Thloftus’ Beast II build

[Thloftus]

I’ve wanted to build a RC4WD Beast II for several years and finally saved up enough courage to take on the body in all it’s many-pieced glory.

I’m planning to weather the body, scratch build part of the interior, and make a weathered wood floor for the bed - all three are new for me. Also adding a sound kit and possibly a smoker since you know, I’m an adult playing with toy trucks. All of this has been done before, but like most of my builds, I like to arrive well after the fads or new-to-the-hobby excitement have passed, Lol!

I’ve read several threads about weathering hard bodies, but probably still have no idea what I’m doing - any advice is greatly appreciated! I’ve also researched options for weathering wood boards and settled on making a vinegar / steel wool solution and painting this on the boards. Should I combine the vinegar with a black wash once the boards are installed? Or paint the boards with tea first to increase the tannins? Please advise! I assume balsa is a good choice, but are others better? I have no experience with this part either, so any input is helpful.

This build is likely to simmer slow due to a combination of my build speed and family / work commitments. I try to build kits with my kids, but I’m not sure they’ll have patience for this one. Not sure if this will speed me up or just keep me from ever working on it, lol!

Here’s my parts list so far:

* RC4WD Beast II kit
* Holmes Hobbies 1400 kV Revolver
* Castle Creations Sidewinder 4 ESC
* Castle Creations 10 A BEC + Gear Head BEC RX Bypass Adapter for the steering servo
* ProModler DS470BLHV steering servo
* Power HD 20 kg waterproof shift servo
* Castle Creations 4 mm ESC-motor bullet connectors
* Associated ESS Dual+ engine sound system
* Heng Long 1:16 tank smoke maker. I’ve never used one, but it’s hard to resist at < $10 on eBay
* Axial AXI80037 parts tree - has steering wheels and shifters that I’m hoping fit the truck
* Seats I found on eBay (picture below)
* RC4WD RC4Z-E0082 LED Basic Lighting System For Mil-Spec 6x6 Body Set
* Futaba R203GF 3-channel receiver, possibly upgrading to a R304SB 4-channel receiver if necessary
* JST leads for the battery plug for future expansion
* 3S batteries I use in all my rigs

I plan to run the receiver at the 6 V spec voltage for the Power HD servo.

I’d appreciate any tips for using the smoke maker. Like other items in this build, I’ve never used one before and I’d rather not set the body on fire or dump oil in the wrong port! Can it be tied to the throttle so the smoke is proportional to the motor speed? Is baby oil the best smoker fluid? I’ll need to make an exhaust also and would like to stay true to the 1:1 counterparts for this truck. Please send any and all advise! I don’t mind taking an extra long time to get the details right.

I have all of the parts except the seats and smoker, which are on their way.

Let the unveiling begin!

Large shipping box, maybe the largest and best one for me so far. Not sure why the picture is so funky with one end of the box looking smaller and further away than the other. That’s a big box, son!

The kit box is sweet and doesn’t disappoint, especially the existential dread, Lol!

Here’s the shift servo and receiver, ESC and motor, motor lead connectors, bypass adapter, light kit, and JST leads nicely arranged on the Beast II box - fantastic!

The Revolver and SW4 deserve their own dedicated picture. I’m looking forward to trying out the Revolver. I’ve never used an outrunner before and have read and watched many great things about this one.

The sound kit looks well-made and arrives with nearly infinite - or at least 20 - options for the motor noise !

Next up is the steering servo. Super impressive customer service from Promodler. The servo arrived in a few short days - from the opposite side of the country - and came with several bits of unexpected and fantastic swag!

I’ve never owned a servo hat before and actually like this one!

The beer cozy looks even better with friends! Don’t despair, the cozys are full-size. The cans are 16 oz Stouts.

The servo itself is beautiful. Looking forward to this one given all the great reviews here and elsewhere. Have any of you used their lower torque options for shift servos?

The smoker looks fully capable of smoking and making a lot of noise on it’s own. Hopefully the sound kit speakers can overwhelm it and the Revolver! It hasn’t arrived yet, but here’s a picture in the meantime.

And finally, the seats. It took forever to find these. Everyone has racing seats, but I wanted a simpler seat style that’s (hopefully) more true to the truck. I literally spent at least 1.5 hours over several days to find them - such sacrifice, lol! I considered making seats myself, but that would require upholstery, which is even further outside my skill set. Hopefully these fit the cab. I’ll find out when they arrive! Here’s a picture from the seller

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[Thloftus]

On with the unboxing!

