Queso meets a Buffalo (GS02F)

[QuesoDelDiablo]

In the past I've proven terrible at staying up to date with build threads but I'm gonna try again. I'm going try to actually stay on top of this one and keep it updated. So here we go with a little story about my building a Gmade buffalo GS02F, the military edition.

I'll cover off a few of the highlights from this rig here even though they've already been discussed elsewhere.

Things I like about Gmade and the Buffalo:

-.060" Polycarb body, nice and strong.
-2 speed trans out of the box, I've never felt the need for 2 speed before but it's neat that's offered as a part of the basic kit.
-Overdrive options, stock is 12% with purchasable options for 0% or 30%.
-Counter rotating driveshafts, Gmade has been doing this for a few rigs/years now so I've seen it in action on my Bom and it really does virtually negate the torque twist.
-Forward motor, should be good for bias and looks like a scale motor would be easy to add in.
-Stealth body mount, does anyone actually like having posts stick out of their rig? I know I don't.
-Inner fenders, I've always made them from Tupperware but I've always disliked how hokey that seemed, it worked but wasn't real pretty..
-The trans is nice low, eliminating the 3rd gear keeps it lower and lighter than something like an SCX trans.
-All metal gears, common I know but not every kit can claim this
-All metal links, same as above. I'll likely make my own lowers out of SS


A couple upgrades/changes I'll build with are:

-Alum c-hubs & knuckles, these items are a "must-do" on any rig as far as I'm concerned.
-Steel beadlocks, I got the uncoated ones from Gmade so I can rust them up a little.
Brass bushings for the knuckles, this is Gmade's biggest failure imo, you don't even get them with the alum knuckles, you have to order them separately.

Hey look a box! I was pretty pumped when this showed up on a Sunday. Apparently Canada Post is so busy that they deliver on weekends..

Holy smokes. There was a box inside that box. Am I blowing your mind yet?

I think this takes the cake as the best free gift with purchase ever! 10 M3 zip ties, good thing I don't already have hundreds of them laying around...
Oh, wait. I do. I have literally hundreds of them after I accidentally double ordered on AliExpress last year. By preordering my kit I got a free upgrade to all metal pivot balls but they're down in the bottom of the box somewhere.

On every build I've done I start with the chassis and it always goes together faster than expected and then I'm stuck prepping the body. I'm really not a fan of painting or body work in general so this time I'm starting with the body before I touch the chassis.


Hey look, a clear polycarbonate body. Wow.

Cut & trimmed, I love the score and tear method for trimming. I actually pulled all of the flash off of this one in one piece. So many holes to drill, glad I've got a good set of metric drill bits.

Since I don't particularly enjoy painting I've started using automotive vinyl to wrap my bodies (it's also a great way to refresh old bodies and make them look brand new again). On this one, I thought I'd get crazy and I'm going to paint the underside with an attempt to make a color mildly reminiscent of rust. hopefully as the vinyl gets scratched and damaged, it'll look a bit like rust. We'll see..
This all Tamiya paint, PS14 (copper) for the main colour then PS7 (orange) for the first backer and then PS 22 (racing green) and PS5 (black) to finish it off..

Quite likely the ugliest underside I've painted. I just wanted the exterior colour and then I used up a few different leftover cans from the garage as backer..

I think that'll do for a first post, more updates coming soon!


Cheers

 

[QuesoDelDiablo]

Reserved for updates

 

[Phildirt]

That body actually looks more 'scale' than the ads. Decent! I got all excited about the copper color though and then realized it was the rusty undercoat. I did something similar on an Axial C10 body and it worked great.

 

[QuesoDelDiablo]

That body actually looks more 'scale' than the ads. Decent! I got all excited about the copper color though and then realized it was the rusty undercoat. I did something similar on an Axial C10 body and it worked great.

Yeah, the copper actually turned out better looking than I expected. I'm partially tempted to just flat black the canopy and roll with it but I've already ordered the vinyl soo...

 

[TheLetterJ]

Any chance you've got a K5 Ascender body laying around to compare size? I'm really starting to think the Buffalo body might actually be a better representation of a 1:1 K5 and I probably need to buy one. Unlike the Ascender, the roof is smooth, there's no predrilled post holes, and the rear corners look like they have a wider radius (the Ascender is too square at the tail lights.) The .060" thickness is something I wish more crawler bodies came in, sure it's heavier, but most of us use the body as a "roll cage!"

