Fixit

Anyone from Kent interested in attending the OhSoRetro car show in September? The organiser has asked if any RC clubs would like to attend, with enough interest we would be able to organise a club stand and running area. It's a retro and modified classic car show which always has a very good turn out, would be a good event for a vintage and re-re gathering.

Thanks for the comments, it's been more of an evolution than a build. And now... it's a runner! Been out for a test run and I'm very pleased with the result, all the mods have been worth while. Wasn't expecting too much from the re-wound stock motor but, oh my word! it's spot on. All in it's a nicely balanced SRB, perfect power to weight and handles like a dream.

Welcome back to world's slowest build thread! It's been a year plus since my last update, seems that every time I say “found time for RC again” something else comes along to slow me down. But hey... better to finish a thread slowly than not finish it at all? Anyway, whining over here's some progress... Was going to drill some holes in the metal work and knock some weight of it but after working out how much I'd save it hardly seemed worth it, so moving on. Machined up the holes in the front arms to take the re-re knuckle bearings, as this is a runner I wanted to be able to source parts when needed so making re-re parts fit the vintage stuff is a must. Next a steering servo mod, cut a hole through the front mech box and mounted the servo in there. The SRB now has a modern servo saver and direct to servo steering, this should reduce the 'slop' and make the steering more responsive. As its running on coil over's and modified arms I wanted to stiffen the chassis to get the suspension working as it should. I used the four outer holes through the chassis and the original rear mech box mount point to pin the whole lot together, made some spacers for the job which also give me a little more clearance for the servo saver. At last, a rolling chassis. Next, get the sparks in and get it running....

I think the Thunder Shot QD was first and it hit the shelves in 1988, from what I can remember the Midnight Pumpkin and Monster Beetle QD's where both late 80's too, pretty sure the QD Clod was 1990.

Nice job saving that body from the bin. Get yourself some 'modelstrip' its great for removing paint, does what it says on the tin! http://www.wonderlan...rip-modelstrip/ I use auto paint from Halfrauds, so many colours you can match most other paints and its good stuff for RC bodies. Like every one else has said, practice makes perfect (or nearly perfect), take your time and don't try to get it all down in one coat, very light coats until your happy with it.

Thought about the TA02, TT01, M-Chassis... wanted to go live axle at the rear so the choice of chassis off the shelf was limited. Looked at using some parts from other chassis too, lower arms etc. but width is a problem. The body is around 170mm rear and 160mm front, inside the wheel arches. Need to keep the axle width narrow so I can run it low, I'm happy with the custom front arms and look forward to building the chassis. Oh and that decal is just one of the Blackfoot III decals, all decals will be going as the body will be detailed and painted, got a nice idea for hidden body mounts too.

Cheers for the comments... @mr crispy Yeah, the CC01was one idea, would still need to run the truck axle as the CC01 axle is too wide. Not sure about the front end width either, the overall front end width needs to be no more than 155mm including the wheels, looking to get that narrow drag racer look then I can run it low like the mock up. Also, the chassis will have a module front end, then I can adjust the length and use the same design on other street projects.

This is a project that’s been distracting me from other things for a while now, thought it was about time I built it and got the idea into practice. Picked up the Blackfoot III body and some HPI vintage wheels from Ebay a while back, here’s a couple of shots of the mock up.... Rather than just drop this over an M chassis or something I’m going to build the chassis from scratch, It will run a live axle at the rear and double wishbone front end. I fitted the 6mm offset rear wheels to the rear axle on my Tamiya big rig and it turns out that the overall width is spot on for the body and the diff case has 12mm of ground clearance, just waiting for some parts so I can build up an axle using spares (rather than pinch it of my Aeromax... tempting though). Made a double wishbone set up from various spares for the front, pleased with how they turned out.... Found a suitable gearbox among some boat spares, shortened the shaft and added some ball bearings and I’ve got a nice gearbox. The final gear ratio from motor to wheels works out about 10:1, may need to play with this once its running.... Thought about building a scale truck chassis but in the end decided to go with something new, the chassis will be a upper/lower plate design similar to the typical touring car chassis with two differences, the rear of the lower plate will sweep up and meet the upper plate to accommodate the live axle and front end will be adjustable in length. Getting some drawings together at the moment, will post them up when I’m done.

Decided to strip the chassis and get some holes in all that aluminium to reduce the weight, what with all the metal upgrade parts its starting to get a little heavy. Couldn't resist finishing the rear shock mounts first.... Made these using polymorph, great stuff for making small parts like these. They where easy to make, dissolve the polymorph granules in hot water and they turn to a putty type material which was then pressed into a mould made from plastic card. It cools quickly and has very similar properties to nylon when set.

Its been a while but... I have the time for RC again! Started the thread for this build an age ago, life has been getting in the way for the last 18 months and as a result I've not had the time for RC. Any way...(sob story over) at long last I've got time on my hands so I can crack on with some of my projects... like this one! Since the last post I've re-wound the stock motor and made some very nice rear shock top mounts using polymorph (shiny pics to follow soon), watch this space for updates. They may be a little slow as I've been distracted by a blackfoot body street truck project, I should have enough done to get a build thread up by the weekend. Its good to be back!

Didn't get time to do much assembly yesterday, got the rear arms, axles and front shocks fitted.......... but I did make a start on a rear shock mount mod. Two holes drilled and tapped on the side for bolts through the pipe clamp, tapped through for the shock bolt. Need to make a decent spacer for it. The front end is starting to look good. Need to get the rear mount finished and re-wind the motor to finish the rear end, waiting on some new bearing plates before I can finish the front end........ getting there.

Modelstrip plastic model stripper, used it many times and it works a treat, about £4.50 a tub.

Hope to get some assembly done today so should have some more results to post tomorrow. @Cooltoys Yep, pretty sure that's a Mk1 gearbox and its got original internals too (with ball bearings fitted). I've got parts from Mk1 and Mk2 SRB's, trying to use as many vintage parts as possible. @Leethal Driver Getting a tidy finish to stuff like aluminium plate really ain't that hard, everything is hand made using hand tools and home made tools......... no fancy CNC equipment here, keeping it 'old skool' . I use a simple jig to cut, file and fold the aluminium plate which is nothing more than two lengths of steel flat bar and a vice, the rest is down to a good saw and files and practice. When I do the front bumper I will get some more detailed pics of the process to show you how its done. Cheers....

Cheers for the comments... @Skottoman Yeah, been into the hobby for 27 years and scratch building for 20 of those, as for the tidy post's..... I suffer from a little OCD and like to keep things tidy. Made a bit more progress, built a rear guard today, used 6mm steel tube for the hoop and 2mm aluminium plate for the rest. Drilled and tapped the hoop to fix the plate. Short piece of 6mm tube drilled and tapped to fix the centre. Now when it gets damaged I can replace it without replacing the hoop. The front bumper will be made in the same way, need to get some assembly done now so I can cut and mount the body before I decide how its going to look.

How about strip the chrome with some model strip and then paint using Humbrol Metalcote Aerosol, the polished steel finish gives a very nice scale finish, not chrome but then I have never been a fan of chromed plastic parts, though Tamiya seem to do a better job with it than most. Metalcote is a great product, comes in tinlets and aerosol, the polished aluminium is not so good but the polished steel is great. Spray on, allow to dry and then buff with a soft cloth..... job done. Grab a tin and try it on something first.