A little back story to the renderings above.
Over the years I’ve introduced my daughter to some of the hobbies I had as a kid, one of which was radio control cars. We purchased a very cheap RC truck and gave it to her for Christmas a few years back, but ultimately the truck itself was a big letdown. The goal with the toy truck was to introduce her to the pistol grip controller so that she could learn how to steer and ultimately step up to a more aggressive RC toy. Of course with this new introduction for my daughter came many fond memories for me of creating new RC parts from scratch in my dad’s workshop and tinkering with my car is much as humanly possible.
Although her love for RC cars didn’t immediately mature, my interest spiked again and I decided since I had always wanted an RC boat, there was no more perfect time to pick one up since we spend a lot of time on the water at a local lake here in NJ and my daughter still showed some interest in RC. And let me just say, boats are as fun as I always had hoped they would be. Back when I was a kid, nitro boats were all the rage, today, however, with the advent of brushless motors and LiPo batteries, things have changed, but for the average user like myself, things have changed for the better.
My daughter did show some interest in the boat and of course like any kid wanted a turn at driving. My remote allowed for multiple model settings, so I was able to turn down the wick when she drove with the hopes that she would finally get acclimated to the pistol grip style of steering. Unfortunately, that never really happened.
Fast forward another year or so and suddenly she was asking for a “real” RC truck – of course she meant relative to the cheap toy we had purchased for her a few years back. I was more than happy to oblige and with Christmas right around the corner, Santa was ready to deliver! As her… I mean my excitement grew in anticipation for her new toy, I couldn’t help myself but want one as well, so I ordered two RC buggies so that we could play together – you know, father-daughter time. While they shipped from China, my birthday in early December approached – why not buy something different for me to help wet her appetite, I thought to myself. So I picked up an Axial Yeti Trophy Truck kit. Knowing it needed to be assembled, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for she and I to build it together. And we did. This story was never about her.
Of course by now my interest for RC had peaked again and I was all over the internet watching videos, looking at upgrade parts for the Axial and the two other buggies yet to arrive. I stumbled across some custom, tube-frame RC truck builds and began to realize there was a whole world out of there of guys doing what I used to do as a kid, making my own RC cars from scratch. But I had just purchased the Axial TT and it wasn’t even a month old yet. Surely I couldn’t take on a custom build from scratch… could I? I shared some links with my buddy who knew me pretty well. His first words were: “you should build one”. Yes, yes I should. And off to the computer I went to begin development on a custom, 1/10 scale, tube/rod, brazed chassis, solid axle, two speed, Nitro trophy tuck. The renderings above were part of that development.
