Mega Fattie's C3 build of: Barely Legal

[Mega Fattie]

After leaving the RC crawling hobby like an idiot for the last 12+ months, i am back. I was recently inspired by Die-Laughing's C2 jeep KOH build. I did the photoshoot of it for him, and was reminded why i loved this hobby in the first place. The awesome parts, builds, meeting cool people, and the huge amount of fun you get to have beating the crap out the rig you chose to play/compete with!

First of all i'd like to apologize for the first few days of iphone pics in this thread. I just moved, and wont have internet for 2 more days....then i will be able to upload real pictures.

Where to start......i purchased a Wraith:


I purchased the Wraith from neillarson, i wanted it because it has a choice selection of parts on it and it was perfect for getting back into the hobby as fast, and cheap as possible...then all the NIRC guys went to ECSC for the weekend and i went crazy with wanting something steel....

I did this: (scx10 skid, and frame rails with wraith running gear)





It sucked in many ways, i wasn't happy with the whole idea, and was getting frustrated.....then Die-Laughing came over and said "this is wrong".....and then this is what i had:


Day 1 (8/27/13) That night i switched back to a wraith skid, and started a new chassis built around the idea of a "Long & Low" rig that will be reliable, and be "Barely Legal" in a few ways according to the C3 scale rules.

(No pics from Day 1)

Day 2 (8/28/13) i put my imagination to use to create my own chassis....here is where i was at the end of Day 2:



Day 3 (8/29/13) i started with a few goals for the night, get the shock mounts fabricated, support the front of the chassis a little, and grind down most of the spot welds to get those joints ready for brazing later. I accomplished those goals tonight:




The last pic is my desired static height. Getting pretty exciting!

Goals for tomorrow 8/30/13 are to grind down the rest of the spot welds, drill holes in the shock mounts, and start pinching the front of the toyota cab so i can finish the front tube work.

All of the chassis work is 3/16" Stainless Steel rod mig'd together.

Stay tuned for cool things to come!

[badhoopty]

that was a perfectly good set of framerails...

[Die-Laughing]

Originally Posted by badhoopty

that was a perfectly good set of framerails...

Haha yeah.. He didn't get pissed off & cut them in half. I was there, it was a failed idea.. All gone wrong. Decided to start fresh & thats what was left. Meh. shitllbuffout.

[johnnyh66]

Hell yeah man, welcome back to NIRC!
I like the stance on that rig... looks like it should have 4ws.
Just make sure that chassis is legal!

[neillarson]

Looking good. I knew someone would be able to put that Wraith to good use, it surely was good to me.

[Mega Fattie]

8/31/13: sandblasted, and brazed over all the joints. Decided to try and pinch the hilux nose to make clearance for the tires, and retain the fenders. One side came out perfect, one side was a disaster....cut the damn fenders all the way off because i ruined it. Im walking away for a few days. Gotta order a body, and a few other scale items so i can finish this chassis.

Here is how it sits with chopped off fenders until the new body comes....




UGHHH

[CREEPERBOB]

Nice .

[mattzilla]

The low rider drives a little slower, Low rider is the one to meet, Take a little trip & see..Very kool build...

[Mega Fattie]

thanks guys, its fun, but slightly stressfull trying to build within what i can see in my head. so far its pretty damn close.

i mounted the chassis to the skid, and the shocks to the chassis....it sits to high for my liking. if i run a droop suspension, its perfect.


so either droop with 103mm shocks, or sprung shorter shocks? any idea's/input on this?

[Mega Fattie]

Looks like I'm going to cut the shock mounts off the chassis, and move them up on the same bar they are already on to achieve something closer to my desired static ride height with a full 4" sprung shock. It will still be about 1/2" taller (skid to ground) than what I wanted, but I can adjust that with a 50/50 droop later if I desired.

Gonna go hack them off now, and start figuring out where I'm going to mount my electronics box and battery (probably one on each slider to keep weight low)

[Mega Fattie]

Real time update 9/1/13: moved the shock mounts to the top of the tube the old ones were on. Also made them larger for a few reasons. The new shock mounts will automatically move the shocks up +/- 1", and allow me to have more than 3 positions for the shocks. So the rear should sit about 1" lower which is super close to what i wanted, plus ill be able to fine tune the suspension a little more.




Time to do the fronts...

[Mega Fattie]

Real time update: Front shock mounts done, same thoughts as the rear. Mostly just needed to move them up about 1", dont need as many mounting locations.

[Mega Fattie]

Here is where im finishing for the day. Both shock mounts are done, and perfect in my eyes.







The next two pics are my favorite shot's of this rig so far, its finally coming together!
Front shocks are sprung 103mm sitting static, rear are 103mm at 100% droop (no springs) looks pretty Pre-Runnerish.


Fully sprung shocks:



Not gonna be able to do much more until my order from RPP arrives. Waiting on a new body, and some other goodies so i can finish the front of the chassis, the bumper, and other cool little "trinkets" <--haha

All upcoming pics will not be iphone pics.

[Mega Fattie]

Updates coming soon, still waiting on packages to arrive.

[Mega Fattie]

decided to dust off the Canon 50D today...i am a little rusty with a camera, but ill get back into the groove soon enough.















i am using the wraith panhard kit from vanquish for the bar, and the axle mount...i need to make the frame mount. the Homes motor is a 13T crawlmaster. i was bored waiting for parts to get here, so i said what the hell and took pics of some of the misc parts i have that might end up in this build.

[sam63]

Is the chassis as long as the wheel base?

[Mega Fattie]

No it is not. The rear is about 1/8" short of the center of the axle. The front is not complete yet.

[Die-Laughing]

Originally Posted by sam63

Is the chassis as long as the wheel base?

But, it will be and he is aware of that rule.

[badhoopty]

pretty shnazzy mang.

im really happy with my gmade piggybacks. you ever get yours to seal up?

[Mega Fattie]

Originally Posted by badhoopty

pretty shnazzy mang.

im really happy with my gmade piggybacks. you ever get yours to seal up?

No i havent. One shocks leaks 100% of its oil in under 24 hours.

The other 3 stay sealed and the exteriors are dry. Its just that one that sucks.