Wraith of the great Northeast....

[motopreserve]

Been working on my first ever kit build, and being new to RC, took a lot of great info from these pages. Between Harley's stickies and all the amazing builds on here, I think I have ended up with a decent runner. Should be able to stand up to the rigors of the Northeast winter, and still be in one piece when the Spring finally hits...

Started off with the basic Kit from RPP (thanks for the great discount codes!), and while waiting for delivery kept an eye on the classifieds here for some really good bargains...

BGR bumper and BPC forward battery tray on the frame...



I had added a few goodies (vanquish Stage 1 kit) to the cart on that first purchase from RPP...

Chassis (still stock), axles and used MotoWorx wheels...



Grabbed some Gmade shocks and modded the frame to "fastback" look using some used links I got in a bundle...



Made a rear lower plate from Lexan, and a top plate from aluminum...





Made the mistake of getting ahead of myself instead of following the instruction manual to the letter. Turns out if you build the whole frame without the interior, you need to go back and disassemble it again. Lesson learned, but I had been holding off on the painting since I had never done a Lexan paint job before...

Finally got the interior painted...



And thanks to a thread here, did some foam padding on the homemade aluminum seats (huge difference in weight from the stock plastics!)...



more to come...

[motopreserve]

Thanks man. It's coming along. Just got a chance to run it in the snow up here. Does well in the hard packed snow - but some of our area (Vermont) is pretty well covered in fresh powder - so it just sinks too deep at that point.

[Eric0424]

You can get the interior in and out with the frame in one piece, you just have to remove the front cross brace right below the windshield and flex the interior enough to squeeze it through the windshield. The frame flexes enough to pop the brace out after removing just the 4 screws holding it in and the lexan interior flexes enough to get it out through the open windshield. You will need a long hex driver to remove the four screws holding the interior down.

You could probably do the same with the top of the cage/frame removed. I had to install and remove the interior several with the truck nearly complete for the same reason. I was waiting on the weather to clear so I could paint, but wanted to get the kit built. The windshield brace was one of the last parts to go in because I had not decided on where the ESC and receiver were going. Otherwise I probably would have removed the top of the frame to install/remove the completed interior.

[motopreserve]

When it came time - I was a bit nervous having never done any of this type of painting. The weather was not cooperating, with the temps down in the teens for the day I wanted to spray the body. Also, the pressure was on after seeing so many great looking paint jobs on this forum! But I gathered some Tamiya colors, some painters tape, and set off to the shop to get it done...

Hanging in front of the heater after the main color was done...



The second color done and waiting for install...



Hood hinge mod....

[motopreserve]

Originally Posted by Eric0424

You can get the interior in and out with the frame in one piece, you just have to remove the front cross brace right below the windshield and flex the interior enough to squeeze it through the windshield.

Thanks for the tip! I'll give it a shot next time (and there WILL be a next time!). It seems this battery tray may be adding to the stifness of the front - so I am not sure it will work. I eventually flexed it after removing a few of the screws/bolts on one side and bending it until it felt like it would break, but just barely squeaked it out the back

[flyboy320]

Originally Posted by motopreserve

And thanks to a thread here, did some foam padding on the homemade aluminum seats (huge difference in weight from the stock plastics!)...

Where did you finds the aluminum to make the seats?

[motopreserve]

For both the seats and rear cover I used stock I had at the shop. It's basic aluminum from a metal supply house - I have sheets of the stuff. Most LHS will have various gauge aluminum in small packages though, which is plenty of material for these types of projects.

[flyboy320]

Originally Posted by motopreserve

For both the seats and rear cover I used stock I had at the shop. It's basic aluminum from a metal supply house - I have sheets of the stuff. Most LHS will have various gauge aluminum in small packages though, which is plenty of material for these types of projects.

Thanks, I'll go have a look at my local store....they look great..

Did you use a template for them, or just eyeball the design?

[motopreserve]

I started with a template a friend gave me for the seats. But it's easily done just by winging it

The rear cover I did by eye, and gapped out some room for the fastback links to travel through.

[KBR97]

Those red rubber bumpstops on the shocks should be on the top of the spring cup, not under it.
Like this..

[motopreserve]

Right you are! Good catch. I think I was just rushing at the end building these things because I did 3 pairs all at once. I'm sorta over shock building for a while

[motopreserve]

Thanks to KBR97, the gmade shocks are now all squared away. Thanks!

When I was doing this build I had decided to keep the aluminum to a minimum (not typical for me - my style is usually 'all raw metal all the time'). But I had to throw a little in. With the electronics all going in the back, I went with a two-tiered rear section - ESC on the bottom and an old tin container I had mounted to a custom aluminum plate on top for the Rx/BEC/wires etc. I'm hoping the box gives the shiny new build a bit of patina...

Top plate...



Made my own version of a Holmes Rx eliminator...



Getting closer...



The links I had for the fastback mod were from a lot I had purchased cheap a while back. These links were too long to use in the proper position under the truck, but I was able to mod them a bit to fit the FB mod. They are pretty unique looking, with "fast lane" stamped on the aluminum. I decided to remove the plastic skid portion and match the color to the body panels.



Tried my hand at some cage nets...



Out in the snow for some testing...

[Z0MB13]

Great looking Wraith! Nice build motopreserve.

[motopreserve]

Thanks Zomb13. I'm trying
This fFirst kit build provided some good lessons, and I'm trying to put what I learned from having to replace/rebuild on the yeti into this one.

That last pic makes the Flat Iron tires seem REALLY small, but when I look at it at a normal angle, they're starting to grow on me. I think they only measure 4.5" instead of the typical 5.5" stockers. Did some siping to give them a bit more bite. Seemed to work well in the snow.