johninderby Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 (edited) Scout Monster Beetle Seeing all these Maverick Scout threads I decided to take a few photos and give some details of my version of a Scout. The Scout is not bad for a budget crawler but it is particularly suitable as the staring point for your very own project. The first thing I did to the Scout was to reduce that top weight and move the battery, ESC & receiver lower. I had a Losi Comp Crawler battery tray and receiver tray which fitted really well to the Scout chassis.Just drilled some holes to mount the Losi trays. Needed some 5mm spacers each side as the Losi tray is narrower than the Scout chassis. Battery is a 1300mah 2s Li-Po. I got hold of some spare Scout bent links and fitted a pair to the rear which helped with the ground clearance as well as extra tyre clearance for the rear steering. Shorter shocks were fitted to lower the chassis a bit and I made up some carbon fibre shock mounting "ears" to allow for extra adjustment. Put 5mm lengths of rubber tube on the front shock shafts to slightly reduce articulation so the tyres didn't foul the body. Motor is an Etronix Sport Tuned 50t which I particularly like as it's got more speed than you'd expect from a 50t motor but still plenty of torque and it's rebuild-able. The side guards are just standard Axial ones as they were just the right size for the Beetle body. Fitting them entailed reversing the mounts that come with the guards and fitting them to the inside of the chassis. The mounts needed shortening a bit, particularly near the motor. Wheels are 2.2 Mashers on Rock 8 beadlocks. The wheels have that retro look that's just right for a monster Beetle.The stainless beadlock rings were polished up and fitted smooth side out and the black screws changed for stainless. Really improves the appearance of the wheels. Fitting rear whel steering to the Scout is easy as all you need is the steering linkage and the extra servo of course. I used a couple of Futaba servos as I had a couple of them on hand. Turning circle is now less than half than it was stock. Body is the Pro-line 1/10th crawler body. I wanted to keep the wings so kept trimming to a minimum. Rear wing braces were removed and the front of the body trimmed in a smooth curve to retain most of the wings but still give reasonable clearance. Paint is Tamiya PS-16 Blue Metallic backed up with bright silver. Parma flame paint masks were used on the sides and the flames sprayed lightly with transparent blue to leave a slightly mottled effect before backing with bright silver. Overall really pleased with the Monster Beetle basher/crawler project as it does just what I wanted it to do. John Edited March 24, 2017 by johninderby 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunm Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Superb work! Two questions how did you wire your rear servo and which handset are you using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johninderby Posted February 8, 2014 Author Share Posted February 8, 2014 I'm using the Absima CR4T radio. Makes setting up four wheel steer incredibly simple. The rear steering servo is just plugged into ch3 and then on the handset tap the steering mix button and select crawler mode and that's it. All set up for four wheel steer. On the Crawler Steering Mix screen you can select which mode of four wheel steer you want but you can also assign a button on the handset to select the steering mode. On the button select screen tap on which button you'd like to use and then select the function. So now all I have to do to select which steering mode I want is to click switch one on the handset and it cycles through the four modes. With a two channel radio you could just use a Y lead and that would give you four wheel steer but of course you'd be stuck in the one steering mode all the time. Add a servo reversing lead to the Y lead and you'd have another steering mode.Of course if you've got three or more channels then you can mix the channels to get what you want. Loving the CR4T. Easiest radio there is to program and so flexible. Haven't used the telemetry modules yet. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunm Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Thanks for the info I can see I've got some homework to do and inspiration, only got the scout a few weeks ago still doing bits and bobs, the radio gear is a bit on the plasticey side, I've been looking to swap it out but scratching my head as to which set up I want now I think I have a plan thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrawlerRC Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Nice Car. Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Rune Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 Good written, thank you for sharing The car was my "role model" when I started with the Pro-line Bodywork, I did not know who the owner was, until now .. Searched on Google, saw the picture of your car there the first time . Are you using the original esc? How long run you get with 2s 1300mAh battery? Waiting for a couple of 2s 1300 now. Kind of a batteryholder are you using? Nice car! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johninderby Posted September 3, 2014 Author Share Posted September 3, 2014 The original ESC didn't have a LiPo cut-off so I used another one. If you want to use LiPos with the original ESC get a low voltage alarm. I fitted a Losi Comp Crawler battery tray that fits low down between the chassis sides. Need to drill mounting holes and use small 4mm spacers. Depending on the motor could be 20 to 30 minutes running time. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Rune Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 Ok, thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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