Exoskeletal H3 Hummer

[T2NUT]

Okay here goes...
This my first ever post and it is of my 1/6th scale H3 Hummer Pick-up that I used as a guinea pig for a full exoskeleton made of plastic. Unlike you very talented guys out there, I can't braze, so I tried my hand at cutting, bending, gluing and screwing together a framework. I don't have any photos of early progress, but here is one of the almost completed skeleton over the yet-to-be-painted body....let's hope I can upload the photo, here goes...

 

[AIPOHAKU]

Wow that looks pretty good!..What wheel and tire combo are you planning?..

 

[ALTERED IMAGE]

Looks good to me"thumbsup" Stick around for a bit and I am sure you will pick up how to braze. There is a lot of info on this board with how to, just search and you shall find.

 

[Locked Up]

Cool. What body is that?

 

[T2NUT]

Wow that looks pretty good!..What whell and tire combo are you planning?..

Thanks for the encouragement AIPOHAKU. Now comes the admission of guilt when I say this was being built to put on a tummy tucked, shock modified Nylint chassis. I know someone will want to flame me for this, but my nearest hobby shop is 2 highway hours away and it is nothin' like you lucky folk in the US with your awesome hobby shops. I have been going at this hobby at a little hit and miss pace thru ebay. I know there are better ways...like scanning this site!...but I am slowly learning as $$ allow...

 

[T2NUT]

Cool. What body is that?

Hey Locked Up,
I bought just the body, but it did have New Bright license plates. I erradicated all mention of the manufacturer when dechroming and painting. I have seen your photos of your rigs. Very nice work man! Looks like that Hummer of yours is a New Bright too?

 

[T2NUT]

Looks good to me"thumbsup" Stick around for a bit and I am sure you will pick up how to braze. There is a lot of info on this board with how to, just search and you shall find.

Thanks ALTERED IMAGE,
I will look and start amassing the tools! Cheers.

 

[T2NUT]

Okay, I am putting on my flame proof suit(notice how I resisted using the word retardant..;-)) in hopes of protection because here is the chassis...

 

[karlos]

Don't pay any attention to the flamers. Sometimes you just have to use what's available. Looks like you're off to a good start. Most importantly, enjoy what you're doing!

 

[T2NUT]

A few more photos...

You can see the tummy tuck. Yawn, nothing new I know, but I did do it in sheet styrene, not metal. The chassis is made from styrene based plastic so it kinda made sense to do it that way. Methylene chloride is great stuff once you get the hang of it. It actually melts the styrene and the finished product is basically one piece of plastic after all is said and done. Better than glue. I got the Nylint as a basket case with the electronics all wrapped in plastic bags and the axles coated with mud inside. Fun stuff...

The body needed a bit of a mod so that I could drop it down over the tummy-tucked chassis. I made a box that fit over the modded chassis box and then fitted some of the stock Nylint spring loaded clips scavenged from the old already hacked-up body below the truck bed. So the whole thing goes on in the stock manner. Since the box extended into the pick-up bed I turned it into a non-functional tool box. I think if I did it again I would build it up higher then put an opening lid on it. Just an idea to keep for the next project I guess.

One thing the box stuck to the body did was afford me the opportunity to have a place to mount the batteries for the lights. I have headlights/rocklights and marker/taillights. The former are LED's and the latter, running on a different circuit, are 1.5V rail hobby lights. The on/off switches mount to the side of the box near the front where they are protected from tire splatter for the most part and can be got at by reaching above the front wheel. I did learn that those LED's like to be in series with a maximum of two lights. Otherwise their output(wattage?) drops down, which kinda sucks. So I must admit my rocklighs aren't all the brightest, but they do the job.

 

[T2NUT]

Here is the beast as it is now. I am trying to get some time to work on a winch using the hi-low selector on the Nylint control, but still running a motor geared down. I was thinking of just disconnecting the drive motors for the gear switching(leaving it locked in low) and putting a simple toggle switch in place of the plastic one on the control. I'd have to reroute wires to get power to a motor mounted in the front of the chassis Maybe I'd have power in only, I dunno. Anyone out there tried doing this?

