My first scaler - Project United Nations

[Brake Weight]

This will be my first ever attempt at a scale RC. It is the cheaper Chinese cousin of the RC4WD D90. All my internet research says it's the same molds.... This will be a work in progress until it's done....but things are never fully done.

I've always wanted a scale military RC but never got one. Then this opportunity fell into my lap and I figured it was close enough. Being semi lazy and scared of scratching paint off of a hardbody, primer white was the paint of choice. This gives a dinghy overland, backwoods, 3rd world country used feel. It'll take the smudges and embrace them also. Any deep gouges from rock rash should add to the 'patina'. At least that's the idea.

Stock photo of everything in the package. I ordered mine through Banggood.

First things first was assembly of the body. I have a complete spare scx10 chassis that I was going to use for this. The problem was that the interior didn't allow for the body to sit as low as it needed to sit. So I scoured the interweb and it circled me back around to Banggood. The chassis was a different brand since the matching Austar brand was out of stock.

https://m.banggood.com/Tian-Chuang-...ntal-Frame-RC-Car-Part-98449D90-p-998762.html

Stock photo

Now this lacks the separate transmission and transfer case. For these I sourced them from fleaBay. A 1:1 ratio transfer case and a 14:1 ratio geared planetary. If all else fails I'll use my scx10 tranny forward mounted.

The planetary has a short can motor that I hope will be swappable with a normal brushed 540. It is the same width and has the same bolt pattern, but I haven't pulled it off the motor just yet. If this works and fails quickly I'll drop the coin on the nice $40 planetary. I am going to use the scx10 axles I have and needed as close to a 12:1 ratio as I can get to match the output of a scx10 tranny.

To link the motor/planetary to the transfer case I got some of these U joints from Banggood also. I have some stainless rod that I'll cut to fit and then make some flat sides to lock them down.

I don't know how much abuse these will take on a heavy, land based crawler. But they are cheap.
https://m.banggood.com/RC-CarBoat-Cardan-Joint-Stainless-Steel-Connector-p-976297.html

Stock photo

For tires I have a set of 96mm, also from Banggood.
https://m.banggood.com/HOBBY-MASTER-110-96mm-Tires-For-RC-Crawler-Car-HC12003-p-942855.html

Stock photo

I did not like the glue on wheels so I found some GMade NR01 on fleaBay for cheap I thought. Especially having scale hardware.

Stock photo

I finally got the body put together. Over the last two days I got it trimmed and painted. There was really a minimum amount of flashing from the molding process. The smaller pieces needed a little trimming with my hobby knife and the larger pieces weren't bad at all. The windows I just ran the back of my knife's blade around it to clean it up.

I primed the chrome pieces the same matte white and then used a matte black as a topcoat. The area behind the grille I painted a silver to mimic a radiator. I've got a pair of jerry cans to mount up as soon as I can sort a spare tire combo for the rear. If there is space inside I also have a servo winch to mount which will be very cool.

---Pic time---
Currently I have it as a servo on axle. If this doesn't fit then I'll have to manage a chassis mounted servo.

 

[hotwheels000]

Do you have a link to that planetary ?

 

[JatoTheRipper]

I'm really interested to see how this build turns out.

I especially want to know how that chassis and planetary holds up.

Those tires are going to hold you back though.

Please keep us updated!

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[Brake Weight]

Do you have a link to that planetary ?

The 400rpm is supposed to be 14:1
https://www.ebay.com/itm/351900958125

 

[Brake Weight]

I'm really interested to see how this build turns out.

I especially want to know how that chassis and planetary holds up.

Those tires are going to hold you back though.

Please keep us updated!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Just trying to keep it Class 1 'scale legal'. I may go up in size later on.

 

[Ditchrat]

Just trying to keep it Class 1 'scale legal'. I may go up in size later on.

I don't want to speak for anyone else. However I think what he is getting at is that the quality of those tires is poor. I would expect that they do not have good grip or sticky rubber. Spending $60.00 for good tires is worth every penny.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Exactly. I meant that the rubber compound will be harder than quality tires and you will not get good grip.

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[Brake Weight]

Exactly. I meant that the rubber compound will be harder than quality tires and you will not get good grip.

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I wholeheartedly agree. I've got some GMade mt1903 and some Flatirons. Both are a few mm over the 106mm requirement.

