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Bluemonster-RC VMG Crawler The following description is old, I'll update it soon... - Bluemonster-RC Stretch kit - Bluemonster-RC Steering servo mounts (front and rear) - MPI Gear Reduction - Novak Spy - MX-3 - custom offset narrowed Stampede wheels - Pro-Line 2.2 Dirt Hawgs - 120 oz JR steering servo - De-anodized VMG Aluminum Shocks - Pro-Line Dodge Dakota R/T body (discontinued) - Steel wheel nuts - Deans stiff Antenna (mounted to truck bed) - Locked center diff - Locked front and rear diffs

The kit, I hope you are already familiar with.
The paint was done with a crumpled up plastic bag. Red was first sprayed on a little heavier than normal, and the bag was pressed into it before it dried, leaving lots of "marks".
If you do this, it will look bad, but it's okay. It will turn out fine. Be sure to get into al the nooks and crannies... Next I sprayed the black and let it dry. Looks great! The bed is made from a sheet of a carbon fiber sticker.

The wheels were narrowed on the inside and painted the same color as the stretch kit.
I am preparing another battery set-up like my other VMG, so I am searching for either red batteries or black batteries. I already have some silicone Dean's battery cable.	It's also getting a custom servo mount that I hope to be selling as well, along with a HiTec HS85MG servo and standard electronics.


I ordered a gear reducer, having heard a lot of good things about them. I picked one that is anodized aluminum, all ball bearing, and comes with several pinion/spur options.
I installed a Fireball motor. The fit into the reduction unit is so perfect, I had to remove the sticker to make it fit! It looked stupid after that, so I put on a carbon fiber sticker over the exposed motor can.
I had an additional cooling section on the motor, but I removed it. You can see the custom mounting plate I made, as usual, it utilizes existing screws so as not to drill new holes in the chassis. The plate will be polished. Spacing and mesh were critical, as the trans and the reducer are not mounted to each other. Any chassis flex will change the mesh... I think it turned out beautiful, but I am going to have to do something about that blue. I'll likely de-anodize and polish it.

I also fabbed up these servo mounts for the steering servo. Again, they use only existing holes. Unfortunatly, they relocated the bottom shock mount, so I had to move the upper shock mount, which meant drilling a new hole for the top of the shock. The mounts are polished aluminum.
I am using a JR MN48 mini servo for steering. I had planned on using a HiTec HS85MG, but this one is plenty strong, and my LHS had it in stock. I need to make some better looking links, but they are functional. YOu can see below, I also got the body all stickered up. It was scary for a bit, I lost the sticker sheet for a week, thought it was gone forever. The worst part of that would have been, the body is discontinued, so that means no more stickers to be had!

I added 4 wheel steering. It works great and adds a whole new feeling to crawling over a rock!	Here it is in action...
The gear reduction is so strong, it is holding still on it's own.


These pics are a little dark, and I'll take better ones in the daylight, but these are the MLST wheels and tires.	They turned out great, just need to torture-test them!
It's now a slender and agile machine...	...and damn sexy too!





The truck was featured in "Show Offs" in RC Driver, but by the time it was published, the truck looked like this... ...Here's how it got this way.
It started when I drove another 2.2 VMG, it was an easy decision to build my own. I couldn't just slap on some wheels and call it a day though. First order was to narrow the Stampede wheels. By cutting off the inner lip, trimming it and re-inserting it into the wheel, you get a narrowed wheels with maximum available offset, probably of any wheel out there. The axle stubs were drilled for hex pins and I am running 12mm HPI hubs with HPI pins.
It took a lot of time to decide to cut my body, especially since I cannot get another, and I really love this body. But, what has to be done, well, has to be done.
The next immediate need was for anything other than the stock piece of junk VMG transmission. I opted to build an MLST trans. Spendy, but worth the $60 invested.
Here is the VMG vs. the MLST trans.
I had to make a custom set-up to mount the trans to the VMG chassis and then the gear reduction to the transmission.







Take a good look, this truck no longer exists in this form. After building my TLT tuber chassis, I decided it was time for a full-on VMG tuber project. Stay tuned for pics...