Brooksy - My sons Wraith

[brooksy]

Bought my son Jesse a Wraith for Xmas as he wanted an RC that would replicate what I enjoy building & competing in Rockcrawling & Ultra4 comps.
After some good fun & building a track for him it was obvious that some changes/improvements needed to be done.
First was throwing some weight in the front rims so I had some spare rolls of heavy soldering wire so I did 2 layers in the fronts & he was happy (quick improvement for him so I could get back to building the real things). Then when my mate & I got close to finishing his buggy & we were getting ready to head down to a comp called Tuff Truck he decided before his birthday that he wanted to put a body on the Wraith & get some bling as the standard links & parts were getting badly worked over & beat on pretty hard.
I have always wanted to build an old late 60's Bronco after I finish my 40 series Cruiser & him knowing this he looked up Wraith bodies & saw the Proline Broncos & made his Birthday wish.
Anyway a couple pics of the recent result of his wishes & being good to his mother has his Wraith at this stage.
Upgrades so far :

- stage 2 suspension & driveline
- Level3-rc droop kit
- Level3-rc CMS & panhard kit
- Proline Bronco body
- Type XI 5s Beadlocks

Still on his wish list (if he still looks after his mother) are :

- 35T Holmes Hobbies motor & 2 cell lipo
- 15t pinion
- 100mm King Piggyback shocks
- Vanquish steering arm & tierod (current alloy setup is rubbish)
- Dig kit

This is the Buggy I compete in that have my son the inspiration



Jesse's Wraith as of last weekend





brooksy

Couple more











brooksy

More




I then decided to play a little more with links so I found correct size sleeve to go into lower front link hole & mounted shock on link same as a Trailing Arm setup on the big buggies & would help with spring rate due to stick medium springs.




With the rear I had seen a post somewhere for the rear upper using a steering servo arm used as a pivot for more droop so I have it a go





brooksy

Results were very good gaining more then what is even in the earlier flex pics. I'll do some comparisons later but here is some wheelin pics with the mods on his test track











brooksy

The test track





brooksy

[Grimace83]

Sweet, is come along nicely, JT needs to add a driver to his wish list. I look at my pictures and think something is missing, I too need a driver just don't know where to start. My Ninja Turtles are to small and I can't find my old Chuck Norris figurine.

Jesse might have a better suggestion/idea on what characters might fit/suit.
I still have not got Fry his own rc yet, and after tallying up the cost to date I don't exactly class my wraith as a toy for a 2 year old
Thinking a smaller Vaterra Slickrock will be next.

[joe122]

Very nice job on your son's Wraith. And awesome job on your 1:1 rig!

[brooksy]

Motor is toast
Going to buy 35T & while I'm at it new servo & whatever inbetween to make it work.

What is peoples opinion on going longer shocks to staying with a quality shorter shock like the rear Proline Powerstrokes ??
I was thinking of going 118mm front & 128mm rears but the Proline is held in high regard. What is the eye to eye measurement of the Prolines ?


brooksy

[JDIRCC]

Originally Posted by brooksy

Motor is toast
Going to buy 35T & while I'm at it new servo & whatever inbetween to make it work.

What is peoples opinion on going longer shocks to staying with a quality shorter shock like the rear Proline Powerstrokes ??
I was thinking of going 118mm front & 128mm rears but the Proline is held in high regard. What is the eye to eye measurement of the Prolines ?


brooksy

i went with the integy msr10 internal spring shocks. They're 127mm i think. Other than the shock bodies being so large i love em. I run the medium springs in the rear and the hard in the front with the level3rc droop kit. and now from lurking this thread I'm running my shocks the same as you have shown in your pics. and it works great for how i drive

[brooksy]

Thanks JDIRCC, I'm a noob at best & I am enjoying the extra time spent with my son playing around with the Wraith. It's a damn lot cheaper then the real buggy & it doesn't take weeks/mths saving up for broken parts.

