The emperor's New Clothes

[tachikoma1373]

Just a few shots of my work in progress....

This in the 2nd body/cage for my TH - the other is my Star wars themed Boba Fett inspired one - see this thread if interested. That will be a bit of a shelf queen. This will be the main running outfit.







The wheels 108mm rear and 96mm front although this will change when I decide on the tyres to go for. Running 500K oil in the front diff, looking forward to testing that outside but a few little test runs in the house still demonstrate a marked difference - obviously not as good as locked but its just a crawler so...

There is more work to do

Gotta get lights wired in next. Still trying decide which upright front shock and steering updates to go for. Also looking to add some Gmade rear piggyback shocks (fronts when I go upright as well).

I do kinda like those smaller front wheels

[Ballistic17]

Looks good. Can't wait to see what you do to it.

[toyotatrucks83]

I like the lights in the front.

[riskyjedi]

I fallowed your thread over on urc. It came out Great! Can't wait to see all that you do with this one.

[cooperDG123]

i love the lights, but i cant help but think that they'll get rip off on your first rollover.

[tachikoma1373]

I got my shocks and my tyres the other day but ran into a little problem. I had hoped the 4 wheels & tyres I got cheap (but with matching tread) were beadlock compatible (like the 2 108mm ones I already have) so that I'd could remount 2 on the new ones on my proline rims and have same size, wheels and tyres all around....didn't happen!

The new tyres aren't beadlock compatible and their offset is out meaning if I use the new ones all around I get rubbing on the front steering knuckle. I have some wider alloy hexes on order in the hope that the extra 3mm will give me enough offset. If that doesn't work out I'll wait for a bit and get some new tyres - maybe flat irons but I'll see.

I think I'm set on the colour scheme as well - It will be black with red "features" - it's the red on the g-mades that set it my head.

Whilst on that subject the g-made's are lovely bits of engineering. Can't wait to see how they run and get them tuned - on three hole pistons with supplied shock oil which is 60wt I think.

Any enough banter. The pics....








Oh yes! An arty one....

[HemiStorm]

Very nice Twin Hammers, I like the stance of it!

[Pockets70]

What tires are on there? They look beefy!

[tachikoma1373]

Pockets the tyres on the fronts are these cheap crawler tyres from the now defunct Ansman racing sitting on Proline 2.2 titus beadloocks.


I wanted same size all around so got the ones on the rear, which are from the company that took over ansman (absima) but they turned out not to be beadlock compatible and there isn't enough offset on the front, even with my new 7mm hexes.

I'll be getting something else but just know what yet - Like the kinda military look of those

Finally got some time to wire the lights in and route the wiring around the chassis. used a 9V battery case with built in switch, painted red - idea is it will look like a fuel tank, needs more detail though. Here's tonight's photos...








And tonight's arty one is this.....

[Pockets70]

That rig looks great! I like the fuel cell idea for the 9V storage!

[tachikoma1373]

Well a couple of days ago I needed to take the Hammers for a bit of a run.

I took the plunge, stripped the cheapo wheel/tyre combo down and fitted the tyres to the beadlocks using my old method of silicone sealant - it's whats holding the fronts on already.

As predicted by many (and I was half expecting it as well) the roof lights didn't last long and went the way of the dodo. On top of that the newer tyres are an even worse fit than the others and they came off the rear wheels.

I stripped 'em down, re-did them with more silicone. Then I took the roof lights off and remounted the fronts about 5mm lower to give them more protection. I also fitted the rear red lights inside the frame using a couple of axial light bar roof mounts on there side.



Took the "fixed machine out today, in the rain, and after about 15 mins this happened.....



Oh well at least the lights are in one piece and still work



Got home and thought "sod it" so....



So that should stop them coming off I know I will have to clean the beadlocks in future but the tyres are cheap enough to hack off if needs be.

What I did notice on the past to runs is that the 500K oil in the front diff makes a big difference - much better crawling but still pretty nimble on the turns.

I'm hoping to get out tomorrow and film finally shoot some more video


Thanks to everyone for the feedback and the likes

[biggamehunter]

love the build ! i think flat irons are the answer to your blow outs though lol

[tachikoma1373]

Originally Posted by biggamehunter

love the build ! i think flat irons are the answer to your blow outs though lol

I keep looking at the flat irons but I just like these tyres - something the military about them that I like. Flat Irons also look very similar to stock - i know there will be enormous performance differences but I the aesthetic is important to me

I had a flash of inspiration about 40 minutes ago whilst trying to figure out a way of lowering the front lights and protecting them. I came up with this....








"well chuffed" with the way it looks - even though it's just taped on to mock it up.

It's a Traxxas Slash side nerf bar. Got to finish off tomorrow but really pleased with the look. Something JEEP about it for me

[biggamehunter]

great light bulb moment there !! i like the way this is going , i fitted roof lights but i used the fastrax stainless steel ones , no issues and quite cheap too

[tachikoma1373]

The rear tyre mount is just moved up and only fastened on on 1 cross brace as so:


This allows it to flex so its still pretty easy to get the battery out. I also rustled up some right angle battery connectors. Next stage is to hide the battery with a box covered in scale accessories.

I finished mounting the front lights as well. Test run tomorrow with some trailing hopefully - depends on weather

[biggamehunter]

i think a tamiya fast attack vehicle drivers head would be cool in there ? keeping the military look

[Pockets70]

Great idea with the nerf bar!

[tachikoma1373]

Well the nerf bar light mount didn't work out, it got broken again so I resorted to the original version only moved them a couple of mm's lower to protect them more.

I also got to thinking about upright suspension again and had a flash of inspiration whilst working on my EXO e.g. "ohhh, that's the same sort of design as the TH. I bet I can do some sort of upright mount in the same manner." After a bit of digging I butchered the rear shock mount from an old HPI rush evo chassis and came up with this







I had to trim 2 braces out of the cage and it's not that easy to take on and off as you have to undo the upper suspension links and insert and remove with the cage in place but I'm pleased with it and the old firestorm shocks fit exactly and have a nice feel smooth operation. There's also a bit of flex in the tower so I don't know how that's going to work out, not had chance to run it yet.

Now that I know the mounting idea works (direct to diff housing via upper suspension arm mounts the next step is to source some aluminum plate and try and make something a little better - I really want to get rid of the cross beam from my drivers eye line

Suggestions on plate thickness or other materials most welcome, as are comments.

BTW - A belated Happy New year to all Hope your 2014 is full of RC goodness

EDIT: Couple of extra pics

[tachikoma1373]

Here are a few more shots of this evenings activities.

I've taped off the 10cm waterproof light strip that I made the new internally mounted light bar from so that only 4 lights show. The middle 2 were obscured by the front window braces anyway.

The two new front body panels are of 1mm thin aluminium sheet and bent by hand the edges closest to the shock mount are folded to; stop any cutting/rubbing of the shock tower and to give a bit of strength so they help support the shock tower a little.

The suspension feels so much better but I still haven't had chance to test it. Doe anyone know what the stock oil WT is in the HPI rush evo front suspension? I have no idea what in there but its feeling good, perhaps a little more preload. It sits level now but I prefer a ride height a little above level.

I think the dogbones are going to be OK as even at full droop the pins are still sitting fully inside, but at the edge of (if you know what I mean), the outdrives.






The obligatory "arty shot"



Really enjoyed being able to see all come to fruition.and pan out so well.

[biggamehunter]

realy good job there tachi !! i think the front tower looks great !!