Proline Cage Axial ARTR V1

This is the first build. It only took a few hours from getting it through the post to have it running like this:


The Proline tuber cage (see here) fits straight onto the standard Axial chassis (any AX10 version) by means of just four screws. It provides location for the battery, receiver and speed controller, as well as forming a reasonably substantive roll cage. It's not made of metal, unlike the standard Axial sideplates it sits atop, having a mixed plastic appearance. It's moulded largely in what appears to be three parts, with a few additional jointers, screws and bits and pieces, like a choice of front bumpers and a battery cover with standard body clip fixings. Here's what it looks like as designed on a bare truck (someone else's pics - apologies and thank you Greg B!):


What I found was the battery cover was very hard to get on and off to change batteries; also the securing clips were quite fiddly to get in and out. So I did away with the cover, which actually secures the battery, and cable-tied the original Axial battery plate (which would normally be done-away with by this conversion) back into its (near) original position. This means I retain the standard velcro fixings, which makes life a whole lot easier.

I mounted the receiver by sandwiching it between the two main cage sections at the very front, just behind the bumper which protects it well. It, a 3 channel Futaba R133F, fits a treat and stayed perfectly in place on the first run despite not even having an additional cable-tie or two to further secure it. Having it in the suggested position at the back means it needs a servo cable extension for the front steering, as well as placing its weight at the wrong end of the truck. Also the aerial conveniently wraps around the structure of the cage, although I may yet change this. Once everything is finalised I'll completely waterproof the receiver, which is mounted with its plug and crystal sockets facing downwards.

The truck came with a Novak Rooster speed controller. Unfortunately this was just a bit too tall to fit into the suggested location at what would be the dashboard position, impinging slightly into the space for the battery. I had a spare RV-20 kicking around, so that's what it got because it fitted fine. It has a reverse delay, which seems to aid in getting unstuck from tricky places where I couldn't go further forwards, and the brakes (or a touch of reverse) work fine on steep descents. There are no 'instant' drag brakes of course, because these only come with dedicated crawler controllers, but to be honest these just employ a different technique for going downhill. Either method needs its own set of skills.

The front servo is a Traxxas 2070 with about 125.0 oz-in (9.00 kg-cm) of push. This seems to give sufficient steering authority. I didn't use the supplied servo-saver, preferring the more direct approach. Whether this will affect its longevity or not remains to be seen. Just about the only other thing I did was to cover the lower and steering links with clear (or nearly - it looks more white than it really is in the photos) nylon spiral wrap. The links are such lovely little items, what with their anodised colour and tidy laser size etching, that it seems such a complete sin to instantly scratch and scrape the hell out of them on the first rocks they touch. Later on I may see if I can get some orange coloured heat shrink. This would do an equal job although it might need replacing more often.

AX10 first test drive

I walked down to Anchor Head late this morning (about 20 minutes away by foot from where I live) with the Axial in a rucksack on my back. The local radio station had said something about the possibility of 'sunny spells', but evidently none are to be seen here today. Everything was either a bit damp or positively wet, leastwise that which the sea covers periodically, because the tide had turned just a couple of hours earlier. Quite good fun was had nevertheless :-)










The truck is running with a stock Tamiya 27 turn motor (actually one of the ones that came with the doner Clodbuster for the Clodzilla), a Motorsports/Mtroniks RV-20 Sniper waterproof speed controller, and Futaba 3 channel radio, fitted in the hopeful expectation of getting 4 wheel steering arranged at some point in the future. Everything works fine, only the lack of grip was a problem, and that was just the luck of the day. I'll write a few words about the construction of the Axial in my next post.

An Axial for Christmas!

This is what the postman brought me this morning. A never-used ARTR (almost ready to run) Axial AX10 Scorpion. Technically it's my Christmas present to myself but why do I need to wrap it and wait in anticipation, eh?



I chose this particular one because it's actually three trucks-in-one. It came complete with a Proline 'Bushwacker' (Toyota Landcruiser but-for-the-name due to copyright restrictions) shell and a Proline tuber chassis as well as with all its standard running gear. Also included were a Novak Rooster speed controller, a Novak Mercury shielded 40Mhz receiver, a spare AX10 centre section and wheel weights for the two front wheels.

The plan here initially is to actually build a camera car, so that I can film one truck by following it with another. So its first guise will be in tuber mode. Already I've got it assembled and running. It took about three hours. Pictures to follow tomorrow if the Sun comes out to play!

