Bushwacker TLT

[cougarfreak]

Well, I thought I'd throw in my $0.02 worth of photos and build progress for my son's crawler (It is for my son, I swear!!!):

• Stock TLT trimmed Chassis
• Integy 65t motor w/12 tooth gear
• Pede tranny trimmed to fit in above
• Stock TLT axles JB welded
• Traxxas drive lines 55/45 (fronts trimmed down to get proper length wheelbase of 12.25)
• Traxxas tranny and pinion yokes (tranny yokes trimmed and grooved to work with Pede tranny)
• Hi-Steer done with stock TLT parts
• Links 4/40 allthread sleeved with 1/4" alluminum tube, then sleeved again links covered with 5/16th alluminum tubing
• Traxxas shocks with Associated springs and buckets (springs slightly narrower ID, but still fit over shock body)
• Futaba 2 channel transmitter/receiver
• Futaba S3003 servo
• Custom servo plates
• custom floating battery tray
• Proline Buswacker body (FJ-40 minus the Toyota grafix)

I wanted a miniature of my real rock rig...


But this was as close as I could get in Sept. 06 (original purchase date)


Then my son kept rolling it, and I kept rolling it. These things are way tippy stock... So a stretching we will go (to the tune of 12.25")

[rocpede]

welcome to Rcc and looks like a great start for your son.

rich

[Fordx4]

welcome.....your off to a good start

[cougarfreak]

I think stock they have like 3/4" of clearance. It now sits with about 3" of clearance. Here's some shots of the guts:



The area in red is what I trimmed off


Here is where the links attach to the chassis. It also gives a good view of the floating battery tray, and associated sprung Traxxas shocks.


Here is the link n shock mount at the axle, and a glimpse of the servo tray (basically just copied and extended the stock one into alluminum)

[cougarfreak]

Better late thank never... I have a HUGE thanks to all who post here. As was the case when I built my 4Runner and used the TTORA forum to conduct my research, I studied many builds off of RC Crawler to arrive where I am on this build.... But wait, there's more!!!

Thanks again!!!

[funkranger]

Looks nice, I like the use of the stock chassis and pede tranny

[cougarfreak]

I wanted a Toyota body, and the FJ is the only one I could find. The bummer part about it was they ran about $200+ on e-bay, which was the only place to find them anymore since they were discontinued due to Trademarking issues with Toyota (It would appear they are quite stingy with their trademarking). Then late January, Proline came out with the Bushwacker. It is the similar to the old FJ body, but they have tweeked it just enough to make Toyota allow them to produce it again.

Here's the result:



The all important flex shot to test for fender rubbage (Yes, I'm from Northern California and I do make up my own words forom time to time)...

Gotta have a paint scheme, and in good boy form, my son wanted camo (go figure). I wanted to go with the classic FJ flare, so we met in the middle... Camo with white roof and bezzel. There now everyone's happy!!! On went the liquid mask (first time using that... turned out quite nicley, I think)

[cougarfreak]

Now for the paint...



And Vois Las (Sorry if I don't know french)!!! We have a cool rock in front of our house that reminds me of Lions Back in Moab, Southern Utah.

[cougarfreak]

Then it was off to find the biggest dirt clod in the yard...








I will be building a front and rear bumper for it out of 5/16" .035 wall tubing and will post the results here.

My hat's off to all who build tweek, and tweek some more. I don't care how big or small the rig is, It takes a bunch of time to get things just right. But the satifaction when you actually get to wheel it is totally priceless.

[johndeerekid]

that is one sweeeet body, the paint job is awsome good work!!!!

[Rckcrwlr]

Great job...that turned out great.

[clodstall]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

Then it was off to find the biggest dirt clod in the yard...








I will be building a front and rear bumper for it out of 5/16" .035 wall tubing and will post the results here.

My hat's off to all who build tweek, and tweek some more. I don't care how big or small the rig is, It takes a bunch of time to get things just right. But the satifaction when you actually get to wheel it is totally priceless.

thats not a CLOD buster.lol nice lookin rig.camo turned out nicely.

[cougarfreak]

Originally Posted by johndeerekid

that is one sweeeet body, the paint job is awsome good work!!!!

Thank you very much. It was my first time camo job, and working with the liquid mask. I'd highly recomend the mask for a job like this. I was just going to try and use the spray of the can to seperate the colors, but a little voice in me said NOOOO!!!!! I played with some variations on photoshop and came up with the final product there. I figured that would be the closest to real world scenario I could get without ruining the body in the process of trial and error. I belong to a Land Cruiser Club and figured they'd freak (term used in a good way) over the final product.

[patrick_b]

Love the paintjob. I really wanted to do some sort of camo on my bushwacker body but since it was my 1st time painting a body, I decided on something simpler.

In any event, you really did a great job. Are they rattlecan paints? I couldn't find the colors I wanted for a camo scheme (OD, desert tan, coyote browns, etc.). Please share where you got the paints if in fact they are from a can?

For my TLT/Bushwacker, I kept having to cut and cut and cut away the rear wheel wells to prevent rubbage (love that term ). Here's the shape I ended up with in the end:



I also have several sets of extra body holes. I ended up drilling another set below the ones pictured above to raise the rear end up a bit. It looks more level now and gives me more clearance but looks a bit shoddy with all the extra holes. Oh well, chalk it up to a learning experience. I think I'll pick up another one of these $28 Bushwackers and try a multi-cam kind of camo look. Will have to practice using the liquid mask, that's for sure. I'm dying to know what you used for paints.

Great job & thanks for the motivation.

[Tanis]

Originally Posted by patrick_b

For my TLT/Bushwacker, I kept having to cut and cut and cut away the rear wheel wells to prevent rubbage (love that term ).

You end up having to do that with redrocks, stupid tall tires . I hated how much I had to cut out of my body to eliminate rubbing.
Nice looking build cougarfreak.

[ILoveRCRockCrawlin]

I love the way the camo came out!!

[andres-tavares]

i love the camo

[cougarfreak]

Thanks for all of the props!! My son is going to be so proud of his choice of schemes (Just about everything he owns has some camo sowhere on it!!!). I did in fact use rattle cans. I got them from RC Country here in Sacramento, Ca. The paints are Tamiya Color for plastics: TS-5 Olive Drab, TS-1 Red Brown, and TS-3 Dark Yellow. The liquid mask dries clear, but as soon as I put my first coat of paint on it, I lost visibility of all of the drawing I had done on the inside of the body . My recommendation is to use a sharpy on the plastic covering on the outside to plan you scheme. That way you'll be able to see it even after several coats of paint. Patrick, nice trimming of the fenders!!! I know cutting that much out hurts but you did a clean job. I figured the body doesn't weigh that much and wouldn't effect the CG much if I moved it a bit higher to clear the rear tires. My wife didn't want me to cut away any more of the rear fender flares, so I mounted the whole body higher to clear, as you wound up doing. Stick some exhaust pipes out your extra holes!!!! Different

[cougarfreak]

Now my son wants it to go faster, a little bit... so back on goes the stock 24 tooth motor gear... I didn't notice it having a hard time crawling with it since the electric motor has soo much torque, but top end is definitly lacking. Rain=mud=need to finish waterproofing!!!!

[Unimoger]

Love the camo paint, great job would be proud to roll that rig.