Mst cfx

[mhowzit]

Another day with not much sleep. Good 'ol night shift. At least I was able to get some work in on the little CFX. I'm hoping to have it done by Friday.

[spaceman5280]

Originally Posted by mhowzit

Another day with not much sleep. Good 'ol night shift. At least I was able to get some work in on the little CFX. I'm hoping to have it done by Friday.

Pics?


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[mhowzit]

Originally Posted by spaceman5280

Pics?


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I've taken a few. I'll post them up when I am done. It's almost done. All I have left to do it put the decals on. I forgot that Tamiya makes you cut out every single one. I need to finish it up today. A few of us are getting together and hitting the rocks tomorrow. I really want to bring this along and try it out. I'm not expecting it to do everything a SCX10 will do. I'm expecting something between a Tamiya CC01 and a SCX10. I'll also be giving a SCX10.2 kit it's maiden run. I milked that build since Feb.

[mhowzit]

The build is done! I didn't document it like a normal build, as far as step by step. That has been done a few times and the kit was very straightforward that I don't think that I could add anything that hasn't already been said. On that note, I added a few aluminum option parts to the kit and weighed them, to compare with the stock plastic parts.

[mhowzit]

After building the transmission and transfer case, it was time to join the two halves of the chassis together. I like a heavy rig, I also like my weight to be forward biased. The first upgrade to go on was a front aluminum cross member/front bumper mount. MST claims that it adds 28 grams to the kit. I found that it weighs about 28g, while the stock plastic part weights 13g. So it only really added around 15g.

Stock plastic


Aluminum upgrade

[mhowzit]

Now it was time to use the little drive shaft and join the transmission to the transfer case. I upgraded that to the optional steel part. The original plastic part was held into place by pressure and two drive pins. The steel shaft is mounted almost the same, but the pins are secured with G clips. Stock plastic shaft, 2g. Optional steel shaft, 8g.

[mhowzit]

The axle build was pretty straight forward. They assemble kinda like the orig SCX10 axles. One thing I did not like about the front axle was the gap in the steering links. I used the stock links, but I added spacers to fill the ugly void. I also added the optional upright weights to the knuckles. The weights added 22g to the front axle.

I used a 4mm aluminum spacer, that I had lying around for the top link. On the bottom link is a 5mm spacer that came with the kit. I think it looks much better than the gaps that the manual has. It might also make the links stronger. I'm actually quite impressed how strong the steering links are.


I guess I was running low on sleep and caffeine when I installed the weights, I later figured out that I put them on wrong. Poop happens.

[mhowzit]

Now it was time to install the axles onto the chassis. I upgraded to the optional aluminum links and steel drive shafts. I didn't weigh the kits plastic links. I just didn't want to put them together just to weigh them. Sorry, I get lazy at times. The aluminum links weighed in at 53g. The plastic front and rear drive shafts were a total of 28g. The steel upgrades are 63g. A gain of 35g down low, plus what ever the difference is with the aluminum links.

[mhowzit]

I knew from the start of the build that I was not going to use the factory tires and wheels. those little tires on 1.9's just weren't doing it for me. Too much wheel, not enough tire. I am not a fan of the big wheel look. I first ordered up some RC4WD 1.55 scramblers. That was a mistake. They are just way too wide for a 1.55, imo. I found a few other tires that I would of liked, but they are all out of stock everywhere I looked. I ended up deciding on a set of RC4WD Mud Pluggers, but in 1.9's. I had a set of G-Made SR02's that I was taking off of another truck and decided to just use those.

Here are some pics showing the size difference. From left to right, RC4WD Scrablers 1.55, RC4WD Mud Pluggers 1.9 and for perspective, Axial BFG AT KO2's from a SCX10.2 kit




The Mud Pluggers feel nice and sticky, but the sidewalls are pretty firm and so was the foam they came with. I couldn't find a set of 2 stage foams to fit these tires, so I decided to trim the front foams.


This is the point that I realized that I installed the upright weights wrong. If that wasn't bad enough, even after being installed correctly, they would not clear the wheels. I busted out the dremel and made them work.

[mhowzit]

Now that the wheel and tire drama is over, I had a rolling chassis.



Motor and heat sink installed.



ESC and Receiver installed. Also cleaned up the wiring and used some wire loom to hide the motor wires. Servo wire is just zip tied to the frame rail.

[mhowzit]

I can say that I was very impressed with the kit. Both the quality of the plastics used and the supplied hardware were great. I also loved how organized the parts bags were and the lack of a bunch of parts trees. Axial and a lot of other brands could learn a lot from this.

Full Parts list:
MST CFX Kit W/ Toyota LC40 body
MST steel center drive shaft
MST steel front and rear drive shaft
MST aluminum links
MST upright weights
MST aluminum front cross member
Fast Eddy bearing kit
G-Made SR02 1.9 steel beadlocks
RC4WD 1.9 Mud Pluggers X3 compound
Beef Patties on all four corners
Savox 251 servo
Yeah Racing Hackmoto V2 35T motor
Robinson Racing mod .6 17t pinion
Hobbywing Quicrun 1080 ESC
Cheap old 2200mah 3S lipo

[mhowzit]

Some poser shots before the shake down run

[

[mhowzit]

Some pics from the shake down run

[mhowzit]

More pics

[mhowzit]

Overall, I really like this little rig. I wasn't expecting much out of it. My expectation was that the performance would be in between a Tamiya CC01 and a SCX10. I was quite surprised to find it more more SCX10 and less CC01. I'm not saying that it can hang with a SCX10, or another comparable rig, but it was pretty impressive for what it is. I could easily take the CFX out by itself and have a fun time running it. The added challenge of the smaller rig was very fun. There is room in my toy box for more of these little rigs. For my next build, I'd like to give the CFX-W a shot.

[Cyberk]

Originally Posted by mhowzit

I can say that I was very impressed with the kit. Both the quality of the plastics used and the supplied hardware were great. I also loved how organized the parts bags were and the lack of a bunch of parts trees. Axial and a lot of other brands could learn a lot from this.

Full Parts list:
MST CFX Kit W/ Toyota LC40 body
MST steel center drive shaft
MST steel front and rear drive shaft
MST aluminum links
MST upright weights
MST aluminum front cross member
Fast Eddy bearing kit
G-Made SR02 1.9 steel beadlocks
RC4WD 1.9 Mud Pluggers X3 compound
Savox 251 servo
Yeah Racing Hackmoto V2 35T motor
Robinson Racing mod .6 17t pinion
Hobbywing Quicrun 1080 ESC
Cheap old 2200mah 3S lipo

Great Job, thank for sharing. This Battery 2200mah 3S Lipo is 7.2v or 11.1V ?


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[mhowzit]

Originally Posted by Cyberk

Great Job, thank for sharing. This Battery 2200mah 3S Lipo is 7.2v or 11.1V ?


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It's a 11.1v. I didn't want to put a big 'ol 5000mah 2s hardcase pack on it. I also didn't want to spend the money on a smaller 2s pack. I have a couple old 3s 2200mah packs that don't perform as well as they used to in my planes. This thing draws so little current, compared to a plane, that I am not worried about a loss in performance. I ran the rig for 1.5-2 hours and the pack was only at 3.9v/cell.

[Cyberk]

Ok, and the engine supports it? Could not be burned by the voltage?


I ask the question because I have that same ESC but I use it with Nicd battery of 7.2v, I have several 2S and 3S Lipo batteries that I use in drones but for fear of burning the engine I do not use them.


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[spaceman5280]

Great looking rig, I like the tire and wheel combo




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[soze]

Nice work. You'll like the CFX-W kit.