1tenner's honcho!

[1tenner]

First of all, sorry that I asked the "what should I do first" question right out of the gate without searching, or (duh) noticing the sticky.

Now that that's out of the way...

I cut the bump stops off the shocks - didn't even have to remove the wheels - and installed a spektrum receiver for my radio, stuck in a battery, and boom...off and crawling! I found some great spots at the park just 3 blocks away. Below are some pics and a link to my youtube channel where I uploaded 2 vids. Man, is this thing fun! I can't believe how well it crawls right out of the box! I really need to talk my friends into getting these. I can already imagine marking out courses on the rocks...

Check out the vids at 1tenner's Channel - YouTube

 

[AsILayDying]

Wow that looks like a great little spot to learn on and get some quality scaling in. Congrats on finding the "tips and tricks" thread, it will help with getting some of the regularly done mods out of the way. Good luck on future mods and congrats on the new rig. Welcome to the ADDICTION!!!!! "thumbsup"

 

[1tenner]

Updates to my rig

Updates to my Honcho...

First I added some weight to the wheels front and rear. I added about a foot of lead rope/wire to the front, and a little less to the rears. Then I stuffed the receiver and light panel in one balloon, and the esc in another to seal them up.

Then I bought some scale accessories - I got the Proline roof rack, light bar, and scale tools. I painted up the scale tools with some silver to make them look like they have been used a bit.

Before I mounted the roof rack and light bar, I kept going with the painting. I masked off the windows and front light decals and shot a couple of coats of outlaw black on the body. I sanded the body pretty good with a 3M pad before I painted. We'll see how well it holds up.

Here's a couple of pics of the newly painted body with the roof rack and lights. Haven't decided quite where/how to mount the tools yet.

And finally, I was looking around at some of the metal rock rails - something like these Tough Armor ones. I read up a bit on the brazing tips and watched a couple videos on youtube. So I went out yesterday and bought some brake line from the auto parts store, picked up a bottle of MAP gas and the $15 braze kit from Ace Hardware that has the good 56% silver solder, a tubing bender from Harbor Freight, and a 6 pack of beers and tried my hand at fabrication.

The hardest part was getting everything cut and the fish-eye joints filed in such a way that I could hold it all together while I did the brazing. The brazing itself wasn't that tough, but my old torch tip valve is wacky and the flame changes as I move it around making it harder than it should have been. I think with a new torch tip and a few more tries I will get better at it.

Also, I messed up the positioning of the support bars. They will be pretty much right in line with the stand-offs to the frame so I might mess up the joint when I go to add the stand-offs.

Anyhow, here's a couple pics of the rock rails so far...

 

[steele42]

Your brazing is way better than mine! I haven't even dared try yet.... Looks good to me

 

[1tenner]

Your brazing is way better than mine! I haven't even dared try yet.... Looks good to me

Yeah, I think it turned out pretty good for my first time. Getting the temp just right to melt the solder is tricky. I need to get a surface to work on. For these I just clamped them in the vice and did one end at a time. Not sure quite how I'm going to hold it for doing the stand-offs. And not sure what to get for the flat mounting parts either, but I'll figure something out.

 

[1tenner]

Finished brazing rock rails

Finished up brazing my rock rails last night (well, early this morning...) and got the mounting plates drilled. I definitely feel like I'm backyarding it with only a little vice on top of my oil soaked wooden work bench. Probably lucky I didn't burn the house down. I really need to find something less flammable to work on.

Anyhow, here are the completed rails. I still need to clean the joints up a little more and prep and paint them.

And here are a few with them mounted to the truck - oh yeah, does anyone now how important the little self-tapping screws that go in the middle are? Two on each side? One side holds the LED wire guides, but the others seem pointless.

 

[rockeater]

Looks good, ya have a sweet area as well to run. Nicesliders

 

[1tenner]

Looks good, ya have a sweet area as well to run. Nicesliders

Thanks, those first pictures are at the park about 3 blocks away. We have tons of that basalt rock in our area. It will be good for testing out my brazing on the sliders "thumbsup"

 

[steele42]

Ya your rock rails look sweet. Good work!

 

[1tenner]

Ya your rock rails look sweet. Good work!

In retrospect, for the amount I've spent on equipment and materials I could have just bought a nice new set....and a front bumper....and a rear bumper... :lmao:

But building 'em is kinda fun too!

