There no way my titaniun ue turnbuckles are lighter than my ue 7075 turnbuckles. How do you figure ti is lighter than aluminum. Maybe a your figuring it take less titanium to be as strong as aluminum which is true. The nice thing about ti is when its hit hard it usually flexes back into shape for example your ti skids. If they were good quality aluminum they be bent for sure. yes you can bend them back but only a few times before they work harden and break off. Titanium is some tough stuff I heard they use it in the bottom pan of hummers to make them more bomb proof not sure if it true but it kinda make sence to me. Chromoly steel is way lighter and stronger than regular steel. Not sure about it compared to titanium.

Maybe I was thinking of steel vs Ti on the weight issue- I dunno, I work in a supermarket for a living! :na:

Coolness. When you bent the plate did you have the Strobe braces at the time?

No, happend before I got those. They wouldnt have helped though, the force of the impact bent the Ti skid back about 10-15 degrees, and the X-braces bent upwards in the front rather like a banana- lost about a dozen screws nearly as they all stripped out the underside near the front end; the battery tray/plate its was unharmed.

Thats the major weakness really, the design of the X-braces, by introducing a nice big weak area that will bend easily when forced, rather like the arch in a trainer's sole.

A few pics of the damage on that occasion:

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/127.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/118.jpg

I still have the damaged X-braces, not sure why, but they are just about useable if you skip one or two screws, though I just ponied up the cash for some newer G3 braces (same design, just not hollowed out on the underside to improve strength).

The inspiration:

http://www.ahgwa.com.au/vehicle_imag...loo_R8-877.jpg

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08...ord_fiesta.jpg

(color-wise I mean...)

The end result:

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/141.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/142.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/143.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/144.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/145.jpg

Its a little more yellow-ish in real life, you can blame bad lighting for my pics. Its very close to the HSV yute' color in actual fact.

The wheel base is 99% perfect, if anything my GMaxx is a tad bit longer, maybe 1/2" or there abouts, but its a perfect fit for the wheel wells, no clearnace issues. The only problem I did have was the rear body posts. Since the shell is designed for an Erevo that has body posts closer together than the maxx does, the rears would have been sticking up through the ridges that run down the back of the cabin, which is no good as you can only see half of them & cant insert the body retaining clips. My solution was to remove the nubs the shell normally sits on, and replace them with some sling swivel studs screwed into the cross brace a little closer together. The pictures make alot more sense:

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/146.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/147.jpg

Very simple to do, and the end result is rather tastey I reckon.

That said, I like the new Revo3.3 body shell- proper pickup style rather than a quazi-pickup/racetruck mishmash...

EDIT: Just incase anyone says anything, I ran out of BYT stickers, otherwise they would have been included on the shell :)

Damn Neil, what shell is that brother.

Pro-line slipstream, its proper sexy :yes:

http://www.prolineracing.com/p-664-s...e-revo174.aspx

Sure is a nice looking shell. I have always been into the JConcepts shells. but it looks as if proline is starting to get into the earodynamics more now. NICE!

Looks great! You must cut out the scoops! What is your wheel base exactly?

I'll see how the temps are now its summer (80*f is considered HOT over here, its quite sad really...), but I kinda prefer the shell without the scoops cutout. Wheelbase is 14".

It's actually "right off the bat", but it is commonly used without the word 'right'.

It's actual meaning is, immediately.

It comes from the English sport of Cricket (similar to baseball, and is actually where baseball came from), and refers to what happens at the very moment the ball leaves the bat after contact has been made...as soon as the ball leaves the bat, the players immediately react in some way or another, so their reaction was immediate, as soon as the ball came off the bat, or "right off the bat"...cool, huh? :)

I like the new lid, nice color. mmm.... HSV... Pontiac was the closest thing we had to Holden and GM had to dick it up. I was hoping to trade in my GP GXP for a G8 GXP someday. nevermore.... :cry:

It will come back...maybe, heh!

