SVT's Vanquish VS4-10 Extravaganza!

[Brandon]

I expected much less. Great work!

[svt923]

Originally Posted by mikemcE

I love using pearl x . Did it spray fine in the Parma? I’ve shot a lot of it at 65psi, wondered if the flake was even ?
I usually put it in clear for more pop.
Great looking rig !!

The pigment powder mixed in great and sprayed out just like regular Parma paint. Very happy with the results.

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Very nice. Really like the color. Beautiful wheels. The dash looks really nice with the radio and grab handle. Great job!

Thanks, they came out great for something I designed in TinkerCad over my lunch.

Originally Posted by 2mtech

So that was YOU!!

In the words of a great American philosopher:

Originally Posted by George Carlin

Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

You probably deserved whatever I probably did.

Originally Posted by 2mtech

Truck looks absolutely amazing...detailed interior work will for sure set it apart. My '70 Scout had an 8-track player so that's nicely nostalgic.

I trust you that the paint is stunning...I'll wait for direct sunlight pics. Interior lighting and the camera obviously do not do it justice.

You should be proud of this one...but sooner or later you'll have to drive it.......

There is a G6 type even in Asheboro this weekend that I'm trying to be ready to attend. I'll probably fail miserably and end up watching reruns of House Hunters in the AC instead. At least I'm ahead of schedule to be ready for the GCM Adventure Series in October.

Originally Posted by Brandon

I expected much less. Great work!

Thanks but I'm not Harley, you can have higher expectations.

[Tossedman]

Wow! Looks great! Love the paint. Only thing it now needs is a bunch of country and western 8 track tapes lying around on the passenger seat.

[Tossedman]

Like this.

[svt923]

Is anyone ready to resume the extravaganza?!?!?!!!1!

There is a long, funny story of where this truck has been, you are going to love it.

It was loaned out to some buddies for product development and it only recently came home.

Ok, maybe that wasn't long or funny but it was factual which is the most important kind of -ual.

Much has occurred on the VS4-10 front so we will jump right in.

First, we begin with dolls because these are the things that happen when you have 2 weeks off from work. Please note, these pictures represent events that my lawyer advises me to tell you probably aren't based on actual events.

The SVT empire is expanding rapidly due to unprecedented success thus we require more staff. Some promising candidates were brought in.

Snake is our head of HR, he greets the first candidate.



This is Cato, he is so excited for the opportunity that he put on his formal hoodie to make a good impression.



"You must be Q"

"Yeah"

"Can I ask what "Q" stands for?

"Nah"

He is so cool.

Snake goes over the finer points of the positions available.



Shows off some of our work



And discusses the dangers of the job



The position of shop manager was decided through the methods of all legitimate job interviews: rock, paper, scissor.



Revolver beats rock.



Q is our new shop manager and Snake is thoroughly impressed with his underhanded tactics.

That means Cato is our new driver. We have no time to waste around here so the onboarding process starts immediately. It is rather intense so Snake administers a light sedative.



Sharon gets started. She is our chief of, well we don't really ask what she does.



To paraphrase Yakov Smirnoff: in SVT Garage, you made to fit truck.



A hatchet for this job seems incredibly inefficient but you can't rush an artist.

When Cato finally wakes up, he questions many decisions made in his life.



He may look like some kind of weird midget chimp now but it will create the illusion of more depth when you peer in the window of the truck. Plus extra points for a full driver figure and everyone knows I'm all about that #complife.



Cato is finally starting to come around.



This job may not be so bad except for that whole brutal disfigurement part.

Oh, that was fun.

I'll get to some actual building next time.

[mikemcE]

Look like Cato fits perfect, with important appendages intact.
Dare I say it , this is cutting edge stuff!


Hang up and Drive

[svt923]

Guess what?

The actual building starts right now!

First thing was the update chassis braces from Vanquish. They made these lovely hunks of aluminum and sent them to me. Vanquish says all VS4-10 owners will get them but I like to think its because they really care about me. I enjoyed the weather and did some wrenching outside for these.



On the front, the threaded holes in the bumper were drilled out with a 3mm bit to allow the screws to pass through and thread into the chassis brace. It makes installation a little easier.

The rear brace installs between the original brace and the transmission to really beef up an area that had no bracing before.



With that squared away, I decided to try something out.



These GCM wheels combined with the Voodoo 4.19 KLR ATs looked awesome so this is now a class 1 build. The commitment has been made.

