My SCX10.2 - A Work In Progress.

[Andy-Roo]

Evening all..

 

When I bought this10.2 I remember thinking how flimsy it felt and I immediately stared thinking about modding it. Then, as the parts list grew and grew, I realised that there wouldn’t be much, if anything, of the original truck left..so I decided I’d just build a truck from the ground up, based on on a VS4-10 chassis kit...and my “High Roller” build was born. 
 

From then on I just used the 10.2 and enjoyed it, flimsy frame and all.  I wanted to fab my own roll cage for my High Roller build and used the 10.2 for practice. The V1 came out really well but of course there’s room for improvement! The V2 will be better. The first mod was the plastic shocks - out they went and in went Traxxas GTS’s. These are great shocks that only need the green slime treatment and they’re good to go. Ive had zero leaks with these...highly recommended.  
Next up was used set of pressed steel wheels (very kindly given to me by a true gent @CarlC) and a set of Proline BF Goodrich KM3 in predator compound. These are great tyres 👍
The next mod was a set of SSD alloy shock hoops after I snapped the Panhard mount barrel rolling down the side of a quarry - but the roll cage took the hits and just shrugged them off. Well ‘ard! 
The next addition was a Scalerfab front bumper that was intended for my VS4-10, but was a little too wide for my Yota body.  So that now call the 10.2 home. 
 

And that almost brings us up to date..

 

Today I’ve started to fab a rear bed out of sheet alloy and also fitted a Bowhouse HD battery/servo mount, plus some diff covers...because I didn’t like the stock red ones! 
 

template for the bed - CAD 😜

 

Looks like a rat has gnawed this out 🤣

 

 

Getting there..

 

 

It only bloody fits...that’s a first for me 😆

 

A 90 degree bend and a bit more filing..

 

 

This is it so far, but I have a few ideas on how to finish it off and @stimpy has a few of his own..so maybe a combination of ideas will see this done.  
 

Next up, Bowhouse parts.. 

[stimpy]

Hahaha... Blame it all on me why don’t you!! 🙈🤪😂

 

Keep up the good work! 

[DartmoorTrails]

Get some fine grit on that panel Andy, it'll shine up a beaut👍

 

I love watching home made fab work comng together, always inspiring.

[Andy-Roo]

Morning all.. 

 

My next two mods are for performance and looks.  I got myself a Bowhouse HD battery/servo mount to reduce flex from the stock setup - I’m only using a cheap 20kg servo but it loses a bunch of power due to the flimsy stock mount.  I also got a pair of black, Ballistic diff covers because I don’t like the stock red ones. 
 

I thought this was gonna be a quick and easy job. I mean how hard could it be..🤪



Deconstruction..

 

 

The difference is clear to see, the new part is so much more sturdy than stock.

 

 

And it fits perfectly..although you have to remember to run a 2mm drill bit (by hand) through all the mounting holes, to clear out anything left over from the printing process. 

 

 

And everything was going so well, until I tried to refit my front bumper- no dice 🙈

 

 

As you can see, Scalerfab don’t mess about with their mounts, they are proper beefy..maybe too beefy because they ain’t moving.  Hmmm 🤔 

Time for a brew and a think.  I couldn’t reduce the width across the frame, and couldn’t bend the bumper mounts, but I could take some of the beef out of the bumper mounts with my trusty bench grinder..

 

 

After grinding at both sides the bumper fits the rails like a glove...in fact better than before.

 

However, more fettling was needed. I wanted to pull the bumper in as far as possible but the new battery mount ‘had‘ a raised section either side of the tray, to help keep the battery in place. Trouble was, they were fouling the bumper, stopping it from going back as far as I wanted..so they had to go..

 

That’s better..

 

I now have a very solid front end, so my cheap servo should actually transfer it’s torque down to the wheels, and not lose it to chassis flex 💪 
 

Now, let’s lose those red diff covers..

 

 

I’m very happy with the results, and even though it wasn’t a straight forward install the outcome is a marked improvement. 
 

My next planned mod is a fairly big one. I have the main ‘character‘ already in stock and am just waiting on the supporting cast to arrive from Shapeways.  Fingers crossed the install goes well...but more about that, next time 👍

[Andy-Roo]

1 hour ago, DartmoorTrails said:

Get some fine grit on that panel Andy, it'll shine up a beaut👍

 

I love watching home made fab work comng together, always inspiring.

I’ve ordered some diamond plate from RCBITZ, which I’m planning on covering the panel with, and then weathering it. I’m also going to add a fuel cell that I can use as home for the RX/BEC further down the line.  
And home fab is something I really enjoy - keeps me happy for hours!  

[DartmoorTrails]

That's a beefy bit of kit right there mate!

[stimpy]

It’s normally the lead role that plays hard to get not the support!! 😂😂

 

Gettin’ betterer all the time man 👍

[Andy-Roo]

Afternoon all.. 

 

I’ve made some progress on the bed section that I’m quite pleased with.  My order of RC4WD diamond plate landed along with an SSD fuel cell and some shackles for that scale look.  

