The Chop Shop - Trophy Taker

[Hoosierdady]

I've built a few FOFF rigs, and I'm not exactly thrilled with my last creation. It runs out fine, but it doesn't really handle jumps or bashing very well. It's more of a straight line, hill climbing setup than anything. For most, this is ok. But I want to mud bog, hill climb, jump, skip water and be able to run a short course. So I set out to build something I haven't seen before, a FOFF based on a Trophy truck cage/chassis with a touch of Axial. The cage I chose was this, a HPI 1/12 scale trophy truck. The scale side of me also wanted this rig due to the realistic cage work and the fact that there are some very scale bodies out there for it. I'll be able to run a interior and everything.


I've got the chassis tub, cage, braces and other parts coming. Somehow I've got to figure out how to adapt this cage/chassis to fit my Axial trans and all the rest of this crap in a small area and keep my point of balance, COG and running weight in check. I'll be robbing my other FOFF rig of its parts for this truck.


So basically the axles, trans, shocks and electronics will be transplanted into my new setup.


One thing I have found is that these wheels and tires are sealed tightly. When they cool down the tires cave in just a touch and when things get warm they expand and get back to their natural shape. What does this mean? No wet, rotten foams and no out of balance wheels on speed runs .


I'll update this post once I have more to show. As of now it's just a matter of waiting for the mail lady to do her thing .

[nwnewbie]

This is gonna be sweet!

[M1tch]

Looks a good start. I just hope you can find room in that chassis, but although 1/12 it is quite big I believe. Only seen one in a box though so difficult to tell.

[littletoyboy]

Going to be a sweet rig

[Hoosierdady]

Originally Posted by nwnewbie

This is gonna be sweet!

I hope so.

Originally Posted by M1tch

Looks a good start. I just hope you can find room in that chassis, but although 1/12 it is quite big I believe. Only seen one in a box though so difficult to tell.

Yeah, I held one at my LHS, it should have enough room to fit it all in. It's going to be tight, but that's what I need. The game plan is to fit it all in and still have room for the interior that comes with these trucks. The tricky part is getting the weight distribution right and fitting it all in at the same time. I want it to be 50/50, so there will be alot of trial and error I'm sure. The last two FOFFs I've built were forward biased and climb like a beast, but handle like a turd. The back end wants to bounce around alot and at high speed with rough terrain it would even swap ends or just get all kinds of crazy and I'd have to shut it down. I figure I can put the trans on the right so the motor is on the outside of the chassis, then put the lipo on the drivers side to even things out. I'm also going to try to setup a BTA steering linkage. I couldn't on my old rig due to the ride height and clearance.

Originally Posted by littletoyboy

Going to be a sweet rig

Should be, hopefully the plan comes together and I didn't waste $50 in parts.

[Hacksaw707]

That looks interesting

[mjderstine]

cool man. another awesome build from you. look forward to seeing the thing throwing mud at ecsc

[Richterat83]

Hmmmm that's an interesting chassis. Looking forward to seeing where you go with it

[Hoosierdady]

Originally Posted by Hacksaw707

That looks interesting

Thanks, I thought so too.

Originally Posted by mjderstine

cool man. another awesome build from you. look forward to seeing the thing throwing mud at ecsc

Oh you will. I'm anxious to drive it there too.

Originally Posted by Richterat83

Hmmmm that's an interesting chassis. Looking forward to seeing where you go with it

Yeah, it is presenting some problems, but nothing I can't handle.


The parts are starting to show up . I've got a Ford F150 body and the interior pan with the drivers coming soon. I wish they made a Chevy body for this chassis. All they have is Ford, Toyota and a Toyota wannabe factory body. Maybe after I destroy this body I can find something else to fit.



I couldn't resist setting them up by the chassis.


I gutted the Green Meanie and pulled a Savox 1256TG off the shelf. I'm not sure if this servo is good or not, but we'll find out. The Tenshock motor is a 3500KV (I think) and good up to 4S like the ESC. I'm going to step up the gearing and pray the diffs will hold up to it.


I split the axles and gave them a good cleaning and fresh Lucas Marine grease. The lay out goes a little something like this....I think.


Obviously the rear isn't going to fly.


This chassis pan is designed for IDS up front and in the rear. Needless to say I've got some trimming to do.


So after some Dremel work I had this. I flattened out the pan so the trans will sit level, then I removed the extra material in the front and rear to give the axle and drive shaft room to move.


Like I said before, things are going to be tight, but that's how I want it.


This rear section of the cage is suppose to hold two fake spare tires and allow easier access to the battery. I'm hoping to keep it somewhat intact for that very reason, but I highly doubt I'll use the fake spares.


