Associated SC8e

I ordered a Castle Creations Mamba Monster 2200kv combo and a Futaba BLS157HV digital high voltage brushless servo (http://www.amainhobbies.com/product...BLS157HV-Digital-Brushless-High-Voltage-Servo) for my SC8e 1/8 scale short course truck so I can slowly wrap up that project.

Here is a side view of the SC8e and a shot of it in front of the Hyper 10SC to show the size difference.

Here is a shot of the SC8e rear end. The Hyper 10SC shocks are not wimpy by any means, but they could probably fit inside the SC8e's shocks.

Here is a couple side view front and rear details.

That thing looks great!

Thanks.  I am surprised there are not too many of these around.  It's based on the RC8 buggy and RC8 truggy and a lot of the aftermarket parts for the those fit so there is a lot you can do with it.  I have added most of the RC8 factory team parts and some Fioroni parts like the nice shock spring bottoms that hold the bottom of the springs from popping out of the socket.

I will post some more photos when I get to mounting the electronics.

I am a little nervous about the Futaba brushless servo though.  I hope it is as good as they claim.  It's supposed to have over 500 ounce inch of torque.

I'm sure it will be more than strong enough. With the Mamba Monster setup that thing will absolutely rip.

I am thinking to go with 4S LiPo (14.8 volt) batteries in this thing to start and I have a few 6S batteries from my helicopter to try and see how that works but I think 6S will be too much.

Just from my experience with my E-revo brushless in the past, 4s should spin the wheels off that thing. At my friends oval track I could wheelie down the entire back straight, and this was with 1/8 scale truggy wheels and tires. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

How long till it is ready for a test drive?

I am not going for super fast, it is a SC truck after all.  It is a bit heavy so I want  torque and I'd like to get some decent run time if possible.

The servo and motor combo should arrive around next Wednesday.  If things go well maybe I'll have it done next weekend, or possibly the weekend after that.  I still need to decide on a paint scheme for the body and paint it.

Rest assured those futaba servos are beasts. I have seen them push the knuckle right off the axle before on crawlers when the endpoints weren't set right. I always like how quiet they are also compared to a lot of the other ones. Only reason I didnt run one on my new truck was the price

This will be my first brushless servo so I am a bit nervous about it.  It's is good to hear from someone who has used them, or knows someone who has.  I got it because I like the idea of a brushless motor in the servo.  The cost was not much more than the JR 9100T that are popular so I went for it.

There are some internal parts to get mounted like the battery tray and receiver box so I will do that while I wait for the parts.  I will be using a Futaba R603FF receiver and my 4PK radio with this truck.

I just purchased a Mamba Max Pro SCT ESC for my SC10 (as well as an LRP X-12 7.5 turn sensored motor) This is going to be even more overkill for the 2wd SC10 than the set up your running in the SC8E. I bought a Castle Link as well and basically plan to play with the ESC and tune it down to something manageable. I like the idea that the MMP can be sensored for the launch but run like a sensorless in the top end. 

After reading through the settings for the ESC I can't wait for it to show up so I can start playing with all the settings. The MM has the same tuning abilities with the castle link or the card, you should be able to tune it down to your liking. I am hoping mine gets here before the race this weekend, i will keep you updated on how it worked out.

So you will use a sensor wire on the LRP motor?  I hope you post some pictures of your truck when you get your new parts.

I am using Castle Creations ICE ESCs in two helicopters and I originally got a Castle Link for those.  On the ICE controllers you can program them from the transmitter via stick movements, but there are a lot of settings that you can only access via the Castle Link.  I am hoping that the Mamba Monster will also allow me to set the BEC voltage like the ICE series does because I want to run the servo with more than 5 volts.

