RTR Trail Honcho turned 1980 Chevy K10 Pre-Runner (my first scaler)

[DowntownScience]

Here is how she sits now....

UPGRADES:

Drivetrain:
Hot Racing Aluminum Transmission case
RRP Steel idler/differential gears
MIP Driveshafts w/ Traxxas Pin Screw (TRA5145)
Axial 36T/14T gears (over drive front)
Axial 43T/13T gears (under drive rear)
Axial Aluminum C-Hubs
Axial Aluminum Knuckles
Axial Aluminum Rear Axle Lockout
Hot Racing Unibody Differential Lock (F/R)

Suspension:
STRC 4-Link Truss (F/R)
Aluminum 4-Link (F/R)
Team Associated V2 Rear Shocks (F/R)

Electronics:
Futaba 4PLS Transmitter
HobbyWing XERUN 90A Sensored Brushless ESC
Trinity Monster Horsepower 17.5T locked sensored brushless motor
Castle BEC (direct to servo)
Savox SA-1230SG Servo

Other:
Electronics/Battery Plate (eBay)
Traxxas Stampede Receiver Box (x2)
R/C Rock Armor G6 Front Winch Bumper
R/C Rock Armor SCX10 Rear Bumper with Led Hole
R/C Rock Armore Recovery Hitch
BPC Beadlock Rings

 

[DowntownScience]

Grew up during the AE RC10, Losi JRX-2, when the stadium truck was born. Never had the opportunity to own one though until Christmas 2012 when I purchased a 2WD Traxxas Slash for both my 6 yr old son and I.

A year later I was ready to try out crawling/scaling and purchased an Axial RTR Trail Honcho.

Immediately I thought this truck needed 2.2's on it. I didn't want to cut the body up yet in case I wanted to go back to the stock look. I did however cut the bumper to clear the tires. I used the included body mount up front a raised the body way up to clear the 2.2's but it looked ridiculous and was SOOO top heavy!

I also put a roof rack on so that I could tote some scale items!

This is what she looked like then...

Next I decided I would remove the stickers from the body and paint the exterior just to separate it from the rest of the stock RTR Honcho shell's. I went with Hunter Green (NY Jets fan).

I purchased a set of inexpensive aluminum 1.9 beadlocks from Promise Hobby on eBay and matched them with the RC4WD Interco IROK tires.
I'm also running 100mm Hot Racing internal spring shocks with cut springs (droop) at this point of the evolution.
The front/rear bumpers and rock sliders are RC4WD Tough Armor.

Here it is at Beal's Point, Folsom Lake. My first competition and about the only picture I have of the truck at this stage. Pardon the quality.

I quickly learned that steel bumpers/rock sliders aren't so forgiving and that my truck handled very poor compared to others at the event.

I had made up my mind about getting a new body for it soon so I went ahead and cut up the body so that I could mount it much lower while also running the 2.2's.

Here are a few pictures of it at this stage!

I was ready for a new body. I wanted my truck to look different than everyone else's. I thought long and hard about which shell I hadn't yet seen too many of. Having grown up on Chevy I was a bit partial and was in favor of the C10, K5 Blazer, or possibly a later model. I took the truck down to my LHS and began "trying on" different bodies.

The ProLine 1980 Chevy K10 fit it perfect. My mind was made up!

Here it is rough trimmed and fit to the chassis.

I did really like the look of the Trail Honcho with the bedside kit, so I tried to mirror that using part of the Trail Honcho cage and my new body. Much to my surprise the dimensions were nearly perfect and the cage tubing fit perfect into the perimeter of the bed.

Here are a few pictures of the cage mounted inside of the body. I just used masking tape to hold it in place long enough to drill 3 holes on each side of the bed. I used the leftover screws from the Honcho bumper to hold it in place. Since I wasn't using the Honcho bed liner I needed something for the wheel mount to sit on and attach to. I cut a scrap piece of Lexan for that and drilled the pattern from the existing bed liner.

From the side:

From the top:

From the back:

The back part of the cage and screws look really crooked here, but I promise they're not! Looks better painted.

I put the tire I was going to use on the back of the truck and lined it up the best I could.

Then I took a Sharpie and drew a rough template around the tire so I knew where to cut.

Got out the Dremel and got to work!

