HYPER MINIS

Alright, just ordered a losi micro crawler. I posted some about my plans in Wrench's micro thread but since mines on the way it's time for my own. I have a 1/20 Chevy S10 body that came on a wired dancing bed lowrider, the front hopped and the bed danced and twirled, haha. It's not as detailed as a true static model, no interior and the windows are black. But at the time I'd never seen a 1st gen S10 model so I grabbed it. 5" wheelbase so I'll either make new links or a new chassis for the losi, haven't decided yet. They also sell some urethane super swamper iroks on ebay that I'm tempted to get for a more scale look. I'm not going full comp or full scale on this, just a nice place in the middle. Here's a pic of the body on another static models chassis/axles/tires.

pretty cool....im like you havent seen a s-10 body like that. if you go on ebay check out trevors toy box he sells them so real diecast trucks on there and has super swamper tires an other that i think are about the size of these.

There's a guy on ebay who makes slot car tires who made molds off the soreal tires and made them from a softer plastic. They even fit the losi rims. He also has boggers and TSL's but they are both smaller diameter. I never saw any 1st gen s10 models till this losi came out. Now the S10/Sonoma trucks are almost as popular as jeeps. All 20th scale and reasonably priced, think the maker name was Lunsford or something like that. I can't wait for this thing, I plan to make a paper mache' course for indoor crawling ontop a 2'x4' piece of plywood.

No real update since my order is stopping at every post office between here and Montana, haha. But i did read on RCC about using a retracting ID badge clip as a winch and picked some up today at wallyworld, 3 for $2. So the lil S10 is getting a winch, whenever it gets here. Link to the RCC post on the winch. http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/showthread.php?t=224988

Finally got mine. I'm trying to resist the urge to rip it apart right away. I'd like to fully experience every modification as I do them. So a few packs in bone stock form, them move some electronics, then try droop springs, then weight the tires, then add wheelbase, and finally switch to the scale S10 body. Also plan on a lipo swap somewhere in that process. But here's the pics of it completely stock, I already love it.

Well, switched to droop suspension, lengthened the links to 5" wheelbase, and moved the battery to the back axle. I think I'll put the springs back on and make some new upper shock mounts to inboard them. I almost hate to slap the s10 body on there, it's fun as a comp style crawler.

Nice one Jamus. Grats on the new rig. Enjoy the journey. Can't wait to see what all you have in store for this lil pup. WTG man.l8r,w.

That looks cool, I need to find a body like that or a Dakota body to copy my real truck, even though it is a long bed.

That's the cool thing about using model bodies, you can remake them however you need. There's actually a guy on scale4x4 that used a Blackfoot(Ford F150) body and is modifying it to look like a 1st gen Dakota. All you need is a squarish body to start with I guess. If I had some skills that may be a way to get a 1/10 S10 body.

Well I did a few mods today. First I got some 3/8" washers and drilled them to fit on the front faces of the rims. I added an extra washer ontop the first to add more weight, and to make the bolt head more flush. The second thing I did may not be what most would choose to do. But for my use, the pros outweigh the cons. I added AAA battery trays to the chassis and am running rechargable AAA's(4-cell). These batteries have no stated capacity but are at least 700mah, probably higher. As you would expect, it didn't help COG, but I can live with it.

Yeah, mine is a first gen, so a body like that works and I donlt think I would match it up completely anymore anyways. Well it would have when I first picked it up last year, it is more modified now and some still waiting to be painted and added. Guess I need to start looking for a body.

Just ran my first test of the AAA's. 1 hour 7 minutes before any sign of power loss, haha. Stock battery gets about 10-12 minutes. I doubt I'll be running them down that far again, that's a lot of crawling.

No pics but I redid the wheel weights. I removed all the foams and those washers, and added BB's inside the tires and on the wheels. I stuffed 50 BB's in each tire and squeezed 10 on the backsides of each rim. Now I have more weight and it looks stock on the outside, which is good for a quasi-scaler like I'm building.

Definitely like the old school body!

wild stuff! I'm curious how you're going to get it to flex under that s-dime body, with those small fender openings... maybe open them up, and glue on some brake line around the cuts to make it look like a perimeter cage!!! Could dove-tail it too! Like something you'd see entered in the King of Hammers, not really a full on comp rock-crawler, but a combo with a trail rig too! Would be very cool IMO, and you'd be able to flex it out no problem when you're on your 1hour and 7min. endurance crawls, holy smokes, haha!!!

Wheel wells will definitely be opened up, just like they need to be on a real S10. Though I'm waiting to see if my vacuum forming project works. If so, I'll have a lighter body that I can get crazier with the trimming.

Did some trimming on the body. Still needs some sanding and paint but looks like it will fit well. Reminds me of many S10 cabbed mud trucks where they really cut open the fenders. Body isn't mounted yet, can't decide on which setup would be best. I was also thinking of bobbing the bed, as shown in the last pic. If I owned an S10 I'd do it to the real one, so...

Well I am going in a slightly different direction with this. The idea is a more comp worthy crawler, but still able to slap the scaler S10 body on sometimes. So I ordered 3 600mAh 1s lipos for $10 shipped. http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.35109 And I'll be adding the Driven Pro torsion chassis to my crawler, customized for a longer wheelbase.

Nice one Jams. Had a long hard look and read on chuck's reviews and was already on the fence about scale or comp or a quick change to both. Looking forward to your build. I call SHOTGUN!!!!!!! Cold beer and hot popcorn at the ready.lol l8r,w.

Thanks Wrench, unfortunately Toyz is out of stock of both black and white chassis. I'm going to be coming down to south Florida again towards the end of the month and wanted to have this thing tricked out to bring along. Hopefully they get more in stock soon.

Got the DP chassis in today. Wish my hong kong lipos would get here as fast as Thetoyz ships. Between rain and the power being out for a while I still managed to put something together. I wanted to keep the 5" extended wheelbase that I had before, so I went to making some upper link mounts to allow for that. The rear mounts turned out good and seem to hold. The front mounts however didn't work out as easy. I CA glued cutting board to the stock losi parts and it seems to bond well. But on the front, the new holes needed to be drilled right along the seam between the two materials. Both sides drilled alright but one side broke as I was tightening the screw. So I swapped the front back to stock length just to have a complete vehicle. I actually like the stock front/extended rear. This gives me a 4.5" wheelbase and some forward weight bias. That is it will once I put the transmission and servo back in. I also plan on bent rear lower links before I put it completely back together. Anyway, here's the pics. Bring on the "hill of beans" jokes if you must.