OS's Trail King

[OSRC]

Bit of a haul showed up at the front door just before Thanksgiving. Sold some stuff on Craigslist, and of course spent it on RC. At what point do you realize it's an addition?

In any case, I give many thanks for RC tiny trucks and the ability and means to build them!


So let's get started...Axles went together perfectly. Decided to add some knuckle weights and OD to the front axle, and some stainless hardware on the pumpkins to dress things up a bit. Really like the SSD plastic - tough and slippery. Perfect for a plastic axle housing. I did have to re-tap the brass knuckles, the screws went in very, very hard - I was afraid I was going to snap one. Drilled and re-tapped and they then went in perfectly.


Odd that I had some bearings left over. Double checked, and didn't miss any...


Wanted to try out a new Crawlmaster sport, but they were sold out at the moment, so I decided on a Reedy 16t motor.


Trans went together fine, though I shudder at the thought of having to change the pinion. Very smooth and solid once assembled, and looks awesome. Again, more bearings left over...didn't pull the trans apart to double check as I was pretty confident I got them all, and it spins perfectly. Is that intentional? There's a ton of spare hardware, are these just spares? Always nervous when I finish a build and there's leftover bearings. Katan, you're killing me!


About where I left off on T-giving day, it's going together perfectly. Wasn't sure what to expect with an SSD kit but so far it's been flawless!


More to come after the busy holiday weekend slows down.

[Topher Builds]

Nice grab! Congrats.

And yes, they give you an extra one of everything for the most part. I kept double checking myself through the build as well until realizing that they add a lot of extras.

Nice touch on the silver pumpkin hardware, looks real good.

[GA Dawg]

Originally Posted by OSRC

Wanted to try out a new Crawlmaster sport, but they were sold out at the moment, so I decided on a Reedy 16t motor.

I had one of those in my Capra initially, and the drag brake sucks. I changed it over to a 20T Crawlmaster Sport and the drag brake is better, but still not good. I think this is a problem with 5 slot motors.

[JatoTheRipper]

Congrats! I had to laugh because I think you meant to say addiction, but you typed addition. It's a great addition to your RC family and, hey, it's not an addiction if you don't admit it!

The more I see this truck the more I want one. I think SSD flies under the radar of a lot of people and it shouldn't. They're a great company - good products and the customer service to match.

I'm interested to see those cool wheels mounted up. I almost put them on my Capra.

I think you'll like the Reedy Radon. I have the same 16T motor in my Capra and I think it's great. Buttery smooth and should have plenty of drag brake for the TK.

Oh and I wanted to add that I love leftovers! Back in the day when you built kits you had a bunch of extras. Today, most kits have just the exact amount of bearings, screws, etc. And if their machine's count is off you're short some pieces. I like extras. They always come in handy and it's a sign, at least to me, that the manufacturer isn't being penny pinching cheap.

Originally Posted by GA Dawg

I had one of those in my Capra initially, and the drag brake sucks. I changed it over to a 20T Crawlmaster Sport and the drag brake is better, but still not good. I think this is a problem with 5 slot motors.

You think the Reedy Radon drag brake sucks? Which ESC are you using? I have the 16T Reedy in my Capra with a HobbyWing 1080 and I'm a huge fan. I don't like a drag brake that stops a truck dead though.

[Panther6834]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Congrats! I had to laugh because I think you meant to say addiction, but you typed addition. It's a great addition to your RC family and, hey, it's not an addiction if you don't admit it!

How about "an addition to the addiction"? Ordered one of these, myself, thanks to yesterday's Black Friday sales. I'm looking forward to receiving it, but, in the meantime, I'll be reading lots of other people's build threads.

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place

[OSRC]

I fully blame autocorrect for my typos, just as I blame my fork for the "Holiday 10."

[SSD]

Yes spare bearings and hardware is intentional.

