Pete 379 Flat Top 48"

[Espeefan]

Awesome, J.D. I really like that rear bumper, the front bumper, and the new grille. Those are some great parts. Nothing like a bunch-o-lights to add realism to a model!

[petermoblin]

That looks really sharp J.d. Just when I think you can't make this truck any cooler, you make it cooler. Are you running two 3mm lights in each lense? Keep up the great work!

[YoungGunz]

Wired up the lights in the front bumper and mounted it tonight.... Also removed the plastic strips from the fuel tanks a couple days ago since they were bugging me. Pretty much complete now, will eventually make under cab and under sleeper lights but that will have to wait until i have the equipment to do so.

Hope all of you have enjoyed the build! Here are some pictures and a video. Once spring gets here I'll be sure to get pictures and video of the truck and trailer outside or maybe we should have a meet.

VIDEO:










Thanks for looking!

[Espeefan]

Looks really nice, J.D. I was wondering why the 20 LEDs in the rear bumper, even though you have just 10 lights back there. Did you just want more light, or is it for the brake and signal effects? Man, I'm diggin' that Servonaut system! Did you go with an SMX and M20+ ESC?

Great video too! If I had a truck like that, I'd be pretty proud. Just goes to show how a truck can evolve into a show stopper.

[dabears]

Looks even better on here JD!!! Awesome work! Im ready for another meet. And i know of a yard of dirt that will need to be moved into a garden this spring........ Hmmmmmm Just sayin....

Love the rear bar and how you wired it up looks sweet!!! Great job in it!

[YoungGunz]

Originally Posted by Espeefan

Looks really nice, J.D. I was wondering why the 20 LEDs in the rear bumper, even though you have just 10 lights back there. Did you just want more light, or is it for the brake and signal effects? Man, I'm diggin' that Servonaut system! Did you go with an SMX and M20+ ESC?

Great video too! If I had a truck like that, I'd be pretty proud. Just goes to show how a truck can evolve into a show stopper.

Thanks Nathan,

I did the 20 LED's so I could have the turn signals and hazard lights in the same bezel. I'm not a huge fan of having separate turn signals on the rear bumper. Yep, you got it, i have the SMX and M20+. I only run the M20+ for the lights though, because my motor is a brushless and the ESC isnt compatible with brushless.....

Originally Posted by dabears

Looks even better on here JD!!! Awesome work! Im ready for another meet. And i know of a yard of dirt that will need to be moved into a garden this spring........ Hmmmmmm Just sayin....

Love the rear bar and how you wired it up looks sweet!!! Great job in it!

Thanks man,
I'm ready for another meet too, playing in the real dirt is way more fun than the rubber.

[Espeefan]

Originally Posted by YoungGunz

Thanks Nathan,

I did the 20 LED's so I could have the turn signals and hazard lights in the same bezel. I'm not a huge fan of having separate turn signals on the rear bumper. Yep, you got it, i have the SMX and M20+. I only run the M20+ for the lights though, because my motor is a brushless and the ESC isnt compatible with brushless.....

Thanks for answering those questions, J.D. So when your blinkers turn on, the other LEDs stay on constant, and the turn signal LEDs flash, but bright enough to be noticeable, over the regular tail lights? Are they brighter because they get more voltage, or did you use a different value resistor to dim the others down a bit? Just wondering, because I'd really like to pick up an M20+ and SMX for my truck.

[Mama Sue]

Looks really good

[YoungGunz]

Originally Posted by Espeefan

Thanks for answering those questions, J.D. So when your blinkers turn on, the other LEDs stay on constant, and the turn signal LEDs flash, but bright enough to be noticeable, over the regular tail lights? Are they brighter because they get more voltage, or did you use a different value resistor to dim the others down a bit? Just wondering, because I'd really like to pick up an M20+ and SMX for my truck.

You are correct, all 20 of the LED's have the same value resistors and receive the same voltage. I was unsure on the contrast of the blinker and running lights when I first started, but it shows up pretty well in the dark and is pretty noticeable. I feel like there is alot of disliking for the servonaut units for some reason, but I have been very pleased with the SMX and M20+. Alot of people like the simplicity of Tamiya's MFU since it has lights and sound all in one and because of the price, although I feel like it is limited on expandability. I think the hardest part of the M20+ is figuring out the resistors needed using ohms law, and with a small bit knowledge of electricity this is not hard at all. In my personal opinion, you cant go wrong with servonaut, there are plenty of features, many of which are adjustable and more than enough room to expand with lights for the truck and trailer. I think the extra money spent is well worth it.

