I'm joining the TK kru too

[OGTrout]

It's nearly the end of the year but not quite. The tree is still up, the lights are still twinkling.
Nestled amongst the sweets and festive flavoured candles sits a late Christmas present from myself to myself.

Yes, I've also joined the Trailking club. This is my first "proper" kit. My first was the WPL 1/12-1/16 kit, followed by one of those 1/10 Injora chassis (which wasn't a kit rather a ready to go rollerskate). Over the months of Injora chassis ownership, I've discovered that actually I really enjoy tiny trucks; driving tiny trucks, fiddling with tiny trucks and looking at tiny trucks. That thing with its wobbly steering has really got me into the hobby. And for the price I couldn't complain.

That felt like a good introduction but it's time to step it up. I originally started looking at bits and pieces to upgrade it but soon realised that once I've got some decent axles on it I wouldn't be that far the price of just buying a kit, so I started looking at kits. The SCX10.2 and Element were in the running. But there was something about the Trail King. I'm not sure what exactly; the front mounted, modelled engine or the offset scale looking pumpkins. It all just looked quality and I felt that maybe there's a chance I won't want to upgrade everything after a few weeks (wishful thinking maybe)

So in a food induced fever on Christmas afternoon I put my order in for the SSD Trail King with the lovely chaps at RCBitz. It might've been cheaper ordering from HK or the USA, but I would've had to wait and probably would've been hit with import duty. On Saturday afternoon it was here at my house! I honestly wasn't expecting it to arrive so quickly.

First impressions: everything is well packed, lots of airbags. The manual seems nicely put together and looks pretty clear, I'm not sure why but I was expecting something a bit more slap-dash; maybe a handful of A4 printouts stapled together so this is nice.

Anyway lets start building!
Starting with bag A. First job is to sort the screws.
That's better:

It took me embarrassing amount of time to find the screws for the locker, they're already in the locker. But once those were found everything went together fairly quickly.

Everything fits together really nicely, I was surprised by the how tight the axle tubes are while going on, but it instils confidence that they ain't going anywhere. Bearings took a bit more force to fit into where they were going but again, they ain't going anywhere which I like.
There's a couple of errors here that have been previously mentioned; the instructions called for some screws that aren't there but the next closest sizes fit fine.

I'd also like to take a moment to point out that it's nice that the bags for each section do contain everything you need for that part. Being new to RC kits, this is probably the norm, but having cut my teeth on a WPL truck that requires opening several unrelated bags to find the correct hardware this is a breeze.
I'd also like to say that despite the small errors, the instructions are nicely printed and very easy to follow.

And here we are, one complete rear axle:

I've gone with the standard un-ramped diff covers, as I think they look a bit more stock. I'll see how I get on with these before switching to the ramped performance covers, I could even call it a free upgrade down.

After bag A, comes bag B. This was fairly uneventful, I knew where the locker screws were this time so I there was less head scratching. Everything went together nicely and feels solid. The universals on these front axles look and feel beefy.

Completed front axle:

This is as far as I've got, I started the build quite late on Saturday and had chores to do on Sunday so haven't got round to moving to the next bag.

I'll actually have to take these apart as I haven't greased them yet.
I've got a pot of molybdenum disulfide grease that I was going to use, I don't see any issue with using it but thought it best to ask, if anyone wants to weigh in on this I'm all ears.

For electronics, I'm probably going to nab the servo I've got on the Injora chassis, it's one of those cheap DS3225 jobbies but will do for now. ESC I'll be using the Hobbywing 1060 (also borrowed from the Injora).

I'm not sure what I'm going to do for a motor, I've got an unused RC4WD 35T motor sitting around which I'll probably end up using for the time being. I'm a bit nervous of it as it was so cheap, I'm sure it will work but for how long?

 

[Panther6834]

Welcome to "the club". I'm a recent "inductee", myself, having finished the chassis, but now in-search of a body (need to decide body before wheels & tires). With the TK being only my second crawler (Axial Capra was the first), I can tell you it's a fun, simple-to-follow build, with almost no errors in the manual. Chris has designed an outstanding kit...and, if you run into any problems, his CS is fantastic. Enjoy the build. :subscribed:

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place

 

[JatoTheRipper]

It took me embarrassing amount of time to find the screws for the locker, they're already in the locker. But once those were found everything went together fairly quickly.

Congrats! I think you chose a great kit for your first.

Don't sweat your problem finding the locker screws. I had the same problem and I've built dozens of kits. :lmao:

 

[Topher Builds]

Congrats on the grab and nice choice "thumbsup"

 

[OGTrout]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I got a bit of time on New Years eve to start on the transmission.

Here we are all assembled.

At this point I decided I should probably give it some power and a small spin. Jesus Christ! This thing is really high pitched. I was a little concerned at this point and disassembled the whole thing, took the motor out and turned the motor with no load. It turns out that's just what this motor sounds like. I'd had it sitting around but I'd never spun it up before. Woops.

