Lcg crawlers

[Andy-Roo]

Loving that shell, looks bob on with that chassis 👍 

What colour are you gonna paint it? 

[steephill]

36 minutes ago, Andy-Roo said:

Loving that shell, looks bob on with that chassis 👍 

What colour are you gonna paint it? 

Probably dark metalic silver. I might go for the weathered look. The body got damaged during delivery, so it's already got dents in it. 

[Stormbringer]

I think a weathered look would be cool on that 

[Andy-Roo]

I agree, the beat up look would be really cool on that 👍

[steephill]

12 hours ago, Stormbringer said:

I think a weathered look would be cool on that 

 

1 hour ago, Andy-Roo said:

I agree, the beat up look would be really cool on that 👍

The weathered beat up look it is then👍. 

I might have to go with a different colour. I don't think shiny metalic silver would suit unless I gave it a coat of flat clear to dull it off a bit. 

I could use a grey or dark red for exposed primer? 

Any ideas? 

Body work isn't my forte to be honest. 

[Andy-Roo]

I did a weathered Lexan shell a few years ago. 

Step one; I painted the inside a combo of bronze/silver, as per normal with masked windows etc.  

Step two; After it was dry, I peeled off the outer film and roughed the outside up with a Brillo pad, then cleaned and dried. 
Step three; I sprayed/flicked water over the outside, mainly in areas where you like a rush effect. Then sprinkled salt over those wet areas so the salt sticks. Once the water has dried you should be left with salt stuck to the shell in various places. 
Step four; spray the outside in your colour of choice. Once dry and you’re happy with the top coat, rub the salt off leaving the bronze/silver showing through. 
Step five; rub through the top coat on high spots, door/bonnet lines to give the look some depth, but don’t go to far. 
 

I’ll post some pics when I get home later. 

[steephill]

@Andy-Roo brilliant, thanks mate 👍 

[Andy-Roo]

As promised, pics..

I did this about four years ago after I’d seen some posts on another forum (US) on how to do this…but there isn’t a right way or wrong way of doing this. Once you’ve got the general idea you can let artistic license take over and see where it leads. 
I used some Tamiya weathering products on the shell after I’d finished painting and maybe a coat or two of flat clear. 
 

 

It might be an idea to practice on some scrap lexan first before you jump in, but it’s really easy once you get into the groove.  

[Andy-Roo]

Oh, and don’t forget to mask the windows inside and out 👍

[steephill]

@Andy-Roo

That looks brilliant. Thanks for that, much appreciated 👍. 

I've got the body mostly chopped and on body posts on the front. 

I might as well give it a go. It's not like I'm going to ruin an expensive body. 

[Andy-Roo]

48 minutes ago, steephill said:

@Andy-Roo

That looks brilliant. Thanks for that, much appreciated 👍. 

I've got the body mostly chopped and on body posts on the front. 

I might as well give it a go. It's not like I'm going to ruin an expensive body. 

Exactly mate! You can’t really go wrong, it’s just a matter of giving it a go and see where it takes you. 
Oh, you can paint the window trims in silver or black first, to add extra detail. 

[steephill]

Here's my first attempt at a beat up rusty sorta body. 

I was going to try mixing some colours to try and get a rust colour. 

I didn’t have the right colours but I did have some ps55 flat clear and I knew I'd find some actual rust somewhere. 

I found some box section mild steel with rust on it. And then scrapped it off on to a sheet of paper. 

I gave the outside of the shell a bit of a rub down with a black scotch bite pad, masked the windows, coated with flat clear and sprinkled the rust on. 

Then smoothed off with some 320 and then another layer of flat clear. 

Looks like a rusty piece of crap, just what I wanted. 

Thanks for the ideas @Andy-Roo 👍

[Stormbringer]

Does look decent 

[Andy-Roo]

Wow, actual real rust..that’s a great idea! You’ve done a proper job on that, well done mate 👍

And that’s exactly what I meant when I said there’s no right or wrong way of weathering, just go with the flow and see where it takes ya 🙌
 

 

[steephill]

@Andy-Roo Thanks mate 👍.

I've got another one of those 12 quid bodies coming but a Dodge this time. 

So I'm going to get some paint so I can have a go at the weathered look. 

I want to put a cab only on the 10 pro, I don't like how the side plates will stick out. Can you get aftermarket side plates or is just cut the stock parts. 

[Stormbringer]

Similar idea for rc scale ships some folks used to put some nails in a tub with some water in it and let them rust then scrape the rust off and mix with matt varnish and paint it on 

you could harvest the orange rust then leave it a bit longer and get different shades of rust and build it up on the model going from light outside to darker near the middle 

It used to look really effective

[Andy-Roo]

1 hour ago, steephill said:

@Andy-Roo Thanks mate 👍.

