The
Biggest Badest Monster Truck on the planet:
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When
Ofna/Hobao created this truck, they didn't just create another car that was
slow and hugely under-powered (sorry maxx fans), they created a truck with
a Big Block 21 engine that could handle the abuse that a monster truck can
and will receive from doing mind-blowingly high jumps and speeds that are
comparable to rally-cross buggys.
The
Maxx may have more advanced suspension than the Dominator but it makes up
for it by its robustness, unbreakable drivetrain and shear power-output from
a 21 engine.
I
have owned my Dominator/MP for over 2 years now and have done many mods to
it. I don't race the truck, but get together with a few people who own similar
trucks now and again to go bashing at a local quarry. I have yet to get some
decent video of us driving the trucks, but will hopefully do so soon.
Truck
Specs;
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Hobao MT3 Split Rims and "tick" tires
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RB WS7 Engine with RB airfilter on 8mm pipe extension
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Cvec Z170 Power pipe
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Ofna rear/Mugen front shocks with custom made two spring dual rate system.
80Wt oil allround.
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Single Speed gear driving original shimmed diffs.
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Hitec 645 Steering servo and Hitec 625 Throttle. Futaba Megatech Radio TX
and RX. Custom made 5 cell "hump" RX NiMH 1500Mah pack. Outboard
on/off display Led (see tip and tricks) and failsafe.
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Ofna Front and Rear CNC Aluminium Lower arms. CNC Rear uprights. 4mm Front
Shock tower brace.
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Custom made S/Steel Front Skid plate
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Proline F350 shell, 3 spray fade effect with handpainted flames.
My
truck was a Monster Pirate but I have just put MT3 split rims and tires for
the offroading as its a bit much for the engine to pull.
I
still use the 6 1/2" tires occasionally, just for the shear look of it!
Sometime
in the future I hope to get hold of a TTR Pro .70 engine and put that in.
I know it involves making the engine mounts but it would be worth it! I have
seen it done by the Sabr crew and a few others from RCMT (A great big Hello
to all the members from that board!) and it is impressive. But fuel consumption
goes up and your left with 4 minutes run time per tank! With the RB I currently
get 12 Minutes per tank.
Setup:
Front
skid plate;
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The
front skid plate is made front Stainless Steel 2mm thick sheet. I cut out
a suitable size, marked up the holes and drilled and countersunk them. I then
bent the skid into the 70 degree angle shown in the pic. (Bent in the vice
with alot of heaving!) It has survived alot of crashes and is still in the
same shape from when i made it.
Dual
Rate Shocks;
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This
is an idea I saw whilst looking through the RCCA magazines, the Proline suspension
setup, and thought why couldn't I do that. I decided to try it out at least.
This
is the result, all four shocks have sliding rings that sit between the two
springs. The Blue spring is a trinity monster spring, lightweight compression,
the Yellow spring is a Kyosho one, hard compression, that has been cut down
to an 1" long. When the shock is compressed the blue spring compresses
first up to about half way and then the yellow spring begins to compress.
Gradually getting harder before it reaches the top of the shock. The idea
being is to gradually slow down the compression whilst being reactive to small
bumps that the shock receives. It has turned out suprisingly well, it is much
better than having one very hard spring that does not react to small bumps
and the truck is thrown all over the place.
The
shocks are set on the top inner-most hole and the bottom inner-most hole for
the front. The rear are set on the top outer-most hole and the bottom inner-most
hole. I can drop the truck from a height of up to a meter and the shocks will
not bottom out.
Download |
Description |
Size and Type |
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Dual Rate Shock Spring Idea |
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Shock
towers;
I
have made my shock towers from 4mm thick high-grade aluminium because my original
3mm thick stock ones bent very quickly after a few jumps and soon where at
a 45 degree angle. My original Monster pirate was not equipted with front
long shocks so I had to re-make the front tower to accomodate the longer shocks.
Also the front body mounts had to be modified to fit. I'm sure this is not
a problem for the newer dominator's and monster pirates!
Front
Brace;
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The
front brace is made from the original pivot ball holder ends threaded on to
a 4mm steel rod. The shock tower pivot ball is held in place by two copper
wheel bushings sandwiched between 2 metal brackets. An M4 bolt and nut secures
the whole lot together. The bracket then bolts to the shock tower by two M4
nuts bolts through the tower plate and body mount (the original top two mounting
holes).
I
have also stripped the anodising off from the main chassis plate as I personally
think it looks smarter. I left the Radio plates and center sections blue though.
To strip the anodising from metal, I found that the spray-on oven cleaner
that you find in supermarkets works best. Just spray it on and off the colouring
comes! Finished with fine wet and dry.
Wheelie
bars;
I
have also made a wheelie bar that was fitted to my MP awhile ago. The truck
didn't really wheelie all that much but it must useful for offroading as you
could power up a steep slope and not worry about the truck falling back on
itself. It is made from two steel shelf brackets bent and cut into shape with
a whole cut in the end for the 1 3/4" plane wheel to be mounted. The
wheel is secured by a pin that goes through the end of the two steel brackets.
The door hinge was ideal to mount it on, as i could adjust where i wanted
the wheel to touch the ground. The hinge fits under the rear tranmission housing.
The top bracket bolts to the shock tower.
I've
removed it from my MP recently because it is not needed as much as I thought.
It also adds extra weight.
