Another SCX24 scale build

[Cycle.Cats]

I'm recently falling back in love with the RC hobby, and started with the ever popular SCX24 for the price and compact size that's perfect for bashing around the yard. I've been deep in RC before, but the last time I had cars I was building 1:24 scale bodies to put on XMods cars, and RTR scale trail trucks weren't really a thing..

Well I'm currently injured with a broke clavicle, so a friend and I recently picked up the SCX24 trucks, I chose the C10, and immediately started on the mods! Trimmed the body and fenders, removed the gaudy Axial logos and added a few body details like door handles, windshield wipers, and rust in the bed(scratched the paint and colored with bronze Sharpie). Also relocated the lights to the grille, and built an interior! Interior is made entirely from scraps from my sewing studio. HDPE sheet, chambray fabric to simulate tweed, nylon webbing for the dash, and sewing pins for the shifters! The glue weeped up the fabric back, but we'll call it sweat stains ;-)

Well the interior added more weight than anticipated, and really affected the stability of the truck, so it was time to correct that. Steel washers(M10 I believe) glued into the wheels brought back some stability, but now things are getting even heavier. Also made a magnet plate to mount replace the body pins. Scrap of HDPE with disk magnets glued in. Definitely a weight penalty, but worth it for the cleaner aesthetic and to ditch the fiddly tiny clips.

Well then I broke a headlight wire and couldn't repair it, so I found a sweet light set on eBay, from Sickproducts. Halogen colored headlights and now functional tail lights! Tail lights are simply glued(shoe goo) inside the shell, after carefully scratching off the paint under the decals. All lights were then blacked out underneath using nail polish, to reduce under glow effect.

New eMax analog servo squeezed into the stock box. A dab of shoe goo and some long screws seem to be doing fine. I'm impressed by the steering performance upgrade, and the added weight of the metal servo. Bonus that the lead is plenty long for relocating the ESC, which is now waterproofed and glued between the frame rails. Waterproofing was accomplished by removing the board from the case and painting it with two coats of clear nail polish. I had already experienced glitching from moisture in the case, but it was dried thoroughly and no problems since painting. Sorry no pics of this, I was too deep in it late at night and forgot to snap some!

Now most recently, I've burned out the stock motor. Replaced with a OE motor, but I also have a couple 050 motors on order from eBay. Oh yeah, and another truck seemed to follow me home with the new motor! The Jeep is pretty stock for now, but will eventually get a Bronco shell(from Iceberg RC), interior, and full build.

Thanks for reading! I'll try to post a few more updates as this keeps evolving.

 

[Dubmobile]

Good stuff! Thanks for posting your stuff. I have the same truck and am modding it out a bit. Keep posting your updates!


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[Cycle.Cats]

So the upgrades continue as the truck has gotten lots of miles and therefore worn out parts. I'm on motor number 5 in this truck now, 2 OE, 2 HobbyPlus 050, and now a PowerHobby 030 that feels like its about to fail... I've got a Furitek Lizard and 1400kv brushless motor on order, hoping that will be more reliable.

New 3d printed wheels from eBay, and RC4WD Falken tires. I painted the wheels and glued the tires. I also star-trimmed the foams and coiled some brass brazing rod around the rims for and additional 7g per wheel.

Those wheels were fun, and I enjoyed the aesthetic, but unfortunately they broke from too many hard tumbles. I gimped them along a while with CA until I ordered some proper steel beadlocks. I heated the tires to 250*f in the toaster oven, then peeled the glue and rim off the tires in order to re mount them on the steel wheels. I also installed the brass coils inside the beadlocks for a little extra beef.

Speaking of beef, Ive also installed brass knuckles, and some nice black brass diff covers from Samix. The truck got a new bearing kit when chasing a motor noise. at some point. I'm a little embarrassed at how much $ has gone into keeping this thing running by now, but it really is starting to feel like a proper rc trail truck. I hope the brushless conversion helps with reliability. I want to buy a bigger truck, not keep pouring into this tiny one!

 

[Cycle.Cats]

More work on the tiny trucks! I’ve now waterproofed the stock receivers, and my new Furitek Lizard ESC, using conformal coating. It was very simple and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to wheel near water. I had experienced glitching when splashing through the river bank and seeing condensation in the receiver case. No more issues now, they’re ready to swim! I had to cut the shrink tube to get the board out to coat it. I couldn't find any replacement clear shrink, so I just stitched it back up with hot glue. I did not coat the Bluetooth board, I just remove it when I'm wheeling in the water.

Speaking of Furitek, I ran the Lizard ESC with a 050 brushed motor, and I must say that was a very impressive plug and play upgrade. I could’ve been perfectly happy with that setup, had I not already had the brushless motor on hand. The throttle control and consistent torque output with the brushed Furitek is outstanding. As a bonus, the motor runs much cooler than with the stock ESC.

