Steve's VS410 Phoenix Build

[HMNYC]

Originally Posted by Steven McKay

Thanks, 5 and 6 is what I'll be using, all the good people here are definitely a great help and support. This is my first rc vehicle, I have never even held a transmitter in my hands yet. But I don't no if you can have have the end points line up with the ends of the full range of motion. It seems to me that the end points would be short of the full range of motion. But you could mark them as you did. I'll find out soon enough.

They were originally very short of the full range of motion but I was able to adjust the endpoints so that they used it all. I am totally new to this stuff as well but found it pretty straight forward to figure our from transmitter manual.Took a few tries to get it right and I had to adjust the center point as well.

Mike

[Steven McKay]

I received my refund for the gt5. I couldn't find a reliable merchant for another gt5. So I ordered a DX5 rugged with the SR515 receiver from Spektrum and received 15% off. My batteries and charger came yesterday. My RP interceptor chassis and servo mounts come today, KNK screw kit Saturday and my VP Phoenix straight axle Monday. If I'm correct when I power up my servos with horns off they will find center automatically and all that is needed is to install horns in the correct manor 90 degrees to linkage. I forgot to mention while doing that transmitter on and basically all settings on default.

[Steven McKay]

I finally have everything coming to finish this build stock, except paint. RP chassis and servo mounts came yesterday. I can't wait to wire it up. Going to watch a few vid's on that, it's been many many years since I used a soldering iron. I'm going to wire it up like this. I almost forgot I need IC5 connectors.

[B-MOW71]

Looks great! Nice job on the tidy wiring job! Looks really clean!

Just an FYI, I bought both of my GT5 6 channel transmitters on Amazon if you want to try it in the future.

[Steven McKay]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Looks great! Nice job on the tidy wiring job! Looks really clean!

Just an FYI, I bought both of my GT5 6 channel transmitters on Amazon if you want to try it in the future.

Thanks, but that's not my truck. Just a googled pic, I'm going to wire it the same way though. And I don't do amazon.

[twade984]

Originally Posted by Steven McKay

Thanks, but that's not my truck. Just a googled pic, I'm going to wire it the same way though. And I don't do amazon.

If I’m not mistaken that’s Ty from Tekin’s truck. Great example to draw inspiration from


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[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by Steven McKay

Thanks, but that's not my truck. Just a googled pic, I'm going to wire it the same way though. And I don't do amazon.

Originally Posted by twade984

If I’m not mistaken that’s Ty from Tekin’s truck. Great example to draw inspiration from


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Dah! Yeah your right, it's Ty's rig! I should have paid more attention to the text and pic!

I wish I didn't do Amazon, but I don't think I can live without!

[Steven McKay]

Radio and receiver came today along with ss screw kit. The dx5 will take time to get it down, it's touchy as hell took me about 30min to just enter PHOENIX 1. Did all I can with the RP interceptor chassis. I noticed my chassis has more holes drilled in it than the one B-MOW71 has, as I was looking to see how he assembled his. More holes than the one on the website too. All the rest of the items I need to finish should be here by Tuesday. I will be cutting off the rear towers for it will be a flatbed.

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by Steven McKay

I noticed my chassis has more holes drilled in it than the one B-MOW71 has, as I was looking to see how he assembled his. More holes than the one on the website too. All the rest of the items I need to finish should be here by Tuesday. I will be cutting off the rear towers for it will be a flatbed.

Nice. Yeah, I see that your rails has more holes. I wonder if RPRC added those in the rear to mount their rear bed and possibly they have upcoming plans for the holes in the front.

When I assembled mine, the only holes that I had to add were the holes to mount the VFD front mounts. All other holes that I needed were there.

[Steven McKay]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Nice. Yeah, I see that your rails has more holes. I wonder if RPRC added those in the rear to mount their rear bed and possibly they have upcoming plans for the holes in the front.

When I assembled mine, the only holes that I had to add were the holes to mount the VFD front mounts. All other holes that I needed were there.

