Would these 4-Tec 2.0 components work together?

[MarkTypeR]

Hi everyone,
New member here, I just wanted to ask a quick question. I've recently gotten back into RC and I'd like to purchase my second car, a Traxxas 4-Tec 2.0 VXL. The 4-Tec is a kit so I wanted some advice to see if what I'm doing is even right. I got these three components (I have battery and charger under control no problem there), and I'd like to ask, will they work together?

Chassis:
https://traxxas.com/83076-4-4-tec-20-vxl-chassis
Body:
https://www.hobbytown.com/bittydesign-venom-1-10-gt-body-clear-190mm-bdygt-190vnm/p780398
Paint:
https://www.hobbytown.com/tamiya-ps3-light-blue-lexan-spray-paint-100ml-tam86003/p125348

Also, anything else you would recommend me to get or be aware of?

Thanks,
Narek

 

[racerEX]

Hi everyone,
New member here, I just wanted to ask a quick question. I've recently gotten back into RC and I'd like to purchase my second car, a Traxxas 4-Tec 2.0 VXL. The 4-Tec is a kit so I wanted some advice to see if what I'm doing is even right. I got these three components (I have battery and charger under control no problem there), and I'd like to ask, will they work together?

Chassis:
https://traxxas.com/83076-4-4-tec-20-vxl-chassis
Body:
https://www.hobbytown.com/bittydesign-venom-1-10-gt-body-clear-190mm-bdygt-190vnm/p780398
Paint:
https://www.hobbytown.com/tamiya-ps3-light-blue-lexan-spray-paint-100ml-tam86003/p125348

Also, anything else you would recommend me to get or be aware of?

Thanks,
Narek

Looks like it should all work.

 

[MarkTypeR]

Looks like it should all work.

Thanks!

 

[Littlemotor]

Hi everyone,
New member here, I just wanted to ask a quick question. I've recently gotten back into RC and I'd like to purchase my second car, a Traxxas 4-Tec 2.0 VXL. The 4-Tec is a kit so I wanted some advice to see if what I'm doing is even right. I got these three components (I have battery and charger under control no problem there), and I'd like to ask, will they work together?

Chassis:
https://traxxas.com/83076-4-4-tec-20-vxl-chassis
Body:
https://www.hobbytown.com/bittydesign-venom-1-10-gt-body-clear-190mm-bdygt-190vnm/p780398
Paint:
https://www.hobbytown.com/tamiya-ps3-light-blue-lexan-spray-paint-100ml-tam86003/p125348

Also, anything else you would recommend me to get or be aware of?

Thanks,
Narek

Not exactly sure how much “fudge room” there is with a Traxxas vehicle.. That body is for 190mm onroad cars, and the 4-Tec is 200mm..

As for the paint, it’s what you want. -though I’d recommend (2) cans of your base color. Yes-the hobby shop will tell you that one can is enough to do a 1/10 scale body, but scale (and platform) is HIGHLY subjective..

A Tamiya Hornet is “1/10 scale”, but there is FAR less real estate to cover than the “1/10 scale” Bitty onroad lid you linked us too..

Just sayin’…

Also, I don’t know if this is your first gig with a lexan body, but there are some fundamentals to absolutely adhere to.. Now people have their preferences-and there’s for sure more than one way to skin a cat-but here’s what I recommend that worked well for me personally until I finally caved, and grabbed a capable airbrush setup..

Wash the body inside & out with lukewarm Dawn & water.
Fling all excess water out of the body, and gently towel up the rest with a lint free cloth-preferably a non-scratching microfiber.
Allow to air dry for a half hour or so.
Mark (with a black Sharpie), and make any cuts with either curved lexan scissors, or an X-acto. Impossible to accidentally scar your fresh paint job this way..
Repeat above washing & drying steps.
Apply any masking (windows, custom stuff, liquid mask, etc..).
Make sure your temperature, and humidity levels are within the parameters required to have a successful result. When in doubt-simply check the paint can (I prefer 75-95F, and somewhere less than eleventybillion% humidity).
Spray your first coat RIDICULOUSLY LIGHT. I cannot stress this enough. I mean INSANELY light.
Allow PLENTY of time for your paint to dry COMPLETELY between coats. This is an absolute requirement-not opinion.
Shoot your second coat exactly the same.
3rd & 4th coats can be about double the saturation of the first two.
You ought to be able to get nice even saturation with the 5th coat, and it be slightly heavier than the previous two.
With a rattlecan, I almost always prefer to back lighter colors (such as what you linked us to) with Tamiya White (PS-1) (also (2) cans to be on the safe side), and again-go LIGHT, and aim for about 3 coats to fully cover. Too heavy, and you’ll actually bring your base coats back to liquid, and have a bad day..
Finish dress all of your edges/cuts with 220grit paper, and then 400grit.

https://www.hobbytown.com/tamiya-ps1-white-lexan-spray-paint-100ml-tam86001/p125344

More experienced folks can absolutely get away with less coats that I outlined above, but this is about the most failure-proof method IMO..

