Tribute to my Dad's 79 F100 featuring Banzai

[Shinchu]

SEVEN PAGES!!! wow!
thank you everyone for reading this far. i know its been slow, but i really hope this is worth the wait. thank you all for the support along the way!

Chris, thanks for the kind words. its very true, a tribute truck is a nice way to keep some memories and make new ones. i like your K10 too. the detail and theme are both great.

Ernie,
Sorry about the inbox, i got some warnings about pics i didn't know were too big
its all fixed now and inbox should be fine.

i know you weren't concerned, but it helped put my conscience at ease when i uh...

Ordered some STUFF!
traxxas micro waterproof servo (just like the one you had on there before)
robinson racing hardened 12T 48p pinion
RC4WD Dirt Grabbers in the 1.55 variety


she'll be a fully functional chassis sometime the first week of January!

then i need to figure out how to mount the body. that a still need to trim/detail...

oh! and as far a workbench goes, its not much but its a start...


once we get all the Christmas deco put away, i can throw all those bins up in the attic and i can REALLY make some progress!
(and yes, I've considered covering R2 with a sheet, like when he was "asleep" in The Force Awakens)

[Shinchu]

Ok i got a package in the mail today!

Its so nice to walk out to "the shop" and just snap a pic!
Hot off the new hobby bench...



Woohoo!!!!
RC4WD dirt grabbers are here!
*Shout out to TGN distributing on amazon, it got here in just 3 days with basic shipping! During the holidays!

And i just ordered 2 pair of cross rc 10 hole 1.55 wheels, and will be waiting for the slow boat from china as long as feb 1st.


But they are on the way! I got the black ones. Hopefully i can figure out how to chrome them? Might start a thread asking for info about cross wheels, material, and if they can somehow be chromed.
I might have an idea on how to make them 5 lug instead of 6, but need them in hand to see if it will work.
Ah! I need some scale hubs too! Eh, in due time. I've got a month at least lol

Happy new year, ascenderholics!

[Shinchu]

Okay guys, made a quick vid this morning on where im at with this build.

I might start a regular series of vids. I dont plan on anything huge like josh coleman or hemistorm or... yeah im just a dude with a horrible camera who likes rc cars lol

Let me know what you think, and maybe i will get more serious about vids!

https://youtu.be/W_hLMpG1TAc

Oh, and a quick n00b question... am i going to grenade my tamiya 25t sport tuned motor by running it on a holmes hobby esc with a 3s batt? Never occured to me it might be too much juice for a little motor intended for 7.4 nimh packs.

[durok]

Googled several results, wouldn't recommend it... new motors are CHEAP! Get a Holmes Trailmaster, or even a Gool RC rebuildable for peanuts!

[Shinchu]

Yeah i intend to get hh, might as well get the motor from same brand as the esc.
I will just run the tamiya til it fries, its a throw away anyways. Not fast enough for road car, not enough torque forma crawler. Just to get it moving and test functionality.

[durok]

They work great in Tamiya Mini chassis, tho'...

[Shinchu]

Heh. Another thread, another time. ;)

I do plan on a very unorthodox cc01 build very soon... love me some tamiyas...

[durok]

Speaking of tributes - all my Ascender electronics are being saved for a future MST CFX w/Proline Suzuki Samurai tribute to my dad...

[Shinchu]

Heck yes! I know you mentioned this earlier, and still sounds rad!

Started a little work on the body. Bought some bedliner and re-taped the windows. Sprayed the inside of the cab with tamiya ps black and i had some ts brown. Spryed the brown whie the black was still wet, in hopes it will stay a little flexible.

Now i need to figure out... how can i remove paint without damaging the lexan? I heard brake fluid?
Im going to run custom light buckets up front but there is paint there.

I also have an idea once the traxxas bronco body is available. Cut the cab off and styrene myself a rear cab wall, cut the bed off the jconcepts and styrene a front bed wall. And if the jconcepts bed is too narrow (dollars to donuts thats the case) styrene a wider tailgate.
So basically a traxxas bronco with a custom bed using jconcept sides.
Adding a split between the bed and cab might give me the extra 0.3 inches of wheelbase to fit current chassis wb as a bonus.

