2Kind's Gelande II D90

[2kind]

I have a set of Pro-line Scaler Shock, set of 1.9 Tomahawks, and a bunch of other goodies coming within the next few weeks. The King shocks don't fit in with the theme and are not doing well under the roughly 9.5 lbs. of truck. The Power Strokes on my SCX are prolly the best shock I personally have used. So I have hope the scalers will do me well.
I've had my Trail Busters for a very long time now and never liked them much, until now. A skinnier tire looks good under the D90 and the weight makes the tread actually work. For me, they are going to be a very tough tire to beat when it comes to this rig. Can't wait to get my hands on these Tomahawks. I have wanted this tire for a while and never got around to it. For better or worse, new2rocks, you definitely helped me make that choice "thumbsup"

As of now we are all on the level with how the build is going so I'll go into some of the scale projects that have come up while we wait for things to arrive. I don't really subscribe to the idea of these trucks being 1/10 scale. To me, they bounce between that and 1/8. Most of the accessories on the market are very tiny in comparison to many parts of the rig. For quite a number of things it doesn't matter a whole lot, ball park will do just fine but for other things it just doesn't look right. It seems the 6" wrestler is the preferred driver for lots of folk. Which makes sense if you're going by 1/10 scale, but in 1/8 a 6 foot guy is 9" tall. A quick search on Amazon for 9" action figures and I come across this kat. Ridiculous articulation, three different pairs of hands, and clothes for 20 bucks. I admit, never seen The Warriors. They say he's the Orphan Leader though.

What do you guys think? Is the scale of our trucks really a 1/10 scale? Am I the only one who feels everything is too small. Do you think he fits in well?

RC4WD makes, in my opinion, some of the best scale items at the moment. Not only in terms of quality but correct/closer scale as well. Their Hi-Lift Jack (part#Z-S1526), Steel Shovel (part#Z-S0383), and Black Dino 1/10 Aluminum Propane Tank (part#Z-S1613) are unrivaled from what I've come across. Just a heads up, the propane tank is heavy, 4.06oz / 115g from their site.

 

[new2rocks]

Your build is coming along great. I look forward to seeing what you think of the Tomahawks. You're not the first person to agonize over scale. By stock wheelbase (which most people lengthen anyways), it's closer to 1/8th, but by length and width, it's closer to 1/9.5. So for me, actual scale seems more like 9-9.5, not 8th. By that measure, a 6" person scales down to 7.5-8". Your 9" dude looks awesome, but I'm thinking he'll look a bit big once you stuff him in there. I bet he'd be money in a Wraith, though, lol...

Also, FWIW, the optional spring assortments for the RC4WD shocks (available for most of them, including Kings, RRDs, and the various internally sprung shocks) help a lot when trying to dial them in, esp. on heavier rigs. That said, the Proline Scalers should work well.

Keep the updates coming!

 

[2kind]

You are right as usual new2rocks ;-) He is a bit big to fit inside the cab as is. I was able to mash him in the seat but he was way too close to the dash. At some point I would like to make the rear door functional, but I'm not comfortable cutting the body at this point and the interior would need to be redone as well, so I decided to start there. Cutting the piece off with thread worked much better than I though it would. A small rectangle of Styrene painted black filled in the floor board just fine and a strip of Velcro is holding the seat back in place.

The interior never sat right after I put the inner fenders on. After sanding most of the underside smooth the fitting is much better, but made the seat backs unusable, so those cushions came off too. I will need to do something with the electronics in order to drop the floor for now though I did the same as the front.

What the guy looks like in the cab now.

 

[TheBakedBeans]

Fantastic work so far! I'm looking forward to seeing more...

 

[2kind]

For those not familiar with the YouTube channel RC Everyday, pretty good stuff. This next tip comes from Josh Dutton. Thanks Much man! Keep up all the great work.
Home Depot carriers a black gutter guard that's light weight, strong, ridged, and exactly what I was looking for. Zip-Tied to the cage, it's not going anywhere. Makes everything more stable and a lot easier to tie down all my junk.

The little wooden army style crate to go up top and hold supplies.

Found some tiny clothes pins at Michaels Craft Store the other day and immediately thought, jumper cables! The wire is from an old set of ear buds. I elected to tare mine apart for sake of ease when painting the wire red. Then just hot glue and/or super glue the bits together.

The tow rope is just a shoe lace sown together with some heat shrink tubing. Bungees are made of hair ties cut to length with paper clips wrapped around the ends and bent into a hook.

