This was my 2nd nitro truck after my RC10GT. I got it when I was still in high school and ran it for a few years until the NitroStar engine took a dump and I got tired of buying spur gears for it. It was infamous for eating its own spur gears.
The truck sat around for years and became a donor for bearings and shocks and other components and was basically left for dead. Until I decided to do something about that.
So, we've got another electric conversion.
Almost a runner for the first time in 20 years. Waiting on wheels and tires.
Frankentruck wrote: ↑Sat Jan 04, 2025 6:34 am
That's an excellent paint job! Any background to the design? Looks like maybe a WW2 fighter or bomber tribute?
It's kind of 2-fold. The original Nitro Rush RTR bodies were bright yellow so I wanted a scheme that incorporated yellow. I was doing an unrelated search for P-51D color schemes (I also fly RC planes and am going to start building an old Top Flight Gold Edition P-51D in the spring, so I was looking for schemes) and I ran across this one.
It also just so happens that the current itteration of the EFlite UMX P-51D shares this scheme, so the decals were available as a replacement part.
All sort of just a happy accident that happened to work out well!
The only major thing that might change is the wheel/tire package. Right now I stuck with the default Nitro Rush wheels/tires because I've always liked those gunmetal grey 5-spokes. I would like to use the HPI Classic King wheels since they resemble the P-51D's wheels pretty closely, and paired with a set of Road Hawgs or HPI V-Grooves it'd look really nice. I may try to swap the front hubs out with Firestorm front hubs to get the 12mm front hexes, but we'll see if it comes to that. I like the current look and both those Classic King wheels and any 2.2" onroad truck tire is really hard to get right now...
Well, I thought I was done. Then I found a set of wheels - HPI Classic Kings - that look remarkably close to the full-scale P-51D wheels that I based the livery on. But they only came with 12mm hexs, no "front" wheels. So I had to do a hex conversion on the front, which luckily Firestorm parts bolted on. The wheels came in black so I painted them metallic silver and sprayed a matte clear over them. Now I'm just waiting for tires... Again...
Well done... the motor/electronics install almost looks factory... a lot to wedge into such a small space. Classic Kings were a way better choice over the stock wheels, especially with the WWII paint job, which looks awesome.
carloco8 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2025 2:47 pm
Very nice themed paint job and wheels to match, came out great!!! Looks like that motor mount is long enough for some massive gearing!
There's definitely room there for a bigger spur but the design is kind of bad for larger gears. The original spur was a 56 tooth MOD1 gear and it was huge compared to the 56 tooth 32-pitch gear that's on there now. But to fit such a large gear they had to notch the A-arm on that side and it was always a weakness in the design. HPI also never offered any other spurs than the stock 56-tooth MOD1 and those didn't last long because the chassis was so flexy in the back.
I don't know why they didn't just use a 32-pitch spur to begin with. Wouldn't need that notch in the A-arm and would've allowed for a lot of gearing options. I'm running a 56-tooth spur and a 12-tooth pinion. Same gearing as stock, just in 32-pitch instead of MOD1.
Dangeruss wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2025 7:40 am
Well done... the motor/electronics install almost looks factory... a lot to wedge into such a small space. Classic Kings were a way better choice over the stock wheels, especially with the WWII paint job, which looks awesome.
Thanks! I always try to go for a 'factory-look' when I do these conversions and always try to do at least a little bit of wire management. That's the PC builder in me. Haha. Plus I like the look of well-utilized space. Discovering shorty packs was a lifesaver. I use one in my RC10GTe conversion too.