Bodies drive me nuts if they arent perfect lol

[Shinchu]

ok gents. here's the BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front): i need rear leafs. like... BAD. and 1.55 tires aren't helping.

i have pics at home i will upload later.
so whats going on is this...
the rear shock towers hit the "tonneu cover" on the bed. i could dremel down a little of the body mount openings, but i need more than that to get the body down on the sliders that are still about 8mm from capturing the door sills.
good news is, the front looks ok. i think. i will probably need to run the shocks at full droop, or get shorter ones. (Ernie gave me some axial icons, iirc those are 100mm?)
*more good news, forgot to mention 90% of wiring is done, just need to get a winch controller. it all tucked in REALLY nice, and there are NO electronics in the rear so leafs will be cake. i could put a drop bed in there EASY.

oh and the forward motor protrudes quite a bit into the cab. hopefully the proline "classic truck" interior will cover it. cant push it any further forward, spur gear shaft is already against my winch servo. it might actually get worse, because i might even have to shorten the frame (or just cut some off the back?)

i'm not in a panic, but i do have concerns. i think i can fix most of it. need shorter rod ends to help pull WB in a bit more. and the wheel gap... haha this thing will have to be LOW to get the fender/wheel gap looking decent.
i will post mock up pics later tonight.

but yeah... I NEED REAR LEAFS. HALP.

[M1tch]

I used PVC window frame cleaner on my Land Rover body to remove the Tamiya paint I had painted it originally as it was flaking off. The stuff does stink though so use it outdoors!!. Test it on a small patch first though to see if it works ok.

How about lay the shocks down and use rockers or similar.

[Shinchu]

oh yeah, cantilever setup? i suppose that could work too.
thanks for the tip on paint removal. i might be able to gently scrape it. it flaked off a bit on the edges where i trimmed the fenders. if i tape around where the lights will be, and use my fingernail i think it will be ok. then i will seal it all from future flaking with bedliner spray.

or... this?
http://gcmracing.ca/viewitem.php?productid=320
2 birds with 1 stone - flat rear frame for drop bed, AND adjustable wheelbase. what say ye, fellow ascenderholics?

[M1tch]

The leaf spring kit looks a good idea. What would the articulation be like, or does that not matter if you are going for looks rather than performance?

[Itali83]

I'll post pictures of my home made leaf spring mounts that I was really happy with this afternoon. Looked scale, dirt cheap and the truck flat out worked.

Ben

[Shinchu]

Thanks Ben! i was wondering if i could scratch build some mounts. aside from welding(soldering?) I'm decent at fab work.

Mitch, yeah I'm not too concerned about performance. not going to compete with this at all, just something fun to hit trails with. that's why I'm going with the 1.55 dirt grabbers. OD on them is... tiny lol
its why i have considered putting this build on an RGT Bowler chassis with rear leafs, and then use this ascender with 1.9's to really unlock its potential. we'll see... i just don't want to dilute everything that's gone into this build, considering the meaning and help I've had on this chassis.

[Itali83]

Here's a few pictures from a build I did a while ago. The truck is gone so these are the best pictures I could come up with. There is welding involved but nothing major.



I took 7/16" nuts, drilled them out to fit tightly around the axle shaft, ground down the hex so the bottom side was smooth for going over rocks but left one flat to mount the springs to. This allows easy installation on springs to the axles and no modifications to the axle itself. You are able to rotate axle to get the pinion angle you like then use bolts long enough to secure leafs to but and also tap into axle tube to hold it from spinning.



I took 1/2" flat stock and made hangers come out from frame. Welded a plate so I could bolt through frame from the side. Also took some thin box tubing that the leaf spring eye would fit between, cut it in half to make a "C" and welded that to hanger so I could bolt leaf to hanger. They are crude and kinda crooked on this truck but did the job.



The rear was kind of crude but just a plate bolted to the rear bumper bracket bolts that allowed me to pick a spot height wise to set ride height and mount my rear shackle. I just used a spacer to space out shackle from frame but would probably make a hanger similar to front for looks. But mine was plenty strong and didn't have any issue with it.




Hope this helps. Kinda vague with the pictures but hopefully it gets ideas going.

Ben


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Browneye]

Wow!

[Shinchu]

ok yeah that gives me some ideas, thanks!

[Itali83]

I forgot to mention that I know it's the shock towers that are your problem and with my set up I still used them. You'll have to get smaller shocks and angle them, like the real trucks anyway. I forget what brand but the guys at GCM reccomend a set of shocks for their leafed trucks that supposedly work well but can't remember off hand.

Ben

[Itali83]

Originally Posted by Browneye

Wow!

Im hoping that is an impressed wow lol. Have you seen my other build?

My little Jimmy... lol

This is for both of you really. There's pictures of the rear leaf set up on this truck too. Just skip to the last page because there are pictures there after the photobucket dump.

Ben