On the trail with one of
James’s many scale trucks.
He builds ’em to run, not just
display.
Master modeler James Knight has graced the pages of RC Car
Action before, with his impressive Beach Buggy and movie-themed Star Wars and Road Warrior builds, not to mention
winning our Reader’s Ride of the Year award in 2015. For this
issue’s “project” theme, James cooked up a two-door Defender
D90 that’s as polished as other off-roaders and delivers
James’s signature 3D-printed flair. Says James,
I had been wanting to build Defender D90 pickup for a while,
and planned on cutting down the RC4WD D90 body. But then
Team Raffee released their new D90 pickup hard body. It has
a ton of cool details, including functional doors that reveal a full
interior. To show it off, I created tube doors that used the stock
hinge points. For extra realism, I even added a driver figure
with a micro servo to operate the steering wheel and move the
figure’s arms. Between CAD time and assembly and painting,
I probably have about 40 hours in this build to date.
Land RoveR
defendeR
d90 PickuP
Aftermarket upgrades and
3D-printing prowess add extra
style to this green machine
by Peter VieirA Photos by JAmes Knight & FrAser PAterson