I’ll try to get through this part quickly since it’s not the most exciting piece of all this - but then, how many times in life will I get to unbox a Beast II?

The factory seal is very nice and will never be the same again ...

The kit is boxed up well, with the frame rails and various parts on top and the body underneath.

Impressive manual that’s only slightly intimidating for its page count. The frame rails are in the background. I’m planning to use a pdf version of the manual on my phone so I can zoom the images for my youthful eyes, lol!

Axles, transmission and other

Quality foam padding

And a frightening number of body pieces

The kit also comes with grease, shock oil, and loctite, which is a nice touch

6 tires! And they’re super sticky!

Ok, so that’s it for the unboxing. Only build content from here forward.

Onward to months of slow progress!


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[Thloftus]

The manual starts with the body, but I’m assembling the chassis first to create a sense of accomplishment - also shortens the time to driving the truck, or at least part of it.

The first step is adding trusses to the axles. Everything went together great with no troubles at all. I thought my kit was missing a bunch of button-head screws, but then realized that I’d misplaced them in my own lack of organization.

The axles are beauties. It’s nice they come assembled, but part of me wishes the kit involved building them from scratch.

Here’s the front one

I removed the diff cover to check the grease. The gears were plenty covered. So given the hassle involved in removing the cover (maybe 10 screws), I decided the other two must be ok also. Probably a mistake. I’ll check them off camera. Here’s all three, front at the top and rear at the bottom. They’re fun to stare at - will be hard to risk scratches ...

The links were next and dang, what a lot of links. I shouldn’t be surprised, but was anyway. So many set screws. I’m using Loctite in the stick form. It’s quicker, or maybe not. Plus the fumes add to the overall experience

The next steps were adding mounting hardware to the transmission. The RC4WD transmissions are beauties. I had the same sense of mechanical wonder when I built my Trailfinder 2.

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[Thloftus]

Next up is the battery tray and frame rails. I’m impressed with how well the parts fit together, especially the mates that use box-sided slots on the rails. RC4WD does a nice job getting their tolerances right. And it’s hard not to enjoy all the machined aluminum parts. Similar experience with my TF2.

Here’s the first round of frame assembly. I’m cheating a little, but shhh, don’t tell anyone! The fasteners don’t have Loctite yet. I did this to make sure everything fit together and all the fasteners were started first. Or maybe I just wanted to rush to taking pictures. Who can tell? The skid plate is Delrin and nicely machined. Looks great too.

The seats arrived, so short interlude for pictures. They’re black and look nicer in person than they did on eBay. I’m afraid they’re a little big, although I’ve seen other builds use 1/10th scale interiors. Novice mistake if they don’t fit. I promise to exercise better informed judgement once I find the right solution, lol!

Tamiya has a dashboard / seat set for their 1/14 Scania tractor truck that may work, PN 9115181. Plus it comes with some other scale bits that could be useful. I’ll probably wait to pick it up until I build the cab and see the seats are too big - but this seems nearly guaranteed.

Similar offering from Hercules that also includes scale bits.

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[Thloftus]

There’s going to be a lot of ‘savoring the moment’ with this build given the rate I make progress, lol! But I did find some time this weekend to continue building the chassis, starting with the shock towers, link hangers, and transfer case.

Nice machining on the shock towers, as with the other parts in this kit. I like the unfinished look of tool marks on the inside surfaces. The taller towers on the right are for the front.

Chassis with the shock towers, link hangers, transfer case, and chassis brace plate installed. I’m still amazed by the wheelbase - takes 3x shop towels to make a background that’s long enough! Proud moment with no cheating on the Loctite this time. So many fasteners ... The chassis is super stout, with zero flex due to all the metal parts, especially the brace plate, which goes way beyond anything I’ve seen on other rigs.

I’ve been using Loctite in stick form lately, but decided to try the tube that came with the kit and was happy with the results. It’s more of a gel and was easier to apply than the brand-name Loctite liquid, which is much runnier. I might get some more if it holds the fasteners well. RC4WD offers in a three pack with grease and shock oil:
https://store.rc4wd.com/RC4WD-Assembly-Combo-Pack-Oil-Thread-Lock-Grease_p_5332.html

Close-up of the steering servo mounting brackets

And the transmission and transfer case. All of the parts fit perfectly - enjoyable experience putting this kit together

Here’s the rear shock towers and the brace plate. No question it’s a solid platform!

