RC4WD Chevrolet Blazer Project

The story of me ending up with this chassis/body combination is a strange one.  It started with the release of the Chevy Blazer hard body kit by RC4WD.  I love scale hard bodies, especially if they have full interiors, so this one went on my wanted list.  The original release was unpainted, but then they later released pre-painted versions.  I generally prefer to do my own painting so I was not particularly interested in those options, but when the digital camouflage version came out I loved it and knew it was something I could never hope to reproduce myself.  I ordered it and intended to install it on my new MST CFX-W chassis, but after building the chassis I found that the body was not really compatible.  The tall shock hoops in the back of the chassis interfered with the bed of the truck.  So the body went back in the closet and sat there for a long time.  I thought about putting it on an RC4WD Trail Finder 2 chassis which is clearly what it was intended for, but if doing so I really wanted to use their new scale V-8 engine option which would look great under the hood.  The problem was that the TF2 kit came with the wrong transmission (a 2-speed) that didn't work with the scale V-8.  I could build up my own TF2 out of parts, but that cost greatly more than a kit and was therefore prohibitively expensive.  Finally RC4WD solved my problem by coming out with a special edition TF2 (shown in the ad at left) that includes the Blazer body, the scale V-8, and the right transmission.   Now there were new problems.  First, RC4WD only offered an RTR which comes with electronics.  I would much prefer a kit and to use my own electronics.  Second, the model comes with a Blazer body but I've already got one.  Still, the price was so much better this way that it made the most sense.  The extra body will get sold to someone else.

I had already built a Trail Finder 2 chassis before on my Toyota Land Cruiser 70, so it was not so painful that this was already built.  This is an all metal solid axle chassis with leaf springs.  This special edition has dual front shocks and includes the scale V-8 engine and transmission as well as a nice set of beadlock wheels.  I replaced the stock Blazer body with the same body in digital camouflage.  To further differentiate my model from stock, I added an RC4WD snow plow.  I re-purposed the weak RTR servo for the winch and installed a better servo for steering.  Since it is not practical to have the plow on the model for trail driving, I have an optional winch bumper which uses the same controls.  I can easily swap between the two.

I detailed the interior and exterior to the best of my limited ability because I wanted this to look as real as possible.  The dash is carefully painted and I added a back seat.  I had planned to add snow chains for use with the plow, but those I ordered are completely the wrong size so that part hasn't come to fruition.

Like any leaf sprung truck, the articulation is limited which limits crazy off road performance compared to 4-linked trucks, but it has great scale detail and I love the way it drives.  With the addition of the winch and/or plow and some LEDs, it looks really good on a road or trail.

Update:  This model was destroyed in the 2022 fire just a day after I had made many additional upgrades.  It has not been replaced.