Goin' truggy- my "new" Micro project

[TexasJeff]

Been itching to rebuild the Chevy bodied Micro Crawler for a little while now, & finally decided on a direction to go: truggy style.
'89 Chevy Micro

Looked around at a ton of 1:1 & scale RC builds, & these are 2 of the ones that really made an impression:
1.9 Chevy drop bed, dove tailed, dove nosed, trail beast

Big block chevy truggy build up - Pirate4x4.Com Bulletin Board

So I had this old monster truck model kit I built as a teen, & it was in storage & hadn't fared well there. I'd lopped the roof off for a "convertable" look, so the model body was a perfect place to start my new project.

[TexasJeff]

I went up to San Antone recently, & while there I hit the Hobbytown USA for some styrene stock:



The larger package there on the right is really cool- its a bag of "odds & ends".

Anyways, I sat at the bench & tore down the ol' Chevy.

[TexasJeff]

So here's the tentative plan (to be changed as I go along, most likely):

Going to be mostly tubed, and it'll be 4 linked, but I'm gonna try & switch up the link mounts on the axles & make them a little more prototypical instead of using the Losi mounting points. Battery & servo will not be mounted on the axles.

I'm also planning on bringing the motor/trans up into the cab area instead of letting it hang down like I did on the Datsun build. That means sacraficing interior details, but I'd like to have a rig without the unrealistic dropped down look I did w/ the Datsun.

Tires are gonna be the Mickey Thompson Baja Claw TTC meats from RC4WD. Rims are up in the air right now, but I've been looking at the different aluminum beadlocks out there. Might stick w/ the stock Losis, though.

Oh, & as for the '89 Silverado shell- its going to be rejoined w/ the rest of the model kit that donated the body in the 1st place. She'll become another of my static display 1:25 scale models.

So I jumped in & started chopping away at the plastic. I narrowed up the grille & doved the nose. I had to shorten the hood a bit in the process, & got a start on the front fender trimming.

[TexasJeff]

Decided to build a "real" truggy by back-halving it & running full tube just past the cab. I've read the thread here on RCC & didn't want the "truggy police" coming & impounding my build.....

I made up the mounts for the trans skid plate. Had to drop it down some so the assembly wasn't sticking up past the top of my roofless cab. I also ran a bit of styrene plate down both side to reinforce the frame & have a base to run the cage off of.



One problem I will have is attaching the cab to the chassis. Since the cagework will run over the rear of the cab towards the back of the rig, I won't be able to just drop the body down onto the chassis. I'll have to install the rear of the cab seperately, which works out OK since this particular model kit has the rear of the cab as a seperate part already.

On Thanksgiving, I hit the cagework hard & bent up a bunch of styrene rod:

[TexasJeff]

Here's a shot of it with my projected wheelbase, right at 5". Might make it a smidge longer, but at this point five looks about right.

[TexasJeff]

It's been a little frustrating doing this cage work. I actually think brass would be easier to work with in this scale. Styrene doesn't like to be reheated to straighten out a bend thats a little off. I've got most the major cagework done now, but I darn near didn't buy enuff of the size I'm using because I didn't figure on the amount of "I screwed that up & need to remake it from a fresh length" moments.

More pics of the cagework in progress:

[crawlski]

That rig is looking rad so far. keep it up!

[brandonwalsh420]

looks great ... nice styrene tube work

[nigelpheron]

Dam, that's a nice truck in the works.

Awesome Dude.

[86zuk]

wow thats small tube work. very nice.

[indyrado4]

impressive! can't wait to see where this ends up!

[TexasJeff]

Thanks for the positive comments, guys.

Got started on the links, and have the fronts tentatively figured out. Went to do the rear & realized "crap, I'm out of rod ends". So progress is stalled 'til I get to a hobby shop this coming weekend. Need some more 2-56 & styrene anyways.

On a positive note, I got my RC4WD Mickey Thompsons in. They're some pretty big meats! Heckuva lot taller than the old worn out stockers I'd been running.

[TexasJeff]

And I couldn't help but mount up a couple of them for a mock-up shot. What d'ya think- got a TTC vibe going or not?

[indyrado4]

i would say it does! It's giving me the motivation to start working on my 1/24th scale square body s-10 truggy...

[MICHIGAN CRAWLER]

Any updates??

[TexasJeff]

Not much- the Holidays have been soaking up most my free time in one way or another.

I've got the new tires mounted on the new black chrome Losi McRC wheels, I picked up a set of Micro T shocks, & have made up the rear links, (though I still need to sheath them w/ aluminum tube).

Hope to get serious on it again next week or so.