Knightrunner, getting back into scale builds, kinda

[tigris99]

AVOID CLUB5RACING FRONT BUMPER!!!!

Night before Last when messing with ESC program I bumped into my leg and snapped the bull bar part off like nothing.

Today, mild tumble that did 0 damage even to my bed rack (which it came down on a rock) or anything else, but the bumper freaking EXPLODED. $80 bumper in the trash.

I took a 15ft verticle tumble day one totally stock with this truck and 0 damage to anything except scratches.

So pissed off right now cause this is a trail rig. Who the hell makes something that can't handle a short flip over and a slide. Ffs my snorkel is still perfectly find and I thought that's what I snapped off.

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[Goro Majima]

Eek, definitely a looks-only thing for it I guess. That sucks!

[tigris99]

Well CS at Club5 is AWESOME!!!

And think this bumper will fair a bit better, smacked a tree in the dark and didn't snap the bull bar piece right off like the last one. Not that it matters because I'll be cutting it off anyway when I make a "bumper guard" for this so I don't have grenade this one doing something actually stupid.

All the lights are hooked up, amber I think is a bit bright but I get where they may have been going with it, amber fog lights. The light bar still works great after grenading the bumper around it.

Beyond that switched the rear frame brace to an aluminum one to stiffen things up a bit.

And FINALLY GOT MY ROTOPAX SETUP!!!

Will be painting the fender flares black, doesn't look right even if just a beater body for the moment.

Now to finish sorting out lights. Needs some good ditch lights and need to see about getting the Light buckets for the body. Also have wheels on the way (and some of the TRD pro wheels being print soon) cause these wheels don't hold the beads for crap but don't want to glue them in, I like these tires.

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[smc-93]

Originally Posted by tigris99

need to see about getting the Light buckets for the body.[/IMG]

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Did somebody say light buckets?
https://www.myminifactory.com/object...ket-set-180854

I've printed front and rear for my KR and the fit is perfect.

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[Goro Majima]

Nice Club5 came through!

[tigris99]

Beginnings of the brush guard to protect the new bumper. 1/4 solid aluminum rod. Now that I have aluminum brazing technique sorted, ain't breaking the joints unless front of truck is totally destroyed.

Hopefully have this done tomorrow, then onto the rear bumper.

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[smc-93]

Originally Posted by tigris99

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That is a clean looking brush guard. Nice job!

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[tigris99]

After a mishap with the first one, got distracted briefly and overheated the aluminum (thus became goo), I somehow made this one taller in the front.

Not too concerned as this is a test run anyway, see if brazed aluminum bar will hold up as well as brazed brake line.

I'll tell you there is an art to brazing aluminum and going to take me a while to get it perfected for sure. Especially on pieces like this, really easy for the heat to melt a nearby joint and then everything falls off. If this proves worth the effort to save a little weight, I'll start using my small brazing oxy/Mapp torch, much easier to keep heat localized and control the temp. ]

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[tigris99]

Ready with clear body and paint matched to my 1:1. Also got new wheels and tires. Black Rhino Armory wheels (rc4wd) and Hyrax tires. Rims are actually the scale version of the exact wheels.i want for my 1:1, except the black versions. However wife will murder me lol, at least until I need tires again. So scale rig got them.

Hopefully have body finished this weekend.

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[smog]

Looking good! The brush guard looks solid, I haven’t considered brazing aluminum, I always work with steel tube or rod. What sort of torch are you using?

[tigris99]

Just a Mapp torch.

It's solid but is a BIATCH to do. To get enough penetration for the strength you gotta get the aluminum just about to its melting point. And this aluminum conducts heat like crazy it took a couple tries to do this. Plus plenty of dremel time so joins didn't look horrible. Big thing being to not melt braze at a neighboring joint.

Smashed it full speed (on 3s) into the basement concrete wall, just bent it straight vertical at the bend under the bumper. So the joints will hold well. No support above the bend/bumper which was intentional, put all strain at joint for the mounting plates at the frame to see how they hold.

