I sat down to the bench with a fresh case of Michelobe Ultra in the fridge and got to work today, I made a spool for my winch thats pretty close to scale for this truck. I'm also going to make a utility box for the servo to reside in to keep it hiddem that will mount on the bed in the same location much as a Slideback tow truck but I'm going to build a boom yet.

Now that this is done for now I'm going to install the electronics to see if I can make this beast come alive today for some tests ?? I still have plenty of time and beer left for the afternoon.



http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ndvideo002.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ndvideo004.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ndvideo005.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ndvideo006.jpg



You Tube video, and yes it has variable speed ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgP-5...1&feature=plcp



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I have it thrown together so I can center and align everything, Once the body is installed everything on the chassis will be stuffed inside.

The motor has the perfect speeds in Low & High just hope it can hack the weight, she tips the scales at 10.7lbs as is. A good run will gimme an idea whats up.

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ogether001.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ogether006.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ogether005.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ogether004.jpg

Took a while to get the steering perfectly centered x3, can still use some fine tuning but was anxious to run. I ran nearly a whole 5000mah 2s pack just hacking around and I'v def decided to step up the power and voltage. I ordered the Tekin 4 pole 1400kv 1/8 scale buggy motor and will prob run it on 3s for the power and efficentcy. If a tire or two gets kinda wedged theres no way 2s is gonna get this pig out of trouble especially if trying to help other's out of a jam.

Steering worked typical for the lenth of the thing but that 3rd axle really brought the thing to life, has fantastically small truning radius.

Very breif video, sorry for shaky and spotty focus. Was trying to hold the DX7 TX and the camera while driving.

The Beast Mann/Hybrid 6X6 Steering Test - YouTube




.

I managed to disassemble the Mann body today, wasn't that hard since the joker that put it together did a piss poor job. The Hot knife greatly simplified the job, best 10.00 I spent in a a loooong time.

I've already removed a lot of material from the floor pan so it pretty much can be resting on the chassis plate to get the COG low as possible.


http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ssembly002.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ssembly005.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ssembly003.jpg

I've ben tinkering with the floor pan and pretty much rebuilt the entire thing. I added a 7"x3.5"x3/16" sheet of Kydex and extended the fenders wells where needed, it's solid as a rock now.
Working with the plastic is entirely new to me and I must say I enjoy it very much, On a whim I made the needed door hinges and found the plastic is really nice to work with even making small pieces.

I'm reassembling the cab so it sit's roughly 15mm lower onto the cab floor to help lower COG.

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...REBUILD003.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...REBUILD002.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...REBUILD004.jpg

This was Memorial Weekend


Many many Beers have have ben sacrificed for the greater good of the RC Gods this weekend and a glorious thing it has ben, They all gave their little aluminum lives bravely for the sake of scale building. They will not be forgotten even tho they passed quickly into the porcelain throne and beyond.
Urp !

The drivers compartment is now 100% complete and sealed to not allow dust or water to enter. After building my Wraith and spending many hours on the interior and completely trashing it the first run out I hoping with some extra work this interior will always be clean ? To bad I forgot to clean the windows befor I glued the front panel on, finger print smudges all over. DOH.

I still have a loooong road ahead to complete the back half of the cab, I need to build a side wall, back panel and roof and make it all hinge for easy excess of electronics and battery swaps.

All the windows were scratch made and glued in with CA with a fine tipped screw driver, this took hours and chipped away at my patience but the result was what I wanted. I could have spent several more hours going crazy making gauges, instrument clusters etc etc but wanted to keep it somewhat simple. I only wished I had a couple futuristic weapons to put in the rifle rack rather than blunt skull primitive weapons.

The action figures Beldar and Primat are from the late 80's and did not articulate at all except at the shoulders and hips. I got creative with the hot knife and thick CA and the results are satisfactory. I even gave them a fresh coat of paint because they were pretty faded.

The beginning of the exterior roll cage can be seen in a couple of the pictures, I found the plastic bends nicely with a little heat of the micro torch.

The interior color will be the same for the exterior, It's a tan with a slight green tint I found by Testors at the LHS. I have another color slightly more green I will make splotches on and around the exterior for the camo pattern. The roll cage and window trim will all be painted with flat black so it should have nice contrast. Still undecided on a zebra pattern ?

On to the pics, enjoy.

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...omplete003.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...omplete002.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...omplete005.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...omplete006.jpg

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http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...omplete009.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...omplete004.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...omplete016.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...omplete013.jpg

This is last week

More progress !
I killed a case of Michelobe Ultra yesterday while working on this pig, the creative juices were flowing like the beer.

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...Fbumper002.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...Fbumper003.jpg

This is where the body was notched for spare tire, decided differently :rolleyes:

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...Fbumper004.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...Fbumper006.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...Fbumper011.jpg

Front bumper/push bar/light mount/skid plate is done as well

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...Fbumper010.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...Fbumper009.jpg

This is now current

A little more done today, I finished the skid plate shoreing it up with a couple braces and added more to the front grill and built the exo-roll cage.

I had planned on making the front assembly and exo-cage from brass ultimately decided on the much lighter plastic, this stuff is really nice to work with as well.

I have some finish work to do on the cage and maybe add a couple small things but I'm getting really close to getting it painted and I'm second guessing myself on the color/pattern again :???::???::???:

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ollcage004.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ollcage001.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ollcage002.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ollcage003.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ollcage006.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ollcage005.jpg

I've spent hours watching those crazy bastards spool up those diesels and drop the clutch on those trials trucks. Do you think they cost much more than a well built r/c?:lol:

I'll be following this build:yes:

Big thanks Harold, glad you appreciate those big assed trucks like myself !




I added a few things prior to painting, I made a windshield visor and beefed up the brush guard a little as well as door hinges and door handles. I also added a extention to cover the #2 servo.



http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...tedbody001.jpg



http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...tedbody002.jpg



http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...tedbody003.jpg



http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...tedbody004.jpg



http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...tedbody005.jpg

Very cool! nice paint job too!
Loving the build!

This is Brilliant Bondo! :yes:

Is that a Motor Endbell?

Did you have to open the servo and remove the left/right endstops?

Any modification there?

Hey Sikes,

The round servo horn came with a Hitec 7990 Robot servo.
I removed the servo circut board and the end stop from the main gear and wired up the winch control from the RC4WD scale winch.

Thanks for looking !

How the heck did I miss this! looks sweeeeeet Jeff, well done!

Thank You Brian, most appreciated.