Badcrumble’s 1st Scaler - Basic GCM JK Jeep

[stimpy]

Cage looks great! Seats 'av gotta' go!!! Make a chest in the back where the battery will fit!

 

Bit of a shame its quite a large pack but hey ho for now....

[DartmoorTrails]

Where'd you say yu got the body from again @Badcrumble?

I need somethng to replace a POS Discovery body my son runs on his SCX and i'd need to offer him an alternative ready to go to win him over!!! This may very well do it...

[Badcrumble]

I bought my shell from eBay but I can’t access the listing any more. There are quite a few sellers out there. The short shell might not fit on a regular SCX10II.2 without  shortening the links and frame - there is a thread on RCCrawler where someone did this.

The easier alternative would be the four door version with a c.313mm wheelbase

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313MM-Car-Body-Shell-Kit-for-1-10-RC-Jeep-Wrangler-Axial-SCX10-II-90046-90047/133074777561?var=432378929151

Probably easier than buying a second hand GCM Skeleton chassis when you only run Nimh!

[DartmoorTrails]

Cheers fella

 

[Badcrumble]

Continued the deconstruction of the JK body. The rear seat backs were held on with six (six?!) screws.

A couple more screws from the middle and out popped the centre console unit. Four screws under the scuttle and the dash came away.
The front seat backs appear to be glued in place.

My trial stick pack fits diagonally across the rear bed so I could ream a hole for the cable and get going. But if I remove the interior of the bed I would shed a lot of excess weight.

And if I put the hardtop back on no-one will ever see how much of a hash I make of it...

 

[stimpy]

Personally.... Haha.... Id cut the hell out of it so the battery sits in the rear bed, then make a cover that sits over it between the two wheel arch tubs and then fit the cage as it looks awesome!!

 

Or just blow £50 and get a cheaper lipo charger and a smaller lipo 🤪😂

 

Cheap as chips at Hobbyking.... 

[Andy-Roo]

A nice little 1500 lipo would sit in there lovely, and you don’t have to have an all singing and dancing charger, a cheap one will do the job, it’ll just take a bit longer to charge/discharge.  
 

That’s a good looking shell btw, plenty of detail...the cage looks great 👍 

 

I used to have a Savage Flux that I fitted GCM’s XL TVP’s to...the thing spent 90% of its run time cartwheeling at high speed and breaking numerous parts off, but those TVP’s were bomb proof!   I also follow their YouTube channel, which is worth checking out if you haven’t already. 

[Badcrumble]

The more I work on this truck the more LiPo becomes an inevitability.

I’ll have to fit the battery hangers to the chassis @Andy-Roo, you’ll see how this rig is set up for small pack LiPo.

RC spending may have to take a back seat for a while if Mrs BC loses her job in two weeks. I’d have to start selling some of my fleet to fund it...<gulp >

In the meantime, using Nimh would mean I get it running. Otherwise I might be waiting for Modelsport vouchers for my birthday later in the year...

 

Anyhoo, back to the truck. My cutting will be careful to begin with, the GCM rear mounts use the existing mounting points on the chassis. It would be good if I can keep these - though if i fit the skid plates, they can screw to mounting points too! Clever people at GCM.

[stimpy]

Sounds good...

 

And good luck with the missus’s job - tell her we need her to keep it so you can play more 👍😂😂

[Badcrumble]

I took a  short break from adulting this evening and retrieved Mr Razor Saw from the RC tool box. I screenshot the the GCM YouTube video on the slider install

And got to work taping up the JK.

Measure twice, cut once they say. Well, it doesn't matter how many times I measure, my wonky eyes will always get it slightly out (overdue for an eye test but where are you going to get one done at the moment?!). I was never any good at CDT.

I even managed to do both sides!

Apparently, the sliders are over-sized to protect the body when... sliding.

 

[Badcrumble]

Next up:

1. Sort out the clearance issues that still remain at the front. The servo winch is causing issues. I'm not using the front body mounts so I should just get brave and remove them. If that doesn't work, I'll be spacing the winch down a few mm.

2. Work out the ESC position. Hopefully pick the ESC tomorrow.

3. Install the battery hangers. This may mean re-working the rear suspension mounts...again.

4. Try out my 1.9 wheels and tyres - Locked Up RC wheels and BFG Mud Terrain tyres.

5. Pushing it as far down the list as possible as it means getting brave again - cut out the rear bed for battery install.

 

Of course, if I haven't got to step 5 by September, I might just go LiPo...

[stimpy]

Looks much better that now! And yes sliders to protect body 👍 And you get points!!! And you know what that means!??? 😂😂😂🙈

 

What motor and Esc you thinking of? 
 