Felt like I should stop at this point since it’s more progress than I’ve made in a week, but I decided to keep going instead. Plus, you know, I didn’t want to stop anyway. Here’s the front axle with the links and shocks installed

The shocks are nicely made, with aluminum bodies and caps and dual springs. The springs are extremely stiff. No wonder the suspension looks so bouncy in videos. I filled the shocks with 2000 wt rather than the 35 wt in the kit to provide extra dampening, but the filled and empty shocks were almost indistinguishable due to the stiffness of the springs. I might look into softer springs depending on how the suspension performs once the truck is together and fully weighted down. Any input about tuning the suspension will be greatly appreciated! The shocks themselves are easy to build and have nice features, such as double o-rings at the bottom - which I dutifully coated in green slime

Next step was mounting the front axle to the chassis. One step closet to a roller! The installation was straightforward. I used a M3x10 with a 1 mm spacer rather than the M3x8 listed in the manual for attaching the upper link to the frame, but followed the manual otherwise. The M3x8 barely engaged the threads whereas the 10 was too ling by itself. Should I go deeper in the weeds, lol! Here’s the axle on the chassis. It’s a beautiful machine!

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[Thloftus]

Squeezed in a little build time over the weekend, this time with a decent amount of help from one of my kids. It’s a fun way to spend time together.

We started by filling the remaining four shocks with oil. I used 2k weight diff fluid again. The springs are so stiff that it’s hard to think there’s much impact. I haven’t found softer replacements - and maybe they’re not necessary. I’ll wait until the truck is fully assembled before making any change. Here’s the shocks newly filled with oil - looks very similar to straight out of the package, lol!

The shocks look great and are decently smooth. One of them had more stiction than the others, but this mostly cleaned up after the green slime + 2k oil. I may upgrade to Traxxas TRX-4 shocks if they fit. They’ve awesome and have worked well on our SCX10-2. They may be a little long at 90 mm versus 80 mm for the RC4WD’s. I might give them a try with the set we already have and go from there.

We moved on the the middle and rear axles next. Here’s the middle axle with the links and axles installed. The shocks are on the wrong side - but shhh, don’t anyone! Plus it looks cool regardless. I fixed it later when we installed the axles on the chassis and realized there was no way to line up the shocks with the towers. Some of the hollow balls are super tight in the rod ends - probably improves with driving, but we’ll see either way. On the plus side, it’s great for keeping the axles propped up for artistic poses, lol!

Here’s the rear axle, shocks on the correct side for this one. I don’t remember flipping them later anyway. Funny how the little helpers leave me distracted and feeling like I’m on a Japanese game show!

Axles installed on the chassis. The photos don’t do justice to the machine in person

And from the bottom. The link arrangement is a little weird, as others have pointed out. But it seems to work just fine.

And from the side, to complete the views. It doesn’t fit well in a single frame so I’ll do it in two pieces. Also, my phone is unable to make a decent panorama. Or maybe it’s me? Who knows, I ran out of patience after ten or so tries. I’m blaming the phone, lol!

Here’s the back half

And here’s the front, this time with the Panhard bar in place - you may have noticed this was missing in my last post, but I apparently did not!

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[Thloftus]

This weekend went by quickly, but we did get a few things done, starting with the drive shafts. We’re using the stock shafts and may upgrade later depending on how they perform. Any recommendations are welcome!

The stock drive shafts between the transfer case to the front and middle axle are a mixture of metal universals and plastic splines; the shaft from the middle to rear axle is all metal. They all fit fine except the the rear shaft - I had to use a Dremel (or WEN rotary in my case) for this one to grind down inner burrs before either end would mate to the axles. Another weird feature is the shafts are attached with a mixture of drive pins and set screws rather than pins all around. I’m not a fan of using set screws, although they’re inserted from both sides at each attachment where they’re used, so maybe it’s fine.

After all that blabbing, here’s the chassis with the shafts installed

And a zoomed view of the rear

Middle

And front

So much to savor, lol!

Next up was the steering servo. ProModeler generously supplies a servo horn screw with Loctite pre-applied

And with the servo horn and link installed

And onward to the chassis! It’s a beautiful truck - exciting to see it coming together!

We also built a tire rack this weekend out of square wood dowels and aluminum rod. I like the way it turned out. We may weather the wood to give the whole process a try before weathering the bed we’ll make for the truck. Please forgive the build errors - my tools consist of a miter box, hack saw, and hand drill, lol!

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[Zukiiholic]

Great looking build.
I find the rear suspension a little weird looking and less droop than the front axle..
Nice tire rack.

 

[Thloftus]

Great looking build.
I find the rear suspension a little weird looking and less droop than the front axle..
Nice tire rack.

