Micro Racer's Dingo Build

[micro racer]

I am glad to say that my new winch controller has been ordered! That's right; a new 4amp relay controller with soft start is coming my way! I must say, Al is a great guy to do business with.

Just a side note, I should be getting a Warn hook and some tow shackles today as well.

[micro racer]

I just received my winch controller! Well, I didn't just receive it; it arrived Thursday... In the five minutes of testing, it worked very well. Anyway, thank you very much to Al for having excellent customer service !

On to the building!! First, some pics of my dead motor:





So... Yeah... I killed that motor...

Here is something a little more exciting to see... TOW SHACKLES!!





Anyway, that is my truck for the moment. A clear Dingo body is currently sitting on my toolbox awaiting some paint. Does anyone know where to get some metallic vinyl sheriff stars made? I built this as a police vehicle, but I haven't been able to find any decent decals. The basic paint scheme will be the same as now, just with a star on the side (painted or vinyl, preferably vinyl). I am also going to add some more lights to be switched on with the sirens. Two of the three pairs of headlights strobe with the sirens, so I end up with only 2 LED's constantly providing light (not going to cut it at a G6, if I ever get to one ).

[micro racer]

Well, I haven't done very much on my truck since the last post, but I did manage to get my Heyok winch controller all wired in properly and got a tow strap built (will post and link to a how-to in the Scale Accessories section).





I have finally figured out how I am going to do the star... I am going to print the pic below on some label paper and make a stencil. The major part of the star will be gold, the circle will be silver, and the Axial logo will be light green.



Anyway, be read for a freshly painted body pretty soon. It may or may not be this weekend, because I am building a Tamiya M06 VW Beetle as well. I might as well post that up when I am done...

[micro racer]

Nothing new, but I got the How-to up for the Tow rope. Here ya' go...

[micro racer]

FINALLY! I FINALLY painted my new body. Seriously, I have had it masked and sitting on my work bench for about three weeks... Now that I think about it, I should have taken a picture of the masking so all of you can see how annoying it is. I need to mask, in order, everything except the little black strip around the interior. (For those technical people, the order I masked I painted was black, gunmetal, green, gold, silver, and white.)

My workbench... The epitome of organization...


That awkward moment when you realize you just cut a giant hole in your freshly painted body:


Preparing for the arduous process of sticker application:


Don't worry, that massive hole was for the Proline fuel cell. Note the NOS bottle; it will help catch bad guys and will NEVER be used for burnouts or wheelies...


The interior is done, but I wish I had more 3D details, instead of decals. Oh well, there is always next time... (Or this time and an X-acto knife)


I will have the rest of the body put together in a couple days, but in the mean time, how do you like it so far? Just so you know, there may be a bonus pic of the aforementioned Tamiya beetle in the next post...

[micro racer]

Well, I don't have any pics this time (they will be coming shortly), but I do have some general updates:

First, I had the unfortunate luck of finding a dog landmine (read massive pile of crap) with my truck while driving at night in my backyard. That was one of those moments where I REALLY wished I had a waterproof truck (think powerwash). Had to scrub the tires, rinsed off the body, pulled the front axle and completely sprayed it off with a hose, and then I got to the shocks... The rears were fine but the fronts... piece by piece taken apart and cleaned off.

Second, while I was cleaning my front shocks (the only ones I was going to do), I noticed a distinct lack of oil. Curious, I took off the rear shocks, pulled the springs off, and cycled them to check the dampening. One was about half full and the other had barely enough for light lubrication. So, now I am rebuilding all four shocks to make them not terrible (more on that later; typing on a phone is annoying, no matter how big it is).

Third, I have finally sourced the parts I would need to do my trailing arms. While getting link measurements off my truck, I noticed that my front axle is about 1cm forward of my wheelwells, which is causing a bunch of issues. That will also be fixed, at the same time as or before the trailing arms.

Anyway, that is my midnight, non-picture containing update to my build. Happy Halloween!

