•••The Minion•••

[dezfan]

Bored again.

That can be bad for my wallet.

This is the outcome.



Element RC Enduro Kit
G-Speed V3 Carbon Chassis
Pro Line 4.75 Krawlers in Predator
Crawler Innovation Lil Nova 2 Stage Foams
Injora 1.9 Beadlocks
Hobbywing 1080
Power Hobby 760MG Servo
Holmes Hobbies Crawlmaster 550 8T
Ovonic 3s 650 Lipo run in parallel.
A cool body.


Then came paint.















Still waiting for my batteries and I’m playing with electronics locations.

More to come...

[HumboldtEF]

Very cool! I got bored and actually ended up somewhere pretty similar with that body. Right now I'm overthinking a rear cage design to 3d print
I really like how you just whipped the bodywork out

I'm trying to reinforce the body because its pretty thin in spots.

Venduro X4.2 Dumpster fire build

[durok]

Wicked!

Really like the low-slung racer style.

Noticed we've seen a massive increase in custom chassis rails and 3D-printing hitting this forum.

I'm way behind the times!

Don't even have a printer, and really wondering if I had one would I be able to come up with the nifty part designs...

And deciding between all the chassis variations out there, that's a whole other ballgame.

Again, this is a really cool truck!

[dezfan]

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

Very cool! I got bored and actually ended up somewhere pretty similar with that body. Right now I'm overthinking a rear cage design to 3d print
I really like how you just whipped the bodywork out

I'm trying to reinforce the body because its pretty thin in spots.

Venduro X4.2 Dumpster fire build

I like it.👍🏼

I’ve been so busy if late that I don’t get on here as much as I’d like and missed this build.

Been eyeballing this body ever since the TrophyRat was released. Just never picked one one until recently and that’s when I saw the real potential.

Bobbing and pinching the bed just seemed to be what it needed.

I’m trying to go ultra light and this is just stage 1. 😈

Originally Posted by durok

Wicked!

Really like the low-slung racer style.

Noticed we've seen a massive increase in custom chassis rails and 3D-printing hitting this forum.

I'm way behind the times!

Don't even have a printer, and really wondering if I had one would I be able to come up with the nifty part designs...

And deciding between all the chassis variations out there, that's a whole other ballgame.

Again, this is a really cool truck!

Thanks man!

Yea, the creativity has really exploded over the last couple of years.

I chose the carbon G-Speed V3 do to the very active FB page of people who use it. Easy to bounce ideas off of people using the same chassis and platform.

I too am without a 3D printer, but I have the itch to pick one up.🥴

[Trick]

Tell me about the chassis. What specifically drew you to it? What makes it better?


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[Timmahh]

What body is that? Proline I take it?

[dezfan]

Originally Posted by Trick

Tell me about the chassis. What specifically drew you to it? What makes it better?

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I mainly chose it do to the large FB group of user to bounce set up and timing ideas off of.

Things I like...

The improved link placement locations
The angled skid for improved break over.
The improved shock mounting locations
The lighter weight.
The improved stiffness.
The shorter overall length of the chassis w/ room to shorten it more if beccassary for improved approach angles.

Just a better overall package IMO.

Originally Posted by Timmahh

What body is that? Proline I take it?

It’s a Cool Body. 😝

It’s the Associated Trophy Rat trimmed to my desired look.

Similar feel to the Pro Line Power Wagon, but considerably less expensive and it’s not on a million other rigs (but it will be now. 🤣

[Brake Weight]

Been eye balling that body since it was released. Wouldn’t mind having the trophy truck chassis, too.

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by Brake Weight

Been eye balling that body since it was released. Wouldn’t mind having the trophy truck chassis, too.

I like the Trophy Rat a lot, its probably my best handling go fast rig.

[dezfan]

Originally Posted by Brake Weight

Been eye balling that body since it was released. Wouldn’t mind having the trophy truck chassis, too.

Same here, first time I saw the Trophy Rat at my LHS, I asked if they wound mind if I removed the body to “look at the chassis and electronics”.

Just happened to sit the TR body on my crawler.🤣

Knew right then one would eventually end up on one of my rigs.

Just had to wait for the clear version to be sold and to have a rig that needed a body.

The Minion was the perfect storm. ⛈

Associated...I mean Element needs to do to the Trophy Rat what J Concepts did with Bog Hog when they modded it to become the Creep.

Call it the Rock Rat.🤔

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

I like the Trophy Rat a lot, its probably my best handling go fast rig.

Based on the vaunted RC10 (don’t remember which generation) so that doesn’t surprise me.👍🏼

[dezfan]

So my batteries finally arrived(Damn Covid is screwing up everything).

Figured I need to get a little more serious about my setup and batteries are a part of the equation.

I used to run 2200, 3300, 3600, etc... mah 3s packs and always had way more run time than needed.

So I figured a slightly smaller pack(s) would help.

Went with my trusty Ovonic Lipo packs. Ordered 3c 80c 650mah packs.



