Cross RC BC8 8x8 Build

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by bent_hinge_pin

Nice job!!!!!

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Thanks! I'm pretty new to hardbodies though this is my second one, but I've been pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to work with using Acetone. patching holes and fusing in new material is really simple and quick which has allowed my confidence to grow.

Originally Posted by OSRC

Wow - this thing is awesome. Excellent build thread...can't wait to see it completed.

Thanks, I cant wait either.

I know I said I'd prime things yesterday but I got sidetracked, but today I get off work a bit early so I plan to get right to work degreasing all of the pieces and prepping my little cardboard paint booth. Right now weather isn't perfect for paint but its decent, hell its never perfect here anyway.

One other thing thats been on my mind is to cut some of the frame off of the rear to improve ground clearance as its pretty easy to end up on a slope while dragging the rear of the frame. Cutting the rear would be simple as theres nothing back there to worry about, just a few bumper pieces which should be easy enough to transfer the hole pattern after the cut and remount them. I think this would be hard to notice the in terms of scale.

Trimming the front would also be nice but its a bit more complicated, there arent and parts to worry about cutting off but I would need to leave support for the front bumper as well as make it so I can get a front skid back on. Doing this will probably throw off the scale, or be easily noticeable.

I want to trim up the front but the game plan is still up in the air for that but cutting the rear is going to happen for sure.



EDIT: I snapped a shot of where I'd cut the rear of the frame, cutting on the other side of the tape.



Hopefully this would keep it from dragging its rear like a mangy mutt.

[Gregorius]

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

I'm really not liking the single roof light so I'm gonna cut off the little mount and either bondo the hole or try to fuse in some scraps from the left over body parts sprue.

You can still see it in the shot above but I've working at sanding off the flash lines from the mold. cleanup has been fairly easy but I did need to work on the front end and roof a lot more than other areas

Much better

Can't wait to see this thing completed!! I'm a bit ahead of you this time - My body paint and weathering are almost done!

[HumboldtEF]

Wow what a production, I spent 5 hours so far prepping, painting, and waiting for it to dry and that was just the other parts (everything but the main body) which I've primed (with 2 coats) and I got 2 coats of the green done. But they still need another final coat.
I made up a a hanging rack and some wire hooks to hold some of the parts with holes in them. that made it a bit difficult to paint as the spay blew the pieces around but atleast that allowed me to do both sides at once.



Here you can see (maybe you can see, sorry its dark) all of the parts strewn all over my little paint both with a hanging rack above and one below the counter



This is what I came up with for masking the main body so it can easily be glued after paint.





I also masked off some areas where the dash is glued in. they have you glue it in before painting but I didnt like the idea of painting with LEDs in place (for the dash lighting).



I also ordered a scale lighting kit that I've had my eye on for a while, its sort of a DIY project from a guy 'Lane Boys RC' he calls it the MK4 light controller kit. This rig has the room for extra stuff like this unlike most of my other rigs, also I'm not a fan of how normal light kits will have the blinker constantly on when turning. The kit I picked up is a bit more intelligent in the way it works and will only activate the blinker when fully stopped and turning the wheel, once you move it cancels the blinker or if you turn the wheel the other way it will cancel. Individual lights can be programmed on PC, you can dim lights, program which are the blinkers and so on.
theres also a really great solution for how to connect and disconnect all of the wires required to do scale lighting to the body using 1 wire. I wont be taking advantage of that with this body as it will stay attached all the time but I still love the idea.

Here's a video going over its features https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VyNAVU3-ok

I emailed the guy to place an order and he was very prompt getting back to me and I placed to order a few hours later. This isn't sold through any retailers its just a guy and his passion project but he did excellent job of helping me out anyway.


I also switched over to a 6 channel receiver in order to be able to toggle the 2 speed, the other steering channel the sound kit and the Aux function from the Monster X, basically I need 4 aux channels. I though I was having issues after binding it and disabling AVC as it would flash when connected but I did a bit of digging and found out that when AVC is disabled in these AVC receivers the light will blink to indicate that its been disabled. Would have been helpful if that were in the dang manual.

[Gregorius]

Good idea masking the attachment points. I just sanded off the paint. Bit of extra work but had no problems.

It took me about 2-3 hours each day for the last 10 days just to prep, paint and weather this thing

[HumboldtEF]

I got everything painted



I made up my own cheap weathering wash with some water based paint samples from the hardware store. I dont plan to get it wet and then scrub it down so I think the wash should hold up over time.
I also found some oxidizing iron paint to play around with. though with this rig I'll be going for a worn and dirty look but not beat to snot so if I rust anything it will be the mufflers.



I found that this light brown looked the best with the dark green base, kind of a dusty dried mud look.



