Project Bandit43

[Doom!]

At last! A proper roller. Steering servo install keeping the front wheels from flopping about seals the deal.

ProTek PTK-100SS cored motor digital metal gear speed servo. Average specs 4.8v/6.0v: 0.10sec operating speed; 151 oz-in dynamic torque.

Next up: radio receiver and antenna pipe (faux) to finish out the radio system install. Suppose sometime soon best trim down the body to make sure everything will fit under it. -AC

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Man, if you had another one you could go roller skating. Looking good!

 

[ahr43]

Time for an update. Packed this project away in the attic for a while. For some reason felt the build wasn't going where I wanted it to.

Did a trial fit with P-L Gladiator STC tires and Raid wheels w/14mm hexes. Think this may do the deed giving more ground clearance for how I bash.

Fit up a brushed 27T power unit complete with old school NiMH six round cell battery pack. Rethinking that too and have a HW 5400Kv sensorless brushless on order. Have a 4000Kv HW sensorless in the basher stash and will swap that in and keep the 5400 back for future use. 2s x 5000 HV Lipo for a battery.

JConcepts body trimmed to fit. For this build the body is a tight fit on this chassis, so cannot fit the receiver box cover. Not a biggie. Rethinking the paint as well. Have a few new cans of Tamiya in the stash. See what shakes, rattles and rolls there. -AC

 

[WickedFog]

Time for an update. Packed this project away in the attic for a while. For some reason felt the build wasn't going where I wanted it to.

Did a trial fit with P-L Gladiator STC tires and Raid wheels w/14mm hexes. Think this may do the deed giving more ground clearance for how I bash.

Fit up a brushed 27T power unit complete with old school NiMH six round cell pattery pack. Rethinking that too and have a HW 5400Kv sensorless brushless on order. Have a 4000Kv HW sensorless in the basher stash and will swap that in and keep the 5400 back for future use. 2s x 5000 HV Lipo for a battery.

JConcepts body trimmed to fit. For this build the body is a tight fit on this chassis, so cannot fit the receiver box cover. Not a biggie. Rethinking the paint as well. Have a few new cans of Tamiya in the stash. See what shakes, rattles and rolls there. -AC

View attachment 209971

I see an apocalyptic buggy sitting there. Love it so far!

 

[CertifiedMike]

Which body is that?
it looks GOOD on that buggy!

 

[Doom!]

Which body is that?
it looks GOOD on that buggy!

Agreed, I like the look.

 

[ahr43]

Hey guys. Thanks for looking and asking. JConcepts Illuzion "Hi-Speed" for Bandit VXL, p/n 0043. Wasn't until going to the JC website that reading the fine print it wasn't intended for my chassis. Little mild trimming and not attaching the receiver box cover did the trick.

JC Bandit Body

Won't mount the wing to this build. Reviewing YT vids after buying the slider seeing lots of blow-overs on Bandits with RR wings. Did buy an AE FR wing and still working on a way to mount that up front. May just settle for an air dam under the FR bumper.

More to come soon as this build is back on front burner. -AC

 

[ahr43]

Power unit combo arrived in the post yesterday. Stripped out the brush system and doing a test install of the brushless motor and ESC. Appears a bit of work is in order.

Compromise is the order of the day. Both in fitting the ESC and using a 'shorty' in place of a full-length 2s LiPo. Body still fits. That's a good thing.

I see a tranny build coming - Have a set of RPM cases in the wish list. Fill the internals with TRX steel gears and a 32P pinion/spur topping it off. That and an upgrade to replace the nylon steering bellcrank up front. Depends on which of the two fails gets first call.

-AC

 

[WickedFog]

Power unit combo arrived in the post yesterday. Stripped out the brush system and doing a test install of the brushless motor and ESC. Appears a bit of work is in order.

Compromise is the order of the day. Both in fitting the ESC and using a 'shorty' in place of a full-length 2s LiPo. Body still fits. That's a good thing.

I see a tranny build coming - Have a set of RPM cases in the wish list. Fill the internals with TRX steel gears and a 32P pinion/spur topping it off. That and an upgrade to replace the nylon steering bellcrank up front. Depends on which of the two fails gets first call.

-AC

View attachment 210316

Glad to see this one back on the bench. I want to build a Bandit for a Pinto no-prep build. Maybe after Spring I can get on it.

 

[ahr43]

Thanks, Kevin. Yeah, the apocalyptic buggy is beginning to come along.

So want to see you build a no-prep Pinto Bandit. Thinking that will make for a great combo. -AC

 

[luke66]

Glad to see this one back on the bench. I want to build a Bandit for a Pinto no-prep build. Maybe after Spring I can get on it.

You know what else would be interesting? A Pinto Body on a Bandit Oval build. That'd be interesting.

 

[WickedFog]

You know what else would be interesting? A Pinto Body on a Bandit Oval build. That'd be interesting.

