Blaze of Glory

[metalry101]

Hi guys. Figured I'd do a build thread since there are a few things about my Blazer that are different than anyone else's I've seen posted up so far...hope you find it helpful. I'll try to keep this up to date of changes I make and things I learn about the rig.

As you can see by my signature and join date, I've been doing this for a while. I don't consider myself to be an expert, but I like to think I know a thing or two about crawling. I've built 6 SCX-10's over the years and not one of them was RTR. Building is just too much fun.

Here are the current specs...

Stock body
Stock wheelbase w/ Vaterra HD lower links
Stock tires
RC4WD white 6 lug steelies w/ 1 wrap of lead around each front rim
R2J sliders
HD pinion gears
2-speed w/ plastic gears
20/86 gearing
Stock shocks w/ piston holes drilled out w/ #53 drill bit running 10 weight Associated oil

Castle Mamba Max Pro
Castle BEC
Tekin Roc412 3100Kv
Hitec 7954 steering servo
Hitec 5645 winch servo w/ HeyOK controller
Spektrum A5040 shifting servo
Spektrum SR410 Rx w/ DX4S controlling everything

[metalry101]

Here are a few shots from its maiden trail run. This was Saturday night up at Brighton Ski Resort. The red Cherokee is a friend's. He bought an Ascender as well, and I'm sure I'll be posting pictures of his setup in this thread at a later date, but his wasn't painted so he brought his Cherokee on this trip.

The trip went awesome. The steering is amazing, and the tires worked very well. It climbed like a mountain goat, and overall stability was very good for this type of vehicle. The small diffs were missing all sorts of rocks, and everything held up really well until the third battery pack. I suffered a blown front pinion gear that ended my night. I actually had a spare on me since I had read about a few other people killing them, but since we were on our way down the mountain and it was already 1:30 w/ a storm rolling in (not always pleasant at 9,000+ feet in mid October), I decided that I'd just carry the rig down and do a proper repair on my workbench at home.

I got about an hour and a half out of my batteries, which is the same I get out of my SCX-Exo running the same motor/ESC/battery combo so I was fairly pleased with that. I didn't really get a chance to use the 2-speed much, but I'm sure that would have hurt run time a bit.

One more small note. If you read the specs and look at the pictures you'll notice that I'm not running the wheels I say I am. I started off running the RC4WD Mickey Thompson Classic Locks. I really like them, and think they match the truck well, but after pulling the white steelies off my FJ and slapping them on, I couldn't resist how much more they made the white top pop, so I've switched Classic Locks onto the FJ and the white steelies onto the Blazer. I'll have updated pictures soon, but I think it looks awesome.

[redxz]

Very nice! This is the type of review I was looking for. Brushless, stock tires, and on the rocks
Sorry your gears gave out. How bound up were you?

[metalry101]

Originally Posted by redxz

Very nice! This is the type of review I was looking for. Brushless, stock tires, and on the rocks
Sorry your gears gave out. How bound up were you?

Thanks man! Oddly enough, I had bound the truck up hard enough to make the slipper do its job once or twice with no failures, and then when it broke I wasn't really bound at all. I was high centered on a rock and gave it a little reverse to pop it off and instead the front end gave up the ghost. It shouldn't have been that hard of a shock load, certainly not any worse than I'd already done multiple times on the trip, but that's the one that killed it.

[metalry101]

Been a while since I've posted up a reply...

Took some of my trucks out to Little Moab a few weeks ago for some running and got some cool pictures.

First, here are some quick shots I took of my chassis layout and one of my new mods.



Here's my Axial Wraith Swaybar adapted to the Ascender. It helped with the torque twist a bit and looks right at home considering the links and coilovers this thing is running. It's a quick phone pic I took out in the desert. I'll have to get a better picture some time showing more detail.

[metalry101]

Here are some shots from playing out at Little Moab a few weeks ago. Hopefully I'll be going back out this weekend to get some more time on the rig.