(How much you ask? £160 including post and packaging. It came all the way from Inverurie, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Its arrival was only shortly delayed by three feet of snowfall.)

New front steering linkage

Well, the slightly better camera took slightly worse pictures. Never mind. Here's the first complete linkage set:




The cranks are made from 8mm alloy plate. They follow the dimensions of the originals with the lower plate just having one position, which corresponds with the central hole (of 3) on the plastic Tamiya version. The rod screw holes are tapped at M3, and the upper clamping screw is the same size. The lower crank is threaded at M6 onto the vertical spindle (formerly a stainless steel cap screw) and has a lock nut and washer for clamping. Once the final positioning was set it then was finally drilled (at 5/64 = 1.9844mm) and pinned with a 2mm hardened steel pin (just visible on the right in the third pic). The upper crank is located on 4mm flats filed on the 6mm spindle, with a matching 6x4mm hole drilled and then filed to size through it.

The second one, for the rear of the truck, is almost done as well (one more crank to make), then it'll be black paint and fitment and testing.

Bitmap of steering linkage

I did this last night.


Key:

Yellow - upper and lower cranks

Black - axle housing

Red - bearings

Blue - centre shaft

Dark Green - new mounting plates

Purple - washers

Light Blue - plastic bearing spacers

Light Green - retaining nut

This system works equally well with or without the new plates, and therefore will fit a stock clodbuster. Most of these parts are made now, I'm going to have to borrow a better camera to get good close up pics.

Prototype bash/skidplate

So far I've got a pretty good cardboard template made. The steering linkage passes through the new plate, which attaches outboard at the conveniently located spare holes in the cantilever rod lower plates. The original plastic Tamiya (broken) linkage fitted in a vertical 10mm hole in the left-hand axle case, the new aluminium and steel linkage will now mount here on three bearings, two flanged ones with an outer diameter of 11.4mm and inner O/D of 10mm, plus a central 10mm plain bearing. All are 6mm I/D. To keep them spaced properly (i.e. the middle bearing halfway down the hole) I've use plastic spacers, essentially just chopped off bits of electrical sleeving, in between the three bearings on each axle set.

I've bought some 2mm aluminium plate (340 x 250mm - should be just about right!) to make the skidplates out of. Because the bearings are only 3mm thick with a flange of 0.4 mm current protrusion into the axle housing is only 0.6 mm. For this reason I'm going to get a friendly local machine shop to counterbore the plate halfway through to allow for better (1.6mm) location of the bearings into the axle housings. There is also the possibility of a lower bearing plate too but that's going to be a bit complicated to explain right now and there are other things to do first. Like a bitmap sketch to explain how this works out before the bits are made and mounted?

Watch this space...

Long overdue update...

Well, the 'Zilla is still with me! It's been 'off the rocks' for a little while now due to a broken steering linkage on the front - it was the original plastic Tamiya servo saver thingy, and it had to be screwed down as tight as it could be as it just cost steering authority any other way - so it wasn't really up to the job. I've got metal replacements in manufacture on my bench and they're nearly done now. I'll write another post about them when they're finished.

Other than that I had several good outings with the truck over the summer months. I managed to get some Giant Trac tyres from the USA - they cost a fair bit what with the postage but they were well worth it. The grip is substantially better than the original Clodbuster chevrons.

Also in production (shortly!) will be some sort of skidplate/axle guards. Pics to follow!

Stretched 'Zilla

I found a Clodbuster axle mount kit (actually 1 of 10014 when I bought it!) by LEVEL3-RC on eBay so I just had to get one. Using these parts lengthens the wheelbase by 1" or 25mm on each end. Please 'scuse the rubbish picture here but you can see the effect with just the back one fitted. On the second pic you can just about make out that the rod ends are now well ahead of the axle, where they mounted on its centreline before.

In the top pic you can see the front two mount plates and the extra reinforcing plates for the 'C' hubs that come with the kit. I've primed them with etch and painted them black.

Level3-rc eBay description:

PART CL-001-40

Clodbuster front AND rear axle link and shock mounts, complete front and rear set.

This part is a perfect fit and is very strong and stiff thats for sure!!!

Made out of T-6061 Aluminum and has a brushed finish.

This auction is for 4 link plates and 4 axle stiffeners. Very modified and a great scale look.

Axle and link are for visual reference only.

This auction includes all the necessary hardware for a easy install...

4. conical washer for max link articulation

12. 7/8" stainless steel socket head cap screws and 12 stainless steel nylon locking nuts

4. 5/16" aluminum spacers and 4. 1/4" aluminum spacers

40 pieces total.


