Getting Small...ER , Orlandoo style

[dr frankenstyle]

I had an itch for one of these for a while, and it fits my current budget a lot better, so I ordered these ...



I read a bunch of threads and saw some really sweet little Jeeps (and F150's too) and learned a lot before even ordering, so I went ahead and got the aluminum shocks (love 'em) and the Losi DT tires too.
Then I screwed up and grabbed acrylic paint without realizing it, and let me say ... acrylic doesn't seem to like mask-lines ... and I DON'T like acrylic paint. Long story short, my paint scheme turned into a failed scheme. It's not horrible (I guess) but hey, for $12 I can get another body AND another bottle of paint and try again. Woohoo for that budget thing.
Anyway, here's where it stands at the moment.



I'm just gettin' rollin', and like all of my builds, any suggestions or comments are welcome. I'm not sure what all I'll do to it, but it'll be fun (if I don't go blind ). Lookin' forward to hearing from you all.

Thanks for lookin'.

[dr frankenstyle]

Thanks for the views and likes, and Thanks again to everyone that posted their cool builds and upgrades. I read a lot of threads, so if you see something that looks familiar, I may have used your guidance ... Thanks

So, here it is today, haven't mounted the wheels yet, workin' on a re-paint and need to touch-up the chassis paint ...



but here's what I've done to it so far. First, I gotta say I'm impressed with all of the extra hardware. The little pieces that you can lose easily have an extra or 2, awesome. And kudos for the precision molding. NICE kit to build.
I painted all of my axle and frame parts with Testors "steel" enamel to start. Then I cut some small black heat-shrink tube to beef up the links. That made them easier to assemble to length too. I ended up lengthening the lower links to square-up the pinions. I've read a few posts about the steering and front suspension, so I cut the servo mounting tabs down to the bottom of the factory holes and drilled new holes in the new 1/2-tab. I couldn't get a screwdriver in to screw the servo in, so I used CA and glued it to the frame tabs, then I cut a couple of sewing pins and slipped them thru the screw holes for extra support and to help align it. It bumped the end of the motor so I used a half-round file and filed a dimple in the bottom corner of the servo for clearance. It tucked up nicely, seems to be a solid mount ....



... and gets me plenty of room for suspension travel. To complete the package, I filed a bit off of the back of the bumper mount to clear the servo horn and screw, then I use the #4 (8mm) servo horn in the kit to max the throw and make up for the lifted servo. Then I filed a bit off of the bottom corner of the left bumper boss for the steering arm to swing below it with plenty of room. By tweaking the drag-link (is that right?) I got the clearance to get full compression with no interference.



I pressed a stub-axle into each wheel to pre-fit them, but I want to get the electrics in before I mount 'em up. I plan to body-mount the light buckets so I soldered a couple of mini plugs to the ESC so I can connect the lights. SO ..... on to the smd's. aaarrrgh what a PAIN! After failing on 2 on the solder-up, I broke one of the 2 I had left trying to get it in the light-holder. A BIG THANKS to nate94gt for some help AND mailing me twice as many as I need for a full set. Hopefully I've got the hang of them now .... we'll see. Anyway to help with the install, I took a small square file and used the corner to file some relief notches into the ends of the light openings for the wires. Voila I tested the fit with my last working smd light, and it worked. The mail delivered nate's help today, so it's time to heat up the iron .... and cross my fingers.
I should be able to get her powered up and rolling this weekend, so I'll update when I do. Let me know what you all think, and ask any questions.


Thanks for lookin' and likin'

[dr frankenstyle]

I got the electrics slimmed down and packed in this evening. Not a lot of extra room, but it fits.



I still have lots to do to the body, but here's the obligatory flex-shot.



And I still have to solder the !*?#@!! smd lights. But not tonight.


thanks for lookin'

[dr frankenstyle]

Well, the blue acrylic paint peeled off like a bad sticker, so I stripped it down with tape and slopped on this. It's ugly, but it'll make a decent basher body.



