The Chronicles of Rabfan: Scalers

[rabfan]

Hey,
New to the hobby and Crawling. I sold my vintage Tamiya Gr B Rally and all my helicopters to finance my new crawler/scaler.

It's a cr-01 Bronco kit with some aluminum on it.

Progress yesterday;




Weighted the wheels today. Not even sure if this was necessary as I have no experience.



These shots seem obligatory on here;





More to come.
RJ

[eemmaaxxxx]

Weighting the wheels is down to personal preference, but it generally improves performance because the COG is lower. Got some shiney alu there!

[cydog510]

damn that is a lot of aluminum! wheel wheighting really helps with gri climbing.

[860Crawler]

You were nuts to sell the Gr.B

[rabfan]

Originally Posted by 860Crawler

You were nuts to sell the Gr.B

Yeah...probably.

[rabfan]

Also bought this and have a Toyota body coming. Planning to make some leafs for it too...

I've already de-foamed the tires and pulled the springs out of the shocks.

Some more work today;
Made some leafs for the Komodo

A shot of the painted FJ40 body

I spend way too much money.

Leafs installed...not sure I got it right but we'll see once it's running.

[cydog510]

that hilux shell is sooooo nice, i want one!

[rabfan]

Originally Posted by cydog510

that hilux shell is sooooo nice, i want one!

I bought 2 beacause I'm silly. 1 Might be for sale soon.

[cydog510]

let me know.....

[Killa-Cotton]

Man I need to pay you for some of those Leafs and I also gotta have the other Yota body for my....

[rabfan]

And....we're crawling!





Fooled around in the back yard. I am really impressed with this thing! Gotta make some slider plates for the diffs. Tested out the c of g on side hills and straight on. Only one roll over onto it's side when I slipped of the kids slide in the yard.
Tons OF FUN!
Ran about 6 batteries through it. I have 3 old 6 cell NiCads from back in the day. It's probably time to buy some new ones though as they are a bit weak. Only last about 20 minutes.

[860Crawler]

haha nice work! You should definitely get some new batteries though. I can get about 60-70 minutes on a 3000mah NiMh pack and a bit more on a 2S 2200mah LiPo

[rabfan]

Originally Posted by 860Crawler

haha nice work! You should definitely get some new batteries though. I can get about 60-70 minutes on a 3000mah NiMh pack and a bit more on a 2S 2200mah LiPo

I have a couple of Lipo's in the garage for the plane....they are 3 cell though. I'll have to do some surgery and make them 2 cell.

[860Crawler]

what ESC are you using? You might be able to use the 3S if it can handle it

[rabfan]

Originally Posted by 860Crawler

what ESC are you using? You might be able to use the 3S if it can handle it

Novak with 55 turn. Says 2s max.

[rabfan]

I modified one of my Lipos to use in the truck. Lasted about 8 minutes and the battery was dead. The cells were all puffed up too. I guess the amperage draw was too quick for the 1300Mah battery.
Back to the NiCads which seem to be coming back to life and lasting alittle longer each time.
I'd love to get a NiMH battery but then I'd also need a charger as I'm sure my rapid Nicad charger wouldn't work and I've spent enough already.

Worked on weatherproofing my electronics last night. The container is from Walmart in the housewares section. It's called lock lock and has a silicone seal around the top which allowed me to carve out little channels around the edge and pass the smaller wires between the lid and cup. For the larger wires I drilled holes and got grommets from Princess Auto(Harbor Freight) and passed them through the side.



Do I need to waterproof the battery connection?
Can I put a balloon over the end of the motor to keep mud out?

[cydog510]

i would silicone the grommets too, make it air tight. also Killa-Cotton, i just got a bruiser shell for cheap from crazy4tamiya on ebay: http://shop.ebay.com/crazy4tamiya/m....&_trksid=p4340

he quoted $18 shipping, i paid, them he emailed me saying the item had shipped, then i look in my paypal and he refunded me $9. i was VERY impressed! great seller!

[860Crawler]

If you plan on going deep enough to submerge the battery you might want to roll some electrical tape around the entire connection to seal it up temporarily. I wouldn't take any LiPos underwater unless they are MaxAmps or fully waterproof.

I don't have too much waterproofing experience beyond that as I don't go in any water beyond 5-6" deep. As such none of my electronics/battery ever get submerged and need waterproofing. I even use mine in the rain, but the shell protects all the electronics and it doesnt go fast enough with a 35T motor to kick any water up inside.

[rabfan]

I kinda figured it was more weatherproof than waterproof. I also put a balloon on the end of the motor to keep the mud out.
I'm back to running the NiCads and they seem to be coming back to life after being in hibernation for 10 years+.

[860Crawler]

thats pretty cool looking