The forum keeps encouraging me to create a build thread, so I guess I will blather about my Notorious here.
The first thing I added was a heat sink and dual fan from NHX that sounds a bit like a Boeing 747. The fans are completely noxious, and make my teeth hurt, but they keep the motor cool no matter what dumb things I do. I tucked all the extra wiring into lengths of heat shrink tubing to help keep it out of the way.
First of all, the "real steel" paint scheme seemed like a childish gimmick to me. "Here kiddies, you're only 11, and you can't drive Daddy's car yet, so you can play Make Believe™ with this super awesome body!" In reality though, it ages better than a standard paint job, and it's pretty cool. I guess I'm an overgrown man child after all. I was married for 27 years, but my wife dumped me, and I haven't been too interested in having another one. All my money is going to pay for MY toys now, and I haven't bought new shoes or clothes in years.
I'm running Pro-Line Badlands MX38s on this thing, with metal hexes. I also got some belted Trenchers, but I'm going to put those in the classifieds whenever my account is in good enough standing to do so. This truck was a dog on the Trenchers. It wouldn't steer, and it wouldn't wheelie, because they're so massively wide and heavy. The non-belted Badlands have really performed very well on every kind of terrain, and while they balloon like crazy, none of them have exploded into rubber fragments yet, which puts them ahead of the dBoots Backflips that explode just driving in a straight line through grass.
When I thrashed the thing in a wicked cool location, I broke the wing mount. I'm not sure how an aluminum wing mount setup is going to perform, but I thought I'd try it. I added a massively beefy wheelie bar as well, both from Integy.
I probably can't use the wheelie bar with a stock wing support, and I am pretty amused with the wheelie bar. I did a wheelie for the entire length of my street, after adjusting the angle so it no longer back-flipped immediately. The jury is still out, but I like it so far. The real test will be when I see how it does at the coal dugout.
Anyway, the biggest problem I've had with the truck so far is the front bumper. It's the first thing I broke, within minutes of running the truck for the first time. Then I got an Integy aluminum skid plate, and I broke that too. I never break the bumper unless I screw up, but when I do screw up, it's pretty bad. It's like a '60s vehicle with no 5 mph bumpers. You hit the bumper, it crumples half the vehicle.
The truck is currently sitting here bumperless, with the lower pins exposed. Benched until repairs are made.
I've been trying to figure out what to do about that. The aluminum Integy skid plate performed acceptably in that it got destroyed without wrecking anything more expensive. That's good. What would be better would be a bumper that wouldn't transmit all of its force directly into the chassis. T-Bone used to make some awesome bumpers, but I already stepped in that pile of dog dookie, trying to buy one from what turned out to be a scammer. (I got my money back already. I'm ashamed that I didn't figure out I was about to get ripped off until the last stage of checkout, but at least I figured it out in time to do damage control.)
So I'm currently scratching my head trying to figure out a Better Bumper™. I need something in front of an Integy or comparable skid plate that can take some shock. I'm contemplating making something with shocks integrated into it. Model shocks aren't complicated. I could fabricate those, most likely. Or I could just use springs. I haven't really thought it through yet.
When the time comes, I probably have a shop good enough to get the job done.
The first thing I added was a heat sink and dual fan from NHX that sounds a bit like a Boeing 747. The fans are completely noxious, and make my teeth hurt, but they keep the motor cool no matter what dumb things I do. I tucked all the extra wiring into lengths of heat shrink tubing to help keep it out of the way.
First of all, the "real steel" paint scheme seemed like a childish gimmick to me. "Here kiddies, you're only 11, and you can't drive Daddy's car yet, so you can play Make Believe™ with this super awesome body!" In reality though, it ages better than a standard paint job, and it's pretty cool. I guess I'm an overgrown man child after all. I was married for 27 years, but my wife dumped me, and I haven't been too interested in having another one. All my money is going to pay for MY toys now, and I haven't bought new shoes or clothes in years.
I'm running Pro-Line Badlands MX38s on this thing, with metal hexes. I also got some belted Trenchers, but I'm going to put those in the classifieds whenever my account is in good enough standing to do so. This truck was a dog on the Trenchers. It wouldn't steer, and it wouldn't wheelie, because they're so massively wide and heavy. The non-belted Badlands have really performed very well on every kind of terrain, and while they balloon like crazy, none of them have exploded into rubber fragments yet, which puts them ahead of the dBoots Backflips that explode just driving in a straight line through grass.
When I thrashed the thing in a wicked cool location, I broke the wing mount. I'm not sure how an aluminum wing mount setup is going to perform, but I thought I'd try it. I added a massively beefy wheelie bar as well, both from Integy.
I probably can't use the wheelie bar with a stock wing support, and I am pretty amused with the wheelie bar. I did a wheelie for the entire length of my street, after adjusting the angle so it no longer back-flipped immediately. The jury is still out, but I like it so far. The real test will be when I see how it does at the coal dugout.
Anyway, the biggest problem I've had with the truck so far is the front bumper. It's the first thing I broke, within minutes of running the truck for the first time. Then I got an Integy aluminum skid plate, and I broke that too. I never break the bumper unless I screw up, but when I do screw up, it's pretty bad. It's like a '60s vehicle with no 5 mph bumpers. You hit the bumper, it crumples half the vehicle.
The truck is currently sitting here bumperless, with the lower pins exposed. Benched until repairs are made.
I've been trying to figure out what to do about that. The aluminum Integy skid plate performed acceptably in that it got destroyed without wrecking anything more expensive. That's good. What would be better would be a bumper that wouldn't transmit all of its force directly into the chassis. T-Bone used to make some awesome bumpers, but I already stepped in that pile of dog dookie, trying to buy one from what turned out to be a scammer. (I got my money back already. I'm ashamed that I didn't figure out I was about to get ripped off until the last stage of checkout, but at least I figured it out in time to do damage control.)
So I'm currently scratching my head trying to figure out a Better Bumper™. I need something in front of an Integy or comparable skid plate that can take some shock. I'm contemplating making something with shocks integrated into it. Model shocks aren't complicated. I could fabricate those, most likely. Or I could just use springs. I haven't really thought it through yet.
When the time comes, I probably have a shop good enough to get the job done.
I try to help any way I can
Just check out the thread of “is this legit?” Thread. Scams for days. We lookout for everyone who joins! Buy with confidence and trust me. You’ll love it.
