80's Ford Ascender

[smog]

I have been perusing the Ascender sub-forum lately, enjoying numerous build threads. I have wanted to get into an SCX/Ascender for some time, as I have yet to explore the platform. So this past weekend I popped onto my local online classifieds and there she was!

...and here she is


Kit built Ascender
MIP driveshafts
Vanquish front axles
Novak Hammer Sensored ESC
Trakpower 17.5T motor
RC4WD Boggers
RC4WD 5 lug Stamped Steel Wheels
JConcepts Ford F150 body





Gotta say, I am digging this rig. The Novak ESC is deathly quiet.

I am looking forward to making some modifications, though it is set up pretty nicely so I think I may just have to enjoy it as is for a bit.

[Natedog]

Congratulations on a great score! Looks like enjoy mostly as is for a bit and see what you want to change.

[Shinchu]

NICE!
You have a great taste in bodies sir ;)
cable management looks great too.

very nice rig! refreshing to see something so simple its brilliant.

[smog]

Originally Posted by Shinchu

NICE!
You have a great taste in bodies sir ;)
cable management looks great too.

very nice rig! refreshing to see something so simple its brilliant.

Thank you. I felt pretty fortunate to come across it. I like the upgrades that have been done already
I can't take credit for the tidy cabling, the guy picked it up from did a very nice job with the build it would seem.

the F-150 body was already on it, but I do really like it. I used to have a 1980 back in the late 90s so I do I have a fondness for that body. It is pretty scratched up so I may do a repaint on the exterior of it perhaps try to match the color of my old truck.

[Shinchu]

i would LOVE to see another F series ascender on here! i mean its already here but to see another based on a 1:1 from your past... its incredibly satisfying. and if you want, those Jconcept bodies aren't terribly expensive. i think i paid $45 including shipping to san diego straight from the Jconcepts website.

that's what i would do if you want a nice glossy finish. i mean, you can achieve a glossy finish on the outside of lexan, but IMO, outside paint on lexan is better for dull, matte finish with some weathering applied.

i will be working on my freshly CODYBOY painted Jconcepts 79 ford this weekend. i will be cutting all the trim from aluminum insulation tape, trimming the fenders (found my body scissors yay!) and try some sort of mounting (maybe Velcro for now).

welcome to the ELITE club of F series ascenders!!!

[smog]

Originally Posted by Shinchu

i would LOVE to see another F series ascender on here! i mean its already here but to see another based on a 1:1 from your past... its incredibly satisfying. and if you want, those Jconcept bodies aren't terribly expensive. i think i paid $45 including shipping to san diego straight from the Jconcepts website.

that's what i would do if you want a nice glossy finish. i mean, you can achieve a glossy finish on the outside of lexan, but IMO, outside paint on lexan is better for dull, matte finish with some weathering applied.

i will be working on my freshly CODYBOY painted Jconcepts 79 ford this weekend. i will be cutting all the trim from aluminum insulation tape, trimming the fenders (found my body scissors yay!) and try some sort of mounting (maybe Velcro for now).

welcome to the ELITE club of F series ascenders!!!

It's a great idea to mount it without reaming holes through it. Is Velcro better than magnets?

The pin striping with aluminum tape should be fun. It's a good idea.


My old F150 was just that...old. It was faded and weathered. When I bought it, it was already 15 years old. I figure an exterior paint job is likely appropriate for it. It was a light blue with some light rust around the wheel wells. I just wish there was a scale grill out there to fit the body. I may have to humble myself and try the styrene.

[Chris81]

I use magnets on my unimog ascender, they work...ok...the problem with magnets is that they come off with any lateral force. I ended up putting some plastic "guides" around my body magnets to help with this. The lid still pops off during a tumble though. I may try stronger magnets at some point, but if they are too strong they may pull themselves out of their glue.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[smog]

Originally Posted by Chris81

I use magnets on my unimog ascender, they work...ok...the problem with magnets is that they come off with any lateral force. I ended up putting some plastic "guides" around my body magnets to help with this. The lid still pops off during a tumble though. I may try stronger magnets at some point, but if they are too strong they may pull themselves out of their glue.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Hmmm... I was considering the 'rare earth magnets' they sell at Lee Valley Tools.

The idea of using magnets just seems so perfect and tidy.

[Chris81]

Originally Posted by smog

Hmmm... I was considering the 'rare earth magnets' they sell at Lee Valley Tools.

The idea of using magnets just seems so perfect and tidy.

