My first ever build: 1/6 Scale New Bright Raptor

[DeoreDX]

I'm a total newbie when it comes to Hobby RC. I don't own a single coil over, servo, or set screw of a hobby grade RC so this will be new territory. I've been reading all of the build threads and various subforums on here learning the ropes. I've read enough and learned enough that I have finally started to plan my build. Before I buy anything I wanted to run my plans by some of you knowledgeable guys and maybe you can help me avoid some costly mistakes or headaches.

My 5yo son is OBSESSED with Ford Raptors and we bought him the large 1/6 scale New Bright for his Birthday. It's easily the most underpowered POS I've ever seen and that's saying much since my son owns a lot of New Bright RCs. But, the body is freaking awesome and the LED lights are awesome. So my dream it to shove that body on top of something that will be able to drive over it's own shadow without stalling so my son can really enjoy it. I'm not going in to this with the expectations that this will be a competition crawler of a scale RC so lifelike you couldn't tell it wasn't real in pictures. I mainly want something my Son can enjoy which means when we go down the fire roads around our house it doesn't get stuck on a tuft of grass sticking out of the dirt road, or doesn't stall on a baby fist sized rock.

After lots of reading and soul search I think my easiest route of getting a working RC under this body would be to go with an Exceed Mad Torque. I know I know a MOA scale build is heresy The #1 reason why I'm looking at the Mad Torque is that it comes with the 16.5" wheelbase I need out of the box. I think as a total newb not having to screw around with linkage geometry would make thing easier for me. Plus RTR with everything I need for less than $200. "thumbsup"

I've done some photoshop work with pictures Monkeyracer posted in his thread and scaled everything to the correct dimensions to get an idea of the size of the Raptor body on the Exceed Mad Torque.

To join the body to the Mad Torque's chassis my initial though is to build a ladder frame I will bolt/screw to the raptor body and I could screw that to the existing shock mounting holes on the Mad Torque's chassis. I'd like to re-route the shocks to a more vertical orientation so it looks more scale. I'm guessing this will require shorter shocks so the shocks don't stick out of the top of the body and would limit my suspension travel? I'm really not too concerned with limiting suspension travel some as that would help with wheel rubbing. This would also make it so I would have to unbolt body from the chassis to remove it. I am assuming that won't be much of an issue.

Monkeyracer's Mad Torque has wheels larger than stock, so I don't have a good feel for if I need new wheels/tires yet. Even with the stock Exceed wheels being smaller I think I might need smaller wheels or a bit of trimming around the wheel wells.

That's the high level overview of what I'm looking at right now. If oyu guys have any suggestions, thoughts, etc on what I am planning I would love to get some feedback.

 

[Dimebagged]

I can't give much help but I'm down to see your build come alive. I have the 1:6 H2 that I'd like to do this to as well.

 

[6sharky9]

Should turn out pretty good...will be watching this one8)

 

[Docwolf]

I would seriously consider a true ladder frame for this, Fatboyrs10 can be found in the vendors section and he can bend a frame to any shape you want. you can then buy some standard spacers off ebay or make some out of a poly cutting board.

you can then marry that to the Mad chassis, there is no reason you could not say with angeled shocks. you would now have something easy to assemble that gives you plenty of options for mounting your body too.

or you can ditch the mad chassis as you will have a clean pair of rails you can drill and bolt to.

this also sets you up for scaler upgrades down the road and gives you a starting point for learning about link geometry.

 

[DeoreDX]

OK now we are starting to get some traction. Step one is done, bought the Mad Torque. Went through it, a little lube on the gears. Re-meshed the gears. Moved the shock placement around some. Got the ARTR so I had to mount my RX and solder on some XT60 connectors. After I got it set up and running I just laid the body on top of the Mad Torque. Already looks pretty good.

Now that I have the MT I have to decide how I want to build up my crawler. Least amount of work will be just adapting the body to the current chassis. I'm thinking it might turn out better if I tossed the chassis and made my own chassis. First thing I need to do is narrow the footprint. I'm around 14" right now. After throwing a caliper on it I'm thinking I can get it down below 13" with a Hex change. The Hexes on the axel have 1.125" of offset. Now the question will be if I want to try to get it down to a 12mm Hex while I'm doing this. I want the final wheel dimension to be around ~5" to maximize wheel diameter while minimizing body trimming, it's currently 6.25". Here is what it looks like with 4.3" wheels.

I don't see a lot of options with 17mm Hexes to get me down to a 5" wheel. 12mm Hexes open up a lot of different wheel/tire combos for me. I also think I need to stretch the MT about 1/4" to get the wheels lined up perfectly. But before I start any work the Son and I are taking our trucks to the park and will be doing a little driving around since the weather is so nice.

