Meet Cera

[markman]

I dont know if any of you are into scalers or not but I am as well as summits.
theres one scaler that was built by someone over on the RCCrawler forums named Hera. A very cool rig indeed.



Well I had to build a Summit version of it. soooo.
heres my chassis







Well, there she is. Heras fat older sister Cera. I really only have about 10 hours of work into it. I have some more finishing touches to do but I had to run it today!

[the rc joe]

that looks great! good job Markman, it really makes the summit even more scale lookin'

[markman]

Thank you very much! Heres a quick vid I threw together of it.. I've always tried to keep mine kind of scaler looking but the monster truck always shows through. This one seems to make it look a little better. I'm still waiting on my new tires and wheels too, which might help a bit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsSAVvnDv-I

[SacramentoTraxxasLover]

WOW... i just started a thread about building a Rock Racer and that is what i had pictured in my head as the finished product. That is awsome!!!! from what i can see it is kinda like a cage that goes onto the summit chasis only awsomer than any cage i have seen.... or is it more than that?
BTW... I have yet to master the skills needed to make anything close to that cool... would it be possible to put up a how to for dummies on making something like that, possibly a build thread of sorts

[SacramentoTraxxasLover]

ohh yeah and if you couldnt tell im drooling over here!
have you thought about makeing one for sale, I would love to be your first customer!

[markman]

thanks for the nice words! I love building this stuff and am glad other people like it too. As far as a build thread goes I never seem to take enough pics to do one properly but I'll try to do another and show some of the things I do to build this stuff. I usually just go to Lowes and grab a bunch of solid stock and just start bending stuff up till it looks right. Kind of seat of the pants but this one I had a goal all along and that made it a bit easier.
I've thought about making cages for people and I'd like to do it in the future. I have been trying to come up with a certain style or something pretty cheap to build cause theres really no money in it, its just fun.. heres my photobucket for more pics.
http://s238.photobucket.com/albums/f...cpZZ1QQtppZZ16

[noir 522]

Theres a guy by the name of twisted in the mini summit vxl section that might be in your family also.
His rig:

[markman]

that looks like one of those integy cages. looks cool with a body on it though!

[markman]

Ok, finally got my new sneakers installed on Cera! RC4wd mudslingers on proline tech 5s. I narrowed and stared the foam and right out of the box they work amazing! Anyway.






I'm gonna try to take some new video when we hit the trail later this week.

[markman]

Ok I just cant leave stuff alone. With the new mudlingers I was getting a bit of tire rub and I just didnt like the hood all along anyway.
I also felt the roof was too tall so I started cutting. I chopped the front A pillars down a bit and sloped the roof down for a meaner look. Then I bent two small hoops to give clearance for the tires. I needed a new hood for the new shape so I laid another peice of plexiglass over the tubing and hit it with the heat gun. New coat of paint, done!



Looks much better now and functions better to boot!

[markman]

Went out and played today.

Flys nice!


Hilarious!
And a new video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqKrb99gNYc

[jamann]

I just subbed that tube work is sweet, very nice work gonna have to try that myself at some point.the slingers just add to the coolness of the rig

[markman]

Thanks! By all means get out in the shop and start bending up some metal! Its very addictive, I'm already working on another chassis! I'm trying something really low now....

[Joseph Warner]

Very nice markman. One of the best looking out there by far. Curious to know if you bend the stock by hand, and what is the weight?

[markman]

Thank you! I use a vice and depending on the bend I need I have a bunch of pipe stock to wrap it around too. I also have holes drilled in the shop table that I run it through for different bends too.
As far as weight, thats a great question, I dont really have a way to scale them but I'll come up with something. I know its not as heavy as most would think and it doesnt seem to hurt the handling characteristics...

[Joseph Warner]

I seen ur creation and remembered AvalacheEngineering's Sniper rock crawler.

[Greatscott]

Saw your thread over on RCC, VERY nice work!!!

Are you done with it, or are you going to fabricate a chassis as well?

[markman]

Thanks for the nice words! I'm still tossing around the idea of a full chassis. With this suspension its pretty intense getting everything mounted so I'm still not sure... Traxxas did a darn good job with this pan..

