TRX-4 Chassis Build Kit + Injora XJ Body?

[johnny_rc]

Just finished my TRX-4 Chassis Built Kit and got an Injora XJ hardshell body in from Amazon, along with the Traxxas 8080 narrow fender liners which definitely helped the body sit on the chassis without any mods(so far).

At this point I'm a bit lost. I haven't been able to come up with a good way to mount the body, but still allow it to be easily removed/installed. Do I cut the tops off the TRX body mounts and use magnets/velcro? Or try to get the flimsy Injora mounts to work?

Bonus Question: Any tips for painting a hardshell body like this? I wanted to paint this one to match my '01 XJ. I don't really have any real painting/sanding experience, but have done a few single-color lexan bodies that turned out decent.

[johnny_rc]

So I'm probably going to use the TRX-4 oem body mounts, but with the nubs on top shaved off to create a flat surface for magnet-mounting the body. Couldn't come up with anything else that would work and allow easy install/removal of the body.

The narrow fender liners do allow the body to fit without trimming, but there is a gap between them and the body. If you are wanting full functionality out of your fender liners, meaning the debris/mud stay on the outside, probably better off trimming the OEM fender liners a bit at a time until they lallow the body sit on the chassis.

I went with Tamiya aerosol fine primer(gray), and their aerosol paint for plastics(black). Still need to get clear coat. I am not going to bother with initial sanding of imperfections or wet sanding for a better finish, too much work for something that's going to be used for crawling/trailing.

Went with the $20/each Yeah Racing front/rear bumpers, and Injora cargo rack with the Hella lights across the front. No idea if the bumpers are going to fit or if body trimming will be required.

Once I get the body assembled and my magnets get here, I'll try to get it mocked up on the chassis, with bumpers installed, and snap a few pics.

[xagoras]

I'm late to this party, but since I went more or less the same route as you, about a year ago, I thought to give you a couple of hints.

I got the chassis kit and a Defender D110 hard body with 334 wheelbase which was a challenge on it's own to mount on the chassis. I went with magnets, very strong magnets! But even with that system, the body is still coming off the chassis sometimes when there is too much incline. Now that the new Bronco is out, I'm seriously thinking of a way to implement this new mounting system to my rig.

Also don't expect any serious crawling with a hard body. It's going to be top heavy, so performance will be affected anyway. Scale and looks would be awesome, and trail runs will be great fun, but serious crawling, not so much.

One thing you will need is to get some paint for minor fixes, becasue no matter how much clear coat you put on it, it will still scratch against the rocks and the white plastic underneath will show. So paint corrections will always be needed. I usually spary a tiny amount on a plastic bit and then use a tiny brush to cover the damage.

All in all, hard bodies are great when finished, but getting there, will take a lot of patience and creativity, a lot of frustration and swearing sometimes and i think a lot more money put on them, because they are made for looks, so there is always something to add that makes it look better. When it's done, however, it's going to be a beauty.

I don't have my build thread in this forum, for some reason, so here's the link from the Traxxas forum (hope it's OK by the admins to put the link, if not please remove it) --> https://forums.traxxas.com/discussio...110-project/p1

[johnny_rc]

Originally Posted by xagoras

I'm late to this party, but since I went more or less the same route as you, about a year ago, I thought to give you a couple of hints.

I got the chassis kit and a Defender D110 hard body with 334 wheelbase which was a challenge on it's own to mount on the chassis. I went with magnets, very strong magnets! But even with that system, the body is still coming off the chassis sometimes when there is too much incline. Now that the new Bronco is out, I'm seriously thinking of a way to implement this new mounting system to my rig.

Also don't expect any serious crawling with a hard body. It's going to be top heavy, so performance will be affected anyway. Scale and looks would be awesome, and trail runs will be great fun, but serious crawling, not so much.

One thing you will need is to get some paint for minor fixes, becasue no matter how much clear coat you put on it, it will still scratch against the rocks and the white plastic underneath will show. So paint corrections will always be needed. I usually spary a tiny amount on a plastic bit and then use a tiny brush to cover the damage.

All in all, hard bodies are great when finished, but getting there, will take a lot of patience and creativity, a lot of frustration and swearing sometimes and i think a lot more money put on them, because they are made for looks, so there is always something to add that makes it look better. When it's done, however, it's going to be a beauty.

I don't have my build thread in this forum, for some reason, so here's the link from the Traxxas forum (hope it's OK by the admins to put the link, if not please remove it) --> https://forums.traxxas.com/discussio...110-project/p1

Thanks for all the info!

I havent had much time lately to work on it, work has kept me pretty busy so I've only been able to do minor tinkering on some of my other rigs.

I am noticing that I'll have to do some dremel work on the underside of that Injora XJ body to make flat/clear spots to place magnets, already have magnets glued on the body mount posts after cutting the post nubs off. I got an 8pack of neo magnets from rcplanet, the type designed for body mounting. I'll probably figure out some way to incorporate velcro to make the body more secure on the chassis.

I was seeing other folks mention that hard bodies are a bit top heavy and fragile to be crawling with, so I'm probably going to do as you've suggested and just pretty that body up for trailing and grab one of the Axial XJ lexan bodies for crawling. I have that injora roof rack with hella lights still on the way from China, and plan to buy or 3d print some other odds and ends to add on. This is the first hard-body I've ever done, and the first time I've done any sort of 'scale' replica build, so I'm probably going to see how far I can take it.