Beast II - post build

[Rock Dodger]

The Beast II is nearing completion, as complete as an RC car ever gets. This isn’t a build thread, more like a pictorial review. More than anything, this 3-month build was an exercise in patience. Paint something let is set overnight. Glue something, let it set overnight. Repeat. Repeat. Turns out, I prefer the chassis building element of this hobby the most. I had the chassis built in about 2 weeks, then it sat on the shelf and glared at me for the next two and a half months while I fiddled with billions of tiny plastic parts. I like to build stuff so prefer kit versions. If you want a toy to play with, save yourself the aggravation and get the RTR version. If you’re an obsessive detailist, you can knock yourself out with this kit.

It’s a beast, not a beauty, so I spent no effort to make it pretty. The theme is military surplus, bought at auction for a civilian market, used and abused, painted more than once. That’s how I rationalize my sub-mediocre painting skills and nearly average assembly skills. One of things I struggled with from a logistical perspective is - should I paint then assemble or assemble then paint? Knowing that there were a lot of pieces where I wanted an interior color on one side and an exterior color on the other side of the piece, I chose to paint first. In retrospect, that was largely a fail. I spent way too much time scraping paint off of parts so I could glue them.






I like the way the bed came out. Was just experimenting with primers and left it as is.




More words and pictures to come.

[the_ghetto_rig]

Sounds just like my Beast 2 build. Had to keep thinking a couple of steps ahead in regards to when to paint and when to assemble..

[Rock Dodger]

I looked to yours for inspiration

Originally Posted by the_ghetto_rig

Sounds just like my Beast 2 build. Had to keep thinking a couple of steps ahead in regards to when to paint and when to assemble..

[the_ghetto_rig]

Thanks Rock Dodger!

[Rock Dodger]

This build has no remarkable features other than the gimmick of sound. For the sake of realism in 1/14th scale, I had to have a driver and sound. Darned those You Tube videos of Beasts that sound like a diesel truck. The ESS-One from Sense is a cool idea, though a bit spendy for what amounts to a single sound track. In the end, the noise is pretty synthetic sounding, but it does add character. I left the natural sound in the video and you can hear a lot of interference/feedback. It’s pretty big detractor, hope I can sort it out.

The ESC is a Hobbywing Quickrun. The setting interface module that comes with it is sweet.


I tried to be cool and make a removable roof using neodymium (rare earth) magnets. I actually bought several sizes – kits with mounting cups, 6 sets in a pack. I used 3/8” diameter, but the ¼” would be more than enough. I left the smaller (1/4”) set for an upcoming lexan body project. The size I used on the Beast is way stronger than necessary so I had to dampen them with multiple disks of masking tape. Don’t look at the wood mounting posts.



Wires to route. Got 'em pretty neat going into the cab but there is still a lot of slack to allow for the cab tilt

[Rock Dodger]

Kudos to people who can actually fabricate decent interiors. This is my first attempt, and it shows. Still have a lot of room for miscellaneous junk if I really want to tart up the interior. Where do you guys find the right size driver figures? My little Lando is only 4-inches tall, a little under scale for 1/14th. Co-driver Reay is the same size.

Little Lando is thinking - "this is not the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy."



I dream of putting some sort of small crane type winch, mounted on the chassis, but I’m way short on clues and innovation how to accomplish that. Whoever thought to design the tail lights to the bed and not the chassis should have a very bright light shined in their eyes until they apologize. To access the battery (strapped to the chassis), you have to unplug the tail lights, pull 4 body clips, tilt the cab, then lift the bed off. Maybe there are worse arrangements, but this could have been better.

Things I like about the RC4WD Beast II:
1. Unique looks
2. Real 6-wheel drive
3. Big book of well-illustrated instructions
4. Lots of well-labeled hardware bags

Things I don’t like about the kit version.
1. Big book of instructions that is sorely in need of more words. Not everything is obvious from a single, 2-dimensional image.
2. Lots and lots of hardware, most of which you need, and most of what you need is included.
3. Large panels warped so that it’s impossible to build the cab square.
4. In general, an excessive amount of tiny parts that result in what should be a single molded assembly. For example: decorative storage boxes – 28 parts x 2; bed sides 70 parts for what should be a 5-sided box. Wheels – granted they look authentic, but 45 pieces x 6 including 20 1.6mm nuts per wheel. Good luck with that wrench size and not losing a nut.
5. Then there are the roof hatch hinges. Glue 3 pieces together times 3, then glue those assemblies to the roof plus a matching set to the hatch, then pin each with 2-2mm C-clips. Make sure all those pieces are aligned. This is surgical stuff.
6. No spare tire!

Maybe the fact that it kept me busy for so long is a value-add proposition.

Video. I'm not a videographer or editor. This video is on SmugMug and I don't know how to embed it in the post, so I linked to it. You can really hear the buzzy interference. Don't know why the last clip has no sound, but by then you're not missing anything.

https://photos.smugmug.com/RC-Hobby-...20Run-1280.mp4

[whitrzac]

You haven't even gotten to finding out how fragile they are...

I broke some part of it every time I ran it.
Rear driveshafts
lower 4 link mounts
motors
mirrors
bed parts
etc.

[Rock Dodger]

Ha Ha
yep. something has fallen off almost every run, haven't actually broken anything yet but I'm being kinda careful with it. The driveshafts are short and the angles acute, don't see how they could hold up to much more than a gentle cruise. I have an SCX 10.2 for wheeling. The Beast is more of a curiosity and a platform to practice painting and fabrication.