 

The plan was to weather the fuel cell and diamond plate...and maybe the shackles. 
 

I started by rubbing down the plastics with some 1500 wet ‘n’ dry..

Ready now for the first stage with the Modern options rust paint..

 

 

The first stage just looks like grey primer..

 

24hrs later and I’m ready for stage two..

 

While I’m waiting for stage two to dry, I paint the fuel cell silver - I’m looking for a dull alloy look..

 

 

Stage two has been drying for an hour or so..and the rust is already showing.. 

 

It’s looking good, but I want more. Much more. So over the course of the day I keep hitting it with the stage two activator..over and over.  By late afternoon it’s really coming together..

 

 

But I still keep hitting it with more coats until it reaches this point. Perfect 👌 

 

 

In between all of this I’ve also been working on the diamond plate bed..

 

 

At this point I’ve painted the alloy bed black and have trimmed the diamond plate to fit on top. But I want to weather the diamond plate too..

 

Rubbed down ready for black paint..

 

 

Fuel cell is looking great..

 

 

Getting there, slowly but surely..

 

This is how it’ll sit on the truck but I wasn’t sure how I’d fix it down. I decided to make a simple chassis brace out of engineering grade plastic that’ll fit between the frame rails, and then the fuel cell and the bed will both mount to that.  So this is where I’m at..waiting on the plastic to land.  
 

Hopefully the next update will see the bed finished 🤞

 

Thats all for now folks. 

[stimpy]

As per txts, that looks flipping incredible mate 👍

[Andy-Roo]

9 minutes ago, stimpy said:

As per txts, that looks flipping incredible mate 👍

Thanks mate!
I’ve weathered the fuel cell now and the overall look is even better now 👌

[RC_County_Crawler]

That’s some hardcore fabricating @Andy-Roo It’s looking great and the “rustification” of the fuel cell looks fantastic! Can’t wait to see what else you’ve got in store for this build.

[Andy-Roo]

Thanks @RC_County_Crawler 👍

 

I just can’t leave it alone..it’s like an illness that has no cure 😆

[Stormbringer]

22 minutes ago, Andy-Roo said:

Thanks @RC_County_Crawler 👍

 

I just can’t leave it alone..it’s like an illness that has no cure 😆

Tell me about it mate lol 🤣

[Andy-Roo]

Evening all.. 

So I have another update on my fabbed bed section...I was hoping I’d have it finished tonight but being back at work has slowed progress 👎 

 

After mocking up the rear at the end of the last update, I decided that rather than drill a bunch of holes into the frame rails to fix the bed down, I’d make a chassis brace for the rear and fix the bed to that - the new brace would use existing holes in the rails. 
 

I did a bit of online research and found that engineering grade plastic would probably work for my purposes, so I ordered a small sheet of Acetal - 250x250x8mm, which landed on the mat today. 

The aftermath of Saturdays quarry meet 😆

 

 

This is really nice stuff to work with..

 

 

The plan is to lose the two stock braces and replace them with one piece of Acetal.  If I find that one piece is to heavy I can always add lightness by cut sections out.

 

 

Looks pretty straight forward to me.. 

 

 

So I had a little measure up..

 

Made a template out of card - cardboard aided design (CAD). 
 

 

Transfer the template onto the lovely shiny plastic, using masking tape..

..measure tens times, cut only once. Hopefully! 🤞 

 

To file or cut, that is the question.. 

 

 

It was a combination of both, and it came out great!
Acetal is really nice to work with...if only I had a CNC cutter 😁

 

I mocked up the rear section to see how it all looked, now that I’ve weathered the fuel cell itself - and I’m really happy with it so far..

 

 

With any luck I’ll have this buttoned up after work tomorrow , just in time for the imminent arrival of a Shapeways care package 📦 

 

Oh I almost forgot..I also fitted a set of P-L duel stage foams to the 10.2, and I’m so impressed with the difference they made...it was like a different truck. The turning circle and side hilling are both hugely improved now. 
 

That’s all for now folks..

Edited June 29, 2020 by Andy-Roo

[stimpy]

Looks great, but... the weight!?!?!?!?!????... Please drill a million holes in it just to calm my OCD... Please please please🤣!!!

[Andy-Roo]

Morning all..

 

A quick update; My one piece brace ended up as a two piece item after I snapped a drill bit in it while drilling some pilot holes 🙈

Trouble was, the hole I was drilling had to be there so either I removed the broken bit or I started again.  I started again and made it a two piece, so its lighter, but still stiffens the frame and acts as mount for the bed section.

 

No snapped drill bits this time! 

I do have a small problem though, but it’s easily fixed..

At full compression the upper link mount hits the brace so I just need to cut a small section out.

 

Almost full compression..

 

The end result..

 

 

So now I have somewhere to rehouse the RX and BEC when I change (make) the sliders.  But before that happens I’m gonna be swapping the transmission for a motor forward setup.  
 

