What did you do to your TRX-4 today?

[high plains drifter]

Bro I love the way that Ford looks!!! And I'm not a Ford guy! Nice work brother!!!


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Thank you, Justin! He's really done a great job... especially considering that this was his first blank shell. We did a good deal of modifying and fabricating to the chassis as well... raising the floor pans, deleting the two-speed, relocating RX box, adding winch controller and magnetic body mounts, etc, etc. It was great to see it perform so well... even if he did basically kick my ass on almost every obstacle lol.

 

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Buddy and I finished up his new Ford body and took it out for a shakedown run. My D110 and Bronco used to out-drive his in many situations but as of yesterday he is now able to outperform my Bronco. With his old top-heavy D110 body, the edge used to go in my favor but now with all he's done... the COG is lower, the longer wheelbase gives him a firm advantage in hill climbs, and he's balanced the weight front to back. We can still do the same lines but my Bronco bounces around more which leaves mine a lot of times, not pointing exactly where I wanted it. His is better planted and more controllable time after time on the same lines. I'm happy for him though. He's worked hard to get this truck not only looking great but performing great too. I'll dig up the dusty build thread and update soon.

Wow! That looks great! How’d you do the weathering? Also, where’s that body from? I looked for one with that good of detail on the grille and stuff. and I couldn’t find any anywhere. I’ll definitely be following that build thread.


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[high plains drifter]

Wow! That looks great! How’d you do the weathering? Also, where’s that body from? I looked for one with that good of detail on the grille and stuff. and I couldn’t find any anywhere. I’ll definitely be following that build thread.


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Thank you! It's a Carisma '76 Ford F-150 body.. lots of chrome detail pieces... really well formed/ no molding flaws. Lexan is pretty thick too so should hold up well.

The paints/ weathering pigments that we used are listed below. Painted inside ( silver x3/ rust x3... light coats. Then backed with black). Then we moved on to the exterior with the other colors/ pigments.. building up layers/ sanding down... repeating each step to gradually achieve the look that he was after. When it gets beat up it will expose "slightly oxidized metal" quarter panels underneath the paint surface.

Tamiya silver PS-12
Tamiya black PS-5
Tamiya clear red PS-37
Tamiya clear orange PS-73
Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer
Rustoleum Painter's Touch 2x Ultra satin/ French Blue
Rustoleum Painter's Touch 2x Ultra satin Heirloom White
Rustoleum Matte Clear Enamel
Rustoleum High Heat BBQ Black
Sophisticated Finishes Iron Rust Surfacer/ Rust Antiquing Solution
Tamiya Weathering Master B-Snow/ Soot/ Rust
0.7m Leaded Pencil
Krylon Fusion Satin Black

Wet/ Dry sanding 400/ 600/ 800/ 1500/ 2500

 

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Thank you! It's a Carisma '76 Ford F-150 body.. lots of chrome detail pieces... really well formed/ no molding flaws. Lexan is pretty thick too so should hold up well.

The paints/ weathering pigments that we used are listed below. Painted inside ( silver x3/ rust x3... light coats. Then backed with black). Then we moved on to the exterior with the other colors/ pigments.. building up layers/ sanding down... repeating each step to gradually achieve the look that he was after. When it gets beat up it will expose "slightly oxidized metal" quarter panels underneath the paint surface.

Tamiya silver PS-12
Tamiya black PS-5
Tamiya clear red PS-37
Tamiya clear orange PS-73
Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer
Rustoleum Painter's Touch 2x Ultra satin/ French Blue
Rustoleum Painter's Touch 2x Ultra satin Heirloom White
Rustoleum Matte Clear Enamel
Rustoleum High Heat BBQ Black
Sophisticated Finishes Iron Rust Surfacer/ Rust Antiquing Solution
Tamiya Weathering Master B-Snow/ Soot/ Rust
0.7m Leaded Pencil
Krylon Fusion Satin Black

Wet/ Dry sanding 400/ 600/ 800/ 1500/ 2500

Wow! A lot went into her, but it was definitely worth it! Is there any way I could add “rust” on the outside of my lexan body?

My next body has to have Velcro or magnets. No more post holes for me. Looks a lot more scale then chrome body pins.


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[23drumerboy]

Finally got some inner fenders for the ol' Sport'n'Stein! Also new Chineseum "DSSERVOx brand steering servo! 35kg, coreless, digital, waterproof...my only issue with it thus far (3ish days), is that i suppose because it's a 180° servo, i recently found the steering horn pointed towards the BACK of the truck, behind the front axle! SMDH, anyone have an easy fix??

I thought i was having "next-to-NOO" steering issues, even after setting my endpoints, exp, and D.R. on my fs-gt5!

Also sawed-off some tiny bit of rock sliders to clear the knock-off-"Hyrax" 1.9's @ full flex.

