Baja bit

Sporttracguy · Post by **Sporttracguy** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 12:11 am

I must have ADD or something, i cant even get finished with one project before i have to start another one. anyways, i was crusing wallyworld and came upon this tiny baja truck, its fairly detailed and is made of extreamly thin die cast (its smaller than a microsizer so the weight is about that of a zipzap body, no big deal)

So i purchased it ($2.00) and took it home. Soon after looking at it i started chopping parts off of it to see if a tiny rc truck was even going to work. This thing is tiny, here is a pic of it next to a microsizer body:

The biggest problem ive found so far is the width, its just bairly wide enough to fit two cells in there if i grind the paper thin diecast just slightly.

So far i have mounted a zipzap motor to the models rear suspension arms along with a gear and i swaped the stock axle and tires to a zipzap axle and gears. They were a perfect fit in the origional mount.

I used a piece of WD-40 tube and a paperclip as a hinge for the rear suspension but have yet to add the springs and mounted it to the front end of a microsizer chassis. For the front i extended all of the suspension arms and did a hell of alot of grinding to give me the maximum amount of travel up front, i then added some zipzap springs that i had to streatch to meet the new ground clearance.

I had to use a microsizer pcb because no other brand had a small enough circuit board, everything just wouldnt even come close to fitting, the microsizer is close but it fits.

Im actualy going to mount the pcb in the bed of the truck (didnt have anywhere else to put it)

here are some mock up shots, i still have alot of work to do on this before its ready to run but its to the point that i could show some pics.
This shot was early in the build process when i was trying to figure out how to secure the rear suspension:

and here is a sloppy mock up with the body:

When this is done it should have a ton of travel. Ive found through my many different suspension mods that the "hinge" style rear suspension is best for racing (not a good rock crawler) and keeps it from leaning in corners (causing it to flip easy)

anyways, let me know what you think so far.

STG

civicsr2cool · Post by **civicsr2cool** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 12:13 am

damn now i gotta compete with that? u make my projects soo hard.

nice job pimp!

cant wait to see this one

Zenith · Post by **Zenith** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 12:49 am

Holy Shit! That is one of the most awesome bits I've seen yet. Cant wait to see the finished product.

SuperFly · Post by **SuperFly** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 12:57 am

That's insane!

betty.k · Post by **betty.k** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 5:02 am

faaaaaaaaarrrrk!

you're right about the wider hinge, better stability in cornering.

looks awesome, hope it drives awesome for ya!

Finks · Post by **Finks** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 7:10 am

Oh man!

That is so damn cool. 2 questions, how will you attach the shell due to the rear suspensions movment? Also, are those tires grippy enough? I hope so because they look damn cool!

yakboy · Post by **yakboy** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 7:20 am

God, you guys always have to push the envelope that bit further

Just when I thought I was catching up.....Nice work man

Post by **CaboWabo** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:16 am

That kicks ass. Nice job dude.

Sporttracguy · Post by **Sporttracguy** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:45 am

Finks wrote:Oh man!

That is so damn cool. 2 questions, how will you attach the shell due to the rear suspensions movment? Also, are those tires grippy enough? I hope so because they look damn cool!

Im still working on the shell but the plan is to permanently secure it to the front portion of the chassis. It will have a rear charge plug that comes out under the pcb so i should never have to remove the shell once this sucker is finished. Thats the plan anyways, i may find a better way to do it later or find that this poses a problem but at the moment i dont see any.

As for those tires and wheels, i agree, they look awsome and really complete the truck but they dont work too well on hard kitchen floors, they are a little too hard for that. I did a test run out in the sand and on smoother concrete though and they kick ass for that. Although it would be nice to run it in the kitchen or on my table(ill make a nice off road course for inside) its really meant to be where the true baja truck were designed for(outside off road)

Thanks

STG

steelwoolghandi · Post by **steelwoolghandi** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 9:29 am

STG that is just da" Bomb! That is some sweet work!

crazydave · Post by **crazydave** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 10:10 am

Alright, I've seen you do a bunch of really cool stuff, and not quite finish it. Finish this one, dammit! I wanna see this one done!

I wanna make one now. Is that one of them 1:87th cars that come in the little display cases? You think maybe one of them 1:87th scale RCs that ToyEast has would come in handy for parts?

Fordman212 · Post by **Fordman212** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 12:07 pm

Man, that's gonna be a beast when you're done. Sporttracguy, i remember you from rcmod.com. I was pretty quiet there, so you wouldnt remember me.

hue35 · Post by **hue35** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 12:58 pm

I agree with the others... that thing is insane. The work you've done on that chassis is too cool. Like crazydave said, get that thing done, dammit!

I totally understand your process, though... I like to get 'em to about 75%, then start something new.

Sporttracguy · Post by **Sporttracguy** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 2:02 pm

yeah, im currentlly working on 3 bits at the moment. I have this one, the overland bit and a mini t style bit using 5 cells, full indipenant suspension, mt motor, zzse pcb and xmod shocks, its pretty wicked but the U joints are slowing me down a bit.

Ill get them all done guys, i promise...Im thinking these three will be my contest entries so they must be done by december or so.

Crazydave, yep these are those $1.95 die cast toys you were talking about that come in the little display case,,i purchased two of them, one to chop and the other just for display (or to chop later) they have amazing detail. When i took the body off there is even serious detail under it, stuff you would never see if you didnt take the time to rip it apart.

UPDATE:
Just finished getting everything wired up and it turns out the two cells i used wont hold a good charge so its time to take it all apart and put some new cells in there. Its the little things that set ya back and drive you nuts

stg

Fordman212 · Post by **Fordman212** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 3:13 pm

Hey sporttrac, these diecast toys you speak of. Are they made by the same company that makes the rock crawler looking ones? I bought one of those intending to make it r/c, but never got around to it. And now I dont know where it is, so much for that project.