1/10 scale Suburban style build

[Mudrig150]

Working on making a 3d model to 3d print a hardbody for a scale 70s Chevy Suburban inspired build. I will not be building it as a crawler, instead it will be a stock looking cruiser for light offroad and hiking trail driving.
I've been looking into various chassis for it, with a list of things I want:
-around 310 mm wheelbase for a 200 mm width body
-leaf springs stock or available aftermarket
-realistic looking axles
So far I'm really leaning toward the RC4WD Trail Finder 2 K20 chassis for the realistic axles, leaf springs, and it being the perfect wheelbase for the truck design. I also have the Vanquish VS4-10, GCM CMax, and Boomracing BRX01AWB on the list of potential chassis candidates. Anyone have experience with the trail finder who can give a review about the chassis? I've seen a few complaints about hit or miss quality, issues with threads stripping, and front axles breaking.
Current progress on the model:

 

[Spksh]

Are you planning to split it up for the print?

 

[Mudrig150]

Yeah, the biggest part will be the main body and all the different panels will be separate prints.

 

[BustedAw11]

Awesome!
I'm in to see this! I used to own one heck of an old suburban (86) Got a soft spot for em

 

[Mudrig150]

I've made my decision, I'm going with a VS4-10 chassis with a leaf spring conversion kit.

 

[RippingLegos]

Wow, super cool.

 

[CertifiedMike]

Does anyone remember the 'Mountain Man' Suburban rc truck that was for sale in the JC Penny's xmas catalogs???

Was the first thing I thought of when I read this post. God I wanted one of those things!!!

I had a bunch of square bodies back when. 1 Suburban, a few Blazers and a Jimmy too. Awesome trucks!!!

Good luck with this build!

 

[Mudrig150]

Have the VS4-10 ordered and it should be here just after Christmas for me to start making the mounts for the body.

 

[RudyF6]

That grille looks like it's upside down for an early square body.

 

[Mudrig150]

That grille looks like it's upside down for an early square body.

It's inspired by a square body, not a direct model. I enjoy this kind of Mashup design theory of taking different parts of old trucks and molding them together.
The body is Jeep, and the grille is Jeep/Chevy.

 

[Mudrig150]

Kit is in, and I can already say it will need MUCH shorter shocks to not look goofy with the body that's going on. Going to be putting body on as low as possible which will be fun to figure out...

 

[Mudrig150]

Got motor crammed in and realized that I need like 160 mm axles to achieve the look I'm going for... problem is that that's like 1/12 scale in terms of width, rather than 1/10. The stock axles are 180 and the tires are going to stick out 20 mm on each side, given the rim offset.

 

[Mudrig150]

I've still been working on the model in the last month, but progress has been slow because of work and lack of motivation. Still working toward getting it done and planning in the background on how to get it done.
This truck will be getting leafs in the back but I'm leaving the coil springs up front like a 79 bronco, it will have a space in the back to store some small tools like extra pins, wheel nuts, and the driver for it so I'm not totally left behind when things go wrong.

 

[Mudrig150]

Model is finally closed in, just need to slice it up for printing. Will be splitting it into three sections (right behind the front doors and behind the rear doors) and then printing it in 3 seperate prints.
Printing and then electronics will be next step in this process...

 

[Mudrig150]

First half is printed! Unfortunately I ran out of filament and am now waiting for another roll to show up to print the back half.

 

[Mudrig150]

Finish line is getting closer! Need to sand and paint, still waiting on my tires from RC4WD, and I also need to make up my mind on a battery for it.

Bucket list long term thing is going to be a leaf kit for the back, but I'm focused more on getting it working.

 

[Doom!]

She's lookin' really good.

 

[Tallbump]

That is so awesome. Well done. I wish I had the talent to pull that off.

Can't wait to see the rest of the process, and the "finished" product

 

[Mudrig150]

Got the tires in. Tried fitting them to the king hauler rims temporarily but the rims are so narrow that the tires just want to jump off the rims.
Already knew I'd need to do something custom because every RC4wd rim I've seen has too wide of an offset so the tires will rub. Decided to do a test for a 3d printed beadlock in PLA to see if it would break immediately and discover any other design flaws I could fix.
Surprisingly it held up great on the first print after about 20 minutes of bashing, including a crash that sent the whole truck onto its roof. The first version was smaller than anticipated and the screws wouldn't fit, and neither would the wheel hex.
Now to print the other 3 rims to get all the wheels on.

 

[Doom!]

Lookin' good, have you decided on a color yet?