At this rate all cars will look and drive the same, regardless of the companies making them- all in the name of safety and to save money on manufacturing costs (one large company owning all the smaller ones & recycling parts, its rife in europe at the moment, but I dont know much about the American market).

Anyway, I got my MMM hold down today- it looks very nice mounted on the GorillaMaxx chassis- towards the rear rather than the front of the rear plate, since it was rather close to the motor for my liking.

Interesting about 'off the bat' being an English expression, I've always been fond of 'from the get-go' myself...

Hey neil are those body mounts rifle swivels? They look like steel. I moved my esc back and forth and turned it around and I like it in the front holes, its close but maybe your motors is longer then mine. The only thing is the power wire that plug in to the esc sticks up kinda high. I want to turn them down a little and at least put something around them to protect them. Speaking of facts what is the english favorite food. My sons in soccer camp his coaches are from england say your guys favorite food is indian curry. Is this true?

They are indeed sling swivel studs- a bit fatter than the body posts are but no issues fitting the body clips.

Im using an 80mm Medusa, so it will be a bit longer than a 1515 or ccneu, only about 5-6mm but its enough to make the power wires coming from the esc almost touch the motor with no wiggle room as such.

Curry is probably one of the nations favourite foods, either home cooked (Uncle ben's stuff from a jar + easy cook rice = made of win :yes:) or from a takeaway is lush, I like the milder korma or tikka masala myself, not a fan of spicy food.

Hey neil I noticed my front plate my steering servo is on flexes quite a bit when , have you noticed it also?

Yeah, its quite noticeable on mine too since I run the dual steering servos. Nothing to worry about though, just another quirk of the GorillaMaxx design.... :lol:

I wonder why they chose to use such thin material, especially since the aluminum is only 6061...the G-Maxx is a perfect candidate for titanium upper and lower plates, 7075 aluminum upper and lower plates, and definitely a candidate for me to make new carbon-fiber upper and lower plates. If I decide to make some CF plates, let me know if either of you would be interested, and I will make a few extra sets.

Hmm.

7075 would have made more sense, but I do know they used thicker plates on the G3 compared to the G2, but I doubt its quite strong enough still. Ti would be awesome, but price would be an issue, especially for 2-3mm thick stuff?

Thanks for the CF plate offer though, If I manage to write the truck off next time out I may well need some new ones... :lol:

I think carbon fiber will flex just as bad unless it was 5mm+ 7075 I believe is too hard(brittle) to bend for a lower chassis plate. I have a .100 thick peice of titanium plate that would work perfect but have no way of cutting it with out breaking out the jigsaw and diegrinder. Chad do you know of anybody that can cut this stuff with a cnc laser or something? Btw I have a good source for this stuff its 7 7/8" x 11 1/2" for $30 shipped more quanity 10+ = better price.

Yea, one of my best friends just happens to be Alan Johnson of Johnson's Hot-Rod Shop (7-time hot-rod builder of the year), and he has every type and kind of CNC machinery you can think of, and all I have to do is pay for materials. Problem is, all of the machines are always running, so finding time to cut my parts is difficult. I am buying my own small CNC machine soon (vertical mill converted to full 4-axis CNC), though, so I will be able to cut my own parts very soon.

I think 3.2mm CF would be pretty flex-free, because I have a hard time flexing my 2mm CF when in the proportions we will be needing for the G-Maxx parts.

Titanium can be bent with no problems, and won't weaken it any, it just needs to be bent cold. The process Hardcore, GA, and other companies use for bending Ti skids is doing it after the Ti has been brought down to below-freezing temps, sometimes using dry ice, but any household sub-zero freezer will work, maybe even a standard freezer like in your fridge.

I made a chassis out of good expensive 3mm carbon fiber and it flex a little too much for my likeing. Its strong stuff but when the servo moves the sterring the aluminum plate flexes a little I am sure the 3mm cf will do the same. I never realized they bent titanium when it was cold. Seems like it would be more brittle like steel or any other material when it is cold.

