I just picked this hobby up recently because a buddy of mine at work hounded me until I decided to give it a try. I picked up a used honcho off of ebay from a guy, and while it was a pretty good deal.. the guy had so much messed up on the thing that I just don't know how great of a deal it was. Though if I wouldn't have gotten it I wouldn't be at this point so I guess it's all good in the end. The guy had so many wiring issues.. I wouldn't doubt it if he took a new stock scx10 and ripped every wire off of everything and tried to redo it himself. I snapped a wire that was connected from the esc to the on/off switch for the esc, inside the wire sleeve near the end but not an exposed area. So, needless to say.. lots of stuff has to be revamped and fixed.
Enter the build:
What I got from him was a honcho that he had painted
Okay so I live in Georgia and the flag is okay I guess.. but this rig needs an overhaul. It came with an F350 body and that's what I plan on basing my build off of. Fitment? The back wheel extends too far towards the rear and needs to be fixed, but that's okay because we're going to be making a LOT of custom parts for this beast. Let's see some initial shots:
So it's not too far off, but it does sit a little awkwardly in the back. I've gotten to run it quite a bit but I always run in to some issue... usually it has something to do with wiring. Either the power switch is rigged up and just fails, the connectors to the motor are rigged up and just fail or any of a number of other little issues that can cause you to stop running for the day. It's okay though, once I work out the messes this project will continue on and hopefully be awesome.
A few pictures from some of the riding I've been able to do so far:
This spot is a lot tougher than it looks, and actually a really cool area I found. There is a dirt road that goes up the mountain near where I live, it goes along the river and for the most part people go fishing in that area. I found a cool spot that goes off the opposite side and has a little walking trail up to some waterfalls. Some trees have fallen in the path to the waterfall so I haven't ventured all the way up to it yet but I have seen it from a short distance down the path. I will make it there eventually! Anyway, this spot is pretty steep and the creek that runs right next to it combined with being in the forest causes the ground to be very wet/muddy from moisture in the area. The spot is super slick and the path straight up has a root that sticks out. Full throttle through this spot and you can almost guarantee you're going to flip and roll backwards. My third time back to this spot I finally figured it out and made it up:
Here is a shot from down the road near the above spot:
I'm pretty sure the wheels aren't weighted. I was running an AE-1 esc so I had no drag brake or anything really. The electronics seemed shoddy and not always at their best and kept bumming me out everywhere I went. The shocks don't seem like they were maintained at all, the balls in the connectors don't move at all and they feel stiffer than they should be. The driveshafts were the plastic stock ones and they had already taken a beating. It did come already 4-linked though so that is something going good for me :/
Let's take a look at this monster before we go in to the building process
As you can see, we're at a pretty rough starting point.
I don't think it's necessary to say but it was definitely something unavoidable, broken driveshaft:
So.. wow I have a LOT of work to do. Before I completely destroyed the ESC I had ordered some parts, they will be here tomorrow (Friday).
4: gmade piggyback shocks
2: junfac driveshafts
Pack of wheel weights
Pack of chassis hardware
I was pretty stoked about getting new shocks and driveshafts. Then the ESC issue enters and I'm faced with a decision: Try and fix it up, find a cheap used ESC or go buy the best. I started looking and doing as much research as I could before making a decision. I was kind of looking at three main options and finally made up my mind.
So I placed another order:
Holmes Hobbies TorqueMaster BR-XL Electronic Speed Control
Holmes Hobbies Torquemaster Pro Handwound 540 35 Turn
Another buddy of mine from work is in to RC planes and has some extra stuff laying around, hes going to let me use his LiPo 4S battery, hopefully it'll work with all of this. Once I get my parts in I'll get some more pictures and begin the trucks build and new look. I'm not 100% sure of what I want to do yet as far as body design but I'll figure it out soon. Custom frame rails, boxes, mounts, etc.. plan on seeing a lot of new / custom / awesome work in this thread. I work in the office of a machine shop that has a waterjet, several cnc mills and lathes and a full fabrication shop. This is going to be sweet!
Oh wait.. there's more!
This thread is a truck / trail combination build thread. So that means while I work on my truck and work towards it's final completion, I'll be keeping an update on how my trail building is progressing.
The trail/spot is starting out fairly basic. I found a spot next to my house where there were some decent sized rocks on slopes and nice hills. Since it's in the woods, I'll be able to branch trails off of the starting area.. should be pretty cool. So far I haven't done too much, but I did start clearing leaves out of the area and give some test runs while I could. My drive shaft was broken at this spot and my ESC wire that I snapped was done at this spot as well.
