Pilot_MM's Build: A noob endeavor

[Pilot_MM]

Hello RCC community,

Because of this site and the local crawler group I decided I had to have a SCX10ii. I wanted to make a little build log of the pitfalls that I have run into to help another noob that might be interested in building and Axial. Before I get too far I want to thank you the community for the wealth of knowledge already left behind and some inspirations. ImthatGuy and XSRDesign I have spent a lot of time looking at your build logs. I also want to think Col. Sanders for his help, he is a local guy to me and if I have an issue I can literally send him a text and he will help me out. That is great.

I went for a moderate budget rig. I didn't want to sink too much money into it right away and then be afraid to run it. The build list consists of this:
Hobby Wing 80A Brushed Water Proof ESC
Tekin 35T HD motor
Castle Creation 10A BEC
Savox .15/208 Waterproof servo
3S 2200 mAh batteries

I have yet to purchase my bead locks but plan on getting something metal like the Locked Up RC TrailReady Hd. I also don't have an Rx/Tx system yet but will soon. Anyways here is my build log:

1/6/17 Box showed up at the LHS. Thanks SRD in LV.


I was shocked how well things were labeled and packaged. I have put together quite a few airplane kits and your truly get what you paid for. I liked the quality of parts and the instruction manual truly is a work of art. I like that they made the parts 1:1 inside the manual. That doesn't mean there hasn't been hiccups but I will get to that. The first thing I put together (but didn't glue because I want bead locks) was the wheels. They look amazing and so scale. I wish I could find those in metal and bead lock, maybe you know where to find them?

So I took to the manual and made it here
This was no problem. I wasn't sure how much grease to use so I went with a little more than light. I also wasn't sure how much to tighten the screws for the transfer case. Again a quick message to Col. Sanders and he gave me an idea, I tightened it until there was no binding or slipping.

Now came the hard(ish) part. Step 3 setting the caster. I thought I had it right but once I got the knuckle carrier on there I realized something wasn't right. Again a few quick messages and I was on my way.

Looks good right?

Better light, no flash

Driver side looked off. It was. I feel if the instructions told me to put the steering knuckle on before securing the knuckle carrier it would be easier to see the 10° angle. So Noobs... putting together your axles, do not secure the M3x15mm (AXA117) until you see that the caster angle is right. Just my .02 cents


The rear axle had no surprises. I made it here and called it a night.



I have two kids under 3 so I was proud of my progress. My wife mentioned having a play date tomorrow with her girlfriend so I should make a little more progress tomorrow otherwise it won't be until Monday before I can work on it. So far I am excited. I picked out paint and plan trying to get it ready to run ASAP children permitting. "thumbsup"

My future goals/upgrades/thoughts are I want to put the metal bead locks on there, I want to put a winch on it, and lastly I want to add lights. I love the stuff from 1toomanyrcs. I want a light bar and headlights. Maybe tail lights?!?? Lastly I want to put in an interior. I would like to try my hands at comps down the road too but that is a ways off.


If you have any suggestions, comments or good tips please post them up. I am a noob on the road to a good crawling spot.

-M

 

[SCREAMER]

Welcome and congrats on the new kit. I have that same ESC in a Yeti Jr. and I've been pretty impressed so far with it's performance and ease of tuning. My only suggestion for getting started would be a stronger servo. I'd suggest looking for something in the 300oz/in+ range minimum. 200ish from a Savox is just not going to be up to task for very long. Of course that's JMO but I think you'll feel you need more as soon as you get in some rocks at a crawling pace.

Col. Sanders is a good guy. I got to meet and crawl with him a couple times before I moved and he'd be a good mentor for any newb.

 

[Pilot_MM]

Thanks Screamer. A decent servo will be on the list for later this year. I had enough of a budget to get it rolling and didn't want to have it sitting on the work bench till summer because I couldn't afford the really good Savox or Hi-Tec servo. It will be changed though, I want something that is dependable that I can rebuild.

