Greatscott's Rubicon Build

[Greatscott]

I should call this "Project Overtime", cause this is where a good chunk of it went.

Here it is, still have some tweaking to do, but the electronics are complete and everything is working the way I want it to.





The List:
Axial Rubicon Kit
Castle SV3 Waterproof ESC
Integy 35T Motor
Castle BEC (6.5VDC)
Airtronics MT-4
Savox Waterproof Servo
RC4WD Warn 9.5 Winch and controller
RC Bros Burly Tube steering mod, with modified STRC aluminum Wraith draglinks
STRC aluminum 3-link (front upper)
STRC Aluminum Rear axle truss
Axial Aluminum upper links (rear axle)
Howler Customs battery and electronics tray

Overall everything went together as planned. The kit went together really well, no surprises. I really like how much flexibility Axial put into this kit. They provide everything you need to run lights up front (minus the lights themselves), or you have stickers to simulate lights. You can paint up the hard top, or leave it off, and you have option for mounting the battery tray, which I did not use at all. I still have a couple of odds and ends to add on before I am ready to hit the dirt with it. I had to change the throttle curve on the ESC, low-end control was twitchy, but the Castlelink made that REALLY easy to do. I am running my ESC at 6.5VDC, but I might kick it up to 7VDC, I was not planning on running my winch off of it, but I need some wheel time to figure out what works best.

The lights worked out great, I used four 5mm and two 3mm clear up front, and two 5mm reds and two 3mm clear LEDS in the back. The buckets in the back are a nice scale touch, but it would be nice if they made them so you can put LEDs in them. I drilled them and put 3mm LEDS in, then make my own light covers. I also put two 3MM clear LEDs in the dash.








Also, the switch there in the center of the console turns power on and off.

Here is the underside of the body..
I used Shoe-Goo to hold everything in.
I painted the outer (blue coat) until I had full coverage, backed that with white, then with backing black.



The winch took a little modification to get installed. The baseplate doesn't fit quite right, and you have to drill your own holes. There are metal bumpers make by RC4WD that fix this, but they are sold out at this time.

I could not drill the front holes for the mounting plate into the bumper because of the lights, so I put two holes further in and backed them with nuts, this also provides a good seat for the winch in front.





There are two options for controlling the winch, I had spare channels in the MT-4, so I went with that option. You can also get a remote controller for it. The winch itself is for the most part waterproof, it has a DC motor that will not get too upset by water, but the controller is not waterproof, so I sealed it with silicone before I mounted it under the battery tray.



I am not that happy about the winch though. I was planning a Losi mini crawler transmission for a winch (have one in my other scaler), but there is just not enough room under the hood for it and have full suspension travel. So, I went with the next best thing, a RC4WD Warn winch. It looks good, and ok, but it really lacks the power that I wanted for this rig.

I wanted more steering, so I did the 'beef tube' mod. Here is the link to Harley's video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW-kPQZjYW8

It went together pretty much the same as the video. I wanted brass tubes, but they were sold out. Given the weight of this truck without the battery, aluminum was the better option.

This is very much a Do-it-yourself mod, you have to drill the holes, cut the axles and come up with custom steering linkage. I would have liked to see this kit come with the holes predrilled and the XR10 axles already cut, but that would have add a lot more to the cost.

For the steering linkage I use a Wraith STRC aluminum steering link kit, and cut it to size. It wasn't hard, I found out STRC uses a lot tougher aluminum than Axial does. Most of the time on putting all of this together is measuring and remeasuring to make sure everything is right before you cut.





Here is a shot of the chassis


What's left?

I am going to add another figure in the passenger seat. I am not much for driver figures, but they are worth scale points at comps. Plus, I am doing it a little differently, if you haven't noticed.

Trying to decide if I want to move the servo up to the chassis... dunno yet.

Thanks for looking...

[eric113]

For the winch. You can replace the motor with a faster one from Lockedup RC.
If you going to be competing I would recommend Lockedup Rc 3racing commando winch. It has a free spool, letting you rip that winch line out faster when clock is ticking. You can also order it with a faster motor as well.

Link to motor itself.
https://lockeduprc.3dcartstores.com/...or-_p_545.html

Love that shade of blue you used.

[snapon boy]

Great Scott

What color blue is that? I love the color.

[Oldskoolcj]

Nice rig!

Who's the driver?

[Greatscott]

Originally Posted by Oldskoolcj

Nice rig!

Who's the driver?

I am really not a fan of driver figures, but they are worth points at scale comps, so I thought I would do something a little different.

That, good sir is Han Solo.
It felt a little like I was part of an Imperial plot when I was literally cutting his ass in half to get him it fit in there.



