Project TLRampage

[Coelacanth]

Got the front part of the Outlaw Rampage chassis chopped off. Measured carefully where to chop the middle section of a Losi chassis plate so that the widths of both sections--with about an inch or so of overlap--were even. I chose this Losi plate to be the middle section because it's really beefy, thicker than the graphite Optima Mid chassis donor plate I picked up months ago. I'll chop off the rear end of the Losi plate and splice on the Optima Mid rear end--mainly because I don't have any Losi gearbox stuff or gears. I have plenty of Optima/Mid parts.

The middle & rear sections will probably be connected flush, with sections of Optima frame rails bolted on top, connecting the two. In the end, I'll have a wheelbase that's probably 1:8 scale or longer and I'll have the battery mounted longitudinally down the center.

I have no idea what I'm going to do for a body...I might go with a partial body & rollcage theme. This project isn't really intended to be pretty, it'll be a basher.

[HKS_TRD]

Nice work
Would it have been feasible to use a steering plate on the bellcranks like Lazer has to overcome the last clearance issue you had

[Coelacanth]

Nice work
Would it have been feasible to use a steering plate on the bellcranks like Lazer has to overcome the last clearance issue you had

I gave that a lot of consideration, actually...just a thin carbon-fiber center-link with 2 holes, maybe...but even then, I could see that the downward-pointing ball-stud would butt up against it, even if I located the steering plate above the bellcrank arms. I spent a couple hours at least just test-fitting the tie-rods with various bellcrank spacers just to eliminate the bump-steer, and I didn't want to have to re-think everything. If I reduce the spacers to lower the bellcrank, bump-steer results and the inner tie-rod ball-ends start bumping into the bulkhead base. So, the easy solution is to just flip the L-arm to the outside, where everything functions perfectly and it isn't really in the way, anyway.

[Coelacanth]

After lots of careful measuring, drilling & cutting, I spliced together the Losi chassis plate, forming the midsection, to the Outlaw Rampage front end. I also cut down the shock towers.

I also cut the graphite Optima Mid plate, which will form the rear section. Here's a mockup showing the overall length of the chassis, with the cool rear wheels (3.2" x 2") that will eventually have more or less the same track width as the fronts. The SWB Optima Mid helps show the size difference.

[Coelacanth]

Time to revisit this project. Lately I've been thinking about how to graft in the ass end of this car. I was originally considering an Optima Mid gearbox, with B4 slipper gear assembly. I already have the custom B4 slipper shaft. The car is intended to be RWD only, so the gearbox would end up being sealed where the belt would normally go. However, I'm wondering if the Mid gearbox would be up to the task, as this build will probably end up being closer to 1/8-scale than 1/10, and pushing some pretty big 3.2" wheels at the back.

Another option I'm seriously considering is to use an RC10GT rear end, as it already has a slipper, it should already be plenty durable, and there's plenty of guys here who've done RC10GT electric conversions who could offer valuable advice. I'd basically be cutting off the GT chassis plate right ahead of the drive gear & electric motor plate, and use the GT rear bulkhead, arms, shock towers and gearbox. I'd have to acquire a GT parts car or rear end. I almost had my hands on one this weekend on Kijiji for $60 CAD but I think somebody else scooped the deal. Looking at pics of the GT, it looks like a good candidate for this project.

If I go with option #2, I have a few questions:

-What is the track width of an RC10GT's rear wheels & tires?

-How do the rear wheels mount to the axle hubs? Is there a hex-and-crosspin system on these?

[XLR8]

Looking back through your earlier stuff, you have a history of building interesting and cool RC's so I'm sure this one will be an other work of art. BTW, the Mid in the background is stunning!!
So, not to be critical and I'm an AE fan but isn't there another Kyosho tranny that's up to the task? ...maybe from some nitro truck or something?
BTW, have you ever known a Mid tranny to fail? ...and not due to the owner not adequately sealing the belt covers as I believe this is what eventually kills them. It uses thick .8 mod gears and, fitted with the steel idler, I reckon it's bullet proof.
Anyway, whatever you do with it will be cool I'm certain.

[Coelacanth]

Looking back through your earlier stuff, you have a history of building interesting and cool RC's so I'm sure this one will be an other work of art. BTW, the Mid in the background is stunning!!
So, not to be critical and I'm an AE fan but isn't there another Kyosho tranny that's up to the task? ...maybe from some nitro truck or something?
BTW, have you ever known a Mid tranny to fail? ...and not due to the owner not adequately sealing the belt covers as I believe this is what eventually kills them. It uses thick .8 mod gears and, fitted with the steel idler, I reckon it's bullet proof.
Anyway, whatever you do with it will be cool I'm certain.

