The past couple of days I have been working on the lower skid plates. I have been cutting them out of 1/8" 6061-T6 aluminum with my hand-held jigsaw. Today, after an hour of filing and drilling I finished the front skid-plate. I also mounted the steering rack to the skid-plate. I'm duties a Team Associated Rc8 steering rack to take care of the steering duties.

Tomorrow I will finish the rear skid plate and have pictures of that one up also but for now here are a couple of pictures of the front to prove that I am actually making progress! ;)

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...1814-45-02.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...1814-51-35.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...1814-51-50.jpg

You do this with a hand held jigsaw and files completely free hand?
WOW....
I'm impressed, looks like it has a good symmetrie to it.
Wish I had persistance like that.

Yep..I draw the design out on graph paper...then package tape it to the material and start hacking away...I don't have the resources to be able to mill the parts.

Thanks...I understand this piece isn't perfect but at the same time I didn't want to spend aton of time on this one part since I have 3 more I have to do like it..not to mention the main tvp plates haha

Not a whole lot of excitement today... but I did finish the rear skid plate. I made sure to bend it so that it provided rear kick up like the Revo/Slayer. I cut both the front and rear skid plates to be a bit longer then they will end out being. I'm not sure exactly how long they needed to be so I made them longer just be safe.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...1919-33-22.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...1919-35-32.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...1919-38-36.jpg

Next I will be working on the upper chassis plates and also the braces which will connect the skid plates to the upper chassis's These are also the pieces where the main twin vertical plates will connect to the front and rear of the truck.

I ordered another sheet of 6061 1/8" Aluminum plate from ebay for the main chassis plates. I will start drawing the design for those also very soon. I have a feeling that this truck is going to be a pig.

I'm getting excited about this build..and after experiencing a time of having no motivation to work on my projects...it's nice.

Another small some what boring update for today...

I got the front upper chassis cut out and filed. This part reminded me about how much work making custom cars really is..The part didn't take long to cut out..but it took a couple hours to file it down to get it fit right. I also had a hard time bending the piece to accomodate for the front kick-up. I resorted to sandwiching the piece between two 2x4's and crouching on top of the top 2x4. Then I pulled with all my strength upward to achieve the bend.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...2119-01-41.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...2118-59-10.jpg

Today my piece of 1/8" 6061-T6 aluminum for the main chassis plates came. Its 12" x 24" and I have a feeling it will last me awhile.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...2114-54-31.jpg

Tomarrow I'm having a dental implant done..so not sure if I'll be up for doing any work but tomorrow or Saturday I will finish the rear upper chassis plate and also post pictures of that one. Hopefully soon I will be able to start providing more interesting updates : )

Well....today no progress was made becuase of me feeling under the weather after the dental implant. BUT as a reward for making it through the process of someone drilling a screw into my mouth I decided I should order most of the parts needed to complete this project.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...Zero/order.jpg

I also ordered some 2.8" Proline Badlands. Unfortunately, now that Proline has started making tires to fit Traxxas wheels they have discontinued the tires that fit there wheels. I purchased some Imex Jato wheels awhile ago for this project and they don't have the same bead type as the Traxxas wheels. So I had to hunt down some of the old Badland tires. Everywhere I looked either didn't have them or only had one pair! So I ended up having to buy one pair from one place and the other pair from another! I also ordered some Rpm revo hubs for the rear to match the Rpm hubs which I have for the front.

Perhaps, tomorrow I will be able to get back to work on this but no promises.

I started to feel well enough to do some work on this today... it took quiet a bit of convincing though. Once I got started though I was able to fly through finishing the last of the 4 upper chassis plates/ skid plates! The rear one that I just finished doesn't fit exact..but the top plates will be covered in flat black vinyl and that will hide many of the in perfections.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...2319-24-23.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...2319-24-39.jpg

I couldn't just keep feeding you guys boring updates with repetitive pictures...so to spice things up... I threw some rockers and shocks on there for a couple of pictures.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...2319-35-39.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...2319-34-47.jpg

Tomarrow I am hoping to get the designs drawn up for the chassis braces which will connect the upper and lower chassis and also be the mounting location for the TVP's. Also, would like to get those pieces finished and mounted so that I can start designing the TVP's. I think once I start working on those...things will start to get interesting quickly!

Came home from work and had three packages awaiting me.. One had one pair of badlands, another had the other pair, and the last one had the RPM revo hubs.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...2713-55-09.jpg

I'm still waiting for my big shipment from Rcplanet to come though...

Also, I had a bit of time to mount the front shocks...The rockers I have mounted are for the rear.. they will be replaced by the correct front long travel rockers once they come.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...2722-35-09.jpg

I wasn't planning on doing that till further on in the build.. but things started to get complicated fast..as I found that the only way to make the motor fit in between the front and rear shocks was to slide the center differential as far forward as I could. How far I could push the center differential forward depended on where the shocks where mounted..so I had to mount the shocks first then return to trying to design the lexan parts which will be sandwiched inbetween the top and bottom aluminum plates and will be where the TVP's are mounted to. The lexan parts will support the center differential so that's why it's taking me longer than I had expected to design and cut those parts. A picture of the complication...
*note the center differential be raised up and the skid plate bent upward to provide more ground clearance*

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...2722-37-30.jpg

I'm crossing my fingers that tomarrow I will make large strides and be able to get the lexan chassis braces mentioned earlier mounted and also mount the center differential. (Something else I hadn't planned on doing before the chassis was completed)

Hang tight guys.

I'm surprised that you guys don't seem very interested in the project...sorta seems stupid for me to keep posting updates with no interest brewing..I'll post a few more updates and see if you guys come around..if not I'll just post the finished product once I'm done..

Had a wicked long day at work today..cooking burgers 8 hours a day at mcdonald's tires a guy out...but hey people gotta eat and I have to have money for my projects..and college.. anyway.. I came home to find this at my door step...

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...2816-12-55.jpg

I wonder whats inside...
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...2816-17-02.jpg

Shortly after taking the pictures..I tore into the packages in an organized and controlled matter...haha yea right!

I started to throw parts on the front end of the truck and I'm very happy with how things are turning out. The width of the truck looks like its going to be around between 13 1/2" and 14" ! Which will fit the wheelbase nicely and is much wider than a Stampede 4x4. I'm very excited about the front bumper as it will fit the Highroller body perfectly. I can't show guys pictures of it with the body.. but I'm going to tell you that the stance is killer.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to do any heavy machining on the chassis braces like I wanted too. Maybe tomorrow... but till then.. some pictures of the front end...I think it looks good..but will look even better once I dye the rockers and cover the upper chassis in flat black vinyl!

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...-38-04_org.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...2822-37-18.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...2822-34-13.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...2822-32-48.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a2/...2822-30-49.jpg

I think this project is turning out nice.keep up the good work.

Nice work. :)


I have been following, just not posting. :lol:

looking good man! don't get too discouraged by the lack of posts, I'm sure many people have a read through and forget to, or just plain old don't post anything. I know I'm guilty of doing that a few times....

Lots of hard work going into this project, can't wait to see the finished product.

looking to see where its going next - looks a lot like a G-Revo with a CD and slayer arms at the moment...

Same here, I'm following every step you post.
But posting "looking good, exited to see the finished project" every time, seems a bit off to me:lol:

i think alot of us are watching your project, most of us dont post though, monster has been pretty quiet for the last year