And here's where I left off last night. I'm hoping to get things at least mocked up by the weekend. I ordered a set of Twin Hammers rear upper/lower links, so I'm kind of waiting on them to get the link placement set. I don't want to do the trans until I have that part figured out.

[M1tch]

That is some good work there. I like the long pan, similar in a way to the long delrin pan I made for my foff.

[Hoosierdady]

Originally Posted by M1tch

That is some good work there. I like the long pan, similar in a way to the long delrin pan I made for my foff.

Thanks. I think I have the rear link mounts lined out. My biggest concern at the moment is my front upper/lower links. I have a spot in mind for the uppers as you can see, but the lowers...that's another story. I have alot of high strength fiber plastic like the pan is made out of laying around as well as some 1/8" steel plate. I may have to make some brackets. I also have a couple of AZ10 chassis's laying around so I may trim those up to make some front link mounts out of. Triangulation of the links isn't a huge concern for me, it's mainly just a matter of finding a good strong mounting point for it all. I drive this truck like I stole it, so smacking a tree at full speed isn't uncommon for me and this truck which is another reason I'm looking into BTA steering. With the way I have it my servo horn is what hits first. That's why it's bent up in most of my pics.

[Hoosierdady]

The body and interior have shown up, but still no links. So I went to painting. I decided to try a little scratch art work inside the graphics too.



And yeah, I know the graphics are off. Believe it or not it was on purpose.




With tires . I'm going to try to use the bed panels or at least part of them. But I'll just shoot those in black.

[WHITE-TRASH]

This is going to be a very cool rig, I really like the TT concept of it.

I have the same servo, it was on Fofftarded, fofftarded II and now it's on my exo. It will be more than enough to steer the rig at any wheel speed for sure.

[Numbchuck]

That is looking very awesome! It is weird that your tires are caving in cold conditions. What brand are they?

[Hoosierdady]

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

This is going to be a very cool rig, I really like the TT concept of it.

I have the same servo, it was on Fofftarded, fofftarded II and now it's on my exo. It will be more than enough to steer the rig at any wheel speed for sure.

Thanks man, I'm digging this setup too. That servo freaked out on me in my C1. I caused the winch to draw in/out, lights flickered, esc was jerking the throttle. I opened it up and let it dry out for a few days or so then put it back together and it seemed fine. We'll see how it goes I guess.

Originally Posted by Numbchuck

That is looking very awesome! It is weird that your tires are caving in cold conditions. What brand are they?

Thanks. The tire thing isn't really that uncommon when you get a set completely sealed. Colder air will cause the air pressure to drop in your 1:1 tires. Stands to reason smaller ones will do the same. I'm going to open them up and see if I can get the pressure to equalize. The only big issue is when they're caved in some, the tires wear out the edges instead of the whole tread. Plus when I say cold, I mean cold snow driving compared to 80-90 degrees summer driving.

[rjwalker]

This baby is going to be trick but you must put a bowtie over that ford emblem or at least put Chevy power on it some where lol

[Hoosierdady]

Originally Posted by rjwalker

This baby is going to be trick but you must put a bowtie over that ford emblem or at least put Chevy power on it some where lol

It's definately getting covered up .


So last night was a looooooong night. My rear links showed up and I couldn't resist getting this thing rolling. I was up until almost 1 AM cutting, wrenching and well...basically just getting anxious to drive it .


The front shocks are internally sprung, and I extended the lower mounts on the rear shocks too.


Notice how the rear sits just a little lower than the front? You may recall me mentioning that my past experiences with the Green Meanie were that the rear end would get very bouncy no matter what shocks I used or how I set the weight distribution. That issue is gone. The rear is nice and soft while the front gets progressively stiffer as the shock compresses.


Shotgun style setup on the chassis. The 4S lipo pack will sit on the drivers side of the skid.


The body should go about here.


The layout reminds me of a factory truck. Everything is tight fitting and very clean IMO. Now I just need to get a different rear truss. It hits the "trap door" under full compression.



The paddle tires really wake it up. Notice how I mounted the front links.




The "trap door" for the battery is going to be very nice. I have to shorten it some and do something about that rear truss. I think I'm going to buy a DMG type truss.



They're just as ready to go as I am.


The lowers are mounted using a offset end to get it up off the skid for articulation whiole the uppers are mounted using alloy rod ends and a long plastic threaded screw and some washers. Believe it or not I've got plenty of room to move.



And here's how I left it last night. Pissed off looking? Damn right it is . I can't wait to cut it loose.

[maxxdrive]

Awesome rig. Any chance of a run video?

[Drail]

I got this one if ya want it
pm me ya addy.

[Hoosierdady]

Originally Posted by maxxdrive

Awesome rig. Any chance of a run video?

Not yet. I still have a long ways to go before it's drivable.

Originally Posted by Drail

I got this one if ya want it
pm me ya addy.

PM sent sir!