The sand boards are made of Bass Wood and glued together using Elmers Wood Glue. One is 5" and the other is 6" long. They look too new and need to be stained or painted other than that I like how they turned out.

 

[new2rocks]

Re: 2Kind's Gelande II D90 (pic heavy)

Nice job making the driver fit. Kinda reminds me of the ads with Shaq squeezing into a Buick, lol:


Your scale accessories are terrific. Keep up the great work! "thumbsup"

 

[2kind]

Thanks much guys! Things are coming together but far from the end, if one exists.

Haha, It took me a while to commit to using that driver, do to the need of hacking up the interior. While I'm not the size of Mr. Shaq-Fu there, thank goodness. I am 6'5" though and very aware of how little room most rigs actually have for larger folks. The 1:1 Defender 90 is a rather small truck so I'm pretty content with how the scale is working out so far.

 

[801RYAN]

Thanks for sharing your build and parts reviews "thumbsup"...

I feel your pain on the bolt on sliders :evil: I'm going to try and drill them for 2mm scale bolts and attach them to the body permanently. IMO the Growlers look pretty dang cool, I tried a set on my build but I think the rims I had were to bling bling for the truck and killed the look.

I've also been inspired to build me a little ammo crate."thumbsup"

 

[2kind]

Wow, Thanks 801Ryan! You just made my thread "thumbsup" Inspiring others is what it's all about, and having my selfish fun too
That's a really good idea fixing the rock rails right to the body using scale hardware. Definitely need to acquire some of that booty.
The Growlers on a black rim are vicious all around. What a great tire. My first set was shredded by the inner silver ring of the stamped rims from RC4WD. I didn't notice till it was too late. After sanding off the razor like edges I ordered up a new set along with the CI Lil Nova 1.55 standard inner/soft outer (only firmness in stock) to go with, which I highly recommend for the Growlers. Took a great tire and slid it up to amazing.

That being said, the smaller 1.55 rim and large OD make the Growlers a bit too chubby for the D90, IMO and I don't run them much even though the CI foams hold up against 10+ lbs. of truck very well. Wish the 1.9's were the same OD.

 

[2kind]

It has been a while since an update but things have been moving forward and I hope to get back up to speed in the next couple days.

To start, Thank you again new2rocks. The plate you fabbed up for your TF2 is pretty crafty:wink: Quality of life went up a few clicks because of that little tid bit. Works great on the Gelande II. The craftsmanship of mine isn't quite to your standards but it's holding up super well.
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As of now, my SR300wp receiver and the RC4WD wired winch controller both fit nicely under the hood thanks to the plate sitting atop the servo. Looks tight, it is tight, but it allowed for a much needed overhaul of the wiring. Seemed like a good time to toss in a CC 10A BEC (Part#010-0004-00) to power the Hitec HS-7955TG (Part#37955S) at 6.0v which was struggling at times on 4.8v-5.0v. I also moved the Sv3 onto the metal plate above the rear axle.

 

[2kind]

My second favorite part on the truck goes to the RC4WD 1.9 Landies (part#Z-W0075). I've been wanting white rims to offset the black and go with the roof so when they came back in stock I snagged a set and really glad I did. They're very easy to assemble, just make sure you tighten the little black nuts, they tend to work themselves loose. They are solid, with a bit of heft compared to the plastic and stamped wheels I'm used to, and it's a Landy...
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The RC4WD 1.9 Tomahawks (part#Z-T0099) also came in. A really good all around tire. It cleans out well, digs like a dog through everything, decent on rocks, and is made of the Advanced X3 compound. Definitely the best performing 1.9 tire I have. They are wide though and rub the steering guard a bit at full turn.
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Next up are the Proline Scaler Shocks (Part#6060-00). They perform just as expected. The stock spring combo wasn't going to work though, so I swapped out the lower/longer spring for something more firm. Axial's SCX10 springs are a direct fit for the Scaler shocks. I'm running the stock upper/small spring that comes with the shocks and Axial's medium green springs (part#AX30207) for the lower/longer ones. The oil is 2000 cst Factory Team Diff Oil #5451. It still sways a bit more than I would like. I tried 5k and it was like driving a brick, so maybe 3kcst?
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Am I the only crazy putting Diff oil in their shocks? I know some folks plug the piston holes, but this seems easier, with roughly the same outcome?

 

[2kind]

My first venture into Plati-Dip was a success, I feel. With only 3 coats it has held up well against all I've thrown at it and stuck to the body like a champ. The fenders took some damage for sure but in most cases it barely scuffed the paint underneath. When time came, it peeled right off with no issues.
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I plan to do the same thing again with the difference of applying more coats, and spraying the inside of the fenders which I neglected to do the first time.

