RC clod buster project #2!

[Steve_C]

Yep the Clodbuster was always a dual motor, single battery, single speed control truck from the factory. It was actually released back in 1987 so it came from the factory with sealed 540 motors, and 3 speed resistor style speed control, and was made to run on a single 7.2v nicad battery. Now I'm showing my age lol....I remember as a kid I always hated how you would lose 2nd or 3rd speed so you had to take a pencil eraser and clean the contacts on the manual speed control...uhg!

The custom clods that guys build these days pretty much all run single battery setups. There are some that run two batts but from everything I read it seems running another battery only gives you more run time but at the cost of speed due to the extra weight, and more weight equals more wear & tear on parts as well. Most the guys on the clod site I am a member of that run somewhat close to this setup seem to get about 25 mins of run time with the single 3s 5400mh so that should be plenty. Since I made the battery pretty easy to change then once I get it done and the bugs worked out I'll probably buy a 2nd 3s batt so I can swap them out after one dies to keep the fun going even longer.

 

[Fat Homer]

Yep the Clodbuster was always a dual motor, single battery, single speed control truck from the factory. It was actually released back in 1987 so it came from the factory with sealed 540 motors, and 3 speed resistor style speed control, and was made to run on a single 7.2v nicad battery. Now I'm showing my age lol....I remember as a kid I always hated how you would lose 2nd or 3rd speed so you had to take a pencil eraser and clean the contacts on the manual speed control...uhg!

The custom clods that guys build these days pretty much all run single battery setups. There are some that run two batts but from everything I read it seems running another battery only gives you more run time but at the cost of speed due to the extra weight, and more weight equals more wear & tear on parts as well. Most the guys on the clod site I am a member of that run somewhat close to this setup seem to get about 25 mins of run time with the single 3s 5400mh so that should be plenty. Since I made the battery pretty easy to change then once I get it done and the bugs worked out I'll probably buy a 2nd 3s batt so I can swap them out after one dies to keep the fun going even longer.

With a custom battery space, maybe you could look into hooking up a single 4S or even single 6S battery to your truck...

But i definitely agree you need a 2nd battery pack coz 25min of fun goes real quick when flying around...

 

[Steve_C]

Probably gonna stick with the 3S. The majority of the guys on the custom clod forums normally don't go over 3S, many of them stay with 2S. Mainly because it just becomes almost un-usable power. 6s is cool in something like X-maxx where it weighs close to 20lbs, but don't forget this truck weighs in at about 8lbs. All the vids I have seen of custom clods with brushless & 3s already wheelie over backwards . I actually just today ordered the Castle-Link so I can program my ESC's on my PC, because I have the feeling I'm gonna have to dial down the punch so the truck doesn't flip over backwards all the time lol.

 

[Steve_C]

All I can say is holy crap! Got all the electronics in it today and used the new Castle-link to hook up the ESC's to my PC so I could adjust all the settings on them. It was dark out so I just put it on the basement shop floor to just see what it had. Merely blipped the throttle and it jumped up in the air like a frog flipping over backwards in the air and landed 6ft away

I believe I will wait till it's light outside to test it out and further. Way to dangerous to mess with inside lol

 

[Fat Homer]

All I can say is holy crap! Got all the electronics in it today and used the new Castle-link to hook up the ESC's to my PC so I could adjust all the settings on them. It was dark out so I just put it on the basement shop floor to just see what it had. Merely blipped the throttle and it jumped up in the air like a frog flipping over backwards in the air and landed 6ft away

I believe I will wait till it's light outside to test it out and further. Way to dangerous to mess with inside lol

Lmfao, i did warn you this thing would fly with so much power under that thing...

 

[Steve_C]

Bumper/servo mount came today. Really like this bumper. Very nicely made and offers a really good protective spot for the servo with zero movement of the servo. I had noticed on my vertical mount it seemed to move slightly under the torque of the servo but this one is solid as a rock. Also swapped over some aluminum knuckles on the front end of the truck. I remember back in the day I use to end up with some cracks/splits in the front knuckles where the screwed went in so figure I want to beef up everything I can ahead of time on this one. It's really just about done other than a couple other minor things. Probably have some pictures of the entire truck all done and ready to go in a few days.

 

[Fat Homer]

Looks extremely solid which is a good thing for sure!!! Really wish i lived near by so we could go bashing together and compare the power of your monster vs my Savage on 4S / 6S

 

[Steve_C]

Yeah too bad you're so far away. I'm really starting to get back into RC big time again. Just about done with this one and still got my scale tube chassis one to finish up, but I'm already thinking about another project lol. Somewhat kicking around the idea of buying a used Slash roller and building a drag car out of it with something like an old Chevy II Nova body or something along those lines.

 

[Steve_C]

With everything that went on in my personal life the past few weeks I haven't posted the finished pics of the truck yet. Just trying to force myself to do things to try to get back to somewhat of a normal life again. So here's some pics of the finished truck, it's all done now. I airbrushed the body a nice metallic blue with a waving checkered flag paint scheme. The King Sling body is supposed to have the scoop on the rear of the real truck, but I didn't care for that so moved it to the hood and trimmed it to fit against the windshield. Added some LED red head & taillights as well.

I have yet to get it out and test out full power, but from just testing it after I programmed the dual ESC's I tested it in the backyard and it has just a ridiculous amount of power. Anything more than 1/4 throttle with any sort of traction and it stands right up and jumps off the ground. Going to try to get it out to somewhere that has some ample room this weekend and open it up to see what it will do. Will try to get some action pics or vid of it when I can.

 

[Steve_C]

Just doing a little late night testing in the shop. I believe I grabbed a little too much throttle in the 2nd video lol

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