Gatekeeper kit + Knightrunner Tacoma body Build

[AK KRAWLER]

Hah, Worked again! Glad we could help!

I bought the Trailrunner Fire just for the IFS as it was the cheapest way I could get it without trying to piece one together. Plus why not go ahead and get a new RTR…

I get home and you got @AK KRAWLER on the Element train! Haha the GK kit is just that good for the money.

Yep, I got, got...:mrgreen:

Honestly, I was looking at the new Axial Base Camp, or a TRX4 Sport and then started reading a few threads in the Enduro section. For just over $200 and I have all the electronics sitting at home, I think the GK Kit was a good move and I have been eyeballing the GK for some time anyway.

I can build it as a solid axle rig, then swap to IFS down the road if I decide to. I think a Ford Raptor body would look great with the IFS, which was my plan, but I also have plenty of bodies hanging around too. It was the threads by you fine folks that pushed me over the ledge, so I thank you!!! :mrgreen::lmao:

 

[B-MOW71]

New video is up.

https://youtu.be/lCLnWNC_l0Y

Great test session vid as I mentioned in your YT vid comments. Can't wait to see more!

Yep, I got, got...:mrgreen:

Honestly, I was looking at the new Axial Base Camp, or a TRX4 Sport and then started reading a few threads in the Enduro section. For just over $200 and I have all the electronics sitting at home, I think the GK Kit was a good move and I have been eyeballing the GK for some time anyway.

I can build it as a solid axle rig, then swap to IFS down the road if I decide to. I think a Ford Raptor body would look great with the IFS, which was my plan, but I also have plenty of bodies hanging around too. It was the threads by you fine folks that pushed me over the ledge, so I thank you!!! :mrgreen::lmao:

You made a great choice! The Element GK Kit is the best bang for the buck!

Hope to see a build thread of it soon!;-)

 

[Goro Majima]

Got my dad the Knight Customs grill in 1:1 size...

On a more serious note, very minor update, I started to work on the Club5 front magnetic body mount hood scoop. Goal is to have a plain looking hood scoop and luckily there's enough material on it to shave it down and shape it.

I was able to break away the middle vents, and shaved down the side vents with a Dremel. Cut some styrene to shape, slightly smaller than the shape of the top, glued it into place and that's where we're at. I'll smoothen it all out and have it prepped for the charcoal/gunmetal grey paint.

 

[B-MOW71]

You must have one-hell-of-a huge 3D printer to be able to print a 1:1 grill!:lmao: The grill looks great installed and good looking Sport too!

Looking forward to seeing how the hood scoop turns out with the styrene. I've been thinking about getting the that setup, but didn't like how it looked stock. I would have liked to see it look more the Sport hoods on the 1:1's.

 

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Looking forward to seeing how the hood scoop turns out with the styrene. I've been thinking about getting the that setup, but didn't like how it looked stock. I would have liked to see it look more the Sport hoods on the 1:1's.

Me too, I have a KR body that could use one of them bad boys..

 

[Devwon]

Trying not to spend any money but you guys are making it really easy to justify a Gatekeeper purchase.

 

[Goro Majima]

Small update to let you guys know I'm still alive.

2nd photo is the final stage of all the Tamiya putty and sanding. Literally took like 7-8 times to perfect it and it's not even perfect still. But I've been waiting for a cooler day to primer and paint it.

Knight Customs headlights painted. I wanted to fully chrome/silver the inside of the housings but wasn't doable for me so I just chromed the border only. Light shrouds and stock DRL are a light blue, and the turn signal is an orange paint marker.

And the taillight buckets. I want to avoid seeing the LED holes and I'm always shooting for that OEM look, so here's a take on an idea I had with scrap lexan. Idk whether to buff the lexan for the reverse lights so it gives it that lens reflector look on an actual taillight, or diffuse some silver paint and brush it on, or both methods? I plan to make another lexan piece for the brake lamps anyway and both pieces will then get E6000'd.

But as for the brake lamp lenses, I will paint those a transparent red and probably do multiple coats until it's barely transparent so you can't see the bulb holes/LED.

