New Kawasaki Quad paint job finished

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Gazzman

Gazzman

Well-Known Member
Messages
912
Location
Haywards Heath, Untied Kingdom
Just finished the paint on my new Kawasaki quad body. This is not the orignal HPI shell. Had this shell kicking around for a while not used. The colour scheme is a bit different, but had to use what I had. Managed to save the 2 engine stickers from my old shell which has now seen better days, The part built Savage it's sitting on is soon to be Savage No.10, already have 9. This one has original 25 TVPs, 2 speed box, 14/47T clutch/spur gear, 29/9T bulletproof diffs in original 25 cases. Electrics are 2x Feetech 35kg servos with a FlySky GR3-E receiver sitting in a version 2 radio box soon to be powered by a 6.6v Life battery hump. The mill is a K5.9. So far this build has cost me nothing as all the parts have come from my parts bin.
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guinnessdublin said:
Nice paint job mate looking good!
Do you have the quad bike rider, seen the original ones go for silly money?
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Thanks mate, must say pretty please with how it has turned out. As for the rider & handle bars a lass they were both missing from the original bodyshell when I got it. Like you say peps are asking silly money for them on eBay. Saw 1 set selling for £120 earlier this year. Have trawled the internet for some other handlebars that could use but as yet not had any joy. The rider not to bothered about as could use any action figure, seen a Batman being used which looked quite good. Have thought about looking for an Airfix 1/8 bike kit which maybe could use the handlebars from. At the end of the day will probably replace this shell with another truck one as not happy with how high it has to sit on the mounts to clear the mill. It is shaped different to the original one with that one having a bugle in the seat to accommodate the cooling fins.
 
Oh yes forgot about the handle bars as well,Lol.
Yes that would be agood work around using a plastic model kit!

Do you put your trucks to bed for winter or do you try & get out with them still all year mate?
 
guinnessdublin said:
Do you put your trucks to bed for winter or do you try & get out with them still all year mate?
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I try to keep them running during the winter months if possible just to keep the mills up & running but only if the weather is dry, don't like dealing with rusty bearings. Gets hard during the winter tho want with the dark nights means only get 2 days a week to use them and this being Britain it always likes to rain on them days. LOL. Plus the old grass tense to get a bit long. 🤢
 
WoodiE said:
Love the paint job @Gazzman. Nicely done!
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Thank WoodIE, Must say my paint jobs are slowly getting better, Very pleased with the way the metal flake red came out, I achieved it my using Tamiya Translucent Red (PS-37) top coat backed with Fast Finish Silver Starburst (280) which is a clear coat with glitter in it. Finished with a white base coat.
 
Well the Kawasaki KFX-700 Quad is very near to completion now. still waiting on a few parts to arrive, good old Royal Mail & there strikes.
Parts need to complete which are all in the post are.
Diff input cups #86083
Radio Box lid #85236
Exhaust Manifold #86061
On/Off switch with charge lead.

It is sitting on only 4 of the v1 small shocks at the moment as when using 8 it sits way to high on the chassis due to the Proline bodyshell not having the bugle in the seat area as the HPI one did to accommodate the cooling head, plus this is running a K5.9 mill that had a much larger head than the HPI 25 mill the shell was designed for. Have increased the shock oil to 100wt to compensate for only using 4 shocks, which on the bench thems to have done the job. I will not be bashing or doing major jumps with this truck so should be ok.
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Thanks mate, yep do like a clean truck. All the plastic & metal parts are treated with silicon spray which gives that new look. Must admit the skid plates are new. Purchased a new set forgetting that I already had a set in my parts bin. Servos and steering servo horn are new to, the rest is all from the parts bin. The fuel tank is one of those I got from that purchase off eBay awhile back. Have used them all up now, only got 2 tanks spare both of which are the ones with the primer on.
 
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guinnessdublin said:
Love how all your savages look brand new & spotless, love mine kept clean but top marks to you mate!
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Hopefully the few remaining parts will arrive tomorrow or Tuesday then maybe get it out at the weekend weather permitting. Am interested to see how the mill runs. It has been assembled from parts from 2 old K5.9s, the compression could be better and might be leaking abit from the front bearing. This is the mill that I want to get a repinch on but think it's still got abit of life left in yet.
 
