B-MOW's IFS Trailwalker

[B-MOW71]

Here is a sneak peak! I got the body and weathering finished up yesterday.

Just need to finish up the the grill and headlight lenses. I'm hoping to get some outdoor shots of it today or tomorrow.

[Phyro]

That looks really good. If I didn’t already know, I wouldn’t think that is a trail walker body.


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[Topher Builds]

Wow looks awesome! Love the bow tie on the grill. Solid detail as always.

[soze]

This looks fantastic! So good that I don't know if I'd run it! LOL.

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by Phyro

That looks really good. If I didn’t already know, I wouldn’t think that is a trail walker body.

Thanks!

These bodies can be made to look great!

Originally Posted by Topher Builds

Wow looks awesome! Love the bow tie on the grill. Solid detail as always.

Thanks TB!

Yeah, I'm really happy with how the grill turned out! The Bowtie changed the whole look of it!

Originally Posted by soze

This looks fantastic! So good that I don't know if I'd run it! LOL.

Thanks man!

Yeah, that seems to happen with all the bodies I paint! I spend to much time on them and have a hard time putting the first scratch on them! But this one will see the outdoors soon, I hope!

[RCBrutus]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Here is a sneak peak! I got the body and weathering finished up yesterday.

Just need to finish up the the grill and headlight lenses. I'm hoping to get some outdoor shots of it today or tomorrow.

Attachment 391188

O-H!


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[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by RCBrutus

O-H!


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I-O!

[djr01974]

WOW just Wow. I like love it. you want to sell it lmao I would totally run it. No shelf queens in my garage. lol

[Robotboy]

Looks fantastic!!

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by djr01974

WOW just Wow. I like love it. you want to sell it lmao I would totally run it. No shelf queens in my garage. lol

Thanks man! No shelf queens here either! I build them to wheel, but as of late the "wheeling" has happened very often!

I wish I lived closer to you and soze. I'd be out at CDM all the time! Love watching the vids you guys post up!

Originally Posted by Robotboy

Looks fantastic!!

Thanks RB!

[djr01974]

Thanks! yeah It is a really fun place to run as well as ELMO. Where did you get the Grill if you don't mind me asking.

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by djr01974

Thanks! yeah It is a really fun place to run as well as ELMO. Where did you get the Grill if you don't mind me asking.

It is the chrome Enduro Sendero grill. I cut off the bottom portion that had the turn signals so that it would fit into the opening where the stock grill was. It is almost an exact size as the Trailwalker grill. I did have to file/sand a little off of each side so it would fit in. Also had to cut some of the lexan on the body behind the grill and make a couple holes. The Sendero grill mounts different than the Trailwalker grill.

The Chevy Bowtie I 3D printed. I found a file on Thingiverse. It was much bigger, so I shrunk it down so that it would fit the Sendero grill. I then painted it metallic silver and then added Tamiya X-24 Clear Yellow in the center. I put the clear yellow on thick and let it flow in so that it would be thick when it dried. The clear yellow gave it that somewhat transparent look like the 1:1 emblem. It is held on with E6000. The Bowtie feels like it is on there pretty solid, so I'm hoping that it doesn't fall off! If it does, I'll just print another one!

[B-MOW71]

I finally had a chance yesterday to pull the Trailwalker out of the garage and get some outdoor pics. This was my very first time at weathering a body and it was fun learning the different processes of weathering. I didn't go crazy on the sanding because I really wasn't sure how much paint I wanted to remove, so I ended up lightly sanding to give it a lightly weathered look. I added a little bit of rust streaks on certain parts of the body also.

So in the end, I'm happy with how it turned out. I wanted to try and re-create the Chevy truck I used to own and I think it looks pretty good for being a generic looking truck body. It's not perfect, but as it gets more trail and rock time, it should get some natural weathering added to it.

It was hard to get good pics of the weathering, so be warned this post will be pic heavy as I took a lot pics to try and show off the weathering.

































I still need to come up with a Chevrolet badge for the tailgate. I'm not sure if I want some kind of decal or try to design a 3D printed badge. Also, not sure if I want to keep the wheels or swap them out for a set of alum beadlocks. I kinda like the look of the stock wheels and thought about just painting them. Oh and I need to come up with some kind of interior too!

[B-MOW71]

I picked up a set of Club5 Racing "Husky Link" rear links made for the Trailrunner. These are nice beefy stainless steel links with the same type of rod ends that the Axial Capra uses.




I decided to install the links with the bend near the skid plate like Club5 recommends. Normally the bend would go towards the axle, but I didn't like how the driveshaft was exposed in this configuration. I did try to mount the links with the bend towards the rear axle, but since most of the driveshaft was exposed, I couldn't see how this would help with clearance and didn't want the driveshaft catching on the rocks and possibly getting damaged. With the bend installed towards the skid it helps protect the driveshaft and still gives more clearance than the stock straight links.






Since the top links are bent up into the chassis more than the stock links, I had to remove the 3D printed chassis brace that I had mounted to stiffen up the chassis. I will be adding another chassis brace in the future once I decide on a different style brace that will allow the top links to fully compress without hitting the brace.




I also added a piece of fuel tubing to the front and rear shock shafts. I did this to keep the tires from rubbing the body when the suspension gets fully compressed. I did not want to cut any more of the fenders out as I am happy with how the fenders currently look. I added a 7mm piece to the front shocks and a 8mm piece to the rear shocks.






Here is a look with the suspension fully compressed. The tires just clear the fenders and still give plenty of flex. Too much flex is never a good thing!






Took it out on my test rocks to check the suspension flex. It seemed to have plenty of suspension travel and felt really stable. It was nice to NOT hear the tires rubbing on the body!

[soze]

Hey Brian, I'll give you my file for the mid-chassis brace.

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by soze

Hey Brian, I'll give you my file for the mid-chassis brace.

Sweet! Thanks man!

I wasn't sure if the one you designed worked out for you. I checked on Thingiverse but didn't see it.

I've been struggling to find time to get better at Fusion 360! I really need to sit down and get good at it so I can start making my own parts!

Oh yeah, definitely agree with you on the links. The bend works out better near the skid. There was way too much driveshaft exposed!

[soze]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Sweet! Thanks man!

I wasn't sure if the one you designed worked out for you. I checked on Thingiverse but didn't see it.

I've been struggling to find time to get better at Fusion 360! I really need to sit down and get good at it so I can start making my own parts!

Oh yeah, definitely agree with you on the links. The bend works out better near the skid. There was way too much driveshaft exposed!

Well... about that high clearance link bend...

Here's what I found out.

If your shocks are in stock position then the bend at the skid works out good.

If your shocks are leaned and allows your axle to be compressed more than the stock setup does, then the bend works better at the axle.

[Phyro]

Another option for a brace near that area is a battery tray mount. It bolts right in.


Hey Snoze, how about when the shocks are mounted to the lower link location?

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[soze]

Originally Posted by Phyro

Another option for a brace near that area is a battery tray mount. It bolts right in.


Hey Snoze, how about when the shocks are mounted to the lower link location?

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The problem was the high clearance links (regarding the battery tray mount). I don't think it cleared.

My IFS Trailwalker runs with the shocks moutned at the lower link location. The bend still clears in this setup. When you allow the axle move up higher you will start to see the bend contact each other when you compress 1 side at a time.

[dezfan]

Holy crap B!😲

It’s hard to believe that’s the stock Trailwalker body!

Nice work! Looks a 100 times better in this configuration!