This is just a personal preference thing but have you thought about an external castle bec to power the servo? I know the mmp has a very good adjustable on board bec but you will not see all the power your servo has to offer. With a truck that large and servo that powerful you are going past or on the raged edge of keeping thing reliable. Those servos will brown out a lot of esc's on the market. If I pay for a top end servo I want to see the top end performance of it also not just what the internal bec feels like it can supply at that time. I'm not saying it wont work or is a bad idea just that you might consider the option for best performance and reliability. A nice side benefit is that your esc will run cooler and be more efficient that way. That really is a pretty bad arse servo you have there. Also an interesting note I found while talking to futaba a while back about these servos and broken gears. The brushless will break more gears than the brushed one it replaced????? Why you might ask? Well it has to do with the insane holding power of the motor. The brushed motor could give a little on impact and take a little of the abuse. With the brushless it holds like a rock and all the impact force is transferred directly to the gear set. I found that out from futaba after I ordered the second set of gears for it which cost more than  a standard servo  .  We went back to the s9157 and upped the voltage a bit to make up for the extra power. No more broken gears 8)

That is a good idea, I think I might take you up on that.  I am going to see the layout after I get the battery tray and receiver box installed.  If possible I'd mount the external BEC in the receiver box for protection and cleaner wiring.

The Castle Creations Mamba Monster ESC and 2200 kv motor combo plus the Futaba BLS157HV brushless servo arrived tonight. Cowabunga!
I am planning to get them installed this weekend and I still have to paint the body, just not sure what I want to do paint-wise yet.

i really like the flat aluminum chassis sc trucks.they look more stable being a heavier vehicle.do you think the power to weight ratio would more manageable as apposed to the plastic type chassis?such as slash 4x4 which is insanely fast and on the edge of out of control.

I like the aluminum chassis trucks a lot but I cannot say it it is better than plastic chassis trucks.  I like that they are constructed more like 1/8 scale nitro buggies which is a very developed RC genre.  I have a Traxxas eRevo 1/16 which I've had for a long time, I was a early adopter, and it has been a beast and I have broken many parts but never the chassis.  I was also attracted to the fact that Traxxas made those enclosures for the batteries and integrated them into the chassis.  You could not do that easily, if at all, with a aluminum chassis vehicle.

Regarding the power to weight ratio: I am running a Novak Havok Pro ESC and a Ballistic 550 4.5 sensored motor in my OFNA Hyper 10SC after having a Castle Creations motor and ESC combo in it and I like the power and smoothness of the Novak better.  There used to be a gravel hill nearby that I called "The Widowmaker" and I could run my OFNA Hyper 10SC with the Novak power system up that hill easily if I could hold the right line.  Just like the real Widowmaker the top section was nearly vertical which made for some interesting returns to earth.  I was impressed how often the Hyper 10SC landed on it's wheels after tumbles and backflips and I would say it landed upright more frequently than my buddies Slash.

BTW: I saw that Squirrel guy on YouTube is using a Tekin RX8 1/8 scale power system in his Jammin 1/10 scale truck...now there is food for thought.

I originally intended to use a Tekin RX8 power system in this SC8e but Sinistercad talked me out of it.  I own plenty of Castle Creations systems for cars, trucks and helicopters and I don't intend to change my Novak system in my Hyper 10SC anytime soon so the idea of yet another system with a different programming method did not turn me on either so I went for the Mamba Monster 2200kv for this Associated SC8e.  I plan to run it and see how it goes.  I admit that I have my eye on the upcoming Novak 1/8 scale ESC and their new Ballistic 8 motors, particularly the "-L" version which is not yet available.  The proof is in the driving though, right?

On Tigers recommendation I got a pair of Gen Ace 4S 5000 mAh 40C LiPo batteries for the SC8e to feed the Mamba Monster. They were about a third the cost of the Reedy batteries I was looking at. Looks like I can continue with the SC8e build. Cowabunga!

The truck looks great!  I got all of the bugs sorted out in my SC8e finally.  I've been running the CRC 4S 5300 40C in mine and it works great.  I'm running 19/48 gearing and it is great for bashing, I have 15 and 17t pinions as well for the track.  I was looking at tire options and they seem limited.  I know that the tire size is the standard 2.2/3.0 but the outer diameter is taller on the 1/8 truck.  Have you seen anything out there apart from the OEM part?