matisse

Wow, that is special. Bravo!

On the home straight now. Shims arrived to remove the play in the rear hub bearings, needed 2 x 0.3mm on each hub. Placed one on each side, one under the drive pin and one before the most bearing face. The stock dish wheels are fine, but if we’re going all out then we need to go all out. Nice. Also changed around the turnbuckles, 50mm up front, 46mm rear and 42mm for the steering links. All of which leaves us here. Steering rack will be here soon, but the dampers are bugging me. The white springs don’t seem to work aesthetically. I’ll think on it.

Ignore me…..its in the OP.

Sorry, wasn’t specific enough. The distance between the two sets of posts, as a guage to see whether a truck body will fit

Next question. can anyone measure the distance between the TD2/4 extra mounting poles? and maybe, just maybe, anyone with an Aqroshot that can do the same?

Ooooof, thats good

Has anyone fitted a madcap body?

Now i want to put an aqroshot body on one…..

Because in my infinite wisdom i sold it.

This build, like life is full of ups and downs, and right now its getting me down. day started well, decals cut and applied. then a knock on the door from a neighbour who dropped by the parts i was waiting on. Shims for the rear CVD’s, some nyloc nuts to finish the damper mounting, some 3mm spacers and another steering rack. 3mm spacers look great, happy with those. However, opened the steering rack to find i’d messed up, again. Only went and bought the TT-01 set which doesn’t come with mount posts….fml I feel like I’m now finishing this build out of pure stubbornness, the joy has gone…..maybe some time away from it will help.

Waiting for small parts to arrive so painted the body shell. no masking just a one colour, the metallic burgundy that has become a staple of mine. PS-31 Transparent Red backed with PS-23 Gun Metal

I hate leaving a build on a down note, really puts a dampener on the day. So to feel like id achieved something I cut the body shell. As it right for a TT-02BRX, went for a TRF502 shell from Penguin. Nice.

It was all going too well, i should have known something was lurking to upset the balance in the universe. I’d picked up the Type S Long Tie Rod steering set, hoping it would be a little something extra for the build. stripped, obvs, but it really is a very nice piece of kit, smooth and precise with hardly any slop. of course the problem that I hadn't for seen is that this is designed for flat track cars with little droop…I’m an idiot. At 50% (ish) of the downward arm movement the turnbuckle fouls against the steering arm, making it impossible to steer. Sigh….. So i’ll be selling that and going back to the drawing board. Shame, as it looks great.

Autosol. All the de-anodised parts have been cleaned and polished with a protective layer of it. I understand your concerns but in reality its my experience that to reach the issues you mention you’ll have to a) not take care of your equipment b) submit the bare parts to long term exposure to the elements neither of which I plan on happening. I’ve had numerous decades old alu and steel bikes that with care and preventative measures are rust and corrosion free, and these spend far more time out in cold, salty winter conditions than this RC car ever will.

With the size of these things i would say its more likey to be the weight. The aerodynamic effect at this scale is probably negligible

They can last a while but just need building correctly and are best when used with a slipper clutch. Fit one to your DT03, it will be fine. Although I’d recommend the HCCA diff balls and sanding the plates down first. Personally id rather rebuild a ball diff than clean oil out of the gear box from a leaking oil diff, and for that matter out if the doff if i want to change the oil thickness to tune it for the conditions. In an ideal world i’d like two gear boxes that i can swap out. Oil filled gear for high traction and Ball Diff for low.

But wait…there’s more! As I’ve already mentioned, all the changes have shifted the damper and turnbuckle mounts from their stock positions, combining this with the switch in Dampers and mounting them will need a little thought. In my experience the Buggy Aeration Dampers work best with the supplied mounts or the Alloy DB01 hop-up. The mount extends slightly past the Damper top cap in a way that a bolt through ball end doesn't providing a freedom of movement for the suspension. However, as you can see below the lower Mount position is now so far forward that we get binding due to the angle of the Damper. Technically and for the most efficient damping movement it should be aligned with 0degrees of angle between the top and bottom mounts, but if we can get the Top Cap to have zero binding when its mounted, then I’m happy. To the random parts tray!!!!! The solution, which I forgot to get a picture of late last night, is a 3mm nyloc nut. Not only is this a good amount of spacing, but it locks the bolt in place (always an issue with the AEB mounts) and looks good. Win, Win, Win. Mocking up the rear Dampers shows the same approach will be fine, just need more black nylocs. I’m happy with this as the kits spacers are stupidly long and are inelegant imo. All of which leaves me here. Starting to look like a real race car, so as is tradition I shall dub it the TT-02BRX.

Because I had the O-Rings spare. No other reason. I did it on a build a while back and quite like the look and have just stuck with it. As i always buy X-Rings for my damper so I always have spare O-Rings.

On to the rear arms and hubs. Again these have been stripped silver and switching from the kit dampers means I can use the 5mm Hard Hex Head Connector here. Considerable amount of play, but a pair of 0.3mm shims takes care of it. 42mm Hard Turnbuckles and Open Faced Ends. Much like the front, using the Type S arm mount has spaced the arm back and means the inner spacer is not really needed. Annoying amount of play on the bearings…..Actually its the drive shaft that just a tad too long and needs a spacer/shim behind the drive pin to eliminate it. Decided to treat myself to something shiney in the PJ order. Ooooofffff, thats good. (My humility is one of my best qualities. what can i say, Im a humble guy.)

As you may have seen earlier my aversion to Tamiya Blue knows no bounds having stripped the collars on the Hard Turnbuckles to a lovely sliver. Personally i think they look much better and as evidence I humbly submit this… and this… The stock 38mm turnbuckle is way to short for this set up, so went for the 46mm Hard Turnbuckle, but a 50mm would also be fine. A few other things of note regards this mod. The shape of the rear arms means everything sits further forward, so the spacer on the shock tower for the inner ball connecter isn’t needed. This will also create an issue for damper mounting, but thats for later. The DB01 hub should need shimming but it seems to sit there without any play. Obviously there is some interaction between the hub and arm which stops play, but there is also little to no binding. Worth keeping an eye on as it beds in. Droop is not going to be an issue, downward motion is only limited by the driveshaft contacting the exit hole on the hub. Its easily more travel than the reach of the Aeration Buggy Dampers, which I’ve built without internal spacers….. Lastly, the sharp eyed amongst you may have spotted red o-rings at the end of the arms. The suggested length stainless shafts from the TL-01 hop-up are always a tad long. So i use an o-ring at each end to stop it moving around.

a big progress day for the TT-02BRX, build thread update incoming

The problem with RC is that its all arm days, never leg day….. Oooooof, look at those arms. Some call a vet, these swans are sick. Will be using open faced ball ends, for ease of removal. Which means the Hard Hex head ball connectors were the obvious choice. 8mm length with a 3mm spacer.

So, here’s the rest of what we need to finish the front and rear arms. but first, time to make the turnbuckles look better. chefskiss.gif

Classy

Calm down, no need to get snippy. Sanding and shimming is often needed to ensure free running and limiting slop as im sure you are aware. Sealing CF adds little, iirc the older resins needed it to help stop the top layer fraying, but is seems to be less of an issue on more current CF sheets. The manual you so helpfully screenshot is a decade plus old. Sealing can look very nice, but builder beware as the CA can leave white marks on your CF as well as show up fingerprints, and its durability bonus these days is very much up for debate.