Sneak Peek: My project for the mod contest
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crazydave
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Sneak Peek: My project for the mod contest
You guys were super cool to put up a contest for the mods, and just way too cool to present such great prizes. I felt obligated to deliver. This is one of my most extensive projects, the wheels alone took a weekend to put together. I wanted to keep it a secret, but I've never done anything quite like this, so I'm getting excited, and just can't take it anymore...So here is what I'm doing.
To keep my interest going (My mind tends to wander), I wanted to do something personal to me. When I was kid, my parents would sometimes take me to the drags at the now defunct Beeline Raceway. The Pro Stocker where always my favorite, 'cause they looked more like cars you'd see on the street. So I'm gonna be doing something like this:
Believe it or not, I couldn't start until I had the wheels perfect. It took me a weekend to pull that off.
I wanted the ol' school magnesium 'mag' wheel look for the fronts. I couldn't find anything I liked, so I had to take some wheels from a Hot Wheels. Dremel and sand off the the black 'tire' part of the hard plastic, being careful to keep the wheels round. Narrowed them by almost half. Carved a bevel in the front edge, and painted the edge silver. I wrapped a wire around the wheel to hold the tire on, and glued it. I used Motorworks tires for their authentic looking tall round profile.
The rears are plain alloys. I used these 'cause I can mount them nice and true. I haven't decided if I'm gonna pretend these are steel, or if this is a resto-rod with Centerlines.
I made a chassis by hacking out all the excess Thunder Charger chassis, and making a stretched center piece from Zip Zap packaging. I used a really thick piece, so it has less torsional twist, but more flex front to back, due to the lack of sides. Dual steering springs keep it tracking dead straight.
With the chassis together I had to test fit, to make sure everything was lining up good, and well damn I'm good.
With the chassis all ready to go, I finished it up with some Midnight Blue laquer. You can see I also added some plastic to hold the batteries in place.
I'll have the electronics in by tomorrow. I'll have a surprise for you there too. Over the next month I'll need to gather materials to detail the body. Not sure if I'll get verything I need, so how that turns out will be as much a surprise to me as to you.
To keep my interest going (My mind tends to wander), I wanted to do something personal to me. When I was kid, my parents would sometimes take me to the drags at the now defunct Beeline Raceway. The Pro Stocker where always my favorite, 'cause they looked more like cars you'd see on the street. So I'm gonna be doing something like this:
Believe it or not, I couldn't start until I had the wheels perfect. It took me a weekend to pull that off.
I wanted the ol' school magnesium 'mag' wheel look for the fronts. I couldn't find anything I liked, so I had to take some wheels from a Hot Wheels. Dremel and sand off the the black 'tire' part of the hard plastic, being careful to keep the wheels round. Narrowed them by almost half. Carved a bevel in the front edge, and painted the edge silver. I wrapped a wire around the wheel to hold the tire on, and glued it. I used Motorworks tires for their authentic looking tall round profile.
The rears are plain alloys. I used these 'cause I can mount them nice and true. I haven't decided if I'm gonna pretend these are steel, or if this is a resto-rod with Centerlines.
I made a chassis by hacking out all the excess Thunder Charger chassis, and making a stretched center piece from Zip Zap packaging. I used a really thick piece, so it has less torsional twist, but more flex front to back, due to the lack of sides. Dual steering springs keep it tracking dead straight.
With the chassis together I had to test fit, to make sure everything was lining up good, and well damn I'm good.
With the chassis all ready to go, I finished it up with some Midnight Blue laquer. You can see I also added some plastic to hold the batteries in place.
I'll have the electronics in by tomorrow. I'll have a surprise for you there too. Over the next month I'll need to gather materials to detail the body. Not sure if I'll get verything I need, so how that turns out will be as much a surprise to me as to you.
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betty.k
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crazydave
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Nah man, you gotta unpack, and clear room for your bits in your new place...then ya better hurry up and get your ass to work.hogjowlz wrote:damn dude. i gota get to work.
Betty.K, This is your fault ya know. If you guys didn't make such damn cool prizes, I would have to work so hard to try to come with an entry that tops the prizes.
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DarkTari
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hue35
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crazydave
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Thanks DT, Hue. 
I'll tell ya, I know what the other mods are capable of, I'm not trying to win, I'm just trying to scare them a little. I'm curious to see what they come up with when pushed.
UPDATE: I really wanted to have the electronics in last night, but just as I got everything all wired up. I heard the battery go... pop, fizzle fizzle, pop, right after I soldered a wire to it.
I quickly ripped everything out. (literally) The battery stopped fizzling, and maintained it's voltage over he next 2 hours until I went to bed. So it seems fine, but now I'm back where I started yesterday, and one step behind because my steering wires are too short now, and I need to mend them.
I'm kinda afraid now that I jinxed myself by showing it off before it was done, but I'll get it done, in some form or another.
I'll tell ya, I know what the other mods are capable of, I'm not trying to win, I'm just trying to scare them a little. I'm curious to see what they come up with when pushed.
UPDATE: I really wanted to have the electronics in last night, but just as I got everything all wired up. I heard the battery go... pop, fizzle fizzle, pop, right after I soldered a wire to it.
I quickly ripped everything out. (literally) The battery stopped fizzling, and maintained it's voltage over he next 2 hours until I went to bed. So it seems fine, but now I'm back where I started yesterday, and one step behind because my steering wires are too short now, and I need to mend them.
I'm kinda afraid now that I jinxed myself by showing it off before it was done, but I'll get it done, in some form or another.
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payaso
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crazydave
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OK, here's how the drama has unfolded...