 

[OneSixthScaleRC]

Hi, I really like the looks of the last picture. Very scale looking!
OneSixthScaleRC will be commercializing a 1/6 very scale looking and heavy duty chassis with adjustable wheelbase very soon, hopefully in April.
If you can wait until then, it will save you lots of trouble of designing the chassis and getting the suspension geometry correctly (I am saying that from experience).
If you are interested send me a pm. Maybe I can get you a "prelaunch" chassis. "thumbsup"

 

[DeoreDX]

I picked up a 1/10 Maxstone so the Fam can have 3 rigs so we can hike and drive around some of the local trails. I pulled a 12mm Hex and axle ends out of the Max Stone to see if it would fit the Mad Torque. No dice, the inside bearing in the knuckle is a different size. Then I had the bright idea of moving the whole knuckle assembly. Although they are different castings all the important dimensions are identical. Mounted on assembly to the Mad Torque and it looked good. Mounted the 17mm Hexes from the Mad Torque to the Max Stone 10 and the Max Stone looks MUCH better with the 6.3" dia tires. Spent 45 minutes moving the other 3 knuckles around and did a test fitup of the body. The Max Stone tires are ~5" diameter but really wide, just a hair over 2". It's sitting at around 12.5" wide with the Max Stone tires. With my Axial beadlocks with the narrower width and less offset I'll be just about a perfect 11.5". Now I just need some tires for my beadlocks. But now I have 12mm hexes and some 5" tires on there I can start adjusting the wheelbase and start framing up my body to mount. Balanced the body the chassis with some tire foams, not 100% level but it gives me a good idea what the finished product will look like.

 

[axial 4x4 crawler]

How is that exceed rc working for you? Im making a thread right know and I need your opinion about the mad torques quality even though Im thinking about the 1/5 maxstone.

 

[DeoreDX]

How is that exceed rc working for you? Im making a thread right know and I need your opinion about the mad torques quality even though Im thinking about the 1/5 maxstone.

I've been quite happy with quality of the Mad Torque. From a design perspective the all metal drivetrain seems pretty stout. Some of the aluinum bits are nicely manufactured, but some bits like the frame itself is obviously lacking as far as fit and finish (rough tooling marks in the machining, sharp edges, etc). I've had one failure so far, the ball-socket that my rear upper link attaches too the socket itself split so the ball isn't tightly held any more. Still drivable but there is noticeable shifting in the rear axle when you go from forard to reverse power. I believe the damage came when my son hit the back of my crawler at about 20mph with his Traxxas Slash. I find I much prefer the design and the fit and finish of the Mad Torque over my 1/10 Maxstone.

 

[1tonscout]

The mad torque is a better design and aftermarket upgrades are available for the axles fron d-lux. other threads on the maxstone indicate the weak gears and pricey integy gear upgrades. the maxtone also has weak knuckles, axle shafts and upper link mount

 

[DeoreDX]

Well I had finished a frame but my 5yo son thought it needed to be "jacked up higher" so I lifted it some. So it's a little higher than I originally wanted but he likes it and that's what matters.

Frame.

I was originally going to have the body attached with some wing nuts and hidden studs under the body but I "temporarily" threw some velcro on there and well dangit it worked so well I think I'll make it permanent. Surprised how well the velcro holds it to tell you the truth, and no fumbling with fasteners to get it off. You do have to pay attention to get it lined up.

I actually have more flex than this when pointed straight but this is about how much flex I get before the tire will rub on the inside front wheel when turning uphill. I want to get some shorter shocks but for the time being I will probably just throw some stops on the existing shocks.

Here is a side view of the final ride height. One good thing about lifting it 1/2" is that I don't need to remove the body to access the battery any more. I still want to get different wheels and tires with less offset. I originally wanted to go smaller with the tires but I'm not sure it will look right at the current ride height. Might actually go a hair larger and trim the wheel wells a little.

 

[67mustang]

I'm glad you are going bigger than you originally had posted. I think it looks great now. Might as well go with tires as big as your rig can handle/stuff.

 

[DeoreDX]

I'm glad you are going bigger than you originally had posted. I think it looks great now. Might as well go with tires as big as your rig can handle/stuff.

I need some more wheel speed now. Don't think the stock ESC can handle 3s so I might look at a pinion and/or motor changes. I'd like to get it up to a brisk walk/ slow jog speed. Right now I'm barely at a slow walk. Good for climbing but not good for trail running.

 

[DeoreDX]

Some action shots. Still have just a tiny bit of rub at full lock and full articulation in the front. Front end also seems a little stiff right now but I'll keep it that way until I get the rub sorted. Still crawls surprisingly well. High centering seems to be the biggest issue but that's to be expected with almost 17" of wheelbase and 5" tires. Changing the 14t pinions out for some 18t to see if I can get the speed back up to a brisk walking pace instead of just a normal/slow walking pace.

 

[Jeepbri]

Looks great out on the trail!

 

[DeoreDX]

Posing beside his running mate, the 1/10 Raptor Slash.

 

[DeoreDX]

Some more action pics. I'm looking at putting in some lower turn motors to eek a little more speed out of it. Not sure if the ESC can handle two 35t's. Might as well throw them in and give it a shot. If the stock ESC implodes it's a good reason to upgrade the ESC The son loves to mud-bog in it. Suprised we haven't killed any parts of it yet.

 

[mehmet]

Nice work i also recently build one i did went with a custom build latter fram tough

 

[myconnec]

do you have it on youtube

 

[myconnec]

thanks for your post. i have been asking around different forums and no one could ever help. i have a 1/6th body and wanted to know a cost effective way of turning it into a crawler and you just answered that for me i think you bro