The long-awaited LWB TF2 by new2rocks

[rustneversleeps]

Great job on the seats and the rest of the build....been wanting to know what the hell every bodies talking about this Chino mod..
I think i just figured it out.....
Also might be asking for that skid plate upgrade when the time comes.

[new2rocks]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Looks great, love the new Bowhouse RC axle housings and center skid! Seats are fantastic too, but look like they are going to sit up a bit too high inside the cab?

Thanks and lol re the seat height. That was just a mock-up. They will sit lower once I'm ready to mount them.

Originally Posted by rustneversleeps

Great job on the seats and the rest of the build....been wanting to know what the hell every bodies talking about this Chino mod..
I think i just figured it out.....
Also might be asking for that skid plate upgrade when the time comes.

Thanks! Check out the TF2 guide stickied in this section for info and a link on the Chino mod. The skid plate is the schnizzle, but I'm biased.



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[2mtech]

Looks awesome so far! You probably would've been all done if you hadn't spent so much time being a TV star though

[new2rocks]

Originally Posted by 2mtech

Looks awesome so far! You probably would've been all done if you hadn't spent so much time being a TV star though

Lol. If only it were like that... More like running a biz, buying a house, selling a house, moving, working with Nick to develop some cool new products...lots going on. I'll be back at it when we get back from vacation and settle into the new house in a few weeks.


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[photocycler]

With the shock hoops from the Gelande, what size shocks are u running up front a.


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[new2rocks]

Originally Posted by photocycler

With the shock hoops from the Gelande, what size shocks are u running up front.

The G2 hoops have 2 holes, one 7mm higher than stock and the other 12mm higher than stock. I usually run 90mm shocks in front with the G2 hoops, and on this truck, I'm using a pair of 90mm Ultimate Scale Shocks from the rear of another TF2 I had.

[bigchimp]

So the 3D printed axles - what was the motivation? Unhappy with the standard yota 2's?

[new2rocks]

Originally Posted by bigchimp

So the 3D printed axles - what was the motivation? Unhappy with the standard yota 2's?

The primary goal was improved performance (through better steering) and durability (through the use of the GCM TM8 internals, which incorporate a combination of Ascender and GCM-specific components) while preserving a highly scale-looking axle. Our collaboration with GCM is also creating the opportunity for a significantly narrower axle option (coming very soon) for narrow bodies like the Mojave 2 and LC70.

Also, FYI, the standard TF2 and LWB models come with Yotas (not Yota 2s).

[bigchimp]

Originally Posted by new2rocks

The primary goal was improved performance (through better steering) and durability (through the use of the GCM TM8 internals, which incorporate a combination of Ascender and GCM-specific components) while preserving a highly scale-looking axle. Our collaboration with GCM is also creating the opportunity for a significantly narrower axle option (coming very soon) for narrow bodies like the Mojave 2 and LC70.



Also, FYI, the standard TF2 and LWB models come with Yotas (not Yota 2s).

Oh thank you for the info - I assumed all the newer kits came with yota 2s.

So will the 3D printed housings have the same dimensions as the Yota 2s - width, mounting points, diff size, etc?

[new2rocks]

Originally Posted by bigchimp

So will the 3D printed housings have the same dimensions as the Yota 2s - width, mounting points, diff size, etc?

Didn't realize I missed this question...apologies! Anyway, the leafed version for RC4WD trucks has the same width, leaf and shock mounting points, pumpkin height, etc. as the Yotas (and essentially the same as the Yota 2s). The biggest difference is lots (lots) more steering and a little less gear reduction (can be offset by dropping your pinion size). We are working on linked versions for the TF2 and Gelande which we're hoping to narrow by a few mm but that otherwise will have the same mounting points, as well. Those versions should be available within the next month or two.

[new2rocks]

Wow...it's been a looooong time. The holidays, a house move and USTE conspired to keep me away from the bench for a while, but I was finally able to get re-started on this one. And the timing couldn't be better with GCM Adventure Series Uwharrie coming up next month.

Let's start with some body work. After some puttying and sanding, I got the cab back to look like this:


That'll work. In between coats of putty and primer on the cab back, I got some help on the interior from my favorite tiny trucker (you know I can't go to long without an appearance from Roo). Roo was excited to learn how to paint:


If only he knew how little I know about painting...but I digress.
Interiors need carpet, so that came next. Roo likes scissors:




That came out looking pretty good. I cheated a bit on the carpet. The gray felt from Michael's was a bit too...well...gray for this interior. A light misting of blue paint was just enough to give the carpet the faded look that will be a theme throughout the interior.

Back to the body. I decided to try an evolution of the hidden, clipless, sort-of-screwless body mount setup that I used on my original standard WB Mojave 2. We start with captured screws in the body mounting holes, but longer this time and with the threads intact:


Next up was trimming back the body mount posts to allow the nylock nuts to clear. Before trimming:


After trimming:


I drilled out the holes a bit so that the threaded M3 screws slide in and out with just a little bit of friction. In front, the fenders can be pulled out enough to get the screws to slide in from the sides. But in back, the filled-in cab-back limits how far the sides of the truck can be pulled apart for mounting (just a couple of mm of movement), so I decided to notch the posts to allow the captured screws to slide under the posts and into the holes:




With the front screws in the body posts, the back screws aren't going to pop out from underneath. It's a bit hard to explain, but it works.

