Well, yeah, but that's because I didn't clean it up yet. I got disgusted before I finished the one on the left and didn't even start on the bottom one. Believe it or not, the one on the left was the worst one!

You just had to get it out of your system, right squee..?

I see potential in the both of them Brian. they can be made identical and perfect, and for the scratches, if you are using the rubber sheet, you don't see it again.

Yeah, but I know it's not perfect - you know what I mean? Even then, it won't look as good as the one I spent forever on.

Appearantly i am too anal to listen to.. LOL

No, I heard and understand what you're saying. They could be fixed so they are pretty, but there are other flaws that would need to be addressed and by the time that was done, there would be a LOT less material there, and less protection for the lipos. They actually look worse in person. The picture was kinda dark so I enhanced it and lost some of the detail.

What kind of paint are you using ont he aluminum? i guess it's the heat resistant type? do you use a primer?

I found that primer doesn't work too well on this Al, even after making sure it is clean. It tends to chip off easily. I used a flat black paint made for metals. Then, I use the "hammered" finish paint. It's kinda glossy and seems to hold up well under use. I used it on both my Revo and Jato (different shades though) and they still look good.

And, I don't think the paint has any special heat resistant properties - why do you ask about that?

Some rubber car under coat would hold help good. About $7 a can at napa auto parts or drop it off at a Rhino liner/LineX shop. I would be POed about those parts too especially if i had to pay someone to do that kind of work. you did a nice cleanup on one of them. From what I've read you're anal about most things, at least you have a reason for this one. Does your wife not understand needing a tape and a level just to hang a picture on the wall? It drives mine nuts.

I never thought of using rubber undercoating. I have tried plastidip and it peels off rather easy, but I imagine undercoating is more sturdy.

Yeah, I guess I am anal about stuff. After all, you spend lots of cash on this hobby, why take short-cuts? I try to make things that look like they could be actually from the manufacturer... within limits.

BrianG I am having the same problem mounting the motor. I will probably mount the motor to the left rear of the diff. If you flip the plastic diff supports upside down it will raise the diff (probably a little more than is needed) and the dog bones should still be long enough to work (at least it looks like it should work with my hyper 7). If you mount the motor above the diff you might want to make sure its not too high for the body. Do you have a picture from the top with the battery trays sitting in position.

The problem with using undercoating is that most of them never totally dry. Where did you get the foam padding that you used in your tray?

By using spacers to lift the battery trays a bit above the dirt guard nibs, I was able to utilize the space over the dirt guards. It's a close fit on the right side since the diff is offset, but it'll work. I don't have the top view pics yet, but when the tray spacers come in, I'll snap a pic.

As you can see by my TP tube mockup, there should be enough room for the body to fit over the motor. The body does bubble a little above the mounting spot, so it should be OK.

The foam is just craft foam. I got it at Wal-Mart in the craft section. There are two types (and many colors); one type is 1mm thick with no adhesive backing. The other type is 2mm thick and has a fairly decent adhesive, which sticks to metal pretty well, but is not messy if you have to remove it.

Using the Neu motor is turning out to be a bit of a PITA due to its size. I am seriously thinking about just going to an LMT. They are longer at 76mm (compared to ~70mm for the 1515), but are normal 36mm diameter vs Neu at ~44mm. Or, I may get the smooth finned Neu motor.

brian, don't forget that the fins on the finned can motors don't go all the way to the ends on the can. There is at least a quarter inch of smooth can at both ends.

Maybe I can meet you sometime and test fit a real neu. ;)

Thanks Dr, I think I might take you up on that offer sometime! Everything is just so close - I hate not having a little "wiggle" room.

I ment if you flip the plastic diff support upside down. By doing this it will raise the center diff and expose the spur gear for pinion gear clearance, but may raise the motor too high and interfere with the body.

Well, made a little more progress. I decided to use a 4mm spacer under the diff mounts. The motor will clear with room to spare now. I couldn't flip the diff mounts upside down because then the motor would be too high and other fitment problems. Good idea though, but won't work for this.

I used high density plastic bars for the battery tray spacer - much easier than breaking off taps in Al stock. The screws self-tapped nice and tight. The only thing I don't like is the fact that they're white. I don't think paint will work very well, and I'm not sure how well dye will stick to this type of plastic. So, I'll probably just leave them that color.

I made a couple of parts. One is a servo shield. It provides a channel for the steering servo wires to be routed, protects the battery wire from hitting the servo arm mechanism while providing a padded resting spot for the wires. The other is a new diff top plate. I cut out enough room for a 16T pinion, but plan to use 14T or 15T. I also used a Jato tie-rod to help stiffen up the diff mount. The side of the top plate has a spot to route and secure the motor wires from the center diff gear.

A couple of picture from a few angles:

http://scriptasylum.com/forumpics/h8_progress1_back.jpg

http://scriptasylum.com/forumpics/h8_progress1_top.jpg

http://scriptasylum.com/forumpics/h8...ess1_right.jpg

wow, very clean conversion, nice

Brian, I think dye will work well with the plastic pieces. Try it on a scrap piece....

Thanks Meat. I'll be waiting a while before purchasing the motor/ESC/batts, so I can take my time to do other stuff right. Still tough with a hacksaw, dremel, and files to work with.

Well, it's kinda like that dense cutting board material you'd find in places like Subway where they make the sandwiches. Sorta translucent at the edges, like it's made of slightly watered down (or skim) milk. It's a little difficult to work with. It's cuts sort of OK, but cleaning up the edges in a PITA. Will dye work on that kind of material? I know, that explanation was not very exact, eh?

From what you described, that material sounds like its probably acetel (also called delrin). That plastic is not hydroscopic (does not absorb water) so dye will not work very well on it. Most of the plastic parts on a rc that you would typically dye are made of nylon. Nylon is very hydroscopic and dyes very easily.

