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Thommo

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Everything posted by Thommo

  1. I know right ! You still need a near complete Astute as a base or like me, a big mix of Super Astute, Madcap and DF01 / TA02 parts to bring it all together.
  2. Diff outdrives are in the exact same position as the Astute / Super Astute. Wheelbase to be confirmed later but I can easily lay the TF rear arms onto Madcap rear arms to see if there is a difference. I'll do that and report back.
  3. Super Astute Mid : Now onto the more fun part.... a modified build / gearbox conversion. So with all of the left over parts from the SA (2018) kit plus a bunch of spare parts I already have kicking around, another build was always on the cards. The gearbox and diff were missing though and so for a long time I have been considering all of my options and looking out for an Astute or Madcap wreck that never eventuated. Here is about 90% of the spare parts. After seeing a 2WD custom build with a Top Force gearbox mounted on a home made FRP chassis plate I decided to measure up my TA02 (same gearbox as Top Force) for comparison. Bingo....... the Top Force gearbox is a perfect match. Two of the gearbox mounting holes on the Astute chassis are perfectly aligned with the mounting points on the Top Force Gearbox. So perfectly aligned that both the diff / outdrive location and the rear arms location is identical using the two existing gearbox holes in the SA chassis. RC Mart order of Top Force rear gearbox parts tree, Top Force J parts, chassis stays, suspension pins, TG10 wheel axles etc all followed immediately. I already have a spare TA02 gear set, hollow shafts, ball diff, outdrives etc and I already have Top Force rear arms, rear hubs and driveshafts so this project was already becoming easier. Only two extra holes have to be drilled and countersunk in the Astute chassis to mount the long chassis stays to the chassis at the front of the TF gearbox. I made a chassis template from a sheet of transparent plastic. Mounted the gearbox to the template, precision marked the two extra holes with a pin through the template, then mounted the template to the chassis and drilled the chassis. Next step was to test fit the TF gearbox to the chassis and start trimming my spare TBG Super Astute body to make room for the gearbox. The two extra holes in the chassis and trimming up the body and a little off of the undertray are the only real modifications to make this conversion work. I have to delete the prop joint in the gearbox and customise the battery position later but these are also easy fix mods... Note the central body mount that fits nicely too. That's a spare DB01 body mount, drilled and reamed the SA body and BOOM... Another win !
  4. With no slipper, I would stick to ball diffs. Top Force, TA02 / 03 ball diffs hold up pretty well. Gear diff with putty in the back if you want to power oversteer and drift like crazy ! 😀
  5. The left over chassis is not a spare part. That is part 1, step 1 of another project. 👍🏻😜
  6. ^^ Yeah Boy ^^ I like that ! A lot of similarities. You know what they say, great minds think alike ! I will be running mine with DF03 rear wheels and dual block K tyres. Wide soft ribs on the front just like you see above on @Juhunios carbon beast. There has been quite a few sik as SA builds on the old TC of late. It's been great to see. Also TRF Astute / Dyna's and TRF211-X builds here in the last year really influenced me to push on with these two projects. Here she is with the kit body and wing and some old but unused SA wheels and tyres out of the parts bin. The kit wheels got dyed black for my runner Astute and the kit tyres went straight on my restored OG Super Astute.
  7. Sure the FRP chassis would flex a bit on a super grippy surface but I would never run on a grippy surface personally. It's more dirt / clay / gravel and the dreaded limestone where I live. Carbon chassis is just sik nuts because carbon... Now I have broken steering parts before so yeah... why not
  8. I just PM'd you, because you already have a stake in this thread. There is a couple of other members that already know how this mid is gunna pan out. Lets just say that the eternal "which alternative gearbox will fit in the Astute" question was far easier to solve than I ever imagined !
  9. The D1 rear arm mounts are Madcap parts that are unused from Stadium Blitzer / Blitzer Beetle C-parts tree. Just trim off the protrusion to clear the SA rear suspension arms and this is a more reliable arm mount that can take longer screws in the front of the mount along with a nut to better secure the arm mounts. Rear suspension arms and battery mounts are fitted as per instructions and it's on to the gearbox and diff. I'm repeating myself here in this thread but I'm a strong advocate for 3R Ultra-High Viscosity Gear Diff Oil. The right amount in the planetary gear diff is hands down the easiest and most effective Hop-Up in this whole build. It slows the diff action right down for perfect LSD which improves the handling dynamic of the car but still lets go if it really has to. Some more titanium screws in the diff cover and then onto the slipper shaft and spur gear. All as per kit instructions but I did have to use shims between the H3 part and the bearing at the back of the slipper shaft to lose some end float and stop the spur gear from drifting across the pinion. The gearbox is then mounted to the chassis with the new carbon chassis sub section, ORB Racing printed rear bulkhead and carbon rear damper mount. All with titanium screws again, mostly YR screws. The LRP spec .5 motor is a 30,000rpm 17x2 fitted with a metal motor plate and a 23t (0.5 mod) steel pinion which is a DF03 part. Drive is via Top Force universal joints which is achieved using the @ThunderDragonCy mod. You just replace the inner rear hub bearings with 11x5x3 bearings to lose the extra 1mm you need for the Top Force universals to go straight in. Astute / Dyna Storm universals are pretty hard to find so this is an easy compromise. VQS Hi-Caps to finish off this part of the build and a HW 1060 brushed ESC for running Li-Po batteries. Updates to follow when the kit body, wing and wheels are fitted and yes.... there is a whole other scratch build Super Astute coming to this thread. The Super Astute-X left overs plus a mass of accumulated spare parts and a great idea is going to lead straight into my Super Astute Mid project. The mid project is a very long thought out modified build and it will be step by step because that is what gets TC folks smashing the like button !