Also, rear brass "counter-weight" knuckle weights...

R.C. means both;Remote control, and Rock Crawler.

 

[Browneye]

Very cool. Nice job on the weathering.

I have a Axial 52 chevy body for the same kind of affect. I'm not quite as patient as you however. LOL


I actually had a F250 High-boy back in the day, a 1976 model, owned from 1979 to 1989. Those trucks were dabomb. "thumbsup"

 

[high plains drifter]

Wow! A lot went into her, but it was definitely worth it! Is there any way I could add “rust” on the outside of my lexan body?

My next body has to have Velcro or magnets. No more post holes for me. Looks a lot more scale then chrome body pins.


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Already painted lexan isn't the best platform for adding rust but I've had acceptable success using rust colored primer/ paint ( rattle can). You can use the cap of the can to spray into... just enough to create a little puddle. Then you can use a small brush, q-tip, etc to dab the rust onto the body. Works best to have a realistic visual idea of how and where rust forms in the real world... where body panels meet, nooks and crannies, under door handles/ vents/ exterior mirrors/ etc. You don't wanna go too heavy or too much or else the realism will likely suffer... just small steps at a time. You can also use a toothpick with a small drop of the rust colored paint in order to access hard to reach areas and to create more realistic ( and varying) areas of oxidation.

But with all that said... it's a lot harder in my experience to create rust effects on painted lexan exteriors than it is to incorporate the rust into a paint-job as you go.

Very cool. Nice job on the weathering.

I have a Axial 52 chevy body for the same kind of affect. I'm not quite as patient as you however. LOL


I actually had a F250 High-boy back in the day, a 1976 model, owned from 1979 to 1989. Those trucks were dabomb. "thumbsup"

Thanks so much. More of my patience came throughout the process of helping to fit the body to the chassis as well as a lot of other fitment/ compatibility solutions. It took a lot of time and head-scratching to successfully bring the plans to life. Moving stuff around, raising the floor pans, the bumpers, planetary winch, etc, all had to be fitted, fabricated, or modified to make sure that performance was gained/ not lost. Was pretty time consuming for my buddy and I both... more so for him as he did a lot more work on this than I did but it was worth it for sure.

He's got a '78 Ford short-bed lifted on 36" Swampers that was his inspiration for this project... plus he's a Ford guy thru and thru. His Defender body was cool but he had a lot of stuff on the cargo rack and that weight made it a top-heavy tippy pig on the trail. What he's got now is pretty impressive both in looks and performance imo. Thanks for taking a look.

 

[mewalsh100]

That Ford turned out sweet high plains. Very nice weathering and patina. I've always liked that Carisma Ford body too - just haven't had or made a rig with the wheelbase to use it. You've got me thinking now though!

 

[high plains drifter]

That Ford turned out sweet high plains. Very nice weathering and patina. I've always liked that Carisma Ford body too - just haven't had or made a rig with the wheelbase to use it. You've got me thinking now though!

Thanks so much. I've been keeping an eye on your FJ as well... very nice job. The TRX4 D110 wheelbase fits that Carisma body pretty well. Only thing that I didn't care for was having to cut a good deal from the fenders but with those huge Thornbird tires, it looks pretty good proportionately. I will say that I think he cut more than necessary so maybe in that regard I should've advised him to cut them back only a little at a time. That being said, the Carisma body fenders will definitely need some degree of cutting to accommodate most 1.9 tires out there. Anyway... no rubbing as of the first run. Not sure if that'll change if he decides to go with a softer spring. The RC4WD King shocks seem a good deal stiffer than the Traxxas GTS shocks but with the weight of his rig, that seems to be a good thing.

 

[durok]

Buddy and I finished up his new Ford body and took it out for a shakedown run. My D110 and Bronco used to out-drive his in many situations but as of yesterday he is now able to outperform my Bronco. With his old top-heavy D110 body, the edge used to go in my favor but now with all he's done... the COG is lower, the longer wheelbase gives him a firm advantage in hill climbs, and he's balanced the weight front to back. We can still do the same lines but my Bronco bounces around more which leaves mine a lot of times, not pointing exactly where I wanted it. His is better planted and more controllable time after time on the same lines. I'm happy for him though. He's worked hard to get this truck not only looking great but performing great too. I'll dig up the dusty build thread and update soon.

Is that stunner based on the Carisma Ford body???

Enquiring minds want to know!

My crawlin' buddy down in Lockhart is running Thornbirds on his Bronco, they start to work a lot better after breaking them in for a while...

I have yet to mount mine up... "thumbsup"

 

[23drumerboy]

TRX LED rock lights added, fenders a few days ago, and went from 15mm hub extensions to 10mm!

R.C. means both;Remote control, and Rock Crawler.

 

[high plains drifter]

Is that stunner based on the Carisma Ford body???

Enquiring minds want to know!

