Custom building RC semi

[Devils RC Designs]

Alright so I need a little help here. I’ve been a few small RC cars, but nothing on a more large scale. I am building a RC out of a Semi Crane truck for my little brother and I need some help with the electrical side of things. I’m a mechanic outside of building rc but that’s more natural for me when it comes to electrical on an rc it seems foreign. I guess my question is how to set up electrical components on a vehicle not meant to be an RC. Do I need to Diecast the frame then make the mount guides for when the motors and all other electrical components will go? Any advice y’all?

 

[Greywolf74]

I have no experience doing anything like that sorry. I'm sure some of the other guys who like doing the custom scale stuff can help though.

 

[STONER RC]

Alright so I need a little help here. I’ve been a few small RC cars, but nothing on a more large scale. I am building a RC out of a Semi Crane truck for my little brother and I need some help with the electrical side of things. I’m a mechanic outside of building rc but that’s more natural for me when it comes to electrical on an rc it seems foreign. I guess my question is how to set up electrical components on a vehicle not meant to be an RC. Do I need to Diecast the frame then make the mount guides for when the motors and all other electrical components will go? Any advice y’all?

Morning and welcome..so what's the plan? As far as what type of electrical components are you talking about.. and your taken a RC crane and turning into truck or building a rc crane?? The RC world runs on DC power.. and very little voltage..not sure what you trying to do.. a little more detail and info maybe some pics would help out alot.. so we could help you bud

 

[Chubaka]

Tamiya makes 1/14 semis. Steel frame, 3 speed rwd and awd. I've seen people turn sleepers into day cabs.

There are a few aftermarket hydrolic systems out there. You can also use servos. Servos are big and small, and I'm sure witb the winches you can find gear reduction for it.

I've was set to purchase a tamiya freightlner cascadia but they have been discontinued.

What scale and what type of a crane?

 

[WickedFog]

Are you just using the semi portion of the truck? Or will you be attempting to get the crane working as well?

It sounds like you are asking for a way to turn a static model into an RC. This will be a tough one. You will need to show us some pics of the chassis. You are going to need a gearbox, driveshafts, axles, servo for the steering, wheels and tires, the ESC, radio with receiver, motor, etc.

The easiest way to do all this is buy an RC with a chassis that will work and mount the semi body to it. There is a guy in the official WPL Facebook group named Ken Lee that uses WPL and MN parts (two brands of RC's) and builds some of the coolest RC big rigs I have ever seen.

Having access to a 3d printer makes a lot of this custom stuff easy, or having good fabrication skills helps as well. Here is one I have done a bit of modifying to. The trailer is completely 3d printed except for the axle.

Working 5th wheel and fenders are 3d printed. The diamond plate is from Scenic Scale Models.

 

[Devils RC Designs]

Sorry guys about not posting pictures last night. But this is my project. It was a crane truck but I'm only using the cab and chassis. But the chassis is plastic and cracked in a few places so thinking about dyecasting the frame or buying one that will work. This is a project I'm doing for my little brother.

 

[WickedFog]

You would be better off just taking that body off and using that and building your own chassis, or buying a pre-made chassis. Go on FB and join the WPL Official Group and I will accept you. PM me here with the name I need to look for in the group join requests.

Once in the group, search for Ken Lee. He has done a LOT of builds just like you are doing, starting off with a body from static models and toy vehicles. I can help you with the parts you may need to find, but you will have to do a bit of fabrication. He uses a lot of metal tubing and cuts and grinds parts to shape, solders and brazes things together, etc.

 

[Doom!]

Sounds like a cool project but it's going to be a bit of work. What kind of budget do you have? Do you have dimensions for the current rig?

 

[STONER RC]

Sorry guys about not posting pictures last night. But this is my project. It was a crane truck but I'm only using the cab and chassis. But the chassis is plastic and cracked in a few places so thinking about dyecasting the frame or buying one that will work. This is a project I'm doing for my little brother.
View attachment 131800View attachment 131801View attachment 131802View attachment 131803

Wow that cool.. that will be one hell of a project build.. it can be done but like Doom said what's your budget looking like.. because it won't be cheap. And probably alot of patience and man hrs. But when it's done.. It will be awesome.. are you trying to get the Crain working as well? With a working boom and winch along with working turret and cab? Your brother will be super stoked when he sees it for sure

 

[WickedFog]

I would start by measuring the track width from outside the tires to see what kind of axles you need to find. There are a few different options here, but it depends on what scale that vehicle actually turns out to be.

If it is 1/14 scale, there are Tamiya axles, chassis, etc.

If it is 1/16 there are these for a WPL. The WPL axles are around 131mm wide.
JVSISM Metal Front & Rear Axle Bridge Gear Box for WPL B16 B36 C14 C24 B14 B24 1/16 RC Truck Car Upgrade Parts Accessories,6WD

For the WPL, you could actually grab the whole truck. The B16 is probably the cheapest. That way you would have a chassis, motor, gearbox, steering setup, etc. Then you just have to pop the body on it and make some way to mount it.

 

[Tunedfrog]

Looking awesome.