Making the Choice

Being that I have always mainstreamed in RC off-road models such as the AE RC10 buggies/trucks, ClodBusters, Juggernaut/TXT's, and the Traxxas truck lines… the Mad force seemed to be the next logical choice.

The deciding factors in purchasing the Mad Force were, solid axles, potential for tube frame chassis, the .21 engine with the 3-speed tranny, easily made modifications, and overall performance. While I was also considering a HPI Savage, XTM, new T-Maxx, and the AE BFT… The Mad Force seemed to offer more of the definitive monster truck traits verses the other truck, with the exception of the XTM, which with their independent suspensions leaned more towards oversized stadium trucks.

The eternal argument… "Which is the Best?" This goes along with other famous arguments such as Creation or Evolution and Boxers or Briefs. For me "the best" is defined by the overall purpose and planned usage of a RC model. Comparing this truck to the Savage or T-Maxx is like apples and oranges… I believe the independent suspension trucks are a completely different class as opposed to the solid axle models.

My Intent

My goal is to build the Mad Force for durability and as much scale monster truck appearance as possible. With this in mind, I will install an optional New Era rear bumper with servo mount and steering rods along with an additional steering servo. For times that I want more stability, I will temporarily install the New Era rear steering lockout rods.

I also want to touch on safety for a moment… Since I broke my wife's foot about two years ago with a Traxxas electric Rustler and the fact that one of my Ofna Monster Blazers once went rogue in the neighborhood at full throttle, I decided that I will install a fail-safe. This will allow the truck to go from open throttle to closed throttle with enough brake to slow and stop it but not flip it if for some reason the radio loses control of the vehicle.

Break-In

This was my first nitro vehicle, so I didn't really know what to expect. I adjusted the needles by the book. I believe the high side needle (hsn), was probably too rich, because the car would hardly move at full throttle. I ran the tank through it, let it cool completely, filled it up and leaned it out 1/8 of a turn. It would move slowly, but with a lot of throttle. Cool, fill, lean another 1/8. Now it would I was getting it to move at half throttle, and didn't go above that. Cool, fill, lean 1/8. It was drivable now, not well, but driveable. Cool, fill, lean 1/8. I had power now. After half a tank, I leaned it out another 1/8, more power.

Friday I came home for lunch, filled it, leaned another 1/8; it's starting to get a little peppy now. Filled it, leaned it another 1/8, now we're really starting to get somewhere. Eighth tank, leaned it another 1/8, more power, half tank through running up a big grassy hill, the engine seemed to really wake up. After work, tank 9, leaned another 1/8, still lots of blue smoke, and lots of power.

Raw and Unassembled

Receiving the Mad Force and opening the box I found the packaging to be interesting… Other than the body, rims, and tires all other parts where unceremoniously sitting in a big white box while plastic/composite parts where housed in a flat white box.

The first two things that really impressed me, and yes, size does count, was the size of the differentials and the massive looking .21 engine with its orange cooling head… Place the .21 next to my HPI .12 SS engine was like placing Godzilla next to my pet leopard gecko.

Going over the instruction manual it seemed pretty straight forward and Kyosho had taken the time to assemble the 3-speed gear assembly and the front/rear differentials.

First Things First and Upgrade Parts

I learned a long time ago… Just because you buy every aluminum hop-up on the planet does not necessarily mean you RC vehicle will benefit from it. I also learned that sites like Madforce.net are priceless in reviewing issues and weak design areas allowing me to plan ahead prior to building.

Most of us know the weak areas of the Mad Force… Along with those, I also made a shopping list for other minor mods compiled from this site and my own experience and preferences. The only additional mods I may make will be adjustable diffs and heavy duty gears once the stock ones blow out.

Mechanical Durability and Performance
· Lots of Loc-Tite
· New Era suspension support rods
· New Era bumper with servo mount front including New Era steering rods
· New Era center skid-plate
· New Era exhaust header
· New Era tuned pipe
· Kyosho slotted steel brake discs
· Kyosho 8mm carburetor
· Kyosho soft yellow shock springs
· K&N air filter
· Oversized fuel filter with primer ball-pump

Electronics
· 1 Hitec 645MG steering Servo
· 1 Hitec 525MGS throttle servo
· Venom Fail-Safe
· Venom onboard temperature gauge
· 5 Cell 1100mah NiMH Rx Battery
· Y servo wire harness with alignment adjustment control for one servo

Just Because
· New Era aluminum chassis shock mounts
· Kyosho blue shocks (4 additional)
· Kyosho Mega Force wheels
· Kyosho aluminum Hex Wheel Hubs
· Kyosho wheel bolts
· 1 Hitec 645MG steering servo for rear steering optional
· New Era bumper with servo mount rear including New Era steering rods optional
· New Era rear steering lock out links optional
· Collected enough hex cap and socket head screws to replace all stock Phillips head screws with the exception of the wheelie bar's self tapping screws
· Kyosho blue anodized flathead washers
· Kyosho blue anodized tapered washers

Assembly

Lets just agree that I am no rocket scientist… That said, I found the mechanics and assembly of the Mad Force to be simplistic. The most difficult tasks were in deciding where I would mount the additional electronics.