I thought the same thing about Ti, but I was wrong, heh!

.100 = 2.54mm, that would be a very strong chassis indeed if made from Ti...

My Hardcore Racing Mutant Maxx truggy conversions are titanium, 2.5mm lower plates, 2mm upper plates, and 2mm center-diff plates, and you can not flex them at all when assembled! Plus, they are very light, and look awesome! I have one that's brand-new, and one that's slightly used, but 100% complete.

Holy monkies....

So, not to be outdone by the Candyman I took the Gmaxx out today for a thorough bash session, and boy, did I bash that poor truck.

Damage report:

destroyed wheelie bar
destroyed rear-left drive shaft
bent Ti front skidplate
crippled slipper clutch
dented both 5s lipos
slightly bent whole front end of truck 1-2 degrees to one side
destroyed digital camera

The wheelie bar is great so long as you dont get to lively with the steering under power, the result of which is cartwheels that extert alot of leverage onto it. End result of some wicked-nasty large jumps was a wheeliebar bent upwards at 45 degrees, and 2 sheered screw heads holding the braces onto the bar.

Rear left driveshaft was on its way out as noted earlier, but I finally ripped it apart at the yolk. On the upside, this allowed me to experience what having a dodgey center diff must be like- no power to the rear wheels and massively ballooning front tyres. And I do mean massive, as in about 10inches diameter at full throttle, made an incredible sight and sound too, almost like a pulse jet-type grumble as the truck roared along trying desperately to get traction. No vid of that as the camera was dead by then saddly.

Whilst doing those large jumps and and down a 6-8" tall hill, I misjudged a jump and sent the truck straight into a little ledge, only about 2" high, but it hit hard enough to bend the skid right back- no damage to the chassis thankfully, just need to bend the skid back into shape.

Slipper clutch also decided it didnt want to be locked anymore, so I had to tighten that a couple times during each set of batteries. The last time it came loose I couldnt get it tight again, so had to call it a day- needs a bit of CA glue and a 2nd nyloc nut I reckon to hold it tight.

Lipo damage was annoying more than anything, seems they shifted forwards during one of my little bumps, causing the rear edge of servo plate to dig in a little bit; just made a little dent about 15mm wide and 5mm deep in the upper two cells in each pack. They still work fine.

The bad damage, slight as it is, came when I misjudged a turn and clipped the corner of a little metal framed dugout thing at the side of the rugby pitch, hit the metal pole just hard enough to bend the entire front end to one side. I think its damage to the FLM bulkheads rather than the chassis, just stretched or compressed on side a bit. Have hammer & vice, will fix :yes:

Saddly my old digital camera which was serving as the action-cam wasnt so lucky. During one big jump, the whole improvised mount it was bolted to flexed enough to allow the telescopic lens to smack against the top of the esc. Result is that it killed the little drive motor for the lens, and I just get a 'lens error' notice when I turn it on, and shuts itself off again. Even more annoying is that the video I was shooting when it died didnt get saved to the memory card , otherwise that would have made for an excellent end to the vid (grass-sky-grass-sky-grass-grass-grass-dead).

Performance:

Motor temps averaged around 130*F for most of the session, although I did reach 180*F on the last run using the A123s (forgot to stop for a break half way through the run to check temps).

Esc temps were hard to get as usual, but the highest I managed to record were 100-110*F around the caps & base of the battery and motor wires. Didnt help stuffing the fan full of dried grass like I normally do, so I will add a fine mesh over the fan grill before the next run.

Lipo temps were exellent, barely above ambient at 90-100*F, A123s temps were a bit higher, kinda nice to hold on a cool evening actually :lol, so around the 110*F mark.