I agree about the rear suspension- I didn’t appreciate that it’s a little different until I saw it in person! Although it apparently works fine.

Thank you for your comment about the tire rack. It was fun to make!



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[Thloftus]

Short update this week due to family and work. But I did get help again from the kids which is always makes the time we do have more fun!

We installed the shift servo and the last link, this time between the shift servo and the transmission. The next step is attaching the mounted tires, which means embracing all the tiny screws that hold the beadlocks together. Or maybe we’ll skip ahead to mounting the motor - all depends on how much stamina and patience we can hold together next weekend, lol!

Here’s the shift servo mounted. We held off on thread locking the fasteners until we have the electronics set up and can center the servos and set the end points. It’s getting closer all the time!

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[Thloftus]

It’s been a while since the last update, due mostly to work. Bummer that retirement is so far away, lol! We’ve also been on the epic quest to mount all of the wheels and tires. The beadlocks that come with the kit are fantastic and they look great once they’re together, but wow, it’s a lot of tiny screws and nuts, all of which need Loctite! On the up side, the wheels are surprisingly easy to mount and it’s a joy once they’re together.

Here’s the six wheels and tires, all mounted and ready to go. RC4WD should provide assemblers of this kit a certificate or similar once they get to this stage, Lol! Feels like a life accomplishment of some sort - and yes there are 20 tiny screws and nuts per wheel!

But wait, there’s more! I picked up the spare wheel / tire. It’s not included in the kit, but should be, IMO, especially since it’s featured on all of the RC4WD photos and is so integral to the final look of the truck. I’d run out of patience for tiny screws at this point and so didn’t assemble the spare yet - might save it for Thanksgiving or some other occasion.

Next was mounting the tires on the truck. Fantastic to have a 6x6 wheeler at last! I’m impressed with the sticky tires. Will be fun to see how they perform on the trail. I might swap in black nuts for the silver to make them stand out less.

Closeup of the front

And the back

I’m hoping we can mount the motor tomorrow. The front bumper will follow and then it’s on to the body!


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[Thloftus]

Wow, “hoping we can mount the motor tomorrow” turned into 3 weeks. Busy days at work + the holidays. Looking forward to some time off at Christmas!

And so here it is, Holmes Hobbies Revolver mounted up to the Beast!

We pushed forward and assembled the front bumper. It’s a beautiful piece, especially with the grills over the headlights. Can’t wait to setup the light kit!

And mounted on the truck. I’m so happy that I’ve been able to build this kit - it definitely doesn’t disappoint! I think this is it for the chassis and now it’s time to take on the body. It’s going to be interesting ...

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[Thloftus]

I finally dove in and started the body. I won’t lie - it wad intimidating at first, especially the plastic weld cement + fears that the curing time was short so parts would need perfect placement prior to bonding.

I played around with using E6000 instead, but overnight cures and weaker bonds would make my already slow pace extend to the edge of time, Lol! To my happy surprise, the plastic weld was reasonably forgiving and I was able to make minor adjustments while putting the pieces together. The plastic weld joints are definitely strong and I’d recommend it for this kit. It’s probably a good idea to play around with a few test pieces to get used to how it sets - I didn’t do this, but others should anyway.

Many of the main body parts are Styrene rectangles with super minimal (or no) datums. I did a lot of dry fitting before bonding the pieces together and didn’t necessarily follow the steps in order; e.g., I used the grooves in the left side panel (step 5) to line up the floorboard and center wall (step 1). Many thanks to new2rocks for describing this approach! I would have blindly followed the directions otherwise

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/multi-axle-rigs/533327-new2multi-axle-beast-2-6x6-build-review.html

I also tried to mate assemblies together with masking tape before gluing anything; e.g., taped together all of the parts shown9 and 10 first, then tacked key pieces together, removed the tape, added glue to the inside, attached the rest, and so on.

This approach worked well. No question I would have made mistakes if I’d followed the instructions as shown. Gives me some hope for completing a scratch build at some distant but possibly closer future.

Here’s how it sits now. I’m through step 10. The next few are focused on the roof and all it’s tiny part details. I may skip ahead to building the bed next so I fit check the electronics.

Getting closer!


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[Thloftus]

I made decent progress a couple weeks ago, but haven’t been able to update the build thread. One big obstacle this time of year is the lack of sunlight in the evenings. Plus the lighting at my RC table makes for terrible pictures. It’s amazing how time evaporates. Hopefully more opportunities to work on this going forward, but no promises Lol!