I already ordered a new body, so I'm not putting the details on this one. I got the smd's soldered up and mounted in the buckets, but I'll wait and put them in the good body too. I did trim the back of the front fenders for a little more tire clearance. And, like a lot of guys, I didn't like the sag in the tail-end, so I drilled new holes in the back of the shock mounts about 1 - 1.5mm lower to lift the ass a bit. It moves the shocks more to the center of the wheel opening too, and I like the way that looks, so win win.



I started a little side project for the little Yeep also, kind of "shelf-rocks" one could say.



I took a shelf plank and some scenery materials from model railroading, and cast some lightweight "rocks" and glued them to the shelf. Then a little red-brown and some tan flat latex paint and presto .... Bookshelf MOAB for micro's.
The rocks are nice and scale ....



.... and the 80-rpm set-up makes it crawl nice and slow. I have a new trans' coming for my 200-rpm'er so it will be easier to step it up. And with the shelf-rocks, I can put one end on the ottoman and have a rocky mountain to climb on.

This one makes the paint look better. It has what we used to call a "20-foot paint-job".



LOL

[Stoovey2004]

My current budget is "finish existing projects"....

[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by Stoovey2004

My current budget is "finish existing projects"....

I can totally relate to that. Low budget is one of the main reasons I got the Orlandoo. Most parts are under $10.
I've had the stuff for the "shelf-rocks" laying around for years, luckily, or it would've been back-burner'd. The paint I used on the rocks was 15 or 20 years old, almost too old, but it stirred up ok.
I try to do everything "on the cheap". My buddy says that if I swallowed a silver dollar, I'd crap a 1/4" washer.

[JatoTheRipper]

That's bad ass.

[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

That's bad ass.

Thanks, it's a whole lot of fun packed into that little bitty package.
I got the rest of the rocks stuck on my shelf and got 'em all painted. It looks a bit different from above ...



.... than it does from "windshield level.



It's pretty rugged ground at "scale" size ....



.... so it's definitely slow-going.



But, I've never had so much fun crawling on the coffee table.

[dr frankenstyle]

Well, since my paint-job looks so good (sarc' mark ), I figger'd the little Yeep could use a little comic relief.



Snoop' dog was about the only thing I could find small enough to cram into the leftover space, or lack there of.
Aside from that, I've been running on the shelf rocks a bit. Wow, I'm getting somewhere around an hour run time from that little bitty battery. I'm sure the 80-rpm set-up helps, but I didn't expect that kind of times from it. My biggest issue is the slack in the stock drive-shafts. My truck will roll almost an inch before it snugs up. And I've popped the u-joint at the rear axle twice when it got hung on a rock point. But I just ordered the aluminum shafts for it, so that should help both issues. I'm impressed with how capable it is. It's pretty tough to get her stuck on the shelf rocks. High-centering is about it's worst enemy. The bumpers are short enough, with the Losi tires it's hard to hang up either end in the rocks. I'll see how it does with the 200-rpm set-up when the new trans' parts get here.

Now we're off to hunt the Red Barron.

Thanks for lookin'.

[dr frankenstyle]

Got some more goodies this past week ...



.... and got the metal drive-shafts installed. They took up a good bit of driveline slack, but there's a bit left.



They shouldn't pop any u-joints either, so that's a win. I got the new transfer case for the 200-rpm set, but it seems to have a tight spot in the new gears, so it surges really badly. It's so bad that it wobbles across the open floor, and it's too fast and bouncy for the shelf-rocks, even with very light throttle. So I already swapped the 80-rpm'er back in and I'm "slothin'" again.
The new body showed up too. Already got it shot with self-etching primer and sanded too. And I got some blue metal-flake .... ENAMEL this time .... so hopefully the paint-job will turn out better this time around. Cross your fingers.
I got 3 new lipo's too, 250-mah like the first one. I timed my runs this last charge round, and I'm actually getting right at 2 hours of running out of a charge. I have one of the new batteries in now, so I'll see if they get the same run-time. They fit a bit better in the chassis and give the body a bit more room at the back.
I wanted to add some weight to the nose, so I took a 44-mag. slug and hammered it flat, then bent it into an "L" and siliconed it into the hood and grill.



