Scale 2 build and progress - codename "Colonel Mustard"

[mce076]

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This thread is about the process of converting over my Honcho TR into a capable Scale 2 chassis.
It represents my efforts entering into the comp crawling scene and its continued development onwards.

I'll start off with some pics of what this all started out as.
As it stands here, its had the bumpers blacked out for looks and the shock spacers removed to increase articulation...

[mce076]

Not much was done since it was shelved aside from the rear cage was removed and modified for a cab only and bare chassis look.
I've also sprayed it with Tamiya Flat Clear and I'm loving the look over the original shiny lexan.

[mce076]

So at this stage of its life I started to look into the comp rules and regulations and realising I couldn't run the cab only setup it did have I went about doing some modifications to the rear stock cage.

The aim here was to get something legal that I could run as soon as possible and everything so far was done using what I had on hand...



After sitting and thinking about it I decided that I wasn't going to be happy with its level of upgrades (ie. none) and I while I did like it initially the Honcho shell and the modified cage weren't doing it for me.

From here on in a lot of research was done and upgrades were ordered.. this is the start of the real Scale 2 build.

[mce076]

At this point I came across the benefits of mirroring the transmission... it made sense, so it was done

here's a random pic of the transmission removed, prior to the mirror..



and the transmission mirror is now complete..
simple 5 minute job once the transmission was out of the chassis

of course this now means my electronics wont mount back into the chassis where they were
time to look at my options.. which I already have on the way in the form of a replacement battery/electronics tray

[mce076]

so having completed the mirrored transmission and installing it back into the chassis, this is what I was now dealing with..

[mce076]

Having decided I wasn't going to be happy with the Honcho shell and modified cage, i started looking around for something else i liked and finally settled on a new shell.

i'll be using the Proline Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon ( # 3336-00 )

Here's a pic after I've finished masking up the body...

The intended colour scheme was as follows..

main body colour - mustard yellow
canopy - black
bonnet - dark grey
wheel guards - dark grey

* note - I am colourblind, makes this process ridiculously hard!

[mce076]

At this point my first upgrades started to roll in..

In hindsight there were some items in this list that i just wasn't going to use in the long run, but still nice to have...

- Axial 12.3" aluminium links set
- Traxxas Big Bore shocks
- Mini-T spring sets front and rear (now need the spring retainers)
- RC4WD tough armour stubbie bumper
- RC4WD WARN winch + wireless remote unit
- Battery plate for mounting pack near the transmission
- Junfac carbon steel drive shafts
- Axial overdrive + underdrive gear sets (now to decide which set or both to use)
- Vanquish rear axle lockouts
- RC4WD chassis mount servo kit w/ panhard bar

Some progress shots of the body shell during the painting process..





and i started to play around with the scale winch.. so awesome

[mce076]

And it was now that I can reveal the finished shell and due a combination of colour scheme used and the shell I now had the idea to name my rig...

I am proud to announce the birth of "Colonel Mustard"

[mce076]

Just in case anyone wants to know how it was painted..

here's the colours and method used...

roof and guards
- inside body was flat clear (PS-55) first, rubber black (TS-82) second
- once painted, outside of shell on the roof and guards was hit with flat clear once more
- backed with a layer of black

main body
- normal paint process using mustard yellow (PS-56), maybe 4-5 coats in total
- backed with a layer or two of white and then finished with black

window trims
- done outside body, same colours and method as roof/guards
- flat clear, rubber black second, flat clear afterwards as a seal just in case

[mce076]

some more progress...

made a jig to fit in a my dremel drill press, turned it sideways and lathed off the flanges from some Serpent S411 spring cups..
the inner diameter is a "click fit" to the Losi Mini-T springs





then I cut the shock caps off... and i'm sure you know where this is headed..



shock cap mod to the Traxxas Big Bores giving 100mm length and with my trimmed cups now look and feel the business...



then there were the Axial aluminium links...





and the Junfac drive shafts...

[mce076]

I decided to take a trip to the LHS and found some 4.3" Proline Interco TSL SX Super Swampers and while they aren't the 4.75" XLs i thought they would be a nice change from the stock Flat Irons...

here he is with new shoes flexing on a 3 tyre stack..



at this point i started thinking about weight balance and wheel weights..

I've got 80gms in each wheel at the moment...
i had 120gms in the front, 80gms in the rear but i wanted to center the weight a little more as a means to find a starting point for my chassis

speaking of balance, mine is balancing on the front edge of the transmission plate, so not far from center as it currently stands..

i will remove the winch and bring the bumper back as far as it can go so that's going to balance mine even more around center

[mce076]

here's a current under the hood photo..

edit - I should add whats recently been done to the chassis/drivetrain etc

- overdrive/underdrive gears installed
- servo changed from a Hitec 645MG to a waterproof Savox SW-1210SG
- battery plate has been installed and electronics mounted (this configuration may change at some point)
- traxxas big bores with losi mini-t springs installed (with modified spring cups)

[mce076]

waterproofed my esc and receiver with Starbrite Liquid Electric Tape, we'll see how this goes if it gets into water at any time..



then I mounted all the electronics this time with one of the many Tekin RS Pro speedies I have..