That would be cool if they actually made a 1/10 body. The no-prep body would be huge compared to other 1/10. Closer to 1/8 or even 1/7 scale.

 

[ahr43]

Fleshed out the project to completion as a roller. Finalized it with a test run.

Had two issues going head-to-head that slowed the process. Binding the receiver went o.k. ESC programming became issue one. First had to find which programming box would work. Have three now. Two HW and one Spektrum. Finally sorted that out and then had a reverse running issue that I could not resolve by switching NOR-REV servo settings on the transmitter. Ended up swapping leads from the motor to the ESC. That did the trick. Blu-Org-Yel now instead of the normal Blu-Yel-Org.

Earlier in the week swapped out the 48p gearset for a 32p, albeit w/o a slipper clutch. Ratio set at 4:50 right now. Like to get into ~5:00 range but will need a different tooth-count spur. This works for now.

Next comes body painting. -AC

 

[CertifiedMike]

Fleshed out the project to completion as a roller. Finalized it with a test run.

Had two issues going head-to-head that slowed the process. Binding the receiver went o.k. ESC programming became issue one. First had to find which programming box would work. Have three now. Two HW and one Spektrum. Finally sorted that out and then had a reverse running issue that I could not resolve by switching NOR-REV servo settings on the transmitter. Ended up swapping leads from the motor to the ESC. That did the trick. Blu-Org-Yel now instead of the normal Blu-Yel-Org.

Earlier in the week swapped out the 48p gearset for a 32p, albeit w/o a slipper clutch. Ratio set at 4:50 right now. Like to get into ~5:00 range but will need a different tooth-count spur. This works for now.

Next comes body painting. -AC

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I'm curious about the gear pitch change.
I stayed with 32P trans on my Kyosho build to see it it would be better with a hot motor. I also intalled a slipper and 48P out there. If 32P slipper was avail, I'd have tried that too
I need tires like these in traditional 2.2 buggy size! They look so perfect!

 

[ahr43]

Thanks, Mike. Gotta be honest regarding the change to 32P. I just like the aggressive growl a 32P makes over that of a 48P. That and I'm no longer a patient guy that used to fiddle about with 48P pinion and spur to find that just right sweet spot. Changing ratios on a 32P gives an immediate result - be it too high a ratio or too low. No need to fiddle about. Close enough is good enough.

There is a TRX 272R tranny in one of my Rustlers. May swap that into this build eventually. Seeing now there are aftermarket 32P steel spurs that will work with the TRX Magnum-style slipper. Best of both worlds as it were with that as a set-up.

Cheers. -AC

 

[CertifiedMike]

Thanks, Mike. Gotta be honest regarding the change to 32P. I just like the aggressive growl a 32P makes over that of a 48P. That and I'm no longer a patient guy that used to fiddle about with 48P pinion and spur to find that just right sweet spot. Changing ratios on a 32P gives an immediate result - be it too high a ratio or too low. No need to fiddle about. Close enough is good enough.

There is a TRX 272R tranny in one of my Rustlers. May swap that into this build eventually. Seeing now there are aftermarket 32P steel spurs that will work with the TRX Magnum-style slipper. Best of both worlds as it were with that as a set-up.

Cheers. -AC

I'll be watching for a new trans set up soon then!
You can certainly get "trapped" in the spur/pinion game!

 

[ahr43]

Tranny is in the planning. Still in the mix is the RPM tranny case set. Like that the RPM has a provision to change RR arm to either (-) 1 1/2deg to 0deg. Price is reasonable and it comes with an aluminum motor plate too. That way can set the RR toe to 0 for drag racing or (-) 1 1/2 for grass track. Fill it with TRX steel diff ring and steel gears, 32P pinion and spur and its good-to-go. -AC

 

[CertifiedMike]

I do like how much aftermarket is avail for Traxxas products! You can build them just about ANY way to suit!
The adjustability sounds like its well worth the effort and expense.

 

[ahr43]

Time for the first update of 2025. Progress is slow, but steady. Waiting for a stretch of warm weather to paint the body. Probably a good thing, anyway. Still waffling between a body color of dark green (first choice) or yellow (option consider). Leaning now back to a dark green. Think it will complement the aluminum upgrades better than a yellow. That and dressing up a few rough cuts on the body, determined the motor leads needed a bit more body cut-out to set the body better.

Black button head steel cap screws on the hex inserts for the wheels were all suffering from slight, but noticeable, surface rust and looked tacky. They don't black oxide fasteners like they used to. Anyway, was going to order more. Instead, digging around in the basher stash came up with enough stainless fasteners to do the deed. Looks better and no more surface rust concerns so prevalent here in humidity high Houston.

While changing out fasteners, swapped in a pair of 14mm aluminum hex inserts for the rear wheels. Had them in the basher stash so put them to use. Adds a bit to the bling factor, albeit with a slight increase in unsprung weight.

Also fabricated a wood service stand from scrap in the shop. That's a wrap for now. Getting anxious to track test this puppy. -AC