Thanks, I have no idea what the added holes are for. I won't be using there bed anyway, I going to build a custom bed of my own design. I haven't designed it yet, probably won't till I get that far. I do know I want it to be an old fashion wood bed. Which means I should be looking for a body that will go along with the bed. I don't want a hard body, with the added weight, the bed will weigh enough on it's own. It should be of two piece design, giving me the back of the cab. I went looking for Currie clear D44 axles yesterday and could only find the black. VP said they don't know when they'll restock them and I won't do amazon or ebay. I also looked at the F10T axles, there nice but I want clear D44 axles. I also want to build my flatbed at the same time as I do my Phoenix straight axle so I can compare the parts as I build. I believe the parts needed for the axles are relatively the same F10 straight axle and D44. I also believe the F10T axle parts are the same as the F10 and D44 parts. Except maybe the number of bearings they should be the same but the way they list them have me a bit confused, either way I know I'll need two packs of bearings. Back to the flatbed body I did find a "85" yota body (cab) but I would like an earlier model any suggestions? I was lurking around the basement and found some aluminum material I didn't remember having. So it looks like I'll be milling some bumpers after all.

[Steven McKay]

Went and bought paint today, gloss black and desert sand. The truck will be black and the interior desert sand. The floorboard and center console will be black like my old jeep. I'll paint the interior first with desert sand, then I'll pull off the mask for the floorboard and center console and spray it all with black which will darken the desert sand. which leads me to this question: Do you need gloss at all? I didn't know so I just bought the gloss. I ordered my D44 axles in black, wanted clear but just try finding them anywhere not happening. My Tekin flex wire comes today and my soldering iron Tuesday, so I can finally wire it up.

[B-MOW71]

Originally Posted by Steven McKay

I'll paint the interior first with desert sand, then I'll pull off the mask for the floorboard and center console and spray it all with black which will darken the desert sand. which leads me to this question: Do you need gloss at all? I didn't know so I just bought the gloss.

If your question is about gloss for the interior, then no I don't recommend it. I always use Tamiya PS#55 Flat Clear to coat the entire interior, decals and all, to take the fake looking glossiness off of the interior. IMO flat just looks better and more real.

[Steven McKay]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

If your question is about gloss for the interior, then no I don't recommend it. I always use Tamiya PS#55 Flat Clear to coat the entire interior, decals and all, to take the fake looking glossiness off of the interior. IMO flat just looks better and more real.

Attachment 402274

Thanks, I may need some then, I used a lot of flat on the 1/35 scale military models I used to build. I'll be building shelves today as soon as home depot delivers the material, I didn't have anywhere to put my soon to be VP fleet and supplies. I can't wait till my D44 axles arrive. Trying to hold off starting my flatbed and VP straight axle until my Phoenix portal is finished and I have most of the goodies for them. I usually pay my credit card off at the end of each month but now it won't be till the end of March. RC is a worse addiction than drugs or alcohol. I've been thinking about not using the dig function. I noticed that when manually testing the dig and od function most of the time I had to rotate the axles a little for the gears to engage. That wouldn't be too bad for od but that could hinder you when using dig. I'll have to wait and see how that goes. I think the two gears that traverse should have traditional teeth or close to it.

[Steven McKay]

Bumper came, but I haven't had the time to mount it yet. I did cut off the rear towers and sand the frame flat.

[Steven McKay]

It was 70 yesterday so I did a little painting, today it's 32. I threw all the body parts in the dishwasher to make things easy. I just painted the dash and the two rear panels. Didn't have time to do all the masking. I did mask the lights. It was very windy and I had to wait for calm periods. But I can say the paint job came out flawlessly, I'm very happy with it. I also wired it up finally. It came out ok and will work. When I tinned the wire it was almost vertical, won't make that mistake again. Yea sure it works great like that but it also runs down the inside of the wire and you end up with a solid wire for x amount of length.
When I installed the fan, I found out that the screws are too big. I didn't notice the second screw I put in cracked the fan housing until it was completely in. So I went slow with the last two but still cracked the last one, 2 of 4 cracked. It is ok and will function but IF I use another RX4 I'll drill the fan holes to an appropriate size. At last I received my D44 axles. Now all I have to do is read my transmitter manual and figure out the order of setting up the electronics.