 

[fourxfunk]

... And then?! It was just getting interesting!!

 

[DowntownScience]

... And then?! It was just getting interesting!!

Apologies! Ran out of time. I've added to it. Let me know what you think.

 

[DowntownScience]

Ready for paint! I had all these grandios plans to paint the bed black, the plate on the tailgate silver, etc. In the end, I decided to just paint it all blue.

I used Tamiya Metallic Blue, backed with Tamiya Silver, and then finished with, Tamiya Black. I really like how bold the color is. Exactly how I had envisioned it in my head. 8)

The wheel opening and bed notching for the tire turned out pretty decent.

 

[DowntownScience]

Added the stickers...

 

[DowntownScience]

The truck was starting to take shape. I was going for the Pre-Runner look. Something in this neighborhood.

 

[bigdogs21ford]

That bed turned out awesome. Are you going to try to put the cage on the bed rails and marry it to the cab? I have this body and I may just have to copy your work. So cool.

 

[DowntownScience]

That bed turned out awesome. Are you going to try to put the cage on the bed rails and marry it to the cab? I have this body and I may just have to copy your work. So cool.

Thanks! At that point I had already cut the top portion of the cage out when it was still on the Trail Honcho cab. The part of the cage that bolts to the cab wasn't the same perfect fit as the bed, but I'm sure you could figure some way to fit it correctly. Copy away!

 

[DowntownScience]

To try and accomplish the "Pre-Runner" look I went with the stock Trail Honcho bumper and cut it to resemble what I had seen. This has been done a million times before!

The wheels stuck out too far for my liking with the RC4WD 12 mm wheel extenders and most of the Pre-Runners I looked at had flares of some kind, so I bought the Axial Dingo flares. After lining them up with the wheel wells the best I could I began drilling the holes and attaching them to the body. Next I cut them close to flush with the body lines and then shaped them so that they didn't look exactly like the Dingo flare and cleared the tires better. I also removed the lip on the outside for better clearance. Rear bumper has been removed.

I also ditched the HR internal spring shocks in favor of some Atomik RC Alloy Rear Ultra Shock for TraxxasT-Maxx 1:10 - Grey. They're basically an aluminum upgrade part for the Traxxas T-Maxx. They're 4" long. The caps that came with these shocks suck. For whatever reason they have a small hole in the top and it just stays open. As you might think, they leak. A lot! I was able to fix this using their Traxxas Slash aluminum cap which for whatever reason doesn't have this hole. Needless to say, these work! These shocks were cheap and I really like them a lot. They came with the blue springs and they're nice and firm.

I needed some lights for the roof. I also wanted a rack. The rack I used on my Trail Honcho was too big to fit on the roof of the '80 Chevy. Found this on eBay. It came with a 4-light string as well as both clear and yellow lenses.

I added mirrors

Fuel Cell, fuel pump, and fire extinguisher. Waiting on a couple small fans to put in the back, then I'll mount the NOS tank and gas line.

 

[DowntownScience]

It just wouldn't have been complete without somebody to drive this beast, so I added the HPI mini Trophy Truck drivers to the cab. This duo fit nicely into this body.

 

[DowntownScience]

This is how she sits now. Let me know what you think. Any and all comments welcome. Thanks for stopping by to check out my truck!

 

[79SCX10]

Truck looks good, I'm not a Chevy fan but I do like the square body Chevys.

 

[mattysticks]

Truck looks awesome, I think I just found some inspiration for what to do with my honcho.

 

[DowntownScience]

Truck looks good, I'm not a Chevy fan but I do like the square body Chevys.

Thank you Sir. I remember my Dad having a Silverado around this year. We always had Chevys. Or a Ford with Chevy running gear. He built vintage autos.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[DowntownScience]

Truck looks awesome, I think I just found some inspiration for what to do with my honcho.

From one Matt to another...Thanks. Glad I could help!

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[TrailSnail]

Nice details, love the scale additions!

 

[Mongo]

Looks great man. Love the vintage Chevy's.

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[TrickFlowFive0]

Awesome man! I like the fuel pump to fuel cell touches. The front bumper is killer, along with the chain you have on it. I will probably be trimming mine up like yours!

 

[nafie]

I think you nailed it, looks great. I think a set of rc4wd king shocks would put it over the top!