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Cuiken

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Posts posted by Cuiken


  1. Setting the slipper clutch has been a fairly iterative process so I decided to make it a bit easier by drilling a hole in the gear guard so I can access the screw more easily (without having to remove the guard each time). I just cover it with tape once I'm done.

     

    adqD1CB.png


  2. 20 hours ago, Sweatpants said:

    Could you not have just reclocked the motor bell housing?  there are so many options for mounting brushless motors.

    I'm not quite sure what you mean (not familiar with re-clocking)? If you're suggesting rotating the bell housing to reposition the motor tabs that would not have changed anything. I could have rotated the whole motor by using one of the other pairs of mounting holes. The issue is that the motor tabs themseves only fit in the space I've highlighted in the photos (albeit very close to the suspension mount).

    The tabs extend too far down the can (as below) so foul against the curved brace that runs over the top of the motor:

     

    ANVNPd5.png 

    SWXibpC.png

    Alternatives to solve the issue would be:

    1. Remove some of each motor tab

    2. Shim the whole motor back from the motor mount

    3. Remove some of the motor brace

    4. Buy a 1410 motor. Because it's longer, the motor tabs won't foul against the brace.

    On balance it was far easier to quickly grind down the aluminium suspension mount. 2 minute job once I'd figured out what I wanted to do.


  3. Well, what a weekend it was.... So much building, so many mistakes.....

    Friday evening I madea ton of progress on the chassis. Got it to this point:

    XVN8660.png

    The only significant thing I encountered outside of the standard build was my plan to route the battery lead up and out of the battery tray:

    Xn0zWxi.png

     

    The hole looks a bit jagged but it's not sharp so should not hurt the cables. You can also see the shiny blue hop up suspension parts below.

    Basically, a really nice build to this point. All running smoothly with no real head scratching required.

    Then came the motor install and it all got a bit tricky. Unfortunately, while the motor can fits perfectly, the power leads to the motor effectively exit the motor on the side via some large solder tabs. These tabs foul against the curved plastic bar that encloses the motor bay. As a result, the only angle that the motor fits at all is with the solder tabs tucked in below/behind the motor. In that case though, the B and C tabs nearly foul against the aluminium suspension mount and threaten to short them out. This was with a 28T pinion too so not much scope to increase the pinion size and sp move the motor further forward (and away from the suspension mount).

    zCXhFpm.png

     

    Ultimately, the only thing I could come up with was to reduce the size of the suspension mount..... So, I removed it from the chassis and ground it down on my trusty budget bench grinder:

     

    kg2eGSt.png

     

    Removal of this material basically opened up the gap between the motor terminals and the suspension mount:

    0rSGba0.png

     

    I actually went on to remove a bit more than this but you get the idea.

    Here is a shot showing how I managed to get the power leads out (soldered as a fan out form the motor at ~45 degrees:

    NHUdjVk.png

     

    After this I was back to relative plain sailing so here are a few gratuitous chassis photos. It really is a nice chassis to build. Beautifully engineered:

    XBVBGZ9.png

     

    7LsGQ2M.png

     

    fJFc0KU.png

    yb3YR8q.png

     

    I then failed to photo document a couple of steps and got to this point:

    Bn1l58x.png

     

    Key points:

    1. The ESC is mounted at the back of the electronics bay. All power wiring exits via a slot cut in the dust shield. This was I was able to keep the fan mounted on the ESC. I'll pack the space around the wires with some of the foam that comes with the kit. Aside from having to run the motor wires back along the middle of the car. I think this is a pretty neat solution. Nothing is left flapping about and nothing has to be 'crammed in' to the electronics bay. Using this method you'd probably get away with a 250mm sensor wire rather than the 300mm one I used here.

    2. Battery wires exit easily enough through the hole I cut and connect to the ESC over the top of the belt guard without fouling the interior of the bodyshell.

     

    At this time I decided to try it out. Horrible dissapointment. The car barely had enough power to roll around the kitchen floor. I'm gutted, what's wrong? I check everything, friction in the drive train, ESC calibration, ESC setting via castle link. Feels like it's barely even running on 1 phase. Have I failed to address the possible short of the motor tabs?

