Browneye JK Unlimited/K5 Blazer (Build)

[Browneye]

Ascender #3 for me, second kit, following my Wrangler TJ 1:1 build here:
Wrangler TJ Locked & Loaded 1:1 (Build)

I wanted a WB4 with lots of upgrades, so this one gets them. JKU and interchangeable with the big K5 Blazer body. Plans are for the Blazer to tow a 1:10 Airstream or vintage travel trailer.

Teaser pic of the new crawling rig...more details coming:

[Browneye]

My crawling buddy got this Axial JKU body from another enthusiast. They are now unobtanium, so I was tickled to find a narrow and short option for a WB4 crawler. And since I had a couple of the K5 Blazer bodies now I thought I might as well paint one up and run it from time to time. Got a set of wheels to match it, and another set of 4.75" crawler tires.

What I've learned here over the past few months, as well as driving them and getting through my first crawling competition, is that maxing out the limits of the class is the best way to compete on a level playing field. The long wheelbase climbs better, weighted axles/wheels, and max tire size with a comp compound being just a few of the upgrades to do to a crawler rig.

Rather than try to model after a 1:1 rig this one became what I would do if I had unlimited funds to build a competition rock crawler. Here are my notable build parts:

4.75 PitBull Rock Beast XL's with 'alien compound'
CI Lil' Nova foams
Alloy beadlock wheels (1 set for each body)
Codyboy axles
SSD Titanium suspension links (where I could get them)
Outboarded shocks
Arrma ADS-15M steering servo - 208oz/in high-volt
HobbyWing 1080 QuickRun ESC with 3S lipo power
Yeah Racing 35T brushed Hackmoto V2 motor
Spektrum 3 channel receiver (I have a 4ch in another rig I can swap)

Before I add more weight I thought I would run it and see how it does. The wheel and tire assemblies weigh 7.2oz, and with the weighted CodyBoy axles I may well be good on lowering the COG sufficiently already.

Just got it built and running this week - it is the quietest running of all three of my Ascenders, so gearbox, spur and pinion, and axles must have come together well - I paid particular attention to each assembly to make sure it was smooth. For example, the diff ring and pinion ended up with the shim washer on either side of the ring gear under the bearings. If I put both on one side to shim it closer to the pinion I would get a rough turning in the assembly. So I did a lot of trial assembly and turning it to make sure it was smooth.

In this pic if you look really close you can see the 2mm spacers I made for the upper rear links by cutting up an extra 12mm spacer. This corrected a down-pointing pinion/input shaft for the rear differential. The lower links are the SSD 90mm titanium links. They did match the stock links for length, but in setting the whole thing up the rear diff pointed down too much.

I also added a mm or so spacer to the tie-rod link as there was too much toe-in. You can really see it with the bigger tires mounted. So now everything lines up correctly.




I'm really pleased with how this one went together. I thought I would try the Hackmoto motor for $20. It gets good reviews and test running shows it has a LOT of speed and power on 3S. Replaceable brushes on these. Hopefully it will perform well.



I would have liked a little stronger steering servo than the ARRMA ADS-15M, but was in the LHS and they had them in stock for $40, and loathing to spend $100 on a servo I thought I would get another one. If it proves to be a weak link or fails I'll upgrade. I have one of these in my RTR and they come in the ARRMA Typhon and Kraton which both run 6s high power, so for a crawler it may well be good enough for my use. It's a high-volt, so setting the HW BEC for 7.2V makes it sing pretty well and attains the full rated power at the higher voltage. The Spektrum radio allows me to adjust steering travel to where the tires just barely clear the shocks on full lock. I'm getting all I can get here.


The body came without screws for the heavy duty black plastic fender flares so I found those at a local industrial supply. The AXIAL screws for them are backordered. I played with drilling and mounting them somewhat higher on the body and trimmed out the wheel-wells for the bigger tires, while keeping the body as low as possible. A trick I learned here from you guys.

Next is painting and details. I need figure heads for driver and passenger - Browneye driver and Mrs. Browneye co-driver.

[durok]

Awesome job so far! Flares came out great...Very creative on the link mods... As far as the servo goes, if that one gives ya problems there are tons of inexpensive, reliable, and strong servos poppin' up everywhere all the sudden. Not sure what happened, I think maybe a bunch of companies finally figured out that there's a huge market for RTR servo upgrades! We are lucky these day with LiPos, servos, motors, ESCs, and radios ALL becoming more reasonably priced.

I have always liked that Jeep body. and they can also be really cool with custom fabric tops on 'em. Make a custom "bikini" top for it, man!

[durok]

Here's a link to a soft top like I mentioned :

Hot Racing Jeep 4/Dr Soft Top Black/Orange Rods For Axial SCX Jeep

You can also get tan with silver rods, rather than black w/orange rods...

