Hey All,
New to the site and new to the addiction of crawling.
A little history pre-build first. As I was browsing for my future wraith build at the LHS, the UPS guy walked in with boxes from Axial. As soon as the shop owner opened the box, I was pulling out my $$'s and picked it up. I was amazed at the scale look of this and after building a TF2, I couldnt resist so here is my short and dirty build thread. Oh and I loved the red so thats what I went with but changed it ever so slightly.
Unfortunately, I did't take many chassis build photos but I will try to list out some of the minor mods I made in the process.
Electronics:
Tekin FX-R
Spektrum Rec.
Hitech 645MG w/OFNA servo horn
5000 2 cell lipo
VP bead locks - on the way
shock bump stops removed and a couple of turns to the coil nuts to support the weight up front.
** I replaced the upper plastic links from my dingo since they were the same size.
Traxxas ball links were also used to replace the plastic ones that come with the kit.
Roller and Electronics - Ready to prep the body:
Its really hard to see but I added the alum servo arm and also ground out a small area on the cross member to increase a bit a travel without compromising the integrity of the brace.
The screw and nut that connects the link to the arm is where I cut out a bit of the cross member. I will try to take a cleaner photo later.
After looking at everyone's take on making fender wells, I decided to make my own using styrene. First thing was to make a well template using an old gift box. (card stock will work as well)
Heres a cutting mat photo for scale if you are interested.
Basically traced the inner well and trimmed to fit.
Next I cut some strips of styrene for the arches. The front strips are slightly skinnier in width compared to the rear. I think the rear was about 2" and fit the body nicely with very little daylight showing through.
Then I glued the strips to the well slowly making my way around.
I just used the same template for the fronts and made another one for the rear. Once all 4 were set, I test fitted them, and trimmed to fit.
Here is one all fitted and cut.
Once I was happy, I painted them up and remounted them. Because I used the provided light buckets for the front, I had to trim them just a bit more but here is all 4 wells mounted to the chassis.
Onto the paint. The provided masks did't fit to my liking for the top so I made my own. Here is the body. Taking your time on this body is the key to success. I used to just blow through it but took my time here.
Test fitted the cage and my driver. Ended up popping the upper body off and filled the inside with epoxy. Added a spare body pin and mounted him. I actually used the rubber bump stop spacer from the shocks to hold him in. Fits very snug over the body pin and is really hard to come off. Im sure after a while I will need to check it.
The window masks for the windshield and top were terrible so I used blue painters tape. Came out pretty clean but heres the two painted and mounted.
Painted the inside and outside on both for that flat black look. Opted to paint the front and rear door frames in black as well. I liked the look.
Im sure most people know but the plastic overspray film is a good mask when painting the exterior. I simply used a xacto and cut the film around the windows.
Next up was the lighting.
I didnt like the exposed LED's in the bumpers so I cut some spare lenses from a tamiya hilux kit to fit the front and rear. The fronts were already tinted yellow so I only painted the rears with a transparent red. I also dipped the lower marker lights in an orange paint. The kit comes with some plastic tail lights for the body so i drilled out a space to put some more leds and covered them with the decal. Installed the front light buckets and painted them black. I think it gives a cool look similar to what I've seen with some rally style headlights.
Here is the front all lit up.
Added a winch from RCw4d to the bumper. I know the plastic is not really strong so I cut a plate of aluminum and drilled 3mm holes to mount it. Seems ok until i replace it with a metal one.
(A little side note for those like me that didnt know. When configuring my radio for the winch as a 3p switch, I noticed the winch creeping in the off position. There is a little potentiometer you can adjust to stop that)
Added the skid plates from Junfac. Not sure how they will work yet. Thinking it may get hung up but it looks tough for now.
Well I think that about sums it up for this build for now. Still want to add more scale stuff like a basket. Might pick that up today. Also want to get some more aluminum stuff like chubs and what not but those will come as things wear out.
Hope you all enjoy!