I've got another one of those 12 quid bodies coming but a Dodge this time. 

So I'm going to get some paint so I can have a go at the weathered look. 

I want to put a cab only on the 10 pro, I don't like how the side plates will stick out. Can you get aftermarket side plates or is just cut the stock parts. 

You can get different width sliders from aftermarket sellers, but you need to know the width of the body across the door seal area, and taking into account the chassis width with the skid in place.  The Jeep body on my Interceptor is 7 inches wide so I ordered Rock Pirates 7 inch boat sliders and they fit perfectly.  RP do several different sizes of slider, including ones specifically for the Power wagon cab.  Other companies make sliders too, or you could make your own out of 2mm mild steel plate..?

As you say, cutting down the OG Axial ones is an option, too.   

[Andy-Roo]

1 hour ago, Stormbringer said:

Similar idea for rc scale ships some folks used to put some nails in a tub with some water in it and let them rust then scrape the rust off and mix with matt varnish and paint it on 

you could harvest the orange rust then leave it a bit longer and get different shades of rust and build it up on the model going from light outside to darker near the middle 

It used to look really effective

Another great idea. 

[Andy-Roo]

@steephill I was just thinking, you could use the OG Axial sliders as a template to make your own ones in any size you like.  
 

IERC make rock sliders for the 10 Pro in different sizes. I would post a link but for some reason it won’t let me 🤷‍♂️

[steephill]

@Andy-Roo Thanks mate 👍.

I'll have a look. 

I've got some 2mm Ali, I notice rock pirates products are mainly aluminum, so it should be good to use. 

I should of got a 3d printer by now. 

There's loads of rc bits that can be printed. 

 

[Andy-Roo]

1 hour ago, steephill said:

@Andy-Roo Thanks mate 👍.

I'll have a look. 

I've got some 2mm Ali, I notice rock pirates products are mainly aluminum, so it should be good to use. 

I should of got a 3d printer by now. 

There's loads of rc bits that can be printed. 

 

Yeah, being able to 3D print is such a powerful tool to have in the RC armoury. 
But I have trouble turning off my laptop, let alone trying to 3D print 🤣

[ReggieC]

Really good read this! Off camping in on the Pembrokshire coast next week which means I've been giving my Gmade R1 a bit of attention so the crawler bug is biting me again! What sort of budget are we talking for building up one of these aliexpress rigs?

[steephill]

1 hour ago, ReggieC said:

Really good read this! Off camping in on the Pembrokshire coast next week which means I've been giving my Gmade R1 a bit of attention so the crawler bug is biting me again! What sort of budget are we talking for building up one of these aliexpress rigs?

Not to much if you have a rig as a donor, scx10 or similar. 

You can get a chassis kit for 30 - 50 ish quid. I've had a few, they are really good for the money. Just look carefully as some are better than others. 

There's plenty of good axles on aliexpress, you just have to look carefully. 

The scx10 ii axle copies I bought take genuine arr44 diffs, shafts and hubs. You can get them for about 60 quid a pair. 

I got some plastic capra axles with plenty of brass and overdrive for 120 for the pair and I'm well impressed with the quality and finish. 

I've had two bodies from aliexpress 12 & 14 quid. 

Then your choice in electronics, whatever your budget is. 

I picked up a 2low gearbox copy for 12 quid delivered.

So fairly cheap for a custom build compared to the high end products. 

Edited June 19, 2024 by steephill

[Lone-wolf]

19 hours ago, steephill said:

Not to much if you have a rig as a donor, scx10 or similar. 

You can get a chassis kit for 30 - 50 ish quid. I've had a few, they are really good for the money. Just look carefully as some are better than others. 

There's plenty of good axles on aliexpress, you just have to look carefully. 

The scx10 ii axle copies I bought take genuine arr44 diffs, shafts and hubs. You can get them for about 60 quid a pair. 

I got some plastic capra axles with plenty of brass and overdrive for 120 for the pair and I'm well impressed with the quality and finish. 

I've had two bodies from aliexpress 12 & 14 quid. 

Then your choice in electronics, whatever your budget is. 

I picked up a 2low gearbox copy for 12 quid delivered.

So fairly cheap for a custom build compared to the high end products. 

have to say im very tempted to do LCG and use my injora rock buggy as donor as it has a lot of axial stuff like axles 

[steephill]

 

 

1 hour ago, Lone-wolf said:

have to say im very tempted to do LCG and use my injora rock buggy as donor as it has a lot of axial stuff like axles 

That sounds like a good idea 👍. 

You won't need much if you use your rock buggy. 

There's some good lcg chassis kits for not much money. 

The ftx texan bodies cheap but very good quality.