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After some suggestions from other forum members, I decided to add some weight to my front wheels to help it climb better and decrease it’s flipability (how often it flips, which is frequent). As usual, here is my particular process. I wanted to be sure that this method added enough weight to make a difference but not kill the steering, I also wanted it to be ultra secure so it wouldn’t rattle around. Here we go:

Start out by gathering some:

• Soldering Wire
  
• 2 front Wheels And Tires from ZZMT
  
• Aluminum Tape
  
• Super Glue
  
• Flat-Head Screw Driver (like the one found in your zzmt controller, convenient huh?)

Gather and use the items at your discretion. If you feel you don’t need it, don’t feel obligated to use it.

Get a length of wire about 12 to 15 inches and just lightly straiten it by hand. Don’t stress getting it too strait.

Now start wrapping the wire around the rim from the inside out. By that I mean, start at the part that faces the chassis and work your way out toward the end where the wheel nuts go on. Be sure to get the wire nice and TIGHT!
Loose:

Tight:

Grab that aluminum tape and cut off a strip as thick as your rim and about as long as your circumference. Just be sure that the tape overlaps on itself. Just like I DIDN’T do in the picture. Seriously, do as I say and not as I do.

Using your screw drive, etch out the outline of the wire to make the tape tight.

If you have some tape sticking out over the edge of the inside of the rim, use your screwdriver to push the edge down nice and tight as pictured.

Now you are done. You could stop now, but I’d recommend getting some krazy glue and putting on a thin layer at the previously described “outside” of the rim between the wire and the plastic. Here is your finished product and with a little extra effort, your tires will fit on fine. Try climbing something you knew you flipped on before and be amazed at the difference. Seriously, damn!

I know, you saw a video on YouTube and have the urge now. I went through it and I’m sure a lot of other people have too. For me, I loved 1:1 crawling so much that I wanted more and on a smaller scale so I could do it in backyard without tearing up the grass so much. :-o

So I started looking around the net and here and bookmarking pages that had killer mods that I planned to do (note: I did not find ALL of these, some sites already had lists which I am linking to). Before long I had a good 10 mods, at least. So, to make it easy on all you crawlin’ pimps in the making, and without further adu, here it is:

The End-All, Be-All
ZipZaps Monster Truck (ZZMT) Modification List

Helpful Sites
http://bitpimps.lixlink.com/articles/
http://www.gcrossett.com/zipzaps/index.htm

Articulation
The Articulation Modification - a MUST for any serious crawler!

Gearing
Slow Gearbox Options
Ultra Slow ZipZaps Special Edition (ZZSE) Steering Servo Gearbox

Steering
Hyrdo Style Steering

Tires & Wheels
Weighted Front Tires

Winches (and related)
Winch Pictures
Recovery Points

Cosmetics
Headlights Always On
Magnetic Body Mount

Inspirational Crawlers
RedRustBucket’s FJ40 Landcrusier
Supergroup_Cralwer’s Monster Crawler
Clint’s Halftrack ZZMT
Clint’s Minimalist ZZMT
Biohazard’s Toyota Landcruiser - Scroll down for pics.
Biohazard’s ZZMT Mercedes
Biohazard’s ULTIMATE HUMMER
Smoke&Mirrors’ Black Bear - Sorry guys, had to throw in my own beast! :D

Pimp-tastic Videos

Other Threads Of Interest
ZZ-M And Axle Stall…
ZZMT Crawling - Clod Stall Effect

This is a work in progress, if you feel I left out something important in any category, please PM me in the forums.
Also, I’ve don’t just about every mod on here and would love to answer any questions you have about them.

I have put together what I like to think as a simple and quick tutorial for casting a body using Clear Casting Epoxy. I use Liquid Latex Rubber to build the molds of the item I wish to cast.

1. I use Mold Builder by Casting Craft to build my molds there are other Liquid Latex Rubber products out there and can be purchased at any LHS. I apply coats of the Latex to the outside of the item I am going to make a mold of. Make sure they are thin coats as the thicker they are the longer it takes to dry.

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Fire, mans eternal quest to capture and control the raging energy that confines its self within. To first paint fire you have to understand exactly what it is, although I find it a little hard to define its merely a very hot gas rising rapidly so the shapes should be fluid, organic and random. Using a good reference is the key to getting the fire right, take some snapshots of your barbeque after you poured in a bottle of lighter fluid, check around on the internet for reference photos and pick the kind of fire you like, whether it be hot and raging, a cooler tumbling fire or maybe a big explosive like fire they can all be rendered using these basic principles. this process is neither long nor painful! infact its a rather easy technique that is fun to do and dosnt take alot of thought, although it does take a lil bit of gray matter to figure out all the steps when theres no one around to tell you how.

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