I find with my young kids if it sits on the bench more than a month it disappears :shock:

-M

 

[Pilot_MM]

Made a little more progress tonight. I got called into work so that reduced my free time... work... pfff...

Anyways after the kiddos went to bed I started working on the front links. I was told to take my time with this part and look closely at the photos. I think I got it all right but will know for sure when it comes time to hook it up to the frame/transmission. I cannot say enough good things about this build. When I was a kid I use to love building plastic models, cutting parts, sniffing glue, poor painting skills. This combines that with actual moving parts!



Just a little note for the noobies, I think the steering link should have gone on last. Put thelittle link that connects to the knuckle carrier on first. Then you should be good to go.

I might sneak in tonight after everyone is asleep and keep working but I have to work again tomorrow. (Seriously, can't they just pay me to stay home??)

Signing off for now
-M

 

[sharkattack99]

looking good man, keep it up look forward to the updates.

 

[MeanTT]

A second for steering servo thoughts. Personally I always hit up EBay for cheap Chinese serves. I have yet to kill one! Check out "POWER HD 20 KG WATERPROOF SERVO" on EBay. For 25 bucks you can have a quick servo that's waterproof and can put out 277 oz of torque if you run it at 6.6 volts. I run mine on 6 volts and it's perfect. It's not the best servo on the planet but it works very well and you can't beat the price.

Think about different bumpers too. The scx10 ii bumpers have huge overhangs. I think the dingo plastic bumper is like 10 bucks and folks are using it.

As for lighting kits, you can always go with a 10 dollar Chinese special (as I have done) wire it up and put the sucker in a balloon with liquid tape on the opening with a few zip ties around it. It works for me and again, for 10 bucks it provides what you need.


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[luckster]

I couldn't have said this better. Rock on liquid tape.

 

[sharkattack99]

onetoomanyrc light bars for the price are great, may check out his web page too sometimes he has his lights for a little bit cheaper than he does on ebay.

on the servo can get one at towerhobbies for 57 bucks and its a high voltage servo and has 425oz of torque at 7.4volts and titanium gears. not waterproof but that's fixable either dunk it in plasti dip, or open it up and put a small bead around the housing top and bottom put a little bit of marine grease around where the horn attaches (under the cover) just a little not much and put it back together and let it dry and boom "waterproof"...lol

TowerHobbies.com | RC Gear Shop Hi-Torque Digital Servo Coreless Titanium

some how I got lucky and got it for 34 bucks lol every once in awhile I get that lucky, bought it for my mud truck hauler project.

 

[Col_Sanders]

Its always good to have another local guy getting into the hobby, especially one getting his kid in on the fun! I'm hoping to get out for a drive Thursday or Friday morning.

Welcome and congrats on the new kit. I have that same ESC in a Yeti Jr. and I've been pretty impressed so far with it's performance and ease of tuning. My only suggestion for getting started would be a stronger servo. I'd suggest looking for something in the 300oz/in+ range minimum. 200ish from a Savox is just not going to be up to task for very long. Of course that's JMO but I think you'll feel you need more as soon as you get in some rocks at a crawling pace.

Col. Sanders is a good guy. I got to meet and crawl with him a couple times before I moved and he'd be a good mentor for any newb.

I bought one of the 1080s and installed it into Hannibal when I stole the Roc 412/MMP out of it. I haven't had a chance to run it yet. It sure feels nice and solid. The fact that you can program it without unplugging it from the RX is a very nice bonus. I've had good luck with Hobbywing's motors.

 

[Pilot_MM]

Nice Sharkattack. I will put that one on my list to compare. Thanks MeanTT, I like the large heat shrink and long cure epoxy myself. Takes a little longer but looks nice. Plus I don't want to look like I am smuggling drugs....:lmao: jk

So I got called away for work today which is always a good thing and a bad thing. I won't be home till Wednesday — the bad part, but I have two unadulterated days in a hotel! So I brought my kit with me. This morning I got up and before work finished the links on the rear end. That was really strait forward. I think the most time consuming part of this build is screwing into the hardened plastic. I'll tell you what, if you don't have a good hex driver set this kit will drive you to spend good money on a set. I have ONE lowly MIP 1.5mm hex driver and when I get to use it its money. For the 2 and 2.5 mm I have some high quality Allen Tools that have left my fingers hurting.


