Oh look, Another TF2 build thread...... (Watch me transform a used ebay TF2)

[RC Perspective]

Hey guys and gals. I know forums are mostly dead thanks to "New" Social Media; I say that because technically a forum is a form of social media. But forums in my mind are the only REAL place for build threads. Just my opinion.

Anywho.

I'm new to the Scale Truck and Crawler world. Not new to RC or working with my hands. I have 2 Tamiya TT02's and a TT02R. Rally, Drift and Speed.

So my buddy invited me to go crawling with him, He has a TRX4 and a Gen 8. Needless to say I was hooked. So I started searching the web looking at the plethora of options available. I like to build and tinker, so I was looking for something in kit form, but didn't dismiss RTR either.

Enter the RC4WD TrailFinder2. This truck is everywhere. No page did I visit that didn't have a link to the TF2 just a click away. Started reading through the build threads and was sold.

Biggest thing I saw, is that everyone has already covered building the truck from a new kit. No worries, there will be none of that here.

There will be lots of pictures, the truck, the weathering, the wiring, the chassis, etc.

I tried to resize all the pics, so they shouldn't be too big for the screen.

Found this on eBay, pics from the auction.






I probably paid too much for it, but that seems to be a common issue in this hobby LOL!

It's a 7 year old TF2. More in the next post.

[RC Perspective]

So I literally put a micro Rx for my Noble NB4 in and a battery and drove it the day I got it. It did OK. Noticed several trouble areas right away. Stripped screws, front bumper stopped the front shackles from moving full travel, O-rings for the mod were hard and cracked, diffs were noisy, knuckle bushings were worn to hell, etc...
So I got to work on it. First thing I did was pull the exhaust tip out of the hood


A quick ride/crawl when I got it.


Added loom to the servo wire. You'll soon see my OCD bug the hell out of me.

First night crawl with the PO's 2 AAA powered 3 LED light kit with 4x as much wire and E6000 as needed glued under the dash lol


Is this really a thing?


More in the next post.

[RC Perspective]

The truck already had the taller front shock hoops installed, I moved them to the rear position and mounted the shocks behind the axle. You can see it already has the A&M Garage Skidplate. Also noted was the motor drop mod.

I messaged the seller about a couple issues and he decided to ship me out a few extras. Also did the Chino leaf spring mod and changed out the O-rings with fresh ones at the leaf spring mount. This stuff gave me around 3 inches of flex in the rear and just under 3 inches in the front. Removing the front bumper helped the front flex more as it was restricting the shackles as mentioned.


After opening up the axles to clean and regrease, I discovered XVD's in the front and a helical cut gearset. Also added a shift servo, Which I just happened to have. Oh and Plasti-dipped some wheel wells.



Then I took a trip out to Aripeka Sandhills, Referenced as "The only two rocks in Florida". (Not true though).



I compiled some clips together from the Aripeka Trip and made a video!
https://youtu.be/gJpJnERL-RQ

More in the next post!

[RC Perspective]

You remember me mentioning my OCD bugging me about the wire loom? It was at this point I posted the pics from Aripeka on reddit, And someone mentioning it needs rust, that I decided to embrace the truck, and continue down the path the PO had started with the body. More on that in a bit. (ADHD much?)
I completely rewired and loomed everything and tucked the electronics and battery further forward as now I wanted to do an interior too.

This also helped me eliminate an intermittent shifting issue while making it all look clean enough to satisfy my OCD

I made a trip to Hobby Lobby, And that's when things started to spiral out of control


Some awesome stuff coming in the next post!!!

[RC Perspective]

Wow. Typed a whole post out and accidentally closed the tab

Long story short, Family is artistic and I have been working with my hands from a young age.

I've never done weathering before, and you can see by the pics, the PO went a little over the top with a heatgun. I dig it though.

Before the weathering I decided to tackle the LED kit. The PO's job complete with extra glue and wire!

I decided to do the headlight without a lens more dim, to simulate a damaged headlight, and used Warm White LEDs to match older headlights. Added front sidemarkers, dome light, and added another red LED to the tail lights. This is after tweaking resistance values on the protoboard to get the best looking brightness.

Electronics is my jam!


All the while I was figuring out the LEDs, I had a thought in the back of my mind. I hate that stupid little pesky LED light plug. and fiddling with it.
Not to worry; I knocked that issue out of the park!



As you can see, I made it to where I can completely bypass my connection design if there are ever any issues, or I can add a Y-connector for additional lights without having to cut or resolder the original harness.
I used Mica Insulators between the ring terminals against the frame. Also have insulators on the screws, but those are redundant as I've chosen spring diameter to keep the ring terminals from contacting the screw threads.

Hopefully you are enjoying the thread so far! The best is yet to come!

[RC Perspective]

As if you didn't get any sneak peeks of my weathering from the previous pictures, Here they are in all their glory!
Literally no words can express how happy I am with this having never done it before!
So No more words!













Phew! That was alot in a few days! As you can see I 3d printed some pieces for the interior.
More in the next post!

[smog]

Lookin good, especially that front bumper...

It’s always an adventure to pick up someone else’s ‘well loved’ project.

