Kev’s Bench: 32 Ford Rock Crawler Update

I’ve been up to my eyeballs with projects, review builds and article writing but I somehow managed to find time to work on my 32 Ford rock crawler project and I wanted to share some of the progress with you. Before I could start building the body I had to assemble my Axial SCX10 G6 so that I could see how big the body needed to be and to see if any parts were going to interfere with the body. I didn’t spend a lot of time on the build, right now I just need to see where things are. I’ll go back later and make my tweaks and add the option parts that I have lined up. Some of the parts have already arrived for the truck and it’s given me some motivation to get my butt moving; I can’t wait to see the finished truck.

Axial has a lot of sweet option parts like a machined motor plate, aluminum knuckles and heavy duty diff gears for the SCX10. Since they add strength and enhance the look of the truck, they are going on.

 

For traction and more of a realistic look I’m going with Pro-Line Super Swamper tires. I mounted them on the stock wheels for now.

 

This truck will be under water and I don’t want to deal with rusted screws so I picked up a stainless steel screw kit from RC Screwz. You get all the screws you need for the truck in a nice storage container.

 

With the size of the body figured out I was able to make a buck to build off of. After shrinking the dimensions of the body by .080 all around to account for the thickness of the sheet plastic I’m using to construct the body, I cut a piece of basswood into the shape of the body and glued it to a base so I can line up my .080 plastic panels and glue them together easily.

 

My machinist buddy Ed Cable has been working hard on my custom wheels. I designed them on a CAD program and he is using his master machining skills to make them a reality. The wheels are made of brass which will help lower the truck’s center of gravity and keep it from tipping on those tough sections of the trail. I was going to use these wheels on another project but I felt that they would look better on my SCX10.

I’m excited to see the truck coming together and I am looking forward to giving you another update soon.