“Ladies First!” Mrs. Littlemotor’s Tekno ET48 2.0 build!!

[Littlemotor]

This is another build I’m wrapping up for my girl this go ‘round.. It’s a Tekno ET48 2.0 I picked up used for a smokin’ deal that was fairly clean. It came with a Tekin T8 2050KV, and a Tekin digital servo to handle steering duties. The chassis barely had a scratch on it, and the guy MAYBE put a half hour on the thing..

I ALWAYS tear them down to every last fastener, and go through everything. Found a few things the previous owner f’d up on the build, and a couple other things that needed attention as well. I sold her bulletproofed Talion, and bought this as it makes more sense for us being that I run all Tekno buggies, and truggies aside from one Associated RC8 nitro buggy.. Keeps the parts supply from really getting out of control with many different brands.

I think it turned out really nice, and she’s stoked AF to get this thing back on the dirt.. I’m not going over every little detail like I did on my “Gemini Twins” build thread on my profile, but you can see a lot of the things I did, sourced, and changed from the before pics.. Enjoy, and thanks for putting up with my brand-X nonsense.

Tekno does what they call a “gun metal” with most of their aluminum parts, and while I’m not always worried about that kind of stuff compared to function, performance, and durability; I really wanted to make this truck “hers”, so I did as much homework as I could on stuff that I hadn’t seen others attempt, and made my “best guesses” accordingly for a number of parts. Also did the J&T Titanium turnbuckles in “oil slick”, and grabbed a bunch of hot pink washers, and nuts from Ultimate Racing.. The body will be Pink, purple, and teal over a white background, and am having Boom Graphics do some custom Tekno, Tekin, Futaba, J&T, etc. decals, as well as a wing wrap for her, and custom “driver’s name” for the window, and wing plates.. I also went ahead and did all the Tekno upgrades I did on my own trucks with hers, including light weight towers, 2.1 front end, and a number of other modifications throughout the build that nobody ever see’s..

Pretty sick that a few items react to the black light in the Man(child)cave/RC Dungeon too..

Just waiting on my bottle of ChromaAir “Maybe Mint” teal to arrive from Spraygunners, and I’ll shoot the lid with her new ‘80’s graphics, and lay down the custom decals. The only odds and ends mechanically/electrically left for me to handle is the Ruddog 40mm motor fan, Reds Racing holder, and a 100mm Tekin sensor wire for the motor/ESC.. I believe she’s got one more set of JConcepts tires coming as well.

I’m really excited with how it turned out, and realllllllllly glad to see how excited she has been over it… I was a gnat’s ass away from video’n how cracked the F out she got over seeing it yesterday evening.. FINALLY about to build the 1/8 off-road backyard track now..

Thanks again for reading, and checking out the build y’all!

The paint I’m waiting on from my dudes down at SprayGunners will be here Monday it’s looking like.. rough-trimmed out the body, and I’ll wash all (4) of them, and start laying down my liquid mask.. Then onto the graphics, a TON of knife work, and finally PAINT!!! Hell to the yayooooo..

Laid out her graphics, and designed a siiiiiick custom wing wrap to match the late 80’s/early 90’s livery with Hot pink, Teal, and white.. Note the driver name…. “Psychopants” -in graffiti style font…

 

[WickedFog]

Freakin' sick bro! I'd drive it!

 

[Littlemotor]

Freakin' sick bro! I'd drive it!

Thank ya sir!! Good luck prying the Futaba outta her hands!

 

[Littlemotor]

Here we go! Hopefully the recent “practice” Will pay off, and this one doesn’t turn out like homemade shoes….

Mrs. Littlemotor has been super patient while I gain as much practice as possible on my own garbage before attempting hers.. Sooooooo many fluorescents, transparents, pearls, and effects that are FAR above my paygrade on this one.. Nuthin’ to it but to do it, I reckon.. C’monnnnnnnn ice cream!!!

 

[Doom!]

It's gonna rock and you know it ya big ham!

 

[Littlemotor]

It's gonna rock and you know it ya big ham!

My old man was a “HAM” for I think 50 years… I’m just a big nerd over here painting up toy cars.

Thanks for the vote of confidence brotha Dr. Doom Esquire, Sir. It’s coming along..

