Toughbeard Chronices Part 1 - The Birth

[Toughbeard]

Well, I have decided to put the experiences I had and the ones I will have in to wording so that we all can have a good time, learn and hopefully have couple giggles on the way.

I hope you will enjoy this series as much as I enjoy Rock crawling

Cheers to all....

Toughbeard....

The Birth

Been around rc cars for ages... looking back, it has been an entirely long journey. Started in 1988 and still going. Endured alot on the way. Lack of money, experience and people to learn from... Seen to many people make fun for playing with "toys" rather then maturing up...

Oh well,

To hell with them... Lets have some fun!!!!

It was a while ago, I was working on my touring car getting ready for the next race of the Championship. I was the points leader so a lot of stress. Need more speed, have to be more stable. Need better times...

Then I realized something. I lost something. it took me while to figure it out but I realized it the next race, when one of my friends told me that he shakes everything he goes up the drivers stand and during the race, but he said he had so much fun.

Next race, I was thinking more of what my friend said, then the race itself. I still won... I realized I became more machine than human and forgot to have fun... Winning wasnt the issue but not having fun was.

So when I went back home, instead of my usual routine of cleaning and rebuilding, I left everything in the car and I went online started searching. I didnt know what I was looking for. I always starve for stable speed and lap times, then....

I typed " slow and fun RC cars" on the google search. Looking down the list I saw rc rock crawling... "What'da hell does that mean???" So I follow the link and I came to a green and grey website.

It look like cool place. checking the forums I saw these wierd "contraptions" people were building from parts and trying to climb rocks... "ok this is wierd". but I just couldnt close the window. Being an engineer, I just felt drawn to it dont know... SO I kept reading, saw the stuff people were building. TLT axles, bruisers etc... actually interesting. These people were building their own cars... not kits... cool!!!

So I read for the next couple months see what is done how it is done... Then one day at the LHS I saw a Tamiya F350. I opened the box and saw it had live axles, looked like the bruiser after drooling around I finally got it and went home. Wife gave a wierd look, who is acustomed to seeing me with small boxes that have touring cars in it not trucks and a huge box...

I opened the box and put it together. Being used to building Touring cars, pan cars and etc, this thing had just too much slop was too heavy... then I said... " shut up and have fun"

I build the damn thing over night actually... put everything as the manual says... I drove it around the house with it that way couple days... it was fun I laughed alot and I was kind of surprised to see something climb a book and not hit the chassis

Then ı pull it all apart and got rid of all the dead weight. the thing drove much better...



I was hooked. I took it to the shop, hacked and slashed at some pieces of aluminum and changed it over alittle...



I loved it. It was un balanced, hard to drive but hey I was having fun and thats what mattered the most for me.

I ordered myself Gmade Spider and built it. Took me a while to setup my 9CAP but when it was done it was incredible.



I drove these 2 for a while, after the Championship finished in the Touring car class I sold all my touring cars. Then I attended an off-road event my friends organized. at teh event, they bought both the F350 and the spider.

I was happy I sold my cars but then I realized I didnt have a car left to run over rock... oh no fun!!!

I was looking at the AX-10 for a while, so I ordered myself an ARTR knowing that it had the upgrades included and came in orange

So I finally got my first pure 2.2 Rock crawler...

And so it begins.....

[DeweyCJ5]

And so it begins.....


and never ends.... welcome to the addiction

[sdmf7]

That's awsome! I used to race 2wd buggy's. It was fun until I became competative in the A main class. That's when I was caught up in everything but having fun. I picked up an AX-10 about this time last year and it has been fun ever since. The comp's are fun, you just run what you brung. If you roll over or something you just laugh. Good to hear your having fun again in the world of R/C.

[Toughbeard]

Oh yeah this is so much more fun Oh they moved the thread to general. and I was going to start the AX-10 build Oh well....Maybe we will reach more people from here...

Well, so lets begin.