 

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Wow, those headlights are stunning! So is the hood scoop as well! Good job dude!

 

[Goro Majima]

Wow, those headlights are stunning! So is the hood scoop as well! Good job dude!

Thanks! And this hood scoop really set me back on progress. I would set the putty, next day sand, apply putty again and sand next day again etc etc until I was satisfied. But also started tinkering on other trucks lol.

Few tips I learned from this. The clamp method I used without some type of flat brace to equalize the force holding the styrene down caused waviness where the clamps were. Also, I should've used a non flexible glue that is more friendly to sanding. So every time I sanded and met E6000 at the surface, it would disrupt the putty around the area. Newb life.

 

[tigris99]

Small update to let you guys know I'm still alive.

2nd photo is the final stage of all the Tamiya putty and sanding. Literally took like 7-8 times to perfect it and it's not even perfect still. But I've been waiting for a cooler day to primer and paint it.

Knight Customs headlights painted. I wanted to fully chrome/silver the inside of the housings but wasn't doable for me so I just chromed the border only. Light shrouds and stock DRL are a light blue, and the turn signal is an orange paint marker.

And the taillight buckets. I want to avoid seeing the LED holes and I'm always shooting for that OEM look, so here's a take on an idea I had with scrap lexan. Idk whether to buff the lexan for the reverse lights so it gives it that lens reflector look on an actual taillight, or diffuse some silver paint and brush it on, or both methods? I plan to make another lexan piece for the brake lamps anyway and both pieces will then get E6000'd.

But as for the brake lamp lenses, I will paint those a transparent red and probably do multiple coats until it's barely transparent so you can't see the bulb holes/LED.

Lights look awesome.

For chrome look I found silver paint works decent when you have to get into places like the headlights you did. Doesn't match actual chrome but not bad.

As for the tail lights: look at a gen 3 tacoma. That scrap lexan spray a little spot of white at the reverse lights, mask that, candy red the rest. I did a ok job on the previous KR body I did for my KR. I masked the light sections then painted the body itself to have red lens using candy apple red which is translucent without a backer color. Effects came out pretty good

This body, I just left them clear and put the stock stickers on the outside lol. Can see the leds well through the red in the stickers so works out well. I'll try to find pictures just so if give you some ideas.

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[Goro Majima]

Lights look awesome.

For chrome look I found silver paint works decent when you have to get into places like the headlights you did. Doesn't match actual chrome but not bad.

As for the tail lights: look at a gen 3 tacoma. That scrap lexan spray a little spot of white at the reverse lights, mask that, candy red the rest. I did a ok job on the previous KR body I did for my KR. I masked the light sections then painted the body itself to have red lens using candy apple red which is translucent without a backer color. Effects came out pretty good

This body, I just left them clear and put the stock stickers on the outside lol. Can see the leds well through the red in the stickers so works out well. I'll try to find pictures just so if give you some ideas.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

Sounds good and appreciate the taillight tips. The closer I can get it to looking like a stock taillight the better. You can edit your post with the pics if you want.

 

[B-MOW71]

Headlights look awesome Goro!"thumbsup" They're gonna look great installed!

I like what you have planned for the taillights. Can't wait to see them.

 

[Goro Majima]

Sorry for the lag on updates, but this modified hood scoop got the best of me the past few weeks. I COMPLETELY removed the styrene after all the sanding/filler/primer days. Because it was hollow underneath, the styrene did not want to cooperate and be sanded flat. So here it is in it's current state for the past week or so, waiting for one or two more passes of primer and sanding. I filled the center with wood glue, and it's got a small layer of filler on it. Well I went to go spray primer on it a bit ago and turns out I need a new can!

I will reveal the head and taillights once the hood scoop is done and installed. Maybe I can get it done during this Labor Day weekend.

 

[Goro Majima]

Visual update. Got off work early so why not do some tiny truck work.

