Vaterra Twin Hammers - Project Necromancer

[ABabyEater]

While waiting for the Phoenix I have backordered to arrive... (AMain has a stupid backorder policy that is NOT 1st come 1st serve)

I have decided to try and resurrect an old and completely roasted Twin Hammers I have happened across!

I have a couple of planned mods I'd like to look into, and hopefully implement:
- Twin rear shocks (1 full, 1 damper)
- SCX10ii Transmission Swap
- Battery low cg relocate
- Bellcrank steering
- Body restoration - possibly aluminum panels, hopefully full light kit.

As I dig in, I will be finding new and plentiful issues I'll have to address. I will be compiling a list below, and striking off items as they are taken care of. Here we go...

- New wheels (1.9 beadlocks, 12mm hex)
- New tires (small diameter for most scale look, 4"-4.5" to outer tread)
- New foams (depends on what comes with tires)
- Bearing kit On the way
- 4Ch Flysky receiver
- ESC (Considering Mamba X)
- Motor (Considering Holmes Puller Pro V2 Stubby, KV will depend on transmission selected)
- Servo (Something low profile, possibly Reefs, Protek, Holmes, NSDRC, etc. Not sure if I want a light one yet or not.)
- Screw kits (M2, M2.5, Cap head, Button Head, Counter sunk, etc)
- deal with 1 stuck grub screw The head was FULL of dried loctite. Once carved out it came free no problem.
- investigate knuckle pins, possible grub? Looks like Grubs here and in CVDs are possibly 1.3mm? There are also some tiny screws in the transmission, possibly 1mm? Ended up using a cheapo Torx wedged in for the smallest, but it is too small for the small grubs. 1.3mm and 0.9mm MIPs are on the way. Also switching to aluminum CHubs for better meat on the grub threads.
- Replacement Gaskets for diffs. Managed to save and clean up the original gaskets, and will be holding them aside since I will be running lockers both front and rear.
- Replacement front diff. Resurrected the old front diff, Vaterra official locker on the way.
- Upright shocks?
- Alternative Transmission? Will likely include building driveshaft(s)

 

[nino]

Always liked this one, never got it as it got discontinued soon after I started the hobby. Have fun with the restoration!

 

[Doom!]

Will be watching and hopefully learning a thing or two.

 

[ABabyEater]

Will be watching and hopefully learning a thing or two.

I like how you think I have any knowledge that is worth learning

I'm going to take the same approach I have with rebuilding engines. Tonight will be sorting and cleaning, since I have the whole thing broken down to smallest parts already (excluding 1 stripped grub screw in the transmission )

 

[ABabyEater]

I made some progress on the breakdown and whatnot.

Fully separated into big parts, little parts, hardware, shocks, diffs, and CVDs

As I broke it all down to the most minimum components, I found EVERY bearing was completely shot.

I later broke down all the smaller components into their even smaller bits, diffs, CVDs, and shocks.

I had a little surprise waiting for me in the diffs, though...

The front diff was "locked" by some sort of hardened resin, possibly JB Weld? I'll have to look into getting a new front diff and a locker for it. I also want to try and find a rebuild kit or 2 for the replacement paper gaskets. The original ones are in fair shape, but it would be nice to have others on hand.

I'm not sure how rebuilding the shocks will go, they may be too leaky to save. I'd like to look for some upgraded shocks if I have to replace them. Curiously, the front pistons had 1 big hole, and the rears 3 small holes.

I filled each bin for a good soak in Simple Green. I'll take some acid brushes to each piece likely tomorrow and get them scrubbed down. I think I have a couple spare toothbrushes that should help, too.

Looking at conversion parts, it looks like Scorched Parts has a Shapeways page for the bellcrank conversion and for a drop in SCX10 Transmission mod. I'm thinking that with modern ESCs and Sensored Brushless motors, I likely won't need to run 2 speed anymore. Dropping in an SCX10 transmission should simplify the drive process, as well as lowering the CG. If I play my cards right, I should be able to fit all the electronics, as well as the battery directly onto the chassis, lowering the CG even further.

 

[Doom!]

I have no idea how you can keep track of all that!

 

[ABabyEater]

I have no idea how you can keep track of all that!

Exploded Views. Hardware will be a bit more difficult, with having to match screw sizes and lengths, especially with all the mismatched and just plain wrong screws used, but I'll get it figured out.

Exploded Views for the V1 is attached. I can't find any for the V2 (Which this one is, easily identifiable by the lights on the nose - V1 has them, V2 doesn't.)

 

[ABabyEater]

Looking around, I can't seem to find any front diff parts... Bad news. I may be in for a loooong few nights of chipping out the front diff with a dental pick. If I don't, it isn't the end of the world, considering that I'll just be locking the front diff anyways. I would just rather do it right, with the factory spool.