US $24.00 (approximately £15.80) + US $2.75 by USPS First Class Mail International (took about 12 days to get here)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350356969424

Bluetruck is reborn...!

Bluetruck has had its second makeover. Another New Bright Motorsports truck turned up on eBay and so I couldn't resist it because it looked pretty immaculate. Mine for a tenner. So the shell's off it already and straight back on to one of my pair of TL-01B Baja chassis (Ram Truck is no more!), with all the original Bluetruck running gear re-fitted. I bought a new set of Carson wheels and F-350 tyres for it just to make it as mint as possible, at least for as long it lasts looking like this...

Oh - and its now got a carbon propshaft too. Surprisingly light at only 6 grammes. It has three main advantages - lighter truck overall - lower center of gravity - and less rotational mass in the drive train, the acceleration of which steals available power from the motor (or the wheels depending on which way you look at things!).

'Zilla in the woods

The Clodzilla is getting some use now the winter is over - here it is in a local woods. The only things I've broken were my own plastic body mounts when it triple-rolled back down a steep climb, so I've doubled them in thickness and touch wood (there's plenty of that here!) they'll last a while yet. Plans for this year are to put a set of Proline Giant Trac tyres on it and to make the bash plates under the gearboxes, which I have been meaning to make for a while now.

Ram Truck

Not sure if this is a new project or a variation of an old one. I bought 1/16 scale New Bright Dodge Ram truck on eBay for 99p. These are £25 in the shops, and as they go are fairly pretty trucks. They run on 4x AAs, have rubbish steering and no suspension. One of my TL-01B/Baja King/Champ chassis has now got much bigger crawler type tyres mounted on cheapo 26mm wide touring wheels. They're very soft and squidgy and came with foam inserts to help maintain their shape. The New Bright shell will need drilling to fit straight on the existing mounts, but that's easy peasy. I've bought an integy 45 turn lathe motor for it, and I'm going to lock the rear differential and move the ball diff currently in the back to the front. It should be good in the woods!

Bigger and (hopefully) better pictures

I've worked out how to change the page width of these 'Blogger' pages by changing some of the settings in the template settings tab. The old page was set for a width of 660 pixels which meant the main content was limited to 410 pixels. I've changed this to 760px and the main content to 520px, this is the largest size page that will display properly in 800x600 resolution, and takes the content to (near) full screen width at this setting.

As far as the pictures are concerned, I had been loading them at 400x300 pixels as this was the best size for the display in the old width, whilst the originals were a bit too big for uploading directly. From now on I'll resize them so they display on a 800x600 screen. I'll do the same for the last few that I've posted as well.




Meantime the Clodzilla has had its cage painted black along with its mounts, I did this by hand using satin enamel being as this will be easy to touch-up when it gets scratched, and I've made some headlight mounts.

Blue-now-red and yellow truck, as seen in the bottom pic, has also received some nice new wheels and tyres. They're Colt M1168 5 spokes, and I'm sticking with F-350 tyres.

'Zilla Rocks!

Anchor Head, Weston Super Mare, North Somerset, England. Good Rocks!

Blue Truck gets a makeover

I found this bodyshell on eBay. I think it's a Proline Chevy Mini Rock Crawler shell, at least that was what the listing said, though I can't find another reference using this exact title in searching. I won and paid £1.24 for it undrilled and freshly painted as the second bidder, plus a fair bit (£6.99) for postage. It would seem a lot of eBayers are doing this to cover themselves pricewise whilst listing at a (lowest cost to themselves) 99p start price.




Since these photos were taken I've mounted the body properly using normal TL-01 touring car posts, and have made some little triangular plates to re-mount the bottoms of the shocks whilst giving me an extra bit of ground clearance. The aerial is now under the shell for a cleaner look, though this might need a bit of fiddling with as it seems to be causing a bit of glitching. This method worked fine on Sean's Army Truck, 'tho that was running a 27Mhz system and this is on 40Mhz with a (seemingly?) correspondingly longer aerial wire. No new motor yet - I did get one from the usual source, it was listed as a 'modified 45' but was actually a 19 turn triple wound MRI item. Oh well we'll see what I can afford come next pay-day!

UPDATE:

It's apparently a 1972 Chevy® C-10 body. They come in two sizes, for 1:10 and 1:18, both priced (unpainted) at £20.49 plus P+P on eBay.

