Radio Control Dukes cars

[Jim85IROC]

The video for the latest build is up!

 

[HossC]

Very well explained video.

I was was amused that someone so skilled in 3D computer design would use a cardboard template for the chassis extension!

[Jim85IROC]

15 minutes ago, HossC said:

Very well explained video.

I was was amused that someone so skilled in 3D computer design would use a cardboard template for the chassis extension!

it's all about the right tool for the job.

[RogerDuke]

13 hours ago, Jim85IROC said:

The video for the latest build is up!

 

So cool! Or, to put it another way.....YEEEHAWWW!

[Jim85IROC]

For those who just want to see it running, I uploaded a video for that:

As you can see from the jump at the end, it didn't fly very far and landed nose-down.  I had the esc plugged into the wrong port on the receiver, so I was at half speed.  As for the nose down landing, I'd hoped that sliding the battery back would fix it, but it didn't, so I had to resort to more drastic measures. I reinforced the rear panel behind the axle so it could hold the battery.  That did the trick and now it lands flat, so I should be able to adjust how it lands with different size batteries.

In other news, I got back to work on Rosco's car today and currently have it in primer.  Hopefully this week I'll be able to glue it together and get it painted soon after.

Lastly, I decided to take some pics of the Kyosho with some scale road barriers that I printed.

Edited May 22, 2023 by Jim85IROC

[Hobie Hartkins]

That is excellent! Great job!!

[HossC]

17 hours ago, Jim85IROC said:

As you can see from the jump at the end, it didn't fly very far and landed nose-down.  I had the esc plugged into the wrong port on the receiver, so I was at half speed.  As for the nose down landing, I'd hoped that sliding the battery back would fix it, but it didn't, so I had to resort to more drastic measures. I reinforced the rear panel behind the axle so it could hold the battery.  That did the trick and now it lands flat, so I should be able to adjust how it lands with different size batteries.

That's fair enough. The real cars had several hundred pounds of ballast in their trunks to make them land flat. They also used to crank up the front suspension, but I don't know if that would make any difference or even be possible on RC cars.

[Jim85IROC]

2 hours ago, HossC said:

That's fair enough. The real cars had several hundred pounds of ballast in their trunks to make them land flat. They also used to crank up the front suspension, but I don't know if that would make any difference or even be possible on RC cars.

yeah, the suspensions on these are adjustable to an extent.  Unlike a real charger that has torsion springs up front, this uses a more basic coil-over shock design.  I replaced the springs with stiffer units and replaced the shock oil with a thicker oil.  This is mostly to offset the extra weight of the upgrades, and it's not perfect, but once I get some more jumps in I can see how it looks.  I think a thicker fluid would help more, but no matter what I do the suspension is going to bottom, so it's probably not going to gain me much.

[RogerDuke]

7 hours ago, HossC said:

That's fair enough. The real cars had several hundred pounds of ballast in their trunks to make them land flat. They also used to crank up the front suspension, but I don't know if that would make any difference or even be possible on RC cars.

Hoss rarely gets things wrong but he sure messed this one up. It was moonshine, not ballast....well, maybe he's not wrong. Moonshine can be used as ballast. It's a pretty sickening sound when you land and hear glass breaking though. 

[RogerDuke]

This is so cool Jim. We are lucky to have you share this with us. Thank you so much. You are really talented! 

[Hobie Hartkins]

23 hours ago, RogerDuke said:

Hoss rarely gets things wrong but he sure messed this one up. It was moonshine, not ballast....well, maybe he's not wrong. Moonshine can be used as ballast. It's a pretty sickening sound when you land and hear glass breaking though. 

No problem! You just line the boxes you've got the shine in, with several copies of the Hazzard Gazette!

[RogerDuke]

14 hours ago, Hobie Hartkins said:

No problem! You just line the boxes you've got the shine in, with several copies of the Hazzard Gazette!

Great idea Hobie! You can't use Luke's car magazines. Bo blew them to smithereens. 

[Hobie Hartkins]

5 hours ago, RogerDuke said:

Great idea Hobie! You can't use Luke's car magazines. Bo blew them to smithereens. 

very true but I'm sure  Mz. Tizdale has plenty of the Gazette for me to borrow!

[Jim85IROC]

Got back to work on Rosco's car.  Used putty to smooth things out, then primed, more putty, more primer.

 

Glued the front and rear fascias on, putty, primer, putty, primer...

 

Glued the front & rear halves together then you guessed it: putty, primer, putty primer.  I also mounted the mockup light bar.

 

Next I worked on moving body posts around to get the body to sit how I want on the chassis.

 

Next I need to work up the courage to paint the body.  After how that went last time, it's definitely not something that I'm looking forward to.

[RC General Lee]

Looks good, very good.

[RogerDuke]

17 hours ago, Jim85IROC said:

Got back to work on Rosco's car.  Used putty to smooth things out, then primed, more putty, more primer.

 

Glued the front and rear fascias on, putty, primer, putty, primer...

 

Glued the front & rear halves together then you guessed it: putty, primer, putty primer.  I also mounted the mockup light bar.

 

Next I worked on moving body posts around to get the body to sit how I want on the chassis.

 

Next I need to work up the courage to paint the body.  

I'm a believer. This is going to end up as another work of art. 