  10. Super Astute-X : Super Astute (2018) was a must have for me and before I had it in my hands, I set about pinching all of the best Hop-Ups from my OG Astute runners for this project. I built the car with some of my best tricks and all of the best Hop-Ups that I had available to me. -X is for Xtra Speed Carbon Chassis Kit and this along with a set of VQS High Capacity Dampers were the last pieces in the puzzle and would take this Super Astute to the next level.... my ultimate Super Astute-X ! Hop-Ups in build order starts with ORB Racing front bulkhead and front support. These are printed parts with extra reinforcing for the front damper mount and hex recesses for hex nuts which are a great improvement over the standard press nuts which stress the standard parts. Carbon front damper mount, titanium machine screws, kit front arms, hubs and steering arms followed by Tamiya turnbuckles with DB01 adjusters and dust covers for adjusters. Ball raced steering and a Tamiya hi-torque servo saver on a stock Futaba S3003 servo. The servo is just mounted with a rubber spacer pad to bring it forward and clear the battery mount.
  11. Astute B-parts are a rare find these days, especially these later production ones with the extra reinforcing across the rear arms. A really great find and in good hands !
  12. You will never look back ! It works really well on planetary gear diffs too like the Super Astute and OG Avante. Amazing stuff it is.
  13. Sounds good to me. I strongly recommend 3 Racing ultra high viscosity gear diff oil. I think it's the most bang for buck Hop-Up investment out there for Tamiya's unsealed gear diffs. The right amount really limits the diff and its gloopy enough to not centrifuge out of the diff and make a mess of it. I've tried AW grease enough in diffs and will not use it ever again.... it's still way too loose and messy for me compared with the gloop. I've never tried Tamiya diff putty but would love to try that out some day.
  14. Nice one..... it has a great vibe. What side gears are you thinking for the diff ? Will it be splined side gears and splined outdrives ? I've done this with TA02 side gears and outdrives in a DT02. I had to remove the thrust washers and not overtighten the diff cover. Tightening down the diff cover fully locked the diff. I used 3R ultra-high viscosity gear diff oil to slow things down and kept the cover slightly loose so the diff could still unlock if it had to. Whatever your using, compare the size and profile of the bevel gears also as a precaution.
  15. It's Stadium Blitzer / Blitzer Beetle hubs that are identical to Bear Hawk hubs and are far easier to find due to re-re production. This = neutral rear toe and your DF01 / DF02 driveshafts drop straight in. If you want some rear toe in the answer is Super Astute rear hubs and the bearing mod to lose the extra 1mm and fit the same DF01 / DF02 driveshafts or universal shafts. I saw it first when @ThunderDragonCy used the bearing mod on a (non-Astute) project....... might have been the Cosworth Sierra Rally ? I'm interested now which car that was and when ?
  16. Strange but I'm pretty sure the 11x5x3 bearing mod to fit Top Force driveshafts with OG Madcap and SA hubs was only arrived at in the last year or so.
  17. That's impressive.....never seen it done before so max points to you for unique / original idea and application. Keep up the great work.
  18. Not yet.... just spent the morning gathering spare parts for the second build which is a parts bin special with some magic sprinkles on top. I'm planning a build thread that includes both cars because the spare chassis and parts from the first build leads into the second car. There is no such thing as a spare chassis..... that's another project waiting to happen !
  19. Shelf : Egress / Astute / Super Astute Runners: Astute / Durga / Holiday Buggy / Sand Viper / F150 (TA02T) / FJ (CC01) Projects: Super Astute-X / Super Astute Mid
  20. @naturbo2000 Just finished an Xtra Speed carbon chassis conversion on my Super Astute-X . Build thread coming soon ! Great quality and I would say perfect finish and accuracy. You will not be dissapointed with this chassis !
  21. Cool...... let's see which post gets the most likes then and that post is the winner !
  22. Mrs Thommo decided to refresh our teenager's bedroom and they decided to remove all of the Star Wars Lego into my shed and straight onto my work station. Bad for my Tamiya but good for me..... there would be thousands $$$ worth of classic 2010 - 2020 built sets here including some double ups. Also a box of with approx 100 Star Wars mini figures. I'll post up a photo when I get it sorted and off of my desk and might even consider selling a few sets ! I still have the box (flattened) and the instructions for every set.
  23. I'm feeling it..... the joy of the parts bin and the realisation that I nearly have enough parts in said parts bin for a complete build. I've done a few resto's but never a start from scratch build from spare parts. I'm grateful for this post in the TD2 thread that sparked my interest.... I have about 80% or more of spare parts to build a mid motor Super Astute. I just need a Top Force rear gear case, J-parts, damper mount and some hardware. I've measured up my spare Super Astute chassis plate and the Top Force rear gear case lines up perfectly with existing holes for gearbox mount and rear arms and axle location and will only need a few holes drilled to adapt the gear case. I already have Top Force rear arms, rear hubs and axles and TA02 diffs, gears and shafts in the spares. Just have to create a new battery location and trim the Astute body and under tray to allow for the Top Force mid motor position. The rest of the car will be made up from Astute / Madcap / Super Astute spares. Essentially this will look like a mid motor Super Astute (chassis / body / steering and front suspension) with Top Force rear gear case, arms, damper mount and with the dampers at the rear (as per Top Force). I'll do some swapsy to free up a set of Aeration Dampers for this project. Just sharing my thoughts while they are fresh and look out for a Builds thread when it all comes together !
  24. Yeah correct the SA arms are much stronger so they just don't flex like the Madcap arms. The Madcap tub chassis might not allow for SA rear arms as easy as the Astute chassis does.... My experience is based on the Astute chassis so you might want to do some more homework on that first !
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