Zax's G-made Sawback.

As end of year fast approaches, Im looking for a new project to sink my teeth into. Knowing that there will be a new bad boy in town and comparable contender in the 4wd scene. Some of you guys might have been familiar with the name G-made and might have bought some crawler kits that are release by them. Well... for me I've have heard of them but have never tried any of their kits. This is the first time Im trying out something from them and without further ado I introduce you to the Newly Release G-made Sawback.


The first time I open the packaging and saw the box I was in Awww!!! I must say this is a gorgeous box. Plenty of things to see and admire...  
Let me show you 20% of the kit price goes to the making of the box I believe.... 





Enough of admiring the box... lets go to the content and the reason why this thread is created.
All I was hoping that the content is as worthy as the box illustrated it to be... 


All the items taken out and lay individually on the floor... Doesn't look that tough to built I must say...
About 70% of the kit is plastic with the exception of the ladder frame, the leaf spring and diff gears.

A Neca 7" Figurine sitting on the Lexan body... Kinda look odd I must say. From here I believe that the kit is not 1/10 but more to 1/7...

Woohooo! Looking out for the tips in this build.  

Sweet! I am very interested to see how the chassis is made. Looking forward to build photos!

subscribed!!

looking forward to the build!!

     

OMG! The one to rule them all! WW2 paint please!! Imagine all the WW2 soldiers sitting on it with a mounted MG!!

Sweet! Get a bigger guy.

WOOHOO!!!!
can't wait to see the finish product!!

 Must stay out of this forum..... very the tok !

This time I tried with a 1/7 scale army figure. Looks much better than the previous figurine. So those intending to get this kit, you might need to get a 10" figurine to suite but with a little of modifications on its limbs.
A close up view on the fella...




A machine gun mounted on the jeep would be a nice sight as well.

Fits perfectly! !

nice driver

Spot on with the driver.. looks very familiar to the jumper   

The included manual are very easy to follow and well layed out.


Lets go to the first bag... Uh!!! Which bag will that be? The bags are not well labeled so be aware...

Wonderful kit! Thanks for posting the instructions (was looking for them online but don't seem to be available).

I am delighted to see the different suspension settings being described.  That was one of my worries as I find the TF2 and various Tamiya leaf-spring vehicles too hard, looking too bouncy on the trail.

Basically like any other crawler kits, the first thing is to assemble the fwd & aft axle.


All the hardware fasteners and metal seal ball bearing. The best is to replace them with the teflon wall type bearing but at this moment this will do just fine.


Assembling the bevel gear...


Read carefully on where the bearings suppose to be mounted and don't forget to marine grease the internals if you are intending to abuse this kit in the mud.


The fwd and aft axle are identical at this point.


Assembling the steering end of the fwd axle and the knuckles.Take note of the arrow directions.



The aft axle is just straight forward with the addition of an extension.
Here is the the ready to be install fwd and aft axle. 


Next is the leaf spring installation. There is a guide in the manual to show what kind of setting is good for what kind of terrain. I choose the soft type first.



The servo mount is made of plastic but there is an option to upgrade it to metal...

Thanks for sharing! More please!

In the mean time I found the manual for download at tcscrawlers.com and detailed build photos at rockrc.com. Looks like a great kit!

From what I've seen:

• Almost everything is secured with nuts, e.g. no screw goes into plastic itself, it always goes through and there is a nut on the other side. No worries about stripping plastic. Great for maintenance. Brilliant.
  
• Metal sealed ball bearings. They will rust quickly and get gritty when run wet. I would definitely replace the ones that face the elements with rubber sealed ones. Only 850 and 1150 size bearings, so easy to do.
  
• The drive shafts are those type where the pin gets "clicked" into place. The ones I've seen failing on the track are mostly of that type... Pity that they skimped on that, especially since GMade makes those awesome strong ones.
  
• The ESC mounting is under the fake engine cover, which is also the cover of the receiver box. The space looks bigger than in a SCX10, but seems restricted in height. There may also not be a lot of cool air getting to the ESC, but they usually don't get hot anyway. On the plus side the ESC is nicely tuck away from dirt. The receiver box is not sealed, basically the same as on the SCX10.
  
• Friction shocks: greased O-rings sliding in a metal tube.
  
