RC: my Welsh Wraith (pic heavy)
Discussion
About time I did a build thread on here for my wraith, now it's been out for its maiden run.
First off, days of agonising over which bits to buy, and from where. All over the world (Ok: UK, USA, HK); paypal account in meltdown!
A mix of cheap and top-end! Parcels were arriving every day or so for a while...
Staying brushed, and NiMH, a bit for cost reasons (I've got a pile of NiMh batteries and charger); a bit as serious LiPo seems to break Wraiths fairly quickly unless serious trans upgrades are made; also I'm not interested in massive speed - I'd rather this climbed rocks than smashed into pieces on them.
Also... I live in Wales... so I decided "waterproof" was a good thing to aim for
Choose a Novak Eiger ESC for flexibilty, price and waterproofness.... I've only since seen some poor reviews of reliability so we'll see how it goes...
Orion 27t motor for speed/torque balance... more on that later.
Nice shiny Axial beadlock wheels:
About this point, I saw Krawler Konceptz' inside skins on the RCcrawler forum, so more budget was put aside and a long exchange of emails started with Michelle as she turned the ideas I had for a Welsh themed car into art.
The actual build started; the standard shocks are absolute pants and after just the one run I have ordered some replacements! I spent more time trying to get them to work properly than any other single part of the build...
Knocked up a battery tray in the front:
Then came my ultimate waterproof idea for the electrics: a sealed up box, to be fitted in the back of the car. So I bought a wp box, and immediately drilled a load of holes through it! Mounting the aerial had my flummoxed for a while; a root through my shed came up with half a nasal canula as the perfect flexible right angle.
Swapped everything to Deans (including my old MantaRay, now all my batteries are Deans) and quick link up to check it all works:
Having a clear box means I can keep an eye on the ESC's lights while running, which is handy. Despite my slight concerns, no sign of the ESC overheating in use - I'm not pushing it hard with this car.
Found a driver, gave him a 3/4" tummy tuck so he fitted nicely. You can see the stickers for the interior Michelle did to complement the outside.
Then spent a while cutting out the lexan (not my favourite job) and fitting the vinyl stickers (also not my favourite job). A rather stressful couple of hours or so... but worth it! Let the photo-whoring commence...
And some close ups of the stickers: they're on metallic, almost reflective, backing and it's hard to photograph just how shiny they are without the lighting swamping the picture with reflections.
Having been out for my first run (cold and wet, between gales): as mentioned, the sad PTFE taped shocks are for the bin asap - piggybacks on order instead; and... she's just a bit too slow for my taste, despite saying at the start I'm not a speed demon. I'm running that 27t motor on 56/14 (32p) gearing at the moment; I've just got off the ModelSport site ordering up a 23t motor and a 16 tooth pinion. I've got a 12 tooth kicking around as well so hopefully between the 2 motors and 3 pinions I can find something about right. If 27t + 16 is still too slow, and 23t and 12 is too fast the it'll be back to MS for a 25t
Apart from that, she copes supremely with all the stuff that stopped and broke my Mad Max MantaRay... now if these storms would just stop for a bit...
First off, days of agonising over which bits to buy, and from where. All over the world (Ok: UK, USA, HK); paypal account in meltdown!
A mix of cheap and top-end! Parcels were arriving every day or so for a while...
Staying brushed, and NiMH, a bit for cost reasons (I've got a pile of NiMh batteries and charger); a bit as serious LiPo seems to break Wraiths fairly quickly unless serious trans upgrades are made; also I'm not interested in massive speed - I'd rather this climbed rocks than smashed into pieces on them.
Also... I live in Wales... so I decided "waterproof" was a good thing to aim for
Choose a Novak Eiger ESC for flexibilty, price and waterproofness.... I've only since seen some poor reviews of reliability so we'll see how it goes...
Orion 27t motor for speed/torque balance... more on that later.
Nice shiny Axial beadlock wheels:
About this point, I saw Krawler Konceptz' inside skins on the RCcrawler forum, so more budget was put aside and a long exchange of emails started with Michelle as she turned the ideas I had for a Welsh themed car into art.
The actual build started; the standard shocks are absolute pants and after just the one run I have ordered some replacements! I spent more time trying to get them to work properly than any other single part of the build...
Knocked up a battery tray in the front:
Then came my ultimate waterproof idea for the electrics: a sealed up box, to be fitted in the back of the car. So I bought a wp box, and immediately drilled a load of holes through it! Mounting the aerial had my flummoxed for a while; a root through my shed came up with half a nasal canula as the perfect flexible right angle.
Swapped everything to Deans (including my old MantaRay, now all my batteries are Deans) and quick link up to check it all works:
Having a clear box means I can keep an eye on the ESC's lights while running, which is handy. Despite my slight concerns, no sign of the ESC overheating in use - I'm not pushing it hard with this car.
Found a driver, gave him a 3/4" tummy tuck so he fitted nicely. You can see the stickers for the interior Michelle did to complement the outside.
Then spent a while cutting out the lexan (not my favourite job) and fitting the vinyl stickers (also not my favourite job). A rather stressful couple of hours or so... but worth it! Let the photo-whoring commence...
And some close ups of the stickers: they're on metallic, almost reflective, backing and it's hard to photograph just how shiny they are without the lighting swamping the picture with reflections.
Having been out for my first run (cold and wet, between gales): as mentioned, the sad PTFE taped shocks are for the bin asap - piggybacks on order instead; and... she's just a bit too slow for my taste, despite saying at the start I'm not a speed demon. I'm running that 27t motor on 56/14 (32p) gearing at the moment; I've just got off the ModelSport site ordering up a 23t motor and a 16 tooth pinion. I've got a 12 tooth kicking around as well so hopefully between the 2 motors and 3 pinions I can find something about right. If 27t + 16 is still too slow, and 23t and 12 is too fast the it'll be back to MS for a 25t
Apart from that, she copes supremely with all the stuff that stopped and broke my Mad Max MantaRay... now if these storms would just stop for a bit...
Settled on ordering a 25tx2 motor, along with the extra pinion, and after today's outing (with my daughter) over slightly more technical terrain, I'm already glad I didn't go down to 23t.
It drove up this rock, we didn't pose it!
And a couple of vids (only camera phone, excuse the quality):
Water splashes:
And my daughter's first go at driving anywhere at anything other than full throttle (although she forgets that idea from time to time...):
It drove up this rock, we didn't pose it!
And a couple of vids (only camera phone, excuse the quality):
Water splashes:
And my daughter's first go at driving anywhere at anything other than full throttle (although she forgets that idea from time to time...):
Edited by defblade on Saturday 15th February 19:05
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