 

[ALTERED IMAGE]

Hey bro there is no way that deserves any flaming, that is one sweet looking rig. I know how you feel about not having stuff available to you, most of my parts either come from here or the bay. I have to say one thing is get to know your vendors here, they are always coming up with new and innovative parts which is exactly what we all like"thumbsup"

 

[YoUnG_vErSiOn]

looks awesome for a nylint based rig.....i bet it crawls just like a clod.:shock:






























:lol:

 

[Crash box]

T2NUT, i was wondering what are you using for lights in that rig, and how are you powering them. Thanx.

 

[T2NUT]

T2NUT, i was wondering what are you using for lights in that rig, and how are you powering them. Thanx.

Hey Crash box,
The lights are for the most part LEDs(that is to say the headlights and rocklights) that I picked up on ebay, and the others (amber markers and red taillights) are 1.5V model train lights that I bought from my local very lame hobby store. The LEDs are something like 5-8mm across and fit very nicely into the holes in the back of the headlights, but as I mentioned, when they all have resistors soldered onto them be sure to only put two in series(when on a 9V power supply), otherwise their output greatly diminishes. I put all the 1.5V ones on a separate circuit with all of them in parallel. It was just easier, because I knew that they would for sure be susceptible to wattage decrease(or is that voltage decrease?)...well, they would put out less light, put it that way!
Anyhow, I have found hot melt glue to be the best way to hold them in place, but make sure they are in exactly the same orientation side to side(having them lit helps), or they may look a bit wonky when lighting your path.
Hope all this helps.
Cheers.

 

[Crash box]

T2NUT, thanx. but sadly your answer only brings more questions. like why do you need a resistor on the leds? i have two red leds so far in my 1:6 jeep for tail lights, (with no resistors) that i got from radio shack, when i asked for white leds they looked at me like i was the dumb one. could you maybee post some pics of how you did all that. i have a good idea of what i want to do, but looking at another done simalar might be a help. Oh i have noticed some vendors here have led kits would one of their kits work? Thanks.

 

[T2NUT]

T2NUT, thanx. but sadly your answer only brings more questions. like why do you need a resistor on the leds? i have two red leds so far in my 1:6 jeep for tail lights, (with no resistors) that i got from radio shack, when i asked for white leds they looked at me like i was the dumb one. could you maybee post some pics of how you did all that. i have a good idea of what i want to do, but looking at another done simalar might be a help. Oh i have noticed some vendors here have led kits would one of their kits work? Thanks.

Hi Crash box,
More questions? No problem!
I chatted at length with my local electrical store about LEDs and apparently you can fry them with too much voltage, thus the resistors. I did an experiment and found out the hard way before talking with the guy:-(. Anyhow, the resistance thing comes down to the the old equations of something like V=IR where V is voltage, I is current and R is resistance. The LED's I bought came with resisitors(that I had to attach), so I didn't have to work out the equations, so perhaps the vendor's kits would be the way to go in some ways because hopefully they have all that stuff figured out for the buyer(one would think anyway). I guess I could have played around a bit and in the end not had a resistor at each LED, but alas, maybe next time.
Don't be put off by the Radio Shack guys, they weren't any help to me either! If you have an electrical supply house nearby that is the place to go. I have found my guys to be really helpful.
I will try to post some photos soon as to how I rigged it all up. But it won't be the exact truck, because I don't want to tear it apart to show the mess of wires. It wouldn't show you anything much anyway. No matter how clean I do it, in my mind, it can still be a little confusing...

 

[Crash box]

Hey thanx, i understand its the outside of the truck that needs to look good not the guts lol. i would go to vegas for parts but not for 5 dollars worth of leds. and when i do go its in the back of my mind lol. oh well i guess its time to hit ppl up for a kit.

 

[hitman46mod]

Looks great man good job."thumbsup"

 

[66shift]

Thats some great cage work"thumbsup" Too bad its based off a nylint