It's easier/cheaper for us to pack spares. That way if a mistake is made in packing you will have enough.
If we aim to pack the exact quantity needed for the build and you have a bad screw or we made a mistake in packing then it's a pain for both of us really.

[MaX-D]

Originally Posted by SSD

Yes spare bearings and hardware is intentional.

It's easier/cheaper for us to pack spares. That way if a mistake is made in packing you will have enough.
If we aim to pack the exact quantity needed for the build and you have a bad screw or we made a mistake in packing then it's a pain for both of us really.

Smart thinking. I like that.

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

[OSRC]

That is smart thinking sir!

Seeing extra bearings after finishing the transmission still gives me hives however.

[OSRC]

Chassis is basically done at this point.. .goes together easily and fairly quickly. While there is a lot of scale goodness in this rig, there also looks to be quite a bit of performance potential as well. Motor is in the right place, COG seems fairly low.. so I decided to build it up with a nod to performance for now. Mounted the electronics right to the sliders so I didn't need the weight of the radio box up top. Also holding off on the motor at this point too.

Scalerfab bumper I picked up for the front...there's a whole lot of screws on this chassis up front. Not sure if It'll fit on there or not. I'll cross that bridge later.


Next: Wheels, tires and body... SSD wheels of course, KM3's and an MST JP1 body.



KM3's might be a bit large for the body, not sure yet. I've got plenty of 4.19 options that might be a better match. Need to trim down the sliders quite a bit to drop the body on, and the front of the chassis sticks out quite a bit. Hmm..

[OSRC]

Chassis is basically done at this point.. .goes together easily and fairly quickly. While there is a lot of scale goodness in this rig, there also looks to be quite a bit of performance potential as well. Motor is in the right place, COG seems fairly low.. so I decided to build it up with a nod to performance for now. Mounted the electronics right to the sliders so I didn't need the weight of the radio box up top. Also holding off on the motor at this point too.


Scalerfab bumper I picked up for the front...there's a whole lot of screws on this chassis up front. Not sure if It'll fit on there or not. I'll cross that bridge later. I'm sure there's a way...


Next: Wheels, tires and body... SSD wheels of course, KM3's and an MST JP1 body.



KM3's might be a bit large for the body, not sure yet. I've got plenty of 4.19 options that might be a better match. Need to trim down the sliders quite a bit to drop the body on, and the front of the chassis sticks out quite a bit. Hmm..

[Panther6834]

Originally Posted by OSRC

Scalerfab bumper I picked up for the front...there's a whole lot of screws on this chassis up front. Not sure if It'll fit on there or not. I'll cross that bridge later.

While I could be wrong, based on your photo, I'd guess that the two screws at the front of the chassis goes through the oval-shaped cutout closer to the front of the bumper, and the two screws just behind the first two would go through the other oval-shaped cutout. So, the screws, from each side, would first go through the bumper, and then they the chassis rails. Again, just my guess.

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place

[carpetfuzz17]

Originally Posted by OSRC

Chassis is basically done at this point.. .goes together easily and fairly quickly. While there is a lot of scale goodness in this rig, there also looks to be quite a bit of performance potential as well. Motor is in the right place, COG seems fairly low.. so I decided to build it up with a nod to performance for now. Mounted the electronics right to the sliders so I didn't need the weight of the radio box up top. Also holding off on the motor at this point too.


Scalerfab bumper I picked up for the front...there's a whole lot of screws on this chassis up front. Not sure if It'll fit on there or not. I'll cross that bridge later. I'm sure there's a way...


Next: Wheels, tires and body... SSD wheels of course, KM3's and an MST JP1 body.



KM3's might be a bit large for the body, not sure yet. I've got plenty of 4.19 options that might be a better match. Need to trim down the sliders quite a bit to drop the body on, and the front of the chassis sticks out quite a bit. Hmm..

I was going to use the same body but found it to be to narrow. LHS had a RTR so we popped off the body to see how it fit but was narrow so I gave up on the idea. Waiting to see how it works out for you.