A few issues required the use of power tools to rectify. First was the axles were too long to allow the SSD scale hubs to tighten all the way down. So a few minutes with the bench grinder and belt sander and we have shorter stub axles.



Even shortening the axles, I noticed the hubs still weren't completely tightening. Upon further examination:



The axle shafts run out of thread before the wheel nut can be tightened against the wheel.

Being curious if this was an issue unique to these GCM wheels, I checked my collection of wheels to see if any others had this problem. The only other one was the RC4WD 1.55 steel wheels but these are still closer than the GCM wheels.



Since I have committed to the GCM wheels, these were going to work by any means necessary. Stacking washers underneath the wheel nut is too hack, it was time to get creative. It turned out that there was a M4 die in my toolbox so I got to work.



A few MM more of threads were added to the axle shafts to allow the wheel nut to tighten fully.

Here is the difference between an untouched axle stub and the modified one.



That was way more work than the average set of wheels requires but extravaganzas don't call for simple.

Yes, that will do nicely.



Obviously you can't tell from the side angle but the GCM wheels pull the tires in far enough they are almost entirely covered by the body. A couple MMs from full tire tuck is much better than half a tire away.

Also installed was one of these Powershift RC low profile servo winches.



This was chosen for reasons that will become very apparent.

Not much to the installation: bolt servo winch into servo winch mount. As a side note, I really need a fairlead. Somebody should fix that.



Right here is why this is the winch of choice for the VS4-10, the low profile size is just enough to clear the panhard bar at full compression.



Also from Powershift RC, is this handy light kit that has been installed.



It is prewired to run straight off 3S and is pretty cheap, what's not to love?

One mod that may or may not have been necessitated by a ham-fisted engineer taking chunks of paint off the body trying to install it over the inner fenders while borrowing the truck was running a layer of aluminum tape along the inside of the body. The tape will prevent any paint from being rubbed or scratched off by the inner fenders or body retaining tabs on the sliders.



Here is my 1 legitimate gripe with the VS4-10:



Do you see those led retainers? How are you supposed to install them? Are you supposed to install them on the wires then solder the leds on? Bad Vanquish!

I gave them a little trim so they could be slid onto the wires, much like the retainers of many other brands.



So there is a servo winch and some lights on this truck, now if only there was some way to control them.

How about this?



Maybe but first you will probably want me to tell you what that is.

Well it is a Wasp robot ESC and a Turnigy receiver controlled switch mashed together to be powered off a single mini Deans plug. That means both the servo winch and the lights will get their full 3S voltage from a single power tap off the main battery lead all controlled by a package barely larger than a Castle BEC. It is almost like I though of this ahead of time.



The new rear chassis brace even serves as the perfect mounting spot. The wiring is surprisingly clean for all the electronics now crammed into this truck.

The plug for the lights also lines up nicely between the body and chassis.



It is really starting to look like somebody competent built this.

The whole truck is powered off a single 3S pack with my choice being the Helios 3000mah variety. The truck clearly has room for whatever battery you like but I didn't need all of that. So I made this:



It holds my smaller packs in place and bolts right to the holes in the existing battery tray. It is like someone designed this battery holder just for this truck. Amazing! As a bonus, batteries can be changed 50% faster since the number of straps has been halved. #complife.



With the push of a button on my M12, we have light.



Is the whole setup blindingly bright? No.

Does it need to be blindingly bright? Also no.

Will it light up the trail well enough for the occasional night run? Absolutely.



Nothing evil going on here, just ignore the ominous red glow.



I guess the next step is to actually drive which severely puts this truck at risk of losing it's coveted shelf queen status. For you, dear readers, I am willing to take such risks.

Action shots to come!

Eventually.

[Crazed]

Just read thru the build, Great truck and even better storytelling!

[2mtech]

Loved the "dangers of the job" pic

[NastyNate]

i love the story LMAO
Drama....Suspense ...Gore!! LOL sweet build!

[Taper]

Thank you for this build and post!!!

[svt923]

Good morning everyone.

As you may be aware, the last football game of the season took place yesterday. A team won, the other team lost, parties, commercials, a 20 minute concert by a band you didn't care about, etc. More importantly, today is the biggest time of the year for the all Sports Talkers to yammer. Those 3.5 hours from Sunday will produce content for the next 3 days of our lives. Oh yes, there will be breakdowns, "expert analysis", graphics, replays, projections, that thing where someone can draw on the screen, but most importantly there will be lists.