You can get a variety of sizes on amazon too, that's where I got mine. I glued a plastic cylinder around the magnets under the body which keeps the body from getting pushed off sidways. Magnet at the bottom of the cylinder and body post goes into the cylinder if that makes sense. There are also some magnetic body mount sets on ebay and other sites for cheap, those work nice because they mount right to the end of your body posts. Let me know if you want some pics of anything I've mentioned. Cheers!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[smog]

Originally Posted by Chris81

You can get a variety of sizes on amazon too, that's where I got mine. I glued a plastic cylinder around the magnets under the body which keeps the body from getting pushed off sidways. Magnet at the bottom of the cylinder and body post goes into the cylinder if that makes sense. There are also some magnetic body mount sets on ebay and other sites for cheap, those work nice because they mount right to the end of your body posts. Let me know if you want some pics of anything I've mentioned. Cheers!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

You make perfect sense. Thanks for the info. I will take a look.

[Shinchu]

yeah there is a good vid on GCM youtube channel for magnet mounts. Chris has a really good method. i might do that eventuall, or in combination with Velcro? only thing with Velcro is you don't always get the body poplled on exactly right and sometimes takes a couple tries RRRRRRRRRIP nope. RRRRRRRRRRRIP nope. GOT IT! aw man forgot to plug in my lights and battery... RRRRRRRRIP nope. RRRRRRRRIP nope...

so that's where magnets have the advantage. you know... maybe i'll try the GCM magnet method lol
*even found the vid for ya!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JattsfLcmuw

smog you would be amazed how easy it would be to cut out that grill, just cut a hole in the body using the already applied decal for a template... and re-create the grill with styrene and throw a radiator behind it (the axial yeti comes with a griffin radiator that's incredible after a coat of silver Tamiya spray). that's what i plan to do until i can figure out how to use a traxxas bigfoot #1 grill or scan and 3D print in the correct size... something like that.
OR! you might be able to use a Tamiya blackfoot grill? same year. and shapeways has grills for that as well as light buckets. i wish they had that for the 79! but 80 you are all set. not sure if it would fit right on that Jconcepts body, so you are in the same boat as me with my 79 and traxxas grill.
might be worth just buying it and trying it.
but, cutting a hole and styrene grill insert, not sure how you could do lights if you have paint under the headlight decals... thinner on a q-tip?

anyway... there are tons of neat details you can add to these old fords. i am trying to track down some bed cleats too. and folding mirrors. and "ranger lariat" fender badges. and maybe scratch build a glasstite bed topper... you get the idea.

[smog]

Originally Posted by Shinchu

yeah there is a good vid on GCM youtube channel for magnet mounts. Chris has a really good method. i might do that eventuall, or in combination with Velcro? only thing with Velcro is you don't always get the body poplled on exactly right and sometimes takes a couple tries RRRRRRRRRIP nope. RRRRRRRRRRRIP nope. GOT IT! aw man forgot to plug in my lights and battery... RRRRRRRRIP nope. RRRRRRRRIP nope...

so that's where magnets have the advantage. you know... maybe i'll try the GCM magnet method lol
*even found the vid for ya!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JattsfLcmuw

smog you would be amazed how easy it would be to cut out that grill, just cut a hole in the body using the already applied decal for a template... and re-create the grill with styrene and throw a radiator behind it (the axial yeti comes with a griffin radiator that's incredible after a coat of silver Tamiya spray). that's what i plan to do until i can figure out how to use a traxxas bigfoot #1 grill or scan and 3D print in the correct size... something like that.
OR! you might be able to use a Tamiya blackfoot grill? same year. and shapeways has grills for that as well as light buckets. i wish they had that for the 79! but 80 you are all set. not sure if it would fit right on that Jconcepts body, so you are in the same boat as me with my 79 and traxxas grill.
might be worth just buying it and trying it.
but, cutting a hole and styrene grill insert, not sure how you could do lights if you have paint under the headlight decals... thinner on a q-tip?

anyway... there are tons of neat details you can add to these old fords. i am trying to track down some bed cleats too. and folding mirrors. and "ranger lariat" fender badges. and maybe scratch build a glasstite bed topper... you get the idea.

I thinks it gonna need to be a styrene build for the grill. I was looking at the Blackfoot grill last night, but it is too small. That J concepts body is bigger than the Tamiya Blackfoot by quite a bit.