Chapter IV
When we last left our jinxed crusader, he had yanked his electronics out in a panic, when he heard a fizzle from somewhere. The batteries were fine, they maintained their voltage, which, by the way, are a pair of SE batteries pumping 5.5v. So he was baffled as to what happened, but he now had some mighty short steering wires to mend.
He started off great. Extending all the steering wires, and hooking them to the PCB. When the steering wires started finding new places to break. Our hero patiently mended them one by one. Each time another breaking in a another place. To the point where all four wires had been mended in three different places. Just when he thought he finally had it, one broke off right at the coil, no chance to save that one.
Chapter V
With one of the steering coils junked, he felt his best option was to just snap the front end off, and replace it with a new one. He had bragged of his super glueing skills, and was pretty confident in his work, but he had hoped that just this one time, it would break right on the joint, but no luck, the bond was too strong. The chassis made a sloppy break right next to the glue joint. So he had to start all over, and build an entirely new chassis. By this time his patience was wearing thin, so this chassis was not built in a week, it was built in a couple hours. Of coarse his past experience with building the same chassis allowed him to get past some initial problems that needed to be worked out, but at any rate, this chassis was much more rushed.
To top it off, he ran out of paint before he could get a half a coat on it, but despite it's roughness, he felt his chassis has a certain character the original lacked.
Chapter VI
With his new chassis together he was ready to get this together. He had color coded his steering wires, so there would be less fiddling, and he had already figured out how he wanted to route his wires, so it went together fairly quick this time.
This was it, the big moment, completion. Building the perfect beast. he was so excited his hands were shaking. He had to just sit and behold before he could test it...
So after having a cigarette, he decided the time was right. He hooked the alligators clips to the batteries, but in his excitement he had paid no particular attention to where he was hooking them. He had hooked the 7.5v power supply up backwards. This time the the batteries did pop, and fizzles. Lost their voltage, and would take any voltage. They were gone, along with the dream of a 5.5v drag car.
Chapter VII
Strangly he wasn't even fazed by this. He had seen failure many time time before. Running short on time for the contest, and needing to focus his attention on the body, he reverted to plan B. Three 150mah batteries, which while short of his plans, should push the FET modded PCB to go fast enough to give his rival, Hogjowls run for his money with whatever he has planned.
So it's been an adventure but here's where it stands right now.
So it fell short of my original plans, but as I've told you guys, they all do. I don't think I jinxed myself at all by showing it off, this is just the process I go through when I build cars, and who knows, maybe RS will get some more of those batteries in before the contest is over, they're supposed to be getting in about now...
Chapter IV
When we last left our jinxed crusader, he had yanked his electronics out in a panic, when he heard a fizzle from somewhere. The batteries were fine, they maintained their voltage, which, by the way, are a pair of SE batteries pumping 5.5v. So he was baffled as to what happened, but he now had some mighty short steering wires to mend.
He started off great. Extending all the steering wires, and hooking them to the PCB. When the steering wires started finding new places to break. Our hero patiently mended them one by one. Each time another breaking in a another place. To the point where all four wires had been mended in three different places. Just when he thought he finally had it, one broke off right at the coil, no chance to save that one.
Chapter V
With one of the steering coils junked, he felt his best option was to just snap the front end off, and replace it with a new one. He had bragged of his super glueing skills, and was pretty confident in his work, but he had hoped that just this one time, it would break right on the joint, but no luck, the bond was too strong. The chassis made a sloppy break right next to the glue joint. So he had to start all over, and build an entirely new chassis. By this time his patience was wearing thin, so this chassis was not built in a week, it was built in a couple hours. Of coarse his past experience with building the same chassis allowed him to get past some initial problems that needed to be worked out, but at any rate, this chassis was much more rushed.
To top it off, he ran out of paint before he could get a half a coat on it, but despite it's roughness, he felt his chassis has a certain character the original lacked.
Chapter VI
With his new chassis together he was ready to get this together. He had color coded his steering wires, so there would be less fiddling, and he had already figured out how he wanted to route his wires, so it went together fairly quick this time.
This was it, the big moment, completion. Building the perfect beast. he was so excited his hands were shaking. He had to just sit and behold before he could test it...
So after having a cigarette, he decided the time was right. He hooked the alligators clips to the batteries, but in his excitement he had paid no particular attention to where he was hooking them. He had hooked the 7.5v power supply up backwards. This time the the batteries did pop, and fizzles. Lost their voltage, and would take any voltage. They were gone, along with the dream of a 5.5v drag car.
Chapter VII
Strangly he wasn't even fazed by this. He had seen failure many time time before. Running short on time for the contest, and needing to focus his attention on the body, he reverted to plan B. Three 150mah batteries, which while short of his plans, should push the FET modded PCB to go fast enough to give his rival, Hogjowls run for his money with whatever he has planned.
So it's been an adventure but here's where it stands right now.
So it fell short of my original plans, but as I've told you guys, they all do. I don't think I jinxed myself at all by showing it off, this is just the process I go through when I build cars, and who knows, maybe RS will get some more of those batteries in before the contest is over, they're supposed to be getting in about now...
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SuperFly
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You do realize you have a full month from today? Deadline is May 1st at 12:01 AM. I'll clarify this further since I missed an entry because of reading it wrong: On April 30th at 10:00 pm (West Coast USA time), if you haven't started taking pictures and uploading, you may miss the deadline. So again, that's the very end of the day on Friday April 30th. I put 12:01 AM May 1st because I didn't want anyone to think it was at noon on Saturday. Plus if you're like me, that extra minute could come in handy.crazydave wrote:Running short on time for the contest...
