Lessen's RC18O

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Lessen

Super Awesome!
Supporter
Messages
13,846
Reaction score
5
Location
Aurora, Ohio (Cleveland)
RC Driving Style
  1. Racing
No fellas, that's not a typo. This is my current project. An RC18T converted to a late model dirt oval car. Its simply a FT RC18T with a few extra hopups and mods. First is the most obvious, a Diggity Designs oval chassis conversion kit. This conversion comes with a CF top plate along with the main chassis. In order to use the top plate you have to cut the stock "plate" from the upper gearboxes on either end. This isn't a very complicated mod and Diggity Designs throws in decent directions (with pictures!) along with their kits.

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You'll probably notice right away that I've taken out the entire front drivetrain. I've read that the RC18 is a very capable RWD car. I think it will be a lot of fun.

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I've also done some strange swapping around of shock components. At the rear I have the shorter front shock tower and the shocks consist of long bodies with short shafts and short springs. I did this to lower a bit of weight as well as limit overall suspension movement. At the front left I have a standard short shock while at the right I have a standard long shock. Pay no mind to any suspension settings other than that. Spring rates and such won't get dialed in untill she sees dirt. These mods are just some hypotheses.

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Other mods include a front set of RC18B narrow tires and Speedy's Racing products 1:12 scale body mounting kit. Another thing that must be done to utilize the Diggity Designs chassis is the need to have another rear suspension block as the front block/bumper won't work. I also have a late model McAllister racing body that is gonna get some Crown Royal treatment.
 
Wow! That thing looks fast just sitting there! Awesome job, Lessen! Can't wait to hear how she does in the dirt!
 
Sweet mini Lessen. What motor, ESC, and batteries are you running?
 
That's an Orion Baja, power will come from 6-cell GP1100 and Novak XRS.

I got my body mounted today.. needs trimmed and painted/decals.. I'll have to make my own decals so this won't be a 2 weekend project. I need to order some waterslide decal sheets
 
update

Just a couple things here.. I finally got around to wiring it up. I used some velcro and nylon tape to keep the battery in place. My Mcallister body is trimmed and mounted. Just needs paint and decals.

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Are you going to finish painting the body on this bad boy? Let's see some updated pics. :)
 
Are you going to finish painting the body on this bad boy? Let's see some updated pics. :)

I'm going to order some inkjet waterslide decal paper at the end of this week. Once I get all my homemade decals made and attached I can start painting. The trickiest part is going to be the Crown Royal stitching. It's going to be trial and error on the computer as I try to get the curve just right. I havn't got around to drawing it yet as I've been sidetracked by my CX2 and Christmas video. I need to go to the post office today to pick up my aluminum steering kit. That should finish up all the hop-ups I wanted to get. I have however googled all my major sponsor logo's so that task is out of the way. Just need to size them correctly for the application. I also need to contact McAllister Racing about their 1/10 Ford Fusion decals.. the headlights and grill and so-forth. It's gettin there... still a lot to do though. :)
 
Glad you like :thumbup: I know I said this a week ago but I will be ordering some waterslide decal paper later this week.
 
Ok, so I got a little sidetracked.. :shrug: It's only been 6 months :) Hey, it ain't no crisscraft, hehe.

Anyways, since I have plans on doing an Autism Awareness Crown Royal paint scheme on my new Maxx F-150 body I decided to go with the Irwin Industrial Tools theme here. This won't be near as difficult since It won't require near as much intricacy (sp?) as the Crown truck. And since I'm celebrating Jamie's second win (first win as a fan) I'm going to incorporate a couple things from the paint scheme of his winning car. The yellow at the front goes into flames at the sides (kinda hard to make out on the real car because of all the logos) and also a circular saw disc. The saw is placed forward of the rear wheels on the race car but I'm going to put them on the quarters since there's lots of space for it. As you can see I won't be making any decals. First of all, waterslide doesn't hold up very well. Secondly, ever since I've gotten into this hobby each of my paint jobs has been a bit more difficult than the last so I wan't to continue pushing the envelope of my abilities. Everything on this car will be paint, with the exception of the fusion lights and whatnot. I think I'm gonna have to wait until I get Fusion decals before I can go any further with this.

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Ok, so I got a little sidetracked.. :shrug: It's only been 6 months :) Hey, it ain't no crisscraft, hehe.

LMAO......I didn't notice the date till I read that. It's a beautiful piece of work. Now that the thread is back, we're eagerly waiting for paint & performance. Move it, move it, move it. It ain't no Chris Craft.
 
Nice!!
I have been looking at their On-Road chassis for a while now. I may finish this season with what I have and upgrade this winter.
 
Looks like a great start! Are the waterslide decals hard to work with?
 
Looks like a great start! Are the waterslide decals hard to work with?

Not really hard to work with... The biggest problem is the quality of the print. When I got the paper I did some experimenting. I wasn't too thrilled with the outcome so I decided that I would be happier If I just replicated the "theme" rather than try to actually duplicate the entire car (I had planned to do contingency decals as well).

I just ordered the Mcallister Ford Fusion decals yesterday so I should be able to finish up the design next weekend.
 
Received my Fusion decals today! I'm also considering a couple other logos as well as putting the circular saw blade forward of the front tires instead of on the lower quarters.
 
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More Pictures! !

yes, I'm aware that everything takes me 7 times as long as most people. Just bear with me here... :)

Almost ready to start cutting mask.

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Looks real nice man. I don't have near enough patience to pull off a paint scheme like that.
 
pffft... still not done. I havn't even started to cut yet. I know, I need to get off my ass and get it done.
 
Project Update

Well, seeing as I'm going to the Daytona 500 I really want to finish this up for the race. I would like to get the body autographed by Jamie. Of course at that point it would be strictly a shelf queen body but I can live with that. I just got my 2 sets of Losi rear Mini-Slider wheels/tires. They are chrome and I'm not really down with that but I think I'll wait till the body is finished before I decide whether or not to plasti-coat them black.

I've been spending majority of my hobby time doing some cutting on all this stuff. It's time consuming and I'm not sure how good it's gonna look when it's all done but I think it'll be ok. I just hope I'm not overdoing it. Drawing it is one thing but cutting it is a whole different ball game.
 
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