Well messed the paint job up by wiping the seat with some Acetone as to get rid of some silver over spray which I'm well pissed off about . Caused the Lexan to turn cloudy white. So have had to re-spray the seat on the outside of the shell & the finish has made it look more better I think. Given it a satin leathery look which suits it better than the black gloss . Could have masked it up abit better, but rushed it trying to fix my f***up. Still think these Proline copies are crap shells and although they are a similar copy and still have the HPI logo on the back of the seat do not fit these model at all well. Can't see this body staying on this new build for very long, another truck body come payday me think.
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Sweet Job on the paint work, you can make a set of bars with some plastic rods pretty easy, heat bend, heat shape, make a flat plate inside they can be screwed down to, would pull off the look real well, also can find generic sized dolls and such at thrift stores to dress up as a rider, all in all that does look GREAT I do most of my pickup beds on my rc's like you did the seat, it does give it a realistic look..
 
Jam 1 said:
Sweet Job on the paint work, you can make a set of bars with some plastic rods pretty easy, heat bend, heat shape, make a flat plate inside they can be screwed down to, would pull off the look real well, also can find generic sized dolls and such at thrift stores to dress up as a rider, all in all that does look GREAT I do most of my pickup beds on my rc's like you did the seat, it does give it a realistic look..
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Thanks for the comment on the paint work, am slowly improving with everyone which I paint. That's a good idea about the handlebars, will have to give it a go at the weekend, prbably won't bother about a rider but the bars will finish it off like you say.
Think your right, painting the black on the outside of the shell for the seat does give it a more realistic look & think I'll do this for my furure pickup truck beds. Will stil give the inside of the shell a coat to just in case it gets scratched so the base coat don't show through.
 
Have emailed HPI asking if they have any plans to release Quad shell back again, I think I can guess there reply!
 
Yep we know the answer to that question mate, so much stuff they have discontinued for these trucks. I still have an original one but alas it's seen better days know. Would still ok for a basher. It fits perfect unlike the proline one. But I Think the Proline version which this is, Is meant for the old E-Savage as HPI released a version of that with the ATV shell. No engine, fuel tank or exhaust to get in the way so the shell would sit alot lower.
 
You are a fountain of knowledge with regards the savage Gazzman!
Here is HPIs reply, as suspected mate!

I don't believe there are any plans to bring that body shell back unfortunately...

Which is a shame as it was one of my favourites...


Regards

HPI
 
Well what a surprise mate, LOL. Good old HPI, lets stop making all the parts people like and just sell mundane boring bits. They used to do some get bodyshell back in the day. Now all they seem to do is pickups. so many great shells have just gone by the way side. Used to have a Hemi Cuda and loved it. But oh guess what, HPI discontinued it, My 2 Bounty Hunter shells love them to but guess what, yep you guess it, discontinued. LOL. I don't know why I stick with HPI to be honest. Their marketing team are a bunch of twats and don't seem to have a clue what Joe public want.. O I know lets stop making a product cause people like it. great business sense that.
 
Gazzman said:
Well what a surprise mate, LOL. Good old HPI, lets stop making all the parts people like and just sell mundane boring bits. They used to do some get bodyshell back in the day. Now all they seem to do is pickups. so many great shells have just gone by the way side. Used to have a Hemi Cuda and loved it. But oh guess what, HPI discontinued it, My 2 Bounty Hunter shells love them to but guess what, yep you guess it, discontinued. LOL. I don't know why I stick with HPI to be honest. Their marketing team are a bunch of twats and don't seem to have a clue what Joe public want.. O I know lets stop making a product cause people like it. great business sense that.
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Proline is also a good one for discontinuing popular stuff, You can check J Concepts, they sell a few that will fit the Savage line of trucks.
 
Have changed the rims on the quad from the std GT5 wheels with GT S compound tyres to a set of Hotbodies Truckzilla Revolution wheels with Psycho 7" tyres. Does it look better or worse with these on.
Let me now what you reckon.

Standard GT5 rims with GT tyres.

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Hotbodies Revolution with Psycho 7" tyres.

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Jam 1 said:
Proline is also a good one for discontinuing popular stuff, You can check J Concepts, they sell a few that will fit the Savage line of trucks.
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Hi Jam, yep to true about Proline, funny as this shell is a Proline copy of the discontinued HPI one. Will have a look at J Concepts site to see what they have. The problem I have is that here in the UK we seem to have limited access to alot of the parts available in the US. I mean we can get them from the US but by the time we add the shipping, what with the strong dollar & the weak pound makes it not cost affective.
 
