Don't look now (well, okay, you can if you want to), but it's time for me to break the shrink wrap on this big, big box. This will surely take some time to complete, and I know there's a lot of interest in the kit, so I'll go nice & slow and try to provide plenty of detail through the process. Once complete, this will also be a long-term keeper (since it was a gift), and I might even make a long-term scaler project out of it, you never know!

PS: I'm open to suggestions for the paint scheme on the stock body!

I'm always a fan of orange and black of the harley davidson themed f-350. Could care less about the harley, but the paint looks very nice to me.
http://trucks.about.com/library/grap...0_harley_1.jpg
But then again I don't know your personal preference.

ill trade you my new built one for your NIB one.... i want to store it since i dont have time to mess with it.

Enough of a wait yet? The holiday season got a little "interesting" but I've completed my FJ40 and F40 writeups and just need to get everything published & posted, so it's time to move on the F-350 again! (Wow, a lot of F's in there huh?)

I've just finished the arduous task of photographing all of the parts in virgin form, so I'm ready to start the build! I'd also love to see more suggestions for paintjobs if you guys have any!

Simple yet nice

Ok obviously in January things didn't go as planned. This time it's for real. Got the three-speed transmission internals done tonight. Next up will be the second half of the transmission, the final drive assembly which involves a fair number of gears itself.

GO JANG GO!!! Keep up the progress!

Creepy stalker fact, I drove by where you work (well, last I knew of before I left here for a while) over the summer. Vacation in Cali, had to visit my parents' old house.

Loved the recent Tamiya Frog interest Love that car.

Awesome choice of your next build sir. Best RC online anywhere
The Homepage looks cool too, changed since i was here last.
Im pretty sure one of these Trucks is where I'll get to in RC after i wear out my buggy collection .
On the colour, call me old fashioned lol but i like the origional Jang theme.
Keep up the good work
Cheers

Thanks for the support, guys!

Well, I managed a pretty fair amount of progress today, so here's the update.

• Picture 1: Those gears on the outside are the "final drive." They come at the end so that the 3-speed can have less torque on all of its shifting paraphernalia, and also to act as a transfer case, moving the power down low.
• Picture 2: This is the other side, with the slipper assembly installed. It's actually a very nice-feeling clutch, using two of the paper-style full friction rings. Adjusting it doesn't require extremely fine muscle coordination. A quarter of a turn makes a noticeable difference in tension, but it's not a huge change.
• Picture 3: Not halfway through and this thing is already riding on rails! Woohoo! What's amazing here is that just this assembly, consisting of the transmission, stock motor, and chassis sides, weighs a hefty two pounds.
• Picture 4: I encountered these diffs before, when building the FJ40 Land Cruiser. I like the tapered cone shape of that one side, just because it's different from the norm. Speaking of the cone, you'll notice it has a hole in it -- that's to insert a locking pin if you so desire. I'll leave the diffs open for now.
• Picture 5: Axles are cool. Bushings aren't.
• Picture 6: Okay, I don't know about anybody else who has built one of these kits, but I personally got very confused when I started laying out the spring leaves and trying to figure out what sizes to use. The problem was, I was expecting them to be lettered in order, by size. They actually are, except for one set, the downtravel ones that install on top. Hopefully this image helps.
• Picture 7: I normally rag on friction dampers, but these right here are awesome. Those beefy shafts are solid, heavy steel. The twin o-rings and aluminum cylinders allow the damper grease to work very smoothly, and holes hidden in the joints of the caps allow air to move in & out as needed. These shocks really work, and they feel like shocks. The only thing I would say against them is that the rebound springs are a bit stiffer than they need to be.
• Picture 8: Well will you look at that?! It's almost looking like this will become a truck some day!

Tips:

• Since I'm building the kit 100% stock, I'm using the oilite bushings, with the key word segment being "oil." For all metal-on-bushing surfaces, I've used actual petroleum-based bushing oil instead of the included "ceramic grease." Oil soaks into oilite bushings a bit better in my experience. I've used the kit grease on all metal-on-plastic and plastic-on-plastic moving surfaces, as well as in the diffs.
• You'll notice that unlike in some simpler Tamiya kits, you don't build using everything from one hardware bag, and then move on. You'll frequently need to skip ahead a bag or two to get the parts you need. Just don't let this worry you, and make sure you have a wide, open container to empty the bags into so the pieces will be easier to find. I actually used four caddies during this build -- one large flat tupperware piece, one quart-sized tupperware piece, and two small dishes (old mint tins).