[micro racer]

Pictures!! I have them! (Link measurements; I don't have them )

I took a couple tips and tricks from RCC to help build better shocks, and I ended up with some pretty awesome shocks. They don't leak (so far) and are now have bladders instead of being emulsion. First...

PARTS EXPLOSION!!



I used 5 Team Associated nylon shims to drop my ride height. Once I got everything together, I realized that 5 shims is about how much my truck sags under weight anyway... So, I am calling these "down-travel limiters" instead.



Moving along, my first two tips from RCC are in the lower cartridge. First: instead of using the plastic shim in between the o-rings, use a third o-ring. In my shocks, I used a smaller ID o-ring instead of the shim and put it underneath 2 new-stock rings. I am hoping that this while keep dirt out of the rings because of the tighter seal on the shaft. Second: put the shaft into the shock and then slide the o-rings onto the shaft; the rings don't pinch when built this way. I don't know how much of this second tip is gimmick or truth, but hey, why not give it a try?



Once I got all of the o-rings shoved into the shock body and tightened the cap, I slid on a Team Durango bump stop and a stock 7mm shock piston off and Axial parts tree. The extra piston spaces the bump stop so that the top of the shock shaft barely presses the bladder at full compression.

[micro racer]

The third tip from RCC is pulled from Egressor's SCX10 shocks. Instead of using the standard o-ring in the cap for emulsion shocks, use the bladder from Traxxas part #7062 (I also used the blue o-rings from this pack for the extra ring in the lower seals.) It fits perfectly, but required some different bump/rebound setup when putting the shocks together. Also, I used Team Associated 40wt. oil when putting these together. I understand the concepts of oil weight and dampening, but I have never done it before. I'll see how this turns out but I like it so far.



Unfortunately, I only have a "teaser" shot of the new body (again). But I do have a pic of my police lights...

[micro racer]

Unfortunately, I haven't got to run my truck very much recently, but that hasn't stopped me from building it up!

First up, some more lighting pictures. I have two more LEDs on the hood for when I turn on the police lights. Since the two outer pairs of headlights strobe when the police lights are on, I don't get very much usable light. The two hood lights should supplement well.



Here are my turn signals for the left side. They are they same for the right side .





For anyone wondering how much wiring all of this takes, here you go:



On to the scale stuff...

First, a fire extinguisher to help with the potential NOS induced fires...



I don't really like the fire extinguisher, but the LHS where I work didn't have anything else. I like Proline ones that come with the fuel and water jugs, but I want two; one for each side. (Extra note: I just remembered that I haven't installed the fuel pumps yet... Oh well...) Anyway, I actually got the detail set that the extinguisher comes with for another reason: the mirrors.



I also got it for the windshield wipers. I have trouble applying the sticker wipers... Drilling holes was much easier! (Ignore the body posts; those will hopefully not be a part of the next body.)



I wish the close-up was a little more clear, but hey, it is a phone pic and it can't always take decent pictures. I guess an all-encompassing front end shot will do then...

[micro racer]

Today I have two big changes to report on: new links and new tires. Oddly enough, both served a dual purpose of performance and looks.



For the new links, I made them shorter than stock in order to pull the wheels into the wheel wells. I used 8-32 all thread from Home Depot and Revo rod ends. I haven't got a chance to sleeve the links yet, but that is the next thing on my list.



When I was taking measurements for the tie rod, I noticed that the high steer knuckles allow a very large amount of steering. Unfortunately, the drag link is mounted underneath the knuckle arm and acts as a bump-stop. Besides sleeving the links, my next project is to find a way to mount the drag link on top of the tie rod in such a way as to not hinder the up travel. In the next picture, you can see that the tie rod is the only hindrance to the up-travel and mounting the drag link on top of it could be problematic. At full compression:



For the new tires, I wanted a more all-terrain look instead of the Proline XL Swampers. I decided to go with the RC4WD Gladiators because of the listed dimensions. RC4WD calls them 4.57" x 1.64". I wanted something slightly shorter than the Swampers but still have the width. I think the .57 is backwards because they are exactly the same size as the 4.75" Swampers. However, the Gladiators have a much more square profile, which in the end gives me the look I was going for.