Allow ample drying time before you pull your mask(s). Some may argue this, but I’d ALWAYS rather pull mask from DRY paint, over wet, or slightly wet. I’ve never had a failure when adhering to the above method(s).

Good luck, and welcome to the forum!

 

[MarkTypeR]

Not exactly sure how much “fudge room” there is with a Traxxas vehicle.. That body is for 190mm onroad cars, and the 4-Tec is 200mm..

As for the paint, it’s what you want. -though I’d recommend (2) cans of your base color. Yes-the hobby shop will tell you that one can is enough to do a 1/10 scale body, but scale (and platform) is HIGHLY subjective..

A Tamiya Hornet is “1/10 scale”, but there is FAR less real estate to cover than the “1/10 scale” Bitty onroad lid you linked us too..

Just sayin’…

View attachment 258503

Also, I don’t know if this is your first gig with a lexan body, but there are some fundamentals to absolutely adhere to.. Now people have their preferences-and there’s for sure more than one way to skin a cat-but here’s what I recommend that worked well for me personally until I finally caved, and grabbed a capable airbrush setup..

Wash the body inside & out with lukewarm Dawn & water.
Fling all excess water out of the body, and gently towel up the rest with a lint free cloth-preferably a non-scratching microfiber.
Allow to air dry for a half hour or so.
Mark (with a black Sharpie), and make any cuts with either curved lexan scissors, or an X-acto. Impossible to accidentally scar your fresh paint job this way..
Repeat above washing & drying steps.
Apply any masking (windows, custom stuff, liquid mask, etc..).
Make sure your temperature, and humidity levels are within the parameters required to have a successful result. When in doubt-simply check the paint can (I prefer 75-95F, and somewhere less than eleventybillion% humidity).
Spray your first coat RIDICULOUSLY LIGHT. I cannot stress this enough. I mean INSANELY light.
Allow PLENTY of time for your paint to dry COMPLETELY between coats. This is an absolute requirement-not opinion.
Shoot your second coat exactly the same.
3rd & 4th coats can be about double the saturation of the first two.
You ought to be able to get nice even saturation with the 5th coat, and it be slightly heavier than the previous two.
With a rattlecan, I almost always prefer to back lighter colors (such as what you linked us to) with Tamiya White (PS-1) (also (2) cans to be on the safe side), and again-go LIGHT, and aim for about 3 coats to fully cover. Too heavy, and you’ll actually bring your base coats back to liquid, and have a bad day..
Finish dress all of your edges/cuts with 220grit paper, and then 400grit.

https://www.hobbytown.com/tamiya-ps1-white-lexan-spray-paint-100ml-tam86001/p125344

More experienced folks can absolutely get away with less coats that I outlined above, but this is about the most failure-proof method IMO..

Allow ample drying time before you pull your mask(s). Some may argue this, but I’d ALWAYS rather pull mask from DRY paint, over wet, or slightly wet. I’ve never had a failure when adhering to the above method(s).

Good luck, and welcome to the forum!

Wow man thank you for all these instructions. I definitely learned a lot. I for sure didn't know that you had to do that many coats. This will be a perfect starting point for me. Also, I was researching that 200 vs 190mm issue, and would you know any cars that are 190mm? Or is there a way to trim down the 4-Tec to that much?

 

[Littlemotor]

Wow man thank you for all these instructions. I definitely learned a lot. I for sure didn't know that you had to do that many coats. This will be a perfect starting point for me. Also, I was researching that 200 vs 190mm issue, and would you know any cars that are 190mm? Or is there a way to trim down the 4-Tec to that much?

MOST onroad sedans are 190mm, Traxxas is not-because it’s an entry level RTR vehicle-so it doesn’t conform to any class rules dictated by ROAR, or IFMAR. I do not believe there’s anything you could do to “trim it down”, as it’s the track width measurement (or close to it), so you’d have to seriously modify the steering, and suspension to do so.. This would obviously destroy any handling ability that vehicle has..