 

[QuesoDelDiablo]

Any chance you've got a K5 Ascender body laying around to compare size? I'm really starting to think the Buffalo body might actually be a better representation of a 1:1 K5 and I probably need to buy one. Unlike the Ascender, the roof is smooth, there's no predrilled post holes, and the rear corners look like they have a wider radius (the Ascender is too square at the tail lights.) The .060" thickness is something I wish more crawler bodies came in, sure it's heavier, but most of us use the body as a "roll cage!"

I don't but I think some of the guys I roll with do. I'll do so comparing at some point for ya..

While I'm not any sort of authority on them, this LOOKS like a K5 to my uneducated eyes..

 

[JimInMiami]

Dang, that's looking good, subscribed!

 

[QuesoDelDiablo]

Not much exciting to update today, didn't make any real progress on the rig but I haven't drive s couple things towards it-

Got this sexy little beast reconditioned, 27T hand wound Japanese Epic armature, sure is nicer than the cheap stuff that's so prevalent these days. I've had it kicking around for a few years, it was handed down to me by a fella that retired from off road racing and it's been very well cared for.
Armature is balanced, hoods are perfectly aligned, brushes hit dead center on the comm; quick clean of the brushes and comm, 2 drops of oil on each bearing and you'd think it's a brand new motor (it's at least 8-10 years old).
Even found that I have a can of "period correct" motor cleaner, lol..

And I conformal coated the board for my light switch/controller. Not sure if I'll use this one though, it's a bit bulky compared to a servo board and I don't need the extra flashing features. I just want lights that I can turn on and off.

 

[octigonwallrus]

nice score on the motor. I used a speed gems 17turn double for a long time. I just geared it down and volted up. I really miss the old venom fireball 21turn doubles and the orion 21 t doubles, oh and the mag mayhems. man those take me back. lol

 

[soze]

Alright! Can't wait to see how yours turns out. I picked up the military version as well, but won't have time to get to it until my other builds are finished.

 

[QuesoDelDiablo]

Here's the update for Monday..

I've been making progress on the vinyl wrap but I'm not rushing it. So far the canopy section is done with the flat black and the center/cab section is done with the olive green.

In hindsight, I should've split up the panel layout differently so there's no seams in the vinyl on the sides. I'll likely end up tearing the green off and starting over..

The window trim decals will cover my poor workmanship on the window cutouts...

Gmade has mostly done good things with their designs and almost everything I've come across in a few other Gmade builds has been reasonably well thought out, designed and spec'd. But then I pulled the foams out of these tires in preparation for building the beadlocks.

Before I even comment on their density or size, they're the worst foams I've seen. They're actually split; they're not a foam ring, they're a stick of foam wrapped around the rim. They're also that typical open cell stock foam density which is too firm right now and after a few weeks of running will be almost completely non-existent.

I was going to build the wheels but while I was taking the foams out and getting ready, I realized that I should actually spray some paint on the back side of my rims since I bought the uncoated steel ones.

I'll run them for now because Christmas is coming and funds are allocated elsewhere but some CI's will be required.

 

[alexleblanc]

My Buffalo arrived last week, I gotta get off my ass and built it soon. Looks like a nice kit from the initial unboxing.

 

[QuesoDelDiablo]

My Buffalo arrived last week, I gotta get off my ass and built it soon. Looks like a nice kit from the initial unboxing.

Totally. Get on it!

This'll be my third Gmade kit build and one thing I can absolutely say about them as a company is that they listen to user/industry feedback. They are constantly making improvements and now they're putting out some really solid kits. It wasn't always this way if you go back to the days of the original Sawback or the R1; those were fairly terrible but paying attention to industry trends and listening to feedback has paid off/is paying off for them..

How many other rigs come with all metal gears, metal links throughout, overdrive, 2-speed, inner fenders and use a .060" (1.5mm) thick body for under $350.00USD?

 

[Phildirt]

They had me at straight axle, main reason it’s on my short list. First mod I would make is wheel/tire/foam so not worried about the foams but that does suck that they skimped there.

 

[QuesoDelDiablo]

Yup, I'm still working on the body. Here's an update with the latest progress after last weekend..

I got the vinyl wrap all done, still a little bit more work to do with the blow dryer to clean up some curves and dents and corners and stuff, but overall I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out. I'm really impressed at how much you can actually stretch vinyl to get it around corners and fitting into curves and stuff like that.

