Clod "From Scratch" Build

[OldSchoolRC]

Well, while I'm waiting for some nice weather to paint clod #1, thought I'd get working on clod #2. While the other one is staying fairly stock, this one is getting built from scratch! I had a mod clod back in the day, but it was on a very expensive JPS chassis and had about zero suspension travel no matter what I did...was really not a fan, got frustrated and ended up selling it. Now in the age of brushless and lipo, figured it was worth another shot.

So, any good build starts with a plan...busted out the pencil and here's what I came up with. Was thinking of doing all kinds of crazy stuff like cantilevers and what not, but in the end stayed simple. I did accomodate 2 different mount points for shocks (either stand up or link mounted) so I could experiment, and dual battery mounts.
http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/rr84/dschlegel/clod/05132010001.jpg

A little time and some 2mm 6061 later....cuts are a little rough, but all the angles and hole are nice and square.
http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/rr84/dschlegel/clod/05132010003.jpg

Mocked up:
http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/rr84/dschlegel/clod/05132010004.jpg

doesn't look like much now, but this should go quick. Body arrives tomorrow, and have to finish the other axle - then I can start on links and crossmembers - more to come!

[McFig]

Sweet beginning

[JAnderson]

Looks nice, you know you could use TXT-1 frames. They look about the same , just a thought.

[OldSchoolRC]

Thanks guys....lots to do, just got the body in and it's HUGE. Was going to go with a 1/5th till I saw the price.....after I restarted my heart, i ordered an "XL" sized body that should work well.

Thought about it Joe, I remember seeing one of those back in RCCA or RCD a few years ago. Would have defintely saved some time, but enjoy very much the design part of it. Drawing it out on paper, coming up with ideas and seeing what works and what doesn't, plus the uniqueness of having the "only one" makes it very worthwhile to spend the extra time. One of these days I'll get access to a CNC machine and really go nuts. :)

[Arcocustom]

Thanks guys....lots to do, just got the body in and it's HUGE. Was going to go with a 1/5th till I saw the price.....after I restarted my heart, i ordered an "XL" sized body that should work well.

Nice job cutting the chassis. What did you use to cut them out ... a jigsaw???

When are we gonna see this "XL" body? What is it ??? :confused: Also, what ESC do you plan on using with the dual battery packs? Are the batteries gonna be wired in a series?

I'll be watching this build to see what you come up with. :thumb:

[OldSchoolRC]

Jigsaw. Very carefully.

It's an HPI Savage XL body, longest Lexan body I could find that was not uber-expensive.

You'll have to wait and see what is coming for power... :):)

[OldSchoolRC]

Making progress....got the second axle built, fabbed up some links and got it standing on its own. It's mocked up only, I'm out of screws! Just ordered some more. I know, the front wheels are on backwards... :) just mounted the to set the wheelbase.

Sitting a little high, need to experiment with some shock set-ups.
http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/rr84/dschlegel/clod/05162010003.jpg

Body sitting on top - WB is at 400mm.
http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/rr84/dschlegel/clod/05162010002.jpg

With its sister truck for size reference.
http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/rr84/dschlegel/clod/05162010001.jpg

[Arcocustom]

Looking good. It is gonna be a large un'. :thumb:

[Moondoggie]

Wow! That is some nice custom work. Scratch-built is always interesting to me. Keep it up! :thumb:

[Wyoming]

Looks like a very cool project so far Damon, I really love clod builds, might motivate me to try another one myself, I know ten years ago about all I had was custom Tamiya monster trucks but somehow all my trucks have shrunk to cc-01 sized rigs since then lol oh well this will be fun to watch

[OldSchoolRC]

Thanks guys. Remember, variety is the spice of life.. :) I don't have too many big trucks either, kinda turned off the the big expensive power requirements. Much rather charge a single battery and go play. But it's always nice to have something different for a change of pace, and have been working on scalers for a while, so time for something different.

No updates, spent yesterday working on a "TRF" TL01B project just for fun out of spare parts (which is coming along surprisingly well - amazed I found most of the parts), and took a few touring cars out for a spin. Had a need for speed....but I'm good now.

[jeffro]

A jig saw, I haven't tried that yet. Will you quit giving me ideas, I'm gonna cut my fingers off yet :D It looks like you did a really good job on the chassis, nice and stout.

I need to finish my 2 Clods someday.

[OldSchoolRC]

Thanks Jeffro! Wouldn't know how else to cut it. Have a scroll saw, but takes forever with aluminum and my control is not the greatest. :) Could be shedding a few digits myself

[OldSchoolRC]

Spent a little time on the beast last night, got a large pile of stainless screws and spent the night switching everything over. also, made the 2 battery trays and started designing the radio tray....thinking of going a bit out of the norm on that one.

Oh, and ordered the brushless systems this morning. :) dual 3150 motors, should be a lot of torque and plenty of wheelspeed. Pics to come!

[Budhatrain]

what type of screws do you use- button heads hex jobbers or phillips type? Do you get them online in bulk or something.

[OldSchoolRC]

well, i was always buying either Tamiya parts bags or duratrax sets....not the best way to go. Ordered in bulk from fastenerexpress, the come in packs of 20 and I stocked up. Got all stainless hex heads. I prefer Philips overall, but don't mind hex heads for machine screws. Trying to use a hex driver on tapping screws drives me nuts.

[OldSchoolRC]

Little more work done, got the battery trays in and the body mounts done. Swapped all the hardware over to stainless and it's buttoned up nice and tight. Ordered the brushless systems on friday, and waiting till they get here to do the radio tray. Still need to mess with the shocks, think it sits a little too high.

http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/rr84/dschlegel/clod/05232010009.jpg
http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/rr84/dschlegel/clod/05232010007.jpg

[OldSchoolRC]

Haven't forgotten about my clods, work is progressing....slowly, but progressing! Got distracted with some other stuff.

