GEN8 PACK Post Apocalyptic Raider truck build thread

[Damatheus]

Hello Redcat fans! I just took delivery of my GEN8 PACK! My first ever hobby grade (kind of) RC was an RS10XT about 6 years ago, so I decided to return to my roots with my fourth truck. I will be building this along the same basic theme as my other two trucks, which are both apocalyptic/Fallout themed rigs with my Vault 13 scout truck, and my Brotherhood of Steel Power Wagon.

I don't have all the parts yet, but it will be a basic crawler build using an Axial Jeep Nukizer body which I hope to do a drop bed in, which brings me to my first question.

?? Is there a set of parts that work well to build a cantilever rear suspension so I can do a drop bed?

Here is what I have so far, and some pics of my other two rigs so you all have an idea where I'm going with this :mrgreen:

 

[Shinchu]

Oh I guessed right in the proline thread haha rad!

 

[Damatheus]

Got the body cut out and mocked up, and started putty my wheels and tires together. Body is the axial jeep Nukizer, wheels are injora, and tires are Duratrax Deepwoods. I'm a big fan of these Duratrax tires. They are about half the price of big brand tires, and perform as good or better than the majority.

I didn't realize how long this chassis was until I mocked it up with the body. Will need to shorten the wheel base, and cut about a half inch off the rear of the frame rails to get the body to fit right.

Also found my twin hammers stock cantilever system, going to try and get that to work for the rear end. Ordered the flat skid plate too, so that will be going in once it arrives. Good times.

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[Damatheus]

Oh I guessed right in the proline thread haha rad!

You did indeed! Sneaking on over here to the redcat section and ruining the surprise haha

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[tuxstang]

Nice body choice. I've choose the CRX Survival from Hobbytech, same style (kind of M715 with CJ20 cab) but right for the 324mm wheelbase so doesn't requires as much trimming for the rails (can do with it), and comes with military style bumpers that fit great with the body.

?? Is there a set of parts that work well to build a cantilever rear suspension so I can do a drop bed?

There's no cantilever kit specifically designed for the Gen8 chassis but XTra Speed's cantilever for TRX4 seems to work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_yQKcMO6To

I've been thinking on using my TH cantilever too but need it to mod my Ascender back to cantilever. So working on a set from Thingiverse designed for the TRX4 ... hope I'll make it work on the Gen8, those rear shock towers are massive, hard to hide them on a dropped bed.

 

[Damatheus]

Nice body choice. I've choose the CRX Survival from Hobbytech, same style (kind of M715 with CJ20 cab) but right for the 324mm wheelbase so doesn't requires as much trimming for the rails (can do with it), and comes with military style bumpers that fit great with the body.





There's no cantilever kit specifically designed for the Gen8 chassis but XTra Speed's cantilever for TRX4 seems to work.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_yQKcMO6To



I've been thinking on using my TH cantilever too but need it to mod my Ascender back to cantilever. So working on a set from Thingiverse designed for the TRX4 ... hope I'll make it work on the Gen8, those rear shock towers are massive, hard to hide them on a dropped bed.

Going to work with the twin hammers kit for now and see if it will work for me. I had watched the video earlier, and i think the TH shocks will fit in just about the same location. Might have to drill a hole, no big deal.

That CRX body is nice, didn't know about that one. Looks like it comes with some good scale bits also.

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[tuxstang]

The bumpers (come with shackles), grille, door handles and wipers are great, mirrors would have been better in rubber, jerrican is too small, snorkel looks strange and only fixed by two screws, and rear lights would have been better clear than black, but overall a great body, with thick lexan, pre-cut but not pre-drilled.

 

[Damatheus]

Got a little work done this evening. Transferred all my tires over from my old Vaterra wheels to the new ones and added some home made dual stage foams out of a memory foam pillow and a pool noodle. Brought the tires from way to squishy to just right.

Also tore off the rear shocks and test fit the twin hammers cantilevers. Look like these will fit just fine, will just have to drill a hole in the frame rails to mount the shocks, and add some spacers to keep the shocks from rubbing the frame.

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[Damatheus]

Got prototype V1 of my drop bed printed and have started test fitting. V2 needs to be a bit bigger, and will have some more details on it. Need to clean up the trimming on the body also, used a hobby knife and it was a total mess.

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[Damatheus]

Made quite a bit of progress on this build the last 2 weeks during this covidpocalype. Got the rear cantilever suspension system set up and functional with some custom brackets made out of a small sheet if steel bracket. Trimmed about a half inch off the front and rear of the chassis, and am designing some braces which will also serve as a magnet mount for the rear bed. Wheels and tires are all mounted up and the body has been fit, nice and centered.

Cut down and painted up the stock redcat bumpers and started the weathered process. And began painting up the body. I wasn't able to replace my airbrush compressor so I just picked up some krylon paint. This stuff works well on lexan as long as it's well scuffed. silver undercoat, then red oxide and rust texture. More to come!

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[AK KRAWLER]

That weathering looks freaking amazing!!!

 

[soze]

I've been eyeing a Nukizer body for a while now. Curious to see how it turns out!

 

[Damatheus]

Got some painting done on the body. Getting closer!

These are the paints I used for the rust, and the weathering is a mix of sanding, hairspray chipping (which didn't work nearly as well as it was supposed to) and vinager rust water.

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[Damatheus]

That weathering looks freaking amazing!!!

Thanks! I've been slowly refining my process over my past 3 RCs. Tried some new methods in this truck. Some worked well, some didn't work as well as I'd have liked.

A lot of what I do is dry brushing technique with basic acrylic paints. Super easy.

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[Damatheus]

Well, truck has been mostly paused while I waited for some parts to come in. I ordered two Flysky GT5 tx/rx but neither arrived and my money was refunded. Just ordered a radiolink rc6gs for it, should be here in a few days. I don't really like ordering from China but it's hard to find a 6 channel rx/tx for a good price these days.

Been doing some paint work and running my printer as well to make various accessories, but my printer is being finicky, think it needs a new extruder so that is now on hold haha.

I got the body mounted with magnets now, I'll have to get some pics of those but they fit nice and it snaps directly to the frame rails in the back, and to the body posts in the front. We will see how it holds up.

Also ordered a light kit to fill in those poor empty headlamps.

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[Tylus]

that is just too cool. very nice body work

 

[Damatheus]

Finally got it set up and driving. Took her out for a maiden run with my Ascender based power wagon.

The Gen8 doesn't crawl quite as well as the Ascender, but with some tuning I think they will be close. The Ascender is much more planted and stable.

The rear canti shocks are too soft right now, making the Gen8 torque twist a lot, and unsettling it on off camber things.

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