[markman]

The only thing better than mudslingers is Cut Mudslingers!

I took a little weight out of them..

[-volkinharley-]

AWESOME YEAH!! ok im inspired so i went out & got the stuff i need. lets see o2 & mapp brazing kit and some 3/8" steel brake tubing an some silver solder. im gonna try with the brake tubing and test ride with it and then move up to a bettere metal or what ever after this firtst trwy. hahahah. ok seriously how do you attatch the frame hm to the chassis? thanks for any words of wisdom . thanks. and how did you do your take off ? center out or back to front? im thinking cab and rear main then roof then connected and added support and then hood. ok thank you for the pics posted . for real

Watch the Bypassing please.
-ksb51rl

[markman]

Sounds like you got what you need to try some stuff out. I actually use a welder on mine but lots of people braze. you can kind of see in the cut tires pic there is a little plate welded under the hood. Theres a hole in that plate and I just run a screw into the original body mount tower.

I might be a bit confused on what your looking for but I build it center out every time. The two main rails that sit next to the battery doors are first and I just start running bars up from them. The hood and very front are usually last to build.
You can pm me with questions or whatever, if you like, then ksb51rl wont be there to slap your wrist...

[-volkinharley-]

hey thank you for the advice and also to pm you , i really dont know what by passing means. i do some posting but thats about it.

[jamann]

I believe it is in reference to...Bypassing Language Filter.. Got to choose your words carefully as the forum is aimed at all ages.

[-volkinharley-]

ok i see. thank you.

[-volkinharley-]

do you have a pic of the top picture that shows the back of your cage while it was still unpainted.

[markman]

I dont have one taken from the back really. Heres the best I have I think.

heres the back of another cage I have if you are looking for mounting point ideas.


heres another of mounting points



one more for ideas for you.


There ya go. now get busy and post up what you got so far!

[slash116vxl]

Why do you have that blue tubing over your wires?

[markman]

I think it looks better than wires I guess. Now that I dont really run a blue truck very often I should change colors of tubing.

[-volkinharley-]

thank you for the other pics and all. its been fun getting things together for this project. i am learning alot about metal and welding and brazing. found some real good solder 45% silver solder an stay-silv flux and a map gas turbo torch and all went well from there, but, finding the right solder and tubing was a trick. but my buddy gave me some 14" stainless steel tubing that is going to be my next frame yeah my next one... i'm hooked this is cool . opened up a whole new phase up my r/c craze.hahahahahahttp hope

[-volkinharley-]

Here are some pics ( i hope) of my first attempt
[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG]

[-volkinharley-]

Thanks markman for the inspiration.

[jamann]

I'm gonna have to give that a try as well at some point.They are unique.I dig that

[markman]

Thanks markman for the inspiration.

You bet! It looks like your on to something now! Take it out and beat it and see what fails, that info can be brought over into your next one!
I have beat my latest chassis so hard there is now way you could do that to a plastic truck without something giving up the ghost!
I like your first take on this and I really like that your hooked, have fun!

[rockysummit]

Do you weld or solder the frames

[markman]

I weld mine. I dont have any experience with solder and it seems like welding would be a bit stronger..

[-volkinharley-]

What a fun time of trial and error on brazing. Finding the right solder was a trick. I founbd 45% silver solder / bronze from a weld shop $12 for 20 feet and stay-silv flux paste $3 hand held map gas tank go to it. a few more panels here and there and its on and rollin......then yes my next one mmmwwwahahahaha.. my work bench the good solder

[-volkinharley-]

it's coming to life mmwwwaaahahahaha
http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/...Jul21_0005.jpg.
i cant wait to build my next one this time with a small welder. i think that might be better .. but who knows. this was great.

[markman]

looks mean, I like it. keep after it and post some vids.

[-volkinharley-]

ok here goes new tires and wheelswheel axial bullet hole beadlockerscut yes sirstar cut foams and forgot to take pics just so excitedOOHH MAN Mean and Ugly and now on to my next tuber frame

[markman]

Nice! post a vid of it ripping it up!