• The chassis is "low". The highest part is the cover of the receiver box, which sits quite in the middle of the truck, just in front of the gearbox. There is a lot of clearance height-wise in the front and back. May be awesome for custom bodies.
  
• The body posts are separate from any other part. Fantastic for customizing
  
• Instead of the usual velcro to hold the battery, this kit comes with resealable cable ties. I wonder whether the ends of those will stick up, rubbing on the body and damaging the paint over time.
  
• All cross-head screws. Make sure you have a proper fitting screw driver
  
• No slipper clutch. Large range of gear ratios from 27:1 to 57:1 (Stock 42.8; SCX10 for comparison with stock 87T spur: 19.1:1 to 55.8"1, stock 33.5:1). So a 27T we all have lying around may work well
  
• Bead locks are simple, but use screws and nuts rather than screwing into plastic like the cheap Axial ones
  

Seems like a really nice kit. I am glad I am totally not interested in it.   

Nice and detailed write up!

More more more!

Wow, u really analyzed it, Werner!

I think if you just upgrade the shocks and drive shafts this truck would be pretty good given the price

Am wondering how I can "cover up" the shocks so mud/sediments don't get in when compressed.

Nice write up laneboysrc.... save me alot of time in doing the detail write up. Thanks.

laneboysrc wrote:

Seems like a really nice kit. I am glad I am totally not interested in it.   

 You sure you not interested after all these write up?

RTECH wrote:

laneboysrc wrote:

Seems like a really nice kit. I am glad I am totally not interested in it.   

 You sure you not interested after all these write up?

I think he bought already... 

Zax13 wrote:

RTECH wrote:

laneboysrc wrote:

Seems like a really nice kit. I am glad I am totally not interested in it.   

 You sure you not interested after all these write up?

I think he bought already... 

Wahaha!  

RTECH wrote:

Zax13 wrote:I think he bought already... 

Wahaha!  

 Unfortunately not yet, but it is certainly on the short-list for upcoming purchases.
I am very happy to see companies making affordable trailing trucks.  

@Zax13: build faster!

Next part of the built up will be the transfer case... Another thing I forgot to mention when I started this built is all the screws provided are philip head screws. A normal philip head bit of size 1 and 2 will suffice... Don't worry about spares as gmade provide enough spares for this built.

The gears are all plastic with metal ball bearings. assembly is simple to follow and dont forget to pack it with marine grease for you guys hardcore trailers.
One issue would be a problem for this construction. The motor is directly transferring power to the gearing and direct to the shaft without any form of clutch system. This could pose a problem if you are in a trail and got stuck and just ram the motors.   

Closed up and all tucked in... the metal plate is where the motor is mounted.

This will be another weak link. As it is made in plastic, it could pose a problem either here or in the transfer case. Im seeing and upgrade required in this area.   

Here is the complete assembly of the transfer case with the motor attached.


Next is assembling the steel ladder frame.. Starting with fixing the leaf springs end brackets. Im personally not a big fan of leaf springs due to not having the realism of articulation when trailing... Would be looking for an upgrade if available.  



Both sides of the frame ready to be mated...

Here is how the whole kit looks for the first time...


Next will be assembling the shocks. The design of the shocks are also very simple, just springs and oring slapped with grease to give its damping motion.  
Another design flaw could be occur here. Wonder how many trails that I would need to overhaul the shocks? My answer would be every trail.


After mounting, the shocks fits nicely but with a huge play at the top side of the shock stay. Don't know if its a design or a flaw.... Only trail will tell...



Didn't show how to fix the tires as I think alot would have enough experience. the wheels are bead lock plastic with gmade mt-1901 grade tires.
Would be nice if its paired with a RC4WD DUKW.   

But until then just got to live with these.


Wiring everything up... Im using a dynamite tazer 15T wp with tammy 27t dirt tuned motor...
Choosing a right height esc would be critical as the esc sits right underneath the receiver box cover.

Some pictures of the completed chassis with unpainted body.

Nice and detailed! Paint paint paint!!!
    

boolean21 wrote:Nice and detailed!  Paint paint paint!!!
    

Coming... coming... today doing...

Wow...... quite a few parts needs to be upgraded.
Great explanation bro.

Thanks for the detailed report of your build!

Regarding the slop in the upper shock mount: maybe you could use a small piece of silicone fuel pipe to take out the slop?