D
New to the site and new to the addiction of crawling.
A little history pre-build first. As I was browsing for my future wraith build at the LHS, the UPS guy walked in with boxes from Axial. As soon as the shop owner opened the box, I was pulling out my $$'s and picked it up. I was amazed at the scale look of this and after building a TF2, I couldnt resist so here is my short and dirty build thread. Oh and I loved the red so thats what I went with but changed it ever so slightly.
Unfortunately, I did't take many chassis build photos but I will try to list out some of the minor mods I made in the process.
Electronics:
Tekin FX-R
Spektrum Rec.
Hitech 645MG w/OFNA servo horn
5000 2 cell lipo
VP bead locks - on the way
shock bump stops removed and a couple of turns to the coil nuts to support the weight up front.
** I replaced the upper plastic links from my dingo since they were the same size.
Traxxas ball links were also used to replace the plastic ones that come with the kit.
Roller and Electronics - Ready to prep the body:
Its really hard to see but I added the alum servo arm and also ground out a small area on the cross member to increase a bit a travel without compromising the integrity of the brace.
The screw and nut that connects the link to the arm is where I cut out a bit of the cross member. I will try to take a cleaner photo later.
After looking at everyone's take on making fender wells, I decided to make my own using styrene. First thing was to make a well template using an old gift box. (card stock will work as well)
Heres a cutting mat photo for scale if you are interested.
Basically traced the inner well and trimmed to fit.
Next I cut some strips of styrene for the arches. The front strips are slightly skinnier in width compared to the rear. I think the rear was about 2" and fit the body nicely with very little daylight showing through.
Then I glued the strips to the well slowly making my way around.
I just used the same template for the fronts and made another one for the rear. Once all 4 were set, I test fitted them, and trimmed to fit.
Here is one all fitted and cut.
Once I was happy, I painted them up and remounted them. Because I used the provided light buckets for the front, I had to trim them just a bit more but here is all 4 wells mounted to the chassis.
Onto the paint. The provided masks did't fit to my liking for the top so I made my own. Here is the body. Taking your time on this body is the key to success. I used to just blow through it but took my time here.
Test fitted the cage and my driver. Ended up popping the upper body off and filled the inside with epoxy. Added a spare body pin and mounted him. I actually used the rubber bump stop spacer from the shocks to hold him in. Fits very snug over the body pin and is really hard to come off. Im sure after a while I will need to check it.
The window masks for the windshield and top were terrible so I used blue painters tape. Came out pretty clean but heres the two painted and mounted.
Painted the inside and outside on both for that flat black look. Opted to paint the front and rear door frames in black as well. I liked the look.
Im sure most people know but the plastic overspray film is a good mask when painting the exterior. I simply used a xacto and cut the film around the windows.
Next up was the lighting.
I didnt like the exposed LED's in the bumpers so I cut some spare lenses from a tamiya hilux kit to fit the front and rear. The fronts were already tinted yellow so I only painted the rears with a transparent red. I also dipped the lower marker lights in an orange paint. The kit comes with some plastic tail lights for the body so i drilled out a space to put some more leds and covered them with the decal. Installed the front light buckets and painted them black. I think it gives a cool look similar to what I've seen with some rally style headlights.
Here is the front all lit up.
Added a winch from RCw4d to the bumper. I know the plastic is not really strong so I cut a plate of aluminum and drilled 3mm holes to mount it. Seems ok until i replace it with a metal one.
(A little side note for those like me that didnt know. When configuring my radio for the winch as a 3p switch, I noticed the winch creeping in the off position. There is a little potentiometer you can adjust to stop that)
Added the skid plates from Junfac. Not sure how they will work yet. Thinking it may get hung up but it looks tough for now.
Well I think that about sums it up for this build for now. Still want to add more scale stuff like a basket. Might pick that up today. Also want to get some more aluminum stuff like chubs and what not but those will come as things wear out.
Hope you all enjoy!
D