First I scratched and scuffed up the panels lightly with a brass wire brush. then I applied the wash and let it sit a few minutes before wiping and dabbing it down.





I didnt get any shots of this but to get some greasy oil spots I used a Testors matte black paint pen, dabbing it on and smearing it around immediately.

My scale garage is now too small



There were a few other bits that I squared away when I was wrapping up paint.
I put some styrene brackets/stops in the battery tray to hold my teeny weeny shorty 3S. On one side I was able to bolt them on but the other side has the speaker located right below it so screws cant be used but I was lucky enough that the styrene bonded with the body plastic easily with Acetone.



I also lopped off some of the rear of the chassis, I'll be cutting back the top section eventually too as I've already seen how easy it is to back up into the rear lights and bend them, so I'd like them to be inwards a bit more.





This is the dome light (upside down)



To hide the circuit board I used some heatshrink with a hole cut in it where the LED is



The rear lights (and circuit board) mount inside of the tail light housing and are mounted to a metal bracket. The circuit board when pushed in all the way still isn't as inset as I'd like, its not proud more like flush but I dont like the idea of this contacting the metal plate behind it so I put a small strip of electrical tape on the back side to shield it.





Rear lights assembled



And I took it out back to the rock pile, not my first drive but the first with the body on it.











Front bumper naturally weathered by driving it, lol



It weighs in at 18 1/2-ish pounds, likes long walks on the beach and mud wrestling.

I wasn't able to get the light kit working or the sound kit but this was probably down to me trying to use a bypass adapter when using these kits passed the power though anyway. So I will try it again without the BEC and bypass adapter installed. I actually did get the sound kit sort of working, I could honk, start the car and let it idle but throttling it did nothing it just stayed at idle (the sound).
I took a closer look at the servo leads they provided and they were all mixed up in order, one side had signal on the left and the other put signal on the right which might be ok if you plug the "wrong" end into their controllers because they can be plugged in backwards to compensate. I de-pinned them all and corrected them so they're good to go next time I mess around with it.

I've realized my new 5 channel remote can only control 3 aux channels when I need 4 Doh! my mistake. I'm not sure what I'll do about that yet.

I took some video last night of it running on the rock pile which I should have edited and posted some time tonight.

I'm really pleased with how the body came out and how it drives. I was after a different driving experience and it is different for sure. The front end is super long and has a very wide bumper so you'll find yourself hitting the front bumper on the smallest of obstacles until you get a few tires up angling the rig upward once there it will monster its way up some very steep climbs.

I did roll it once which was pretty nail biting since its sooo heavy, it landed on the corner of the roof and fender and i thought for sure something must have cracked at the very least but all seems well surprisingly. I can say that the mirrors are likely to hold up well since they fold in easily, if you hit something or roll they should just fold right out of the way.


I though other owners might be interested to see the stand I made for this to keep the weight off the suspension and tires. 3" tall, 21" long 8" wide at the cross piece made from 3/4" thick maple cut into 2" wide strips.



Once I have the lighting and sound kit (which I may or may not use) I'll clean up this rats nest.

[HumboldtEF]

https://youtu.be/LO7iZUHSMzM

[soze]

Given the length, weight and type of suspension... that's pretty impressive!

[2mtech]

I can't believe I've somehow missed this entire thread! You've done a spectacular build job!

Definitely impressive to watch something that massive crawling, especially dang near vertical. Had a heck of a time in that scale B-rock though!

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by 2mtech

I can't believe I've somehow missed this entire thread! You've done a spectacular build job!

Definitely impressive to watch something that massive crawling, especially dang near vertical. Had a heck of a time in that scale B-rock though!

Thanks 2mtech




I just put together a video of a run through the forest.
https://youtu.be/GFLonPDC4tE

[2mtech]

That guy is cool to watch! So much going on with the dynamic suspension.

[Teng]

No joke. This guy really can crawl huh! Also amazing well in suspension design. Just super active from the video.

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[HumboldtEF]

Yeah there's not a ton of travel but it sure does a lot of work. The rear suspension is a walking beam type which I though was a bit odd at first but it is pretty interesting. I think the front torsion bars have started to settle and drop the ride height a bit, I may try to loosen them and re-set them.

Earlier I mentioned that one of the plates on the bottom of the chassis was drilled wrong, the hole pattern got flipped 180*. I brought it to Cross RC's attention shortly after and on Tuesday this week I got a new corrected bracket. It wasn't a huge deal but I do like to see that they quickly addressed and fixed it.




I also had a fan that showed up busted, they shipped a replacement but its a completely different brand and uses a different connector.