[micro racer]

Some less interesting yet equally important changes were in my electronics. I don't have anything new, but I rerouted my wires coming off the ESC so that they don't knock my body while trail riding. I also replaced my connectors with Castle plugs. The Castle plugs connect and disconnect much smoother than the Traxxas connectors I had been using. Unfortunately, they don't like wire much larger than 16 gauge; it can rip off the wire's insulation if you aren't careful (personal experience involving battery connectors and relating wire).





They next update for this build shouldn't be too long, since non-sleeved all-thread links don't slide well over rocks. However, I am going to embark on another build soon, one that will take up much of my time and already limited teenager budget. At least it will be a full from-the-beginning build, unlike this thread where I waited a year or so to start posting... One will be able to find this in the multi-axle forum and it will also be linked in my next post.

Extra note: (I will eventually post that picture of my Beetle...)

[micro racer]

Unfortunately, I still haven't sleeved my all-thread links; I can't find any tube that is the right size!

In the mean time, I have still been working on my truck. First, I felt the need for some new foams. I ran through some water and later had VERY soft foams, which were no good. Even before my excursion through the water, I noticed that it was very easy to collapse the tire in a bind. Thus, I now have some Crawler Innovations Lil' Nova foams installed.



Also due to my trip through the water, I decided that now would be a good time to waterproof my electronics. I am using a Traxxas receiver box that I packed my receiver and most of my wiring into. You may be wondering why I need to "pack" my wires in. Let's just say that I am using all 4 channels and then some (two giant y-adapters)...





I drilled and tapped the stock battery plate so that I could mount the box solidly. I have the whole plate mounted a little different than the following picture, but this mock up is a good reference.





I also stuffed my Tekin FX-r and my CC BEC into the stock receiver box and used RTV sealant to close it up. I don't have a picture of it mounted, but it sits in the stock location and just under the battery tray. Since I lost the two mounting posts that screw into the bottom, I had two holes in the box. I sealed those by Shoe-gooing a piece of styrene into the bottom, making sure to get a lot of glue around the holes.



That's all for now, but please check out my 6x6 build that is taking up the other half of my spare time ...

[micro racer]

Wow, I haven't updated this build in a while...

Anyway, I only have a small update to this, as most of my time has gone into my 6x6 or school work...

I finally found some 1/4" stainless tube to sleeve my all-thread with; I couldn't stand the grinding and catching of the bare threads (also managed to put slight bends in several lower links ). Of course, I only took a picture of the first test piece (the drag link), so here is a teaser:



So far, I have all the links but the two front uppers sleeved (ran out of time). From my hour or so of testing in my backyard, they seem to be working very well. Everything seems a bit stiffer and the steering is definitely tighter (275 oz/in from my servo is apparently enough to bend unsleeved all-thread in a bind... who knew...). Aside from the minor performance gain, the links sure look good. If this was a 1:1, the size of the links would definitely be overkill.

I haven't been able to test my waterproofing yet (whether that is a good or bad thing), but I have tried the CI foams. No trails yet, but they definitely help my Gladiators maintain shape in my backyard. With slow and steady throttle, slick rock becomes much less of a challenge than it was previously. Before, the rear tire just collapsed under power and flipped my truck; now, the tires will just slip until they clean off and start pulling the truck up. Overall, I am very happy with the new foams; they are just a pain to stuff in the tires...

[micro racer]

I don't have anything too interesting, unless rusty bearings are your thing...



I was just doing some general cleaning and thought that it was about time to crack open my axles ... It WAS working perfectly fine (no binding, squealing, wobbliness), but I SAW the rusty bearings, so they had to be replaced. Most of you know that feeling, right? It was working fine but was unknowingly broken, but then you SAW it broken and HAD to replace it even though it worked fine... (Rambling ) I don't know, it might just be an OCD thing...

