Thloftus’ Rock Rey Basher

[Thloftus]

Onward with the build!

We swapped out the gray mud guards from the kit with the black ones I picked up recently. Looks infinitely better and I’m fully convinced (due to overwhelming evidence) there was an immediate performance boost, :thumbsup:!

I’m making custom body panels for this build, which is a first for me. I bought some chipboard to make the templates. It’s about the same thickness and texture as a cereal box, comes in large inexpensive sheets, and is great for this task. Here’s my template for the side panels. I’m thinking of black or a black to metallic blue fade for the final panel itself; I’ll probably also chamfer the corners

Here’s the templates for the top and front. I’m planning to leave the forward-most part of the nose ‘open,’ partially since I’m using Lexan sheet and need to stick to flat panels. Not quite brave enough for aluminum yet, although maybe ...

The last upgrade in this round is the T-Bone Racing front bumper. I want some protection for the front and like the look of their bumper

Here’s the bumper installed on the rig. The plastic is great and it should provide some bash buffer, Lol!

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[mass-hole]

One thing i noticed on your pictures, and i had the same issue with my RR, was that if i didnt run the red primary (small) springs on the front powerstrokes they were full compressed just sitting at ride height. When i ran the red’s i got about 25% travel at the dual spring rate before it went to single spring.

Also, i bought the prospec spring assortment which has similar spring rates as the the powerstroke blue/green springs but are longer and dont require as much preload.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1q1a64YEeYJUrd48o_KJYfrF52XRyJApzmDxMqC03x-w

 

[Richterat83]

Nice!! Wished I coulda gotten my hands on a kit myself now that I'm looking at one of these as a dedicated beach basher

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Yours is looking great. I kinda lost interest in my unfinished RR. Really only the body needs to be pained, but I'm considering selling mine.

 

[Thloftus]

One thing i noticed on your pictures, and i had the same issue with my RR, was that if i didnt run the red primary (small) springs on the front powerstrokes they were full compressed just sitting at ride height. When i ran the red’s i got about 25% travel at the dual spring rate before it went to single spring.

Also, i bought the prospec spring assortment which has similar spring rates as the the powerstroke blue/green springs but are longer and dont require as much preload.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1q1a64YEeYJUrd48o_KJYfrF52XRyJApzmDxMqC03x-w

Thank you and you’re right. I was looking at it last night and thinking the front was ‘sagged’ relative to the rear. I’ll check out the springs you suggested. From your comments, it looks like the prospec springs are the better option?


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[Thloftus]

Nice!! Wished I coulda gotten my hands on a kit myself now that I'm looking at one of these as a dedicated beach basher

It’s definitely a sweet rig! Disappointing that Horizon discontinued the kit and that Axial did the same (along with the RTR) for the Yeti. Would have been fun to try both and I’m definitely way more excited about building kits than running RTR’s!


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[Thloftus]

Yours is looking great. I kinda lost interest in my unfinished RR. Really only the body needs to be pained, but I'm considering selling mine.

Thank you! I’m jealous of all the rigs you put together! I think you’ll be disappointed is you get rid of the RR ...


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[JatoTheRipper]

Thank you! I’m jealous of all the rigs you put together! I think you’ll be disappointed is you get rid of the RR ...

Thank you! But don't be jealous of all the money I wasted!

I'm just kinda losing interest in 2.2 rigs and the RR is so massive. We'll see what happens.

 

[mass-hole]

Thank you and you’re right. I was looking at it last night and thinking the front was ‘sagged’ relative to the rear. I’ll check out the springs you suggested. From your comments, it looks like the prospec springs are the better option?


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Prospec spring assortment is 6308-22. I think the regular powerstroke spring are fine if you run the stiffer ones, however, if you run the blues to make the suspension soft it requires a lot of preload to get ~30% sag. The prospec red springs are the same rate as the powerstroke blue’s but are a lot longer:

If you look at my build thread you can see how much preload i was running with the powerstroke blue spring.

 

[Thloftus]

We made some progress on the body panels last weekend and I finally have time to post it today due to the crazy winter ‘bomb cyclone’ that hit Denver today: snow, ice, freezing rain, and high winds all in one!

I decided to start with 0.03” thick Lexan since it’s easier to cut than aluminum and I don’t have the tools for aluminum anyway, Lol! Would be great to try it sometime, maybe soon ...

The sheet is nice and comes with backing on both sides.

Here’s the panels after cutting them out. I used Lexan scissors, which is a bit painful. I tried scoring the Lexan with a razor instead, but passed on this option when I couldn’t maintain straight cuts ... looks so easy on the YouTube videos, but apparently not for me, Lol!

Here’s the panels (inside surface) after painting. The top and front are Tamiya Matte Black and the sides are a Matte Black to metallic blue fade.

It was 50 outside when I painted these on the weekend and is 30 outside now. Supposed to be 50 again by the middle of next week. Crazy CO weather!

The blue/black fade shows up better when the side panels are flipped over, Lol! I’m not sure if I like it or not. The backing is still on this one; should look better once that’s off. I’m going to paint the outside surfaces with dull cote - leaving the backing on until that arrives, maybe by this weekend.

Good news is the side panels fit well, so I can always use them for templates if I don’t like how they look in the end.


