Just another c24-1

[NoBrand]

I picked up a WPL C24-1 a little while ago to plink around with.

After messing with it in stock form, I found out it was kinda fun to crawl over the dog beds, household stuff and once over the missus while she was lying in bed (that didn't work out quite so well!).

But we all know that an RTR C24/14 (as delivered) isn't much more than a toy. It's ok for what it is, but I wanted more.

First up was a WPL soundboard Ver 3. This made the truck better, mainly because it was more progressive with the throttle and steering inputs, but also because it now incorporated a drag brake for crawling. The engine sounds were ok, but I found myself turning it off after a few minutes of wheelin'.

Next up was a two speed gearbox with a 370 motor. The stock box is ok, but it's soooooo slooooooowwwwwww. The 2 speed makes it a lot more fun to scream across the kitchen floor in second gear.

Then I upgraded to the metal front and rear axles. This was more about me wanting them than anything else, but they also added a bit of weight down low to help with the COG.

Next up was a set of the softer WPL tires (what you get with the kit vs RTR). I won't say it was a huge difference, but they do have a lot more "grip" than the RTR tires.

Of course, I quickly found out why WPL put the metal geared servos in the C24 "kits" as my RTR servo rapidly burned out dealing with the increased grip of the softer tires. Ordered up a new servo and popped it in. I also ordered up some aluminum beadlock wheels for the truck. Nothing too fancy, just something that looks like it might be period correct for a 1980's Toyota.

Next was a set of metal suspension links and metal shocks. Getting that geometry right was a major pain. My problem was the servo for the two speed gearbox was in the way of one upper link, which made them uneven.I eventually got it, but it took a lot of trial and error. I'd like to say the front was easier, but it wasn't because I had to balance off suspension action with the steering and drive shaft binding. Not to mention trying to keep the wheelbase at least close to stock. There's enough articulation in the suspension now that the body becomes the travel stops. I'm wanting to keep this as scale looking as I can, so I'm not cutting the body and I'll just live with the limits to the suspension travel the body causes. There's plenty of travel (even with it getting into the body) for what I do with the truck anyways.

The shocks are a little too "stiff" in the straight up stock position, so I laid them back a bit. Laying them back changes the angle the force is applied and effectively makes them much softer. With them in this position, it allows the suspension to move much more freely and respond immediately to even minor terrain changes. I do loose a little steering angle (shocks are now in the way a bit at full lock), but it was well worth the extra work to make it fit. It's that "softness" that allows the suspension to have the articulation it has. The only noticeable negative effect it has is the body will rise and fall under hard acceleration and braking, but that's very minor issue in the big picture and to my eye it's what a 1:1 truck does when you have enough HP under the hood. I could fix that with a roll bar, but that would also limit the articulation. I'll accept a little "chassis jacking" on acceleration to not loose some suspension travel. After all; it is a built top be a "crawler" above all else....;)

Then came the steering issue all the C trucks deal with; what many here call "bump steer" as well as the servo going to full travel and either pushing the truck body up or yanking it down. I went through a couple "fixes" without any real change and decided it needed a panhard bar to fix this issue. I printed out some rod ends and then a new electronics tray incorporating a panhard mount point. The 3d printer also chucked out a new axle mount. The panhard fixed the "bump steer" issue nicely, but it took another round of fooling around to get the suspension link geometry right to allow full suspension travel and not lock up on the panhard bar. But it all worked out. I can now push the suspension all the way down and the steering doesn't move. Same with pushing down on either side of the truck, no change in the steering. The steering servo was still traveling too far and upsetting the chassis, but the fix for that is in the next paragraph.

About now I was getting a little tired of the electronics. Not that they were bad, they actually worked pretty good and had a couple features that actually are pretty cool. But it was very limited in other areas, the biggest of note was no EPA.

So out came the oem stuff. In it's place, I put in a HW 1080 ESC and a Radiolink RC6GS and an R7FG receiver. Pretty much the "full size" stuff in a 1/18 rig. But now I had more options for features than I could ever want. Biggest plus was now I could adjust the EPA for the steering servo and do away with it moving the body up and down due to the servo over travel. The Radiolink stuff is also pretty awesome; I can almost crawl it slower than I can can even see it moving. If I could only recommend one change to an RTR truck, it would be to upgrade the electronics. It really is a night and day difference.

But that stuff isn't an easy or a neat fit in the stock electronics tray. Back to the 3d printer (after sometime on tinkercad) and I had a nice, neat tray that incorporates everything nicely. I still have to do a bit more work on the wire routing and length, but that's a simple task once I get the final form of the truck nailed down. I don't want to shorten wires until I'm sure I don't have to move anything around.

With the mechanical/electronic bit mostly sorted, I turned to cosmetics. First off the printer was a rear bumper. Then a roll bar with lights. The roll bar got a CB antenna as CB's were still popular with offroaders in the 80's. Then a front push bumper because the C24 bumper was too long on the sides and hit the tires at full bump and turn (I didn't want to cut the stock bumper). The 3d printed parts will look a little rough in the following pictures because I haven't done any post processing other than to trim off the excess plastic. It all needs more work to fill it out and smooth it down. I primarily print in ABS, so a quick acetone vapor bath will tidy up most of the roughness easily.

That's about where it is right now, still a work in progress. Next up is a bigger battery as the 2s 500 Mah one runs down quicker than I'd like. About the biggest I can fit in the battery box is a 2s 1000 Mah, so that will have to do. As mentioned, I want this to look as "scale" as possible so cutting things up and having things stick out is not in the cards. It has to fit in the space I have to work with.

I'm also looking for a controller for led lights that is the right combination of size and features. The truck is getting pretty full under the bodywork (weighs 3.6 lbs now!), so it's likely to be quite the search for the right controller.

I'll just finish up this post with some current pics:

[Zukiiholic]

C24 is looking great.
They do get addicting.