1/6 scale rock racer
 

Well i guess it is time to start my build thread. I am building a 1/6 scale campbell rock racer. I am basing the chassis on the 2008 rock racing chassis. Ecoli will have a big part in bringing the chassis to life. I am going to make it as scale as possible but some modifications will be made to addapt it to an rc version.

So here we go:

I started of with some aluminum maxx difs. I know you are all thinking that this is not the best way to start a scale biuld. The reason that I did it this way is because that since this is my first build, I wanted to make most of the parts myself and the maxx diffs seemed to be the best way. Plus this was going to be a big build and I could cusomise them as I needed.
I then proceded to building some axel tubes. Used 1/4 thick plate aluminum and machined a hole with a ledge in it to get the diff to fit snug. I then drilled and taped some 6/23 holes and countersunk the allen heads. I decided to use some 1" tube. I had some 3/4" tube but it was to thin and the 1" looked to be a better choice, more "BEEF". Kept the tubes strait for a more scale aperance. Then I made the brackets for the steering nuckles to bolt to. I am using a set of used aluminum steering knuckles. I thought about macining some custom ones, but that may be a future add on. I am also using a set of long cvd's to achive the width that I need. Again I will probably make my own but these will work fot building and testing. I made some lower link mounts and had the whole got welded together.
I have to say that after welding they came out pretty nice. They even looked better after a few hours with the file and dremell. I am still up in the air with the choice of brushed or polished look. I am leaning tward the brushed since the full size is painted with grey cast blast. What do you think?

Next step was to narrow a set of proline 40 series narrow rims. I planed to use some 40 series rock crushers and wanted to have a little more tire buldge. I began by chucking the rim up to the lathe and using a hack saw with a new blade began to remove 1" from the middle. I wanted the seam to as far in the rim as possible so the second cut was just outside the center lugs. Once bowth sides were lapped I began the glue up. I used some thick pro CA glue and rubberbands. I let them sit for a while and removed the rubberbands, then began to fill in the inside seam with more glue. I let this dry and then glued the leftover piece from the middle down the center of the rim. It just about covered the entire inner width, you can see this in the photo's. The final width came out to be 1 3/4".

Well christmas came and wouldent you know it but my mother in law gave me a complete set of crushers. WOW!!!!!!. They look killer and man are they big. The pict's and just looking at measurements don't do these justice till you have tham in your hot little hands. I mounted one up to the recently narrowed wheels and they have the buldge that I was looking for. The only thing that I noticed was that the lugs fold over and touch eachother. I did some reaserch and have sent for some memory foam samples ( hehehe!!! ) to make my own foams, can't beat free!!. If this does not help I have a budy that runs a tire buisness and I might have him cut some of the lugs out or have all the lugs ground down to half the thickness. Any one running these? if so what did you do to help the performance?

I am waiting on some servo mount brackets so I can mount up my servo's. I am planing on using 2 servos for the front, one mounted for each tire. This will allow me to mount them face down behind the axel tubes and leave the top of the diff housing open for a winch.

I alredy have some cool scale items but those will have to wait till some progress has been made, dont want to let the whole thing out of the bag just yet.

Any coments or sugesstions would be greatly apreciated.
Thanks

looks like a freakin awesome project to me.

That axle is looking amazing! Keep it up man.

I am going to be ordering some new parts shortly. I plan on using a rc4wd r2HD trans and was wondering if this trans, in combination with a holmes colbalt 7t pusher , would be enough to move this beast? I know that some rigs have the v2 dual motor trans but I would like to have some wheel speed. What would you recomend?

Today I made head way on the upper link mount. I machined down some 1/2" solid stock so the links will be close together. I oppted to go with a 4 link set up due to the fact that you can get more tunability with it over the 3 link with a panhard bar that the full size one has ( better for RC ). In some of the pictures I pave placed the 3/8 link rods for visual purposes. I intend to machine the links down like the full 2" one in the picture at bowth ends and will be using 10/32 racing heims rated to 2063 lbs. each ( I dont think that I will break these rods ). I need to do some finish work on the mount like trim to final width, drill tap and recess the mounting bolts.

I also built my first tubing bender. I used the idea from another thread but made some small adjustments. I have made it to accept two different collars so I can bend material ranging from 3/16 to 3/8. I can fit 1/2" tube but it is very dificult to bend.

So what do you think? I am open to all coments.