All that said, I did finally install a HobbyStar surpass clone, 1400kv outrunner. I have purchased the pinion/spur/motor mount combo from Furitek as well, although here I am using a DirtysCustoms “backdoor” mount, since I like to run my battery in the front.
While the motor runs quieter, the coarser gear pitch produces more gear noise, so I’d say the overall volume is comparable. Though maybe slightly less annoying.. As has been noted before, slow speed crawl is very impressive with this setup, though top speed is significantly less than stock. I have already ordered a 15 and 17t pinion to try to increase wheel speed, close to stock would be ideal, and I think the motor will still provide plenty of low speed control. Speaking of which, I have messed with the throttle and startup settings to smooth out the jump between startup/low speed. Most helpful was setting the Punch to 1-2 for smooth creep.

Here’s a couple shots of how I have mounted everything. It’s cramped, but with careful positioning I was able to get the body back in the lowest position and keep my half interior! Adding inner fenders would help with mounting space, and I may do that still.

Finally, I switched tires from the Falkens to the Milestar Patagonia tires. The Falkens definitely look great, and did fine on general dirt and trailing. My big issue was that the deep lugs pack up real bad with wet sand, and I often run on the river bank. The Patagonia tires have a really nice grip on the rocks, and the shallow lugs clear sand nicely. Win! Oh yeah, and some Full Send wheel weights round out the brass treatment.

Total truck weight with battery: 450g

 

[Cycle.Cats]

Another update on the truck:

I've re-geared the brushless setup slightly. Furitek lists a 15t pinion gear coming soon, but soon is ??
So I scoured the Internets to little luck finding a 0.5mod 3mm bore pinion gear. Hot racing lists a couple, but they're out of stock. I sourced via eBay a 15t Hot Racing alu pinion, and a RRP 17t hardened alu pinion, both with 2mm bore and 0.5mod. Not a problem, I have some tiny drill bits. Ideally we'd use a lathe to maintain concentricity, but alas my lathe friend never called me back


So off to the milling machine I went.. This is a ~20yr old Harbor Freight mill that I've completely rebuilt with AC bearings and general better precision-ing. Initially I intended to chuck the pinion in a pin or drill bit to center it in the vise, but then I found the double sided wobbler in the drawer, so I used the taper end to find center as best I could using my not-so-sensitive fingers. This is less than ideal fixturing, but I don't have a tiny enough v-block, and couldn't be bothered to make one for this job. Next time..

Then just swap for a 3mm drill bit and plunge gently. No lube, its such a tiny job in soft alloy. Rinse and repeat for the second pinion.

I'm using a DirtysCustoms "backdoor" 3d printed motor mount. I'm generally satisfied, though I wish it had a hole/slot for accessing the pinion grub screw. I may add one myself. Without this access hole, it is necessary to install the pinion prior to seating the motor on the mount. Annoying when trying to set the depth of the pinion, but also means I cannot use a pinion diameter much larger than the slotted opening, even though there is plenty of adjustment for the mesh.

Anyway, now I'm running a 15t pinion on the 32t Furitek spur gear. As anticipated, it has slightly more wheel speed than the 12t, but no noticeable loss of torque/slow creep. I did adjust the throttle curve just for fun, to widen the low/mid band.

For fun, I did try a solo drag race of the Furitek/Hobbystar/15t combo against a stock Dynamite 88t motor and esc. Comparable size 2" tires. The stock motor has more kick of the line, though that could be my throttle settings on the brushless. The stock truck inches away on long runs, but not significantly. It's also half the weight of the other truck, so who knows.. Overall I'm very happy with the gear change. Plenty of creep still, and just a little more top end to get between the obstacles and power through the sand. I'll see if I can post a video next.

Thanks for reading and lemme know what you think! Find me on IG @cycle.cats.rc for more pics and videos

 

[Cycle.Cats]

Heres a couple vanity shots, since we know that's half the fun!

I threw some junk in the trunk: sand ladders, shovel, some empty Coors. All made from styrene. Don't worry, everything's tied down, we don't wanna be littering on the trail!

River time with my friend's chop top deadbolt. That things fast with the stock motor and massive tires! We did some submarine-ing too.

 

[Cycle.Cats]

Really, 1k thread views and only 1 comment? I thought this was a discussion board.. :lmao:
I can't figure how to post videos on here, but here's a few more silly photos:

Some other crap in the bed, just for fun, though I don't usually 'wheel with all this. a 1:24 motorcycle I found at the mall, a Ford engine/trans, and a 6-pack to help install it!

I also made a trailer a while ago, just for fun. It's all styrene with popsicle stick decking. You'll have to check out my instagram to see more of that:

I used it to haul out trash from the river bank after 4th of July weekend:

 

[RobbintheHood]

You my friend have loved that truck for many moons I can tell…what drew me into this post was the original interior work! Looks dope! I wanted to share my shot at custom “scrap” interior for the c10….

Fashioned from an old cotton web belt..the dash was the buckle and the riveted leather was the other end….mounted in random plastic…anyways thought you would appreciate as I do yours!! Happy moddin’!


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[ChilliBreath]

Really, 1k thread views and only 1 comment? I thought this was a discussion board.. :lmao:

Well allright then... You asked for it
First off, love your build! I went with bright white headlights, but I am now second-guessing that as I really love the warm headlight colour on yours!

I am curious as to how you applied nail polish to the underside of the LED's to reduce the fast & furious neon tube effect Could you maybe show some detailed photos of how you did this?