My Lady took it upon herself to make a spare tire cover because she thought it would look cute. It is exactly what I was wanting in every way and is my single favorite piece on this truck. Thank you Darlin
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[2kind]

Finally got some video of a short run a few weeks ago show casing some the new parts and Lights! Ending with a broken drive shaft and tore a mud flap off at some point in the trip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOX5XIlhYBM

Not wanting to do things right the first time and my soldering skill being a solid +2, I figured, why not wire together my own lights? After doing some research on resistors and Ohms, off to Radio Shack I went. The wiring is strait forward with the addition of this great little puppy.
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Usable with any female servo lead, super simple, no blinkers, or dimming headlights, and more sensitive than other units I've tried. Now planning to use these with any rig I put lights in.

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This is prolly the third iteration and plan to evolve it more over time. I decided to cut holes in the interior to pass the wiring through. At this time I'm waiting for things to come back in stock to finish the plan but it wont be this rough looking when done.

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[2kind]

An upgrade I forgot to mention awhile ago was the addition of XVD Axles for Ultimate Scale Yota II G2 Axle (part#Z-S0823). I've had a lot of slop in the wheels since the first build up that I can't seem to eliminate. Much of which is in the axles. The XVD's unfortunately made no difference in play but did add some much needed steering. Stock steering setup seemed to limit the angle which was prolly a good thing but with a 5mm spacer above the knuckle under the drag link, removing the 1mm spacers and moving the steering link above the knuckles instead of below them, I was able to squeeze a touch more angle out of it. Not sure if it's 45° but looks close. I feel like there's still more she can give though. Smaller rod ends would help a bunch.
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I've never had a proper set of drive shafts. Been using Axial and/or Traxxas plastic ones on all my rigs and for the most part they've held up pretty well, but I'm done. Just got in a pair of Junfac 82-117mm (part#J90031) drive shafts. They come individually and I actually received two different versions of the same shaft. One set has a ring holding the pin that runs through the coupler (I think it's called), the other does not, and is not made to. Looks to be the only real weak point on the shaft too. I loctite the grub screw holding that pin. Now we wait and see if it becomes an issue. The shaft itself is much smaller diameter than I was expecting which was a nice surprise.
Like folk have stated, I had to grind aboot 1mm (or less) off each the input/output shafts in order to line up the pin holes. After doing so they slipped right on. You may need to play with your links a bit depending on how you've got things setup. Pretty sure the rear links are still stock length and things lined up just fine. The front shaft angles though, while workable, seemed too steep for my liking. Now, after fiddling a bit my front links are 77mm lower and a 67mm upper third link. May have to push the upper link another millimeter or two. Dropping the lower links below 76mm will most likely pull the tire too far out of the wheel well.
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[2kind]

Finished up the rear lights for the most part thanks to CCHand and their 3mm LEDs (VVV-C0098 ), large red (VVV-C0091), small clear (VVV-C0101), and small yellow (VVV-C0099) lights. Only Brake and reverse LEDs are installed at the moment. Other than a blinker system with a delay, which I found on here at one point but have lost track of it now, I'm not really interested in them. Maybe a reverse spot light.

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Really like how clean they made the rear look. I ended up drilling holes for 3 and 5mm LED holders in my first attempts at lighting which resulted in me not being able to use the hardware that comes with the CCHand lights. Instead I fixed them in place with the same Testors Clear Parts Cement that was used for the windows. This stuff seems to hold up very well. The light has 3 holes in the back. 2 for the screws that secure it to the body and 1 in the middle where a 3mm LED pushes snuggly into. I had to enlarge a few of the holes to fit the LED in but they hold themselves in place nicely.

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The plate light and driving lights don't seem to fit in any more and may be discarded.

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Also, she unofficially has a name now. I've been struggling and still undecided but possibly may have it down to two favs. Penny, in honor of The Lovely Miss Money Penny or Roxanne, with her dress and red light. Both seem fitting to me in different ways. What do you guys think?

 

[2kind]

Along with the lights I also had time to get a few other things done. First were the Vermont plates. Printed on regular paper, laminated, cut out, then painted the backs with a silver metallic lexan paint. I did the same for a radiator and fans behind the grill. Google Images and a simple paint program seemed like a descent alternative to hacking up the body. At the very least it's better than starring at red behind the grill.

