Toyota lexan crawler #9, Dark Blue Metallic LC80 TRX4!

[Goro Majima]

Simply INCREDIBLE!

Damn, that came out so sweet - those pics look as if they were of a 1:1 parked in a driveway.

Hey - are you going to try out the new RC4WD FJ55 body next?

They went a different direction, and are releasing it in Lexan, with a 12.3" wheelbase.

Thanks Durok!!

I seen RCReview's video on that thing last night. I didn't know such a Land Cruiser existed. Apparently it's only 420 bucks? I would love to add it to the fleet as it'd be perfect for me, I just won't get it at the moment. There are a few other lexan Toyotas I haven't done; Proline Metric, the new Proline licensed Tacoma, Honcho. Assuming there's only those 4 bodies I haven't done, it's safe to say I have caught up in the crawler world and can take things at a realistic pace haha...

 

[Goro Majima]

Interior came in. Like the window visors and spare tire mount, the interior fits the body perfectly. As for making this mesh with the TRX4 chassis, it's gonna take a bit of cutting and trimming here and there. I want to utilize the Traxxas inner fenders still since the rear shocks mount into them, so I will trim the interior portion away as needed, and under the center console area to make space for the battery.

I still want to run a 5000mah in it so the battery may interfere with the lower part of the rear bench seat. I'll trim part of away if needed and also seems like the inner sides of the front seats may need some trimming away as well. Once I have the battery shape in the interior, I'll build a styrene boxed piece to hide the battery. I'm unsure if I want to keep a black interior (in 1:1 life, we all like a clean black interior right?), but part of me wants to do a tan or light gray because the contrast it will give to see the interior easier would be nice.

Also in this interior kit, I had no idea I was getting a servo powered steering wheel! I'm gonna do my best to make that work. As this build gets a bit more detailed, I feel like having a servo powered steering wheel but no working head and taillights is just off putting. So I might do a light kit...

 

[B-MOW71]

Excellent work! Love how the grill and headlights turned out!"thumbsup"

I gotta agree with durok, it looks so real in them outdoor pics. The white lettering on the tires sets it off!

 

[Goro Majima]

Excellent work! Love how the grill and headlights turned out!"thumbsup"



I gotta agree with durok, it looks so real in them outdoor pics. The white lettering on the tires sets it off!

Thank you bro!

Interior update time. I have all day on the Memorial Day to finish this. I also want to work on my KR as received the tonneau cover for it! But as for this rig's interior I'm probably 75% complete including fitting the steering wheel servo to operate. A lot of trimming and fitting, x over9000. Because of the excessive trimming, I'm sticking with a black interior but I will end up painting a black of some sort.

Comparison of before and after the hacked up interior:

So in order to run this interior in the TRX4 without disrupting the appearance too much, I began with moving the ESC and receiver to the winch servo tray area. Then the diff servos needed repositioning, so I simply laid them down with the stock mount and used 2 screws with nuts to secure it to the slider floor/tray. It's not as secure as it's original position, but I'm hopeful it will be good enough.

Switched from a 5000mah hard pack to a 3200mah softy. I need about 1/4" shorter in height to mount the center console like stock but I'm calling it good enough. Once everything is ready to be glued in position, I'll cut up some styrene cover the battery completely, and finish putting a rear floor back in with styrene as well.

 

[Goro Majima]

Goal was to get some footage today but couldn't beat the sunset. So let's bring the thread up to speed.

Interior is fully done. Didn't cover the battery but I just removed the orange sticker so it isn't an eyesore. But steering wheel servo is mounted and functioning. I couldn't mount the servo in a different position so got a suggestion somewhere on here and bought a servo reverser.

Also recently finished the rear flooring. Styrene and some dollhouse wood flooring print. I do have to make another though because I screwed this one up.

Swapped out the SW4 for a 1080. The SW4 was fine until I added weight (ESC is now in my purple Gen8 4Runner). This weighs roughly 8.4lbs. I've got some SSD portal brass covers laying around for when the time comes, and other than that this thing has no brass or added weights of some sort.

Almost forgot I added mirrors that are for a RC4WD Tacoma since I had an extra set. I really wanted to get some Loops rubber mirrors but it's very unfortunate they closed up shop. Ignore my desk getting cluttered lol.

 

[Goro Majima]

Running footage! By itself would've been a good enough video but I figured since I haven't shown my other rigs I could do another duo video. So this one's paired with my #5 crawler, the SCX10II CF build with the RC4WD Tacoma body. A light versus heavy rig video (4.2lbs vs 8.4lbs).

Recapping. I'm gonna look into getting quieter mini and micro servos (steering wheel servo) as they seem louder than I desire. And even though the stock steering servo did fine in the video, I do want to swap in my Power Hobby one sooner than later.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RqVg-SEPq0Y" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[B-MOW71]

That interior looks great!"thumbsup" Nice job on the trimming and cutting to get it to fit in there around everything! Rear wood floor looks great too!

I think you nailed the scale realism on this one!

I'll head on over to the Tube to check out the vid!

 

[JimInMiami]

Goro, your build is a MASTER CLASS in what is possible with a lexan body, congrats!

 

[B-MOW71]

Nice vid!"thumbsup"

I noticed something in the vid that I did not notice in this thread. The window vent visors are a super cool scale touch! I think seeing them on there really helps sealing the deal on the scale look of it!

 

[Goro Majima]

That interior looks great!"thumbsup" Nice job on the trimming and cutting to get it to fit in there around everything! Rear wood floor looks great too!

I think you nailed the scale realism on this one!

I'll head on over to the Tube to check out the vid!

Nice vid!"thumbsup"

I noticed something in the vid that I did not notice in this thread. The window vent visors are a super cool scale touch! I think seeing them on there really helps sealing the deal on the scale look of it!

