First Kit Build - Tekno NT48 2.0

[500 Mike]

I only got interested in RC a little over 1 year ago. I bought a Losi 8ight T Nitro RTR in Oct of 2020. Got my feet wet with it. Got up on the learning curve of break in and tuning with out too much trouble. Learning to drive it was another story. Crash damage from hitting curbs and mechanical issues from me assuming that RTR's were assembled correctly from the manufacturer (

) really allowed me to dive deep into the inner working of the truck, replacing parts, rebuilding/upgrading diffs, upgrading/rebuilding shocks, etc. It was kind of frustrating at the time but was good experience for what comes next, my first build from a kit.

For some reason the Tekno nitro truggy caught my eye. Maybe it was the new "bruggy" body style, maybe it was the color scheme as shown on the website or maybe the reputation of Tekno's being high quality and very durable. Probably was all of those combined which lead to my purchase in early December. The 10, 15, 20% off sale on different items at AMain really helped push me over the edge too. Saved quite a few bucks that way. Once everything arrived, I decided to wait until after the family visits and the Holiday season was mostly over before I started the build. Glad I did! Anyway, here are a few photo's of things as I made my way through the assembly instructions, which by the way were very good. Not 100% complete but only a couple spots had me scratching my head for a few minutes.

And so it begins....

Got the diffs built. Yeah, there are only 2 shown but I forgot to take a pic after building the third one

Front & Rear gearbox's assembled.

Starting chassis assembly

Rear half assembled

Starting to look like an actual truggy....

Shocks are assembled and attached. Servo's in place.....

And that is as far as I've gotten over the past week or so.

I went with Protek 155T servos for both steering and Throttle/Brake. I had read good things about them and again the 20% discount sealed the deal. Next step is getting the engine in place. I decided on an LRP ZR.28 Spec 4. I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a high end engine at this point. Maybe down the road if I get decent enough to start racing. We'll see. This one seemed to be a step or 2 above the Dynamite .28 in my Losi but yet didn't break the budget.

 

[Flames77]

Really cool build man!

 

[WoodiE]

Tekno are some really awesome kits for sure. You're going to have a blast with this one @500 Mike!

 

[Tunedfrog]

Lookin good Mike.

 

[DavidB1126]

I have a slash and rustler and I am planning to race them. I don't think they are good for racing. I will be racing on a carpet track. I was looking at one of the tlr carpet buggies and also one of the tlr short course trucks. My uncle has a xray xb4 and 4wd tlr short course. Since he hasn't been doing any rcs sine 2017 I am going to take his cars.

 

[500 Mike]

Well, I pulled a newbie boner and bought a engine that I can’t use. The LRP with pull starter will not fit with stock engine mounts. If I was a machinist like some in here, that would not be a problem but one of those, I am not. My first thought was to buy a pull start eliminator backplate and be done with it but I can’t find any that I’m convinced will fit. Saw a “maybe” out there on LRP site but not 100% sure it will work on a .28. It lists .30 and .32 AMain couldn’t help with any suggestions so it looks like I’ll have to return it and go to plan B. Not sure what that is yet. I wanted to use a .28 but not sure there is one outside of the Dynamite .28, in my price range. If anyone has any suggestions, I’m all ears. I may have to drop to a .21. Have been looking at the Reds 521 Sport that some have mentioned on here that they really like. That one is at the very top, and really a little over top, of my budget but I would consider it. Appreciate any thoughts ya’ll have.

 

[500 Mike]

Well.... I returned the LRP engine mentioned about and went with a Reds 521 Sport based upon good reviews I saw on this site. It finally arrived today and was able to finish the rest of the build today.

Went with the long header to give it more torque since it is a truggy

Still have a lot to do to get it set up and ready to break in but the bulk of the work is done. At least it looks like a vehicle now versus just a bunch of parts in a box! Looking forward to an initial fire up, hopefully later this week. Thanks for reading!

 

[500 Mike]

Latest update is... I got a bad battery from Protek/AMain for the truggy had to get it checked at the LHS and then replaced thru AMain. They did their due diligence to make sure it was bad but once I submitted what they asked for they sent an new one out, same day. Happy they stand behindtheir products. New battery seems fine. I am out of town for a week so won't make any more progress until next week. This is moving way slower than I'd hoped but trying to make sure all is well before moving to the next step. If anyone is really paying attention to this thread, stay tuned.

 

[Doom!]

Still here glad they took care of the battery. It's better to do it right than to rush it. We just get impatient when we want to try it out.

 

[500 Mike]

Quick status update on this build. Finally got the body & nose cone trimmed out. Got the new receiver battery installed, Transmitter setup and calibrated. I've got 1 tank full of break in fuel run threw the new Reds engine. It was running super rich at the "out of the box" settings and those were richer than the manual stated but though I'd run the 1st tank that way at least and then lean it out a little next few tanks. It was dying on me every few minutes so that was a pain to try and keep it running but the new starter box worked flawlessly, so I was very happy about that.

Now, I'm moving on to painting the body & nose cone. This will be my first attempt at paint so we'll see how it goes. YouTube videos have been very helpful as well as info on this board, so I've got my fingers crossed that it comes out looking decent. Going to try an 2 color scheme.

I've got another 5-6 tanks to finish up the break in process then will head to the local track to see how she handles compared to my Losi 8ight T RTR that I'm moving up from. So far so good!

 

[500 Mike]

Well, I finally got the body painted and a few stickers attached. I am mostly happy with how it turned out. Had a few paint bleeds and smears here and there but overall not too bad for a first attempt. I'm more of a mechanic than a painter!! I ran another tank of fuel through it at idle in my garage so I've got another 5 tanks or so to go on break in per the Reds engine manual. I replaced the glow plug and that seemed to help keep the idle more on a even keel as well as leaning the needles out just a little. Hope to get it out on the concrete parking lot I use for break-in once the weather warms up some and then on to the local track. Really looking forward to seeing how it drives compared to my RTR Losi Truggy. Thanks to all who have stopped in to read this. If anyone has any more advice on this truck, I'm all ears! Here are a few pics of the finished product.

 

[Doom!]

Looks good! You'll be out there running it before you know it.

 

[Addict Rc]

Nice job have fun with it