21st Century Toys Williys Jeep

[Tom22]

Hi

I was wondering why most of the 1/6 Willys used to be converted to RC are - next to those from Dragon - the ones made by Hasbro (GI Joe) and hardly ever those made by 21st Century Toys.

I was able to get one of those (21st) here in Europe (not too easy a task...) and I'm amazed by the great detail it has (e.g. real cloth seats, cloth top, etc.) as opposed to the basic appearance of a G joe Version.

So can you tell me, what the reason for that might be?

Tom

[greenjk]

I used the 21st century as thats all I could find in Australia, I think that the hasbro is used because the plastic chassis can be modded which means less work.

[HillbillyCrawler]

I put Dragon in fenders on my 21st willys. Also a cross canyon chassis from GCM is the way to go. Moves the axial trans under the hood and they come with a transfer case. Perfect. Wraith axles are also a great fit.

[Big Mike]

Originally Posted by greenjk

I think that the hasbro is used because the plastic chassis can be modded which means less work.

The "stock" chassis can be trimmed of the fake axles and other useless stuff. Then the hollow channel inside gets filled with 1/4" aluminum stock and 2-part epoxy. Then you can drill and tap it anywhere for link mounts or whatever. Easiest scale chassis ever.

Early 2K Hasbros also used to be easy to find for cheap on Ebay. 20 to 40 bucks. They go for a little more these days.

[BigSki]

I used the Hasbro version because it's what I could find at the time when I started the Orange Jeep, plus I liked the fact that the body came apart in a few pieces with just a few screws being removed.

[Tom22]

Hi

The problem for me is, that I recently bought on of those and not only was it pretty costy but is also in absolute mint condition, i.e. it has never been played with, all accesory parts still in the bags, so I don't want to lower its value by cutting it up.







First, I thought I'd leave it the way it looks and keep it as a non-functional modell, but my "RC heard" told me that cannot be...

So what to do...?

I came up with an idea!
I still had parts of an AX10 lying around here that I had previously disassembled because I needed part of it for other projects. Since these projects were never realised, I used a day off yesterday to put everything back together and tinker around with it a little.
Doing this, I noticed, I could use the AX10 Chassis for under the Willys Jeep without any or only minor modifications to the latter.

I keep working on this today and hopefully have new pictures by tonight (German time...).

Tom

[Tom22]

We are having a long 4 day weekend here in Germany which leaves me with enough time to continue on the Jeep.

I started by seperating the lower from the upper part of the body an set the AX10 chassis on it to see how it works out.





Then I tried to figure out how to connect the chassis to the Jeep body without doing any damage to it.
I came up with the idea to take a piece of strong PE material and cut it to the size of part of the lower Jeep body.
I then fixed this piece to the body by using screws already there plus 4 new ones for which I drilled small holes in places of the body one would later not notice.



The plastic piece was then connected to the AX10 chassis using the space normally used for the battery holder.



(Looks kind of funny, I know... )

All the electronics will find their place inside the chassis.
Except for the battery for which I found a perfect place inside the body:



Later it will be disguised by green or tan fabric, so nobody recognizes it as the battery. Coincidently, there is also a big hole at the same place which allows me to push the wire through to the ESC.



To be continued...

Tom

[Tom22]

Here we go... body and chassis are connected:



I know, looks strange and the body sits very high.
But you have to understand, that my approch was to do as little damage to the body as possible and make the whole thing fully reversible.
This is now possible within a few minutes by opening some screws.

As to the driving characteristics, I'll have to wait for the first testdrive.

So far I'm happy with it and to be honest, from a different angle it doesn't look so bad after all...





To be continued...

Tom

[gadge]

I'd consider getting a SCX-10 frame rail set and a transfer case

[Tom22]

Originally Posted by gadge

I'd consider getting a SCX-10 frame rail set and a transfer case

Your comment comes at the wright time...

I've just thought the whole thing over and came to the result that it looks pretty weird... I'll built it back and think everything over...

Tom

[Tom22]

Supplement:

I dismantled everything and put the Jeep back into its original condition.
Until further notice, it remains a display model.

There is one way I could think of doing it, but that would require to at least damage the lower part of the body as I've seen this done in a thread somwehere in this forum.

But since I do not want to damage my mint body, I would need one of those:



Unfortunately, since 21st Century Toys products have never been sold in Germany, I don't think I'll ever find something like that here in Europe... .
Maybe, if something like this comes along your way, think of me and let me know.

Until then, I continue having fun looking at this great unmotorized modell in my showcase and enjoy my other RC models, such as Willy's little brother...



Thread closed.

Tom