So many roots! It'll get cleared out before long and continue to expand on to the spot. Can't wait to get the truck back operational so I can come play in this spot some more. Hope you've enjoyed the teaser and are ready for the magic to come!
"thumbsup"
Enter the build:
What I got from him was a honcho that he had painted
Okay so I live in Georgia and the flag is okay I guess.. but this rig needs an overhaul. It came with an F350 body and that's what I plan on basing my build off of. Fitment? The back wheel extends too far towards the rear and needs to be fixed, but that's okay because we're going to be making a LOT of custom parts for this beast. Let's see some initial shots:
So it's not too far off, but it does sit a little awkwardly in the back. I've gotten to run it quite a bit but I always run in to some issue... usually it has something to do with wiring. Either the power switch is rigged up and just fails, the connectors to the motor are rigged up and just fail or any of a number of other little issues that can cause you to stop running for the day. It's okay though, once I work out the messes this project will continue on and hopefully be awesome.
A few pictures from some of the riding I've been able to do so far:
This spot is a lot tougher than it looks, and actually a really cool area I found. There is a dirt road that goes up the mountain near where I live, it goes along the river and for the most part people go fishing in that area. I found a cool spot that goes off the opposite side and has a little walking trail up to some waterfalls. Some trees have fallen in the path to the waterfall so I haven't ventured all the way up to it yet but I have seen it from a short distance down the path. I will make it there eventually! Anyway, this spot is pretty steep and the creek that runs right next to it combined with being in the forest causes the ground to be very wet/muddy from moisture in the area. The spot is super slick and the path straight up has a root that sticks out. Full throttle through this spot and you can almost guarantee you're going to flip and roll backwards. My third time back to this spot I finally figured it out and made it up:
Here is a shot from down the road near the above spot:
I'm pretty sure the wheels aren't weighted. I was running an AE-1 esc so I had no drag brake or anything really. The electronics seemed shoddy and not always at their best and kept bumming me out everywhere I went. The shocks don't seem like they were maintained at all, the balls in the connectors don't move at all and they feel stiffer than they should be. The driveshafts were the plastic stock ones and they had already taken a beating. It did come already 4-linked though so that is something going good for me :/
Let's take a look at this monster before we go in to the building process
As you can see, we're at a pretty rough starting point.
I don't think it's necessary to say but it was definitely something unavoidable, broken driveshaft:
So.. wow I have a LOT of work to do. Before I completely destroyed the ESC I had ordered some parts, they will be here tomorrow (Friday).
4: gmade piggyback shocks
2: junfac driveshafts
Pack of wheel weights
Pack of chassis hardware
I was pretty stoked about getting new shocks and driveshafts. Then the ESC issue enters and I'm faced with a decision: Try and fix it up, find a cheap used ESC or go buy the best. I started looking and doing as much research as I could before making a decision. I was kind of looking at three main options and finally made up my mind.
So I placed another order:
Holmes Hobbies TorqueMaster BR-XL Electronic Speed Control
Holmes Hobbies Torquemaster Pro Handwound 540 35 Turn
Another buddy of mine from work is in to RC planes and has some extra stuff laying around, hes going to let me use his LiPo 4S battery, hopefully it'll work with all of this. Once I get my parts in I'll get some more pictures and begin the trucks build and new look. I'm not 100% sure of what I want to do yet as far as body design but I'll figure it out soon. Custom frame rails, boxes, mounts, etc.. plan on seeing a lot of new / custom / awesome work in this thread. I work in the office of a machine shop that has a waterjet, several cnc mills and lathes and a full fabrication shop. This is going to be sweet!
Oh wait.. there's more!
This thread is a truck / trail combination build thread. So that means while I work on my truck and work towards it's final completion, I'll be keeping an update on how my trail building is progressing.
The trail/spot is starting out fairly basic. I found a spot next to my house where there were some decent sized rocks on slopes and nice hills. Since it's in the woods, I'll be able to branch trails off of the starting area.. should be pretty cool. So far I haven't done too much, but I did start clearing leaves out of the area and give some test runs while I could. My drive shaft was broken at this spot and my ESC wire that I snapped was done at this spot as well.
So many roots! It'll get cleared out before long and continue to expand on to the spot. Can't wait to get the truck back operational so I can come play in this spot some more.
Hope you've enjoyed the teaser and are ready for the magic to come!"thumbsup"
