B-MOW's TRX-4m Mini Blue Bronco

[B-MOW71]

At my last outing with the Bronco I managed to break the DSM Off-Road thumb steer on the stock Traxxas transmitter during the transport to the play area. Over the past few years I've come to like the thumb steers that I have added to most of my transmitters. They make one-handed driving so much easier. So losing that ability really bummed me out when I had the lil Bronco out for a drive.

Today I was cruising around Thingiverse and just happened to stumble across a 3D printed thumb steer designed for the Traxxas TQ transmitters. Bummed no more, I printed and as I type am still printing a new thumb steer for each of my TQ transmitters. As of today, I have 6 of these that are used for all of my TRX4M's and a few of my Slash's.






In other news, lately I have been addicted to buying these cute little 1.0 size tires and wheels for the mini's. I've had stacks of these laying around all over and around the workbench. So today I made a tiny shelf to hold these stacks of tiny tires. Just a scrap piece of shelving cut down and attached to some 3D printed shelf ends that I made on Fusion 360.

 

[B-MOW71]

Pulled Big Red the K10 in the shop today. Awhile back I ordered and received the new Injora 1.0 silicone inserts. They offer them in yellow and green, yellow being the softest.

I've been wanting to swap out the stock tires and wheels for an aftermarket set, but haven't really found any that I liked at the size that is needed to look right on the High Trail.

So today I decided to try out the yellow Injora's in the stock wheel and tires just to see how they fit and felt. To my surprise these inserts are the perfect size for these bigger tires that come on the truck. No modifications needed to the inserts. They fit perfect in the tires. I did make the vent hole bigger in the wheel so that they could breathe better. I reamed the 2 holes out in each wheel with a 3/32 drill bit.

As seen below in the second pic, the stock tire without foams collapses to easily and has no sidewall support. With the inserts installed in the third pic, the tires feel much more firm and has the sidewall support that they need.








The inserts do add some weight to the tires, but I think the extra heft will help compensate for how tall the body is and help somewhat with the tippyness.

 

[Gramps]

Now the big question is did they improve the handling of the truck?

 

[B-MOW71]

Now the big question is did they improve the handling of the truck?

That is the question.[emoji848]

Preliminary testing on the bench looked good. Further testing outdoors still needs to be performed. I’ll report back on that at a later date.[emoji3]


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[B-MOW71]

A new mini has arrived. The new Redcat Ascent 18 is here and it looks pretty damn good. I've always disliked the Redcat brand because of the cheapness and quality of their products. But with this all new mini version of their 1/10 scale Ascent, Redcat has seemed to up their game. Also I couldn't pass up the $99 deal that is on right now. And with Amain's 15% off deal, I was able to get this for under $90 shipped.

So, I was going to start a new thread for the Ascent 18, but I'm just going to keep it in this thread with my other 1/18 scale rigs. I say this because as of now I really don't plan on doing very many upgrades to it. From what I've seen and heard, this new rig is really good out of the box and really only needs tires and some weight up front. The upgrades that I end up doing will be posted in here.

Here it is as it comes in the box. Fully ready to run including everything except 4 AA batteries for the transmitter. The FlySky transmitter feels good in the hand and has all the trim adjustments that are needed.






Before I do any modifications, I wanted to get a baseline reading of the weight bias. Not too bad, but It will get better.




So for the free mods that I did now was move the receiver from the back to the front. I moved the top shock mount back a hole in the front and all the way forward on the rear shock to help lower the body and chassis down a bit.






With the receiver box mounted over the front axle and pushed as far back as it would go against the shock mounts, the front hood of the body just slightly touches the underneath of the body, but still locks into place. I put a piece of Gorilla tape under the hood to keep the receiver box from rubbing the paint off of the body.




I also trimmed the fenders up so that I could still get full compression and not rub the body too bad. I think the fenders look a little better with some of the body removed too.




The weight bias as it sits now. Once I get new wheels and tires and add some brass portal covers, I'm hoping to get closer to a 60/40 split. Side to side looks good.




I peeled off the tinted part of the front windshield and removed the windows on the doors. I'm going to add the Harley Designs 3D printed interior once I get some paint on it. Removing the tint and windows will make it easier to see the interior and I think it looks better with the tint removed.

Also did a Sharpie job to the body lines and removed some of the unwanted decals that were on the body.









New wheels and tires are ordered and will be here tomorrow. More updates coming later.

 

[StomperCrawler]

...with Amain's 15% off deal, I was able to get this for under $90 shipped.

I'm not able to get the coupon code to work due to manufacturer's restrictions; is there a trick to it?

 

[Ynad]

Looks like a new beginning The only thing that's limiting the full ability of the truck is the articulation. Not enough of it from the box.
BTW, I've got mine modded, check it out.
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[B-MOW71]

I'm not able to get the coupon code to work due to manufacturer's restrictions; is there a trick to it?

From what I've heard from others is that the code doesn't work anymore. I must have bought mine before Amain realized the restrictions.

This was what I paid on the day the Ascent18 was released.

Looks like a new beginning The only thing that's limiting the full ability of the truck is the articulation. Not enough of it from the box.
BTW, I've got mine modded, check it out.
Sent from my LG-V521 using Tapatalk

Great, I'll check yours out.

 

[Ynad]

Just updated the description on my build. Hope it's helpful.

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