Thatguy builds an MST CFX-W

[imthatguy]

New kits are always exciting. And, I'm excited to build something that isn't Tamiya/Axial/Vaterra for the first time in well... ever.

Happy to report boxes arrived at my home, courtesy of my friends at AsiaTees/Boom Racing.

Unhappy to report, this box was printed backwards. Thanks a lot for nothing...



Oh well, I hope all the parts aren't backwards too. I'm joking, of course the box was printed the right way round, I just like to make jokes about boxes. Exclusively.

The rest of the box has a lot of finely printed material expunging the greatness of the contents. Of which there are many. It says it's 1/8th scale, but what do manufacturers know about scales? The answer is nothing. With a 300mm wheelbase, this is more like 1/9th. But that's good.




I'm also happy to report that this kit will be able to be used in such environments as "Mud" and "Forest". It doesn't say anything about "Workbench" or "City", but I'm going to assume that it'll probably work there. Fortunately, there's no mention of "Mall".



I opted to purchase the Upgrade Bearing kit also from AsiaTees/Boom. While the kit does come with a lot of bearings, there's also a LOT of bushings in the portal part of the axles. That is for me, unacceptable. And considering it's 2017, I shouldn't have to buy a kit to not use them. But no matter, I'm happy to have plastic shielded bearings now (kit ones are unshielded).



Instructions (which have some not great images making it slightly confusing for a n00b) and promotions for other trucks MST makes.



I also like it dirty.



These foams are never going to work! PORBLUMS.



Oh, I get it. Bonus internal wheel foams. Good.



Tires are firm and smell fantastic. Like a smokey BBQ.



After much goofing around, I decided I ought to build these bits into a turk. All the bags are labeled well, and everything is sealed in a sealed bag. Everything. Even locknuts are all packaged and sealed together. Pretty tedious getting everything out of the bags. But nice that I don't have to separate pieces from parts trees.

Trans and transfer case went together without issue. A few small bearings at this point made me question how much power I could rip through it, but I think it'll be fine. I'm pretty gentle on my trucks.

After a few minutes I've assembled stuff. The worst part to come. Link and shock assembly. Gross. Provided shock oil is 10wt. WHAT? I've never seen oil so thin used in a shock before. No matter. Assembled with much cursing, because I hate assembling shocks and links. But other than my cursing, they went together without trouble. For a stock shock, they're fine.





A lot of similar design ideas so far. But hey, how different can you get? The planetary drivetrain is really smooth and it's nice to have the motor up front to make room for dorks that like full interiors.

Much more to come. Including my exhaustive review of their portal axle design!

[RootBreaker]

{subscribed}

looks killer... and your having fun building it!!! the way it should be.

[imthatguy]

Originally Posted by RootBreaker

{subscribed}

looks killer... and your having fun building it!!! the way it should be.

It's mostly comedy for the sake of comedy. Thanks!

Onto the axles...

I've got a hankering lately for portal axles. Probably because of my other other other other other build that I'm working on right now, the Volvo c303, has portal axles. Mad Moose RC put out a great set of portals that are miniature carbon copies of those c303 axles, and I consider them the gold standard. So my expectations are for the MST ones to meet or beat them. BUT, I think you'll see that while these are good, they're not quite the same as what Mad Moose is offering. Sure, there's a price differential, but you get what you pay for.

Okay, here we go.

The plastic feels strong, but definitely a little more brittle than say, Axial's plastic. Not as much flex. The built-in splines are a nice touch, and that gives you options to clock the steering bits to aid in steering. The diff cover is small and has some nice details on it.



The ring and pinion combo is 15T/36T. Then that gets reduced through a 14T, then two more 14T then finally a 16T to the wheel. That all seems a bit over complicated, no? Why not do what Mad Moose does and just use two gears?

MST:


Mad Moose (prototype shown, obviously it uses metal gears):


Not sure there's an advantage, but we'll see how they hold up!

Next, rather than create separate pieces for the front steering elements and rear lockouts, they opted to use the same pieces and mold a smaller piece that holds the steering element in place for the rear axle. I totally get why they did it (costs less!), but it's not very accurate looking. Just a whiny point from me.

Front:


Rear:


They spin fairly smoothly and construction did go together pretty easily. There were a couple of moments where I had jumped ahead a step and plop, I had to undo a few things to do everything in the right order. Chalk that up to me being a dope.

I am concerned by the number of moving parts and some of the shortcuts in construction aren't really my general cup of tea. Do I not like it? Far from it! I think it'll be a fun kit and offers me some cool options for truck building. Onto the driveshafts and final assembly!