With that resolved, I could start filling in the holes along the bottoms of the rocker panels:


In the middle of all of this, Nick and I (well to be honest, just Nick, really) whipped up a neat new little BowHouse RC part with the encouragement of LappDog. With the stock rear shackle mounts, the rear shackles can sometimes get locked into full compression:


We tried a few different geometries:


And settled on the one we liked best. No more shackles locking into place:


We've sent out prototypes to LappDog and our newly minted BowHouse RC team for some testing. As soon as they get a little beating, they'll be up on our Shapeways store. Shouldn't be long at all.

Next up will be installing the hood hinge mount, filling the body holes at the finned trim pieces under the windows, and then she should be ready for paint. After that, a little work on the dash, mount the flat bed and she might (just might) be ready to run in time for GCM Adventure Series. Fingers crossed...

[bigchimp]

Originally Posted by new2rocks

Didn't realize I missed this question...apologies! Anyway, the leafed version for RC4WD trucks has the same width, leaf and shock mounting points, pumpkin height, etc. as the Yotas (and essentially the same as the Yota 2s). The biggest difference is lots (lots) more steering and a little less gear reduction (can be offset by dropping your pinion size). We are working on linked versions for the TF2 and Gelande which we're hoping to narrow by a few mm but that otherwise will have the same mounting points, as well. Those versions should be available within the next month or two.

Appreciate the info! Thank you.

[2mtech]

Looking good, David! Body mounts are ingenious.

Originally Posted by new2rocks

If only he knew how little I know about painting...

I'm sorry...what business are you in??

[new2rocks]

Originally Posted by 2mtech

Looking good, David! Body mounts are ingenious.

I'm sorry...what business are you in??

Thanks...and exactly!

[new2rocks]

Since I don't have long before GCM Adventure Series gets here, I'm trying to pick up the pace a bit. The next step was sorting out this jumbled mess of stuff that Nick gave me:


Hmm...let's start with the biggest piece:


Really liking how that looks. Nick was up to his usual clever tricks with the rest. The other pieces have a really clever way of going together:






The attachment between the upper corners of the rad support and the inner fender frames is very tight. No wiggles here:


Add some glue and clamps:


And you get this:


The basic concept we were shooting for seems to be working out very well. Fully integrated hinge system and structural rad support that can be used to attach the grill securely with screws from behind the rad support, even after opening the hood (and thus losing the upper grill mounting bracket), cutting out the plastic fake grill mesh (and thus losing the upper screw posts on the back of the grill piece), and trimming the lower valance and front fenders (thus losing the lower grill mounting screws at the bottom corners of the fenders). All with minimal eyeballing necessary. Everything is designed to line up and conform to the body. So chop away (or don't). We got your back.

We will be making some design tweaks, including an integrated hinge instead of relying on the hinge from the RC4WD Blazer body (even though I think that hinge looks cool), a couple of small structural reinforcements. and molded in spots for magnets. Nick will get to put version 2 on his truck, so I'll just run this as a reminder of what we started with.

Other details are starting to come together. Sayonara to the screw holes on the rocker panels:


Started working on filling the holes where the fins are next to the door handle.




Disclaimer: that's about as fancy as I get with styrene, so don't get your hopes up too high.
Once I add magnets to the hood and finish up those little screw hole plugs, I have some more prep work to do and then (I think) I can start laying down some paint. Can't tell you how much fun it is to be back at the bench.

[new2rocks]

More progress. Since I don't really enjoy painting bodies and don't yet have room in the garage for anything resembling a fancy paint setup, one of my self-imposed constraints is that I stick with rattle cans. So...Tamiya Gun Metal seemed like an interesting color for this build:


Metallics from rattle cans are finicky, so this one took many coats (I think I lost count at 7 or , and I reluctantly succumbed and wet sanded between coats for the first time on any of my paint jobs. But it didn't take as long as I thought it might, and I must say that I was pleased with how everything came out. Once I get it out in the sun for some pix in the wild, it should show a little better.

One other color scheme note. I wasn't originally planning on leaving the hood black, but by the time I finished the cab, and mocked it up with the still primered hood, I decided to roll with it. Here's the view from above:


Overall, the color combination is very subtle...almost stealthy. But I like it. So I'm rolling with it.