Oh well I wasn't so concerned as I dont think I'll need the fan or want to wire it in the way they suggest, I dont really trust the way they have the BEC tying into the daughter board which the throttle channel loops though so I'd likely be double powering things (I'm using a bypass adapter)

EDIT: Now that I look at it the different plug on the new fan wont keep me from being able to plug it in at all (probably not using it still)

[Natedog]

Great job on frame trim, I’m sure it helps a lot! Front bumper looks too wide and maybe corners too square? Little trim and contour could help off-road ability and might enhance looks too.

Edit, very nice that CrossRC fixed the problem plate, sent you a replacement and a new speaker. Nice stand you made too, always store my trucks with tires off the ground.

[HumboldtEF]

Tonight I'm gonna try out a Holmes Hobbies 27T Torquemaster pro
550 motor



Stock motor is a 560 size which is like 8-10 mm longer but I think I can get away with using the 550 size motor. I'll just keep an eye on temps at first.



I used some massive 8 AWG wire that I had ordered on accident a while back, but it worked perfectly with the massive 6mm bullets that the Monster X uses

Originally Posted by Natedog

Great job on frame trim, I’m sure it helps a lot! Front bumper looks too wide and maybe corners too square? Little trim and contour could help off-road ability and might enhance looks too.

Edit, very nice that CrossRC fixed the problem plate, sent you a replacement and a new speaker. Nice stand you made too, always store my trucks with tires off the ground.

Thanks. I'll be going back in to trim the rear more as I keep backing up into things and bending the brake light mounts, so I'd like them to be inwards a bit more.
The front bumper is much wider than the cab but it does line up with the fender flare/running boards. I do plan to play around with making a front bumper with clipped corners to try to avoid being so wide and hanging so low.

I was pleased to see CrossRc fix the issue and not just to get the new part, seeing that they cared was much more important.


EDIT: The motor is in and it crawls nice and slow and also happens to rip in 2nd. Drag brake is much improved and this heavy thing needs it.

I took a little video of it in the garage

https://youtu.be/3Yj9LF9uWC4

[Natedog]

Sweet! Maybe a DeWalt drill motor next?

[Frank211]

DAMN....that has some pick up and go to it......! Brushless next...lol
Great job .

[soze]

This rig is looking so fun!

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Sweet! Maybe a DeWalt drill motor next?

I did have a Makitia brushed motor on the bench for a while not sure what size it it but its even bigger than the 560. It has a lot more wiring than I'm used to and I havent been able to get it to work, though I've only tried a tiny 3 volt battery pack (2x AA batteries) so far.

Originally Posted by Frank211

DAMN....that has some pick up and go to it......! Brushless next...lol
Great job .

Yeah and thats the slowest 550 motor I could find (that I wanted) Brushless would be insanity for sure.
I'm already pushing the limits of this thing but I am curious to see a Revolver in this thing, but that will surely lead to tears.

Originally Posted by soze

This rig is looking so fun!

Hopefully all this fun doesn't lead to trouble, lol


I cut the rest of the rear overhang off, Not the best straight cut but I had to stick with it once I started.



I used the cutoff to layout the holes to remount the bumper and light mounts
(I cut into the slot to make getting the lights out easier, but in the end I still had to get remove the rest of the wiring)


Vice grips to hold it in place while i drill out the hole pattern



Now they sit in front of the rear tire a bit instead of sticking out and getting bent easily.

[hokki01]

Hello, it's amazing. I have it too and I started with building. I'm finished the chassis, now. I would like to update the light system, too. Can you send me some shortcuts to the web site, where is possible to buy MK4 light controller kit from Lane Boys? I can't finded it on the web.
Thanks
Martin

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by hokki01

Hello, it's amazing. I have it too and I started with building. I'm finished the chassis, now. I would like to update the light system, too. Can you send me some shortcuts to the web site, where is possible to buy MK4 light controller kit from Lane Boys? I can't finded it on the web.
Thanks
Martin

Hello Martin, Thanks!



I haven't got around to installing the light system yet, though I was thinking about starting on that today. I need to come up with a good plan for routing wires as I'd like to avoid soldering the board in while its in the engine compartment, I'm thinking a few of the LEDs might need a short lead/plug so I can route things in a normal manner and be able to disconnect the chassis side lights otherwise I think the wiring will make it so the body cant come off easily. Anyway I cant give any feedback on whether the kit is worth it or not, though on paper the design and functionality is very good.


Heres a link to the video demonstrating it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VyNAVU3-ok&t=1215s His email address is in the video description, you'll need to contact him via email as there is no store or distributor.


He also shows how to make your own on Git Hub https://github.com/laneboysrc/rc-light-controller though I think you'd at least need his circuit boards, anyway that was beyond my skill level.