I will now celebrate this great tradition of post game list making by giving you:

SVT'S BIGGEST WINNERS AND LOSERS FROM SUPER SUNDAY!!!!!!

LOSERS:
#3: Fans of routine Sunday TV

Let's face it, nothing wants to be on the same time as anything football related and that goes double for championship football. You are SOL if you're the type of person that lives for curling up on the couch and watching 60 minutes or Family Guy. At best you get a rerun and at worst you get postgame coverage.

#2: The thousands of "diehard" football fans from Los Angeles

The greater Los Angeles metropolitan area is a fake, shallow swath of sunshine, traffic, and 13+ million people. When appearances are #1, your local team being in the championship game is a perfect time for millions to run out and buy that car flag and jersey they always wanted for the past week. I would say I'm sorry that the first football game you ever watched ended in a crushing defeat for "your" team but really this was exactly what you deserved.

#1: Anyone that knows a New England football fan

It is just going to be 9 months of "TAHH-MEE IS THE GOAT" and "BAHH-STON IS TITLE TOWN!!!" in that insufferable chowd accent. Puncturing your eardrums with a rusty screwdriver is advisable.

WINNERS:

#3: Fans of beer and snack food

Whatever you think about football is irrelevant to the fact the parties celebrating the game are awesome. You hang out with friends specifically with the purpose of sitting on a couch, drinking beer, and eating a ton of food that people normally wouldn't make for an ordinary game. Its like Thanksgiving but with wings instead of turkey, queso instead of cranberry sauce, and passing out on your couch watching football instead of, well that part is the same.

#2: People who turned off the game and went to bed early

Few can claim a victory as great as yours on this day, feel proud my friends.

#1: Fans of Team Tiny Truck Content.

While some were slaving away prepping pigs in a blanket and football shaped jalapeno poppers, I was out driving and getting pictures of my glorious VS4-10 for your enjoyment on this Monday. This goodness starts now!

My truck was loaded up with trucks.



This is either 4 Redcats or 1 VS4-10 and a spare set of axles depending on your prospective.

Something that has been added since the last update is this 3D printed steel fairlead I designed. It seems like when this Shapeways material oxidizes, it turns more golden, it may need a coat of paint. A Gearhead winch thimble has replaced the plain, old hook from before.



A shelf queen such as this deserves some nice gentle driving, this should do.



Sand and rocks, what a great recipe for traction.



Oh, water too!



Well, let's get to it.



The interior really adds a lot to this truck.

Tiny truck, big rock.



Look, you can sidehill with no brass. It really is possible.



Also, the GCM wheels look even better on there in the wild.

These things never translate to camera but that is a pretty steep angle. The VS4-10 was extremely stable.



The bumper got hung up a few times but wasn't really an issue for the most part.



OMG!!!!11!! It got dirty!



This climb was impressive.



The Voodoo KLR ATs seem to be a good match for this truck. They were hooking up pretty good even wet and sandy. Still not ready to hop on that "Voodoos are the greatest tire everrrrrrr!!!!" fan train though.



This should amuse those with short attention spans.



Woah, it moves! How do you make a picture do that?

The Holmes 2700kv Puller Pro has all the low end control I need but when grabbing full throttle, it goes strangely silent and takes off as the tires claw for traction. Deeply satisfying.

Overall, the VS4-10 is stable, predictable, and capable. It doesn't feel like driving "just a hopped up SCX10II", it is something different. Everything works together, everything is balanced, and it just seemed easy to drive harder than the average small tire truck. I like it and not just because its my truck (well that does make it better than your truck but that is not the point).

There was also video shot but it still needs to be reviewed to see if any of it actually came out good enough to warrant sharing.

Thank you for viewing.

End.

[B-MOW71]

I was one of the losers that lost 3.5 hours watching the Pat's win instead of spending time with my tiny trucks.

Great pics! The VS4-10 looks great. That is some great terrain to get some nice action shots.

[Gator-J]

Just read through the whole thing.


Lucky I was a #1 winner on Sunday as well.



Well done sir!

[svt923]

We now have a VS4-10 section!

Should we celebrate?

Yes, yes we should.

How? By an update post, obviously.

And there it is!