I also trimmed the stock rock sliders back, pic should show how it was done..



and finally trimmed the guards back and shaped them..

you should be able to see the effect of cutting the rock sliders and a better representation of the shell colour

[mce076]

more updates on the build, no pics this time..

- RRP hardened steel idler gear
- RRP one piece outdrive
- RC Bros servo posts and clamps
- LockedUp RC F1 diff spool front and rear
- 3Racing CVD swing shafts

now to wait for an order of steering components (chubs, knuckles, steering link etc) and 35T brushed motor

[mce076]

only a small bit of progress done as i'm patiently waiting for steering upgrades..

tonight I hacked the RC4WD stubby bumper and cut off about 1.5cm from the mounts so they didnt hit the shock hoop mounts
then I extended the screw slots on the sides of the mounts forward so it could be pushed on as far as possible (it was a real crappy job but it works)

here's a random flex showing the bumper.. it only extends about 2cm forward from the chassis rails
a little of bit of trimming on the body shell as well and its now slotting over the bumper side "reinforcements" and the uses the lowest post settings on the front

also now considering grinding/cutting off the tow shackle mounts, looks like it could catch on something..

not sure yet, will wait till it hits the rocks I think

[mce076]

guess what arrived and was installed tonight? ...Holmes Hobbies Torquemaster Pro 35T with a truck load of torque thats what haha ;)



oh also I have the VP currie steering and drag links, matched to the VP 8 deg 0 ackerman knuckles and chubs...

I've also attempted to use an 11mm widener set but i'm not happy with how that will turn out
in the end I stole a pair of Traxxas 8mm wheel hubs (TRX3654) from my Slash and will pick up another set tomorrow for the rears..
I might also end up adding in a 1mm wheel spacer too as the tyres just touch the link rod ends

turns a lot nicer now, but this seems to cause issues for the 9.8mm drive pins in the 3Racing CVDs so to stop them popping out I've replaced with a 10mm set (and will look at replacing the whole 3Racing CVDs with some beefier ones built for more lock)

[mce076]

here's a full parts/upgrades list for the build as it stands...

- Axial SCX10 Honcho TR RTR v1
- Proline Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon 313mm shell
- Holmes Hobbies TorqueMaster Pro 35T motor
- Tekin RS Pro ESC ** waterproofed with Starbrite liquid electric tape
- Savox SW-1210SG waterproof servo
- Turnigy Nano-Tech 3S 2200mah lipo pack ** to be replaced with 850mah packs at some point
- Proline Interco TSL SX Swampers 1.9" G8 Rock Terrain tyres ** standard foams to be replaced with Crawler Innovations dual stage at some point
- Axial standard beadlocks w/ Traxxas 8mm wide hex wheel hubs
- Traxxas Big Bore Shocks w/ Losi Mini-T springs and cap mod ** home made spring retainers
- Vanquish 8 deg 0 ackerman chubs and highsteer knuckles
- Vanquish Currie SCX titanium steering and drag links
- Vanquish rear axle lockouts
- 3Racing CVD axles FR ** to be replaced with something beefier at some point
- Axial Overdrive/Underdrive diff gears
- LockedUp RC F1 Spools FR/RR
- Robinson Racing hardened idler and 1 piece transmission gears
- JunFac drive shafts
- ALT986 battery/electronics mount plate
- RC Bros aluminium server posts and clamps
- RC4WD stubbie front bumper ** trimmed/modified to mount further back
- LockedUp RC slipper eliminator kit
- Axial aluminium links (4-linked FR/RR)

[mce076]

long time no post... small update this time...

- JeepinDoug spring retainers arrived, seem to work ok so they'll stay on for now (although they will make for an annoying spring change process)
- shocks have been lowered only about 2mm by using shorter rod ends
- ride height subsequently has dropped about the same so its now around 62/63mm
- lipo packs have arrived and been re-plugged (the onroad racer in me cant deal with deans and has to use 4mm bullets)
- body has been trimmed a little and dropped slightly in the rear, front cant be lowered any further, mostly aesthetics purposes

I've also made a couple of these rim weights and might make a couple more, not sure if will be needed FR/RR or both etc
these are made from solder rod supplied from Bunnings and fit into the standard Axial rim, weighs 40gms each..
simple process, take solder rod and hammer a section flat as wide as the channel in the rim, cut into enough length to run around the center of the rim



And now for a random pic of Colonel Mustard as he stands now...

[mce076]

rear upper link risers installed..

will now be able to play with link lengths, pinion angles, upper link angles.. much setup fun to come

[mce076]

more updates on the build...

- installed a modified Wraith sway bar, same arms/turnbuckles but made a new bar from piano wire and tuned it by notching the middle of the bar
- tyres have been updated from the 4.3" swampers to the 4.75 swamper XLs, ride height has increased about 5mm

some things to consider..

- rig weight has increased somewhat with the larger tyres, might have to start looking at where/how I can save some weight
- clearance to the flares needs to be looked at, not sure on solution i'll do here at the moment
- rear height has raised a little with the clocking of the rear axle thanks to the link riser and not sure i'll care with the sway bar doing its job to bring that down or if i'll shorten the rod ends on the upper links or shorten the rear shocks a little to compensate for the height difference to the front