Defblade's Wraith build

[defblade]

Now I've settled on the #1 place for everything crawler and Wraith (here, obviously!), you lucky folks get to read my build

I sent so many orders around the world Saturday night, Paypal rang me up to check it was really me doing it

Although the first thing to arrive from ebay was a part to repair (again) my old Tamiya Manta Ray - aka the Mad Max Manta these days - so although the screwdriver has been out tonight, it's not touched the Wraith yet.


The first exciting box turned up today:



:but then that was one of the UK orders, so it should have been one of the quickest! One more UK, one European, 2 USA and one HongKong to go, IIRC. I'm not going to start the build until it's all here, so there may be a short pause....


Already hit my first hitch though - the savox servo I ordered turned out not to be in stock even though it said it was; offered a Hitec at a slight discount to make up for it. Said OK, then realised much later that I've got a 25t clamp servo horn on the way, so I've had to order another one for 24t... added some of the steel ball joints mentioned on Axial's blog at the same time though, so not completely wasted the extra P&P

I'm aiming for a strong but middle-of-the-road build to start with, somewhere hopefully I could go either way into speed or crawling from, as the mood takes me, without spending too much extra dosh. I live in Wales which is famous for its rain even compared to England, so waterproofing is pretty high on the list, too!

[defblade]

Parcel #2 arrived, not very exciting, the waterproof hitec servo.

Put some batteries in the Tx - seems very nice; very programmable; should quickly be able to limit the throttle available before handing to daughter

Parcel #3, shiny:





Went down the shed with a male drive shaft in my pocket to look for a bolt/whatever to reinforce them from the off. Accidentally fitted a new (well, I say new... second hand scrounged up. The felt needed replacing anyway!) corrugated iron roof to the shed instead

[defblade]

Succumbed to the urge to fiddle, even though not all the parcels are here yet (and won't be for a while as I keep ordering more bits! This evening, I have ordered bonnet pins, a body reamer, a lighting kit (not the axial one...) and some spare bolts/screws and lock nuts... just in case...).

Painted my blue w/proof hitec servo black (did check it was working first!) and made it into the shed this time, got out the hacksaw and did the female/reinforced male/female drive shaft mod mentioned on axial's blog.

I really really really need to stop spending money on this project... to be known as the Budget Creep Wraith?

[DrDiff952]

Can't wait to see your progress!

[defblade]

My Amain box arrived today, with more shiny goodness. Didn't get hit by customs, either, so that saved about £35... just as well given how much else has been spent elsewhere!

Contents of a few parcels spread out below:




Still waiting on a few more bits and bobs so not started building yet, did pop the electrics together just to check they're working OK

[Curb Crawler]

Nice collection of parts fella

Ps this is AJ off that other forum ;)

[defblade]

Hi ya
Chassis bits choices are similar to yours, going quite a different way with the power system though.

[Curb Crawler]

What turn is the motor? Mine has a nice bit of poke with a 27t on 3s

[defblade]

That's a 27; I've got a 35 knocking around that I decided was too slow in my old MantaRay that might suit this; also drawn to the 27x2 orion on MS but that'll have to wait and see how the current motors behave. Sticking with NiMh for now though...

[Krawler Konceptz]

Wraith Skins and interior designed up

[defblade]

Thanks Michelle... I would say I can't wait, but I really need to build the truck to fit them to first!!
So glad I'm not going to ruin another body with my... ummm... atempts at painting ;)

95% of the bits are here now, so maybe I'll make a start this week.

[jwall046]

Who designs skins?
$?
ty

Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk

[defblade]

Michelle @ krawlerkonceptz - her links are in her sig under the graphics above

[jwall046]

Great! On my phone (taptalk) links dont show up.

Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk

[defblade]

Originally Posted by jwall046

Great! On my phone (taptalk) links dont show up.

Ha! So much for technology ;) Google or facebook will find them, or there's a thread here under vendors\vendors market\vendors paint and body.... right at the top at the mo.

[jwall046]

Cool, ty

Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk

[Krawler Konceptz]

Messaged

[defblade]

Stinking cold in the nose and chest all weekend, hanging on into this week

SWMBO has been using the dining table the last few days, which I'll need to spread the build out on

So tonight, I decided to do the fiddly job of mounting the tires on the beadlocks I bought (rather than gluing onto the kit rims) - a kitchen table job.


Always been a sucker for black chrome





I wish motorbike tyres were this easy White dots mounted to the back face...






Real progress to follow soon!

Oh, and small set-back #2 - the figure I'd settled on for my driver didn't turn up and the ebay seller refunded without question, so something going on there....

[defblade]

Built up the axles this evening:

Front - the aisatees bronze bushings for the ally steering were too thick, happily the axial ones let everything fit together. Lovely and smooth.

Rear - trouble with the rear diff gear - very notchy at one point. A little filing, washing and re-greasing helped; but it was back/worse when I fitted the asiatees ally lock-outs. I'm seeing a pattern here... (pity, as I've not had trouble with them for tamiya stuff in the past)... the lockouts were sloppy on the splines and too short internally, forcing the axles in too far. Still some trouble with the axial plastic ones fitted, so on here to search, after stripping everything down a couple of times... bearing caps might be too tight... bingo!

On the other hand, not impressed with the axial diff covers - far too keen for the screw holes to spread. Ally ones on the list for sometime, maybe not from hongkong...

Also, not impressed with the asiatees diff skid plates (not fitted yet) - looks like they'll be too sharp an angle on the front, may well catch more than they deflect. Any suggestions for nicer ones?, or should I add a bit of bodge to these? They do look like they'll protect the driveshaft side well.

[MAVERICKJK]

Originally Posted by defblade

Also, not impressed with the asiatees diff skid plates (not fitted yet) - looks like they'll be too sharp an angle on the front, may well catch more than they deflect. Any suggestions for nicer ones?

Wraith/RidgeCrest Axle Skids