My first truck - Aeromax

[kenlms]

Hey guys,

This is my first truck. Just thought I'd share. The orange colour is inspired by a number of people on this forum and elsewhere! Lights are LEDs powered by LED driver from RClights.com. The reverse light and brake light on the Aeromax is driven by a Servonaut S20.

Along with the Aeromax I am in the middle of converting Zap toy RC Claas tractor (1:16th scale). Steering is converted to full proporional and the drive train was gutted and replaced by a pair of 60:1 geared robot motors. Just ordered 100:1 motors, as I found the 60:1 motors stall too easily when negotiating an uphill slope.

Thanks for looking.

Ken

[diddys trucking]

nice lookin rig tractor looks good with all those leds

Dave

[Izzy]

how o you like the servonaut? has it performed as you thought it should?

thanks

[kenlms]

Izzy, I only use the Servonaut S20 as a speed controller. I don't have the sound or lights modules. The S20 is very quiet, much quieter than say a Tamiya TEU-101BK. Can't say for certain, but it "feels" like there is more resolution to the control. I can make the truck practically inch forward or reverse with just a tiny movement of the throttle stick.

And I like the brake and reverse light feature it can be directly connected (with the appropriate resistors) to the ESC. I would thoroughly recommend a Servonaut S20 ESC.

I also purchased an M20+. This has all the light connections on the ESC itself, but I can's seem to find how it hook it up to use other channels for lighting control. I have not used because the instructions are completely in German am too worried that I would fry the electronics by hooking it up wrong.

Dave, thanks!

[CrimsonCorsair]

they both look great

[scalelover]

Love the tractor conversion, may I ask where I could fond one of those? The orange looks good on the rig too, I like seeing different color schemes than the norm black.

--Dan

[YoungGunz]

I really like the orange... sharp looking truck!!!

[tc1cat]

Nice truck and tractor. Glad to see someone using products other than Tamiya or 1 of the many other US manuf.

[Cossett]

Ken your in a special club here as there is less than a hand full of jaffa trucks also like the conversion to the tractor

Cheers Tracy

[jtgrff]

That is very nice.I think the orange was a great choice.

[DuelTruckDriver]

Those are some sweet rides That tractor is unbelievable >Marty<

[FabOne]

Ken-

The Aeromax looks GREAT! I like the orange paint job.

-Terry

[kenlms]

Thanks everyone!

Dan, I got the ZapToy Tractor from Amazon.co.uk. Don't be fooled by the picture on Amazon; it's either a real tractor or a proper scale model. The lifting arms and supporting structure on the actual toy is very much toy-like. Sometime I hope to replace (another project). The toy is wired for lights, but only for the two headlights and two taillights. I drilled out the other lights to fit 3mm LERs. The toy had 2 "wheat-grain" light bulbs for light up the group of 4 headlights. I removed these, drilled out the individual headlights and installed 3mm LEDs, 2 in "warm" white and two regular white.

One of the interesting aspects of the tractor conversion is how to fit everything! There really isn't that much room inside one, especially if you want to preserve the driver's cab. Sorry I didn't think to take in-progress photos to post.

[mrxreight]

looks cool i like it very diffrent to my aeromax thats for sure

[mgb]

Nice looking Aeromax and excellent job on the tractor.

[smart racer]

great lookin' on both the builds, and cool idea on the tractor

[Roadmasters]

Nice first build, orange isnt a very common color on an aeromax, but i like it

[kenlms]

Originally Posted by scalelover

Love the tractor conversion, may I ask where I could fond one of those? The orange looks good on the rig too, I like seeing different color schemes than the norm black.

--Dan

Hi Dan, the tractor is a toy from amazon uk. I gutted the cheap toy electronics and replaced them with a micro 6 channel receiver, porportional steering servo (Hitec HS-55). The drive train is actually dual geared motors from http://www.robotmarketplace.com/store.html. I wanted the tractor to have enough torque to climb up a trailer ramp! Still a work-in-progress, I also want to add working front and rear lift arms.

[kenlms]

I've reposted my pictures on flicker, including mu WIP dolly trailer and a Carson Goldhofer Sattelanhänger.

Pictures can be viewed here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2221662...7629648071669/

Comments and advice welcome!

Thanks for looking.

Ken

[Espeefan]

Wow Ken. You've got nice machinery there! The tractor looks excellent all lit up! The Aeromax has always been a favorite Tamiya model of mine. I don't get tired of seeing them! Welcome to the forum.