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[Thloftus]

Prospec spring assortment is 6308-22. I think the regular powerstroke spring are fine if you run the stiffer ones, however, if you run the blues to make the suspension soft it requires a lot of preload to get ~30% sag. The prospec red springs are the same rate as the powerstroke blue’s but are a lot longer:

If you look at my build thread you can see how much preload i was running with the powerstroke blue spring.

Awesome, thank you!


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[Thloftus]

Thank you! But don't be jealous of all the money I wasted!



I'm just kinda losing interest in 2.2 rigs and the RR is so massive. We'll see what happens.

I know what you mean about the cost, but then I saw a thread with comments about the cost/entertainment ratio for RC’s. They come out pretty well given all the hours to build / maintain / upgrade / run them, plus all the OCD hours on paint schemes and so on, at least for me! It’s a nice rationalization, anyway, Lol!

The RR is definitely massive, which is part of the reason I’m looking forward to flinging it through the air!


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[JatoTheRipper]

I know what you mean about the cost, but then I saw a thread with comments about the cost/entertainment ratio for RC’s. They come out pretty well given all the hours to build / maintain / upgrade / run them, plus all the OCD hours on paint schemes and so on, at least for me! It’s a nice rationalization, anyway, Lol!

The RR is definitely massive, which is part of the reason I’m looking forward to flinging it through the air!


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When you look at it that way I do get a lot for my money on most of my rigs. Some just sit there after only getting driven once or twice!

At least it's better thank drinking, drugs or gambling.

 

[Thloftus]

I completely agree!


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[Thloftus]

We fine tuned the mounting holes on the body panels, peeled the backing, and painted the outside surface with dull cote. Took advantage of the sunny weather for some pictures in the back yard. I’m still collecting parts for switching the gray cage to black ...

I’m happy with how the panels turned out, although I’m still not sure about the fade on the sides. Good / bad news for me is I also realized that the black paint I used last weekend was Tamiya TS (for hard bodies) rather than PS for Lexan. The TS was leftover from my TF2 build - I’m sure there’s a bright future for me where I’m more focused despite my kids best efforts, Lol!

The TS paint will probably flake off in the long run, so I’ll be re-making panels, at least the side ones. I may run the rest and see if the paint holds up. There’s some hope since the Lexan is 0.03” thick and possibly stiff enough for the paint. I’d like to put ‘sponsor’ decals on the sides, though, and have a limited supply of these - don’t want to risk losing them on flaked up panels. Besides, it’s a great excuse to try another pattern for the paint!


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[Thloftus]

We used the Hobbywing PC software to program the ESC today. The LCD programming box acts as an interface between the ESC and the PC. The PC software and LCD box alone are both very easy to use, with lots of options for customizing the ESC settings. One small detail is the PC software doesn’t try to connect to the ESC until you push the ‘ok’ button on the LCD box after turning the ESC on. The instructions failed to mention this part and left me wondering if I’d made a bad choice with the new-fangled electronics until I figured out what was wrong, Lol!

I’m running 7.4 V on the ESC BEC to get the full 440 oz-in out of my Savox SW1210SG servo - actually 444.4 oz-in according to their specs, but is it really possible to quote the torque on a RC servo with that kind of precision, Lol!

The BEC has enough current and the receiver can handle 7.4 V, but the stock light bar is probably only rated to 6 V? I tried to find a spec, but no luck with that one. Not the first time I’ve gone on a ‘spec crusade’ only to return empty handed, :shock:! Should know better by now. The bar seems to work fine at 6 V, so I’m sticking with that for now.

To make this all work, I wired up a Hobbywing UBEC between the receiver and the light bar.

These UBEC’s are only a few dollars each, can be set to either 5 V or 6 V at 3 A, and can handle 5.5 V to 26 V on the input. They come with a nice instruction sheet and are easy to install; I’ve used one to power a Gear Head KOH rear light bar on my Bomber for a long time with no troubles.

Installed and the lights are back on, but with 1.60x more torque from the servo!

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[crunky]

I run that same servo in my Rey with the mamba x throwing 7 volts to it... Works great and the light bar didn't mind the extra voltage either.

 

[Thloftus]

I run that same servo in my Rey with the mamba x throwing 7 volts to it... Works great and the light bar didn't mind the extra voltage either.

Good to know, I wondered if I was being too paranoid about over-powering the light bar. It must be bright! It already lights up the room at 6 V!


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[Thloftus]

I re-made the side panels; used the PS paint this time, Lol, so they should hold up without chipping. Thankfully a sheet of 0.03” Lexan large enough for the entire rig is only $6. Mostly lost pride and time on the re-do, although I wasn’t super happy with the original paint scheme, so the whole outcome was on purpose, right?!

Here’s the painted panels after I removed the backing from the outside. I went with a ‘double stripe’ scheme inspired by an image in the Bomber picture thread. I like it much more than my poorly-done fade from last time. The paint is metallic blue backed with silver and then black over the whole thing.

Here’s another image of the same panels, but outside this time. No reason to include this one except that I like how it turned out and couldn’t make up my mind about which images to post, Lol!

And hooray, panels mounted on the truck with ‘sponsor’ decals applied! I painted the outside with dull cote, applied the decals, and then dull coated the the panels again to reduce the sticker shine. I’m happy with how it turned out. Or maybe I’m mostly happy they’re done and I don’t have to worry anymore about painting or getting the stickers on straight!

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[mass-hole]