Looks like I know what I am doing right?? Just wait...

So I worked all afternoon and got into the hotel around 4pm. I thought I would work as fast* and I could and call it quits by 9pm only taking a break for dinner. I say fast but nothing about this build is going fast for me, I am deliberately taking my time to help prevent mistakes. Its my first build so I think its prudent. So I unload my stuff and start working on the shock towers. Easy peasy, I make sure all of the burrs are off the internal plastic parts, I test fit the o-rings, fight with the C-clips and get to the point where I am putting in oil. Tedium.... I fill it up about 3/4 full and then start pumping and watch all of the tiny tiny infinitesimal super tiny bubbles go away. Ok. Screw the top on and measure it to see that it is 98mm from the top of the eye-let to the bottom.

Hmmm... Weird. If you put it up to the graphic it is about 2mm long but if I measure it with my ruler its right on the money. I wasn't sure how to proceed here so began the ceaseless bugging of Col_Sanders. I am sure his wife is going to be sick of me by Wednesday when I am hoping to be finished building. Anyways I am not sure if it was just a parallax error, or if the graphic is not to scale, or if I was just hungry but I couldn't get them to match up. What I was able to do was get all 4 to be the same size as measured from my ruler which was 9.8cm. We'll see how that affects the rig. I don't think it will, I think it was just the way I was looking at it in the manual.


They all measure the same size. Thats close enough for me

So front axels finished, shocks finished, on to the transmission. And here is where hell broke loose. So first of all I wanna say Thanks Axial... Its pretty insidious to put pins and bearings in the same bag that are only .5mm and 1mm different respectively together. So here is how it went for me.

Step 18, assemble the speed shafts. Oh sweet, the pins slide in, the bearings go on and I am rocking and rolling. They all look about the same size. Step 19 insert the above into speed transmission housing. Easy peasy! Then I notice something askew, there is play in the axels. Hmmm. So far there hasn't been any play in anything. Well lets continue. Insert the 5x10x4mm bearings into the housings. Two fit perfectly and the third seems too large. Really weird! Ok, Insert the 1.5x8mm pin into the 3x18 shaft; it doesn't fit. What the hell?

Upon further inspection I realize my error. :shock::x DAMN IT. So three times I installed the screws to the speed housing to find the right bearings, and then the right pins. This step took me the longest of all so far.


The dreaded step 19. Lesson learned and note to noobs LOOK AT ALL THE PARTS CAREFULLY

I think if they would have separated them for a noob like me it would probably not have been missed. But the cost of packaging, and noobs like me really shouldn't be building, yadda yadda yadda.

Ok now on to the nuts and bolts of the transmission. This was really strait forward although I wasn't really sure about the paper backing on the slipper plate. Until I realized it was covering adhesive, and Col_Sanders told me it was ok to remove..... Yeah, you gotta start somewhere right? So this takes me to step 25. I am halfway there.


Note my XT60 connector, I wanted to make removing of the motor easy for repairs and rebuilds. Soldering my ESC directly to my motor seems like a bad idea.

So the only thing I didn't bring with me is my servo (because its in the mail) and my body. (traveling with aerosols is a no-no, but don't ask how I got my hobby knife through). I am going to be in PA for two days and called the local hobby shop there and they have a Tx/Rx waiting for me. I want to have it completely built minus the servo and the body by the time I get home on Wednesday. I figure Wednesday I can install the servo and paint the lid. I hope to meet with Col on Thursday or Friday for a quick inspection and then I will put on all the scale details. I hope to have it running and tuned by the 21st so I can go to my first comp. Getting the weekend off though is an act of God so we will see. I am halfway there!

-M

 

[Pilot_MM]

I forgot to mention the spacer tubes that are inside the transfer case. They are mislabeled. It was pretty obvious though because the bearing wouldn't fit with the long on on the wrong shaft. The graphic is right but labeling is wrong. I am sure this has been mentioned before but I hadn't see it.

