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Good choice and perfect look for this 44B

While awaiting my parts arriving for the Super Wheelie, I did something pending for quite a while : review the pulley belt cover for the 44B as per my friend Andy's tests...

The pulley belt cover required some room for the motor screws...


This is now done...


And I also take benefit or being in the file to review the boot to make it easier to print... My idea is to print it in halves and to fix this by a zip tie...


​​​​​​​This will soon go on Cults3D...

This Hirobo project is not finished, and today I got one more reason to trigger the rebuilt of my 44B chassis...

A few months back, I did a CAD model for a bodyshell for the 44B Hilux....


I believe the 210 mm wheelbase makes room to use the body on M chassis with some axles extensions for larger width...


I still need to review the roll bar, especially the fog lights part as I believe they are out of dimensions (they should be bigger, at least, and maybe mobile to avoid breaking them too easily). Further on the bodyshell itself, there was some missing details...


And I believe I already mentioned in the past that I tried to create a mold in CAD...


I also added some details...




And I finally got a part printed for experimentation...


That was before Montluçon, in May. While there, I got the mold handed to my friend at Loisirs Creations RC for the experimentation...

Yesterday in La Vosgienne RC 2023, I met him, and he handed me some nice stuff...


Yes! It is a bodyshell... It's the first element out of the mold with a material that allows vacforming at low temperature. This will allow me to work out the accessory details and check the dimensions on a chassis... I think I have to build my 44B Hilux soon...

In the meantime, I did some picture comparison with the original damaged bodyshell...





What do you think?

The vacuum formed body looks great. Well done sir!
I've been looking for a means to make a light-weight alternative body for the SCX6 (OEM and aftermarket body options are extremely limited) and your proof of concept definitely offers some hope.
Inching closer to buying a printer - for creating molds in this instance.

XLR8 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 9:44 am The vacuum formed body looks great. Well done sir!
I've been looking for a means to make a light-weight alternative body for the SCX6 (OEM and aftermarket body options are extremely limited) and your proof of concept definitely offers some hope.
Inching closer to buying a printer - for creating molds in this instance.

I did get the body printed before I was able to tackle ABS print at home (Bambu Lab X1C came later) : the material you will use to print the mold need to be able to resist at high temperature, so ABS, PC, or material with higher deflection temperature is better. And keep in mind this vacform body is not the definitive one : it is one made with a low temperature vacforming material, and this will be used to create the final mold...

silvertriple wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 12:10 pm

XLR8 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 9:44 am The vacuum formed body looks great. Well done sir!
I've been looking for a means to make a light-weight alternative body for the SCX6 (OEM and aftermarket body options are extremely limited) and your proof of concept definitely offers some hope.
Inching closer to buying a printer - for creating molds in this instance.

I did get the body printed before I was able to tackle ABS print at home (Bambu Lab X1C came later) : the material you will use to print the mold need to be able to resist at high temperature, so ABS, PC, or material with higher deflection temperature is better. And keep in mind this vacform body is not the definitive one : it is one made with a low temperature vacforming material, and this will be used to create the final mold...

I'd be very tempted to trim, paint, detail and call it finished. It does look very good.
So, your goal is a vacuum formed polycarbonate body?
I envy guys like you. I can manage to stay with a project only about 3 weeks and if it isn't finished, it resides evermore in a junk box in the attic.

If I was to be hyper critical the roof looks a little high and changes the window profile in comparison to the original but really it's a superb job and I prefer the aesthetic of yours over the original that looks a bit crude .

XLR8 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 12:40 pm I'd be very tempted to trim, paint, detail and call it finished. It does look very good.
So, your goal is a vacuum formed polycarbonate body?
I envy guys like you. I can manage to stay with a project only about 3 weeks and if it isn't finished, it resides evermore in a junk box in the attic.

Doug, you are part of those I was in admiration when looking at the work you did when I joined this forum... The project duration sometimes can be days, weeks or months... It's just a question of having a goal and getting it done. The fact is my life is made of projects, professionally like at home : I can't do something without a goal. That said, I often refrain myself to elaborate much on the goals when starting a project for two reasons : sometimes the target changes along the project life (for many reasons), and also because in some cases many people would see my goals as overly ambitious and undoable... The thing is you just have to get a vision and make it happening, and it may take a lot of time to get there... That's also the reason when I get multiple projects running in parallel, that's a way to avoid to get exhausted by one sole project...
Anycase, those last few weeks were quite impressive in terms of achievements :
- Marui MT60-RC09 Mitsubishi Project done
- Tires progress (Hunter, Super Wheelie)
- Hilux 44B bodyshell key milestone (the project is not finished until I call it done )

With each of those projects, I'm learning and growing, and that's the way I like

Dadio wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 12:59 pm If I was to be hyper critical the roof looks a little high and changes the window profile in comparison to the original but really it's a superb job and I prefer the aesthetic of yours over the original that looks a bit crude .