FYI, not even a mark on the bumper either lol, so does what I need, protect that freaking $80 bumper.

I think part of my issue is just crappy brazing rods though.

I'm going to do attempt numer 2 with 3/16 aluminum rod and my oxy-Mapp brazing torch. Right now it's 1/4 aluminum rod. More heat but better control and easier to keep heat directed and joint not all around too. Think a bit smaller rod will be a bit easier to get penetration and easier to do complex bends.

I'm hoping it goes well. The bit of weight savings and increased rigidity of solid aluminum rod will be great if I can get the "art" of it figured out fully. But have a bit of money to waste and patience with failures if attempting.

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[tigris99]

Matched body DONE. Just waiting on the light buckets to arrive and I can sort out the rest of the lighting.

The new tires are awesome. Even wet when it's 25°F they outperformed the stock tires which shocked me.

Last pic, brazed aluminum is no good if it's not a structure that's fully supported. So a tub bed, bed rack and such yes, bumpers like this, NO!!!

Another thing, the Traxxas TRX stock servo sucks in this truck at 7.4V. Was ok on stock tires, not these. LHS had those or the top end Savox which I wasn't springing for when I had to replace every electronic in this thing. Servo upgrade ASAP though lol.

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[tigris99]

First full trail run today. Got put through a bit of everything, did awesome!!!

Also decided to try the BETU 45kg servo off Amazon. Coated the circuit board myself to be safe but beyond that has proven to be a great servo so far. Tons of power, smooth and so on. See how the long term goes but impressed me today.

My boys came with, had the Slashes which added some craziness and plenty of laughs. Damn things are indestructible. But plenty of times I had to push them outta the way with the KR cause they had no traction in the loose dirt.

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[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Awesome looking Tacoma and mini me!

The new body looks much better than the first one. Being painted on the inside gives it a nice gloss finish and the paint you used is a way closer match

Look forward to seeing more


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[tigris99]

Originally Posted by ScaleLifeNewbie

Awesome looking Tacoma and mini me!

The new body looks much better than the first one. Being painted on the inside gives it a nice gloss finish and the paint you used is a way closer match

Look forward to seeing more


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Thanks!

The first one was a "i don't want to be silver like everyone else" can of green krylon while I await clear bodies to come back. Hopefully paint matches exactly after my 1:1 gets a bath lol. Damn road salt. That paint is $25 a can custom mixed using my 1:1 paint code.

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[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Originally Posted by tigris99

Thanks!

The first one was a "i don't want to be silver like everyone else" can of green krylon while I await clear bodies to come back. Hopefully paint matches exactly after my 1:1 gets a bath lol. Damn road salt. That paint is $25 a can custom mixed using my 1:1 paint code.

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Definitely understandable. I normally chop my bodies to be different lol, just take a look at my F450 and VS410 Mutt. The body on the VS410 is the TRX4 Bronco body. I like being different. Salt is something I definitely don’t miss from Indiana!


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[tigris99]

Pic before heading out on a group trail run. Awesome to see many people really doing scale stuff these days. So many gorgeous Rigs there that day, group pic doesn't do them justice.

Sadly all the pics of my rig I'm aware of. Brand new 1080 esc randomly crapped out. Think I know why, new one installed (and warranty replacing old one for a spare). Hopefully this one holds up now because BEC not even being used, went external. If this one craps out after 2 runs going to be slightly pissed lol.



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[B-MOW71]

I really like the look of this build! Great job on a fine looking Tacoma!

Nice outdoor pics. Looks right at home out in the wild!

Good looking 1:1 also!

[tigris99]

Originally Posted by smc-93

That is a clean looking brush guard. Nice job!

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Hey hopefully you get notifications, you mail Bic is full lol.

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[smc-93]

Originally Posted by tigris99

Hey hopefully you get notifications, you mail Bic is full lol.

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I get the notifications eventually, usually after I've seen and responded to a post already. I'll clear out my inbox though.

Edit: Inbox cleared



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