Aside from the epic fail on the paint job (first airbrush attempt + 80% humidity + acrylic paint = sure disaster) I do like the body. Started putting on some of the decals, but ordered some more so left most of the overspray film on to keep the dust off. Get the gist of where it's going though. Decals should cover most of the really ugly spots. I hope.

Messed with the links a bit, and got it pretty close to where I want it. Swapped out to a set of HR shocks with some stock clod springs and now very happy with the stance (lower) and feel of the suspension. Not happy with the now 4 different colors of anodizing on the chassis...will be doing some stripping and painting at some point.

Got 1 BL motor on, and the pinion set screw is stripped on the other, have to drill it out to get the old pinion off. RRRR

Progress pics:
http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/rr84/dschlegel/clod/06102010004.jpg
http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/rr84/dschlegel/clod/06102010005.jpg

[IceChilly]

Nice looking clod so far Damon! :thumb: Shes gonna be sick with 2 brushless motors on her!

[OldSchoolRC]

Thanks Jamie! Saving now for a pair of lipos, only thing I need to buy yet for it. I do have to come up with steering and a rear lockout yet.

[Budhatrain]

The wheels really make that truck stand out- good choice on the body. What BL system are you going with- ezrun? I have been wanting to check it out but I currently have two sitting around as it is- traxxas and novak.

The body looks like a good fit! I have an old airbrush system and was going to attempt last time but I think I read your post before and decided against it haha Decals can hide a multitude of sins...

Where are the wheels from- a ground pounder?

Thanks again for sharing Damon!

[OldSchoolRC]

Thank YOU for looking! :)

Dual VXL systems....I bought the EZ run units and 3125kv motors, but the EZ run ESCs are super small, and fit some cars that I could not put BL in before. (DF03 for example) so I moved some systems around. Think the VXL's will do nicely here.

Well, the painting experience was a disaster, no doubt. I had a multi color scheme worked out, but the masks wouldn't stick well enough to the body due to the humidity, so I ended up with a single color. Should have just spray canned it. But i learned a lot....have a few more bodies and empty soda bottles to practice on. In 20 years, I have still not mastered the art of painting.

Wheels are RPM revolvers, and maxx masher tires.

[Arcocustom]

Well, the painting experience was a disaster, no doubt. I had a multi color scheme worked out, but the masks wouldn't stick well enough to the body due to the humidity, so I ended up with a single color. Should have just spray canned it. But i learned a lot....have a few more bodies and empty soda bottles to practice on. In 20 years, I have still not mastered the art of painting.

Sounds like the body was not clean IMHO. You must wash them thoroughly with soap and water and dry completely. Then you need to use Denatured Alcohol and give it a final prep wipe to ensure all grease is removed before you do any spraying. Static electricity will ruin a paint job too. Good paint jobs are more prep than spraying... spraying is the easy part. It takes a lot of practice to get airbrushing down. Practice on some scrap before trying anything on a new piece, then if there is a problem with something, it can be fixed before starting on your final product. Also switch to Tamiya PC paints and you will have less headaches.

[Budhatrain]

Thank YOU for looking! :)

Dual VXL systems....I bought the EZ run units and 3125kv motors, but the EZ run ESCs are super small, and fit some cars that I could not put BL in before. (DF03 for example) so I moved some systems around. Think the VXL's will do nicely here.

Well, the painting experience was a disaster, no doubt. I had a multi color scheme worked out, but the masks wouldn't stick well enough to the body due to the humidity, so I ended up with a single color. Should have just spray canned it. But i learned a lot....have a few more bodies and empty soda bottles to practice on. In 20 years, I have still not mastered the art of painting.

Wheels are RPM revolvers, and maxx masher tires.


Ahh dual traxxas- that's another setup I was thinking about even though I haven't seen too many other trying... I am halfway there muwhahaha

You couldn't expect to be Picaso right off the bat- trial and error, this is life of a hobby.

[OldSchoolRC]

"You must wash them thoroughly with soap and water and dry completely. Then you need to use Denatured Alcohol and give it a final prep wipe to ensure all grease is removed before you do any spraying"

Done and Done Jay...body was well scuffed and washed the heck out of my hands before doing the masks too to get any grease off. Noy sure why i had some non-stick issues, only in certain spots - with both the masks and the paint. Very odd. I was mostly having issues spraying out of my brush, had dilute a bit and to ramp the pressure up to 50PSI to get anything to actually spray. Think I diluted a little too far though. Will certainly be practicing, not giving up yet!

and I was an art major, go figure :)

[That guy]

Hey Old School, You know your clods! I just picked one up on *bay! I f you don't mind I might ask for some advice in the near future? Truck sound cool!:D

[OldSchoolRC]

As long as its not advice on painting, ask away! :)

[OldSchoolRC]

Just ordered a TTR agressor steering system....anyone have one of these? Concerned about clearance on the 4 link...

[OldSchoolRC]

Got the agressor system on, lost my shock mounts in the front. Pretty disappointed with it, for $40 I expected a little more. Basically a few aluminum plates....seems pricy to me. Oh well, live and learn.

On a side note, broke my ankle Saturday, didn't know it, and mowed and raked the yard, went shopping, went to lowes and got a bunch of stuff.....finally, I couldn't walk anymore at all and the next morning, it looked like a basketball, and spent 1/2 of father's day in the ER. Cracked it back at the Ach. tendon and man, does it hurt!! Supposed to be leaving for a hiking/camping trip thursday, first vacation in 2 years :( Guess not now.

anyway, point being there will not be a lot of updates for a bit, have to figure out how to get around on crutches first. :)

[Budhatrain]

What are you diasappointed with the aggressor system or the shock mounts?