The Tundra Project

[Titus]

Well, I have been in the crawling scene for a little while now and have been running CR-01 pretty successfully and having a blast. However, I have been eyeing out something a bit more capable and more to scale. After much looking on here, my obvious choice would be to get a SCX10. My manufacturing skills are not all that great, and with no TIG welders etc available to me, the idea of building a rig from scratch went out the window.

Anyways, I ordered a RTR SCX10 from the local sole dealer here in South Africa on Saturday evening. So today the man with the van drop an Axial box on my door step. Score! Needless to say, I rushed home from work and got stuck into unwrapping my new toy. I was rather impressed with packaging. I had to do my first mod to get it running and convert the tamiya style connector to a Deans connector, which was dealt with swiftly. Then chucked a battery in and went for a run around garden. And, i am very happy with the rig. Pretty capable and handles nicely. There is some room for improvement, which gives me an excuse to fiddle and tinker with it. I have already pulled the shock stoppers out and can see a difference there.

Sadly, the pics i took with my crackberry turned out to be an abortion, so will spare you the ghastly pictures and promise to get some up this weekend. Having a pretty big crawling get together this weekend and I’m itching to get some scratches on it and give it a good shake down. This should prove to be most valuable as we are having our 1^st RC crawling competition here in JHB. I seem to believe the 1^st in SA, but not sure on this and stand correct. So need to get some time behind the wheel in preparation for it. Seriously chuffed that this hobby is starting to get some attention and get some sponsors on board.

Right, the plans for the rig are to chuck the Honcho body and slam my dream body on, a Tundra body. Just love the look of the Tundra and, I am a diehard Toyota fan. I am just waiting RC4WD to get the front Cab in stock, then order all body bits, a new set of wheels and tires,a winch and some other scale bits thrown in for good measure. I might need some advice from pros here that have done the Tundra bodies before, when I get closer to getting the build started.

Well, enough of my ramblings. Happy crawling and thanks for reading.

Cheers
T

[Titus]

Well, the Titan went out on its first trail this past weekend. And boy was it a blast. had around 14 rigs with a nice mix of rigs. I am really impressed with the way the SCX10 held up in strock trim. super impressed and chuffed to bits. I will need to address the high CG by shuffling the electronics and battery around and lifting the front bumper a bit.

anyways, here are some pics. i do appologise about the poor quality. i was just having waaay too much fun to fetch my decent camera from the car, so i just shot from the hip with my phone. nothing spectacular but here they are none the less.





One of the guys thought my rig needed some more accessories on the back:










well, more updates once i start ordering the parts. I will try start tinkering with bits this week in prep for our first comp, if time allows.

thanks for watch
Cheers
T

[Die-Laughing]

Nice group of trucks

That pile of rocks you guys got there look awesome!

[heinie_21]

nice choice on scx-10/tundra! just a quick question though. why "the titan project"? seems like "the tundra project" might be better fitting? haha I came in this thread looking around for a nissan titan in those group shots!

[Titus]

Well, my nickname is Titus so thought the Titus and Tundra both had started with T so rolled with that. Also wanted to give the rig a decent name. i see where you going with the name of the thread though. Might consider changing it.

cheers
T

[Titus]

So, we had our first comp this weekend Saturday here in SA. Boy, was it a ton of fun. Rig is still pretty stock with only bump stops removed. And, I can proudly say I managed a respectable 2nd place. Unfortunately, a roll over at the 2nd last gate on the 1st stage caused me to score nothing on that stage, but managed to claw my way back.

Overall I am pretty chuffed with the rig. Surprised a lot of people. Stock tires held up ok. Just need to get more steering angle as I had to reverse a couple times to make gates.

Anyways, as far as the project goes, looks like it’s on ice till march at least, seeing as the Tundra bodies will only be available then. sigh , unless there is a body hiding in the sale section or if someone is willing to part with one.

Here a few pics from the comp that i took with my phone, camera died on me before I got some shots with it


My two rigs in the top right, CR-01 and the honcho


bit of decent flex






I will get others up once i get images from the other guys that were at the comp.

Thanks for watching

Cheers
T

[steele42]

Originally Posted by heinie_21

nice choice on scx-10/tundra! just a quick question though. why "the titan project"? seems like "the tundra project" might be better fitting? haha I came in this thread looking around for a nissan titan in those group shots!

I was also looking for a Nissan Titan I was pretty excited to see one

[Titus]

LOL! oh dear, looks like i will change the thread title then

[josborne024]

I can't wait to get mine . You cut the shock stops out did it make that much of a difference ?

[Titus]

Yep, gives you a bit more shock travel. I find it worked out great for me. Performed great at the comp in its pretty stock state.

well, yesterday I got a bee in my bonnet and decide to change the look of the body a bit. I pulled the shell off and took the roll cage off the back. I grabbed a few tins of paint and went to work. I sprayed the windows black from the inside to tint them to help hide the electronics and also to give some contrast between the body and windows. Then I spent the most of the afternoon masking up the outside and pulling off a few stickers here and there and then threw down 1 coat of primer. I’m going to be going with white for the body. I will get another coat of primer on this afternoon and maybe get some colour down depending on how much time I have. I also painted up the wheel hubs and will probably do the wheels this evening with the centres white and the rings black. I will snap a few pics with the camera this evening.