    All in I spend two hours tearing the thing apart to figure it out.

    The, the penny drops. Remember I'm using the Mamba X ESC? It has an aux channel that I have programmed to control max power level. I pretty much randomly connected it to channel 5 on my GT5 controller. I've never used that channel before. I wonder what the dial is set to? Yeah, pretty much zero. So, zero power.

    Another hour is spent rebuilding in order to test it out again (this time with channel 5 turned up). It works beautifully. What a chump.

     

    At this point I hurridely throw the shell on and take it out to the road. It's okay. Moves beautifully, corners like its on rails but.. slipper clutch is way way to loose and it grounds out constantly even on a tarmac road. This tends to throw it around a lot. Then, randomly a stray/lost dog turned up and I spent the rest of the night trying to find it's owner (happy to report I succeeded).

    So today I managed the following:

    1. Tightened the slipper clutch. It can now spin it's wheels and deliver full power. Might still be a fraction loose but I'll probably use it as is for now.

    2. I swapped the shock rod ends from the short ones to the 5mm longer ones that come with the kit (but which you are not meant to use). This raises the car to the point where it only just grounds out at maximum compression but also makes it sit a bit too high and causes the steering turnbuckles to foul the chassis. This is fairly easily fixed though by adding some 10mm screws to the droop screw locations in the wishbones and dialing the droop back a bit. By doing this, you theoretically lose some of the suspension travel but, overall you still have more overall travel than when using the smaller rod ends because you use the whole travel of the shock before the car gorunds out.

    Quick blast at lunchtime and it's now really starting to work. The clutch is doing what it should and the car doesn't crash into the ground on every undulation in the road surface. Sure, it corners a little less 'on rails' and I did managed one traction roll, but, overall, it works far better for me. I'm still hunting for a set of sway bars that I think would probably cure most of this issue anyway.

    In my hurry to try it out I did fail to take any of those 'pristine' photos of the car before I drive/crash it. I'll try to get a couple of shots before I totally wreck it and post those later.

    So, a lot of stuff in that update. If anything is unclear feel free to give me a shout.

    • Like 3

  4. 14 hours ago, Lucero said:

    Hi, interested in this thread as building up an xv01 Lancia ATM. Did you paint the outside of the body? It looks like it, but instructions say inside. 

    Is there a good prep for painting, like isopropyl or something? 

    The main colour is paited inside the shell. Neon red, white then black. Only the window details were painted on the outside. For the reasons highlighted, I'd advise against this. 


  5. Utterly superfluous update but I've built the rear diff now. Metal gears and axles inside with the lovely red o-rings, green slime and silicone gasket sealent.

    xjw8E61.png

     

    I keep forgetting to take pics of the silicone sealent being applied but basically the process is this:

    1. Get the diff cup built up and filled (as above). 

    2. Build up the diff cap as below and then add shim, retaining pin and bevel gear:

    NcXDf25.png

     

    3. Next use a knife to spread about a single 'teardrop' sized bead of silicone sealet around the outer diameter of the diff cap (where the gasket will sit).

    4. Add the standard paper gasket.

    5. Smear another 'drop' of sealnt over the top of the gasket.

    6. assemble the two halves of the diff and carefully screw it together. Don't overtighten.

    7. You should end up with somehting that looks like this and which runs freely. Note how little sealant has been squeezed out. You really don't need to use much.

    wbyg0T8.png

     

    In this case I used a blend of 1k and 20k oil to get something ~4k. I have no idea if I managed to hit that viscosity but I have a diff that is just a smidge less open than when I test built with the included 900cst oil.

    So, two diffs:

    Front - Plastic gears and 20k oil. It's quite tight but hopefully not too much. It will certainly help pull the car straight out of corners.

    Rear - Steel gears and ~4k oil. Super smooth and only a little less 'open' than with stock oil.

