Pistonhead

One last bit for today, getting the inner fenders, radiator and electronics mountings all installed on the chassis. Truly bowled over with the quality, fit, finish and overall build experience. If it’s this good to build then i can see it being an absolute jewel to drive!

Made decent headway today. Managed to eventually get the shocks built after slightly mangling two the E clips holding the pistons to the shafts causing much swearing, managed to salvage them in the end though and, after that, it was back to the Vanquish build quality. They built up beautifully, bled correctly first time, don’t leak and are easily the smoothest crawler shock i’ve use! Links were up next, they’re absolute chonkers with a good amount of weight to them. Like the rest of the kit, they went together practically by themselves. Bolted everything to the chassis and stood her on her wheels for the first time. Just about to start mocking up the body get it mounted while i wait for some masking tape.

Started building it…

I may have had to wait up for the delivery this morning (i work nights and finished 7am) i couldn’t get to sleep and ended up building up the axles and chassis too lol. So far, I’m blown away by the Vanquish build experience - the fit and finish on the parts and assemblies is something i can only liken to a Tekno, from the hardware to the way everything effortlessly glides together! Next up is that glorious VFD Twin transmission….

She’s finally here! Having never owned anything by Vanquish before, just the box screams quality, and heavy too! Couldn’t resist mounting the tyres first, heard mixed reviews about these, but they feel more than sticky enough and similar tread pattern to the BFGoodrich Km3’s i had on my 10.3 which worked pretty well on my local terrain, so i’ll give these a good shot.

Postie’s been a very good boy today!

Been away from the hobby for a couple years now but some of you may remember by build threads, and recently got the itch to get back crawling, my fiancé caught me looking at the new straight axle Phoenix - two days later and she tells me she’s ordered one for my birthday present! Like i said, i’ve been away from the hobby for a while and unlike my previous builds, everything will be brand spanking new, including the tools, as i have nothing to carry over from this time. It’s going to stay basic and budget(ish), i’ve already got the paint and some Chanquish wheels, i’m buying back a pair of 5000mah, 50c gens-ace 3s packs and charger, i’ll be ordering a HobbyWing Fusion Pro 2300kv 2in1 next month, and a cheap 2ch radio and Amazon 45kg steering servo the month after. I plan on keeping the overdrive and dig locked-out at first but will be upgrading the radio to allow full functionality down the road

Wheels, paint and some new tools for my upcoming Vanquish Phoenix build

New toy at work! Sadly, i only have a B1 ticket so can’t actually have a play with this 15 tonne beauty!

Same down here, doesn’t matter what coast i chose to attempt to shelter from wind, it still blows just as strong lol

Haven’t made it there yet, but plan on doing so asap. Been too busy having a giggle on the rocks on the beach in the evenings lol.

Now running the stock kit foams instead of the single stage ones that came with the BFG’s, big improvement! It now sidehills comfortably, as well as having increased steering and much improved forward and side traction. Here’s a short vid from yesterday across the beach!

I believe the ring/pinion is 11% on a straight axle, but I imagine the gear reduction after increases that percentage somewhat. I only have the B link to set my sw4 with, as the bec wasn’t on my radar when I purchased it lol, came to find the b link doesn’t work with this bec lol. More videos to come, hoping to get out to Poldice Valley on Tuesday, weather permitting lol

Got round to fitting the bec and overdrive yesterday followed by a short test run over the beach. Despite not having the Castle usb link to set the Bec voltage, the servo felt considerably more punchy, and the esc seemed to also run quieter and smoother without needing its internal bec. The overdrive - being ring and pinion - is pretty mild but still noticeable on straight axles, but having the extra gear reduction of the portal hubs thrown in too, it feels considerably more aggressive! I really like it! The turning radius is now about the length of the car and when crawling over larger/trickier obstacles you can visibly see the tyres bite into the terrain before the whole rig squats down significantly on its suspension before driving up and over whatever it’s on. Barely any torque twist either, before, it didn’t need much excuse to pick up the front right tyre, now all four stay decently planted. Definitely in love with how it’s performing now, to the point where i feel i can really start pushing the truck to see what she’ll do, the only thing letter her down currently, is the single stage insert that came with the Mud Terrains, so will give the kit foams another chance and try them in the BFG’s as they feel about right for the overall softer tyre construction.

Don’t be expecting rapid delivery, everything state side being sent by usps is quarantined for two weeks before waiting the next flight, which could be days, mine took seven weeks to arrive lol.

They also do a version with an xt60 connector as the magnets don’t like too much power, will see if i get any degradation on 3s and my driving style.

Something i’ve been way more excited about than i should have been, but it saves the pita job of refitting the body and clips on the 10.3 when i stop on the trails. The slight irony of solving the having to faff around fitting the body and clips, is it’s now even more of a faff when changing a battery. Before, it was just the lights connecting the body to chassis with a decent length lead, now there’s an extra two, thicker and shorter leads to connect up, so you have to have the body perched over the chassis and connect the xt60’s under the body lol.

My Powershift Dead Man Switch finally turned up this morning, no more pulling the body off to power off when i stop on the trails My Castle Bec is also here awaiting me soldering and setting it up, and also have an SSD overdrive ring and pinion on the way - spotted a bnip ‘used’ one on eBay for £17 posted the other day, after the seller bought it for the wrong truck.

You’ll have to let me know when you’re down next, thanks to my shift patter i get a lot of days off to go play, plus it’s only a ten minute drive from home. I would have gotten a good video, but the one clip i have was ruined by the wind, it was all you could hear and was rocking the tripod lol

Out around Botallack this afternoon, probably my favourite local playground, definitely starting to need a bec as getting the occasional brown-out

Stunning weather again on my day off, spent it wrenching on both Jeeps - the Trail King got its new universals plus a wheel swap with the 10.3, which received my spare SSD Rock Shield bumper and then finally got round to getting some pics of both together, should look great out on the trails too. I know i said it looked better with the smaller tyres, but now i’ve seen and run it with aftermarket 4.75s i take it back, especially as they don’t catch anything like as badly as the stock ones, plus the darker wheels suit the dark blue of the Trail King better too.