Eff it, I'm building me an SMT10

[el_Fernando]

So I been bashing my rigs a bit the last few weeks. Went to a spot that was a decent crawling/trailing area for my Scx10iii and my vs4 ultra. It was wide open and begged to be ripped and shredded. Nice area for some good speed runs, some humps to jump, a few berms and lots of ankle high grass. So I though well I guess I'm gonna need a big basher. Totally good spot to shred a monster truck

So here goes. Here is the list of shit I got. I went overboard as usual. This thing reminds me of my old Wraith I built and swapped out tons of parts to make it bombproof. Same applies to this mt I think. Pics to come soon. I build rigs super duper slow since I'm a dunce and have to read instructions like 8x before I understand them.

Axial SMT Raw kit 1/10th Monster truck
Axial Aluminum Link Set Optional SMT10 Monster Truck
Reefs RC Sway Bar Kit Dark Grey Anodized
Axial High clearance diff cover x2
MIP CVD’s
Robinson HARDENED 17T PINION GEAR 32P
HR Aluminum steering link
Jconcepts Tribute wheels x2
Jconcepts Renegades tires (blue compound) x2
Xpert WR-6601 brushless WP servo
Spektrum Firma 100A Brushless Smart ESC / 3300Kv Sensorless Motor
Spektrum SR315 receiver
Jconcepts 1988 Chevy Silverado Extended Cab Body (my Pops was a Chevy guy go so I gotta be a Chevy guy)

.
.
.

[el_Fernando]

Some initial build pics to prove that I'm building it!

[el_Fernando]

Last batch for the night. 1st time using some of the Spektrum for motor / ESC combos. I hope they are good. I got the programmer card for dirt cheap as well. The servo, I have no clue how I ended up with it but it'll pull some good oz. at 7.4v so it should be more than sufficient to push around the big ol' tyres. BTW, these Jconcepts are sweet as hell. Painted em' up w/ some Tamiya gold to bling them up. Paint scheme will be black and gold. Nice and blingy. Maybe I'll hot glue some fake diamonds on this truck lol.

Gotta go now and watch the Sixers beat the Celtics. Lessgo Warriors tomorrow night! Yay Area!

[el_Fernando]

Frame coming together. Starting to look like a real truck now. Since this thing is discontinued there aren't lots of options for custom headers. Guess I'll roll with these for now.

[TooOldForThis]

I like the color scheme of the wheels, and they should look especially nice together with those similar colored aluminum bits.

Are you going to give this truck a name?

[el_Fernando]

Haven't thought of that! My painting skills are ZERO so I probably won't have a cool paint scheme or have a name for the truck. That may change though. I have some paint splat stencils sitting around so might use those, but I was just going to go with a couple of racing stripes on the hood. That is as technical I can get on painting bodies

Originally Posted by TooOldForThis

I like the color scheme of the wheels, and they should look especially nice together with those similar colored aluminum bits.

Are you going to give this truck a name?

[TooOldForThis]

Originally Posted by el_Fernando

My painting skills are ZERO

Same here for the most part, but I've found two ways around it:

1. Order up some vinyl lettering to use as paint masks. There's a ton of lettering sites online, and many of them allow you to pick a custom overall length and width so it fits the body perfectly.

2. MCI Racing, the same site Tamiya nerds use to get reproduction Tamiya decals, has an editor that allows you to make your own decals. This is a way to get really nice multi-colored letters to put on the outside of the body, no painting whatsoever!

The downside of both is the cost of around $25 or so. Also, it becomes a lot more painful to damage a body after you've lovingly christened it with a name

[el_Fernando]

Allright, my Dubs got the W last night so now off to the City of Lost Angels. If you've never been, it's a nice place to visit, but you'll be wanting to get outta dodge after 5 days. NorCal is better! Beat LA, Beat LA!

I got to put on the links and shocks. Also almost forgot to add in the sway bars! Also, obligatory pic of the most bombproof product in all of the RC world. MIP center drive









.
.
.

[el_Fernando]

Build part is complete. Hooked up all the electronics and I did a bit of tuning on the steering and it is alive. Ran it w/o the body just a bit to dial it in. Pretty fast on 3s. Def have to learn how to drive this thing since I've never driven something like this before. My sct's were all low cg so they steered on a dime. So does my Mini-T. Hopefully it will be a great basher! Now the worst part for me... the dreaded body and paint work :(







.
.
.

[el_Fernando]

Well it's done. Helluva problem I was having with the sway bars coming loose. I had to swap them to the arms going into the rectangular metal piece. Hopefully that helps. Also, the damn wheels keep getting loose. I have the locknut wrenched as tight at possible now. If this keeps happening I'm going to have to loctite that shit. Weird. Getting some rub from the tires to the links. Enough that it may be a problem. Most of these issues are from the big ol' wheels/tires I'm using I know. But they look so good! A monster truck should have big ol' tires dammit!