And of course, RC4WD and Proline also offer soft tops, theirs have rear quarter windows.

[Browneye]

Out on the rocks at Corona Del Mar - a local RC hangout - with the newly finished crawler...

[ScoJac]

That looks REALLY nice with the tiny bit of yellow faded into the green......

[durok]

Originally Posted by ScoJac

That looks REALLY nice with the tiny bit of yellow faded into the green......

I was just about to post the same thing!

Very cool..... not that I expected anything less from this guy!

Gotta get cracking on my re-body...

[Browneye]

Axial does a nice job with all the decals and details. Mirrors, fenders, seats, dash, cage, and it came with a soft top but I want to modify it first.
It needs a narrow front bumper and drivers.


Thanks for likes.

[Browneye]

Mini Stonehenge...

[Browneye]

Had some fun playing with LED's and photoshop to make a gif...
Axial supplies headlight buckets with their body kit, so I glued them in, painted them silver for opacity (they're clear) drilled them for leds, and connected to the spare receiver channel so they come on when the rig is powered up. Kind of fun and they work and look great.

I have a lighting controller and some more leds coming, taillights, and for my other rigs. Lighting is pretty easy to do and adds that ooh-ah factor for spectators.









.

[Browneye]

From comp day...

[Browneye]

Just got done with some cleanup after a lot of comp crawling and everything was dirty and full of sand.

This new chassis with WB4 and XL tires (right) really dwarfs the RTR (left) with WB2 and the stock TSL Vaterra tires. The former crawls better too, but not by a lot, just all around better with so many upgrades.

[Browneye]

Wife thought I was nuts strolling the toy aisle at Walmart yesterday...but couldn't find a she-co-driver to match...

[Shinchu]

my wife has accepted the fact that i "need to go to Walmart for some stuff" means "I'm going to straight to the toy isle, then maybe get stuff we needed."

looking good!
I'm still keeping my eyes peeled for good driver figures.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by Browneye

Just got done with some cleanup after a lot of comp crawling and everything was dirty and full of sand.

This new chassis with WB4 and XL tires (right) really dwarfs the RTR (left) with WB2 and the stock TSL Vaterra tires. The former crawls better too, but not by a lot, just all around better with so many upgrades.

I know, I'm making front inner fenders, got one done and other almost there. Love the trimmed front bumper, been meaning to do mine!

Originally Posted by Browneye

Wife thought I was nuts strolling the toy aisle at Walmart yesterday...but couldn't find a she-co-driver to match...

Haha, my wife knows already I'm crazy about toy trucks. Good drivers are hard to find.

[Browneye]

Okay, moving on to the K5 portion of this build...

Fitting the body on the WB4 chassis - looks like it's going to work out well. I was very concerned with the Proline Krawlers being too big, so many members here claim the bigger tires just don't fit the scale which I tend to agree. However the Blazer body is HUGE, so to my eye it rolls pretty well with it. It almost seems like the K5 is like 1:8 or 1:9 and the K10 is like 1:11 or 1:12. The stock tires on the K10 almost seem toy-like in comparison to a class1 type rig. Same for the JKU - the bigger tires almost look silly on it, but hey, it's a C2 comp rig so I was going for max crawling capability, and that seemed to work out quite well at the meet.

I think you'll like the pics of the painted body, it fits and looks the part with the larger tires IMO.

[Browneye]

I saw this paint scheme on another builders featured rig in RC Car Action magazine - I'll bet you've seen it too. For some reason it just struck me as very appealing, and the black helps reduce the over-bulging massiveness of the full size Blazer body.

I had some left over Titanium metallic paint from another project, it's automotive enamel. This stuff just does not stick as well as the Tamiya polycarbonate paint, but once it sets up it does hold up fairly well - my Wrangler JK/TJ version has the same kind of paint.

While peeling off the window masks my finger prints left impressions in the finished paint. It was still soft after an overnight dry. Oh well.

I need to order some LED's to fill up the head and taillights, but for now it's at least rolling. And I'm trying to source another Ascender front bumper since I cut this one down for the JKU - the Blazer NEEDS a full-width bumper to look right. The rear fits really tight and close in.

Fortunately this huge body is light, so the rig still crawls remarkably well. I would love to run it in a comp but will probably stick with the JKU as I don't mind it getting beat. I'm going to keep this one pristine and use it for a tow-rig for a scale vintage travel trailer. Just in the drawing stages with it.

[durok]

Another winner! Great color choices...

[Natedog]

Paint scheme is pretty slick, and those Proline BFG Krawlers did real well on HumboldtEF's TRX-4 at RPP Jamboree. I love TSLs, but nice to see different tires too.

[mgputer]

Looks excellent. You have some painting skills

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