After building the tranmission it starts to get real as the manual starts asking for most of the other bits.

This is how we look just as the manual starts asking you to bolt on the already assembled parts.

I didn't get a chance to work much on New Years eve or day, but luckily I had yesterday booked off work so I got a good chance to get everything together.
Really pleased with how everything fits together, the driveshafts are really nice (very oily), the universals look beefy.

I wasn't going to fill the shocks for the time being but ended going ahead with 45wt all round. I'm not very good at filling shocks but felt I got these all to feeling very similar.

And we have a roller!

Please excuse the mismatched tyres and un-scale cat.

You may notice I'm missing the bumper mount, I took it off for now as the servo horn I have in at the moment is too big (correct size has been ordered). I've also had to reduce the steering d/r, but this only for testing. Steering angle feels insane

At this point I took it for a quick spin down the hallway. Something I hadn't considered when I put this motor in was the final drive ratio. This 35T motor on 2s is a bit too slow for my liking, probably okay for crawling (maybe lacking in the occasional required wheelspeed) but a little slow for trailing.

The Injora chassis I'd been running also had a 35T motor, on 2s I wouldn't describe it as fast but it was definitely peppy. That uses a copy of the original SCX10 gearbox but I'm fairly sure it has a larger pinion. I'll run it as it is for now and see how I get on before making a decision about switching the motor or switching batteries to 3s.

For the body I'll be reusing my Range Rover Classic hard body

 

[JatoTheRipper]

The steering angle IS insane! I can't think of any other scaler that turns as much as this truck.

If you go with another budget motor checkout the Reedy Radon 13T or 16T. I'm a huge fan of this motor and it's only $25 shipped to me.

 

[Panther6834]

Personally, I think the cat is perfect "scale"...coming soon to a theater near you, "Attack of the Giant Space Cats from Jupiter".

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place

 

[OGTrout]

I've had a busy few days with this. Got the correct servo horn installed. And I pulled the Range Rover body and seeing as my girlfriend was out gave it a wash in the shower (don't tell her).

It's a little rough around the edges but cleans up fairly nicely. It's rigged for lights; fronts, tail/brakes, flashers and reverse

I really need to stop taking photos of it with mismatched wheels. I think I'm probably going to run the steelies with chinese KLRs wrapped around them, I think the combo looks pretty mean.


Make no mistake, this is a nice (and fairly pricey) body but I've never gone soft on it. It's been in the mud, it's had a ton of hard rolls , I let my 4 year old neice loose with it over christmas. The paint is chipped and scratched, but I'd rather that than it sitting unused on a shelf.

This is a pretty heavy body especially towards the back, so I'm thinking I'll need some harder springs at the rear. So if anyone can recommend some springs that fit the shocks, that would be great.

I printed the 23mm motor spacer and got it mounted up, alongside some quick 3d printed fenders.

Wires need a bit of tidying (I very much regret using cheap single core wire), but I think under the hood is looking pretty good.

I'm pretty happy with how the fenders fitted, considering I was sort of modelling them freehand with crude measurements. If the swept back bit was a bit lower and a few mills shorter it'd probably prevent water dripping down to the sliders..

I've got some rear fenders on the way, hopefully I'll have those printed this evening.

The steering angle IS insane! I can't think of any other scaler that turns as much as this truck.

If you go with another budget motor checkout the Reedy Radon 13T or 16T. I'm a huge fan of this motor and it's only $25 shipped to me.

I was looking at those before deciding to use what I've already got.

Personally, I think the cat is perfect "scale"...coming soon to a theater near you, "Attack of the Giant Space Cats from Jupiter".

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place

Funnily enough the reason I ended up getting back into RC toys, was that about 7 months ago I built a small radio controlled lego car, and the cat seemed to enjoy it too. It got me looking at cheap but more capable RC cars to annoy the cat with.

 

[carpetfuzz17]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I got a bit of time on New Years eve to start on the transmission.

Here we are all assembled.

At this point I decided I should probably give it some power and a small spin. Jesus Christ! This thing is really high pitched. I was a little concerned at this point and disassembled the whole thing, took the motor out and turned the motor with no load. It turns out that's just what this motor sounds like. I'd had it sitting around but I'd never spun it up before. Woops.

After building the tranmission it starts to get real as the manual starts asking for most of the other bits.

This is how we look just as the manual starts asking you to bolt on the already assembled parts.

I didn't get a chance to work much on New Years eve or day, but luckily I had yesterday booked off work so I got a good chance to get everything together.
Really pleased with how everything fits together, the driveshafts are really nice (very oily), the universals look beefy.

I wasn't going to fill the shocks for the time being but ended going ahead with 45wt all round. I'm not very good at filling shocks but felt I got these all to feeling very similar.

And we have a roller!

Please excuse the mismatched tyres and un-scale cat.