Originally Posted by Mama Sue

Looks really good

Thanks!!

[dabears]

Originally Posted by YoungGunz

You are correct, all 20 of the LED's have the same value resistors and receive the same voltage. I was unsure on the contrast of the blinker and running lights when I first started, but it shows up pretty well in the dark and is pretty noticeable. I feel like there is alot of disliking for the servonaut units for some reason, but I have been very pleased with the SMX and M20+. Alot of people like the simplicity of Tamiya's MFU since it has lights and sound all in one and because of the price, although I feel like it is limited on expandability. I think the hardest part of the M20+ is figuring out the resistors needed using ohms law, and with a small bit knowledge of electricity this is not hard at all. In my personal opinion, you cant go wrong with servonaut, there are plenty of features, many of which are adjustable and more than enough room to expand with lights for the truck and trailer. I think the extra money spent is well worth it.

I plan on trying one some day to see the difference. Next meet I want to run yours around to see the differences more..
But I agree the fact that the mfu Comes with a plug and play system is nice, but your right in expandability without buying a battleswitch to run extras...

[Espeefan]

Thanks J.D. The only thing that has me on the fence is the M20+'s kind of unique throttle stick control. It's got a cruise control feature, which I'm not sure I like just yet. It's kind of cool, but kind of unusual too. Guess I'm just going to have to try it! I know Servonaut makes other ESCs that don't have the cruise control feature.

[SonoranWraith]

I agree, I like neutral brake and not the cruise control. Maybe just a matter of what you are used to.

[Supermario]

Originally Posted by dabears

I plan on trying one some day to see the difference. Next meet I want to run yours around to see the differences more..
But I agree the fact that the mfu Comes with a plug and play system is nice, but your right in expandability without buying a battleswitch to run extras...

There is a way to have expand ability with the MFU if you purchase a SS Tronix kit. They offer an aux board which plugs into the main. It has 2 relays which can handle up to 60 led each.

The SS kit cost me 230 Canadian and the aux board was 35 . So, for less than 300 bucks if your a MFU owner and don't want to switch systems for more light options, SS tronix will get you that.

I'm finally getting close to that stage of MFU install on Sue's truck. Ill post some pics of the SS kit this weekend.

Mario

[Supermario]

Sorry , I rechecked what it cost me. 210 for the kit which will set up a truck and one trailer. They also offer Servo boards which can run motors, servos etc.

[Diesel Demond]

nice man those upgrades are sweet!

[woodhog]

I agree with everyone else the extras added to an already extremely nice setup

[buzzy16]

You have done an absolutely great job with this truck, it looks emaculate.

[YoungGunz]

Well, it looks like I have to bring this thread back up....

Well as some of you know, my basement was flooded with about 3 feet of water two days before the Kansas show. I think we got about 20 inches of rain in 24 hours and the water had no where to go, except in. Just about everyone had some sort of flooding..... Along with all my tools floating across the basement, so were my models..... At that point I didn't care if I got shocked, I went wading into the mess and got all the high dollar stuff out of the water and put it in rice and kitty litter. Thankfully my 3D printer and my book of plans didn't get wet. Unfortunately, just about everything else got wet.... I'm still kicking my self for not bringing everything upstairs since I was leaving for the show the next day..... Someone must have been looking out for me, I only really lost my camera, everything else has worked so far Here are some pictures of the havoc...

From where the water is on the steps there was another two steps below that.









I've spent the past few weeks trying to clean up the mess and Ive also been building a new work bench. I think I tripled the work area so I will definitely benefit from that. I was able to get back to building this weekend now that I have things back under control... I thought I would do a few things to the truck and dump trailer since I had it torn apart, so I have some things on order and have a couple things planned.

Here is the new work bench. The original work bench was only 7 ft long






Here is the truck, in pieces... I opened up all the mechanical parts and cleaned and re-greased them. Now I'm just waiting on parts to arrive to begin rebuilding.






Then the last update is on the trailer. I always thought the original "air ride" was a little sketchy so I replaced it. I also cleaned and painted the ScaleArt cylinder.





Here is the original trailer suspension. I didn't really trust them with 30+ pounds of dirt on them....



And lastly the cylinder



Thanks guys for looking! Hopefully I can finish this truck for good, third times the charm, right?

[dabears]

Where's the cylinder?
Glad to see you made yourself more room to build and stuff!!! Looks great!
Cant wait to see the changes you make on the truck

[YoungGunz]

Lol Whoops! Here it is...