There is a nice detail on shape ways I may find useful. It's the Ford logo that goes above the grill on the 1980

[Shinchu]

8 inches?? weird they list it on the site as 7, no? maybe the 79 is only 7 inch. makes sense, tires stick out on mine even with narrowed codyboy axles.
ok i just looked on the site, and your '84 is listed as a "trail/scaler body" mine is a monster truck body so mine is more narrow. rats.

you might still be able to widen a blackfoot/shapeways grill though! but at 6.5 to 8... that's... a bit of a stretch?! hahaha sorry i had to!

looked up the traxxas grill while i was at it. 6.3 inches wide. i would have to add 0.7 inches to it so it would fit the jconcepts body. i would cut out the billet grill anyway... might give it a shot!

[smog]

Originally Posted by Shinchu

8 inches?? weird they list it on the site as 7, no? maybe the 79 is only 7 inch. makes sense, tires stick out on mine even with narrowed codyboy axles.
ok i just looked on the site, and your '84 is listed as a "trail/scaler body" mine is a monster truck body so mine is more narrow. rats.

you might still be able to widen a blackfoot/shapeways grill though! but at 6.5 to 8... that's... a bit of a stretch?! hahaha sorry i had to!

looked up the traxxas grill while i was at it. 6.3 inches wide. i would have to add 0.7 inches to it so it would fit the jconcepts body. i would cut out the billet grill anyway... might give it a shot!

Yep 8" from corner to corner. 7.75" from the outside of one headlight to the other. Do you happen to remember how tall the Blackfoot grille is?

[slickwill16]

Smog
That is a great looking ride you found. Being a Ford guy, I love these big bodies from Jconcepts. I haven't seen many of them in here. I just thought you might like mine. I got the 93 f250 body, and love it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

[smog]

Looks great slickwill. I love the boxy old Fords too.

[smog]

This arrived in the mail today



My prayers have been answered. While the grill is smaller overall compared to what is molded into the JConcepts lexan, differing proportions has it height correct



Width is another story...



I will have to see what kind of skill I can find in my creative depths to build this thing out.

I have ordered some sweet bezels and a grill insert to make it period correct. The bezels will be good as is, but will need to widen the insert with the grill.

[Shinchu]

Here is my suggestion...

Cut the grill opening out of the tamiya grill.
Onneither side of the license plate mount, make 2 vertical cuts all the way through. Like right beteen the bolts and plate mount.
Widen using styrene
OR USE ANOTHER BLACKFOOT GRILL!
Then contact the person on shapeways who makes the grill, ask if they can do a special one for you and stretch the width to match your new opening size.

Boom.

[Shinchu]

hey smog just checking up on this... any updates?
in my thread italy83 pointed me to the RC Nerds on shapeways who just came out with a BOATLOAD of 79 stuff on shapeways, and a guy on the SBG forums said they resized for his 1/8 scale build.

I'm sure you oculd contact the 80's blackfoot grill guy on shapeways and have him modify for your specs. go for it!

[smog]

Originally Posted by Shinchu

hey smog just checking up on this... any updates?
in my thread italy83 pointed me to the RC Nerds on shapeways who just came out with a BOATLOAD of 79 stuff on shapeways, and a guy on the SBG forums said they resized for his 1/8 scale build.

I'm sure you oculd contact the 80's blackfoot grill guy on shapeways and have him modify for your specs. go for it!

For some reason I don’t get notifications when someone posts in my threads. Clearly I need to go into my settings or something. The last couple of months have been busy away from the RC bench so I can’t say I have made much progress. However...

Yes, late last year I contacted the guy on a shapeways who does the Blackfoot prints and had him create a 4cm wider Blackfoot grill so that I might widen out the surround for the Ford. He was a pretty busy guy, but with some persistence to let him know I wasn’t wasting his time, he made me one. it took a couple of months, but it’s here.

Right now I am in the process of glueing the surround and the styrene pieces I cobbled together to the insert he made. After that the plan is to fit some lenses and LED’s in the headlight buckets and then attempt to fix it to that jconcepts body. I am finding that It’s a ton of finicky work. It gives me a real appreciation for some of the detailed work guys in here are producing. I just want to be sure that when it’s done it can withstand some impact without falling to pieces.

I have also primed the exterior of the f150 body with a plan to repaint in a weathered blue comparable to the 1980 I owned back in the nineties. It was my first truck. I still wish I never sold it.

In the meantime I also picked up a 1968 Ford Ascender at the LHS on Boxing Day(the day after Xmas when Canadians go looking for deals). The folks there treat me well and I got the deal I couldn’t refuse. I have been scaling that one up a bit as well. It filled the time while I was waiting for the f150 grill insert.

Thanks for the interest, sorry for taking so long to reply. I’ll get some pics up

Edit: Here is the widened insert



...and the 68 I picked up.