Superluminal

It certainly reads that way! Assume its probably been digitally translated and then not really proof read afterwards.

Finished mine off today as the weathers been good enough to do some spray painting. Its got hi cap dampers off of the VQS and a Dynatech 02H motor fitted. The driver is an Avante cockpit set with some additional styrene card to fill the gaps around the front. It did mean having to cut out the window frame stickers to remove the tinted bit which was a pain. Would much prefer if they gave optional window stickers. The driver is double sided taped to the top of battery strap with clearance for the servo so easily removable. I think buggies really look right with a driver fitted.

Theres been some nice weather this last couple of weekends so rather than go out I finished painting my Super Astute. Apart from some tricky window masking it was all white so nothing too taxing.

Does the BR come with carbon reinforced tub? I upgraded my TT02 type S to one of these and found it pretty tough screwing into so ended up putting grease on the threads. Ive used a pretty good screw extractor set before which had some bits that looked like drill bits that cut into the head and wound the screw out. If its in a difficult to get to spot but you can still get some grip on the tool head then you could potentially use a soldering iron on the screw to soften the plastic and see if it will come out and then repair the thread with some CA after when fitting a new screw.

Started on the chassis, its the Top Force FRP chassis plates and top deck. I painted the edges with some black ink and gave it a polish. They scratch very easily and if though they have never been used wrre a little bit scuffed. Fitted the battery holders, im missing the screw mounts so ive had to order those. Next up is fitting the aluminium posts for the gearboxes, top deck and steering arms. After that assembling the steering arms. To mount the servo i used the hopup alloy servo mounts, a hi torque servo saver and a Savox servo. Once this was all installed the gear boxes and prop shaft installed. Theres a plastic spacer that sits under the rear gearbox. Now it looks like a car. Just the top deck left to fit. I used some Tamiya rosette washers at the front as it neatens it up. The Top Force manual just shows a couple of screws. Lastly before body posts i fitted some alloy hexes.

As mentioned above, this is going a lot slower than I antipated. I needed a u-shaped shaft which arrived a week later. Then I realised I didnt have enough susension shaft pins for the lower uprights to replace the upper screw pins so had to order those and then the turn buckles i had were too long so needed to order some 18mm ones. I only seem to get post once a week since christmas so its a slow process. All assembled looked like this. Then onto the suspension - Im using the standard pink low friction dampers but using the newer 4wd spring set as I wanted black springs. I mentioned the last time I used these dampers a couple of years ago that the plastic mouldings were not great. It seems they may have deteriorated even further! The pistons were very hard to get onto the piston shaft and i had to shave a bit off the top to get the e clip in the groove. And then the piston wouldnt actually fit into the bore of the piston. I had to put them in a dremmel and sand down the edge slightly to reduce the diameter. They are nice and smooth now but i get the impression that the moulds are so old and worn after 30 years that the tolerance on the parts is off. Fitted now and i can move onto the chassis.

I think the outer casing is zinc or nickle plated steel rather than aluminium. The silver can version notes 23t on the box. Not sure if this has been proven yet.

Yes, pretty sure. I precut them out on the shell to check before peeling off the backing.

I get the impression they are milimeter perfect to the outer frame and there isnt any tolerance. Ive had it before with multi part window frames where ive fitted the top screen, then the bottom and the side frames have been too short. Theres no overlap allowed between the individual pieces which would really help.

I think he's on the fence

I cut them out and then try and overlay them on the window frame stickers to check. Ive had it before where the mask has seemed over sized to the frame and left clear spots in the paint outside the frames which needed touching in with paint afterwards.

If only front 2wd wheels were available <sad face>

One thing I noticed with this kit is that it comes with a steel pinion!!!! But no window masks. Gives with one hand, takes with the other.

A u shaped shaft

Great write up! Are there any stipulations on the maxium track width as using the 9mm hexes both sides must have increased it a fair bit.