Cage Shell V1

I quite like my lexan shell. I know it's going to get wrecked on the rocks. Besides which it doesn't allow for full suspension travel unless it's mounted higher than looks right. So I've made this:


It's just a piece of inch-and-a half squared plastic-coated mesh cut, bent and twisted to form the shape of a shell. It's just about the right size now - although it still needs a bit of tidying up. I might even add headlights...

Meantime (II)...

Not much more has happened with the Clodzilla since I last posted here. I've done a bit of fine-tuning with the radio but it hasn't been outside yet. The main reason for this is that I was worried about the vulnerability of the front and rear steering cranks, being as they remains the stock plastic items. The truck itself certainly has some ooomph, and a crank is sure to get wiped out the first time it meets something hard. I've looked at the various bumper options, and to be honest I think the standard items are as good as anything else. They just have to be black though, so to this end I've ordered the relevant sprues from Japan, being as this is the only place I can get them from. The newer chrome edition Super Clodbuster has black bumpers, instead of the red, blue or yellow ones from the other models. They're here now so I can get going again. In the meantime I've built a couple more cars (well - a buggy and a truck) for my partner's kids to use. They've both had lesser RC vehicles before but now they're entering proper Tamiya territory! I had to get them for them otherwise I'm not going to get a look in myself with the 'Zilla. My go... My go... My go...

Kala's Rising Fighter:


Kala has just turned 8 and this one is for her - a new and completely standard Rising Fighter, although it's been sprayed a nice shade of pink (as was her wish) and has dinky red wheel nuts. The Rising Fighter is one of Tamiya's latest buggies, and uses a Grasshopper 2 chassis and running gear. It's a 'parts bin' special by all accounts, virtually eveything comes from one existing car or another. It goes quite well though and it's also very easy to drive. It surprised me with the good run-time we got out of one 1900mAh battery pack - the blue New Bright TL-01 truck (see below - 3 July post) just about killed two 2400mAh packs whilst running alongside and sometimes behind!

Sean's Army Truck:


'Twas Sean (nearly 10) who was driving the blue truck at the same time as Kala was getting used to her buggy - this might go some way to explaining the battery life, all that I can really say is that he is a bit more throttle happy although she is a better driver! For his truck it's another second-hand TL-01 chassis, this time from a standard 190mm car. I've given it longer Seben Racing (TL-01B clone) monster truck shocks and Tamiya Mitsubishi Pajero wheels and tyres. It's got a 540J motor against the blue truck's shiny Mabuchi RS, and it seems to be a fair bit torquier (if that's the right word/spelling? - it's not in my dictionary???). The Pajero tyres are also a lot harder than the F-350's, so it wheel spins a hell-of-a-lot more and does neat doughnuts. Indoors on a smooth wooden floor it manages a fairly good impression of being a drift car!

Anyway we'll see how long both of these cars last and how much abuse they can endure. I will keep you posted...

BTW - here are the figures for the two different motors just to prove the point (and also just in case you are interested in making a similar choice somewhere along the line):

RS-540J Johnson:

Torque at best efficiency: 255g-cm
R.P.M. at best efficiency: 14,500rpm (7.2V)
Current drain at best efficiency: 7.9A (7.2V)

RS-540SH Mabuchi:

Torque at best efficiency: 194g-cm
R.P.M. at best efficiency: 15,080 rpm (7.2V)
Current drain at best efficiency: 5.9A (7.2V)

Because of this, the blue truck may well be getting a new motor quite soon. The choice will probably be between a Tamiya "dirt tuned" 27 turn motor, part number #53929; or a Tamiya "lightly tuned" 28 turn motor, part number #59383.

The available figures for comparison are:

Dirt Tuned:

Number of turns = 27
Usable Voltage = 7.2
Torque at best efficiency = 380g/cm (7.2v)
RPM at best efficiency = 17,000rpm (7.2v)

Lightly Tuned:

Number of turns = 28
Usable Voltage = 7.2v
Torque at best efficiency = 564g/cm (7.2v)
RPM at best efficiency = 16,300rpm (7.2v)

Current drain for either motor is not quoted, although I expect it to be a fair bit higher than either of the two 'stock' motors.

Up and running!

The Clodzilla is now a runner. Initial impressions are of a whole load of torque, although on the downside there is an equal whole load of flex in the steering assemblies. I know that ESP offer metal steering transfer joints to replace the stock plastic items, but these will not fix the not inconsiderable movement in their right angled servo mounts. I've mounted the fore and aft rods two holes higher on the servo bellcranks than the static range suggested, and this compensates for the flex to a degree, but this isn't the ultimate solution. The servo mounts pick up on the two standard motor mounts, unfortunately they would have been better if these items had been longer and had three mounting holes, possibly utilising the screw location on the very back ends of the gearboxes. I didn't cut off the standard servo mountings on the servos themselves so I may be able to make an additional brace using these.