This will be for roaming around the house mostly anyways.

 

[spaceman5280]

Looks good, I'm following cuz I got the same body set and I'm using an MST CMX or CFX chassis, depending on how much I have to hack the interior.

I also got those tires and wheels because they were the only 5 lug cheap wheels I could find and I will probably run the stock MST tires on those wheels.

I agree with the others about the hard rubber compound, I have a set of the bigger tires with chrome wheels that I sometimes run on my HG P402 and they are not sticky so I now run flatirons on the HG.


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[Brake Weight]

The chassis showed up today. I haven't had time to mock it up past what is in the previous pic, but can say that the four side posts line up with the four holes on the body and the front brace is set up for a CMS. Flip that rear bumper in the pic and there's holes that line up with the back of the body and the ends taper just right to line up also. There's also provisions for a leaf springs, too.

 

[soze]

That's an interesting looking frame. Would like to see how it turns out.

 

[Brake Weight]

I've had to put this on the back burner for a few weeks while life takes over. It's not forgotten and I'll be marinating a few ideas.

The transfer case I've got now is a 1:1. I found another that is the right measurements to bolt in directly and is a 2:1. So I'm thinking of trying something a little different.

Looking at the GCM front mounts and a few other front mounts they utilize an existing transmission and gearing. Are a little tall and bulky, too. My first idea is to just use a spur and pinion to get about a 7:1 ratio then double that at the transfer case for roughly 14:1. Second idea is that I have some spare scx10 tranny gears and will get a scrap of carbon fiber. Then attempt to align those gears across the carbon fiber to make a lower CoG and more compact tranny with the same gearing as a stock SCX. Something compact like a small box of matches with a motor plate hanging off of it.

Thoughts? Holes in my ideas? Been done?

 

[seedburns]

Any updates? I just ordered the same body and frame from banggood.

 

[Brake Weight]

Not really. This project has ended up on the back burner for now. I did get a 1:1(almost 1:1) knock off RC4WD transfer case from fleaBay. Put it in and mounted the axles with 4 links to the T-case. But that's it so far. Ordered and received a small sheet of 2mm carbon fiber and some flanged bearings. I'm going to try and mount the internal gears of an SCX10 tranny sandwiched between the CF board using the flanged bearings instead to hold the gears put. But that's where I've stalled out at. I need to figure out a better way for the axle links to mount, too. I may just drill and tap some m3 holes in the sides of the thick aluminum chassis rails using the SCX10 geometry. Plus the shocks need to be outside of the way they're supposed to mount. So that's not working out right either.

 

[Brake Weight]

Oh. I picked up a set of used 1.9 RC4WD steel wagon wheel bead locks from here, too. I'll clean them up and get new m2.5 hardware then powder coat them black again.

 

[Synister_Intent]

Looks good man. How do you like shopping on banggood? Is it secure?

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[Brake Weight]

Looks good man. How do you like shopping on banggood? Is it secure?

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

I've actually had good experiences with them. Some haven't, but I have. If they quit using PayPal I'd go somewhere else. You have to realize it's coming from China and you're communicating with Chinese. So there's long ship times and poor communication since, well...it's China. Their item descriptions show that. I've bought everything from shop vac parts to elephant trunk boxers (too little, LOL), to side marker lenses for my VW. Never had a motor or ESC fail either. But I got burnt on 2 "programmable" ESCs because they recommended a programmer that didn't work. So if you must, get a combo and not individually. The D90 body I actually got as a freebie to do a review on another forum. The sheet carbon fiber and flanged bearings I hope to make the tranny with are from there also.

I've bought a few things from Gearbest too but haven't had as good experiences there. Not bad, just lack of communication.

 

[Brake Weight]

You've motivated me a little bit. I'll never fab the front mount so I got to looking online. Found RC4WD single speed tranny and motor mount at DollarHobbyz and scooped it up cheap enough. Some scale hardware for the steelie wheels, and another Thunder Tiger tranny for a go fast idea. $55 total ain't bad.

 

[Brake Weight]

Which hardware?

 

[Brake Weight]

Found these last night and ordered them. Figured they'd be stiff, but the body is heavy and the chassis is solid, too. Now to figure out some scale-ish shocks.

https://m.banggood.com/4pcs-110-Lea...D90-RC-Crawler-Car-Parts-Black-p-1172465.html