I put the main part of the bed together. It’s tricky to get the parts lined up since they’re large and a little flexible. But hooray, colorful language prevailed yet again! No worries, not in front of the kiddos. Taping it together followed by strategic gluing worked for the most part. I started with one of the bed wall corners, then added the floor to make a three-sided box and went from there. Dry fitting paid off again - some filing necessary to get all of the seams together cleanly. I need to get myself a set of micro files. Only have some large file I think my Dad picked up during the previous century.

Here’s the bed sitting on the truck. I still need to build the frame underneath, hopefully not 3 weeks from now, lol!

I also picked up a set of Tamiya 1/14 scale Scania seats. They’re hard to find, but a perfect fit (scale wise) for the Beast.

Onward!


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[Thloftus]

New record - only 1 week between updates!

I was able to assemble the frame under the bed this week. I initially followed the instructions, which show screwing the frame pieces together first and then attaching the frame as a single piece to the bed afterward. This could work, but in my case the four beams that span the bed wouldn’t sit flush with the bed at the same time. So I disassembled the frame, glued the beams down, and then attached the rails. This worked fine and all the parts sit flush, which is great.

Here’s the bed with the frame attached. It’s sitting upside down on the back of the truck.

And attached to the truck itself. The body post / pins attachment scheme for the bed holds it in place securely and makes for easy removal and reattachment.

I also mounted the electronics in the chassis. I haven’t completed the wiring, but at least they’re out of their boxes, lol! Here’s the ESC and receiver - one step closer to driving!

The on / off switch for the Sidewinder 4 tucks nicely between the Sidewinder and the shift servo. It’s a fairly tight fit - doesn’t look like I’ll need any additional servo tape or glue to keep it in place.

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[Thloftus]

Short update this time and less than my (probably unrealistic) expectations, but here it goes anyway, lol. I finished wiring up the motor to the Sidewinder 4. I decided to go with 2 packs of Castle 4 mm bullet connectors and make extension cables from the motor to the ESC. I put male connectors on the motor and then built male/female cables to the ESC. At the ESC, the cables make 90’degree bends so the don’t stick up and interfere with the truck bed. Significant interference otherwise!

Here’s how it looks at the ESC. Not the prettiest job ever, but that’s ok it took forever, Lol!

Here’s the connections to the motor. I put heat shrink over the Castle plugs since it was impossible - for me - to make the insulator seams perfect enough to be confident there was no chance of shorting / sparking between the wires. It should do the job ...

I encased it all in split loom, but didn’t get pictures yet - will post some in the next update!


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[OSRC]

Very nice, enjoying the build! It does look like a fun kit to assemble - as much model as RC truck.

 

[FREEDOM83]

The kit also comes with grease, shock oil, and loctite, which is a nice touch

I can not believe it, it makes you want to cry from the emotion ... how many years it has cost them to include it !!!

I thought my kit was missing a bunch of button-head screws, but then realized that I’d misplaced them in my own lack of organization.

That would be common in RC4WD kits, but I'm glad it wasn't your case.

For what you say, they come with grease already on, one luck, mine brought about 1 gram on each axis and 2 on R3 ...

Good job with those links, it takes a long time, I attest :lmao: like the rims...:lmao::lmao:

I hope you are enjoying it, I sold mine before using it hehehehe but I still love this model, if it were not for the manufacturer I would buy another one again but from this brand I doubt that I bought another KIT or RTR .... so I played buy a crossRC

"thumbsup""thumbsup"

 

[Thloftus]

Very nice, enjoying the build! It does look like a fun kit to assemble - as much model as RC truck.

Thank you, it’s been a lot of fun! And definitely the most involved assembly of any RC kit I’ve made so far - will feel like an accomplishment once it’s done!


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[Thloftus]

I can not believe it, it makes you want to cry from the emotion ... how many years it has cost them to include it !!!







That would be common in RC4WD kits, but I'm glad it wasn't your case.



For what you say, they come with grease already on, one luck, mine brought about 1 gram on each axis and 2 on R3 ...



Good job with those links, it takes a long time, I attest :lmao: like the rims...:lmao::lmao:



I hope you are enjoying it, I sold mine before using it hehehehe but I still love this model, if it were not for the manufacturer I would buy another one again but from this brand I doubt that I bought another KIT or RTR .... so I played buy a crossRC



"thumbsup""thumbsup"

Thank you! Building the links and the wheels was an experience ... I’ve been putting off assembling the spare for some reason, lol!

Enjoy the CrossRC kit - I’d like to give one a try sometime. They look fantastic! How’s the build quality?


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