My new FLM Savage X SS

[killjoyken]

Nothing super special here. I have (soon to be had) an E-Savage that's been brushed, brushless, GCM ext chassis, etc, as well as a 3906 E-maxx that went through the same treatment until I sold it. But I was always breaking nearly every time I ran them when they were brushless. So after my buddy Dewmerz told me how he was looking at getting a Savage and an FLM chassis, I decided to start reading the posts in here. A few weeks later I happened to spot a new Savage X SS kit #883 (no motor!) on ebay. I put in a bid for $250 and walked away. A few days later I won it and promptly ordered a FLM forward chassis. Enough with the history, here's the specs:

Savage X SS kit
FLM forward chassis kit
Mamba Max and CCBEC
Feigao 8XL
RCM heatsink
RCM 16t pinion
RRP 48t spur
Hitec 5955 for steering
Hitec 645 for braking
Spektrum DX3R and 3100 receiver
Neu 4900mah 4s lipo
HPI 3-speed with taller 3rd gear
HPI dual fiberglass disc brakes
Ofna 28mm offset dish wheels
HPI Dirt Bones (strapped)
HPI wheelie bar

Everything else is stock HPI. I had the same issues as some guys with the FLM kit but to me it's nothing major. I was missing the servo support but found that the stock motor plate supports could be drilled out to work and the rear tranny holes didn't line up. It took me 5mins to fix both. Everything else on the chassis was perfect. The only change I may make is milling some holes in the skid plate to allow dirt and rocks to escape, esp under the brake discs.

Since this tread is worthless without pics, here ya go:










And my favorite: My new Savage saying goodbye to it's retarded stepchild, the E-Savage.

[lincpimp]

Retarded stepchild

Does it have red hair, no teeth, and play the banjo?!

[lincpimp]

Nice truck, I had the same issues you did with the missing brace and the tranny holes. Still need to finish mine, almost too nice to run!

[killjoyken]

Originally Posted by lincpimp

Does it have red hair, no teeth, and play the banjo?!

I was going to say "red haired" but didn't want to insult any rc-monster gingers we may have in here!

[lincpimp]

Originally Posted by killjoyken

I was going to say "red haired" but didn't want to insult any rc-monster gingers we may have in here!

HAHA, take a look at this: http://gingerkids.org/index.html

Originally Posted by killjoyken

And my favorite: My new Savage saying goodbye to it's retarded stepchild, the E-Savage.

Don't use this picture when you sell the e-savage. Great build Ken.

We'll see how this does this weekend against my LS2P or my Savage if I can get it done in time.

[_paralyzed_]

be nice to redheads, for god's sake, they have no souls!

[Serum]

Sweet ride! I can finish mine this Friday, i expected the stock body would look worse, because of the length of the vehicle, but it looks rather good on it.

[DRIFT_BUGGY]

Very nice, one of the best Savages of seen

[killjoyken]

Ok, enough with the ginger kid jokes.....there's a couple of them staring in my window... I think they're after my soul...

Serum: Yes, hurry up and finish it. We're tired of waiting!

Thanks for the compliments guys. I really love this truck. It's by far the toughest truck I've ever built. I'm really tempted to enter it in the RCCA WFRCC challenge this year. I took home fastest mini last year and would like to take home fastest monster truck this year for RC-Monster, esp since last year should have been a win for RC-Monster, not HPI. I forgot the guy's name who was sponsored by Mike, but he should have won. I hope he'll show up again this year.

I've got a MMM on order for this truck and I think I'll end up ordering a 1521 as well. I wonder if it's even possible to get this tank into the 80-90mph range.

[killjoyken]

Ok, Dewmerz and I went bashing at the BMX park today and got some pretty good video for you guys. It's unedited and a little long (9 mins) but it shows what this truck can take. The first 2 and a half minutes are me getting used to the truck so you can skip to 2:40 if you want to see the jumps. With the nice long chassis it's really stable and easy to control in the air. It did cog a few times in the air that prevented me from bringing the nose back up fast enough, but at least the brakes worked flawlessly. Remember, this is the first 1/8th scale truck I've owned and the first time I've really driven it, other than 5 mins in my small back yard and another 5 mins in the parking lot of my lhs to set 3rd gear. For such a big, heavy truck, it's really easy to control and very responsive. There's also some video at the end of my E-firestorm on 2s until the MM separated from it's case.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJVkNKYJbck&fmt=18

Total damage after 15-20mins of hard bashing? 1 broken rear dogbone, 1 partially blown rear shock cap and a slightly dented lipo. Instead of making a front lipo brace last night like I should have, I ended up playing GTAIV. Well, just as expected, that worthless little piece of delrin failed and my lipo slid into the spur gear. The also worthless maxamps "lipo cover" did nothing but thankfully Neu put nice thick wood spacers at the end of the pack that kept the cell from fully impacting the slipper nut. The damage isn't as bad as it looks. I actually peeled back some of the shrink wrap to make sure the cell wasn't damaged. The shiny thing in the pic is strapping tape, not the cell.




Dewmerz came up with an idea to use the remaining stock motor mount support to add extra bracing for the skid plate and lower chassis while also freeing up two nice aluminum tabs to use for a lipo brace. I used a piece of scrap fiberglass for the lipo brace until I go back to work next week and make a proper plate. Don't even plan on using the stock delrin stopper in the front. FLM really needs to make better braces. It really doesn't take much, esp for them. I have to make stuff the old fashioned way, with a mill! I'd kill for a CNC machine!





Overall, I couldn't be happier. This is by far the best RC investment I've ever made. The 8XL did get up to about 180F, but not any higher. Power was great and runtime was a lot more than I expected. No regrets at all. Best truck ever.

Ken's Savage was really cool to watch today. It handled the big jump much better than my LS2P did and had really good runtime. The truggy just couldn't match the ground clearance.

The broken dogbone on the Savage was minor compared to my over jump on the double casing the LS2P hard enough on the peak of the next one to tweak the chassis and pop the center CVD during flex.

If I can get my Savage done by Sunday hopefully we'll do it again.

[DRIFT_BUGGY]

Damn, that was close with that lipo.
Great to hear that you are having fun

[jnev]

Nice video!! That truck looks to be doing great for you. Too bad about the battery, but at least you'll be able to fix the problem for future bashes. Can you tell me how the long the wheelbase is... from center of front wheel, to center of rear wheel please?

[killjoyken]

Originally Posted by jnev

Nice video!! That truck looks to be doing great for you. Too bad about the battery, but at least you'll be able to fix the problem for future bashes. Can you tell me how the long the wheelbase is... from center of front wheel, to center of rear wheel please?

I was lucky it was only cosmetic damage to the lipo.
The wheelbase is about 388mm or 15 1/4". Almost the same as the new XL. I'm also considering the new Super heavy-duty driveshafts #100415 from the XL if I break another driveshaft.