It took me two full days, two full days (bear in mind, this is at my normal weekend work pace, which isn't setting any speed records) of cutting out and applying window trim decals. Each trim is made up of four pieces which is awesome because it allows you to compensate for your poor cut lines but it's awful because the amount of trimming required is hideous. And, the canopy side windows had two separate trim pieces so, eight decals to trim for each of the canopy side windows. FML. Once again, glad I started with the body portion of this build before I move on to the chassis..

I think that's all that I'm going to use from the stock sticker sheet, now my intention is to get busy drawing up some custom decals and then using my wife's cricket to cut them in matte black vinyl..

Now I can move on to attaching all the plastics, grill, light buckets, mirrors, door handles, etc, etc... This body comes nicely detailed with all the add on bits..

I also got the bead locks built. I think these were actually the easiest bead locks I've ever built. They went together perfectly and I was done all 4 in about a half an hour. One nice little thing that you don't see a lot of companies doing is actually including instruction for how to assemble (I know, most of us don't need them) and even including some long screws for pulling them in evenly. I also really like that they come with scale hardware.

They're Gmade SR02 rims in uncoated steel. I accelerated the rusting a little bit but I'm going to let them age naturally for the most part.

I've realized that I've got a lot of electronics to cram into this thing. One thing I'm not super-pumped about is Gmade's decision to use a standard size servo for the 2 speed shifting, my long term intention is to see if that can swapped to a micro.

ESC (fan removed), Motor, Servo, Servo bypass cable (not pictured, coming from HeyOK), 6Ch Rx, Castle Duo connect (I don't need it but it's my bin So I'm gonna use it), BEC, Shift Servo, Servo winch (using HeyOK controller), light switch, LED harness.

Yowza, that's a lot of wiring...

 

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

How hard is the vinyl wrapping? I like painting, but can’t get any Lexan paint here, so I have to use automotive paint and I’m starting to see some tiny flaking spots around the bottom of my body.

Those tires with the steelies look great! Pretty aggressive sidewall too.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[QuesoDelDiablo]

How hard is the vinyl wrapping? I like painting, but can’t get any Lexan paint here, so I have to use automotive paint and I’m starting to see some tiny flaking spots around the bottom of my body.

It's surprisingly easy! The key tricks are:
#1-order decent vinyl that has air release so you don't have to fight with bubbles
#2-cut sheets of paper first as rough (couple extra inches bigger athn the body panel you're doing) templates and then cut those from the vinyl
#3-heat is you friend, I use a blow dryer on high temp and it's amazing (to me at least) how far you can stretch without distorting the color...

Those tires with the steelies look great! Pretty aggressive sidewall too.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Glad you agree! I was pretty satisfied by the look of the wheels and yeah, those sidewalls are beefy. We'll see how well the tires do, tread looks decent enough and the compound is reasonably sticky. But this is the first rig I've built in years that isn't getting Super Swampers right from the get-go...

 

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

It's surprisingly easy! The key tricks are:
#1-order decent vinyl that has air release so you don't have to fight with bubbles
#2-cut sheets of paper first as rough (couple extra inches bigger athn the body panel you're doing) templates and then cut those from the vinyl
#3-heat is you friend, I use a blow dryer on high temp and it's amazing (to me at least) how far you can stretch without distorting the color...



Glad you agree! I was pretty satisfied by the look of the wheels and yeah, those sidewalls are beefy. We'll see how well the tires do, tread looks decent enough and the compound is reasonably sticky. But this is the first rig I've built in years that isn't getting Super Swampers right from the get-go...

I’m going to have to try vinyl next body I do for sure! I seen Kevin Talbot do it, but it looked pretty hard, must’ve been cheap vinyl.

Let us know how those tires preform! I imagine those beadlocks are aluminum?


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[TheLetterJ]

I can't quite tell from the pictures, are the holes for the fender flares predrilled, or are they just dimpled? Looks like the body with all the accessories is only $55, not bad.

 

[QuesoDelDiablo]

Let us know how those tires preform! I imagine those beadlocks are aluminum

They're steel! Or at least some offshore version of steel, the inner ring (outer ring is made from decent quality steel plate) is cast from a fairly suspect alloy that isn't likely gradable steel, but the weight is in the right ballpark..

Nice & heavy without being ridiculous.