Anyway. Really sweet conversion. Very clean.

What are those battery straps made out of? Where did you get it? I have been looking for something like that to use instead of gmaxx straps. It looks almost like seatbelt material. That looks like it will hold up much better than the material the gmaxx straps are made from.

I used to work for a machine shop that made alot of plastic parts and it looks like nylon or Polypropylene to me. Polypro kinda looks like it is made out of compressed "flakes" and their might be a few discolored flakes in them. Its a pain to cut and if you want to get the burrs off you need to use a BRAND NEW razor blade. If you figure out what it is you can find out if it is dieable. OR, just try it.

I'm not Brian :) but I think the straps are made from velcro brand "one wrap"... just basic double sided velcro straps, but they are thick and stiff compared to the gorilla type. It's pretty tough stuff.... I don't think you could tear it very easy.

I like the center diff piece... something I have not taken the time to make for my 777 but always wanted to do. :eek: Fit and finish looks nice... is that "hammered metal" krylon paint I see? :017:

Looking good BG

As far as the plastic goes; it seems to fit jhautz's description better. Although it is a PITA to deburr and smoothen like Hydrodancer says. Although, once the burrs get small enough, a little flame from a lighter works wonders. :)

Yes, those straps are just double-sided velcro. It's the stuff networking people use to tie up CAT5 cables and such. It comes in a roll about 3/4" wide (at a guess). I just cut the length I need and singe the edges to seal them. It's worked well in my Revo and Jato so why not stick with a good thing? Relatively cheap to replace (a 4" diameter roll is about $6-$7) too when it wears out from repeated opening and closing, or just gets too dirty. I actually would like to use gmaxx straps but I'm too cheap. :)

Yup, that's hammered paint. I went a little too thick on one section so it looks more "hammered" than the rest, but I don't mind. It wears quite well and doesn't chip as easy as other paints I've tried. I use a normal flat black paint as a primer though since the aluminum shows through the "pinholes" in the hammered layer unless you do multiple coats. But it seems to adhere better to a "primered" layer even though I'm not using true primer.

The only reason I made the diff piece is to stiffen it up. I plan to attach part of the motor mount to one of the uprights and wanted minimal flex, if any.

Thanks!

:012: :012: :012: :012:
I hate being wrong.
Now you HAVE TO try to die them!:018:

OK OK, I will. It had better work! ;)

while nylon also has a kind of milky color in its natural state it has more of a yellowish tint to it than what I see in your pictures.

If it is Polyprop. That won't dye well either. I use polyprop. containers to dye in cuz it doesnt stain them.

OK, Hydrodancer, you owe me $1.47 (the price of the RIT dye)! ;)

It didn't work well at all. At most, they are tinted black. Not even the relatively rough cut marks took the dye well. At least the coloring will be closer to black/gunmetal than white was.

All is not lost, though. At the same time, I dyed one of my daughter's tanktops and she is happy.

A little update. I just sent the whole buggy in to Mike so he can custom make a combination diff mount and motor mount out of Al. I took pictures and stuff, but it'll be easier if he has the whole thing to play with. I'm pretty psyched. :dft003:

Cool man, can't wait to see it done. I am working on a design for a motor mount/diff mount with Mike for my LSP at the moment...

Bye:018:

I can't wait either, but I gave Mike plenty of time to work on it (~Feb) so he can take his time and so I can build up some cash. I might just have him hold it until I get the motor, ESC, and batts all at once. Maybe by then, I'll have 2,000 posts and get a coupon. :) j/k.

I was going to try to do it myself, but there's no way I was going to be able to make an integrated design that would fit right and be sturdy.

Exactly why I am letting Mike cnc me a motor/diff mount. I have tried to make make one on my e-maxx and could not get it sturdy enough...

Bye:018:

So you decided to finish the emaxx after all, eh? Oh well, it's only money right? You can't take it with you. :027:

No, the mount is for LSP.

I took some measurements and braced the bulks together front to rear on the e-maxx on the chassis. The chassis turned out to not be straight, only off by like 1cm front to back, but enough to throw everything else off. So, my LSP will soon be brushless...

Bye:018:

Ah, I see. If I had read both of your last posts, I would have realized that. :007:

...Brian I have just caught up with this thread and it looks really good so far...I dig the diff top plate...nice cuts...

Thanks! Unfortunately, the top plate will most probably be coming out since Mike is making a whole new mount. Once I get the buggy back, it'll probably be going in the garbage. That's what I get when I jump the gun I guess.

...can i ask what the foamy bits on the side of the diff plate and your servo plate are?

...fabricate, re-do and fabricate again lol...You know you love it...lol...

The foamy bits are a closely guarded secret. They actually provide stealth battery power to the motor.



Actually, they're just adhesive-backed craft foam from Wally-world. :)

Yeah, the fabrication is the fun part. It just sucks that it came out like I wanted and I'm not gonna use it after all. I made it by rough cutting with a hacksaw, fine-cutting with a nibbler tool, and then filing until pretty.

...Long live the Nibbler!! Thats thing looks handy :D Mike needs to stock them lol...

...interesting to see different attacks on different issues though...I looked at that type of plate on the hellfire but i couldnt work it how i wanted so took a different route...I know what you mean though...I hate re-doing stuff that already 'works'...

Yeah, the nibbler tool is a MUST-HAVE for me! I would be lost without it. I usually have two on hand because after a while, one will get worn out and I hate stopping in the middle of a project to go get a part or tool. It cuts 1/16" 6061 easily.

Ooh goody! Mike got my buggy center diff done! Looks nice! I don't even have it yet, but I have to share!