TOPIC:

I think my Super Clodbuster is great, but it does lack a lot of the character of the original, so I was half keeping an eye out for a cheap(ish) Clodbuster - one that was basically complete & had a decent chassis, but perhaps needed a bit of bodywork repair & a respray ...

With impeccable JR logic then, what I acutally bought was a much cheaper, incomplete Bullhead

The eBay description & photos were basically honest ... but the phrases "just needs a few screws" and "[rear steering just] needs attaching" turned out to be hopelessly optimistic ...

I had planned to leave this until I'd caught up on some of my other projects, but the chassis reeked of WD40 - and the less time that spends in contact with the plastic, the better - so this afternoon I stripped it down so I could give it a scrub ...

... lots of pics to follow

Side view doesn't look so bad ...




... Chrome is a little worn in places ....




... tops of smoke stacks are missing ...




... as are rear body mounts ...




... rear steering is broken ...




... some digging revelead the broken off end ...




... shonky wiring on the LEDs ...

... wheels on average aren't too bad, apart from the edge -this is a problem as the tyres are so well glued on the outside they won't come off without destroying the tyres




Cracking tyres were mentioned in the listing ...



... but that they'd been really sloppily "repaired" with superglue (note the run) wasn't ...




Lots of cracking to the back end of the body - note the quality of the paintwork ....








Links not looking too good either...

Front left fender is broken too..




Servo holder plate is loose & has an extra notch crudely chopped in ...




More shonky wiring ...




Missing steering pivot ...




Missing two balljoints on the underside ...




This lot are completely jammed ...




Gearboxes were fine on the inside ... apart from the random mix of nylon & rubber shielded metal bearings, the ludicrously heavy applications of several different types of grease, and the heavily worn pinions ...




That's it for now

Very cool project.

That's a worn pinion if I ever saw one...
What would WD-40 do to the plastic btw?

WD40 wont hurt plastic at all. its a well known trick in the biking world to clean up plastic, give it a nice Sheen and stops water or rain from sticking. it just blobs up and flies right off

WD40 contains silicone which tends to get everywhere & will cow up any new paint job. It can be horrific to completely get rid of, so if you plan to paint anything, make sure you go overboard with the cleaning & degreasing beforehand.
Do you have spare big balljoints for the underside & do you know if they're the same as TXT ones? - got a bag of TXT ones if you need any.
There are some clodbuster wheels/tyres on Ebay at the mo.
Stack tips are easy enough to do - get some 'plastruct' tubing of the right diameter, gently heat it then tweak it over at about 30deg to vertical. Then, cut the tips at about 15deg to vertical - they're not bent over as far as it first appears

Oh dear ... I should have know better than to mention WD-40 - in terms of people having sincerely held beliefs about it without "real" proof, it's right up there with religion and politics ... ...


I'll deal with my "SHB" first:

Edou wrote:

...What would WD-40 do to the plastic btw?

In my experience, WD40 used incorrectly will damage some sorts of plastic - especially the "harder" plastic Tamiya on some chassis & suspension parts - either a surface effect (appearing as a white bloom) caused by the solvents in it, or more a more long term embrittling effect, leaching plasticisers out ... have you ever had an old RC car that looked good, but kept breaking parts every time you used it until you'd replaced everything? I don't put the blame fully on WD40 as the same effect can be caused by UV light, extremes of temperature & exposure to other solvents - but I'm sure it's a contributing factor.

agemax wrote:

WD40 wont hurt plastic at all. its a well known trick in the biking world to clean up plastic, give it a nice Sheen and stops water or rain from sticking. it just blobs up and flies right off

Even the manufacturers don't claim it's safe on everything - they specifically exclude polycarbonate & "clear polystyrene", and allude to others ...
I'm sure you'll agree there is a world of difference between the way I used to use WD40 on my bikes (tiny puffs from a distance onto an already clean surface, avoiding brake discs & pads, buff with a clean rag immediately), and the way it's been used on this truck (half a can blasted on a close range over all manner of dirt) - the first way gives the benefits you describe with very little chance of damage, the second gives very few of the plusses & maximises the minuses...

eddrick wrote:

WD40 contains silicone which tends to get everywhere & will cow up any new paint job. It can be horrific to completely get rid of, so if you plan to paint anything, make sure you go overboard with the cleaning & degreasing beforehand.
...

According to the manufacturers, it doesn't ... I suspect it's actually PTFE, which will have the same effect

eddrick wrote:

...
Do you have spare big balljoints for the underside & do you know if they're the same as TXT ones? - got a bag of TXT ones if you need any...

Thanks chap - I'll try and identify them more specifically, but given the way Tamiya standardise things it's very probable ...

eddrick wrote:

...There are some clodbuster wheels/tyres on Ebay at the mo...

Do you mean these ones ?
I have a couple of issues there - one is the price (I can't/don't want to spend any money on this), second is that only the backsides are shown (what is he hiding?) ...

The wheels & tyres I have are useable, once I've cleaned up the poor quality repairs & done them properly, a bit of paint (perhaps in a split rim stylee) will do

eddrick wrote:

...Stack tips are easy enough to do - get some 'plastruct' tubing of the right diameter, gently heat it then tweak it over at about 30deg to vertical. Then, cut the tips at about 15deg to vertical - they're not bent over as far as it first appears

I'm thinking slash cut rubber tubing ... TBH my whole ethos on this build is that short of replacing pretty much everything, it's never going to be a good example of a Bullhead, so although I'll do things to a reasonable standard, satin black & thrash the arese off it will be the order of the day



Oo-er, I just had a flash - orange, 01 on the side, Confederate flag on the rear ...

DUKE STYLE......nice!!!!