This is only the rear so far; I am afraid to open the front...

Extra: Again, nothing important, but... I will be refreshing my shocks this weekend (just new oil and some tuning, no O-rings) and will report how well my shock mods are doing. I hope to find some relatively clean oil, and (really hoping) full shocks. I am going to go with 40wt oil again, but remove the washers limiting my down-travel (about 1/4").

Extra-extra: Oh, and a cool picture from a trail run last week...

[Tbrown]

What if you have some form of a roller on top of your servo? This way it can go over then into the fair lead. EDIT *I see that the servo winch idea hasn't been executed yet! Sorry for the confusion, should have kept reading*

[micro racer]

Originally Posted by Tbrown

What if you have some form of a roller on top of your servo? This way it can go over then into the fair lead. EDIT *I see that the servo winch idea hasn't been executed yet! Sorry for the confusion, should have kept reading*

Now that I have my battery tray and electronics stuffed under the hood (literally), I don't have any room to mount a servo winch up front at all. However, running a servo winch on my bumper is becoming more of an option; building my 6x6 is helping my custom building skills, so a custom bumper for the winch may be what I eventually change to.

Last weekend, I rebuilt my shocks (no O-rings) with new oil and removal of my down-travel limiters. For oil, I left the front at 40wt to compensate for an estimated 60/40 weight bias while changing the rear to 30wt. Since I had much less weight on my rear suspension than on my front, the extra down-travel produced an obvious stinkbug effect.

This prompted me to search for softer springs. Axial's option springs would have been a good option, except that I wanted a softer secondary (small) spring along with the primary; Axial unfortunately uses the very softest rate (red) for the stock secondary. In my opinion, the stock rate should have been in the middle of the options (same rate, but some rates below it instead of all above). While pondering this conundrum, I happened to spot a HPI Blitz front spring set (#10334 on my LHS's wall. With a diameter of 13mm compared to Axial's 12.5mm, they fit somewhat loosely, but well enough to test. (I may have some adapters 3d printed by Shapeways or a friend so the springs fit better.) After a little testing, these seem to be good tuning option that doesn't break the bank, like buying an equivalent amount of Axial's springs would.

Besides continuing to tune the springs (I still have one rate softer , and two rates stiffer), I will be doing some general maintenance such as replacing bearings, rebuilding CV joints, and possibly doing some gearing and ESC tuning.

If anyone was wondering, I have not forgotten about VP links and BMRC trailing arms. I have decided to not run VP links for two reasons: I like the beefy look that my all-thread links give (the VP are 1/16" smaller diameter); VP is a lot of $$ for something I don't like the looks of, no matter how much stronger they may be. Trailing arms are still an idea, but I am pretty happy with my current setup and I don't really want to change it for a little while.

[micro racer]

Well, stuff has happened. Not too much, but stuff has happened. I suppose that it is time for an update...

First, (actually, this post will be completely non-chronologically ordered, but whatever) Axialfest!

Starting "E" with my dad!



I managed to pass the Tech Inspection. I almost didn't make it because my NOS bottle wouldn't pass EPA regulations, but the cop lights prevailed! (2015 Axialfest-goers know the hardships I'm joking about )



Back home and still covered in G6 dust...



There was quite a bit of iron sitting around in the Cisco Grove dirt...



This was my first Axialfest and it was AWESOME! I went with my dad, we both ran in 1.9 Adventurist, and we drove as scale as possible (for a G6). There was a lot of winching, seeing that he was using a 4.19" class 1 tire, but we had a great time.