Im very pleased at how well the truck stood up to the abuse, but Im thinking if I want to jump it like I was doing, then a much cheaper purpose built beater-truck will be in order, like those cheap chinese ebay items you see around, I cant justify trashing the Gmaxx for when Im in one of those 'f*ck it, lets go for it!' kind of moods- that was fine when I had the madbull that was made of rubbery plastic that would-not-break, but its not fine for an all metal 13lb truck.

So, a new project shall be beginning soon.... *dun dun dun* :mdr:

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/148.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/149.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/150.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/151.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/152.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n...laMaxx/153.jpg

Video will be uploaded once its been edited.

ouch neil! that looks like it took a beating.

Sorry to hear you suffered such a loss,cameras ain't cheap. I like the looks of the large beefy tires on your Maxx even though they might be part of the cause of the axle failure ?
Nice to have a excuse to start anew !

Looks like you had fun though and we all know you did this because your bored and like to work on it just as much drive it lol. Try droping the camera again maybe it will fix itself. As far as the axle givin up the ghost it was bound to happen with that amount of power and those big ass tires. I had those same tires on my kids t-maxx because I didnt want him to break anything. Those tire just bounced off everthing without a scratch lol. I am really surprised you havent striped a hex yet, those are 14mm right?

Rotational mass, its an axle killer for sure, but I have spares... :mdr:

Im looking at getting some 40series bowties or similar- they are still quite large, but alot lighter compared to what I have now, and should allow for a bit better handling on grass too.

Luckily the camera I killed was my old one, an amazing 4 MP 6x optical zoom item I've had for 6 years, recently replaced by a nice FZ28 ( I wont be strapping that to the truck in a hurry). Gonna replace it with a dirt cheap little digital camera for truck duties, something alot smaller and lighter that wont have a telescopic lens to damage.

Anyways:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T97wD1FgQ0

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Enjoy :smile:

True- its overdue a strip down ( :oh: ) and rebuild..

Camera is thoroughly borked though, and my efforts to 'fix' it made sure it stays borked :lol: No biggie, wasnt worth much.

14mm hex yeah- a few of them are getting a little bit stretched, but they are holding up quite well. I'll just glue the hexes inside the wheels at some point to strengthen em up again.

That vid was cool! too bad we live a world apart, it would be fun to have a bash session with you.

Great vid Neil:great: Had a little motion sickness after that:lol:

I didn't notice any Cricket pitch on that Rugby field. Fields down here a full of them, that have to be avoided at all costs:oops:

Looking forward to the new project.

Oh yes, we did just win the ashes didnt we :lol:

Not a cricket fan myself, too many middle aged men rubbing big red shiney balls up and down the inside of their legs...

What are the Ashes?:lol:

YAY finally another video! WOW sorry to hear about the carnage!

I can see how the wheelie bar would act as a nasty leverage device in a torquey turn. How funny would it be to land on it in soft grass? Lawn dart!

The slipper problem sounds grievous, I hope it is a simple problem. I hope the input gear isn't doing something funny. I guess you've checked for slop/play?

I can't believe you bent a bulk with those Strobe braces on! I might hope it was the chassis.

My TRX CVDs have a quite a few hours on them and are still going strong. Withstanding standing backflips and all. HEHE definently stronger than 3905 plastic. But heavier and more expensive.

Yeah, slipper problem isnt anything serious, just needs more glue :lol:

Im about to tear the truck down so I'll be able to see exactly where the damage is- it looks like the bulk has bent where it attaches to the chassis (upper and lower plates), so the strobe braces woudnt have prevented it.

I dont worry too much though, its all part & parcel of the hobby...

Ok, I checked several sites and cant seem to find a g4 for my build who is hiding them and if gorillamaxx is saying they are still fabricating them, why arent they available from rcmonster or should i use Fastlane Machine or am i 2yrs to late in finishing my build LOL

Heres some info http://www.rc-monsters.com/forum/sho...d.php?p=281636 They supposedly are still going to make the g4 chassis. I guess the machinest is behind.