Going HAM (Hard As a MotherF@#ker) In Kuwait

[tcanin00]

Pretty self explanatory, so I'll let the pictures do the talking. I am currently deployed and have discovered there is quite a bit of crawling that can be done in a desert environment. Even though these are from a Military Installation, they will not contain any images of equipment or identifiable locations. This is what it means:



I'm posting this in the Wraith section because the majority of the pics will contain two Wraith's. One is mine during its stages of development and the other belongs to a friend here. There will be some other cars included since there is an actual short course track here. I feel like I have helped several of my friends here make decisions on which car to get, work on them, and have given my advice and knowledge of the hobby. I have seen quite a few get interested in the hobby just from seeing us out with our cars.
Without further ado, onto the pics. This is the first course that I didn't exactly build, but helped gravity rearrange sandbags that were already "falling" off of pallets:



The pallets of sandbags were already in rows, so I connected them with pallets:





My Wraith on its way over the course, then a bridge:





The third lane lead into the wall section, which was basically a large U-shape onto the wall where the sandbags were falling off of. I didn't help them "fall" they were on their way. Honest:



My Wraith posing on top of this section. A friend said it looked like a spider:



Unfortunately, Base Maintenance cleaned up this area and stacked the sandbags properly. This happened just as another friend completed his kit version Wraith. His is on the left:



This leaves us with only one choice, to rebuild elsewhere!

[DeweyCJ5]

do work drivers and thank you for your service !

[tcanin00]

Originally Posted by DeweyCJ5

do work drivers and thank you for your service !

Absolutely! I figured it was time to share some of the pics and experience from over here. I have the opportunity of a lifetime to be able to build, drive, and talk to other people about this hobby. Thanks for your support!

[fj40jay]

stay safe, great way to pass the free time. A broken part can keep you down for weeks, I bet.

[tcanin00]

The second crawler course was discovered on the way to the short course track. After a few late nights, and the help of my friends we had another course that was less noticeable (So we thought, more on that later.) The idea was simple, use the available terrain to dictate the course, add broken concrete and pallets, mix with sandbags, and use metal stairs accordingly. Onto to the pics:



My shadow is much taller than I am. This is the start of something great. First sandbag ramp, leading to a pallet bridge as the entrance of the course:



Some different shots of the course:





This was the initial course, not too difficult but it had its challenges. We made it better though, by adding things like rocks, concrete and legs:



People taking pictures of people taking pictures:



Haphazardly constructed bridges:



Guys with fast cars jumping over things:



More concrete blocks:



Chairs to drive under?



And stairs as the exit?

[raceeng18]

From one vet to another, go see your CC and tell him you'd like a place so you and your friends can play. Tell him it will improve moral. Good luck and stay safe.

[tcanin00]

Originally Posted by fj40jay

stay safe, great way to pass the free time. A broken part can keep you down for weeks, I bet.

That it is, really helps offset how miserable this place can be at times. That is the downfall. Waiting for mail is the worst. We pick up our mail from certain times daily and I am always there early to greet the "mail man," help him carry in packages, you know.

[TheScaleAddict]

Very cool. Glad to see you here. Thanks for your service. Keep the ass kicking to a maximum!

[tcanin00]

This is the short course track was mentioned earlier. I'll throw in some pics of the other cars running around here too:







There is small jump that was built in the infield of the track and my Team Losi SCTE is sitting on it with a broken rear wheel:



Next to the track is a paved basketball court with a wooden ramp, which is an open invitation:



For a brushless Traxxas Slash:



And a Duratrax Baja VW:



And a brushed Slash, too:



As hinted at in the last post, the second crawler course was discovered by Base Maintenance and removed. Luckily we caught on to them before they finish the job and removed all of the rocks and concrete before they were lost forever. We moved them into the infield of the short course and built a much smaller but more challenging course. This is so recent I don't even have pics.

[britrb]

LOL shouldn't you guys be stagging on? Don't get a bag-on, put a mag on and stag on!!

Been there, but only to pick up some donated civvie police cars and deliver them up country. Was based in Basra for a while.

Brian

[tcanin00]

There are a few other cars that make appearances at the track that I haven't photographed. I'll try to capture them in action.

[britrb]

Just realized that Its 10 years to the month that I was last there...

Brian (getting older and older....)

[tcanin00]

Originally Posted by britrb

LOL shouldn't you guys be stagging on? Don't get a bag-on, put a mag on and stag on!!

Been there, but only to pick up some donated civvie police cars and deliver them up country. Was based in Basra for a while.

Brian

To be honest, there are a lot of things we "should" be doing, but aren't.
I was in Iraq last time as a mechanic and it was nothing like it is here, this is like a vacation.

[tcanin00]

Luckily we didn't have to go far to find our next challenge. I happened to spot it on the other side of the short course, which is in a low spot inside of a turn of a paved running track. I, was of all things going for a run with my feet and not a radio controlled car and spotted the perfect place to crawl on the other side of the running track. It is a large drainage ditch lined with various sized rocks and gravel, it even has a washed out ravine into loose dirt, sand and rocks that will serve as an entrance and exit:



The basin itself is approximately 15 ft deep, and has very steep sides with natural "lanes" cut into them:







We used string to mark out the lanes and it wouldn't be complete without some posing:

[tcanin00]

I'll get pics of the new course, and another good crawling spot here. There is loose dirt berm that follows the inside stretch of almost half the track, probably 300m or more in length. It has decent elevation changes and takes some skill to stay on the top of the ridge.

[diesel kawboy]

Looks like you found a great stress outle. Love the pics but most importantly, stay safe and thank you for your service.

[tcanin00]

Originally Posted by diesel kawboy

Looks like you found a great stress outle. Love the pics but most importantly, stay safe and thank you for your service.

Really does relieve stress, the best therapy ever! Thanks for your support!

[tcanin00]

Here are some older pics of the gravel pit. I haven't made it out during the day to photograph anything else here since I have been working on other projects. One of those is my Wraith that is in these pics, it looks nothing like it did when these were taken. I have a thread on it called "Not Exactly What Axial Intended" if anyone would like to check it out, and I'll try to take some pics of it in action. Anyway, these are detail shots taken by my friend with the expensive camera. This shows how steep of a drop and how narrow the entrance ravine is:



Close up of our trucks dragging and scraping their way through:



He was able to capture these shots from the top of the pit. This is my Wraith making its way up:









Wouldn't be complete without some posing:



The rocks in this pit are just sitting on top of the sand and dirt, so they roll off whenever we crawl in here. That adds to the challenge of the course and it changes it every run.
I need to get my winch set up on my Wraith so I go up against my friend in the winch portion of the pit.

[Diskfunktional]

Awesome photos! Its funny how we teach our minds to find good crawling spots. I'm constantly on the scan haha. Great shots! Thanks for your service bud! Keep crawling!

[lowandslow]

Awesome pics! Thanks for doing what you do!!!