Proline FJ40 on 10 III Chassis

[JimInMiami]

I went to my first crawler event last month, USTE 2022 https://www.ultimatescaletruckexpo.com/ and it was the most fun I've ever had w/ my clothes on! https://www.ultimatescaletruckexpo.com/ Great vibe, trails, vendors, really a good time.

So I booked a hotel near the site for Axial Fest in June, but then it hit me, I can only take Axial based rigs, of which I "only" have three. FWIW, I ran 5 rigs at USTE.

I figured I'd pull the J-Concepts Creep body off my 10 III, extend the wheelbase and chassis, mount a compatible bumper and make a semi-scale trail rig out of it for the event.

So this



Becoming this



If there's interest, I'll post a few pics'n tips as I go along.

[durok]

(there's interest...)

[B-MOW71]

Yeah, I'm interested in seeing more!

Congrats on going to USTE! That is one event I'd love to attend some year. From what I've seen on the YouTube, it looks like everyone had a blast!

[twade984]

Yep I’m interested. The 10.3 doesn’t get enough love imo


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[JimInMiami]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Yeah, I'm interested in seeing more!

Congrats on going to USTE! That is one event I'd love to attend some year. From what I've seen on the YouTube, it looks like everyone had a blast!

Definitely worth the trip if you like trail running. The organizers go to great lengths to make the trails interesting with lots of scale features along the way.

[JimInMiami]

Originally Posted by twade984

Yep I’m interested. The 10.3 doesn’t get enough love imo
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Agreed!

[JimInMiami]

Originally Posted by durok

(there's interest...)

Haha, love the badger!

To fit the Proline FJ40 body the wheelbase needs to be extended as it was designed for the longer 12.8" Traxxas TRX4 chassis in mind. The shape of the front fenders provides some wiggle room in that measurement and I thought 13" placed the front tires in a more scale position. This is what I'm going for:



Links were made using 4mm stainless threaded rod, 4mm ID 6mm OD aluminum tubing and regular 4mm nuts.



I used loctite on the nuts to keep everything snug.



So in setting up the bumper, I thought installing the SSD chassis extenders I had lying around would work, but I'm still about 12mm short of where the bumper needs to be. So tomorrow's project will be to fabricate extensions for the extension

[JimInMiami]

I made the chassis extension's extensions from 1/16" brass I had lying around. I know I'm not getting any machining awards from this, but they'll do the job, I think.



And now installed.



I'll paint the whole mess satin black before I'm finished. Oh, and that's the bumper mount from the Element Enduro flipped upside-down.

So the body's basically mounted. I think I'll use the SSD Defender bumper as it seems to tuck in there rather well even tho it's meant as a front bumper.

[JimInMiami]

Paint's done, now the fun part begins

[JimInMiami]

I'm pretty pleased with the results. What do you guys think??

[durok]

Came out great!

The accurate use of a Sharpie or paint pen made all the difference in the world - I've seen a couple where that step was ignored, not a good look.

Just the right amount of accessorizing, and excellent wheel choice - and tire size...

The only thing I'd maybe change (down the road) is if you find a slightly better sized and shaped roof rack.

But those can be very hard to get where they aren't out of proportion, or heavy, or look cheap.

[Fallen]

Looks rad! All those colored lines on the body make it look much more realistic.

Pretty darn close to that reference photo you posted above.

Is that flat clear on the outside of the body?

[tonered]

Originally Posted by JimInMiami

I'm pretty pleased with the results. What do you guys think??

It looks friggin' awesome. Great jobs and killer wheel choice.

I agree about the rack though. If it was mine, I'd ditch it.

[twade984]

Looks great! You don’t see that body used much imo, but it’s a good one.


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[JimInMiami]

Originally Posted by durok

Came out great!

The accurate use of a Sharpie or paint pen made all the difference in the world - I've seen a couple where that step was ignored, not a good look.

Just the right amount of accessorizing, and excellent wheel choice - and tire size...

The only thing I'd maybe change (down the road) is if you find a slightly better sized and shaped roof rack.

But those can be very hard to get where they aren't out of proportion, or heavy, or look cheap.

Thanks, I've only recently started adding panels lines to my finishes and they do add a lot of realism to the final product, it's just a challenge for me as my hands are not the steadiest (a LOT of wiping and redoing to get 'em right ) The wheels are Boom Racing steelies https://www.boomracingrc.com/boom-ra...ock-wheel-3342.

I went back'n forth on the roof rack several times and ended up just using something from GMade I had lying around. The position of the body mount posts on the 10 III chassis is such that a larger rack would interfere with the posts. I like the the simplicity and reliability of posts so magnets aren't an option for me.

[JimInMiami]

Originally Posted by tonered

It looks friggin' awesome. Great jobs and killer wheel choice.

I agree about the rack though. If it was mine, I'd ditch it.

Thank you sir, I'll look around for other racks, but that's what's she's rolling with for now.

[JimInMiami]

Originally Posted by twade984

Looks great! You don’t see that body used much imo, but it’s a good one.

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Thanks, I agree, it's just too bad Proline discontinued the FJ40 body, as I think it was one of their nicest ones.

[durok]

Originally Posted by JimInMiami

Thanks, I've only recently started adding panels lines to my finishes and they do add a lot of realism to the final product, it's just a challenge for me as my hands are not the steadiest (a LOT of wiping and redoing to get 'em right ) The wheels are Boom Racing steelies https://www.boomracingrc.com/boom-ra...ock-wheel-3342.

I went back'n forth on the roof rack several times and ended up just using something from GMade I had lying around. The position of the body mount posts on the 10 III chassis is such that a larger rack would interfere with the posts. I like the the simplicity and reliability of posts so magnets aren't an option for me.

My hands are not the steadiest, either!

I love the wheels - have a set myself with different tires - see this post (includes a trick you can do with the packaging):

Wheel Pics - No talking

[JimInMiami]

Originally Posted by Fallen

Looks rad! All those colored lines on the body make it look much more realistic.

Pretty darn close to that reference photo you posted above.

Is that flat clear on the outside of the body?

Thanks Fallen. Yeah, per my usual practice, the body was brush painted on the inside with a custom mix of yellow and burnt siena to get to the mustard color and flat cleared on the outside after application of decals and panel lines.

These paints were used on the project:

[JimInMiami]

Originally Posted by durok

My hands are not the steadiest, either!

I love the wheels - have a set myself with different tires - see this post (includes a trick you can do with the packaging):

Wheel Pics - No talking

Ha, cool idea, I love repurposing stuff! I only wish I had seen this before I threw the packaging out