[Hobie Hartkins]

So far, it's looking REAL good!  

[Jim85IROC]

Well, the car is white.  I'm not thrilled with how it came out, but at least I didn't have all the issues that I had last time.  The white coat started to lift the primer on the hood, but it was minor enough that I could sand it out prior to clear.  The clear flowed well but still ended up looking dry once it set up. I'm going to do a minor wetsand and buff, but I'm not going to get crazy with it.  It'll be fine for how I'm going to use it.

 

Next is to add the chrome details, get the headlights, taillights, mirrors and decals on.

[RC General Lee]

1 minute ago, Jim85IROC said:

Well, the car is white.  I'm not thrilled with how it came out, but at least I didn't have all the issues that I had last time.  The white coat started to lift the primer on the hood, but it was minor enough that I could sand it out prior to clear.  The clear flowed well but still ended up looking dry once it set up. I'm going to do a minor wetsand and buff, but I'm not going to get crazy with it.  It'll be fine for how I'm going to use it.

 

Next is to add the chrome details, get the headlights, taillights, mirrors and decals on.

Looks really good

[Hobie Hartkins]

20 hours ago, RC General Lee said:

Looks really good

I was about to say.....looks great to me!

[RogerDuke]

Looks like Cooter quality. In order words: it couldn't be better!

[Jim85IROC]

Lots of progress on Rosco's car.  The magnetic body mounts are installed, although I think I need to tweak the body height a bit. The chrome trim is painted, the light bar is installed, the LED headlights and taillights are in, and the taillight lenses are installed.  I still need to install the headlight lenses, but I'm waiting for now because I want to swap the cool white LEDs for more realistic looking warm white headlights.

I've also been working on an interior for the car.  It is a lexan interior intended for a crawler, but with a little work it fits decently.  The driver and steering wheel are from Tamiya.  In this pic the driver was sitting way too high, which tweaked the interior.  I'm working on cutting him down to fit into the car, and hopefully leave enough room for a cowboy hat that I 3d printed.  

Coming up I need to paint the side marker lights, install the decals and then come up with a solution for the front & rear windshields.

I almost had a heart attack right after I took these pictures.  I grabbed the transmitter and must have squeezed the throttle. The car shot into the wall so hard that it dented the wall.  I originally thought the car was unscathed, but I discovered a crack in the front fender above the wheel well.  I glued that up and will need to reinforce that area to strengthen it.

[RC General Lee]

37 minutes ago, Jim85IROC said:

Lots of progress on Rosco's car.  The magnetic body mounts are installed, although I think I need to tweak the body height a bit. The chrome trim is painted, the light bar is installed, the LED headlights and taillights are in, and the taillight lenses are installed.  I still need to install the headlight lenses, but I'm waiting for now because I want to swap the cool white LEDs for more realistic looking warm white headlights.

I've also been working on an interior for the car.  It is a lexan interior intended for a crawler, but with a little work it fits decently.  The driver and steering wheel are from Tamiya.  In this pic the driver was sitting way too high, which tweaked the interior.  I'm working on cutting him down to fit into the car, and hopefully leave enough room for a cowboy hat that I 3d printed.  

Coming up I need to paint the side marker lights, install the decals and then come up with a solution for the front & rear windshields.

I almost had a heart attack right after I took these pictures.  I grabbed the transmitter and must have squeezed the throttle. The car shot into the wall so hard that it dented the wall.  I originally thought the car was unscathed, but I discovered a crack in the front fender above the wheel well.  I glued that up and will need to reinforce that area to strengthen it.

looks good, thats to bad for the minor car crash, but considering how many police cars get rolled and crashed in the tv show, it just adds some character

[RogerDuke]

58 minutes ago, Jim85IROC said:

I almost had a heart attack right after I took these pictures.  I grabbed the transmitter and must have squeezed the throttle. The car shot into the wall so hard that it dented the wall.  I originally thought the car was unscathed, but I discovered a crack in the front fender above the wheel well.  I glued that up and will need to reinforce that area to strengthen it.

I don't know about the wall but Cooter would have fixed the car in no time. 

[Jim85IROC]

I haven't made much progress on Rosco's car, but I did swap the cool white headlights for much better looking warm white lights.

On the side I've also been working on an interior for the Kyosho General.  I was lucky enough to find a really well made 3d model of a 69 Charger with a full interior.  After some tweaks to the files, I was able to print the dash, door panels, seats and rear package tray.  I printed the floor too, but quickly realized that I had to cut almost all of it away to fit over the chassis, so I wound up cutting the door panels and rear package tray so I could install a false floor that I made from a styrene sheet.  After that I printed partial seats to work with the false floor.

Overall I'm real happy with the interior, but after all of this I think when I get time I want to redo it with higher quality prints and a much lower floor for the front seat area.

Here's the interior with the body off:

I cut down a Traxxas body mount and installed it in the front chassis plate:

At the rear I am sitting some tan painted washers right on top of the body post mounts.  There are large holes in the package tray to fit over the body posts.  The body itself holds the rear of the interior down.

 

Next I need to cut out the windows on the orange car.  I used the gray one as my guinea pig to practice on.  I also want to design and print the roll bar for behind the front seats.

Edited June 16, 2023 by Jim85IROC