My first lid for the savvy.

[MikeK1981]

Nothin' special, just a Grave Robber in black but I used liquid mask for the first time for all the bumpers and trims. Did them with mirror chrome. everything was painted with rattle cans as I don't have an airbrush. Got black Tremor wheels and Goliath tires to go with it coming in a few days. The body won't be as tall as in some of the pics of it on the truck . I have to wait for a long body post to get here also before I can mount it. I used my original one for the engine cover. I thought about doing something different than just black but I think I'll wait until I get a Silverado body for that. I also thought that doing a white Grave Robber would be different as I haven't seen one but I just stuck with black for this one, it's just too fitting lol. It's full of flaws on the trims but I think it came out pretty good for a first try at something more detailed. It was a lot harder than I thought to get all the trims perfect with the razor but I got good experience from trying it. No step by step this time but I figure we have Vintage Tone for that LOL, he actually knows what he is doing. Everything black and chrome on the body is paint, even the black stripe on the front bumper. The things that are stickers are the lights, turn signals, text, windshield wipers, and handles. Oh and the facial features of the skull etc. I think the head-on pic of it on the savvy does a good job of showing what the chrome looks like in person.

 

[Scott]

Looks good Mike!!!

 

[Hypnotiq]

wow... looks good!!

 

[Shaun]

looks sweet!! thanks for sharing...

 

[Mickey]

mike nice paintwork.

 

[fluxinator]

that looks awesome !

 

[soulja]

nice work dude....reminds me of my first grave robber body about 3 years ago. man...the grave robber is still on of my favorites.here's what mine looked like. this actually the first savage i ever bought new.......

 

[killergsxr1]

looks good..whats under the lid of that toyota gt-1 i see in the back??:beer:

 

[soulja]

looks good..whats under the lid of that toyota gt-1 i see in the back??:beer:

good question. HPI motor i guess???

 

[MikeK1981]

That one is an HPI Super Nitro RS4 1/8 scale touring car. Awesome car, it started me out as an HPI fan. The stock .15 in it is still going strong after SIX or more years of abuse, probably more like seven years now LOL. Never replaced anything but one of the belts and it wasn't even broken just had a fray in it. Could use bearings but I don't run it enough to worry about it. Gotta love HPI durability. Just use it on the street, I don't race it. Got another GT-One lid and black wheels coming for it if my LHS can find them otherwise I'll have to go online. I want to give it an overhaul. The heli is an Align Trex 450 SE v2 clone that is all CF now except the frame plates but I'm workin' on that. I got a CF canopy coming and once I get the frame plates everything on it will be CF and CNC aluminum. No plastic.

 

[Larsenracing]

Nice work. I love that body.

 

[soulja]

The stock .15 in it is still going strong after SIX or more years of abuse, probably more like seven years now LOL. Never replaced anything but one of the belts and it wasn't even broken just had a fray in it. Could use bearings but I don't run it enough to worry about it. Gotta love HPI durability. .

that's awesome! with the stuff i do...the only other company i know that has that track record is Kyosho. they are the two tops as far as reliabilty...and i've owned at least one of everything....madforce's, revos,tmaxxes,x factor, ofna pirates, and HPI and kyosho rank the top two.

man....you got me thinking bout another graverobber body........i love the look of that thing! just outta curiousity....what gears are you running with the XL tires?

 

[MikeK1981]

I'm running the stock 16/52 gears and I like them but I haven't eperimented with anything else yet. Seems to have plenty of top end for me. Seems like the places I run I can only go full throttle for so long anyway. A straight paved road is the only time I can really get a top speed run going LOL. Anywhere else is either too rough to maintain control or I run out of room. I'm actually pretty happy with the k5.9 now that I have it dialed in, but it was a pain to get it where it is now. One theory I have about that motor is that it takes longer to break in than most people expect and thats where the tuning issues come from for a lot of people. Mine was really difficult for a while, like 2 gallons, but now it seems much better and runs like crazy plus it holds it's tune really well now which was one of my major problems originally. Easy wheelies at lower speeds and lots of top end. I can't even begin to imagine what an ERCM picco would be like if my k5.9 is this much fun LOL.

 

[kvnnets]

That's really nice work Mike. Looks great. :rock:

 

[soulja]

. I can't even begin to imagine what an ERCM picco would be like if my k5.9 is this much fun LOL.

read my sig dude.......nuff said!

 

[MikeK1981]

Yeah I noticed it earlier, LOL! I want one bad, maybe after I get back to work for a while.

 

[uscgflorida]

Nice work man, The Grave Robber is by far the best lid I think.

 

[MikeK1981]

Figured I'd update this thread with a pic with the new wheels.

 

[USMC-716]

Good stuff. Looks really nice. Thanks for sharing.

 

[vintage tone]

The chrome paint can be tricky, after you washed the body you can use windex around the windows. Make sure the masking is thick enough and that you back it as thin as you can . Also spray the chrome in several super thin coats. head up the body from the outside after each of em with a hair dryer so it bonds right.
that s about it lift up the liquid mask slowly and if you see anything that wants to lift up use a razor blade to help it.

 

[MikeK1981]

I had the body sitting not too far from the heater between coats, and I did have to use a razor blade to prevent some of it from lifting on the really thin trims. I'll try the windex next time, and go even thinner on my coats for the chrome. Thanks for the advice.

 

[vintage tone]

if you back it up with waterbased black or white, make sure you go in super light coats . Your 1st coats of black or white should be really really thin. Heating the body up from the outside with a hair drier kinda forces the paint to bond together and can help a lot too Good luck !