 

[WickedFog]

Been waiting to see this one. I can visualize it already. Excited to see this progress. Love how the center isn't symmetrical on the top

 

[Littlemotor]

Been waiting to see this one. I can visualize it already. Excited to see this progress. Love how the center isn't symmetrical on the top

THANK YOU! I feel like ya gotta know when symmetry is right, and when it’s just NOT. It’s SLIME/DRIPS/SPLAT etc… when was the last time you saw a spill that was dead ass symmetrical… the body sides are as mirror image as my artistic ability could get them by hand, but I wanted the roof exactly how I drew it out. I appreciate your support man! The late 80’s, early 90’s colors are gonna really set this one off I’m hoping.. And don’t worry man-we will come up with a sick scheme for your Losi my friend.

 

[WickedFog]

THANK YOU! I feel like ya gotta know when symmetry is right, and when it’s just NOT. It’s SLIME/DRIPS/SPLAT etc… when was the last time you saw a spill that was dead ass symmetrical… the body sides are as mirror image as my artistic ability could get them by hand, but I wanted the roof exactly how I drew it out. I appreciate your support man! The late 80’s, early 90’s colors are gonna really set this one off I’m hoping.. And don’t worry man-we will come up with a sick scheme for your Losi my friend.

I'd love to try a splatter job like the beginning of this short

 

[Littlemotor]

I'd love to try a splatter job like the beginning of this short

I can definitely do that..

 

[WickedFog]

How do you apply your liquid mask? Are you spraying it? I want to eventually get a trigger type brush with like a .8 nozzle to try to spray it, but have never really looked into it.
https://spraygunner.com/collections...l-grip-trigger-type-fan-spray-hybrid-airbrush

 

[Littlemotor]

How do you apply your liquid mask? Are you spraying it? I want to eventually get a trigger type brush with like a .8 nozzle to try to spray it, but have never really looked into it.
https://spraygunner.com/collections...l-grip-trigger-type-fan-spray-hybrid-airbrush
View attachment 198661

I’m actually grabbing a cheap HVLP “Jamb gun” from the freight in the next couple weeks. $20 on sale, and they are THE GO TO for LM hands down. I HAVE been eyeballing the Iwata mini-trigger guns for clear coat, and backer. They sure are proud of ‘em though..

I’ve brushed my LM for YEARS, and a buddy of mine donated a Wagner electric “HVLP” spray and pray, and I used it on these last (4) bodies.. I appreciated the gesture, but that thing blows.. Wasteful AF, LOUD AF, and did an absolutely HORRENDOUS job.. I actually went back over these last two with two more brush coats on top of what that thing puked out lol. I’m so glad I did.

This is the one I’m grabbing. It’s what literally every veteran RC paint guru I know uses:

https://www.harborfreight.com/20-oz-hvlp-gravity-feed-spray-gun-56982.html

 

[WickedFog]

I’m actually grabbing a cheap HVLP “Jamb gun” from the freight in the next couple weeks. $20 on sale, and they are THE GO TO for LM hands down. I HAVE been eyeballing the Iwata mini-trigger guns for clear coat, and backer. They sure are proud of ‘em though..

I’ve brushed my LM for YEARS, and a buddy of mine donated a Wagner electric “HVLP” spray and pray, and I used it on these last (4) bodies.. I appreciated the gesture, but that thing blows.. Wasteful AF, LOUD AF, and did an absolutely HORRENDOUS job.. I actually went back over these last two with two more brush coats on top of what that thing puked out lol. I’m so glad I did.

This is the one I’m grabbing. It’s what literally every veteran RC paint guru I know uses:

View attachment 198662


https://www.harborfreight.com/20-oz-hvlp-gravity-feed-spray-gun-56982.html

I don't have an air compressor that would push something like that (apartment). I was hoping you was going to say you figured out a way to shoot it through your airbrush

I did see a guy that was spraying a liquid mask through a similar trigger brush like I showed, but that was a long time ago and I can't remember where I saw it. Spraygunner/Createx had some videos out there, and I was thinking it might have been one of their videos, but I haven't really looked too hard to find it.

 

[Littlemotor]

I don't have an air compressor that would push something like that (apartment). I was hoping you was going to say you figured out a way to shoot it through your airbrush

I did see a guy that was spraying a liquid mask through a similar trigger brush like I showed, but that was a long time ago and I can't remember where I saw it. Spraygunner/Createx had some videos out there, and I was thinking it might have been one of their videos, but I haven't really looked too hard to find it.