-M

 

[Col_Sanders]

Getting there! I wouldn't be too concerned with getting all the bubbles out of the shocks....that oil is going to leak out pretty quick unless you followed some crazy voodoo ritual and the stars aligned perfectly while you put them together.

I think getting the body all cut out properly took me longer than any other part of the build. Getting the grille cut out was a pain!

 

[sharkattack99]

agreed the grille of the body was a pain for sure, trying not to break that little strip of lexan or cutting through it oy. was suprised i did it though lol.

 

[Pilot_MM]

Ok its finished! Well minus the body. So a couple of notes before I forget them.

Wow there was a lot of extra parts? I expected to use everything. And some of them I am not sure what to do with. Tell me that is normal? Some of them I think might be plastic replacement parts. Another thing I noticed is the travel is maybe 2.5 inches. Is that all it suppose to be stock? I guess in terms of scale thats a lot but I guess I was thinking more. I plan on meeting with Col_Sanders this week to get it tuned up a bit. The little extra bits were fun! I put the ammo cans together but probably won't use the bull horns. If I have to turn another 2mm screw with an allen key I will die, I am pretty sure my fingers are going to fall off. I couldn't fit my Rx inside the Rx box; is a Spektrum and the antenna comes out the side. It says on the packaging that it is water proof (SRS4210) so I put my BEC inside the Rx box and left the Rx on the other side. Alright time for the build photos.

Frames are on!

So I only stripped one screw on this whole build. That was a shocked with because when I put together a HH build last year I stripped out all of the screws and replaced them with harden steel screws. That pissed me off. Anyways the screw I stripped was on that held the angled fitting for the side rail. It screws to the bottom of the transmission. I got it in enough where it moved a little but knew that once the rails were on it would offer enough support. I was right but it made installing the frame rail a little wonky. I found that if I took the skid plate off, put it on one side first, then installed the transmission back onto the skid plate and continued working I had no problems. Trying to follow the instructions step by step wasn't working for me. Once that was finished though I felt like I was on the home stretch.


So I moved on to installing the shocks. It was way too late and I was way to tired at this point to be doing this. I couldn't figure out how to get the ball joints to mate up the right direction. Of course I took them apart, put them back together but I couldn't get the ball joints set so the faux reservoir would face the center of the truck! At this point I worked a full day and it was nearing midnight for me. I sent a message to Col_Sanders and he said it best:
"Just pop them off and put them in the other way"

Yeah simple solutions for complex problems are always the answer.


We have a roller! Wow. I made it! I mean I still have to paint the lid and put all the cool scale details on it but its finished! I even have my electronic lines mostly tidy (I am really anal about it in my airplanes). I have this weird sense of accomplishment where I think all that work for this? Why didn't I get an RTR but then at the same time its my tuck! I know how the parts were installed and what everything is now. I am not oblivious to what a panhard is or the easiest way to get to the shocks! The links on the bottom don't look like a map drawn with spaghetti anymore, they are laid out smartly.

Again to the extra parts

My wife is gonna hate how much paint I am going to end up having. OD here I come. But why the hell didn't they supply a pin for the hinge? I have some control rod back home that will work. Plus how many scale points will I get for this in comps??? :lmao: But wow, a surplus of extra parts. Screws, plastics, an additional skid plate? I can't help thinking I missed something.

Flex

My fancy ruler says exactly 2.5 inches. Maybe I need to stop looking at photos of guys rigs that just updated the shocks to some aftermarket part and they stick a tamiya spray can under there. Maybe I have too much oil in there, I don't know. This will be figured out during the shake down with Col_Sanders.

I need to get some AA batteries for my Tx and I will run it without steering tonight to see how well the transmission moves. Everything feels a little stiff but I have read posts about things wearing "in" after a few packs. There is definitely no slop though.

I am freaking ready to get home now and paint! Which will take hours, because I am anal about painting and want to do a good job. I will get an alternate XJ body and mount it with velcro down the line though so if I don't get the paint just right this go round I won't cry.


