MeanTT builds a iii

[MeanTT]

A little teaser:






This is going to be powered by a MAMBA X and a 3800 SCT castle motor with an 11T pinion because I can’t get a slate or Holmes stubby. Everyone is out of stock.

Lots of scale goodies coming for this one though! A scale TV and Nav system with a working screen and an incline meter that actually works. All 6 channels will be used!

Motor is styled after a Chevy. It annoys me to no end that the intake runners are from a recent FI motor with a fuel rail and injectors and the valve covers are from an old style. Also what’s with the belt? The path doesn’t make sense from the mold. #dobetter.


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[MeanTT]

Almost done. The Kraft wheels look great but I think the wheels out too wide to fit with the body. Need to swap rims. Note that I had to rotate the motor so that the wires come out at the 9:00 position (looking at it from the front) to fit the engine cover. The sensor wire and the steering servo wire run along the 3:00 side. Note that the printable missing valve cover is actually a different length than the one on the left bank. It’s driving me nuts but there really isn’t a better design or option available. Also note that it is a press fit into the engine cover. I was shocked that it works, but the press fit is clearly the best solution. That said, I hate that the front of the printable cover has a little lip. You really have to paint it the same color as the valve covers but it looks weird to me unless your covers are black.

I took it for a shakedown and got all the endpoints adjusted. Since the body will have lighting and other accessories I will need a 1-to-4 receiver harness adaptor to use on my last open channel (5 are in use now with channel 6 being used to adjust the drag brake on the auxiliary wire on the Mamba X). I have called the Chicago post office 5 times now to try to get an answer about where my package is that contains some special scale goodies. I’m worried it is lost since it has been stuck for over a month.

The 3800 motor in this rig is a poor choice and a bad fit for this crawler. I spent 2 hours trying to get the right throttle curve on the Mamba and my radio and there just isn’t really a smooth startup. I have never had an issue with any other motor. If I can get a puller pro stubby or a slate 2850KV this should be about perfect. The 3800 is also a little too fast with the 11T pinion I have in it.

Hope to finish the body this weekend (without the miniature TV and incline gauge). It’s raining in Dallas so all I can really do is the masking.






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[jmitchell13]

Love those tires. What are they?

[MeanTT]

Pit bull growler. They are about the same size as the stock tires, but much softer and stickier. I would call them a huge tire.

Here is a link to them. https://pitbullrc.com/collections/1-...s-2-foams-2pcs


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[MeanTT]

My attempt at a camo hat. Not sure if I am going to keep it. Might need to sacrifice a head to a kid’s toy.


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[MeanTT]

Progress on the body. I have some printed fenders coming so at least there is that. Painted accent pieces as well for installation tomorrow.

I forgot to leave the hood clear like an idiot. May need to buy another body.




More stickers to follow tomorrow.


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[jmitchell13]

Thanks. I’ll check them out. Might have to pick some up

[MeanTT]

Originally Posted by jmitchell13

Thanks. I’ll check them out. Might have to pick some up

Here is a size comparison with stock, the pit bulls, and the Pategonias, a relatively new tire from rc4wd. The pategonias are the softest, then pit bull then stock. But the pit bulls are stickiest to the touch.




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[MeanTT]

So I used a TS Tamils to paint the plastic but it came out dull. So I hand painted the piping with Testors enamel. I will do the touch ups when I cut through the back half of the body, but I think it looks pretty good. I like the reflectivity.



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[josh9mile]

That looks awesome! I dont quite follow you on the engine quirks you are talking about. Valve covers look fine and i can't see a problem with the belt routing. BTW where did you get the other valve cover?

[MeanTT]

Originally Posted by josh9mile

That looks awesome! I dont quite follow you on the engine quirks you are talking about. Valve covers look fine and i can't see a problem with the belt routing. BTW where did you get the other valve cover?

I ordered it, someone printed it. Cost me like 5 dollars. The belt seems to split in two, look at the middle wheel. Grrr!!