Well played a little again after my son wanted it a bit more KOH style. I'd class it as a bit Pro Mod.
Cut out the family cage & did a combination of old lower links for rear stays & what someone else did keeping the roof X bars. Was going to do the battery up front change but after finding the weight distribution at 5mm off 50/50 I decided to leave battery as is. With the new fastback cage change it does require the undoing of 2 screws to get battery in/out but my son is happy to live with that.





This allows for a spare to be mounted where the old rear screw went into the roof. Don't have spare tyre but thinking of going the Proline copy TSL's & I might see if I can just buy 1 more rim otherwise the original will do (not glued though).
So test fit with just the rim mounted








brooksy

[brooksy]

With body on & I cut the roof to suit.










brooksy

[brooksy]

Better pics of the droop kit & upper shock mounts if anyone is interested.
Current measurements :

WB - 355mm (14")
Overall track width - 315mm (just over 12 3/8")
A-pillar roof height - 215mm (8 7/16")


Front




Rear with the pivot link








brooksy

[PeteS]

Coming on well!

[Sevastra]

Looking great!

You might rethink relocating the battery up front. Better for climbing, makes a world of a difference with these. Also, I noticed your still running the stock tie rod links up front. While that'll save you from damaging servos you'll find it's rather flimsy..

Looking forward to seeing whats next

[brooksy]

Originally Posted by Sevastra

Looking great!

You might rethink relocating the battery up front. Better for climbing, makes a world of a difference with these. Also, I noticed your still running the stock tie rod links up front. While that'll save you from damaging servos you'll find it's rather flimsy..

Looking forward to seeing whats next

Thanks Sevastra,

I had with the suspension kit alloy tierod & draglink but the draglink mounted on tierod & kept twisting loose at plastic eyes when steering would get loaded up & then flop up & down making steering very vague. Buying Vanquish setup which is obviously better having draglink mount directly on knuckle.

In the end I am confident that my son will wheel harder tracks & flip more often & will make the call on battery up front but currently it is very well balanced being only 5mm short of 50/50 weight distribution. Personally I like it being this way giving it another aspect of realism & it is fun with my son having to pick his lines more & work the steering & edge the throttle much like we have to in the real buggy. When we go racing or just social wheelin it gives my son a better understanding of how we have to work the buggy over the major obstacles we run.



brooksy

[Sevastra]

Originally Posted by brooksy

Thanks Sevastra,

I had with the suspension kit alloy tierod & draglink but the draglink mounted on tierod & kept twisting loose at plastic eyes when steering would get loaded up & then flop up & down making steering very vague. Buying Vanquish setup which is obviously better having draglink mount directly on knuckle.

In the end I am confident that my son will wheel harder tracks & flip more often & will make the call on battery up front but currently it is very well balanced being only 5mm short of 50/50 weight distribution. Personally I like it being this way giving it another aspect of realism & it is fun with my son having to pick his lines more & work the steering & edge the throttle much like we have to in the real buggy. When we go racing or just social wheelin it gives my son a better understanding of how we have to work the buggy over the major obstacles we run.



brooksy

You might as well start planning on building a 1:1 for him next, this is only a hook to get him addicted to the sport. Ah well, plenty of time for that later.

[brooksy]

What is a good servo that isn't going to break the bank ?
Got VP tierod/draglink, HH 35T motor, alloy servo horn, 15T pinion, OD & UD gears coming.

Thanks in advance



brooksy

[Markeje]

Really nice build. Can't wait to get my bronco body in this week. AND thanks for the rear mod. I really like the retention of the X brace and links. I'll copy that!!

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[JDIRCC]

Originally Posted by brooksy

What is a good servo that isn't going to break the bank ?
Got VP tierod/draglink, HH 35T motor, alloy servo horn, 15T pinion, OD & UD gears coming.

Thanks in advance



brooksy

Im running a savor sa-1230 up front and i love it. I also (as of yesterday) am now running rear steer and just use a factory servo for the wraith which seems to do perfect. Both get the job done as needed.

[brooksy]

Just for shits & giggles. While doing some final race prep my son JT brought out his buggy









brooksy