 

[steele42]

In retrospect, for the amount I've spent on equipment and materials I could have just bought a nice new set....and a front bumper....and a rear bumper... :lmao:

But building 'em is kinda fun too!

Ha ha its true. But building things yourself is more fun if you have the ability.

 

[1tenner]

hilux body

So I've been checking out the hilux bodies and I thought they looked pretty cool, so I just bought this one off ebay. Can't wait to get it and see how it looks on my honcho...gonna have to start doing some more hilux research. The seller says this one was already mounted on a SCX10, but any tips on using the hilux body on the honcho chassis?

eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

 

[steele42]

Good find. That thing looks sweet. Can't wait to see it mounted up on your rig

 

[1tenner]

Bye bye balloons!

Ok, so I had my electronics in balloons to keep them all clean and hopefully dry, but the wires were a mess and I just wasn't happy with it, so I looked at how some of you other guys have stuff tucked away and water proofed. I liked the idea of the radio shack project box, so I went and bought one of those and started figuring out how I was going to make it work. Below is a pictorial of how I went about it. Hopefully it will be pretty water proof by the time I get all done. I plan to seal up the holes I drilled in it for the wires with some fish tank quality silicone.

Here is the inside of the project box. You can see where I took a dremel and cut out the four smaller mounting posts to make more room.

I planned to put the project box in the battery location, so I removed the battery mount and slipped the project box in between the body mount posts. It was a little tight so I took the dremel to the sides of the box where they hit the posts to make a little more room.

I used the battery mount as a template to mark out the mounting holes I would need to drill in the project box, then drilled away. I used the dremel again to taper the holes so the screws would sit flush. The original screws worked fine with the battery tray risers. I used shoe goo to attach the risers to the box, hoping it would seal up the 3 mounting holes. Also, you can see where I had to relieve the sides of the project box to clear the body mount posts.

Here's another shot of the mounted project box from the top at a little wider angle.

And here's a shot from the side. As you can see, I still have lots of room to lower the box and still clear the servo.

I started putting the electronics in the box. It's a tight fit and I had to be a little creative, but I wiggled it all in there. You can see the stock ESC with on/off switch, my Spektrum SR300, and most of the wires. I wasn't sure if I would be able to fit the light controller in, but I just put it on top of the RX.

Here it is with all the holes drilled. I drilled the smallest holes I could for each wire. I removed the plugs to make it easier (or possible) to the them through. For the light and servo plugs I just popped them off, slipped the wires through, then re-used the plug. The battery plug had to be cut off. The way routed the through the project box cover will make it a bit of a pain to remove the lid completely, but I don't figure I'll have to do that too often. And I soldered on a deans plug so it would be easy enough to remove if I have to and pull the batter wires back through.

And here it is with the lid on. Still need to find my silicone. Actually I was going to lower the project box, but I really don't want to pull everything back out! Bummer too, since now I have to just barely push the body down because it hits the very front of the project box. Guess I'll end up pulling it apart...so long story short, if you use this method, make sure you trim about 1/2" off the risers before you put your electronics in the box! :lmao:

And here is the (basically) finished product. You can see how much cleaner things are with all the wires tucked away. I just have to add the deans plug and fab up some sort of battery mount - you can see where I plan to put it here in the last picture.

I'm not sure how well the project box lid will seal, but it seems like it should be pretty water tight. Once I get the wire holes sealed up with silicone I should be fine as long as I don't dunk it completely.

Thanks to everyone here for all the good ideas! Next up, making my own metal links to replace the plastic ones. Actually, I did the lowers and steering tonight and took some pics along the way. I'll write that up probably tomorrow.

 

[AsILayDying]

I submerge my scx10 with project boxes and have no issues. As long as you silicone the holes and seem. I also use liquid electrical tape to seal my boxes. It seals up tight and it can be pulled off and seem broken fairly easy with a blade or flathead screw driver. Nice job on the modding.

 

[Big Daddy]

Looks nice and tidy.
I wouldn't count on the lid being water tight but short of a full submersion you should be good. Just run a bead around the seem and over the screw heads when you do you wires and you should be safe for the serious water runs.
My battery is mounted in the same place and I just made an aluminum holder with the edges bent up to keep the battery from moving around in those bigger tumbles.