As far as the radio set-up goes everything went fine. I've still got a bit of tinkering to do, particularly on the braking side because the truck stops a little too dead as soon as I take my finger off the trigger. I didn't need to reverse one of the channels as suggested below, and whereas someone on the forum (linked to below) had trouble getting his rear servo to work in both directions this was overcome by setting the CH3 value to zero where it had previously been set to 100, although I don't know what the default value was because I have a second-hand transmitter and I didn't reset it to the factory settings, instead I simply adjusted the values to those required.

There are still a few things to do, like touching up a couple of scratches and mounting the off/on switch. I've also got to remake the battery joining leads as I think I need a thicker cable at the paired end, I didn't have any 14 or ideally 12 AWG cable when I was making them, and anyway it was a trial run to get the lengths right. I've spurred off an extra pair of leads from the point where they join together to create a remote charging point because all the other joints are a bit inaccessable.

The truck now weighs in at just under 10lbs, discounting the shell. I will at some point (I've been meaning to do this for a while now) make a pair of gearbox skid plates which will extend to protect the lateral steering rods.

As soon as the sun shines again I'll be off to find some rocks...

Setting up the Novak ESC and Futaba 3PM

The servos and motors are now fitted. I haven't connected the motors yet but the Novak crawler ESC setup is done.


In fact it does itself, you just connect the battery and switch it on WHILST holding the setting button down. The red LED goes on in under two seconds - release the button and apply full throttle and the green LED comes on - apply full brake and the green one flashes. That's it - done.


I've found the instructions for setting up the 3PM on a RCCrawler.com Bulletin Board. Here they are - with many thanks to and by courtesy of poster bbeaty:

Setting up Futaba 3PM for 4ws

For 4ws the front wheels turn opposite the rear (the same as if you had a reversing y-harness). When the SW2 button on the radio is moved the truck will steer only with the front (mixing turned off), and when the SW1 button is pressed the front wheels will turn the same as the rear enabling crab steering.

Setup Procedure:

To set this up you will need to have a servo plugged into the CH1 and CH3 positions on the radio. For now I’ll assume you have the front servo plugged into CH1 and the rear servo into CH3.

In the system menu setup a new model name in the radio, also while in the system menu, setup SW2 to be MX (programmable mixing) see pg 54 in manual if you do not know how to do this, and SW1 to Conditions 2 selection (pg 56).

Turn the radio on normally; I assume you know how to setup the front steering using the sub trims and EPA. If you need to reverse the front steering do this as well. In order to have the rear steer opposite from the front, the value for CH3 in the reversing menu needs to be opposite that of the steering. For example, if you need to reverse the front steering CH3 should not be reversed, and by the same measure if the front steering does not need to be reversed then you will need to reverse CH3.

To adjust the mixing settings see (pg 41). For a base value set both the right and left side values to +75. You will need to fine-tune them later using the same idea as setting the steering EPA. The master and slave settings are correct by default and then set PMX-MD to ON.

To test the settings try steering the truck, only the front tires should turn. Now if you move the SW2 switch the truck should steer normally with 4ws.

The rear steering will most likely need to be trimmed. The preferred method to trim the rear wheels is to use the sub trim menu and select CH3, then use the + / - buttons to align the rear wheels. Another method is to select CH3 in the main menu and again use the + / - buttons to align the rear wheels.

Here is where the Conditions 2 button you setup earlier comes into play. The conditions 2 button is setup as SW1 (button on the handgrip). When you press the button you will notice the LED will flash, verifying you are in the Condition 2. Now scroll though the menu and setup the mixing function again, however this time instead of setting the right and left values to +75 set them to –75. Now when you have the SW2 moved to activate mixing and have the SW1 button pressed, the front and rear wheels will turn the same direction and the truck will crab steer.

When mixing is turned off via SW2, you can set if you want only the front or rear wheels to steer by switching how the servos are plugged into the receiver (front on CH3, rear on CH1). Keep in mind when you physically switch the front and rear servos on the receiver you will need to readjust the trims, channel reversing, etc.

I'll try this all out tomorrow. X fingers...

First look (sneak preview)

Who can resist placing their bodyshell onto their truck just as soon as the chassis is done?






(I'll borrow a better camera just as soon as everything is finished!)