End post! (mic drop)










I have been informed that people want more information.

Let's start with the biggest change:



A new printed battery holder! This one is made out of PETG so its shinier, probably stronger, and definitely shinier.

I kid of course, the battery holder is not nearly as dramatic of a modification as:



Trimming a few MM off the torso of the driver! Now his head doesn't rub the roof and he can see out of the windshield. #drivermod

And I guess there is also that metric $h!t-ton of power that has been added but meh.



Fine, I'll tell you about the new motor but it's about as exciting as a turbo LS swapped Scout (seriously, who finds THAT interesting ).

The Holmes Puller Pro was replaced with a Holmes Puller Pro because there really is no upgrade from the best. I did go from the 2700kv stubby version to the 3500kv full size version. Why? I will answer that with an elaborate Top 5 list ala David Letterman:

SVT's Top 5 Reasons for Installing a Bigger, Faster Motor in a VS4-10

#5 - I installed another bigger, faster motor in another truck, thus leaving this bigger, faster motor available.

#4 - The larger motor produces more power so it will move the truck easier and run cooler

#3 - Tire roosts from the 2700kv motor just weren't impressive enough

#2 - What is the worst that could happen? Its only a $800 truck.

#1 - In good, old US of A, we have 70 years of history that says cramming an engine with more power than necessary in any chassis is a way of life. Anything less on the eve of America's birthday would be like kicking a bald eagle.

Pop quiz: Now that we have increased our KV, what else should we do?

Did I hear someone say "jump it off stuff"? If I did, I like your style but that is not the answer.

Gear down!



The 54/11 of old gave this truck a final ratio of about 48:1 which is pretty good. With a spur change to an ever popular Duratrax 56T spur, a 9T pinion barely fits. The motor is shoved all the way against the transmission case and there was just enough room for spot on gear mesh. This brings us down to approximately a 61:1 gear ratio or about a 27% increase in gear reduction. All this translates into a truck that is just a little faster on the top end but has more torque, better low speed control, better brake hold, and better motor efficiency. Its a win-win-win-win-win.

Now we just play the waiting game until I can add the VFD transmission to this beauty.

Ok, Vanquish section party over. Everyone get out!

[Harley]

It's nice to have a section to easily see all these threads that were done before. I just installed the same 3500 in the VFD on Friday. It's a beast of a motor

[DukeMinnix]

Originally Posted by svt923

#1 - In good, old US of A, we have 70 years of history that says cramming an engine with more power than necessary in any chassis is a way of life. Anything less on the eve of America's birthday would be like kicking a bald eagle.

Pop quiz: Now that we have increased our KV, what else should we do?

Did I hear someone say "jump it off stuff"? If I did, I like your style but that is not the answer.

That's my boy. :Tim Allen Grunt:

Originally Posted by Harley

It's nice to have a section to easily see all these threads that were done before. I just installed the same 3500 in the VFD on Friday. It's a beast of a motor

hey, so that nice clear pro body you didn't use in the live build video... hows about you hook a brother up with one of those so I can make something cool with it. I has cash, you has body

[calcagno45]

Originally Posted by svt923

Pop quiz: Now that we have increased our KV, what else should we do?


Gear down!

That's a half-a$$ed answer. JRH always says VOLT UP, GEAR DOWN. So when are you going to 4s? Don't pansy out.

[svt923]

Originally Posted by Harley

It's nice to have a section to easily see all these threads that were done before. I just installed the same 3500 in the VFD on Friday. It's a beast of a motor

This is one of the first few VS4-10s on here and the first built in N.C. I can’t actually prove the latter but it won’t stop me from claiming it.

The Holmes motor should be the perfect amount of control and power for bad ideas.

Originally Posted by DukeMinnix

hey, so that nice clear pro body you didn't use in the live build video... hows about you hook a brother up with one of those so I can make something cool with it. I has cash, you has body

Can confirm, this is a very good plan from a very smart man.

Originally Posted by calcagno45

That's a half-a$$ed answer. JRH always says VOLT UP, GEAR DOWN. So when are you going to 4s? Don't pansy out.

He also says KV UP, GEAR DOWN but it doesn’t have that catchy ring. If you like stupid power, this one is 4500kv on 3S.

A Super Special Bomber Build by SVT

[SuprchrgdTaco]

Awesome thread! Just got my VS4-10 pro and this was really helpful. Not to mention entertaining!