Differentials
· I took the differentials apart, reassembled them with Loc-Tite.
· Installed the New Era front and rear bumpers with servo mounts and steering rods
· Installed steering knuckles
· Installed steering servos (Using Kimbrough Servo Savers)

Assembled main chassis and all components
*(Note- I had no difficulty with the mounting of the chain. It went together as I expected it to.)

Assembled the shocks…
· Okay, 3 words describe this task… "Piece of Cake" these are undoubtedly the easiest shocks I have ever assembled and they DO NOT leak at all!

· I had also decided to go with 8 shocks just for looks… So I opted for 35 weight oil, the highest flow shock pistons available, and the yellow soft springs.

· The standard 4 shocks are more than adequate for the job and I will most likely go down to four shocks for racing and contests.

Electronics
I only have one criticism in this area… I would have preferred that there be a separate battery box verses cramming the battery and receiver into the same one. However, I may actually make my own and since I am not using the stock steering system I do have enough room to mount it.

For now, the RX battery and receiver share the stock box and since I wanted direct access to the Fail-Safe and rear servo alignment unit I mounted them to the side of the box with servo tape.

The temperature gauge is temporarily mounted between the fuel pump and electronics box on the cross front cross members.

Mega Force Wheels, Tires and Inserts
Okay, these rims not only look 100% better than the stock rims, they even have a deeper off-set and give the truck a wider stance. The only problem with them is that I have yet to find a washer that will fit inside the circle of the scale wheel lugs. I may just use these rims for when the model is shelved… using the stock rims for bashing. I would hate to scratch them up. Hahaha
I used Ofna Monster Blazer foam inserts in each of the stock tires.

Engine Mods and Upgrades
I installed the New Era Header and tuned pipe… Good-looking stuff but I will not know the performance statistics until after break-in.

Like my other engines I wanted the .21 GS-21R to breath as easily as possible. To do this I installed:

· The optional Kyosho 8mm carburetor (Stock carb is 7mm)
· K&N air filter
· New Era header and pipe (as mentioned above)

Note: While the installation of the engine is very very simple and there is not much in the way of possible engine position… Please do yourself a favor and make sure that the pinions are perfectly aligned with the spur gears. I noticed that although they always match up, due to design, If the engine is the least bit NOT parallel to the pinion module undue gear wear and potential binding may occur. When you install the engine and the spur and pinion sets make any noise or seem a little rough the engine is not plumb with the spur gears. If mounted correctly they rotate and mesh in baby-oil smoothness.

The nice thing about the stock carb and the optional 8mm carb is that they are made from composite material which does not transfer the heat of the engine and allows for easier starting when the motor is warm.

Forward

After the engine is broken in and I find and correct any problems I do plan to install some other minor performance mods.

· Aluminum intercooler manifold like the one that Conley/Perry Pumps manufactures. I will either have them make one or JPS Pro do it. These intercoolers make for cooler engine temps, better air fuel mixture allowing more oxygen to be mixed, and the motor to be leaned out more than normal. This all equals power and speed.

· Depending on the engine temperature the addition of a larger cooling head.

· Center Drive Lines will be upgraded, hopefully with slider shafts. I will also add protective boots to keep all dirt and exhaust residue out.

· Addition of sway-bars

· Addition of rear cantilever shock system

Criticisms

· I do not like wheelie bars on anything but dragsters. Depending on how good I get at controlling this truck, I will eventually take the bar off.

· Aluminum links… I may be alone on this point but aluminum links are not my favorite. Aluminum bends and is not easily unbent without weakening the molecular bonding structure. Even with heating it up slightly and unbending it weakens it some. If I can find a supplier I may very well replace the aluminum New Era steering rods with graphite steering rods… Theses have a tendency to flex without breaking and then return to normal shape. The first model I used them on was the Thunder Tech Centurion and I never had any problems no matter how hard I drove the truck. I will just have to make sure they are thick enough as to not separate or crack at the ends.

Note on 4 wheel Steering

As I mentioned above, I am installing 4 wheel steering on this truck. This has its benefits and its shortcomings. To install and make the 4 wheel steering as usable as possible I strongly advise the use of a servo "Y" harness with an integrated stand-alone adjustment to align the rear wheels as well as a built in servo reverse feature that keeps you from having to re-wire the servo internally.

Once the front wheels have been aligned, center the rear wheels as close as possible by the horn position, and then use the trim function of the "Y" harness adapter to true them out.

Pros:
· Smaller turning radius
· Scale driving
· Makes for cool donuts… Bad for tires and diffs, good for ooo'ing and ah'ing

Cons:
· Inherently unstable
· Tougher to land jumps and not lose control due to the servo saver allowing for slight flex and wheel angle movement

Continue to Part 2 >