General Am i the only RC nerd here?

Monster body paint has cured. now just a matter of figuring out height of body posts and drilling. not to sound like a queer or anything, but this looks badass.

Btw, haven't changed out pinion gear yet, but stock gearing with these massive tires has the engine and esc heating up fast.

Grateful Dude said:

So....I blew a part out tonight while trying to be cool. This was while using my 1/16 Summit. I was playing around in a large area that had a 4 to 5-inch thick bed of pea gravel, and was hot dogging and showing off for my son doing donuts and burnouts. This shot was so loose that you could sling rocks as long as desired. And then CV joint popped off. Nothing looks broke per se, but I’m going to have to take apart some shit in order to get in there to fix it.

I know the kind of strain it puts on a truck to be doing what I was, but damn it was fun for about 10 min lol. It’s hot here already, and overheated the ESC too. This summit has been hard to run down here when it’s hot, I can overheat it easily. Have a heat sink on the motor, and used to have a fan, but neither really did much. Winter months no problem. May need to play with the pinion, but damn I like it the way it is!

All these goddamn little screws, I’m ready to go back to 1/10 or 1/8 scale hah

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If you gear down a tooth or two it will give you more run time for sure. Shitty thing to do when you like how the ar is set up, but it isn't a big sacrifice if it's just for a couple months during the summer. Fans on the esc certainly help, but I'd agree they do little to nothing on the motor unless you go with 2 or an oversized one. Even then if you are doing it to solve a current problem, it probably won't give you desired results. Cutting ventilation in the body would probably be better, but then you're giving up rigidity. The proline body I got for my Slash after the monster truck conversion has holes cut out by design. I'm sure that will help a lot with my heat. It was designed to do away with the parachuting, but it really serves two purposes. I wonder if some company makes a body like that for the summit?

Side note: the proline monster body mounts came with grub screws that go into the mounting posts, then fasteners that you screw right in. No more body clips! So convenient, plus they screw in flush to the body so im guessING that will limit the rips in these areas.

Grateful Dude said:

I pretty much agree, and like, everything you're saying here. I think I need to play with the pinion by a tooth or two. This little truck is crazy fast, I can sacrifice a little speed for a few months. The overheating is even worse when using LiPo as well (which is mostly what I use). The body I have is already dinged up, so I think I'm going to cut some holes in it to see if it helps. I will look into the proline bodies as well. The other thing I've read can help, is adding some aluminum replacements (exchanging for plastic ones) to draw heat away. Right now there is an aluminum plate that the motor is bolted too, but everything else is plastic. The main one I've read that helps with heat is replacing the housing pieces for the transmission. It's a good size chunk of aluminum that has direct contact with the plate the motor mounts too, and allegedly draws a lot of heat away from the motor. I think it's like 20 or 30 bucks.

I do have a heatsink on the motor, but I'm not sure how much it helps when it is summer in TX, but I bet it will get better if I cut some ventilation holes in the body. The ESC has a protection that shuts down if it overheats, frustrating when only like 5 min into a LiPo!

Oh, I like the idea of the body fasteners. If I had a dollar for every body clip I've lost......

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Interesting idea about switching to aluminum. I would think that it would get hotter that way, but cool off quicker when not running.

BirdWatcher said:

That looks cool, be sure to post your paint progress here. Once I fix the mechanical stuff I plan on getting a new shell for mine. I like the Tacoma body and some of the older trucks.

You ever try painting your wheels? Lots say they'll chip easy and others say with fusion paint it'll be fine.

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Ok just got some info on this because I bought new a-arms (rpm) for my monster conversion. There was a better deal on blue a-arms, same brand, same product, just different color. You buy RIT dye (clothing dye available at most grocery stores in the laundry detergent isle next to the shoe polish) and you just need to make sure the dye is darker than your part. In my case I just wanted my blue a-arms to be black, but if you are going for a custom color, things might get tricky. If you start with white rims, you're golden as you can mix colors and get whatever you want. The RIT dye is like $3 for the powder dye, or $6 for the liquid dye (I went with liquid). You boil water, take off the heat, add dye, mix, return to burner but reduce heat to a simmer. Then you add the parts carefully so you dont splash (I used tongs) or else you'll get dye everywhere. Every 5 minutes or so you flip the parts (must flip the parts) with tongs and you keep checking the color. As soon as you have your desired color, you take out the parts and place them on a shop rag or tshirt you dont care about and pat them dry and get the residual dye off of them, then you give them a cold water bath, or just run them under cold water to cool them off. This assures they cool down properly and dont bend or warp. The dye penetrates pretty deep into the parts (I've read it goes 30-40% deep). For reference, I dyed my parts for 30 minutes. If I had white and was looking for a lighter color (not talking yellow, but a lighter yellow or something like that) time wouldn't be as long 8n the simmering dye. This method works with hard plastics and nylon, but don't try it with weak plastics (like a car body that would melt).