I personally do not buy a vehicle around a specific body-instead by a vehicle for the vehicle, and find a proper body that blows my skirt up-which correctly fits said vehicle..

If you need a proper 200mm body, have a look at what these guys offer..

https://deltaplastikusa.com/collections/best-sellers/4tec-body

 

[BustedAw11]

@Littlemotor is dead on with the 200mm body requirement.

Fortunately there are actually quite a few 200mm bodies available.

Take a look at this link. Most are labeled right in the title if its 200mm.
Like I said, lots of options.
https://www.amainhobbies.com/1-10-200mm-tc-bodies-parts-cars-trucks/c1300

Ps. Be sure to check wheelbase compatibility also

 

[MarkTypeR]

MOST onroad sedans are 190mm, Traxxas is not-because it’s an entry level RTR vehicle-so it doesn’t conform to any class rules dictated by ROAR, or IFMAR. I do not believe there’s anything you could do to “trim it down”, as it’s the track width measurement (or close to it), so you’d have to seriously modify the steering, and suspension to do so.. This would obviously destroy any handling ability that vehicle has..

I personally do not buy a vehicle around a specific body-instead by a vehicle for the vehicle, and find a proper body that blows my skirt up-which correctly fits said vehicle..

If you need a proper 200mm body, have a look at what these guys offer..

https://deltaplastikusa.com/collections/best-sellers/4tec-body

Holy wow thank you. I could have never found this on my own. This is perfect.

 

[MarkTypeR]

@Littlemotor is dead on with the 200mm body requirement.

Fortunately there are actually quite a few 200mm bodies available.

Take a look at this link. Most are labeled right in the title if its 200mm.
Like I said, lots of options.
https://www.amainhobbies.com/1-10-200mm-tc-bodies-parts-cars-trucks/c1300

Ps. Be sure to check wheelbase compatibility also

Good advice with the wheelbase compatibility. Thanks man

 

[MarkTypeR]

MOST onroad sedans are 190mm, Traxxas is not-because it’s an entry level RTR vehicle-so it doesn’t conform to any class rules dictated by ROAR, or IFMAR. I do not believe there’s anything you could do to “trim it down”, as it’s the track width measurement (or close to it), so you’d have to seriously modify the steering, and suspension to do so.. This would obviously destroy any handling ability that vehicle has..

I personally do not buy a vehicle around a specific body-instead by a vehicle for the vehicle, and find a proper body that blows my skirt up-which correctly fits said vehicle..

If you need a proper 200mm body, have a look at what these guys offer..

https://deltaplastikusa.com/collections/best-sellers/4tec-body

That Ferrari body is looking sweeeeeeet

 

[Littlemotor]

Holy wow thank you. I could have never found this on my own. This is perfect.

No problem at all buddy-happy to help. There are many other members far more fluent in the onroad stuff than I. @BustedAw11 might just be one of those guys..

That Ferrari body is looking sweeeeeeet

You’re not wrong, my friend..

 

[MarkTypeR]

No problem at all buddy-happy to help. There are many other members far more fluent in the onroad stuff than I. @BustedAw11 might just be one of those guys..

You’re not wrong, my friend..

Man don't underestimate yourself, for a noob like me you're an encyclopedia

 

[CertifiedMike]

If you are looking for help fitting bodies to a chassis, contact teambluegroove.com
Trish and Jon are a small team but they are very knowledgable about their products. I have dealt with them a bunch and they are super nice ppl!

I have one of their wings and bodies sitting on my ottoman in front of me right now actually!

Their prices are in CAD so discount a few maple leafs when you translate to USD prices too!

Good luck with your project!!! Post LOTS of pics!!!

 

[MarkTypeR]

If you are looking for help fitting bodies to a chassis, contact teambluegroove.com
Trish and Jon are a small team but they are very knowledgable about their products. I have dealt with them a bunch and they are super nice ppl!

I have one of their wings and bodies sitting on my ottoman in front of me right now actually!

Their prices are in CAD so discount a few maple leafs when you translate to USD prices too!

Good luck with your project!!! Post LOTS of pics!!!

Just sent them an email. Thanks Mike! Will do with those photos!

 

[BustedAw11]

No problem at all buddy-happy to help. There are many other members far more fluent in the onroad stuff than I. @BustedAw11 might just be one of those guys..

You’re not wrong, my friend..

I dont know nuttin, broski