I appreciate it BMOW! Most of my builds are usually 1:1 based. More so I try to make them somewhat simple looking, and if I had a 80 series Land Cruiser, it wouldn't have many accessories just like this is. Also need to put a driver in this thing badly.

Goro, your build is a MASTER CLASS in what is possible with a lexan body, congrats!

Kinds words from you Jim. This build wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the hard body version.

 

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

I’ve somehow missed most this thread but I’m very impressed. If I didn’t know any better I’d say this was a hardbody! All the little details like the rain guards on the windows and the interior details really set it off. Not to mention the tire lettering. Looks great dude, keep up the good work.

 

[Goro Majima]

Super late but thanks SLN!

Brought this beast out Sunday. I only used it in Amain's crawl pit but it actually surprised me on how decent the HW 1080 is still. Mind you the FJ Venture has the Fusion Pro combo and I had been using that beforehand and also making the LC80 follow it. So much fun to drive and seeing it flex though.

As far as any updates on this rig goes, not much other than putting the aforementioned Powerhobby servo in it finally. Still doesn't have the front brass knuckles in as I still want to do some trail crawling in it

 

[high plains drifter]

Detailing is truly impressive. What a great job you did with this project. "thumbsup"

 

[B-MOW71]

I don't think I've seen a better collection of Yota's!8)

The LC80 is a looker! She looks great on the rocks!"thumbsup"

 

[Goro Majima]

Thanks gentlemen for the kind words.

It's Saturday and free time so time to get stuff done. Finally installed the SSD brass portal covers for the front. And I don't remember putting these 8mm brass hexes on but they're staying.

Didn't mention in the previous post but I added some scale bits to the cargo area. Sleeping bags are from the top of my FJ Venture (sleeping bags really belong inside of a vehicle lol), and the gas cans and sand ladders are courtesy to @tigris99 .

Took the stock TRX4 plastic rear bumper and trimmed it accordingly to act as an added hitch receiver. I didn't want to cut the lexan bumper area this wide but I also wanted the D ring mounts still. As far as getting the height correct of the bumper to fit the body nicely, it didn't take any work at all. The bumper mount is installed like factory, and the angles of the bumper mount are hugged up against the lexan bumper like it was meant to be. I did trim a few spots behind the posts to allow the bumper to have more adjustment inward but I didn't need to do that apparently. Love it when stuff fits like this.

I think it looks decent but I do wish it was shorter in height to match the lexan bumper. Overall, I'm excited to call this Land Cruiser out of all my Toyotas, a tow rig (just needs a trailer now). A Tundra would make more sense but what's out there currently isn't satisfactory to my taste. Also the license plate area looks plain... Needs a RC plate asap.

For fun I swapped on the short course Fifteen52 Turbomacs. It doesn't look half bad honestly.

 

[durok]

Those wheels and tires DO look good, but not quite as good as the others you had mounted.

The scale detail upgrades you are adding are right on point!

 

[SleptOver]

I like the look, though I'd pain the wheels white, silver or blue metallic to match the body.

 

[B-MOW71]

Great job on the rear bumper! Nice that the body lined up that well with the stock bumper.

Them wheels and tires look great and fit the look well!

Yeah, it does need a license plate and I know exactly where you could get one!;-)

 

[Goro Majima]

As usual, thanks for the appreciation gentlemen.

Mt Diablo crawl meet on the 17th was a success and towing my Rock Pirates LC70 around on the trails was just as fun as being on the rocks. Ended up grabbing the trailer off Amzn and chose the one with the fold down ramps (as opposed to the removable ramps & slide storage one). The trailer tire setup might as well be hard plastic, so I threw on these 1.55 Boom Racing wheels that had RC4WD Falken Wildpeaks on em laying around (3.5" I think the tire height is) as they are very close to the trailer tire profile.

Even though the LC80 did wonderful towing, I decided I wanted to add more brass and a winch, even. It's funny how I had no intentions of doing more to this, but it was so much fun driving this as it's just a solid driver and the addition of more weight will just make it a better tow rig. On to the new mods.

First, here's just some weight information throughout this process so far (3200mah soft pack):
• Stock + SSD front brass + scale items in cargo
= 8.38lbs
• Rear bumper mount + hitch + aluminum front bumper mount + servo winch
= 9.37/lbs
• Samix front heavy outer portals brass + STRC inner portals brass (SSD heavy brass moved to rear) + front steel driveshaft
= 9.95/lbs

Winch. Kinda like how the rear bumper setup turned out, modifying the spare front bumper from the kit to accommodate the lexan also turned out pretty good. I'm just waiting for a winch controller but it's all ready to go otherwise. I chose a Powerhobby winch servo since I have a steering servo from them also so why not. Should be pretty stout.

Here's how I shaped the stock bumper to fit. I had to trim off more flat plastic to expose the posts a tad more so it sat behind the lexan bumper evenly.

Did the necessary trimming to the optional tray for the servo winch.

Bumper in it's mounted position, can't complain.

Taking some deep breaths on doing this cut to expose the added fairlead.

Got it done! I might reinforce the fairlead hole on the lexan just so it's less prone to ripping in that area if the bumper gets snagged there.

Pics of the extra weight added down low (minus the rear driveshaft, needs trimming to fit).

Last second decision I threw on some Boom Racing rim bolts on, acting as lugs for the hub. Smaller than actual scale but y'all get the idea lol. And also put the rear caps on just to hide the hexes.

Sits proper with some slightly deflated tires now.

 

[Goro Majima]

Made a YouTube Short using existing footage of the no brass run and afterwards. + Yeti cooler, the new weight is now 9.97lbs lol.

https://youtube.com/shorts/ATH256b6TkY?feature=share