So maybe your a noob and just found this thread. If you are debating between an RTR or a kit here is a way to determine which to get:

Do you like instant gratification?
Do you have the patience for dropping little screws?
Do you have a limited budget?
Are you a tinkerer?
Can you think outside the box when the instructions give you misinformation?
Do you have a nice set of hex tools that are as small as 1.5mm?
Do you have kids under 3?

You can probably figure out the results but I will say building this thing was fun. It took me about 9-12 hours; not sure exactly but I also have zero experience. Would I do it again? I don't know, ask me in a year... lol

Once I am finished painting and putting it together I will post action photos. Thanks for all your help and support so far guys!

-M

 

[Pilot_MM]

No photos to add, too stoned after painting... :lmao:

Anyways paint is on and drying. Tires are glued; ugh, I am going to have to get bead locks soon, gluing sucks and removing the tires is going to be no fun. Anyone have any experience with these Alientac Silver alloy. I see they are all metal construction, scale-ish looking and CHEAP! I like that they are so heavy, I think would be a good thing.

Lastly I got my servo installed. My initial body-less runs were good and I am happy with it for now. I had to put a spacer under the servo (to raise it a bit) and trim the stock horn down a bit to get it to fit without interference with the pan hard. On 3S this thing has some freaking torque! Its not super fast which I like but I had it nearly climbing vertical up a tree. All that torque showed me how bad at soldering I am because one of my leads broke off. That's a quick fix but will have to wait till morning.

Cant freaking wait to get a run on this, maybe tomorrow? For sure no later than Saturday

Stay tuned!
-M

 

[Pilot_MM]

Finished! Welllll I mean assembled because there are some upgrades I want to make. First off I picked the most amazing color. I am a fan of blue and my LHS had three different shades. It was a toss up but I went with Tamiya Metallic Blue. I masked the fenders and hood and painted them Outlaw Black.


I did all of this in the dark, I was shocked how well it came out LOL

I spent the rest of the morning putting on the decals and the scale parts. I love the little details they put into this model. I got it together and ran it around the neighborhood and cant wait to go on Saturday and run with the rest of the local crawler guys.





So on the short list are:
Bead locks
Lights
Front and Rear Bumpers
Winch


I will post a run video and photos after Saturday!
-M

 

[j.krug]

Your truck looks great Pilot well done! "thumbsup"
Now would you bring the poor thing in out of the rain...you're not supposed to get them wet and muddy are you?? :shock:

 

[fortyeightjake]

Looks good! I really like that color. Until you get new bumpers, you can trim the end of the "stalks" to slide them in towards the body further. I ran mine like that for a while and they're really not that bad compared to sticking all the way out.

Also, I notice you have a Sands Casino water bottle there. Do you happen to work for them?

 

[Pilot_MM]

Looks good! I really like that color. Until you get new bumpers, you can trim the end of the "stalks" to slide them in towards the body further. I ran mine like that for a while and they're really not that bad compared to sticking all the way out.

Also, I notice you have a Sands Casino water bottle there. Do you happen to work for them?

Do you have a photo of the bumper? I notice it getting hung up in the yard already. I love the look of the tow hitch but it's gotta go.

I do work for them but not in PA. I work at the headquarters.

J.Krug
No mud? No rain? But I wanna! LoL.


Thanks for the kind words guys.
-M

 

[fortyeightjake]

Do you have a photo of the bumper? I notice it getting hung up in the yard already. I love the look of the tow hitch but it's gotta go.

I do work for them but not in PA. I work at the headquarters.

J.Krug
No mud? No rain? But I wanna! LoL.


Thanks for the kind words guys.
-M

These are with them all the way pulled in. It's not a whole lot but it certainly helped. The front has since been replaced with a different bumper after snapping it off.

Small world, I work for Delta Engineering. I did some part inspection work on your guys' new A340 in Louisiana and at your Vegas facility. I'm guessing you fly for them judging by your name?

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