Hood scoop is on! But it's only installed for the pictures. The gunmetal Duratrax paint I had laying around isn't a close enough match for me to leave it. I bought Tamiya TS-94 Metallic Gray and TS-38 Gun Metal. Both look very similar but the TS-94 seems to have a tad more flake. I'll be trying the gunmetal first. And since I'll be painting the scoop again, I'll do a final sand on it to completely smoothen the top surface (has some defects + mounting screw began to push up and protrude in the passenger corner). Also look to round the edges more as it seems too sharp looking.

When I mounted the headlight buckets, the tabs on the grill snapped off so I E6000'd them on. Unfortunately I let it dry with the body facing downward which I thought was a good idea but the glue started to run down the sides of the headlights (passenger side is the bad side). Sorta bummed but could've been wayyy worse. Here's pics anyway:

As for the taillights, there are little bits of red on the border of the reverse lights. A simple light scrape with the hobby knife and/or the smallest dip into some Tamiya polycarbonate cleaner can clean up those edges. Other than pointing out my mess ups, I used TS-74 Clear Red (4 coats) for the taillights and the reverse lenses I used Tamiya's XF-16 flat aluminum acrylic paint fused with US Art Supply's Acrylic Medium Matte Gel. Since the lens piece is so small, I don't know the exact ratio I used for the paint and gel mixture. I put the gel on a piece of random plastic (squeezed the container until gravity dropped a piece onto it), then using a small brush that only had about 1/4" length hairs, I dipped that into the paint container and began to mix them.

Full body shots:

I'll get to work on redoing the scoop this weekend.

 

[B-MOW71]

Love how the hood scoop came out! Looks so much better than it did when it was stock.

Them taillights look great! I've been debating on painting mine instead of using a decal. The E6000 on the headlight is barely noticeable. I had the same problem on my grille tabs, so I just used E6000 on the center of the grille instead of near the headlights.

Great full body shots! The stance looks spot on! Great job on the build so far!"thumbsup"

 

[Goro Majima]

Love how the hood scoop came out! Looks so much better than it did when it was stock.



Them taillights look great! I've been debating on painting mine instead of using a decal. The E6000 on the headlight is barely noticeable. I had the same problem on my grille tabs, so I just used E6000 on the center of the grille instead of near the headlights.



Great full body shots! The stance looks spot on! Great job on the build so far!"thumbsup"

Thanks BMOW.

Yeah I should've did mine in the center only too. We all try to be perfectionists!

Taillights were a pain to mask but well worth it!

The hood scoop will be back looking better lol.

 

[tigris99]

Oh damn that's coming out CLEAN, nice work!!! Not sure how you pulled off the headlight paint job or the tail light masking, especially the masking like that, nice work. I got frustrated and just split red top white bottom, hats off on getting the actual scale tail light look!!!

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[Goro Majima]

Oh damn that's coming out CLEAN, nice work!!! Not sure how you pulled off the headlight paint job or the tail light masking, especially the masking like that, nice work. I got frustrated and just split red top white bottom, hats off on getting the actual scale tail light look!!!

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

These taillights wouldn't be possible for me to do if I didn't have some 1/16" masking tape! But of course this rig has something else to add to it to finish it off.

 

[Goro Majima]

Shout out to @tigris99 for printing me the KC interior!

I wanted to find a fabric design similar to the seats my dad has in his Tacoma but I didn't search very long. I just Plastidipped all the interior pieces to try to keep the print lines to a minimum and detailed the dash, called it good.

Hood scoop is in it's final form! I tried Tamiya metallic gray first, way too much flake. Threw on Tamiya gunmetal next and it's as close as I think I'll get it. Still not perfect but it's at least half better than my first gunmetal spray.

Stumbled upon SOR's aluminum trailing arms so why not throw them on.

I took this and 3 other rigs with me to a meet at Mt Diablo in Walnut Creek this past Saturday. I am complete ass at getting footage so I didn't even bother. I did snag this picture though.

And last but not least, even though the ol' 1080 and HH brushed combo did it's job, it didn't have that FOC technology that the Fusion Pro has. So my spare went in. Such a night n day difference.

 

[tigris99]

Nice to see her progressing! Coming out pretty darn sweet!

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