FTX Outback 2 Build Topic - Giveaway build Part 2

FTX Outback 2 giveaway project continues...

As the windows of the body are open the build definetly needs a interior and a floor for the bed. We started to find out the shapes simply with the cardboard.

Little by little cutting the cardboard and fitting the body we found good width for the interior where it supports the flexy lexan body as it has lost it's rigidity along the cutting process.

From the cardboard piece we copy the shapes to a 3mm thick PVC-foam board (Forex) and cut them to fit. Any knife is good here as the Forex is very easy to work with! Make a cut and bend against the table.

To make a 90 degree corner, first make two 45 degree cuts against eachother (almost through the material) and bend carefully in your hands or against the table or such.

To form the body use a heat gun. Forex-panel should not be heated too much as it releases poisonous fumes if it roasts. Too much heat will also spoil the surface of the material. When heated you can bend the panel against different kind of molds or shapes. Reheat if neccessary!

Fitting things. Right width is again found out with the hobby knife!

Rear wall planning from the same Forex-panel than earlier

..To make it Fit

..and to add some details. With Forex, the normal super glue is the best. You may want to scrub the surfaces a little before applying glue.

We sanded the rear wall to fit the body lines as perfecly as we could. Body and the interior do not attach to eachother here as the lexan body must be able to live as it is flexing while the car is run. If needed, the body can be attached to the interior with some double sided velcro.

Seats

In RC-offroad the low point of gravity is very imporant and all the details will give you disadvantance in the weight. As we are anyhow making a visible interior, we want to have somekind of simple (but lightweight!) seats for some extra realism. Here is one very simple way to make something that resembles a car seat if you look far away enough.

Supplies:

• Plastic container with square(ish) corners. We used a screw box. 
• Duct tape with needed colours
• Glue
• Piece of Forex-panel or any rigid plastic sheet

Box is first cut half..

..then to fours..

..what are all shaped to look like a halves of the seats. Pieces are narrowed to get them in the right width.

From the plastic we cut a head rest. This piece is also used to glue the seat halves together.

Head rest is bent a bit and then glued in..

..and for the lower part we glue another piece of plastic also to keep the halves together. Notice how the seat opens to the front. Gel glue is best here as it has some flexibility.

Rest of the seat is taped up with a duct tape. You can make stripes etc easily when using tapes with different colours. Seat could be also paitnted afterwards.

Interior and bed floor painted black. Seats are put in right angle and height with little plastic pieces and attached to floor with two-sided velcro.

Roof bar is needed and will be made from clean 6mm steel tube

Fitting the pieces for the roll cage.

..and soldered together with the silver. Normal soldering iron is not powerful tool for this and a gas flame is preferred with some soldering skills.

Adding the light buckets. These are from Axial and a little holes were driller to fit the 5mm leds.

Roll cage was painted with the same black rubber spray than the rest of the black color in the body and were attached with the screws and glue. For interior we made a simple dashboard from forex. Stickering finishes the package!

Then we just hook up the electronics and off to the maiden run we ride! Works like a charm! Scale RC cars should always be driven extra carefully and in a realistic manner. You can imagine yourself inside the model and drive it would be your real vehicle. This way we achieve a lot more realism and equipment stays in good shape longer!

Project ready!

When we started this, there was no real image what the result may be. A little scale building adventure you may say! Much realism could be added just by simply changing the wheels and tires for a smaller diameter but that would be again off from the performance. Much of the fun in this hobby is to find a nice balance between the realism factor and the performance. Build should look scale (and beyond) and still work in a pleasuring way. Only the imagination is a limit but remember that more stuff you add, more stuff is prone to break! Keep the super glue near..!

Thanks for following and we hope a lot you like our pretty little build!