That’s it for now,
Cheers
T

[Titus]

Small update and some pics as promised.

paint turned out ok...ish.. not entirely happy but it will have to do for now. there is some over spary on the wheels and tires,which i am busy cleaning up, as well as some issues on the rear of the cab. Thankfully the bed on the back hides most of it. Also there are a few spot where the paint come off when i was pulling the tape of. sigh, bugger. Other than that, its ok. Im fairly happy with the overall look. it will do until the Tundra parts become available.

anyways, here are some pics. Nothing spectacular.







thanks for looking

Cheers
T

[jzay76]

Those white wheels are gangsta!

[Titus]

Update time. So I have ordered a fair amount of parts for the project. On the order is both the front and rear Tamiya hard bodies along with the various small parts, i.e. roll bars, light buckets, lens covers, bumpers, windows and decal sheet. Also got a new set of wheels and tires to go with the body. Further to this, I have ordered the axial upgraded links as mine have been turned into pretzels

I just need to work out how many screws and bolts I’m going to need to put the body work together as I don’t have a surplus of spare screws and nuts available for this, I downloaded the Tamiya manual for the Tundra so I just need to sit and count the various bits then head off to my LHS and get the screws.

One thing that is still eluding me is to decide on a colour for the body.... hmmm. I'm tossing between like an electric blue or a pearl white....

I might be out of my depth with this project, but lets see how its goes. There are a few SCX Tundras running around on here, but they are mainly truggies, with only a hand full of the full cab and bed rigs. As such there is not much detail on how the body was mounted. I'm sure i will work it out once the parts arrive and I will just need to do a bit more deeper searching on here should I get stuck. Anyways, I’m up for the challenge and the end result should be worth it.

I will try and give a detailed as possible build to this, so that others can have something to revert back to should they wish to do something similar.

Anyways, that’s it for now till the parts arrive. Thanks for reading my miserable dribble.

Cheers
T

[Titus]

Finally a worth while update. My main order from RC4WD arrived today with much happiness. Got all the body bits that i think i need, somehow i didnt order the top of the grill insert, not much of a train smash can deal with it. Will get the mirrors on my next order end of the month. Only things that are outstanding are my tires and my solid links, which are still sitting in Los Angeles. Orders placed at same time.

Anyways, on to the pics:
Body bits and pieces:


ooh what are these pretty things:


closer look:




Close up on Hub:


still deciding on the colour....

Thats it for now, till the other bits arrive. will probably start to see how the the body mounts up and shoot a few pics.

Cheers
T

[Titus]

Right, so it begins.

So the major surgey on Titan, thats what i have decied to name the truck, has begun. She had her last scale / crawler meet on the weekend and it made me very proud, really amazed at this little rig.

So i started stripping down the rig and mocked a few things up. I thought i would be a good idea to have a before and after shot for the build, so here are the shots as it stood before the the surgery.





Then i got to work. Pulled the electronics box off and pulled the ESC out and also removed the LEDs from the front and rear, as they are going to go into the body itself. The electronics are going into a waterproof container so that the rig will be waterproof. Also removed the battery tray. Here is the chassis as its stands. I am still waiting for the links to arrive. Once they do, they will be fitted and will flip the motor / gearbox around at the same time.





Then i mocked up the body and did a test fit to get an idea if what it would look like, and see if i have to seperate the bed and cab a little more. Turns out, i will need to do so, but only very slightly. Maybe 1 or 2mm. But the cab and bed will be joined as 1 piece.



Body wont be this high i think, will need to check with the new wheels and tires.


Love this front shot. Has some real presence about it:


Body width is pretty good against the axles, however some extra arches are definitely in order. Really hoping to be able to keep the rear bumper:


Think the height of the rear is pretty much what im after:


Threw on the roll bar and front bumper to see if i liked it, and.. i love it Still need to see if i can manage to pull off having the front bumper as well as run a bullbar


My fav shot so far:


Tomorrow I might brave drilling the bed in order to attach it to the cab. Will be running a piece of metal on the inside and use the existing holes at the bottom, then drill 2 more holes just in front of the rear wheel arch and bolt it up. will try get slot for the screws so i can adjust the gap between the cab and bed to get the right wheel base length. Once you see the pics of what im trying to do, you will see what im getting at.

Still figuring out how to mount the cab , but i want to hinge the body off the rear so that i can get access to change batteries. Thinking of keeping the front down with some velcro possibly attached to the container i will have for keeping the lipos dry.

Colour you may ask.... errrrr.. jury is still out on debate on that one. Pearl white im loving and wont look so bad if scratched. However i have access to a pearl electric blue which is really tempting but would look like shite after some good rock rash.. but then again this is a work horse not a show truck. i dunno, will sleep on it.

Anyways, enough of my rambling on here, thats it for now.

Thanks for reading my miserable dribble
Cheers
T

[josborne024]

Seen the wheels you picked out and just had to have a set myself love that yoda body how much did you give for it like it is if you don't mind me asking ?

[Titus]

Jos, awesome dude! i just dig my new wheels. They were exactly what i was after in terms of looks and overal feel for the rig. Uhm, with the wheels, tires, links and the body bits.... errrr $350 shipped i think? still a few bits i will need to get though.

Cheers
T

[josborne024]

Ya I got wheels , tires , links , cms kit . But I think I'm gonna trash the stock body before I pull the trigger on a new one . Anyways sweet build always love the yotas

[Hydro-Tank]

Aw man, those wheels will look wicked on there! Keep up the good work!

[Titus]

Thanks guys, it aint anything special aint i dont really have much skill or creativity, but i do what i can i guess. This place gave me the idea and gives me the drive and inspiration to do builds like this.

I cant wait for the tires to arrive. really keen to see what it will look like with the wheels and tires on, and the body all sorted. going to be awesome.

Cheers
T