and fluid like. Extremely smooth, and they look great doing it.

I decided to try a hinge setup in the rear and some pins of some kind up front. I cut out the bed and mounted a hinge to the piece of plastic being used for a rear bumper mount.

The only real concern with this setup is that the very end of the bed drops down when you open the lid. This may cause issues when it comes time to do the rear bumper. If it does then I'll have to figure something else out. I bolted half of another hinge that I cut out on the inside of the bed. This basically sandwiches the bed bottom between the two pieces of metal. If it comes off, the beds going with it.

Next up is to figure out the rear bumper situation and then move on to making a prop rod to hold up the body while Im changing batteries.


I've got alot of scale stuff to go in the back, but Ill also be doing a radiator setup back there between the shocks just like on 1:1 offroad trucks. I picked up a radiator/fan parts tree from a Exo kit to help make it happen. I'll be lookiong to do some sliders and a rear bumper for sure. I may move on to doing a roof rack, but Im not sure there.

[Hoosierdady]

well, I've started fabbing up my rear bumper. So far I've got a couple pieces done. Here's the progress.

And here's the look I'm going for. I may use some mesh like I did on the grill to fill in some of the blank spots on the bumper. I figure I'll be able to mount it to the body instead of the chassis and it still hold up to some harsh bashing. I may try in incorporate some tail light gaurds.


So, what do you think?

[PFC FNG]

I like it, and I think it would look pretty cool with taillight guards as well.

[Hoosierdady]

Im going to try to figure something out on the tailight gaurds. I'm waiting to get the rest of the rear bumper done and see what the front bumper looks like before I go that far. I want to try to match up the lines of the upper portion of the front bumper. I dont want to do squared off corners on the gaurds if the front ones are round.

[Hoosierdady]

more progress. I had the bed looking a little ragged in my opinion. So I had to clean it up. Ive been shooting for a all around badass truck. And most offroad trucks have the radiators in the bed so I got started on that. I used some aluminum flashing bent into the shape I wanted, made some end pieces and pop riveted them together. Then I took the scuffing wheel on my dremel and gave it a once over.

Then I used the radiator and fans from a Exo kit and started getting that all in place. I used some rubber hose to make some radiator hoses.

A scale cooler, military ammo box, hi lift jack, a couple of tow straps, first aid kit, jerry can and a sleeping bag later I had my bed done.

I made a prop rod from some aluminum tubing too

I used the Light bar for a SCT and modified the mounts to accept the new body. Then I screwed it on the roof. I also painted my Yeah racing mirrors, drilled the holes in the body and installed those with the clips on the rear secured by some ShooGoo.

So far this is my progress on the rear bumper. It will include a hitch mount for a shackle too. Progress on this should come along a little quicker now. Im going to get some brazing rod and I may be able to have it completely finished tonight...maybe.

[Hoosierdady]

So the one day bumper has been completed and installed. Here's what she looks like. I tried brazing, everything kept falling apart it would bleed in and the when I'd start heating up the other parts to add more bars, the rest would heat up and fall apart. So I MIG welded her up and grinded everything smooth. Then I baked the paint on for a little more strength.

I decided to do the taill light gaurds.

I used the same mesh from the front end on the corners.



Well, what do you think? Not to bad for my first time huh? I'm thinking about taking the mesh out. Its a little too much in that spot in my opinion.

[mgputer]

Looks sweet! Really like the bumper design.

[cbcrawler]

Nice truck. I really like the 1.9s on the 2.2 wheels looks awesome. Good work

[Hoosierdady]

Originally Posted by mgputer

Looks sweet! Really like the bumper design.

Thanks

Originally Posted by cbcrawler

Nice truck. I really like the 1.9s on the 2.2 wheels looks awesome. Good work

Thanks, I try.

I think Im going to take the screen mesh out of the bumper. It just doesnt look right to me for some reason. What do you guys think?

[mgputer]

I think it looks odd because its a different color. If it was painted black it may look better. If not you can still take it out.

[rodXcustoms]

this truck is fricken sweet!

[Hoosierdady]

Originally Posted by mgputer

I think it looks odd because its a different color. If it was painted black it may look better. If not you can still take it out.

I hadnt thought of painting it black. Thanks for the idea. But I already took it out. I think Ill paint it black and tape them in place just to see what it looks like that way.

Originally Posted by rodXcustoms

this truck is fricken sweet!

Thanks

I got some polished links from RC4WD and some polished ends from here to go on it. I mocked it up last night with them and the little extra bling undernieth fits in great. I'm going to try to get started on my sliders this weekend. Im thinking about doing a stack out of the bed, maybe some black oversray on the top of the cab to simulate diesel exhaust soot. Once I get the sliders done I'm stuck until I get my front bumper.

[rockrigcustoms]

looking good. like the hummer truck version alot!

[mgputer]

Where does this body come from? I really like it. Also what is its wheel base? I might make one some day if I could find that body.

[Illeagle]

Hey man I'm glad to see you get some good use out of that body. Thats pretty much how i pictured the build when i built that body. You even did the lightbar like i had mocked up on it! I think you did an awesome job on it and you definitely have a one of a kind scaler. I like the color, the wheels, and the rear bumper as well. Keep up the good work!

[Hoosierdady]

Originally Posted by rockrigcustoms

looking good. like the hummer truck version alot!

Thanks. I think its pretty unique.

Originally Posted by mgputer

Where does this body come from? I really like it. Also what is its wheel base? I might make one some day if I could find that body.

I got the body from Illeagle and started from there. Im not sure on the WB. I havent really checked it to be honest with you. Ill see what it is on my nest post.

Originally Posted by Illeagle

Hey man I'm glad to see you get some good use out of that body. Thats pretty much how i pictured the build when i built that body. You even did the lightbar like i had mocked up on it! I think you did an awesome job on it and you definitely have a one of a kind scaler. I like the color, the wheels, and the rear bumper as well. Keep up the good work!

Thanks man. I had a good start with the body you built. I really like the bright red too, its loud. I think the red with the black all over really makes for a tough look. These polished links really pop on there too. Cant wait to get the truck done. As of now Ive gotten the electronics and battery tray done. Now its just a matter of finishing up the body armor and front body mounts.

[Hoosierdady]

its alive! I took it out for its maiden voyage last night. This thing is a beast! Speed like my Wraith had, but very strong on my crawler course. It handled all of the obsticles with ease (time to make it tougher) I think Ive got the perfect combo here. Its got enough torque to pull the front tires. After some spring adjustment on the shocks, she was hooking up with ease. I used a electrical box from HD. I trimmed it down to were it would fit in between the frame rails. Painted it flat black and started wiring.

Im planning on some LEDs and the winch still yet. Ive got Bill with billscustomrclighting.com hooking me up with yet another LED kit. If you guys havent used him before you've got to give him a try. His kits are top notch, warrantied and very fairly priced! Ive bought probably 7-8 kits off of him and sent no telling how many his way. Nothing but great reviews!