[martoediefroets]

Very nice
What tires are those? They look like the stock Vaterra ones. On rc4wd wagon wheels?
I could not get them mounted on my wagon wheels but i would like to!

[Bronco39]

Great shots - some of them almost look like a real 1:1 !

[metalry101]

Originally Posted by Bubba35

Looks good how did the sway bar work

It worked pretty well. It is actually piano wire that is a lot smaller than the stock Axial bars. I pulled it straight off of my Dingo to test it, and I need to stiffen it up for this truck.

Originally Posted by martoediefroets

Very nice
What tires are those? They look like the stock Vaterra ones. On rc4wd wagon wheels?
I could not get them mounted on my wagon wheels but i would like to!

Yep, that's exactly right. Stock Vaterra TSL's on RC4WD steelies. Did you use longer screws to get the wheels started? That trick always works for me.

Originally Posted by Bronco39

Great shots - some of them almost look like a real 1:1 !

Thanks! I always try to make them look like 1:1.

[martoediefroets]

Thanks for your tip but they still do not fit
They fit until I start tightening the nuts, and then the beads pop out.
Are u using the clamp rings that came with te wagon wheels?? The black ones?
No mods?

[metalry101]

Originally Posted by martoediefroets

Thanks for your tip but they still do not fit
They fit until I start tightening the nuts, and then the beads pop out.
Are u using the clamp rings that came with te wagon wheels?? The black ones?
No mods?

Yes. I'm using the black internal ring that came with the wheels. The only non-stock part on the wheels is the hex adapter that I run rather than the stock pin drive adapter. I was expecting them to be a pain to mount since the Race Claws from the Twin Hammers have a huge bead, but they went on pretty easily. Maybe my steelies are a different generation that is slightly different somehow?

[BadWagon]

Looks like you're getting some mileage out of the Blazer. How's it holding up since you popped that first pinion? Any other issues?

[metalry101]

Originally Posted by BadWagon

Looks like you're getting some mileage out of the Blazer. How's it holding up since you popped that first pinion? Any other issues?

I've gotten a decent amount of time on it so far. I'm excited for next spring when there will be daylight again and less snow in the mountains so my favorite hiking trails will be open. It has held up well. I did snap a front axle shaft right at the ball, but hopefully that was a one time thing. I think I still need to play with the slipper setting. I have read that the recommended setting is 7.5 turns out and I think I'm in the 5.5 range like the manual says. The rig preforms incredibly well. The steering is awesome and the suspension puts the power down very well.

[SilmarilS]

What battery did you used in the truck... I have a hard time finding something that fit the stock tray!

[metalry101]

Originally Posted by SilmarilS

What battery did you used in the truck... I have a hard time finding something that fit the stock tray!

I'm using the Dynamite 4000 50C pack that is made specifically for this truck and the Twin Hammers.

[b17fan]

Your Blazer looks great, great pics as well. I'm sold on the old wagon wheels, look real period.

[martoediefroets]

I did a lot of reading and started all of them with extra long hardware and used some soap!
But i got got the og Vaterra Swampers mounted on my wagon wheels.
I used VP clamp rings and it worked out.
I love the wagons wheels and swamper combo

[metalry101]

Been a while since I've updated this so here are some fresh pictures from yesterday's trail run w/ a friend.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by metalry101

Been a while since I've updated this so here are some fresh pictures from yesterday's trail run w/ a friend.

Very nice, anymore updates?

[Natedog]

HOw's the Dynamite shorty lipo doing? I bought this at LHS to try as I wanted a shorty asap and nobody had the cheaper Dyanamite in stock.

Team Orion 2S "Carbon Pro" 100C Li-Poly Shorty Pack Battery w/4mm Tubes (7.4V/4500mAh)
Team Orion 2S "Carbon Pro" 100C Li-Poly Shorty Pack Battery w/4mm Tubes (7.4V/4500mAh) [ORI14066] | Batteries - AMain.com - AMain.com