Thanks

Well, I did not get much acompleshed because my wife gave me the flu!!!! IT SUCKS!!! But I did get some done.
First off I got my seat pan made. It is still a little rough but I plan on smoothing it out an covering the inside with an 1$ mouse pad that I found at the dollar store. Love that place because you don't feel guilty hacking that stuff up. I am going to atempt a couple of ideas to get the stiching lines in the pad. I will first try a wood burning tool on low heat to just get a small line. Will have to keep posting as to how it turns out.
Second I machined some shock mounts that will slide over my lower arms. I plan on using a set screw on the bottom and a long screw on the inside for my shocks. I have not drilled the holes yet because I have to do some clean up on the inside to get them to snuggly fit over the rod. I purposely machined them small for just this reason, dont want them to sloppy.
I am not sure when I will get to do more but I will have to kick the flu before anything can be done. For now just catching up on all of the new builds for 09'.

Happy new year to everyone!!!

coments wellcome

Looking interesting so far... will deffinately be watching "thumbsup"

+1!

Well while I am confined to my room; so as not to get the kids sick; I took the time to get the front axle assembeled. I knew this thing was going to be big but D*MM it's massive. I measured the width and it's a woping 17 3/4" wide, had to break out the tape measure since my ruller only went to 16". I took some teaser photos and threw in a scale reference that I think everyone can understand.LOL!!!

I also receved in the mail some servo mounts that I could use some advice with. In the photos below you can see two options that I had. I know; every one is thinking " he's not going to run two servos?" That is the plan. I have four jr995mg rated at 208oz each and thought that would be strong enough for one tire. I cant see spending the money on a single servo that will take away cash from my build. What do you all think? one servo or two? top mount facing forward or back mount facing down? If you remember this IS my first build so I am relying somewhat on the information from this site. So please give feedback positive or negative.

Thanks for the interest in this build and I will keep posting as things progress.

Man that is huge. :shock: Have you thought of going with a 1/4 scale servo. Much cheaper and enough power to turn those monster tires. But to answer your question I would go with the mounts on top. Might snag on something if it is along the bottom of the back side. I am assuming you're planning on running a drag link between them not just 1 servo to 1 tire.

Nice job on the axles,but Twin/Mad Force axles would be more scale and stronger to boot.

On your tranny deal,how fast are you wanting it to actually run? I run loaded Axial trannies in all my rigs with 10t pullers on them. They handle it rather well. With a final ratio of 38:1 running a 10t puller on a 3 cell,it's fast for a crawler,perfect IMO. Not hardly rock racer material though. I'd bet a fast inrunner would get it scootin pretty good though."thumbsup"

Looks great...

I've always wanted to build up some maxx axles like these

I looked into the 1/4 scale servos and thought that they might be to big and bulky, but since I have had time to look at it I think that it might be a good solution. Could you recomend a good 1/4 scale servo that will not break the bank? Would I still run 2 or 1? Will it fit the servo brackets that I already have?

I am not looking to go to fast, my eyesight won't allow me to go that fast but I want some wheel speed along with good slow end torque. Could a 5t or 7t puller and an r2hd fill these requirements?

If the R2HD is geared anything like the regular R2 trannies....NO. R2 trannies are geared stupidly low IMO. The pullers are AWESOME motors,no doubt. I won't run anything else in my rigs. They do have awesome wheelspeed and an ungodly amount of low end. The 10t puller is the only one I'd personally recommend running with a 3 cell. A 7t puller will run on a 3 cell,but you need to watch the temps. They'll handle the higher voltage in bursts,not full throttle assults for long periods. I've run my 10t pullers with a 3 cell,full tilt nearly the entire run and they beg for more.

I've never run a 7t puller personally but I've seen what they'll do. My 10t puller is a touch faster than a 35t,both under a 3 cell. What makes it all that and a bag of chips,is the fact that it'll spool up faster and it's got a boat load more bottom end.

I run one hobbico cs-80 on each axle of my txt based pig. 6v rec. pack it'll put out as much as the $120 standard servos. I've yet to blow a gear in these beasts and I've been known to be rough on my rigs. Lets see if i can remember how to post a link...

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXLN93

the othher servos I have are digital, this one does not state that. problem?

No it's not a digital servo. Still has tons of power though. I blew up a hitec 5995 in that rig and figured I'd try a cheaper alternative. Just unplugged the old fried hitec and plugged in these. No problems as of now. Been almost 2 years I think. I'm just using an older JR XS-3 radio, don't know if that matters any.

Any progress?

Well, just sent some parts to ecoli so he can start the chassis construction. I will try to post up some pic's of some of the small details that I have been working on this weekend. Not much though due to illness.

Thanks for the intrest!