Brother…. shoulda LED with that!

You ABSOLUTELY can LM through a brush. Need to be .5mm needle AT LEAST. Just thin some Bitty’s with distilled water until it’s the consistency of whole milk, and let her eat. About 7 coats will do ya right hombre. You can assist drying with a hairdryer, or heat gun on no heat, or low heat as long as it’s legit LOW. Or set it in front of a fan, and walk away.. you want each coat completely dry before the next, or you’ll be waiting until Christmas to paint it. In 2027..

That no name minigun you shared will work just fine for that. I have an 80gal Ingersol, so a $20 jamb gun is the ticket. I use a tiny Northern compressor with top tank for the brushes.

 

[WickedFog]

Brother…. shoulda LED with that!

You ABSOLUTELY can LM through a brush. Need to be .5mm needle AT LEAST. Just thin some Bitty’s with distilled water until it’s the consistency of whole milk, and let her eat. About 7 coats will do ya right hombre. You can assist drying with a hairdryer, or heat gun on no heat, or low heat as long as it’s legit LOW. Or set it in front of a fan, and walk away.. you want each coat completely dry before the next, or you’ll be waiting until Christmas to paint it. In 2027..

That no name minigun you shared will work just fine for that. I have an 80gal Ingersol, so a $20 jamb gun is the ticket. I use a tiny Northern compressor with top tank for the brushes.

Even with a .8 needle I am going to need to upgrade my compressor. I am thinking about grabbing a little Makita portable. Or at least grab the no-name branded one with the tank from SG. My current airbrush compressor doesn't do too well with even a .5 needle because it doesn't have a tank. I am thinking about maybe grabbing a tank to just plumb into the feed line if nothing else. But it does just fine with anything under .5, so I don't really need it at the moment. My '67 Mustang body for our drag Slash really pushed it to its limits though.

But your work on your bodies has me wanting to spray something, so I may get out some speed shapes or a Tamiya body I have here and play around with some liquid mask and try some paint effects. Or maybe see if I can produce some better real fire. I know I could do a pretty cool tear off paintjob, it's just getting off my butt and doing it.

 

[Littlemotor]

Couple teasers… Didn’t get as far as I’d have liked tonight, -had a bottle of paint fight me to death, but I made it behave momentarily… Just cost me a TON of time..

Now I gotta hit the sack..

And ANOTHER night without any damned ice cream…

And @WickedFog -i swear I’ll reply to your last couple posts when I get up brother. I’ve been painting, fighting a diick bottle of paint, and snapping photos the whole time we’ve been bs’n lol..

 

[WickedFog]

Couple teasers… Didn’t get as far as I’d have liked tonight, -had a bottle of paint fight me to death, but I made it behave momentarily… Just cost me a TON of time..

Now I gotta hit the sack..

And ANOTHER night without any damned ice cream…

And @WickedFog -i swear I’ll reply to your last couple posts when I get up brother. I’ve been painting, fighting a diick bottle of paint, and snapping photos the whole time we’ve been bs’n lol..

Oh. It's all good. I took a nap yesterday at 5pm. Woke up around 10pm and have been struggling to get back to sleep myself ever since. I was almost asleep, then nature called, and welp... I was wide awake again. I have reached the point of F it and I'm just going to try to stay awake now.

 

[Littlemotor]

Oh yeah…… why not…. lights OUT mofo’s.

 

[WickedFog]

Oh yeah…… why not…. lights OUT mofo’s.

View attachment 198667

View attachment 198668

WOW!

The borders of those colors needs to be black now seeing that under the black light!

 

[Littlemotor]

WOW!

The borders of those colors needs to be black now seeing that under the black light!

The first outline is Pearl Silver that I lightened up a bit with som ChromaAir “Grey Gray”, and the outline around the teal slime is going Flo Hot pink. The clear portion up front will have a Flo Raspberry gradient outline against the Pearl silver, and Flo hot pink from the very front all the way into that raspberry.. Window trim will be Flo purple, and I’m gonna do some ghost(ish) honeycomb in Pearl silver coming out from under the slime on the roof, and sides, as well as up the center of the bed. The rear color will be Wicked opaque white with wicked transparent Flo white mixed up with it.

Custom decals are Hot Pink, white, and Teal. As is the wing wrap I had made up specifically for this paint scheme.