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F350 Highlift Project "Urban Assault" by: Joe Anderson

The Project:

I have always wanted to create something like this and this kit worked perfectly. It is very versatile and will lend itself to many projects around the world for many years to come. In fact I don't think I will ever stop modifying it, because there are too many things that can be done.

I know my limitations and a killer paint job is one of them. So I went the route with an urban camo in flat colors. This I knew I could pull off fairly easily, plus if it gets scratched I can just touch it up. (This is no shelf queen). I learned when working with camo, you should not get too crazy with the details. Remember it's your job to make a pattern, but to make it not look too pattern like.

I started with:

Tamiya F350 Highlift #58372
Tamiya MFU unit #53957
Tamiya 6ch adspect radio
Tamiya Dirt Tuned Motor #53929

Items I purchased:

Sealed Ball Bearing Set
MOAB Tires
Beadlocks
TLT Axle Skid
HighLift Snug Cap
Blue Igloo Cooler
Scoop Shovel
Fire Extinguisher
Kayak
(I will get into more detail later on these)

Paints and supplies:

XF-1 Flat Black
XF-2 Flat White
XF-51 Khaki Drab
XF-19 Sky Grey
XF-57 Buff
Light-Curing Putty
Fine Surface Primer L - Light Gray

I started by assembling the complete chassis w/o body to get a base done. This allowed me to plan not only what I was going to do but how I would route wires and mount new items cleanly.

Since I was adding the MFU (MultiFunction Unit), I started this with the build so I could get the speaker mounted correctly between the chassis as I knew the speaker housing would be of use soon! I went ahead and mounted the MFU and started to run the wires for what was mounted (Vibration and speaker).

I went with front steer only, so I did not mount the rear hardware on the chassis. My long term plan is to mount the steering servo up front, but kept it in a stock location for the current progress. Due to the fact I had to create quite a lift to the suspension, I created an aggressive bend on the steering rod, this will be worked on when I move the servo at a later date.

One thing I knew I wanted to do was create a tilt bed with one of my extra channels. I mounted the servo in the bed(since it would be covered with the shell), this is where the speaker box comes into play. I mounted an angle bracket onto the speaker box and attached a short rod between that and the servo. I used my rotary knob on channel 5 so I can raise and lower it slowly.

Movie that shows Bed Tilt

640x480 wmv 2.23meg

During this time I was planning the shell mounting and roof rack with lights. I knew the roll bar would not be used(I had a better use for it later) so I moved on to make the proper holes and wiring routing to get the lights more functional.

The Snug Cap was purchased through Scale Hobbies, The cap comes unpainted and requires a good amount of sanding. The rear window is a separate piece so you can leave it clear or tint it and create a variety of mounting options. I drilled 4 small holes along the bed rail and mounted the cap from below the bed for easy removal.

The Roof Rack was purchased through Xtreme RC Hobbies, it comes in a standard size. I requested mine to be larger as it was going to be mounted on the snug cap. When It arrived I was pleasantly surprised on how nicely it was put together. All it needed was to have lights mounted on it and hit with flat black.

While working with the roof rack, I decided the antenna would be moved from the front cab to the rear bumper using the spring antenna from a Tamiya Hummer. I quickly covered the pre-drilled hole in the cab with Tamiya's Light Curing Putty. If you have used putty in the past but never used our Light Curing Putty, its time to switch. Fifteen minutes under a fluorescent light, no shrinkage and a little sanding, and I was off running!

Since I was doing a paint themed truck, I knew it would have no chrome, so I had to find the best way to cover the chrome. I talked with many people and read a lot of threads on the subject and found people mentioned Sanding, or using Easy-Off oven cleaner. Well, I had no plans to sand every piece of chrome to the point of primering it. I came across someone who mentioned Castrol Super Clean. I went down to my local auto store and found that it is now sold as "Super Clean" and in a purple bottle, so I gave it a try. I dipped one end of the unused roll bar into a container of Super Clean and within 5 minutes the chrome was no more only pure white plastic! I was happy to see that it was so easy and did not harm the plastic; I started loading all my chrome pieces and shortly the chrome was gone...