 

[ABabyEater]

A little more progress for tonight

Shocks reassembled (minus springs, perches, and preload collars). I still need to decide on a fluid density and fill them as well. The O-rings were pretty rigid, so I'm not sure how well they'll hold fluid. I also reassembled the rear spool, and started chipping away at the "locker" in the front diff. I am now 95% sure it is almost 10 year old silly putty... not good stuff. I need to get a dental pick, and set aside a weekend just to get this stuff out.

 

[ABabyEater]

A quick status update before I break to make dinner:

I did it!! It took a TON of work, but I finally managed to get the front diff un-stuck. A word to the wise, if there is a need to lock a diff, do NOT use Silly Putty, use silicone earplugs instead.

I went ahead and cleaned up and temporarily reassembled the front diff to hold it all together until the official Vaterra front locker arrives.

I also cleaned and reassembled all the driveshaft/CVDs. These were fairly easy, but the pin retainers are tedious. Anyone who has assembled a CVD like this would agree.

I did not, however, do anything with the cross-pin retaining grub. I feel like it is a completely unnecessary part of the assembly, and only gets in the way if the retainer pins ever shear.

I have also been beavering away at scrubbing down the smaller parts, with one of the two bins cleaned up and dried. I am still waiting on a Fast Eddy bearing kit to arrive, so I can't put much back together yet, and I'll likely need to get a bunch of screws ordered at some point, but that comes later.

 

[Doom!]

It already looks like a different rig.

 

[ABabyEater]

What rig? It isn't assembled at all yet! Stay tuned, it I can get the rest of it built, I can start putting the chassis back together!

 

[Doom!]

Well, ok, that heap of bits and peices looks much better than it did yesterday! Thpppppt!!!

 

[ABabyEater]

The cleaning continues.

I sorted out most of the hardware, and it isn't good news... I can save most of the model-specific hardware, if not all, but the majority of the generic screws are corroded go an almost unusable state. I'll have to either find some more screw multi-packs and keep the surplus, or get a stainless kit. I don't think it'll be worth just getting 10 packs of the screws I need, except for a select few like Grubs.

I did, however, finish cleaning up the rest of the small parts aaaand...

Got a good start on the big stuff! I even found a little surprise!

The green paint is stripping off, but the original paint underneath isn't!

 

[ABabyEater]

A few days of scrubbing, and the breakdown and cleaning is finally done!

The remaining large parts are done, and the new paint is fully stripped off the original body panels. Admittedly, I didn't do the best job, but it still looks WAY better than it did. I am still considering picking up some aluminum panels and running those instead.

Shoutout to Jordan with Holmes Hobbies on the recommendation of how to deal with the "fuzzies" from rocks scratching the plastic: gentle heat with a torch or heat gun will melt the fuzzies back into the part, and bring the oils back to the surface. I'll be trying this later this weekend, but until parts come in, I may be stalled for a few days.

 

[Doom!]

I hate to say it after you stripped off all the paint, but I think aluminum panels would look great.

 

[ABabyEater]

I hate to say it after you stripped off all the paint, but I think aluminum panels would look great.

Agreed, especially since they will scar with rollovers and such.

I was hoping to resurrect the body more for "original"-ness than anything.

 

[ABabyEater]

Rise! Rise my glorious creation!

(So it begins...)

Starting with a cheap Injora 3 gear transmission (I couldn't find any original Axial AX10 transmissions online).

Mirrored! There was some significant modification to mirror the transmission since the cheapness showed so hard. It is plastic geared, and the input shaft didn't have a swappable cap like the original, so I had to bore a new hole to swap the shaft. Add in some random spacer trimming and it holds together nicely.

Oh yeah, and I bought the wrong Axial transmission, so now I have an extra 5-gear.

I was glad to find RCScrewz and Fast Eddy both make kits for the Twin Hammers, despite being discontinued. Sure, the stainless screws are a bit weaker, but the car being so light, not incredibly powerful, and the convenience of not having to buy a ton of different 10 packs really made it an easy choice.

I started with the easy stuff, like the rear axle. I also made sure to layer on a little grease along the entire length of the axle shaft, for the extra moisture resistance. The stainless does look pretty snazzy.

Moving on to the chassis, the link mounts, towers, etc all bolted up really easily, and the links, shocks, sway bar, etc fit well. I'm really happy with the rear geometry of the suspension. Test placement of the 3-gear transmission as far back as possible leaves plenty of room in front of it, and I may swap in a front center CVD instead of a hybrid CVD-Dogbone. I do need to either track down a conversion mount, or drill some new holes. Either way should work fine.

I think that with some creative electronics placement, I should be able to fit a Mamba X on edge directly in front of the motor, and by using a low profile servo I should be able to fit my 1500mah crawler batteries directly on the chassis.

 

[Doom!]

But, but, sir.......your screws, they are the wrong color. Lookin good. nice job on the mirroring of the transmission.

 

[ABabyEater]

I will likely be ordering an aluminum body set tomorrow sometime, but I want to find the thinnest panels for weight savings, and for the scarring on rollovers. So far I have found some 0.040" and 0.025", but that's it. I think it'll look good paired with the stainless screws, too.