My crawlin' buddy down in Lockhart is running Thornbirds on his Bronco, they start to work a lot better after breaking them in for a while...

I have yet to mount mine up... "thumbsup"

Hey, durok! Yep... the Carisma SCA-1E '76 Ford. We started on this one almost a year ago lol but took a long break over the winter. The intention was to have it done before summer this year but with all the modifications and fabricated chassis parts, that never happened. Anyway... my buddy had the advantage with the Thornbirds over the Swampers on my Bronco even though the Thornbirds are pretty new. I imagine the truck will only get more capable as they get broken in. I'm afraid I'll have to take my Capra next time we run just to keep ahead of his lol. My once valiant TRX4 Bronco really struggled to keep up with his last week during his shakedown run.

And as always... let me know if you and your buddy from Lockhart want to come on over and do some crawling some time.

 

[durok]

Hey, durok! Yep... the Carisma SCA-1E '76 Ford. We started on this one almost a year ago lol but took a long break over the winter. The intention was to have it done before summer this year but with all the modifications and fabricated chassis parts, that never happened. Anyway... my buddy had the advantage with the Thornbirds over the Swampers on my Bronco even though the Thornbirds are pretty new. I imagine the truck will only get more capable as they get broken in. I'm afraid I'll have to take my Capra next time we run just to keep ahead of his lol. My once valiant TRX4 Bronco really struggled to keep up with his last week during his shakedown run.

And as always... let me know if you and your buddy from Lockhart want to come on over and do some crawling some time.

I feel kinda silly - just now I went back a few more posts and saw that you did list which body was used, as well as a super-detailed explanation of the excellent weathered paint job!

My pal is in the midst of moving, so his stuff is all being packed away - and their new place won't be ready for a while - if I can get of my butt and finish a project or two, maybe when the temps start to come down we can all do a crawl... he should be good to go by then as well.

I do have driveable rigs, I just really want to bust out some new gear... "thumbsup"

 

[high plains drifter]

Well I forgot to list the part# originally so I was glad to put it out there again.. plus it's nice to promote the Carisma name since many bodies are Proline, JConceptz, Traxxas, etc. Another thing that I like about this one is the optional full depth bed ( comes with the body)... nice touch.

There's several places that we usually go to keep the terrain ever-changing. I'll guarantee you a good time if y'all do decide to come on down. Would be great to run with a few more people.

Few more pics here. I like the homemade shop towels lol...

 

[Phildirt]

This Ford is giving me all kinds of ideas. Looked at bodies last night, reasonably priced...I may start planning lol. Probably the coolest rig I’ve seen on this site as far as scale goes.

 

[high plains drifter]

This Ford is giving me all kinds of ideas. Looked at bodies last night, reasonably priced...I may start planning lol. Probably the coolest rig I’ve seen on this site as far as scale goes.

Ford sure knew how to create one heck of a good-looking front end lol! My dad had a Super Camper Special back in the day so I've always had a soft spot for these 70's models. This body isn't easy to adapt to the TRX4 Defender chassis but with some innovation and some time, it certainly is possible. And I think that the result was definitely worth the effort in this case. Thanks much for taking a look.

 

[durok]

Man, that Ford is gorgeous...

Love the grille, long wheelbase, and the high-rider style - and the Thornbirds just seem to fit the truck perfectly!

And the bed detailing, and all the stuff in that toolbox, just... Wow. :shock:

 

[Benp]

That Ford is incredible! I love it!

The mid 70’s split grill Fords are my favorite truck body of all time.

The scale detail is fantastic on that. Absolutely awesome!


-——————

Yesterday I tore the shocks apart and reconfigured them.

I used a medium length light in the shock body and small light in the shaft assembly
Under the piston.

I did my test run with no oil so it was spring only. I just wanted to see if this was even going to work.

Turned out actually pretty decent. Didn’t raise the ride height and the wheel would drop down a lot better than the last configuration.

So I’m going to fill them with oil and go from there.

Truck did awesome going along the top of the 1 rock wall. Looks like a caterpillar moving along the top. Front wheel would drop into a hole and the chassis would stay level.

I’m pleased with how this is turning out even with all of the tinkering involved.

Ive been putting the Landmines through their paces lately and they’re coming around. I’d say comparable to the Hyraxes on my rocks now.

I think I’m going to add some brass to the rear portals to help keep it from flopping so fast in some situations. I’m sure my weight bias is pretty bad since all the weight is in the front and nothing in the rear to help counteract some.

 

[PFongemie]

Installed Proline Hyrax tires on to Gearhead 12 pack wheels.

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[1FSTLS1]

I’ve always liked the Axial XJ body and decided to build one. Fits well on the TRX4 I think! Just a few finishing touches like RC4WD metal emblems and some trimming.

Never was a fan of the flat style paints but that actually looks very slick! "thumbsup"