 

 

[DartmoorTrails]

I want a forward motor setup as well; do share what you find as the one I'd looked at was $150!!! Ludicrous money for a small machined piece of aluminium and transfer case.

 

Nice work on weathering the  fuel cell; I just painted the braces bit in matt black and sanded the red cell. Yours looks way better mate, good work.

 

As stimpy mentioned above, that's a lot of weight to be hoisting up there on the backend, along with the cage do you now find it a little heavy in the rear?

[Andy-Roo]

@DartmoorTrails It feels pretty well balanced now I’ve fitted the new transmission with the motor forward, but I haven’t taken in out yet so have no idea how it’ll handle with the new setup. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Badcrumble]

Do we get pics of the forward motor transmission? When’s your next trip to the trail?  Only asking as I live most of my  RC life vicariously....

[Andy-Roo]

1 hour ago, Badcrumble said:

Do we get pics of the forward motor transmission? When’s your next trip to the trail?  Only asking as I live most of my  RC life vicariously....

Yes, I’ll be posting pics and a write up about the transmission swap as soon as I get time - it’ll be a long post, so best I apologise now for boring you all with it 🤪

[CarlC]

😴 Look forward to being bored brainless 🤣

[Andy-Roo]

Morning folks.. 

 

I hope you’re all sitting comfortably, this may take a while.  Here we go.. 

When I bought my VS 4-10 chassis kit I didn’t know what transmission I’d be using in it, I thought it would probably be Axial based so I picked up a motor plate, top shaft and T-case for an Axial 5 gear tranny along with the chassis kit.  Fast forward a couple of months.... I’d built the tranny and offered it  up to the VS chassis and realised it wasn’t gonna work; mounted motor backwards I would have to cut the rear of the cab out of my lovely Yota double cab for clearance, and mounted motor forward didn’t work either -  there was no skid or cross member available to mount it that way around and it looked like the motor would probably foul a frame rail too.  Hmmmm 🤔

 

I ended up going in a different direction for the VS tranny but that left this 5 gear without a home.  So instead of it sitting in a parts box going to waste, I decided to fit it in the 10.2 and replace that big ugly grey lump of a tranny.  
 

You’ve all seen a transmission before but here’s some pics - I did warn you this was gonna be boring 🤣

 

 

Top shaft comparison; top is stock Axial, bottom is the VP one that is made to a much tighter tolerance and thus removes slop. 
 

 

VP shaft built up ready for install.. 

 

Installed.. 

 

 

Alloy VP Atlas T-case and stock plastic Axial - again, tighter tolerances = less slop and a scale look. 
 

 

Then I came across a problem; one of the six included bearings in the Axial parts bag was the wrong size! Luckily I had the correct  size in stock so that issue was easily sorted. 
 

 

There’s something very satisfying about putting a transmission together.. 

 

 

The VP motor plate - adding strength and rigidity. 
 

 

And there it is, a really smooth and nice looking transmission. 
 

 

Next up, installing it into the 10.2.. 

 

 

 

 

 

[RC_County_Crawler]

That all looks tidy @Andy-Roo

You’ll have to forgive my ignorance, but I’m going to ask a noob question - is this for a 2 speed transmission?

[Andy-Roo]

So, installing this tranny was actually pretty straight forward with all the parts needed being available on Shapeways, and they delivered ahead of schedule!  
 

The right way around, and the wrong..

 

New skid and crossmember..

 

I’ve had this truck apart so many times now I think I could do with my eyes closed 🙈

 

Sitting nicely in its new home..

 

 

The first problem I came across was the stock Axial links were to wide for the mounts on the new skid.  Luckily I had some spare SS VP ones left over that fitted perfectly..

 

Almost there..

 

I cut part off part of an Axial skid to make spacers for the links, as the new skid doesn’t have the upper link mounts..

 

 

Just tidying up now..

 

The driveline angles are now straight and the CoG is lower - hopefully helping counteract the heavy cage..

 

 

With the transmission in this position the driveshafts need rejigging, but the parts needed are included in the builders kit, so no extra costs involved.
The rear driveshaft is too long and the front too short, so all I did was swap half the front for half of the rear (if that makes sense)?  I still may have to swap a couple of drive ‘tubes’ out for the shorter ones but for now I’ll play it by ear, because it seems like my way could work. Time, and the proper test drive will tell on that score. 
 

So there you have it - a transmission that wasn’t planned for this rig but that now callS the 10.2 home, and I have to say I’m pleased with outcome. It’s pretty well balanced and  having a quick drive about my garage/garden it’s really smooth and quiet, so initial thoughts are all positive....but the real test is yet to come! 
 

Sorry for boring you all to tears, but I did warn you! 😅

[Andy-Roo]

29 minutes ago, RC_County_Crawler said:

That all looks tidy @Andy-Roo

You’ll have to forgive my ignorance, but I’m going to ask a noob question - is this for a 2 speed transmission?

The two speed can be fitted to this transmission as an upgrade, yes. But that’s not something I’ll be doing.  

 

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/axial-scx10-transmission-set-complete/rc-car-products/409568