I noticed as well... The fact is, when I started this bodyshell, I did it in solid with solid limitations, and the purpose was just to make it look alike for rendering purpose... I never thought I would be able to achieve this at that time. If it had to be done again, I would probably take a very different approach with what I learned with the Rock'n City and Rock'n Baja bobyshells...

silvertriple wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 1:10 pm

Dadio wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 12:59 pm If I was to be hyper critical the roof looks a little high and changes the window profile in comparison to the original but really it's a superb job and I prefer the aesthetic of yours over the original that looks a bit crude .

I noticed as well... The fact is, when I started this bodyshell, I did it in solid with solid limitations, and the purpose was just to make it look alike for rendering purpose... I never thought I would be able to achieve this at that time. If it had to be done again, I would probably take a very different approach with what I learned with the Rock'n City and Rock'n Baja bobyshells...

I genuinely like yours better I'd be tempted to leave it as is and be proud of it .

Dadio wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 3:25 pm

silvertriple wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 1:10 pm

Dadio wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 12:59 pm If I was to be hyper critical the roof looks a little high and changes the window profile in comparison to the original but really it's a superb job and I prefer the aesthetic of yours over the original that looks a bit crude .

I noticed as well... The fact is, when I started this bodyshell, I did it in solid with solid limitations, and the purpose was just to make it look alike for rendering purpose... I never thought I would be able to achieve this at that time. If it had to be done again, I would probably take a very different approach with what I learned with the Rock'n City and Rock'n Baja bobyshells...

I genuinely like yours better I'd be tempted to leave it as is and be proud of it .

I will definitely leave it as is, and I'm really proud of it already

Now, I need to rework the accessories to get nice prints done, so we can do something about this...

And I need to identify potential market for it...

silvertriple wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 4:08 pm

Dadio wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 3:25 pm

silvertriple wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 1:10 pm

Dadio wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 12:59 pm If I was to be hyper critical the roof looks a little high and changes the window profile in comparison to the original but really it's a superb job and I prefer the aesthetic of yours over the original that looks a bit crude .

I noticed as well... The fact is, when I started this bodyshell, I did it in solid with solid limitations, and the purpose was just to make it look alike for rendering purpose... I never thought I would be able to achieve this at that time. If it had to be done again, I would probably take a very different approach with what I learned with the Rock'n City and Rock'n Baja bobyshells...

I genuinely like yours better I'd be tempted to leave it as is and be proud of it .

I will definitely leave it as is, and I'm really proud of it already

Now, I need to rework the accessories to get nice prints done, so we can do something about this...

And I need to identify potential market for it...

Let me know how you get on finding a market for a niche within a niche product ...... I really need to know myself lol

Dadio wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 4:22 pm Let me know how you get on finding a market for a niche within a niche product ...... I really need to know myself lol

Well, started to contact the few french Hirobo fans I know having a 44B Hilux chassis. For some of them, they got the chassis without bodyshell... And I have my fingers to count

Now that I have a body shell for the Hilux, I think it is time to do something about those cars...

The parts of the Zerda and 44B were all together in one single heavy box. Luckily, I cleared some boxes recently : I took the time to separate boxes, one for the Zerda, and one for the 44Bs. The Zerda will be the last one to be rebuilt.

I will start by the 44B Hilux, and I'll print a Radio box cover for it, as it is the part I don't have... I need to check the screws as I may not have the exact number to build all the cars... But each things in its proper time.

In short, expect to see this thread moving on soon...

The complete radio box was already printed long time back by @stevar who did not have any parts of the radiobox with his own 44B chassis. And it was perfectly adjusted in length and matching the profile of the rear gearbox parts... But that was not enough to validate the top of the radio box would match the bottom of the original radio box...


Therefore, I had to print one. I printed it on one of the sides, which was what the auto orientation proposed in the slicer (I tried other orientations, but there was a lot of support for all of them... I guess I will have to post process this properly . 3 hours print on the X1C (On my Ender 5 plus, this would be around 10-12 hours, I suspect, if not more, with more chances of failures). I printed it in PETG, and did not even played with multimaterial for the supports, so it took a bot of time to remove the supports. But the good news is that it is working on the radio box as expected...


While at it, I'm thinking about what I want for my 44B and Zerda, I may need to do a full count of what I have as I'm sure I can go for 3 cars, and there will be a good basis for a 4th one...

And while thinking about this, I can already tell that I will printed tires for both Zerda and 44B (I have the CAD models already). I just need to order resin again...



I launched a print of the final version of the pulley cover (PETG) (did try in transparent flex resin and it did not work, I may need to try with transparent non flexible resine at some point) as well. Updates later...