Oh, and great looking saw! I must get myself something decent some day, currently use an old hacksaw blade in hand 🙈... And Derek Dremmel sometimes of course!!.. 

Edited May 31, 2020 by stimpy

[Badcrumble]

Thanks @stimpy. I reckon I could take the lip down a couple of mm for a really good fit but it is a start. 

I can't recommend that Tamiya saw enough. I've had it a few years now and it went through that body so clean and easy!

I bought a 'get me started' package from OHO so I have a 27T Axial motor installed plus a 1060 with a Castle BEC soldered in. 

[stimpy]

Ah ok.... Your servo will be happy!! 
 

Will look into the saws... I assume it’s a pull saw - not push?... 

[Badcrumble]

22 hours ago, stimpy said:

Ah ok.... Your servo will be happy!! 
 

Will look into the saws... I assume it’s a pull saw - not push?... 

I’m pretty sure it is a pull saw given where the plastic dust ended up and remembering my first stroke.

 

Retrieved my ESC today!

Was thinking about the front and rear body mounts and the trimming I need to do. Think I will remove front one but retain the central ones which fix to the new sliders. Then cut out the rear bed, work out if I can get a Nimh stick pack in there and try to keep the rear Ones which, utilise the neat GCM  rear post mounts if I can. 

[Badcrumble]

So I managed to grab 40 minutes of ‘me time’ today so headed out to the garage, grabbed a mini craft saw, body reamer and the JK body. They say the first cut is the deepest..

 

Pretty soon the rear bench was out. I wanted to keep some of the existing elements from the  interior and for a quick and dirty hack job I am pleased with the results.

This shows the amount of space in the rear of the JK. Alas, the rear body mounts have nowhere to screw into now.

Installing a standard stick pack, however, will mean trimming even more from behind the seats.

Hang on! This was just about getting access - if I flip the battery then hopefully my Tamiya-to-Deans adapter will be able to reach the ESC. If so, it will be enough to get the rig running.

Longer term, a square pack Nimh or LiPo will be the way to go.

 

Net steps:

Remove the front body mounts to gain clearance for the winch.

Secure the skid plates 

Attach the battery hangers (though they are superfluous)

Install the ESC and...

...get to going!

 

 

[Andy-Roo]

Chop chop!
You gotta have some minerals to go chopping up a very nice hard body, but it looks like you’ve got it handled Mr Crumble.  I have a Yota body that’s gonna need to see a saw at some point...hope I can do as good a job as you have 🙏

[stimpy]

Looking good buddy!! 

[Badcrumble]

Thanks guys, I stocked up on these in my last order from the Far East

I have been doing some practicing with styrene over the last few months which has helped get me more used to working with blades

I still can't quite believe that I had a go at the sills but it was worth it!

Having seen your brazing work @Andy-Roo I reckon you'll be OK working on your Yota. What's the worst that could happen?!

 

[CarlC]

@Badcrumble I need some of them pills lol

[stimpy]

I want the marshmallow!!! 

[Andy-Roo]

1 hour ago, CarlC said:

@Badcrumble I need some of them pills lol

Maybe we could get a bulk deal 😆

[stimpy]

2 minutes ago, Andy-Roo said:

Maybe we could get a bulk deal 😆

I’ll certainly require more than one!!! 🙀😂

[Badcrumble]

I grabbed a bit of time today to do some work on the JK. As it always seems to be with this build, two steps forward and one back.

I noted last time round that the front end of the body seemed to be catching on the servo winch. So I took my little craft saw to the front body mounts.

With  the body back on, I could see that the winch was still interfering with the grille/light mounts.

The answer? Flip the servo winch.

Great, bit now the only problem is that there aren’t any mounts at the front and rear any more so the body flops around like a pr1ck in a bucket.

The answer? Get those sliders mounted so I can use the mounts under the seats.
How to fix the sliders? Watched the GCM how to video and the answer was ‘use your hardware’. Hmm, the thing is, if your screws go through the mount and chassis to be held by a nut, the nut fouls the rod end on the other side.
The answer would shorter links - there are multiple recess in the back of the mount to allow for the different link points - but that isn’t really an option just now.

So I have gone for the ‘bung in a load of silicon and an M3 screw’ bodge.

Edited June 14, 2020 by Badcrumble

[stimpy]

These things can certainly be a challenge sometimes when you’re pretty much free styling!..

 

Cant see your predicament in the pics. I assume you can’t put the screw for the sliders In from the chassis side and nut externally? Or recess the nut in the chassis? Or space the link rod off the chassis a little.....