MRC Thunder King

[civilguy]

I know a couple people here like the TK, so I thought I should start a thread on my new find. I feel like a molehill next to JHarris' mountain , but I got a very nice Thunder King in trade today. The body is flaking, but in decent shape, so I may try to strip it. The rest needs a good dusting. There's a minor scratch on the chassis but otherwise this is a nice monster.
My plan is to convert it to a single brushless motor and run 14.8v. I have a couple nice servos from my 1/8 nitro buggy phase a couple years ago, so it's getting at least one hi-torque servo, maybe two if I can find matching ones in the boxes. I have a couple ComPro escs that need testing.
Anyway, the RC10 runner is just for scale:

[Lowgear]

Nice, Theres a couple out there I've seen where some big bucks were spent modifying them. I know theres a semi recent thread on ClodTalk about it thats worth checking out.

[civilguy]

I've seen that one-- a TK truggy, right? I think it had Savage a-arms if I remember. Purpletimbo has three of these I think.
My plans is to do a budget basher.... but a GIANT one. The guy I traded with got some modern gear I never use and he got rid of something he's moved twice now and never uses. One man's trash...
I have some 1/8 scale electric gear (mostly Czech stuff- ComPro) that was given to me by a fellow racer. I think I have a 4200 and a 3200 motor, which with two of my lipos piggybacked at 14.8v should rip. Luckily I got 2 spare sets of gears with this, so if the brushless experiment ends badly and quickly I will likely go back to dual 12turn Titans or something similar. Just to see this thing lumbering across the yard was awesome-- can't wait to see how it moves on steroids.

[Lowgear]

Yup thats the one. I found the thread on it from rctech: http://www.rctech.net/forum/electric-off-road/240828-mrc-world-scale-cars-thunder-baja-king.html That might give you some good ideas on what can be done.

If you have a problem with gears you can try these from RC4WD: http://www.rc4wdstore.com/2/product_info.php?products_id=398 I think those may be the only aftermarket part ever made for the Thunder King. They weren't around that long and were very durable on their own thus the lack of aftermarket support.

[rc10johnny]

NICE Jeff,glad ya got a monster basher to run around Johnny

[purpletimbo]

Yep I have a collection, and amongst it a new unpainted shell, and plenty spares, I did see a thread on RCMT about replacing the diff with metal from a Kyosho Mad force I think.
Shipping will be a beast with the size of shell, but I got about 5 for 3 trucks now, I was about to add an EVX-2 and titans.

[civilguy]

For some reason I've had a bunch come out of the woodwork lately in my area. Not that I'm complaining: #1 it's not economical to ship anywhere, #2 you can't find parts easily and #3 in stock form they are slow as snails compared to the modern stuff. All those points add up to cheap Thunder Kings for me.

I am going to try a single motor brushless setup with 14.8v first and see how that performs. I'll post up some pics (maybe even a video) once I get to this... likely after I get my taxes done.

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

... likely after I get my taxes done.

After? Somebody has his priorities mixed up!

[civilguy]

... likely after I get my taxes done.

After? Somebody has his priorities mixed up!

"Somebody" has a friend who is an accountant who won't have time to get mine done if I wait to long.
Less $$ paid in tax prep == more money to spend on toys. I'd say my priorities are in line.

[purpletimbo]

Found the other shell pics, if you ever happen across spare body mounts the tall white ones

[metallicats33]

very nice TK's. I heard they're are really strong and well made... is this true? I've never gotten to see one in person. I myself have been looking for the Buggy version locally for some time now with no luck.

[civilguy]

They are tanks and with dual silver can motors on 1500 or 1700mah packs, yes they were pretty much bulletproof. The only weak spot I can find is the sky-high plastic body mounts, especially the when you dump the back bumper on the ground. Once I get some brushless power in it I will update this thread and also let everyone know what breaks.

[Lowgear]

[aeiou]

Welcome to World Scale, Jeff!

Here’s a couple of photos of our runners. The Thunder King is my son’s truck. It has 2 Trinity Midnight motors and Novak Super Duty. The Baja King is mine and it’s setup with an older Novak HV Pro / 4.5 brushless combo and 14.8 LiPo. It’s a scary beast to drive. We have a lot of fun with these things.

[civilguy]

Very cool.
Couple questions:
On yours, why the battery pack? No BEC on that setup?
Why mount the single motor on the high side? I've seen other who did that too. Is there no clearance on the low mounting position? (I haven't got that far yet.)
What tires are those? It looks like stock rims, but those are definitely not stock tires.

BTW I am loving the monstrosity of this thing. It's a beast and it hasn't even moved yet.
BTW I am planning on 14.8v as well-- MGM ComPro TMM 8012-3s esc with a LMT Basic-XL-3100 or -4200 motor. 46000 or 62000rpm?