Remember that unused Roll bar that is lacking chrome now? Well, by cutting one of the bent rear down mounting tubes off and flipping it upside down against the edge of the window, the added Snorkel started to take shape. By adding a couple wood hole plugs from my wood shop It was looking good. After gluing the pieces in place and adding a small bit of Tamiya Light Curing Putty, it was ready for primer.

Before coating everything with primer, I wanted to get rid of the screws on the cab behind the marker lights. The Tamiya Light Curing Putty quickly took care of that once again, so with some light sanding, I was ready for primer. After the primer was dry, I inspected to see any flaws that might have been hidden on the bare plastic and lightly sanded and re-coated the primer.

The stock brush guard was nice, but not enough for this truck. Instead of buying a new one, I decided to modify the existing one. With the use of a Dubro tubing bender, and some tubing, not to mention careful measurements and time, the guard had new life. I epoxied a threaded shaft into top of the tubing, so that the top (BB11) Bumper pipe could screw onto it. The bottom was fastened with a screw and epoxy into the tube. This way, I could unscrew it if I needed to remove it. I added some 150lb fishing line that was painted with XF-57 buff to look like rope.

I wanted to add a Winch but had no need for a working one at this point, so I went with a tip I found on a forum to create a winch with some basic items. "onespeeder" from rccrawler.com posted

One possible addition later would be two lights mounted on the brush guard to create a finished look it. So we will have to look at that down the road.

The stock side mirrors are prone to breakage and replacement. Well ,since the Highlift is based off the Jugg body and I had a fix for that many years back, it was time to bring it forward. My fix is cutting the mirrors off from the mount, in the direct middle, and by adding two small pieces of fuel tubing and two small pieces of shrink tubing. I know I have seen some people today use only shrink tubing, but I don't want floppy mirrors. My fix prevents the mirrors from breaking, but still holds them tight over rough terrain. So for a roll over or hitting something, the mirrors will either flex or fall off, and can be put right back on. But while driving, they do not flex due to the fuel tubing.

To lift the Truck I added two more (L3) pieces on each corner, which are held together with 2 3x48mm (MG8) from the TNX3.0/Terra Crusher. This gave me enough lift for no rubbing, but not too much that would make it look non scale like in appearance. I also used the "Super Clean" and removed the anodizing from the Dampers.

Due to the lift, I had to relocate the shock mounts and add a 10mm bushing. I removed the (BE7) mounts and mounted the Dampers through one of those mounting holes.

I attached the MP3 Player to the chassis for the MFU, so I can jam the tunes while driving it around (Great Feature).

I had an extra .50 Cal gun from a Sherman tank and wanted to incorporate it somehow. By adding the ladder I thought it would work if I made a tripod for someone to climb up and use the .50 Cal on the roof. I cut three Tamiya 3mm Plastic beams and melted them together on one end. I then used a heatgun to to warm them up nicely and bent each piece to form a tripod. I created a mount out of the same material and mounted the tripod to the rack. Now the only thing that is left is Chair or no Chair? I was thinking of creating some type of seat behind the tripod for the .50 Cal, maybe a future mod?

Since the MFU had extra sockets and I had a few extra stock light housings, I wanted to add some light to the push guard. By dremeling down the mounts under the housing I was able to get a good height and angle that would allow me to use them. I ended up epoxying them into place with some heat shrink on the wires. It was a good edition as it added a nice off-road appearance and more light for night running

Ever since I had decided to mount the 50 caliber on the tripod, people have been telling me it was missing something. So with the extra room behind the gun, I decided to add a gunner seat. Remember how I used the roll bar for my snorkel piece? well the other side of that same roll bar made its way to the pole to mount my seat on, since it had a nice angle which gave it a good look rather than a straight pole. The seat was made from some clear plastic that I heated and molded into a seat.

Movie that shows working lights

640x480 wmv 2.28meg