My Past Scale Projects

I have started many scale builds but I always get sidetracked and sell the darn things before I can make them truly unique. Here are some pictures of my past scalers. The orange Blazer was my first, just a body on an ax10, no real scale aspects.I built the trailer to haul my Slayer. The gate functions and everything. Next up is my tuber ax10. I have an rccrawler thread on this bad boy, its running the shocks off the links, out of the way of the wheels to allow for better turns. Sold all but the frame and two custom links for the jeep scaler.I picked up a Tonka Jeep at the flea market for $15 with visions of great things. I got it to move, but sold it to a guy in the UK. I still might just build a Jeep scaler, i sure like the way these things look.Those are the major ones. There has been attempts between each of them, but most end up in the scrap metal pile. There are tons of cheap pressed steal tonka cars that are roughly 1/10 scale on ebay. One of those might be my next project....

You do nice work, do you build your own chassis? Noticed the square tubing on the Bronco. What soldering equipment do you recommend for welding tubing roll cages?

My kid and I like building weird stuff and learning to weld our own cages and frames will get us an edge on our hobby.

By the way, I have one of those Tonka Jeeps here at my home workshop. Bought it because I used to have one when I was a kid back in the early 70s. Those bring back great memories... Got a red Tonka Jeep.

Thanks for the complement. Good to hear somebody who doesn't just tell me I have to much time on my hands. Yeah I build all my own stuff. I actually don't use tubing because I've had joints where I've soldered break with stress. I use 1/8th to 1/4 inch steel rod and weld on a huge slab of steel. I have the steel grounded so no matter where I put my chassis I can weld it.

I got aluminum channel from Lowes for the Jeep chassis. It looks a lot like a bronco, but its a Jeep. If I did another one of that style, I would go ahead and make it a bronco. My welder has two guns, one for steel and one for aluminum so i welded the pieces of channel to make the Jeep frame. I used some rubber grommets as body spacers like the real deal. It was actually a pretty sweet gettup. I two toned the body right before it left. It was blue where the Cheveron sticker was and that cream white everywhere else. I Had a couple of stripes on the hood that were also blue. That one was fun.

I played with one of those old Jeeps at my grandparents house when i was younger. the little metal rod they used as an axle was bent, so It didnt roll, but if you positioned it just right it looked like the suspension was flexing as it crawled over rocks. These scale crawlers are crazy fun, I think i will finish out my new frame as a scaler. Thanks again for the comment, Zach.

Zach, thank you for the input, will start doing research for the best and proper welding machine. That dual kind is best . Did not know there was a dual welding machine. That tells you how much I know of welding... ???
I only solder electronics as a profession with the Aerospace Industry.

I visit Cruces often, maybe can meet someday and share ideas. My son Eric and I belong to the Rocketry Club named "FLARE" in Las Cruces . Rocket launches are first Saturday once a month. Will send you a PM with some info. Thank you.

Ive never been very good at soldering, i suppose if you were better at it than i am it would hold. We have a Miller welder, it has two bottles and 2 guns on one machine. They both use the same ground, but you can't weld with them both at the same time. Its a very nice setup. I use it to weld the panels on my 34 Dodge Rat Rod...

Nice.... Beautiful , 34 Dodge...what a sight !! Love the grill set up on those trucks!!
Miller Welder, will start looking into it. Thanks !!


By the way, those old Tonka Jeeps are hot items for sale in the internet. They will sell for a good price and fast....

I use the term "pressed steal" when searching on eBay. Some of them go for over $100 but others are between $10 and $20. They make for great scalers.

hey, I roamed around ebay. looking for the jeep to maybe start a crawler/scaler project.

Found many more as "pressed steel"

is there any difference? sorry my first language is not english.

thanks

pretty cool cage there. Got me in the mood of building something.

Pressed Steel ensures your not looking at plastic tonka trucks. The pressed steel bodys are generally one long piece "pressed" in a stamp and then folded into a box. This also means that the body is hollow for all your interior needs. The Tonka and others that made steel toys in the 60's-80's made lots of them. Using the term pressed steel focuses on this era of metal toys. Thanks for the reply.

I used to work at Tonka Toys here in El Paso from 1995- until closing in 98. Yes it was a pretty interesting process... We made the Mighty Truck Series.

I didn't know they had a factory in El Paso. Thats pretty cool.

@Mr.rc4x4 you had mentioned your rat rod maybe you could upload some pics of it that would be pretty cool to check out, were building a 32 Ford 5 window coupe that we just spent today setting up the 4 link straight axle. I'll try to get some pics uploaded so u can check it out

Nice pics and projects guys.

Pics are up of the rat rod. Thanks for the feedback. I hope to get my Jeep tuber ready to go by the next scale meeting.

What is that ?? Are you are also into Robotics?? Maybe you can mix R/C Crawling with your Robotics skills.

I love mixing, blending , recycling stuff, imagination is the limit. Soon may combine Solid Fueled Rocketry with R/C Flying. ???

Oh Yes... !!! using our R/C Tarantula Crawler German V-2 Rocket Launcher to launch a large Rocket with R/C recovery gliding capabilities.... That is a though ...not far fetched. Only need the glider rocket built. Already have the R/C Launcher.

Only thing is that you may be able to do it all automatically , no hands on. Oh Yes !!!
With real time video.... cool ....

*** "The Gods must be Crazy" ***

definitely an interesting thing to look into.