Well took the quad out for her 1st run today. The K5.9 mill started 1st time which was a major miracle as have just rebuilt it using parts from 2 old engines and it's got almost zero compression when hot but this thing goes like stink. Just don't get it, this mill has more go than any of my other K5.9s which are in alot better condition. Maybe it's the gearing which is 14/47t on 9/29t diffs, Just don't make any sense, this thing is an animal even with the 7" (180mm) Truckzilla tyres. Also the gearbox was changing gear nice which was a pleasant surpise.
The Feetech 35kg servos worked really well & the steering was very responsive, the brakes were really shite but only running a single disc. but all in all pleased with the out come. seeing as nearly all of it came from my spare parts box.
Have just purchased a set of X TVPs and a set of big bore shocks tp lower the centre of gravity and improve the handling as it likes to pick a front wheel up when powering out of corners as at the moment it only has 4 of the old small shocks, one on each corner,as all I had, have put 100wt oil in them but didn't help as much as I hoped.
Have also just purchased a used HPI F4.6 mill which according to the seller has excellent compression to replace the K5.9 as this thing is in really bad need of a repinch.
Can't seem to find anyone here in the UK that does this sort of thing so have emailed RayARacing in Chaffee, NY, about the cost of getting the repinch done on it. If the cost ani't to bad will probably get my other 3 K5.9s done as well.

Thanks to 'ingolf & Jam1' for putting me on to this guy, I really apricate it. Thanks Guys for the info.

Savage No.10 is now alive & kicking although it will be called No.7 as No.7 was my old HPI Jumpshot SC which I have now sold.
The numbers I give my trucks relate to the model storage position on my FlySky GT3-B transmitter which is now full.
 
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Finally found a set of handlebars for the quad bike, maybe a tad smaller than the originals but hey beggars can't be choosers. They are from an HSP 1/10th Salvager ATV. Never heard of one myself but here what it looks like.
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Had to mod the mount using a cut down plastic servo horn, sprayed the levers chrome & stuck some fuel tube on for grips.
have them mounted with 4 screw and they are very flexible which should help keep them attached.
Well this is want they look like on the E-Savage shell.
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Well the Quad now has X TVP chassis rails and a set of Big Bore shocks. The TVPs have allowed me to mount the body about 12mm lower and the shocks have lowered the whole truck by about 5mm. lower wishbone now sit horizontal & straight. Have source a secondhand F4.6 v1 mill with new piston/sleeve/rod & crank in it which I am well happy about. Only thing wrong with it is, someone has tried to fit a v2 cooling head to it breaking the corners off the top 2 fins. Just waiting for a new engine mount to arrive then in it will go.
Then can get the piston & sleeve out of the old K5.9 and ship it to RayARacing for the well needed repinch.
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Today the ATV Quad got her new HPI F4.6 v1 mill fitted as the engine mount finally arrived. The mount is a Yeah Racing adjustable SAV058SV. Was surprised to find that the F4.6 v1 mill is actually taller than the K5.9 that I removed. So have had to lift the body back up one hole om the body mounts, had to modify the rear bulkheads to get the rotostarter to work as fitting the new X TVPs lowered the mill to a point that couldn't get the starter shaft in. Also have gone back to a composite exhaust as the ally one that I was using had the pressure pipe nozzle on the chassis side and keep splitting the return pipe where it was chaffing on the chassis, have changed the wheels from the Hotbodies UFO 7" to a set of Fastrax 6" Eagle 6 spoke in black with road tyres.
Have had her up and running nice on the kitchen worktop (yes I am single so can do this sort of thing). Starts on the button and seems to rev good without cutting out. If the weather is dry tomorrow will get it out and see how it performs.
Think is build is near on complete now, still need to fit a 'JP4444505' battery voltage indicator & might still change the bulkheads & shock towers to X ones just to give it a newer look.
Now on to build number 11!!.
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Had to mod the rear bulkhead to accommodate the rotostart as using v1 Savage 21/25 bulkheads with Savage X TVPs
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Nitro Star F4.6 v1 mill with 14/49T clutch/spur gear.
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This was the original Kawasaki KFX700 bodyshell.
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Another fine example mate good work! 👍🏻
Think I brought the last JP voltage indicator after you telling me about them as been on back order with WS ever since!
 
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