 

[AX10wannabe]

rig is looking good. i've been seeing them project boxes used a lot.. hmm... might have to try one, one of these days... my battery is in the same place but my tires hit it sometimes because im on 2.2's.

 

[1tenner]

Link it up!

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm a n00b, but tryin...

I've been reading about making metal links to replace my plastic ones and again, you were all pretty helpful with getting me going. But I still had some scrounging to figure out exactly what I needed and how to go about it, so I figured I'd post a "how to".

Note that you will probably need 2 packs of the REVO ends, 2 of the 3 foot pieces of 8-32 threaded rod, and 2 pieces of the 1/4" aluminum tubing to do all of the links. I haven't made it that far yet.

The pics are from building the front lower links and the steering links.

First of all, the parts list. You will need a package of REVO rod ends as shown here. Traxxas part number 5347. $9 at the LHS.

Next you will need some 8-32 threaded rod (all thread). I picked this up at Home Depot for about 3 bucks.

Finally, you will need some 1/4" hollow aluminum tubing. This was under $3 at the LHS.

To get started, remove one of the plastic links you plan to build. Set a pair of rod ends down and cut a piece of the 8-32 threaded rod to the appropriate length. I did it a little long and then trimmed it up. The 8-32 threaded rod will be pretty big in the REVO rod ends, so I tapered the end to a dull point to help get the threads started. Don't worry about using pliers on the middle of the threaded rod, or clamping it in a vice, these won't show when you are done. Get the ends fully threaded on then double check against the length against the stock plastic link. Make adjustments if necessary, then cut another piece of rod and build another the same length before moving on to the aluminum.

Now measure the distance between the rod ends and measure and cut your aluminum tubing to fit in between. It should be a pretty snug fit, but if you over tighten against the aluminum it will bend it up on the ends.

From there it's just a matter of sliding the tubing over the 8-32 threaded rod and screwing the rod ends back on. Press your pivot ball in the rod ends, and install. The look a lot better and are WAY more rigid than the cheesy stock plastic links!

Next up I thought I would tackle the steering rods. I was a little worried about the bend for clearing the diff housing, but I figured since the parts are cheap, I would just try bending the 8-32 rod and see how it holds up. Like a dope, I bent both end then couldn't get the aluminum tubing on! So I had to bend it back, install the tubing, then bend it again. Hopefully it will hold up, we'll see. Oh yeah, and I made an angle on the end of the aluminum tubing to try to match it up with the rod ends. It's not perfect, but it looks good enough to me!

Here's the finished link...

And here it is installed with the push/pull rod to the servo arm. I had to scrounge some bolts to attach the rod ends to the steering knuckles since the stock axial ones wouldn't fit through the REVO rod ends. I'll get the right length ones and some lock nuts on my next run to the LHS.

There you have it. Metal replacement links for your axial on the cheap!

 

[1tenner]

I got the wiring holes in my project box all sealed up with some shoe goo. I didn't seal the lid as I'm not really planning on submerging it at this point...just want to be able to drive it around in a little wet weather, rain/snow. I figure I can always seal up the lid later if need be.

I also made a battery tray. I bought a sheet of 22 gauge steel, then made a template, first from paper, then from heavier paperboard - the hang tag from my pro-line scale accessories. I think it would have been perfect if I had been more careful at cutting and bending, but it will do. I had to re-drill the mounting holes to give a little more clearance on for the drive line.

The tray is 75.75mm wide (just wider than the rails at the mounting point). The tabs are 20mm long and 10mm wide. If I remember correctly, the longer length of the tray (above the tabs) is 60mm and the shorter (below the tabs) is 40mm. I can get exact measurements if anyone is interested, and take pics of the template which has the measurements written on it. I would have done it already, but my camera card was full.

I drilled the holes in the tray and used 3 small washers per side to take up the space between the tray tabs and the frame rails. I just threaded a small button head bolt into the existing hole in the frame. Didn't have to tap it, just screwed the bolt in. No nut on the other side or anything and it's plenty tight.

Oh yeah, and once I bent the battery tray up it held the battery pretty tight. I planned to put some sticky backed foam on their to cushion the battery, but didn't end up having room. I'll probably have another go at it to make a cleaner one, but this will get me driving for now. I used the stock velcro straps to really tighten it down...that battery ain't going anywhere!

 

[SAL45]

Looks good so far! I like how you made the batt holder! Project box mod is good too "thumbsup"