My problem with the Mid rear end is not so much the tranny, but if you look at how the rear gearbox mounts to the chassis plate, the 4 screw holes are so close to the edges of the plate that they don't look anywhere near durable enough for a larger-scale car. The more I've looked at it, the more I think the weak spot would be the chassis plate of the Mid. Possibly a Kyosho nitro truck would get the job done, but the RC10GT nitro-to-electric conversion looks to be a popular and well-documented mod. At least there'd be help.

EDIT: I'd also considered using the Rampage nitro that was the donor for this project's front end, but I don't like how the main drive gear is mounted so far forward on the chassis plate, nor how it's oriented perpendicular to the driveshaft running into the gearbox. I prefer how the RC10GT's main gear is parallel, making it easier to bolt on a motor plate and electric motor.

[Coelacanth]

This project has been languishing for a loooong time...I was undecided how to proceed, other than to build an extended chassis using my existing leftover 1:10-scale parts, and of course, to do something different. Whichever direction I chose, the one thing I was certain about was that this was going to be a beast, and a basher...and it was gonna be BIG. One part of me was aiming towards building something along the lines of a sand rail, while the other part of me was thinking "Mad Max", after seeing some Pro-Line bodies targeted for the short-course truck market. And the always-present part of me loves muscle-cars, so something moved me in that direction, too.

I think my project ideas finally solidified and once that happened, I was able to spend some money and force myself in a specific direction.

I love the Pro-Line Octane body, which is very reminiscent of 70's muscle-cars, and specifically, the Mad Max Interceptor. This body is designed for guys who have SC trucks who want to turn them into on-road cars. My idea, as usual, is to go the opposite route. I was thinking to mount this body on a chassis purpose-built for offroad use, and I had a complete front end to work with that. So the plan is to use this body on a custom-built chassis with the correct wheelbase and width to build a beast basher like the Fury Road Interceptor...but I'll go for a nice, shiny muscle-car paint-job, not a lazy flat-black, mud-crusted body. I need a lot of ground clearance, so this isn't going to be what all the SC truck guys are doing, trying to turn their trucks into crap-performing on-road cars...it'll be an offroad chassis that might also work well as an on-road chassis.

I have most of a Kyosho Rampage nitro front-end, that I chopped the rear-end off. I have a Losi graphite chassis mid-plate, and recently bought a Losi TLR 22 roller that will make up most of the rear half. Thanks go out to klavy69 for answering my request for spare parts, he luckily had a TLR 22 truck chassis that will come in handy for spare parts and a few missing parts I needed. Thanks Todd!

Here's the hybrid, Franken-chassis carefully drilled and assembled to fit the Pro-Line Octane body. The last pic shows a size comparison of this body with a 1:10-scale HPI 'Cuda body...you can see how much bigger it is.

[Coelacanth]

Staying home most of the time due to this virus situation at least means I'm making a lot of progress with my RC projects. For this one, I got the body mounts fabricated.

And a few pics with the body mounted. I probably won't be mounting the wing, because the Octane body is more of a drag racing body and I'm going more in an offroad direction, so the drag wing won't make sense. I also did away with some of the front chin spoiler ground effects, as I want to have a bit more clearance there, again for offroad purposes. I chose this body because it somewhat resembles Mad Max's Falcon XB GT Interceptor, the body is almost ideal for an offroad basher, rather than its intended purpose of making short course trucks look like on-road cars.

The setup needs some tweaking. At the rear, things are near-perfect; with full shock compression, the wheels raise freely inside the wheelwells, with no rubbing. I'm still working on the front, though...I get a little bit of rubbing when the fronts are steered fully left or right with full shock compression. Since the front end has a ton of steering, I'm hoping that reducing the steering servo throw by adjusting the endpoints will take care of it, but the car needs electronics before I get around to those adjustments.

[Coelacanth]

I got some ideas for an eventual paint scheme for this body. As usual, I won't be using most of the stickers and come up with something original instead.

The top stripe will be candy red, broken up with little down-swooping barbs, a bit like barbwire. The bottom stripe will be candy blue edged with chrome, like a knife blade. The stripes might repeat on the sides of the hood scoop to maintain consistency, but I'm not yet decided if I'll paint stripes on the hood. It's a really big scoop and I don't want to overdo the trim colors. The body will be blue pearl backed with black to hopefully give it a midnight metallic blue color.