[OSRC]

Back to it.... I got distracted with a CC02 there for a while, but it's time to get back to work. I find that if I'm stuck on something, taking off for a while will allow my subconscious to hash it out. And it did!

In the meantime, some rear axle weights arrived. Got those installed, no problem.


And got the body mounted. It is slightly narrower at the sliders, and I thought it was going to sit too far back and interfere with the servo up front but once I got everything lined up it all worked out. Drilled out the mounts, and it's sitting on the sliders currently.



Chassis extensions....genius.


Once the body was on, I used it as a guide and marked the sliders for trimming. A little time with the dremel and I've got them narrowed just enough.


Body now drops over top and sits height-wise right about where I want it.


I trimmed off a little material on the inside of the sliders so they tuck in a bit more and now they sit perfect. I canted them slightly as the front of the body is a bit narrower. I left off the lower portion of the boatside though, didn't really see any reason to shave it down.


Now they tuck perfectly! I rounded off the pointy square edges later as I thought they'd be a hang up point.


Out back I trimmed off the molded in bumper and tried out a few before I settled on a VS4 front bumper. Fits perfect, looks great, and a fantastic departure angle.



Trying out tires... I REALLY want to try the KM3s, but they just look too big to my eyes. The Pitbulls look so much better size-wise. Thinking 4.19-4.5's for this rig.

[MaX-D]

Take a look at the Pitbull Braven Berserker's in Alien Kompound at 4.35". Nice tread pattern too.

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

[Panther6834]

I gotta agree with OS on how easily the TK goes together. Although I've only built the axles, and tranny/T-case, all three went together very easily, tolerances on inserting the bearings was spot-on, and the material quality is excellent. Will try to get some more done before I head to work...but, while my clients are enjoying their Holiday party this evening, my plan is to sit inside the bus, and get some more TK building done. Just wish I had a "nice" workspace to take photos while building...oh well...maybe someday soon.

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place

[OSRC]

Ready for paint at this point... settled on the Pitbulls on a set of SSD steelies. The Ruggeds look great, but are somewhat wide and the foam slides back and forth laterally on the wheel. I hate that! Much more solid mount on the narrower steel wheels. Ruggeds will definitely get a home somewhere.


Wheel width comparison


My only nit-pick on the kit was the way the shocks mounted. Didn't really specify in the manual, but the shock can slide off the pivot balls quite easily. Mine slid off toward the chassis initially and bound up a bit. I tried an o-ring but it seemed to bind up worse. In the end, I flipped it so the shock slid off away from the chassis and used a flat head screw. Moves freely for sure now, though it still slides around more than I like.


Time to fire up the paint booth!

[JatoTheRipper]

The shock mounting is very odd.

It looks good. Mine came yesterday, but it's sealed until Christmas.

[smog]

I have a set of the KM3's as well. They perform well, but yeah, a bit too tall and a bit too wide overall. I am of the opinion that Proline really needs to fine tune many of their products. Their bodies, XL tires and light bars are all in need of some reworking. I imagine they feel differently.

I see you are test fitting a couple of bumpers. I recently picked up a Scalerfab bumper as well. Its really nice, but I am not very happy with how it eats away at the approach angle on my truck. It looks like I will end up making my own.

Look forward to seeing the JP1 all painted up and mounted, looks like the perfect performance oriented scale body.

[Panther6834]

Just curious, but, were any of your shock towers "warped"? My rear towers are perfectly straight, but the front ones, starting approx 1/2-2/3 up from the bottom, curve slightly towards each other. I thought this was the case when I installed them, but I want 100% certain until I installed the engine. As you can easily tell, they're almost touching the engine block, and they're (obviously) closer to each other at the top, than they are at the bottom. I was already planning on ordering the aluminum shock towers (in 1-3 months)...guess I'll be ordering them much-much sooner, as they should fix the problem.

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place