SCX10 Re-Build: Samurai/Trail Ranger Thread

[professorcake]

Got ahold of a sweet Trail Ranger Body to replace my old dingo body (thanks trucker bob!), hopefully I can do it justice! Came to the realization that I would have to rework the layout of my SCX to accommodate the new body. Ended up stripping it down to the chassis, pretty much starting a fresh build so i figured I would document it.

[professorcake]

Basic mock up is looking pretty good, lots of ideas. Thinking on what color to paint the body.

[Zukiiholic]

I'm Diggin the body..
What's the wheelbase on that?

Color choices is tough..
I have 2 bodies waiting on paint and I can't decide..
A VW Amarok and Lil Jimny...

[professorcake]

Originally Posted by Zukiiholic

I'm Diggin the body..
What's the wheelbase on that?

Color choices is tough..
I have 2 bodies waiting on paint and I can't decide..
A VW Amarok and Lil Jimny...

similar to dingo wheelbase, once i have it dialed in i will measure it. body looks like a scale lwb samurai to me. Nice Lil Jimny project!

[1beatjeep]

Originally Posted by Zukiiholic

I'm Diggin the body..
What's the wheelbase on that?

Color choices is tough..
I have 2 bodies waiting on paint and I can't decide..
A VW Amarok and Lil Jimny...

how about this color

[Zukiiholic]

Sammies look Good in Red..

[professorcake]

The dingo rear bumper sits super low and far too wide for the new body. Finished up a rear bumper made from a spare axial rock slider (obviously), the plain rear chassis brace part, and some sheet metal used as an insert. I am reasonably pleased with the results (especially for free dollars) but not sure if I will keep it or not. Was not going to use the rock sliders anyway and they happen to be just about the perfect width, also the bottom of it sits flush with the chassis rails so it probably wont snag as much as the dingo bumper. It closes the gap between the bumper and the body which helps but the body might have to go a bit lower...

[mjc597]

I don't think I've ever seen a rock slider used like that for a bumper..!! I like it, way to be creative, the leds look like they fit perfectly..

[professorcake]

Originally Posted by mjc597

I don't think I've ever seen a rock slider used like that for a bumper..!! I like it, way to be creative, the leds look like they fit perfectly..

Thanks! I drilled out a couple washers on each side to the right size to hold the leds in place.

[professorcake]

Brainstorming on a way to power additional LEDs on the body without having the body tethered to the chassis. This is a very odd idea, but the only downside to me is a bit more weight in the rear where i dont really want it. I could run the wire down through the truck bed and distribute from there. I already decided to mount the spare tire flat in the bed (like in the mockup pic) and realized there was plenty of unused space inside the tire. The battery happens to fit perfectly.

This idea is either genius, idiotic, or just plain weird...

[GravelDuster]

Dude....That's brilliant. You sir just solved my issue of hiding excess wiring.

[2004DE_JR]

i don't think it is a bad i idea at all

[professorcake]

Did some work on the SCX10 today. Added upper links made from threaded rod, not great looking but pretty strong/functional and nearly free. Chopped up a stock axial battery tray i had laying around and made forward esc (lower) and receiver (upper) trays. The old battery tray has perfectly spaced holes already drilled, i just widened them up a bit, countersunk them and chopped the excess material off.

Decided to stick with saddle packs on the rock sliders. Had saddles on the rock sliders with the dingo body and i liked the handling characteristics and low COG. The new body is too narrow for them to sit flat on the sliders like before so they will have to sit upright. Weight will sit slightly higher but still lower than i think any other option.

Only thing really holding up progression on this build is waiting on a bearing kit and HD ring/pinion gears to be delivered.

Also got a scalerfab front bumper on the way. They had one that I think is really going to work on this build.

[professorcake]

Got my batteries and electronics layed out. Flipped around the upper tray i made yesterday for the receiver, a bit better i think. Might be able to squeeze the led controller double sided taped to the underside of the upper tray. Need to clean up the wiring a bit and make a serial jumper cable for the saddles. Also still need to rebuild the transmission but popped it in there to get a better feel for the layout.

[Zukiiholic]

Looking pretty good.
Nice and clean..

[professorcake]

TS-6, PS-32, and some liquid mask. i noticed these tamiya paints are slightly different types for plastic/polycarbonate. Anyone know what the difference is, they should both work for a typical body shell right?

Think i found my 1:1 inspiration.

[Zukiiholic]

polycarbonate paint is for RC bodies, it has a little flex to it..
Plastic Paint is for Plastics and will flake off on RC bodies..
Liking the LWB Sammie..

[professorcake]

Ok green anodizing is not going to work for this project. Im too cheap to buy new parts in another color and these have held up quite well so de-anodizing them was the obvious solution. Soaking in Greased Lightning worked pretty well, hit them with a toothbrush while in there, then buffed with a dremel a bit. Still a hint of green in spots, maybe another soak/buff but pleased with the results. Still need to de-anodize a few more pieces when I rebuild the front axle.

[professorcake]

the body came with holes drilled already. the rear lines up just about perfect with the end of the frame rails, and I am at the lowest (stock) rear body post height adjustment. the front of the body falls short of the frame rails by a few mm and i have the front body posts set so that the body lines up horizontally which turns out to be almost full height for the body posts.

new scalerfab raised bumper with slight modification keeps the bumper inboard as much as possible and being raised it closed the body gap pretty well. had to widen up the other sets of holes on the rails and use those to mount the bumper. bumper also needed to be drilled out a bit as well.

approach angle should be pretty good and narrow enough to stay out of the way of the wheels.

yep you can see the frame rail sticking out a bit there if you look closely... dremel time!

[Zukiiholic]

That's a good looking front bumper..
Scalerfab makes Awesome and Strong Bumpers and sliders.

To move your front body mounts a little more rearward.
How about double stacking them?