[Di_Spencer]

I heard the chub splines on these fit scx10. 2 housings... Just saying

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[calcagno45]

More gear contact surface area with the 4 gear portal vs 2 gear.


Rear allows for a cheaper 4ws addition too

[Di_Spencer]

Also what is the hex to hex width of these axles?

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[imthatguy]

Originally Posted by Di_Spencer

I heard the chub splines on these fit scx10. 2 housings... Just saying

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Thanks, yes, this is true, but there'd be a lot of machining to make it work, if it'd work at all, which I don't think it would. Jrkilburn gave it a go in his CFX-W thread.

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/1-9-s...ml#post5633775

Originally Posted by calcagno45

More gear contact surface area with the 4 gear portal vs 2 gear.


Rear allows for a cheaper 4ws addition too

Yeah, I know why they cheaped out on the rear axle, but I'm not sure more, smaller gears makes sense over two, bigger ones.

Originally Posted by Di_Spencer

Also what is the hex to hex width of these axles?

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Hex to hex is 7.6".

[natskiboy]

I'm a click away from ordering but I seen it run at RNS indoor park and it does crawl very well. Waiting to see more from your build Matt.

[imthatguy]

Originally Posted by natskiboy

I'm a click away from ordering but I seen it run at RNS indoor park and it does crawl very well. Waiting to see more from your build Matt.

Yes, I know that Josh has one. I meant to go to that event, but was laid up with a pretty bad head cold.


So it's all done!



I didn't bother to glue up the stock tires and wheels - can't see myself having much use for them. They're way too hard for my liking. Aside from a few user errors, this was a pretty straight ahead build. I'm suspect about some of the quality, and but we'll see how it holds up after I get some power into it. I'm keen to try some portal axles, and to compare them to the Mad Moose ones.

The 300mm wheelbase, 11.8 inches, doesn't leave me with a ton of body options that will work without changing link lengths, but here's some popular choices that I had sitting in my workshop. I do like the shorter overall length though, should be good on the trails. It's pretty wide, so that will uh, appeal to some, others, not so much.

Axial Cherokee:


NB Ford Raptor:


RC4WD Cruiser:


Rc-Crawler.it Nissan Patrol:


Volvo c303 cab:


NB FJ Cruiser:


None of these will work without some finessing of the wheelbase. Not a big deal, MST includes some spacers that should help make it a fairly painless procedure.

Then I had a wacky thought...

[natskiboy]

This is what I was waiting for. To know what body to use on it. I suppose a LC70 body with portals doesnt look right? Lol


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[jrkilburn]

This is my choice since it fits so nicely...


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[06ToasterBox]

So tempting.. Love the motor up front and the portals.

[imthatguy]

Originally Posted by jrkilburn

This is my choice since it fits so nicely...


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Looks great man. If I could find one, I'd do the same. Brilliant.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by imthatguy

Thanks, yes, this is true, but there'd be a lot of machining to make it work, if it'd work at all, which I don't think it would. Jrkilburn gave it a go in his CFX-W thread.

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/1-9-s...ml#post5633775



Yeah, I know why they cheaped out on the rear axle, but I'm not sure more, smaller gears makes sense over two, bigger ones.

Nice looking kit, but agree it would be much better with rear axle lockouts and straight inner axle shafts!

Originally Posted by jrkilburn

This is my choice since it fits so nicely...

That's perfect!

Originally Posted by 06ToasterBox

So tempting.. Love the motor up front and the portals.

Yes, very nice in those respects.

[CyberFox]

I didn't know this Patrol GR body, it's not common, it would be a good choice

[RootBreaker]

Originally Posted by natskiboy

This is what I was waiting for. To know what body to use on it. I suppose a LC70 body with portals doesnt look right? Lol


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DUDE!!!! portals fit on everything

I think portals should be an option today to all ford/gm/dodge 1 ton and up!!!!!!!!

[elbo]

Dodge had a portal axle option a couple of years ago. It was a $24K option. They were using Axletech Portals.


Portals look great on everything. An expedition type build would be cool. My dream truck is a HZJ78 on portals.




Can't wait to see what you do with it, imthatguy.


Really jealous of these CFX-W builds, I'm going to have to get one.

[LSXGMC]

Matt, have you had a chance to get this thing out yet? I'm dying to know if this thing is the real deal and is up to par with the Ascender and SCX2.

[soze]

This kit is making it onto my want list.

[LSXGMC]

I am really interested in this kit too. (un)Patiently waiting for an update on this one!