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I painted my XL King Kong Hook OSHA safety red. Twas actually a gift from RC4WD they slipped in one of my orders back during the holiday seasons. Thanks Much Guys! "thumbsup"
Haha! Afterwards I finally got in my set of Warn Winch Pull Tags (part#Z-S1660). You are right Ryan, they are a bit too long and will need trimming. I also like the looks of them on a chrome hook like yours. Another Big "thumbsup" Man!

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Also made a few signs for the backyard course.
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[2kind]

One thing that has been missing since the beginning of this build is a snorkel. I can some how justify 26 dollars worth of mudflaps but not a $24 snorkel. Go figure...Honestly though, I'm still on the hunt for suitable mudflap material and though they look really close to the 1/1's, I'm not a fan of the snorkels on the market that I've come across. Fortunately more than half of this hobby is building and wrenching on things for me. Unfortunately my skills are laughable most of the time and 90% of what gets made gets scrapped. The first attempt at a snorkel was no different. I tried a rectangular styrene tube. Figured most of the hard work was done for me using the tubing. All I had to do was cut, glue, and spray it down with Plasti Dip. I thought I wanted simple, it is, but there's no detail, it's too long and lanky (like 8) me), and didn't really fit the truck, in my opinion. Everything else is round tubing. Besides, I had no good way to secure it other than tape or glue.

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The second build I tried to counter the qualms I had with the first. A BIC pen cut in half and trimmed to length would provide the round tubing. I kept the flat topper of the pen to seal the front. The Fire extinguisher (I believe is Yeah Racing) was not used but came with the bracket and hardware for mounting. A bendy straw for my angle up the windshield post was glued into both ends of the pen halves. Axial's wheel nut cover just so happens to pop right on a BIC pen and makes a nice little cap for the exhaust. Two O-rings and some battery foam with a sticky side would fill in the gaps between body, bracket and pen. After getting the Dip treatment and attaching the bracket I cut a long, thin, sliver, of very strong double sided tape to run up the windshield post holding the top of the snorkel from rotating.

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[801RYAN]

Re: 2Kind's Gelande II D90 (pic heavy)

Great updates tons of great info.. I like the lighting upgrade..

You fixed one of two things that drive me krazy on d90 builds . First was the body color behind the grille. The sencond you already mentioned.. its the license plate light, If you google a d90s you'll see it should be painted black with only the bottom allowing light out.. paint it black and it will look like it belongs there...

 

[801RYAN]

Re: 2Kind's Gelande II D90 (pic heavy)

If you don't mind tell me about the material you have rolled up on the rack... I dig the look

 

[2kind]

Hehe, Glad I could ease your mind a bit Ryan The grill always bugged me out as well. Thanks for the heads up on the license plate light. Took a look and they sure do sit in a black case almost always. Next time I do a round of painting, it will get hit.
Thanks for asking aboot the tarps :shock: Not wanting to try and explain a half executed idea, it was time they evolved a bit more.

A lot of stuff on my truck tends to be a place holder for things to come. In previous pics you can see a blue tarp made from a woven plastic beach bag which simulated a 1:1 real nicely. Texture was spot on but the blue looked horrendous. I'm guessing real world scenarios call for something a little more rugged than your average blue tarp. So, I decided that canvas was the way to go and began the hunt for materials that would work. As for the things rolled up on the rack now. They are my attempt at canvas tarps. The idea was to have some shelter for the mechanic to work under if it should happen to rain and a larger tarp off the passenger side for a small camp of sorts.

The tarp over the windshield is made of a pair of khakis. The texture works well and may also make a decent burlap sack. We shall see... Most pant fabric is a bit thick though. When rolled, it's on the chubby side. Add in the fact, I sewed seems around the edges, chubby turns fat real quick. It's close, maybe too close, but it'll work until it dies, or I find something better.
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Grommets! Not to be confused with the ill tempered, mischievous little creatures from my childhood, but rather the wonderfully eye opening little metal bits that create reinforced holes in fabric, like on a hoodie string. They require a special tool to install but well worth the investment. Smallest I could find at Joann's Fabric were 4mm. Tracked down 2mm online. These lil suckers will be handy for all sorts of things.
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Reusable shopping bags come in all kinds of great colors, most of them have a nice texture, and are very light weight. These are a much thinner material and roll tighter resulting in a more scale look, IMO. Unfortunately I had just enough for one.
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Rolled up with the help of a wooden dowel and tied with a bit of small twine, they are now ready for the rack. Not sure about the red grommets...
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Tied onto the rack with the same twine.
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On the look out for small metal tent poles to role up in the tarps.