For the grill mesh, I decided to use black fiberglass screening from the blue home improvement store (less than $10 for a roll). First step was cutting it on the diagonal to get the right pattern:


With a little E6000, it went in super easy and came out looking pretty good:




That really didn't take long. So it was on to mounting the seats. I decided to keep things simple. In front, 2 risers each made of 2 pieces of styrene bar glued together, painted black in case anyone can see them (you can't really), and screwed in from underneath:


Since the back seat already sits on a raised section of the floor pan (to clear the battery pack that I relocated to the back of the cab), it didn't need a riser. A single styrene bar across the front to accept screws from underneath was all I needed:


Once installed on the floor pan:


A quick note on the carpet. As I mentioned earlier, it started out as pretty plain-looking gray felt from the crafts store. A quick dusting of navy blue spray paint gave it the weathered, faded look I was going for. Here's a side-by-side showing the original material next to the weathered version:


Mocked up with a dash, I'm happy with how the interior is coming along:




Next on the list will be detailing and weathering the dash, making the shifters, and attending to the exterior bits and bobs. Overall, I couldn't be happier with how this is coming along. This LWB body is terrific and puts a smile on my face every time I walk over to the bench.

[new2rocks]

Time for the dash. I was inspired by reference pic:


So 80s! I had to give it a try, with plans to make extensive use of dry brushing. So we start with a base coat to get in the right range:


Then hit the top of the dash with a darker blue, dry-brushed until it was almost consistent, followed by lightly dry-brushing a little of gray and a very light blue to add some depth and character. Which got to something like this:


RC4WD includes a great decal set with this dash:


There would have been no shame in sticking those on and calling it a day. But as I was staring at my inspiration pic, I couldn't resist the call of 80s-era fake wood. So after practicing a bit on a scrap of cardboard (which didn't end up looking like much of anything when I was done with it), I decided to have a go of it. Started with a base coat in a medium tan on the panel to the left of the steering column:


Dry brushed some faint streaks with a darker brown and then some with a lighter brown to add some grain and depth:


Good thing I'm only trying to make this look like fake wood. So I continued on the other side. Base coat first:


Then added some black in a few areas:


Then the darker brown streaks:


Followed by lighter tan streaks:


Added color to a couple of knobs:


Let's see it mocked up:


Time for some decals. I did some cutting to extract the essential parts of the A/C control stickers:


And then added the speedo, tach and cluster window to gauge my progress:


Funny exchange with Roo went something like this...
Roo: Dad...why is one of the buttons different?
Dad: Why do you think, Roo?
Roo: So it looks like someone pushed the button?
Dad: Exactly.
Roo: When we put in the driver, we should put one of the driver's hand touching the button so that it looks like the driver is pushing the button.
Dad: That's a great idea, Roo.

More pix of the dash:




It's a tough to do justice to the dash in a picture. Once all's said and done, I'll have to get out the good camera and see if I can do better in natural light. But it looks pretty cool in person.

Not much time left until Adventure Series, so I'm going to have to hustle from here.

[2mtech]

Looking good! I look forward to seeing it in person later this month. Better get on it! ;)

[new2rocks]

Did a little more detailing and then got her out for a little testing in the yard this week. Let's start with the build updates.



As much as I was liking the carpet, I had a nagging feeling that it may be a bit too dark and not quite right for the dash. So I decided to give it another dusting, this time with some light blue paint:







Much better! Here's a shot once installed:







Doesn't quite look so dark in there anymore. I also got everything wired up, including the RC4WD Warn 8274 winch wired to a HeyOK winch controller running directly off a 3S pack. That setup is silly strong for a tiny truck and could probably pull my 1:1 out of the muck. Right up my alley!



So out to the yard we went for some playing on the rocks and in a creek:



















Some initial observations, in no particular order:

-- I love this body. Puts a big smile on my face every time I see it. So many opportunities to customize and personalize to your heart's content. Well done, RC4WD!

-- The LWB doesn't make as much of a difference to the driving experience as I would have thought. If you didn't do a side-by-side steering test, you'd hardly notice a difference vs. the standard WB.

-- This is my first time running a very nearly stock leaf setup. The only mods as of now are G2 hoops and 90mm shocks up front, and the new BowHouse RC rear shackle mount in the rear. I knew it would be very stiff at first (and it was), but it was still very workable. And it started to loosen up even after just 20-30 minutes of running. So I think I'm going to keep it this way for a while.

-- With nothing behind the cab, there is almost no weight on the back wheels. Adding the flat bed and a spare tire will help, but I may end up having to play around with the leaf packs a bit to compensate.

-- Pit Bull PBX A/T Hardcores are the bee's knees. Straight out of the bag, stock foams, regardless of the weight of your truck, just slap 'em on and go places. Great job, guys!

-- The HH Puller Pro Stubby/Mamba Micro X combo isn't as smooth as I'd like on the low end. That combo has been hit or miss for me. I'm going to have a go at playing around with a few of the settings, but if I can't get it working better, I'm going to ditch the Micro X experiment and go back to BLEs or the new Mamba Xs.



Started working on n00b's inner fenders (which are awesome...thanks, n00b!):





With a little trimming, they're going to work great with our hinge and rad support setup, and I really like the strength of the material (esp. compared to thin polycarbonate). I'll have those on in time for GCM Adventure Series.



After that, there will still be a fair bit to do before I could call this anything close to finished (whatever that word means), but it will be far enough along that I'll be able to start taking it out to play. And I'll be putting together a rig review video after Adventure Series. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a couple of poser pix, just because...

[NXPRSS]

Awesome build! I hope u end up doing a flatbed and spare tire.. looks great so far! I love the interior!!