You may notice I'm missing the bumper mount, I took it off for now as the servo horn I have in at the moment is too big (correct size has been ordered). I've also had to reduce the steering d/r, but this only for testing. Steering angle feels insane

At this point I took it for a quick spin down the hallway. Something I hadn't considered when I put this motor in was the final drive ratio. This 35T motor on 2s is a bit too slow for my liking, probably okay for crawling (maybe lacking in the occasional required wheelspeed) but a little slow for trailing.

The Injora chassis I'd been running also had a 35T motor, on 2s I wouldn't describe it as fast but it was definitely peppy. That uses a copy of the original SCX10 gearbox but I'm fairly sure it has a larger pinion. I'll run it as it is for now and see how I get on before making a decision about switching the motor or switching batteries to 3s.

For the body I'll be reusing my Range Rover Classic hard body

Glad to see I am not the only one that has a 4 legged helper. As you can see mine tests out the suspension before we can move on.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[OGTrout]

Got some trail time today. I am very happy with how this performs! Absolutely in love with it. Everything seems to work smoothly, with the low gearing it just pulls and pulls. Hill climbs are nothing for this.

As I said before with a 35 turn on 2s it's a little slow, a little slower than my regular walking pace. I did find a few times I didn't quite have the wheel speed I needed to hop obstacles. But the battery lasted ages

 

[OGTrout]

Glad to see I am not the only one that has a 4 legged helper. As you can see mine tests out the suspension before we can move on.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200106/3dd452ac40fa63b9f34c9c652bfe6820.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mine mostly kicks the screws everywhere

 

[Topher Builds]

Truck looks great! I like the body choice.

If you’re still on the hunt for spring options, all of the traxxas springs for the trx4 shocks will fit. Maybe the blue would help you on the rear shocks.

 

[carpetfuzz17]

It's nearly the end of the year but not quite. The tree is still up, the lights are still twinkling.
Nestled amongst the sweets and festive flavoured candles sits a late Christmas present from myself to myself.

I just noticed looks like someone made made out good with 2 orange chocolate balls. Those things are good "thumbsup"

 

[OGTrout]

A quick pic of my wire situation:

I'd printed this box to hold the light controller and radio on my Injora truck, seeing as I'd robbed the servo and ESC from that I may as well take the electronics box. I'd made it oversized to make it easier to stuff wires in and accidentally printed it with high infill so it's a bit heavy. I'd actually made it mount across the chassis, but by sheer luck it's the perfect size to fit length ways. I've still got the SSD fuel cell installed, but I'm probably going to ditch that for a similar box using the fuel cell mounting holes.

Also showing the rear fenders I'd printed up. I had a scrappy piece of cut up styrene that was about the right size to work as a floor.


And the only picture I took while out, I was having too much fun and forgot to take any others

Truck looks great! I like the body choice.

If you’re still on the hunt for spring options, all of the traxxas springs for the trx4 shocks will fit. Maybe the blue would help you on the rear shocks.

Thanks, I've just ordered some "thumbsup"

I just noticed looks like someone made made out good with 2 orange chocolate balls. Those things are good "thumbsup"

I'm saving the dark chocolate one for a rainy day

 

[OGTrout]

A small update today. I was "working from home" yesterday which means I get to mess about and do chores while checking my emails periodically. I got a chance to get about 10-15 minutes of play time on my buddy's back garden course, first time for the Trail King. And what a difference it makes, it seems (to me anyway) like a fairly unforgiving course, small but tough in places; jaggedy rockbeds, a very rickety wooden bridge. The Trail King has no issues with any of it, it just smoothly rolls over everything, I feel I'm very much in control when driving. Even the rickety bridge was completed in one go, despite being very wet and slippy.

In terms of work on the truck, a couple of small updates.

We have a driver! Meet (checks notes), Hugo Strange and his son; Walking Dead man.

I bought Mr. Strange as he was cheap and sold as a 7" figure. This is correct for a 1/10 truck, but this body is closer to 1/9. It turns out Mr Strange isn't actually 7" tall, he's only 6.5". This makes him a bit small, even at 1/10 his scale height would only be 5'4", at the scale of the body he's barely 4'9". Short arse.

Despite his glaringly small frame I decided it's only kind to give him some sort of interior. And this what I spent a good chunk of my time "working from home" on

In typical fashion, the seat went a bit wrong but I'd got distracted and didn't realise until a decent amount of the print was completed so it can stay for now.
The dash is printed at low resolution (I think 0.3 layer height) because I didn't want to wait around all day to find out that it doesn't fit. And yes, I could do with buying some black PLA or something. The dash is as wide as I can print (my printer was very cheap).
I didn't want to relocate the battery and was planning for the rear of the seat to rest on the battery.

And here he is in the car

He's a little far forward, I think chopping a bit of the tranmision tunnel and moving the whole lot closer to the battery will do the job.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

I like the body. Good looking truck.