What I have right now to start with:

ARTR AX-10
Hitec 5645 Servo
Tekin R1 Pro ESC
Yokomo 23T LT motor
2000Mah Nicad stick pack
Futaba 3VSC with Spektrum HRS DSM
Lots of paitence
Tons of fun

I have read all the axial pages... took me a while to finish but it was worth it. I was able to see what people had done etc. so at least I know whats the right way to do an Axial, but I want to go through the same stage of experience or I would feel I am missing something. It is always good to know what works, but knowing why it works and what difference does it make is more important. So to be able to compare I decided to build the AX-10 in stock form. well actually it came built so... I just use it the same way.

First step.

Stock ARTR AX-10
M2 Hammers standard inserts (white ones not cut)
4x 1mm holes drilled in the wheels
standard electronics and battery position
Standard gearing

What I will do is build a temporary track in the house that I can see the changes. standard obstacles so I can make a comparison between changes. Couple books, 2 boxes.

PS: I will post the pics as soon as I can convince the ftp server I own the damn thing..

[Chargerguy]

Crawling has come a long way even in just the last year but what I think is most amusing is no matter how many manufacturers try to design an out-of-the-box crawler, you never see an out-of the-box crawler at a GTG or comp.
I drove indoor oval electric carpet for years then outdoor touring nitro and left both niches' when they went global and the only way to compete was to have the top kit with the top parts and so forth. I'll be sad when a top kitmaker does hit the mark and takes over crawling and events and takes my hobby away and the only place left to crawl is in the yard. I love driving my rigs at events, not competing in them, theres the fun. If I win, thats just a plus.
Half the fun of crawling is building a crawler...good luck to you.

[Toughbeard]

Originally Posted by Chargerguy

Crawling has come a long way even in just the last year but what I think is most amusing is no matter how many manufacturers try to design an out-of-the-box crawler, you never see an out-of the-box crawler at a GTG or comp.
I drove indoor oval electric carpet for years then outdoor touring nitro and left both niches' when they went global and the only way to compete was to have the top kit with the top parts and so forth. I'll be sad when a top kitmaker does hit the mark and takes over crawling and events and takes my hobby away and the only place left to crawl is in the yard. I love driving my rigs at events, not competing in them, theres the fun. If I win, thats just a plus.
Half the fun of crawling is building a crawler...good luck to you.

I know what you mean and Losi seems eager to do just that... we will see what the future brings...

But now lets move on to fun stuff...

I finally got the ftp working and accepting uploads...

Here is how th Axial looks after I am done with it ready to crawl (not really yet)






Now...

The ride height is just too much and the Shocks are too stiff. (remember this is all out off the box...)

Mandatory flex shot under power



Jest the car is so stiff and has so much Torque twist this is how it tries to climb... when you let go off the throttle it stays like that...

I tried to get on top of the first box... well no chance....



I need to soften the tires, the shocks, change the position of the battery and probably drill a little larger holes in the wheels.



If I am lucky I can land no problem but usually it flips over. again changing the position of the battery should solve most of it....

and it is tooooo fast... I ll wind a 35 - 45 turn motor and try that.... I forgot I put a handwound 23T in there

So todays Points: (small is bad)

Crawling ability : 0
Diving ability : 0.5
Driver Ability : 0
Torque Twist: 0
Speed: 0
Tire, insert, Wheel combo: 0

Oh well... ok time to pull it apart and do some changes....

[Toughbeard]

After noticing the out of box problems, I decided to change a few thing to see what difference would they make.

- I added some weight to the front tires and rounded the inserts rears are std
- I made the 2 large air holes in the front wheels
- I repositioned the battery to get it more of it on the fron axle and a lowered cog. but now having body fit problems.

of course the problems with the ESC setup and the motor is still there. also I need to fix the shocks and solve the TT...



the weight of the front wheels stabilized the tt on the front but shocks are too hard and the inserts need to me softer to help the tires bite the ground better.

I may also need to put some weight on the rear tires also. and need the shocks fixed...

It still cant climb the 2 boxes... but more promising now

So todays Points: (small is bad)

Crawling ability : 0.1
Diving ability : 0.8
Driver Ability : 0.1
Torque Twist: 0.4
Speed: 0
Tire, insert, Wheel combo: 0.2

Lets see what happens with the new changes...