Think it might be to small? I thought of that too.

Going to run two of them in parallel. Doubling the mah and C rating if I understand the parallel set up correctly.





This will effectively give me a 3s 1300mah 160C pack.

That should handle just about anything I can throw at it.

The stock location on the Enduro with my 3s 3600mah shorty pack, placed alot of weight higher on the chassis than I liked.

On the G-Speed Carbon V3, I decided to mount the batteries on the sliders.

As you can see from the size and weight differences, these packs are substantial smaller and lighter.









Even with both packs, they are roughly half the weight on my other packs combined! Plus they are lower and more balanced.




By mounting them in the sliders, I can move them forward or back to achieve the weight balance (front to back and balance the side to side Weight distribution as well) I’m looking for.

Mounted all my electronics up front between the chassis rails.

My servo still hasn’t arrived, and I think Im going to switch over to a brushless setup to further reduce weight.







Ignore the mess, still have some wire management to do.

More to come...

[soze]

Man, nice looking build. All these people going to comp chassis, and I'm trying to hold off as long as I can. I probably will end up with a GSpeed at some point though.

Really like your use of the Trophy Rat body. It looks great!

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by dezfan

Going to run two of them in parallel. Doubling the mah and C rating if I understand the parallel set up correctly.

Yep you got it, parallel for extra capacity series for more voltage.

I like the saddle packs! Thats one thing I've never considered but that should make builds that are tight on space (maybe) a bit simpler. I've been stuck with the idea the battery has to be centered always

[Brake Weight]

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

Yep you got it, parallel for extra capacity series for more voltage.

I like the saddle packs! Thats one thing I've never considered but that should make builds that are tight on space (maybe) a bit simpler. I've been stuck with the idea the battery has to be centered always

Putting a pair of batteries outboard also lowers the CoG some, too. Sorta like walking a tight rope with a long pole in your hands.

[B-MOW71]

Another great looking build dez!

I like the idea of the saddle packs! Something I've never really thought about, but it should work great with your setup.

Body and trimming looks great too! I've always liked this body, but never had the right rig to put one on.

I agree with Soze on this, the more I see these chassis, the more I think I need to have one!

[dezfan]

Originally Posted by soze

Man, nice looking build. All these people going to comp chassis, and I'm trying to hold off as long as I can. I probably will end up with a GSpeed at some point though.

Really like your use of the Trophy Rat body. It looks great!

Thanks, it’s coming along better than I had envisioned. I fought the allure of the “comp” chassis as long as possible, but as we can see, I succumbed to it’s charms. You really should try a V3, very well designed and executed.

Thanks again. It looks pretty rad, I’m very happy with it. 😎

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

Yep you got it, parallel for extra capacity series for more voltage.

I like the saddle packs! Thats one thing I've never considered but that should make builds that are tight on space (maybe) a bit simpler. I've been stuck with the idea the battery has to be centered always

Just channeling my inner Johnrob Holmes and trying to think outside the box, or battery tray in this instance.

Originally Posted by Brake Weight

Putting a pair of batteries outboard also lowers the CoG some, too. Sorta like walking a tight rope with a long pole in your hands.

Kind of my thinking as well.

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Another great looking build dez!

I like the idea of the saddle packs! Something I've never really thought about, but it should work great with your setup.

Body and trimming looks great too! I've always liked this body, but never had the right rig to put one on.

I agree with Soze on this, the more I see these chassis, the more I think I need to have one!

Thank B!

Been driving the Enduro for about year and making a check list of things I wanted to improve. The G-Speed V3 Chassis addressed many of them.

The saddle packs helped me achieve another, and other aspects of my performance improvement program is still in progress.

As for the chassis, come to the dark side, we have cookies! 🍪🍪🍪

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by dezfan

Been driving the Enduro for about year and making a check list of things I wanted to improve. The G-Speed V3 Chassis addressed many of them.

The saddle packs helped me achieve another, and other aspects of my performance improvement program is still in progress.

As for the chassis, come to the dark side, we have cookies!

I like cookies!

I’ve been impressed with the Enduro platform and this chassis looks great!

The dark side sounds inviting!


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[dezfan]

Got The Minion out in the rocks this afternoon for a bit.

Have to say, being it’s first time on the rocks. It did awesome. Made some very difficult climbs, side hills really well, and feels much more planted.

Still have a lot of tweaking to do, I think I need to stiffen up the rear suspension a blt. I’m going to bump up the oil in the rear to 40Wt and run a slightly heavier spring.

Still working on losing weight.

Got it under 5 lbs RTR, but I’m going to go lower and then perhaps add a bit of brass Back to the front knuckles?

We’ll have to see how it handles as the weight comes off.



A few pics from the Little Elden boulder field. They don’t really should the steepness or how off camber some of these spots where, but as I said, I was impressed.













More to come...

[durok]

Damn, that looks great!

[B-MOW71]

Looks right at home on the rocks!

Glad to hear it did great!