*constant flipping for the dye job is not just for even coating, but also so the parts don't scorch or warp*

My project with the a-arms couldn't have turned out better.

Btw, just ordered the tekno mt410 kit. So fucking excited for that truck!

Next step is building shocks, then installing trays and electronics. lots of time consuming fuckups in this build, lol.

sparkuri said:

Nice crossbow

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You sonofabitch!

BirdWatcher said:

@Papi Chingon my new favourite thing to do is record slomo vids of the truck.


View: https://streamable.com/vz4im




Nothing too Xtreme yet but I'm a little slow on getting the slomo timing and saving it so I can upload them. Now that I can that shits about to get real.

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That's pretty cool. It reminds me of a Chappelle skit where he says everything is cooler in slowmo, lol. Watch out filming from the rear when under acceleration because the truck can and will kick up rocks and that could bust your lens. I've seen it happen a few times on youtube clips.

Grateful Dude said:

I’ve been looking into getting a new truck. There are a couple of Traxxas I’m considering. I have a mini-Summit, although broken at the moment, and it’s fun and all but the little trucks don’t quite do it for me. I have a lot of problems here in TX with overheating. This little truck is small enough that something simple like driving in grass a few inches tall bogs it down and heats it up. Just not enough clearance for my liking. It’s fast as shit, and I can run wheelies like a mofo, but it has limitations.

I’d like to get a full size Summit. I love the long travel suspension on the summit, and the full size has some additional options that the mini doesn’t (locking differentials). I like trying to conquer obstacles and rock gardens, etc - and the summit is perfect for that kind of stuff.

However, I also have a pretty firm hard-on for the XMaxx. That truck looks awesome. You have one, right @Papi Chingon?

I like those two, but I also kind of want to build one. It’s still weird to me that most come RTR nowadays. Open for suggestions if you have any recs for a kit truck.

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The xmaxx is really cool, but after running it twice I realized it is underpowered for what I want, so I need to do a motor and esc swap for the hobbywing max6 combo ($269 on ebay). I honestly was expecting standing backflips out of the box. I babied it for the first couple runs to protect the body (running on asphalt) and thought it had a ton of power. Then when taking it off road and jumping it, it doesn't even want to do regular backflips. That is a real bummer for a $900 truck. It has all the durability in the world, but really needs the motor and esc upgrade to live up to the hype. That puts you in at $1200 + batteries and charger. My money is already spent on batteries, charger, and the truck, so the extra $269 at this point is no big deal, but it would have been nice to to know this was necessary prior to purchasing. Once I do the swap out I think I will have a shit eating grin ear to ear.
If you want to go the route of a kit, the tekno mt410 seems like a no brainer. Watch a few videos on youtube and you'll see what I'm talking about. It has all the durability you could ever want, backflips, front to backflip, standing backflip etc...without effort, and is relatively maintenance free. You decide on electronics, so your end product is whatever you want it to be. I went with the hobbywing max8 combo with 2200kv motor amd a Savox sv-1270tg servo (you need a decent servo with power), and the spektrum dx5r receiver. It doesnt come with wheels and tires, nor a body, so you have to factor that in as well (I went with the unbreakable russian body by rc maniacs since i know this truck will be thrashed). I got a few other upgrades as well like beefed up braces and hardened steel spur gear for the center diff. Im guessing I'm in it for around $1200 when everything is said and done.
Once I do the engine and esc swap on the xmaxx aND finish the build on the mt410, I doubt I'll even be using the senton and slash.

BirdWatcher said:

Just got back from hobby shop. My truck was a Rustler converted into a slash by previous owner and it's getting a little beat up. I picked up a new chasos, proline body mount kit and some other small items like screw kit, bushings and bearings for my rebuild. Just put the adjustable body mounts on so I can jack it up a little. I found when diving into corners my front fenders would touch my tires and sometimes grab and flip. I'm gonna go for a rip with my kid and his mini E-revo and see of it helps. Looks a little high but I like it!

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Every company should adopt the proline system since the typical clips are a bitch. Screwing on the body is hassle free.