1/24 Scratchbuilt Rock Crawler in Brass...

[Square Peg Round Hole]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Dwight. I was invited to this group by my friends Dave Morton (Karmodeler2) and Dirk Joseph (ScrappyJ). I meet them during Modelpalooza 09 and we hit it off and had a blast and they have totally inspired me to bring my game up a few notches and dive into scratchbuilding. I have never scratch build anything prior to this, but with the constant words of encourgement and endless amounts of their advise I decided to take the plunge. Attached are some recent progress photos of a 1/24 Rock Crawler. I decided to go in this direction for alot of obvious reasons. I hope to meet alot of fellow hobbiest and look forward to sharing anything I can to help push the hobby in an upward general direction.

Above is my friend and yours, brass tubing...

Here are some "Bypass" Style Off-Road Shock absorber bodies. In scale they are 15", but I will have to make longer version for this particulair project.

Here is the hardest part of the build in my opinion. I planned on using all sorts of tricks etc... but what it boiled down to were magnets and right angles to set her up.

Here is a shot of what felt like a good idea, but was more hassel than what it was worth. The blue paste is a heat blocking past that also seemed like a good idea, but was messy and not necessary after the fact. I controll heat transfer with a drop of water on the joint I am trying to protect. When it starts to sizzle, I know I have a few moments before disaster. This tecnique works awesome... (for me).

Here is a completed pic of the Center Chassis.

Above I am starting the lower section of the chassis.

Here is a progress pic of the lower chassis from the mighty armchair, my wife happens to be real cool...

Starting the upper chassis, this was a bugger to get square, also, I added an "agression" bend to it after I was done, look for it in the next few pics...

I am getting happy at the progress and it is suare all the way around too! (Always a plus)

Thanks for looking and I will post an update after this upload.

[Square Peg Round Hole]

Ok, here are my latest pics.

Here are a killer set of scale 49" IROC's from RPP Hobby, sorry for the blue tape, but you know how mock ups go... if you dont, well thats how it goes.

here is a mock up pic for me to salivate over.... this thing is finally taking shape. The motor is just some junk I had for a mock up.

Just another angle of the mock up... I will finish the chassis this week. Not too bad progress wise. 1 day for the chassis and 1 day for the shocks (x4)

[ScrappyJ]

Not bad for a first try, Dwight. Just kidding. Man this thin looks awesome. I can't wait to see more!!!

[RodneyBad]

Looks great.

I love Rock Crawlers..

[Glen G.]

great start! i wish i had the....um.....BRAINS to scratch with brass. i will be watching this one.

[Foxer]

You sure are jumping in all brass tubes and soldered joints flying! That frame looks really great!! Nice work!

.. and welcome to the Forum.

Edited June 22, 2009 by Foxer

[Square Peg Round Hole]

Thanks for all the nice feedback everyone. I am looking forward for the next push in the build....