Nice to have you on the forum, it’s quickly become an enjoyable thread

[RC Perspective]

Couldn't resist the urge to see everything together in nature. Only thing I am waiting on is the Driver to finish printing then all the associated bits with making it look like a driver lol.
Also planned is exhaust using the tip that was in the hood when I bought the truck. I have some old steel fuel line that looks the part, just needs to be bent.
This is where the truck is at now!










Wheels and tires I'm thinking 1.7 black wagon wheels and the 1.7 Iroks.
Hope you all enjoy!
Comments, questions, suggestions or criticism welcome!

[RC Perspective]

Originally Posted by smog

Lookin good, especially that front bumper...

It’s always an adventure to pick up someone else’s ‘well loved’ project.

Nice to have you on the forum, it’s quickly become an enjoyable thread

Thanks bud! If it looks like an old railroad tie then I nailed it

I like a challenge, and the moment I saw this truck on ebay thats what I saw lol.

[twade984]

Nice thread and project

I like the idea of printing the seat and floor and covering with a different material. Might have to steal that one later


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RC Perspective]

Originally Posted by twade984

Nice thread and project

I like the idea of printing the seat and floor and covering with a different material. Might have to steal that one later


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks!

I had already spent too much at Hobby Lobby so was looking for alternatives to buying the interior LOL.

And I printed with a low infill and used felt to keep the weight down.
Once I weight the wheels and beadlock rings it should be ok though. Need to run the full leaf pack for sure!

Feel free to steal anything you see! That's why I posted. If anyone can learn some tips and tricks from me I'm happy to help!

[addiemonster]

What a nugget! I absolutely love the kicked can job the PO did on it, and how you've run with it. Fantastic job on the interior and rewiring. I could learn a thing or two about cleaning up wiring from your work. The wooden bumper is a perfect bit of character.

[RC Perspective]

Originally Posted by addiemonster

What a nugget! I absolutely love the kicked can job the PO did on it, and how you've run with it. Fantastic job on the interior and rewiring. I could learn a thing or two about cleaning up wiring from your work. The wooden bumper is a perfect bit of character.

Thank you! I'm not gonna lie; I got lazy with the wiring in the front. I was going to make it look nicer but I wanted it done LOL.

I can always go back and fix it though.

I was thinking about ordering a new body and starting from scratch, but the longer I had the truck, the more it grew on me.

Measure twice and cut once, and work in sections. It helps to have a plan with how you want to lay everything out. Flux is a must when soldering; Just don't forget to clean with alcohol after, otherwise it can corrode after you seal it.

[Levi]

Awesome job so far. Looks like a truck someone parked in the back of the yard or a farm and forgot about for years.

[RC Perspective]

Originally Posted by Levi

Awesome job so far. Looks like a truck someone parked in the back of the yard or a farm and forgot about for years.

Thanks!

I'm thinking about doing another couple washes to darken up the paint some, and make it look just a little more worn.

Went back out to Aripeka, will post a couple more pics at some point today.

[RC Perspective]

Alright some favorites from yesterday at Aripeka Sandhills.

Couple things I noticed, need bigger tires and dual stage foams, sometimes it just pushes straight through the steering. Needs lots of weight at the wheels and axles.

I'm still up in the air about the 3d printed driver. Not turning out like I quite expected, so I'll be going to the local flea market on Monday to see what I can find.

Need to upgrade shocks to 100mm, I believe they are stock sized shocks. Might also go for the shooter shackles, and the bruiser front shackles. Since I've already done the Chino mod and the orings, I'll probably skip the z-boxes.

Hope you enjoy the pics!

[RC Perspective]

Couple updates.

Was having intermittent shifting issues still, so I wanted to figure out a better solution for servo mounting. Another thing that pushed me to tackle that was I got a broken SCX10 chassis from a buddy, and I wanted to reposition the battery location for better weight spread.

After sorting that I needed to move the shift servo. Lucky for me there is enough room under the back of the steering servo for me to mount a few standoffs to mount the micro servo on top of the steering servo.


I've made slight adjustments to the rod ends, and now it shifts every time.
Since I changed the position of the battery, I hacked up the old receiver box and used it to cover up the battery tray from underneath

My buddy also gave me a cheap plastic tire that looked like the mud thrashers, So I figured I would use it as a removable spare in the bed. Threw a quick weathering on it. This rim and tire weighs about 30 grams less than running a steelie and regular mud thrasher so that works out.

Also, Finally got around to building an exhaust setup for the truck. Old fuel line, a plastic muffler, and a titanium tip. I did my best welding it as small as this stuff is but I don't think it came out half bad for an old man!




And a little black for the panel.

I'm only joking about the welding. Its E6000 squished out between the joints, and Tamiya weathering powder in gunmetal and silver. Once you get a good coating of powder on the glue, give just a little pressure with the brush and it will squish out like a weld.

[durok]

More killer detailing - this rig is excellent!

The blued tip is perfect...

[RC Perspective]

Originally Posted by durok

More killer detailing - this rig is excellent!

The blued tip is perfect...

Thanks bud!
Hopefully it will turn some heads at USTE this year. Not planning on any awards, people put so much into the dollhouse trucks its insane.

But I think its turning out pretty awesome so far!

[RC Perspective]

Grabbed this little gem off my buddies SCX10 parts tree along with that MagnaFlow muffler I used.
After the first few coats of white

After dry-brushing some black acrylic

Hemp string for the finisher

And right at home on the hood

I think its a perfect fit to the theme