Mike Flea

Picked up a 444oz Savox today, the existing Hi-Tec 645mg (133 oz) is a great servo, and was a great servo for the Ridgecrest that I bought it for originally. But the Jeep, as a hard body, with scale accessories, (I recently picked up a fishing pole, bucket, with fish, a net, found 2 G.I. Joes at a garage sale for $6, using one with Barbie, and gave the clothes from the other one to Barbie), is turning into a 14lb scaler. The Hi-Tec was great for a Lexan bodied crawler, but as I add more accessories to the Jeep, the Hi-Tec just doesn't have the power to turn the front wheels unless the vehicle is moving. It's time to do some maintenance on the Jeep anyways. I know both my right side shocks leak, working on a hitch, so I can tote around the trailer, and now that Joe came along, he got Barbie wearing camo, so there's a good chance the Jeep may go back to OD Green.

I've been working on my garden railroad, helping the wife with the stuff she's building for it, so I need to get some current pics of the Jeep up, hopefully before dis-assembly.

Mike Flea

These are pre-disassembly shots showing the fishing accessories I found, which by the way came from Michaels, back by the dollhouse supplies, and the new Joe. Joe almost looks like he's scared that Barbie is driving, lol

RustedRC

Looking real scale in that jeep. i like the fishing net. all that would knock some points off if you ever took it to a comp. great job man.

Mike Flea

Knock off points? I've never comp'ed. Is that a bad thing?, I would think they would give you points for having scale items.

RustedRC

yeah i know you don't comp and it would add points but you know what i mean.

Mike Flea

Almost have the trailer done, took off the stock axle and hard plastic tires, got some 10/24 allthread and used some pieces of 3/16 brakeline, and have a couple SC tires that fit inside the fenders. Should have some pics up in a couple days.
Also, started to tear down the Jeep, need to fix right side shocks, install new Savox 444oz servo, install a hitch for the trailer, going to change the pipe front bumper, re-paint the body OD green or camo, may make a steel spare tire carrier, ( The spare is OK where it is now on the rollcage, but in my opinion, it looks better hanging off the rear of the body), and make a steel jerry can holder, also mounted to the rear of the body.

RustedRC

sounds like some bench time huh. cool. i agree with the tire placement on the jeep. the back does look better. can't wait to see the trailer man. post them pics.

Mike Flea

Trailer pics, still want to make a tent or pop-up for it.

RustedRC

That's awesome man. it's gonna roll real nice with the jeep.

Mike Flea

Washed, sanded, roughed up the current paint, taped off what I didn't want painted, and sprayed grey primer on both the Jeep and trailer today. Really humid here in Chicagoland today, so it'll have to sit overnight to dry, before I can put the flat green on.

RustedRC

Back to green will be cool kinda army feel. even more with the trailer. you should do a few white stars and do military theme. maybe some camo stripes would look interesting.
i'm just rambling you do good work so it will turn out good.

Mike Flea

I'll get pics up later in the week, but the Jeep body and trailer are now sporting a cool camo paint job, just need to throw a coat or two of dullcoat on them. It seals the paint and takes the gloss off some of the paints I used.

RustedRC

Cool camo. i wanna see. i agree no need to be shiny it's camo! and does seal good.

Mike Flea

Here's some pics of the new paint job, and of the new trailer hitch. Hitch took me 2 tries to get it right. It's just a spring clip, like for a dog chain, but it must be made out of pot metal or straight zinc, because the first time I tried to attach it to the bumper, by brazing, it melted and turned into a puddle on the garage floor. So the second try, I ground another clip down to fit into a 11/64 hole that I drilled into the bumper, and then drilled a 1/16 hole in the shaft and stuck a cotter pin through it] I don't know why the last picture turned into a click-on .

RustedRC

Paint turned out great Mike. now it ready to hide in the trees.

Mike Flea

Still working on the spare tire and jerry can mounts for the bumper, but here's a shot of the new hitch mounted up.

RustedRC

Cool hitch idea mike. looks to be pretty strong.

Mike Flea

I got all the steel pieces cut for the spare tire and jerry can mounts, new front bumper done, trying to fit pieces of 1/8 steel rod for a grill guard and stinger, got my new inner fenders cut, just need paint, & rebuilt the shocks. I would rather tear down and rebuild the Jeep every weekend than to rebuild shocks, what a pain. You should have seen the black and blue crap that came out of those T-Maxx shocks. Refilled them with 40wt, sprayed the aluminum bodies down with brake-clean, and will paint them and the inner fenders tomorrow.

RustedRC

Sounds like a lot of work getting done. shocks are a pain. i think there's a tool to help with that.
i got something that you might laugh at. when i first got my scx10 it had no oil in the shocks. i bought in used. i put cooking oil in it and never changed it. there is still oil in them and they don't leak. there just the stock ones but as dumb as it sounds i'm actually happy with how they perform. soft and steady compression. the oil has changed color and smells funny. but works for what i want.
you got me interested in that grill guard and stinger. i'm tuned in.

Mike Flea

Here's some starter pics on the stinger, and the new front inner fenders. The new fenderwells are made out of cool whip containers, and fit the body closer than those zip-lock containers I was using before. The grill guard is a handle from a catering pan frame, and the stinger hoop is a corner piece from the same. I cut a couple kickers to go between the stinger hoop and grill hoop.

RustedRC

Kudos mike. like that you just use what's laying around. i love to do that.
that stinger/grill is gonna be cool on the jeep.

Mike Flea

Just finished the front bumper and stinger, will get some pics up after it's painted and mounted.
.

RustedRC

Cool looking forward to see it on the jeep.

Mike Flea

Ok, here we go: new Savox 444oz servo, what a difference in handling and steering! Rebuilt the shocks, however, even after the rebuild, the Jeep was still leaning hard on the right side, so I preloaded the right rear, no more lean! and actually handles better now!

Picked up a few more accessories, the shovel, lanterns, and second fishing pole are from Michael's (dollhouse stuff), the bulldog (found it laying around the house). I used DieHarder's idea for tow strap hooks( the tow strap is wrapped around the left side of the rollcage, with the hooks on the horizontal bar).

I'm going to have to do something about the trailer though. The Jeep is higher than the trailer. The trailer needs a suspension of its own, and a better axle. It near got beat to death on the rocks, note to self: trailing only, not crawling, Fortunately I stopped when I saw it getting dragged off the sharp rocks.

The spare tire carrier is made from the same type of metal (1/ 8 x 1/2 x 3" steel strap) that the bumper is, so I brazed it up today, and painted it. Got front guard/stinger, and rear bumper back on today, so here's some pics!

RustedRC

Great work mike. looking killer. maybe toss some leaf springs under the trailer to raise it a bit.