[Steven McKay]

It runs, it runs. I had my first roll over trying to climb the stairs. Didn't even have a body on it, forgot to secure my battery. Actually I didn't think there would be any climbing to be had indoors leave it to murphy. I was worried about the antenna, I haven't secured it yet either but it was only the first step. It went pretty good, binded first try, ESC calibration first try. Come to find out the Tekin servos don't have a center, so all I had to do was pull the servo out attach the servo horn parallel, turn it 180 install turn it 180 again and hook it up. Didn't have to do the 180 twice but I followed the Tekin vid. Steering end points are set at 90 for now that gives me about 45 degrees steering. Center was off a little so I just used the trim button B to fix that. I was a little impatient I still have some reading to do. I'm just glad I didn't see smoke when I turned the ESC on and the fan works too. I decided to lock the dig out until I figured all this out. I also locked the OD in the forward position which is supposed to be low gear according to the VSD twin transmission vid I watched. But I'm thinking that can't be right cause it flies. I haven't had time to change it and find out. Plus I emailed VP early Saturday about that and am waiting for a reply. If it is in low gear then I'm going to have to regulate that somehow either by gearing it down and or use speed control on the ESC or transmitter however you do it. Like I said I have more manual reading to do. This Wednesday it's supposed to be sunny and 70
so I'll be masking off the cab and interior Tuesday so I can paint. Couple more things to add, I had to reverse the steering and motor. I was also only using a 2s lipo, if I was using a 3s it would be a basher.

[twade984]

Glad to hear it’s going smoothly so far

Quick clarification, the adjustable o/d option only changes the gear ratio to the front axle. It’s overdriven as compared to the rear axle.

With the lever to the rear it should 6.5% faster to the front axle, lever forward is around 43% faster to the to the front.

I don’t suppose you’ll notice much difference in overall vehicle speed in either position


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[Steven McKay]

Originally Posted by twade984

Glad to hear it’s going smoothly so far

Quick clarification, the adjustable o/d option only changes the gear ratio to the front axle. It’s overdriven as compared to the rear axle.

With the lever to the rear it should 6.5% faster to the front axle, lever forward is around 43% faster to the to the front.

I don’t suppose you’ll notice much difference in overall vehicle speed in either position


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Thanks, But why did I have to reverse the motor and steering the wiring is correct. It also seems to runs faster in reverse. I understand that, that is do to the motor timing. The ESC isn't giving me any error codes at all.

[twade984]

Originally Posted by Steven McKay

Thanks, But why did I have to reverse the motor and steering the wiring is correct. It also seems to runs faster in reverse. I understand that, that is do to the motor timing. The ESC isn't giving me any error codes at all.

The ideal way to set motor rotation is through the Esc settings. Or switching leads on the motor if it’s not sensored, or if it’s brushed. You can damage things if you switch leads on a sensored brushless motor.

If you reversed motor settings on your radio, it may be that your esc settings are not set to 100% reverse power. Reverse now being forward.

If that’s not it, then I’m not real sure why.

Assuming you calibrated the esc to radio during initial setup (which I believe you did).


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[Steven McKay]

Originally Posted by twade984

The ideal way to set motor rotation is through the Esc settings. Or switching leads on the motor if it’s not sensored, or if it’s brushed. You can damage things if you switch leads on a sensored brushless motor.

If you reversed motor settings on your radio, it may be that your esc settings are not set to 100% reverse power. Reverse now being forward.

If that’s not it, then I’m not real sure why.

Assuming you calibrated the esc to radio during initial setup (which I believe you did).


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Thanks, yes I did calibrate the esc to radio. I think I'll get the hotwire for it so I can access and view the settings easier.