I'm working on up grading a Diecast Masters 49X White Western Star.
I really liked the look of the truck the retail is around $239 so cheap by RC standards but a pricey toy for a cheap skate like me...especially since the first thing I do is open it up and gut it....
The truck looks great for the price but it does have it's short comings and strong points so I'll start on the positive...
The dump bed is pretty big and the system to raise and lower it seems to handle a full load of dirt so that part is pretty strong .
The drive system also has no problems driving around with a full load of dirt...
It's got headlights, tail lights turn signals, and back-up lights and sound... ish
Did I say it was really shiny ...
And if you have ever tried to take a Bruder apart for a conversion you'll appreciate the fact that this thing comes apart with ease...
Ok.. the down sides...
The steering sucks...on mine anyway kind of all or nothing.
The dump system is powerful but not very realistic looking it runs off 2 wheels and if you hold the control in the up position it just keeps going up and down....
The drive systems is strong but SUPER fast and touchy dead stop to full speed with just a tiny movement on the throttle not very realistic .
And the tires are really hard so traction can be a real issue....
So the bad points need fixed nothing a receiver, servo, a couple ESCs, light kit, tires and rims and home made 3D parts can't fix...
Here is what we start with.
I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on how to get it apart because it's pretty simple there are a hand full of screws to take out and the thing comes apart... there is a U-Tube video that goes into detail on it but it's pretty straight forward... and you end up with this.
This is a pretty straight forward upgrade there is plenty of room to work with.
I plan on using a HW 1060 ESC for the drive and a cheapy 30a ESC for the dump bed.
Steering will get a Tower Pro 996 and some custom made 3D parts (I'll put them on thingiverse in the next few days so if anybody wants to do this conversion they can.