After adjusting the front shocks, it seems to help.
I ordered a small pc-board strip of smd's to make a roof-light too. I'm ready to get the new body painted and get the lights mounted and lit up.


Thanks for lookin' and likin'.

[dr frankenstyle]

I got the first coat of blue metal-flake on the new body, not sure how much I like it. Then I decided to make an "angry eyes" bra for it ....




.... but it was late by the time I finished it. I can relate to how it feels.
It pops right off, so I'll see how it looks on the blue body too.

[dr frankenstyle]

Got the clear lacquer shot on the new body today. Oh, and I figured out what I was doing wrong ... my airbrush's pickup tube went to the bottom of the jar and as the metal-flake settled, it increased the flake content to the point of taking over the blue and turning it kind of a grey-greenish hue. So I cut off an old pickup tube, poured off some of the blue paint with a bunch of the metal-flake still in the bottom of the old jar, and shot her again. Here's what I came up with (at least the digi-pic' color), with a slightly different stripe pattern too.



The nose ....



.... and tail.



Now to get the details on it. My little pcb light strip got here last week too. Now to make a housing for it, so it'll mount on the Xtra Speed aluminum roof rack I ordered for it last night.



A couple other mod's in mind too, so stay tuned.

[dr frankenstyle]

I got all of the factory accessories on the blue body this week ...



... and got the lights in and working. Thanks again to nate94gt for the help with the smd's!



I used a red Sharpie on the inside of the taillight lenses ...



.... tints 'em red, but still shines thru nicely.



I glued the light buckets into the body with black silicone and wired in the 2 mini-plugs.



I like having less clutter on the chassis, with the lights body-mounted. It's purtier than Snoopy's, I think.



I added a pigtail for the roof light. I can add it when I get the case built for it, and the roof-rack gets here.

dang, I just realized I missed the wipers .... ooops.

[dr frankenstyle]

Got a case and lens made up for the roof light.



It's a bright little sucker too.



Here's a ballpark fitment ....



... but it'll mount to the Xtra Speed rack when it gets here, so I didn't make any brackets yet, or drill the roof.
And I dug the wipers out of the box and got them on too... durr

[dr frankenstyle]

I hammered out another 44-mag' "small-block" and stuck it under the hood for weight. Then I soldered up a spinner for the spare tire.



When I got it on, it looks a bit "big", so I'll probably get some 16 or 18ga. wire and a smaller brass washer and make another one a little smaller scale. And I guess I need to get some more DT wheels and make a proper spare tire too.
Oh well, not bad for now.

[dr frankenstyle]

well, my cousin was makin' fun of the "sleepy eyes", so the little Yeep got mad ...



... fire-in-the-eyes mad.



Now it's mood can change.

[2mtech]

Tough looking little rig!

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk

[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by 2mtech

Tough looking little rig!

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk

Thanks It's been a LOT of fun to build ... a bit tricky, being SO small, but fun. And rock-crawling on the coffee table is way too cool.

[ferebeed]

Did the DT wheels go on without modding?
That little guy looks sweet. I have 2 but haven't finished the details. They both move on there own but need to do the bodies.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by ferebeed

Did the DT wheels go on without modding?
That little guy looks sweet. I have 2 but haven't finished the details. They both move on there own but need to do the bodies.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks I read a few threads here about the DT's. Learned lots of other good stuff too.
I used a 1/2-inch "brad-point" drill-bit. It's kind of a spade-bit and a regular drill-bit in one. Most people seem to use a spade-bit. Then I used my Dremel to cut down the little ribs in the back side of the DT wheels.
I just used clear silicone to glue the OH wheels into the DT's. When I pulled them off, I used needle-nose pliers and was careful to only pry on the OH wheels. I may tear 'em down and use 2-part epoxy, 'cause I really like the look of 'em, but they've held up well so far.
You can expect a bit more rub in the fenders, in the rough stuff. Trimming the back edge of the front fenders seemed to help a lot. I have some new shock hoops on the way, and I'll probably re-work them to get a bit more lift.
Post up some pic's of yours, show us your builds.