Unfortunately, I was in 3 wheel drive for almost 2 half-stages (not a whole stage, a third of "A" and more than half of "D"). Both incidences were due to Axial CVD pins shearing. The failures were basically my fault because of improper setup; I bent/clearanced my tie-rod for more steering but inadvertently surpassed the working angle of the CVD's. After running B through D with one side using the stock dogbone setup (many thanks to Mike, my campsite neighbor, for letting me use his spare parts), the right side CVD sheared the pin and I limped/tow-strapped/winched the rest of stage D.

Too short sheared pin and stub axle...



Once back to G-central, the RPP booth saved the rest of the day with a pair of Vanquish VVD's. Since my axle was apart anyway, I decided to splurge and throw in a Gripfab SS spool to tighten up my driveline. I also lowered the EPA's on my radio so I wouldn't break my shiny new VVD's, even though they seemed to have a larger working angle than the Axial CVD's.

New VVD's installed; sorry, no picture with the Gripfab spool...



Also at Axialfest, I stopped by the Team KNK booth and picked up a stainless SCX10 screw bag. It was very reasonably priced ($15) and was very high quality. I tend to be a little lazy when it comes to cleaning (and preventative maintenance, but we'll get to that one later), so the stainless screws will be nice to have after a romp through a stream, river, pond, etc. Plus, they added a nice bit of bling to an otherwise boring, (unintentionally) blacked-out chassis.



In my usual fashion, I don't have a picture with the screws installed, just one of them all laid out on my table...



So, on to the preventative maintenance that I mentioned, or lack thereof. Two days before Axialfest, I decided to take a look in my transmission, just to make sure that things were good to go. Nope! Razor teeth on the idler gear were an un-happy sight...



After a quick scramble between hobby shops, I found a Hobby People that had a stock plastic replacement in-store and all was well.

That's all (folks) for now, and I will be taking a bit of a break from this build for a few months. Yeah, yeah; these updates aren't exactly frequent or consistent and nobody will care if it isn't updated anyway, but if you do care, see above ^^. My 6x6 needs a bit of attention (not in a particularly good way; things are broken or not working properly) and I really need to finish some stuff on my real car before school starts...

[Sirbuildalot]

Excellent work with your truck! As a new Honcho owner, I appreciate the details and explanations you are giving about your build!

Thanks
Mark

[micro racer]

Yay! I finally did something to this truck again!

After rebuilding the LED string for my cop lights twice, I have had it with my current setup.

Current setup (sorry about the poor pic, I just grabbed the first one I saw in my library):


New light bar:




The new bar is better in every way, with a lower profile, use of 5mm LEDs instead of 3mm, and has 2 more holes. I can't decide if the two extra holes should be used for the white end strobes, or for wider color strips. I am leaning towards the white end blocks.

That's all for now! I want to have the new light string put together in a week or two, but holidays ...

[micro racer]

Today I managed to get all the way out to my backyard (gasp! ) to take a few pictures. Sorry about the completely un-scale backgrounds (ie. my house), but I don't quite have the time to go trailing right now. Thus, a rock pile will have to suffice...

Here goes:

First, some poser shots.









In the next two, I want to point out the grip of these RC4WD Gladiators. In both pictures, my line was entirely dependent on that outer tire keeping traction, and it did. I have been very impressed with these tires, however, as they are an A/T tread, they don't pull up loose dirt very well.





Here is another picture of the Gladiators trying to pull a bead. I still have CI 4.75" dual stage soft outer foams in them, but I can still manage to fold the sidewall over. In the right terrain, these tires are amazing! (This picture doesn't look too bad, but when I continued driving the tread folded to about a half inch from the beadlock.)



I am very happy with my current links, wheelbase, and suspension overall. Everything tucks nicely, I very rarely catch a tire on the body, and the suspension itself works very well.





Scale builders look away!! I see wiring and the other side of the body! Yeah, I should probably do something about the giant, open wheel wells in the back. The fronts kinda blend in because of the massive block of waterproof boxes, servos, and whatnot, but the back is really bad...



I ordered some LEDs but they are coming on the slow boat; they won't be here for about a month to month and a half...

I really want to get out to the trails this week, but again, holidays .