He will have a co-driver by the end of the week, Princess Leia. I thought about Bobo Fett, but he was $45, Leia was only $18 (Star Wars Black Series). I actually wanted Lando Calrissian, but they don't make that action figure in the Star Wars Black Series, Chewbacca either... I find that odd...

[Oldskoolcj]

Thanks for letting me know! Bidding as begun and he looks just like the buddy of mine that'll drive the rig i'm building! Awesome!

[billy bones]

Nice build Greatscott, nice to see another go fast rc enthusiast building a scaler.
I love this side of the hobby and some of the beautiful modeling expertise I'm seeing.
I've been to a couple events but mostly the rock comp fellas, really need to find a scale crawler group around mid Mi.

[Greatscott]

Originally Posted by billy bones

Nice build Greatscott, nice to see another go fast rc enthusiast building a scaler.
I love this side of the hobby and some of the beautiful modeling expertise I'm seeing.
I've been to a couple events but mostly the rock comp fellas, really need to find a scale crawler group around mid Mi.

Yup yup...

I was really heavy into comp crawling when I lived down in San Diego, but up here in North Ho, it is mainly scalers. I like the get-togethers, but the rules I kind of goofy for comps. I don't agree with the amount of points you get for scale stuff on your rig, and how much that can offset bad driving.

[ScGRaceR]

very nice truck!

[Greatscott]

Thanks for the comments!

I want a tire cover, but I am having a hard time finding one in plain black. The closest thing I can find is the RC4WD tire cover, but it had writing on it for one of their kits. Might see if I can make one.

[Greatscott]

There are cool winch protectors you can get from Locked Up RC, but you are paying $5 for a little rubber grommet, so I made my own for $0.50.

Ace Hardware has the bumper push tacks.



You just have to pull the tack out and drill a hole big enough for the line to go through:



...and there you have it.

[ScGRaceR]

i like that!!! very creative haha

[Greatscott]

Got my Co-driver installed this evening!!!

[Greatscott]

Tow strap rack.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Greatscott]

Just installed the RC4WD CMS kit and RC4WD Rampage bumper.

Here is a video I made on it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuQSztTwEYQ

This was my first attempt at using my iPhone 6 to make a video, don't care for the narrow field of view.

The List (updated):
Axial Rubicon Kit
Castle SV3 Waterproof ESC
Integy 35T Motor
Castle BEC (6.5VDC)
Airtronics MT-4
Savox Waterproof Servo
RC4WD Warn 9.5 Winch and controller
RC Bros Burly Tube steering mod, with modified STRC aluminum Wraith draglinks
STRC Aluminum Rear axle truss
Axial Aluminum upper links (rear axle)
Howler Customs battery and electronics tray
RC4WD CMS kit
RC4WD Rampage Recovery Bar front bumper
HR Shackles
Star Wars Black Edition Figures

[Greatscott]

Quick update:

I have swapped out the RC4WD winch controller for a SlickRock ESC, works great! The winch is a little faster, has a little more power, and can be ran at different speeds. I have the Commando motor on order from Locked-Up RC, winch should be twice as fast and twice as powerful, I'll let you know how the install goes and how well it works.

As far as my first full-on comp outing went, well... I am thinking about changing my last name to 'Shop-Vac', because I sucked that bad. All of the areas I was worried about performed perfectly, but the stock tires are total trash, could not hook up for nothing. My rig spent more time on its roof than it did on its wheels. I tired a set of Baja Claws, but they are just too big for the body, bound inside the wheel wells and greatly limited articulation. I bought a set of Axial beadlocks today, now on the hunt for better tires. Any suggestions for Class-2 legal tires?

[snapon boy]

I would pm or email / call crawler innovation for suggestions they got me going well after a few minutes on the phone.

[eric113]

If you competing in scale comps. I would go with double duce foams. They dual stage foam. Close cell inner and your choice outter. It stiff enough to support your rig, but still allows the tires to bite the rocks. They do offer better performance than stock foams

If you are running G6, trail rides, general go fast. I would suggest duce wilds. They are a single stage close cell foam. Very stiff foam. But allows the tires do the work. You can soften them by using a dremel with small sanding drum and make the grooves deeper.

[RCHuffer]

GreatScott - Greatwork looking good, nice to see your still crawling. My 2 cents I've been running these tires from rc4wd and love them. But you might have to see if there Class-2 legal tires.

Interco IROK 1.9 Scale Tire

[Greatscott]

Originally Posted by eric113

For the winch. You can replace the motor with a faster one from Lockedup RC.
If you going to be competing I would recommend Lockedup Rc 3racing commando winch. It has a free spool, letting you rip that winch line out faster when clock is ticking. You can also order it with a faster motor as well.

Link to motor itself.
https://lockeduprc.3dcartstores.com/...or-_p_545.html

Love that shade of blue you used.

Thanks for the suggestion, I ordered it and is the result...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUu0i-HsTWM