Well the post man was good to me and dropped off a parcel today


And I have to thank my wife, the tyres are a xmas present

So you can't really see it because it's still clear but the undertray is cut and fitted, still needs a bit of tidying but the bulk is done. I wasn't able to utilise it in the manner I hoped - you know how you can't be certain until you get the thing in your hands - to fasion front and rear cowlings under the frame, but it is a good fit inside. it sits just under the upper horizontal line of the main body, the bottom of the window. A bit of lexan across the front and rear gaps should finsish things of nicely. Then its the interior and I think it's going to be based on the pro-line part above and the idea is to mount it to the rollcage so as you put the lid down it sits on top of the undertray. I might even fashion some kind of flexible seal - i was thinking a strip of foam draft excluder or something lke that. I alos hope to mount a fan on the rear section, with a little scale mesh over it so that its visible under that rear open bit of rollcage.

I need to trim a little bit off the rear engine cowl so the suspension has full travel and I need to take about 1cm off the front body mounts as it's sitting lower now - I prefer the line. A certain someone has poked the beehive in my brain and I think I'm going to look nto the hood shape over the weekend.

The tyres. Hhhmmmm the tyres. Some times I look at it from certain angles and think "sh*t that looks good". Sometimes, although not often I look at it and think thetyres look like some king of fetish donut.

The thing just look real mean sometimes, more like a Wraith type vehicle than a Class 1. I'll be honest it isn't quite how I imagined it would look - but I like it. And I'm really enjoying the build - the feedback is great so thanks again

Anyway here's the stuff you've really all been waiting for, the pictures...
in no particular order.

That's awesome man what are you going to do for a skid plate and bumper?

Thanks

I have a spare bumper so I'm thinking of chopping off the bits that stick out the side and bending it a little (heat the plastic maybe) to create a more angled look. I think this will line up well with the front of the hood. Not sure about the skid plate situation.

I'm open to ideas

Love to know your thoughts on a starting wt for shock oil. I only have 45 in at present - sad but true. I'm think thats going to be too harsh for this truck - might work at the back. I know it's only a starting point but an educate guess is better than throwing dice

For my skid plate I used the rpm setup and just made it as triangular as possible bumper is stock rpm didn't see a need to do anything but shorten it a bit , I then wrapped the skid plate in 2mm sheet metal to give it that clean offroad look , at least as much as possible, I was going to go with a custom skid real small, metal and triangled but found the bulkhead stuck out too far and ruined the look, I bash this thing hard and crash it hard so it's nice to have good realiable rpm plastic up front

Doesn't look like those small class1 skids but close enough ( my brothers shell on my rig)

As far as oils I think it's a matter of preference I like running a soft set up 10 and 15 in the front and believe it or not 15 in the rear , I was using 45 in the rear but these new xd103's have a pretty big psi tolerance 15 actually feels like 40 but rebounds a lot quicker . That being said 35/45 wouldn't be a bad place to start, a lot of people start there and change it where they see fit

I am eager to see the finished paint job! The Badlands look fine IMHO. Not too small or too big.

Maybe a chrome RPM bumper and the sheet metal approach on the skid like Riderinblack?

Awesome build BTW, Riderinblack!

The initial "paint Job" is actually going to be Matte Black Vinyl wrap, maybe with this on it

or this

Then maybe some bright red or white touches - stripes/pinstriping etc on the undertray and maybe even the rollcage. It will evolve but thats its for now.

I gotta say that second logo with the right colors would look deadly really digging that idea

wow those badlands are enormous! hahaha dear god

what size are they? because I refuse to believe those are the SC badlands rofl

they're just the 2.8 truck tires on black desperado wheels.

Seriously? The Badlands are 2.8". You goofball --- just like me!