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[MeanTT]

So I took it out for a shakedown run. No lights or sliders. I moved the shocks to their lowest setting to get the highest ground clearance. I am running a 12mm hex bolt intended to look like disk brakes and that pushes the wheels out even farther than the Krait rims. Since I have some more barrow fenders coming in I wanted to see how much clearance I needed. The good news is that the rubbing is rather mild right now. Moreover the growler tires don’t have any sharp edges to catch the fenders so it’s relatively gentle anyway.

In my opinion this thing looks beautiful. Again still needs some more work the the paint came out pretty close, absent the clear hood which I was going for. Here it is. It seemed to perform pretty well in the mud. The growlers are running their stock two stage open foams. There is a bit of rollover, but we will see how it plays out. This is going to be a non-waterproof trail truck so I’m not too concerned with the last 10% of performance.







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[Fricker08]

Good looking rig! All the detail turned out great.
Working on Chevy for a living, Id say the engine resembles an Ls style engine. The valve covers match the new style fuel injected motor, they’re just missing the coil packs that go on top. But I will agree that the belt routing doesn’t jive.

Too bad the hood doesn’t open to show all that off though!


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[MeanTT]

Originally Posted by Fricker08

Good looking rig! All the detail turned out great.
Working on Chevy for a living, Id say the engine resembles an Ls style engine. The valve covers match the new style fuel injected motor, they’re just missing the coil packs that go on top. But I will agree that the belt routing doesn’t jive.

Too bad the hood doesn’t open to show all that off though!


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Thanks! Still a lot more to do!


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[jkalij]

That looks great!

Where do you find the file for the missing valve cover?

[MeanTT]

Holy shapeways! This is a much finer print than I have seen before. Bought it from the shapeways shop. It wasn’t cheap, but wow the quality is perfect. No printing lines whatsoever. They are good to go as printed. Will year this weekend and see if this eliminated the rubbing.



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[MeanTT]

Originally Posted by jkalij

That looks great!

Where do you find the file for the missing valve cover?

I got it off the internet, it cost about 5 dollars. It may have even been eBay. The print quality wasn’t the best and it was impossible to sand. I put several coats of Tamiya primer on it but it didn’t help all that much.


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[jkalij]

Originally Posted by MeanTT

I got it off the internet, it cost about 5 dollars. It may have even been eBay. The print quality wasn’t the best and it was impossible to sand. I put several coats of Tamiya primer on it but it didn’t help all that much.


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Thanks!


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[MeanTT]

Got new fenders on to determine the amount of rubbing. Bad news, while the new fenders help a lot the fenders didn’t eliminate the issue with this hub and wheel combo. I’m going to put some brass on the portals tomorrow but I’m sure once I put more barrow rims and tires on I will get some more of the tippiness.

Here are a few pictures so everyone can see the amount of coverage. Rubbing in on the back portion of the chassis and body. The front will run on the inner radiator mount at full lock and full compression with these tires rims and hubs.





I am hoping to bring a few sets of tires and test at a location nearby, presuming the rain doesn’t hit tomorrow. Dark Sky has an ominous forecast.


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[MeanTT]

So I couldn’t wait. I tried the truxus proline tires. They come in around 4.55 or 4.6 inches tall and are much narrower. I have them stuffed with crawler innovations dual stage foam with medium outer foam. The truck is still set up with shocks positioned to give it maximum ground clearance. In other words it would look better and perform better with a lower setup.

The truxus tires seemed to grab about the same as the Growlers, but with better “bite”. In the mud the Truxus will fling mud. The growlers with their included foams do not. The growlers would still outperform though given they are about twice as wide.

On my small rock course the smaller size of the Truxus was an advantage and they did grip very well.

As much as I want to like the look fo a more scale set up, I just don’t. It just seems more awesome to have larger and wider tires on my rigs. I will try a few more tomorrow. The KM3s would probably be a great look for me but I have them in my Gen8 and I don’t want the same tires on two different rigs.

P.S., the mirrors. If you tip they face the wrong way and when you go to straighten them out it unscrews the mounting screw. TBD what I want to do there, I need to apply the reflective tape though. Also the more narrow fenders allow for self righting more easily which is a nice plus.





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