HG-P407 "Bruiser Clone" Arrived Today!

[Dadio]

Ha ha , your welcome to slum it here in the clone thread , its us that are Pariah's in the Tamiya section , to answer one of your questions I'd wait for the hex adapters that don't increase the track , its not a big deal at the rear but up front the wheel turns in a wider ark from the fulcrum point and that makes it interfere with the wheel arches more , the wheels rubbing is an issue with all these trucks and the bigger the tire the worse it gets .

[coxbros1]

Thanks Dadio...
I found these:

I found the axle kit in Eurupe!

Gonna be sick build!

[thecollector]

Hi I recently purchased a RTR HG-P407.
My goal is to convert it to a crawler/scaler.
Mine has the same problems as everybody here. Sloppy springs, poor quality screws and the wheels aren't lined properly.

To get the scaler look right I'm ditching the bull bars and the side bars. The bodywork will be lowered by a few mm's
I'll add lights but Banggood is affected by the Corona outbreak (I'm guessing) coz some things I ordered are proces for almost a month now.
I'll have to rearrange the electronics due the lower bodywork. I've to design and 3D print some new parts to hold the electronics.
To finish it off I'll paint the body in early 80's Toyota Yellow and light/sand brown interior to make the 80's look complete.

For the crawler conversion I have some questions:
Like most, I'm ditching the original shocks. I'm wondering witch replacement shocks I should buy ?
Is the RTR ESC any good ?. I'm reading everwhere that you'll a drag brake ESC for crawling.
Should I replace the original motor with a crawler motor or is the original good enough ?
The servo will be mounted in the front to eliminate the slop.
One of the original rims is broken. I'll replace them with alloy rims.
Pictures will follow

[Dadio]

In stock form the ESC is pretty poor on the brakes but if you switch to a 50t motor it slows it right down and the stock ESC does a reasonable job , the front and rear wheel track is a legacy problem from being a direct Tamiya copy , wheel spacers up front sort it out, there's a model on Thingiverse for them , there are 1.9 wheels on thingiverse as well that open up the tire choices , the stock tires hit the wheel arches on hard lock with any articulation unless you change them or cut the arches or do both ,again its a legacy of the Tamiya design .
Oh and everybody is really bored right now so post a ton of pictures

[coxbros1]

"Oh and everybody is really bored right now so post a ton of pictures"

Lol, yup

[Basher67]

I got my daughter to help me make a little video of my truck. I'm no steven spielberg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgls-Tq1gSw

[XLR8]

Great video Basher! Thanks for posting a link.

I've had my P407 out just yesterday, slipped a 26t pinion on for little more speed and slid it around on the dirt track. The suspension is really starting to get loose and compliant now. What a fun truck!!

[Dadio]

Cool video ! It did OK I had mine out last week with an FPV setup that I robbed of a cheap drone , just trundling round the garden was ok ish but I'd the woods it would be way better but its still forbidden

[Basher67]

Thanks Dadio. Without my daughter doing the technical stuff, the video never would have been done. I'm looking at fabricating a skid plate to cover the transfer case. Its not just a clearance issue, it's that there is no smooth transition. The wraith, because of it's long wheelbase, was high-centering on the same rock as the toyota, but the wraith has a smooth skidplate, so it slides over a high-centered situation with a little throttle input.

[Dadio]

Thanks Dadio. Without my daughter doing the technical stuff, the video never would have been done. I'm looking at fabricating a skid plate to cover the transfer case. Its not just a clearance issue, it's that there is no smooth transition. The wraith, because of it's long wheelbase, was high-centering on the same rock as the toyota, but the wraith has a smooth skidplate, so it slides over a high-centered situation with a little throttle input.

I just made this for the transfer case for the exact problem , its only 1mm less ground clearance at the lowest point .





Its not perfect and not yet tested but its got to be better than the slab faced original design , I'm putting it on Thingiverse along with a remix of a set of 1.9" wheels by Bisbiglio74 i tried to make them look like pressed steel wheels , i designed them in two types , the front wheels have a built in spacer to correct the track .

[Dadio]

Designed and printed another wheel option , this time its 2.2 like the stock wheel , i made them narrower than the stock wheel by 20mm , same offset and again with a built in spacer for the fronts , the narrower rim is only 30mm as opposed to 50mm for the stock wheel , this pulls the tire in a bit , rounding the shoulder of the tire and with the tires I'm using it actually gives 3-5mm more clearance to the bodywork or leaf springs .
Comparison with stock wheel.


And on the car .

I've painted them satin black but not got a picture yet , looks better to me in black .

[Steve71]

They look good. Gives the tires a nice balloned/rounded look with the narrower wheels.

[Dadio]

I found some tires that work better with the 1.9" wheels i made earlier , the Super Swampers looked a little small and reduced the ground clearance as well but i found these https://uk.banggood.com/4Pcs-AUSTAR-AX-5020-1_9-Inch-120mm-Rock-Crawler-RC-Car-Tires-For-110-Traxxas-SCX10-4WD-TF2-RC-Car-p-1285880.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN
on Banggood , very soft almost sticky to the touch 120mm high and only 40mm wide , they give better ground clearance while remaining fairly narrow so the get good arch clearance .
These are the Super Swampers

and these are new tires



I think they are the best combination yet for grip and looks , i like them more inside the arches .
My front leaf springs had also sagged , i don't think the spring steel HG use is that good and I've been looking for options and i found the RC4WD D90 soft leaf springs looked to be about right so i ordered a pair for £10.21 delivered from Ebay , they come as 4 leaf packs so i removed the two smaller leaves and they fit straight on , i did need to swap out the little screw that holds the leaves together in the middle as the RC4WD leaves have a larger screw and it wont fit under the U bolt bracket but the HG screw works , otherwise they are a drop in fit and work really well .

[Dadio]

Been playing again , as anybody can tell you the Bruiser / P407 don't flex well and although you can get satisfactory articulation up front the rear end is another matter , the rear just don't twist and to my mind looking at it it's down to the wider position of the leaf springs , this gives less leverage on the spring compared to the front , so I've had it in mind to try and moves the leaf springs it a bit at the back , there are a few barriers to doing this , firstly the bottom lid to the servo housing is in the way of where you want the front mounting for the leaf spring to be so i modelled it up and redesigned it so give enough space for the front mount and spring , in the pictures the lid I've printed is white , this makes it easier to see hopefully but it wont stay that way .


very rough and ready for now and I've refined the lid shape but its not finished printing the new version , the longer bolt through the far side of the shackle is surprisingly secure , at the rear i printed a spacer to move the rear mount in as well


The result is quite a bit more rear flex ,ideally I'll relocate the shocks as well but for now its still much better.



that blue box is 4.5" or 11.5 cm , I've only had a very short test drive but you can now really see the rear end articulating Oh almost forgot the new lid has more clearance for the rear prop shaft as well as that was fouling on mine even before i made this mod .

[Dadio]

Gunna rave for a bit this is the best mod I've done on this truck ! It has totally transformed the rear end , almost a new vehicle to drive ! Now that the rear end flexes better it even means that the front can flex less and reduces the wheel rubbing to nothing I just drove it over a bunch of obstacles for half an hour and never once heard that rhythmic popping of tire on body ! so pleased