    No reason at all not to use the steel gears in the front but they are expensive so I thought I'd see how the plastic ones hold up.

     

    Lastly, got the front gearbox built up with the newly assembled diff and slipper clutch:

    z3Pkep9.png

    It was nice to build. Couple of tiny fiddly parts, and the usual terror of accidentally firing the sprung 'c clip' across the room when installing it, but it all went together fine in the end. I like the plastics. Quite a mixture in there, clearly chosen to have different properties depending on function.

    No idea how to set the slipper clutch. Anyone have any tips?

    Working late tonight so not likey to manage much more until the weekend.

     


  6. Parts arrived!

    Red o-rings (I gather silicone rather than rubber?). Either way, apparently they are very good. Installed with a bit of green slime.

    NcXDf25.png

     

    Then I used just a tiny amount of this on either side of the sealing gasket:

    36lH0Y8.png

     

    Lastly, a bit of 20k diff oil and sealed it up:

    ntZ5HJs.png

     

    The diff now feels a bit less 'open' but I don't think too much. You still get nice free and smooth movement on either side of the diff.

    Also, while I've hardly stress tested it, it seems not to be leaking. So, happy days and I can get on with the next bit of the build :)

    • Like 3

  7. Build update.

    So I started the actual chassis last night. Got as far as building the first diff and then stopped for a beer :)

    When a came back to it I noticed I'd not got a great seal on the diff case (weeping oil). I also noted that the diff was very 'open'. After a bit of reading of 'the internet' I gathered that many people like to bump up the diff oils from the 900 weight that the kit comes with to somewhere in the low 10,000's to get some level of limitted slip. While reading about the diffs generally I also found that quite a few people report blowing the rear diff when running 4 pole motors (aww crap).

    So, three things:

    1. I'm going to try running ~20k oil in the front and maybe 5k in the rear.

    2. I've ordered some Tamiya 42259 TRF O-Rings (just in case) and will rebuild with these and just a dab of silicone gasket compound.

    3. I've ordered some metal gears for the rear diff (this may be total overkill but I'd rather not have to rebuild the diffs too often).

    So, on hold waiting for parts :(

     


  8. Weekend update:

    Finished the paint and the decals. Things I've learned:

    The acrylic paint is basically falling off the shell. Ultimately, use a proper polycorbonate paint or use decals. I may be able to save mine with a coat of polycarbonate friendly laquer but I'm coming round to just applying the decals over the paint. Firstly because it turns out the front and rear window decals were easy and secondly because I realised I can cut them down a bit. Part of the reason I went for paint was to go with a more minimal side window surround. If I'm careful, I can trim the decals down to get the same finish.

    To try to describe what I mean, the actual car came with two versions of the window surrounds. I think they may simply have changed between the EVO1 and EVO2 versions:

    EVO1?:

    w1rL5Mx.png

    EVO2:

    K8MD0QL.png

    In a nutshell, I prefer the minimal approach on the EVO2 so that is what I'm aiming for.

    Anyway, all that aside, I got the rest of the decals on, mounted the interior and set about choosing the wheels. I have two sets of tyres, rally block and pirelli. I need to choose rims for both:

    3AIl8sa.png

    yXqF0TT.png

    pheMLuq.png

    aEx6A6L.png

    My thinking is to put the Pirellis on the white rims (pic 4) and the rally blocks on the black rims (pic 3). That would leave me a spare set of garish yellow ones for which I might try to find a set of semi slicks. Can anyone recommend a decent set of semi slicks?

    Overall, pretty pleased with the shell. Looking forward to starting the chassis.

    Just one last observation. All this fancy interior etc has made the shell quite a bit heavier. I think I'd really like to get a set of sway bars/stabilizers for the car as a result but don't seem to be able to find them in stock anywhere (Tamiya 54514). Anyone seem them in stock or have a spare set for sale?

     

    • Like 4

  9. Riffed a bit on the theme and went for one of the last bottles of the Pro-line clear laquer I could find in the UK (designed specifically for lexan). There's an obvious chance it won't play with the acrylics but I've not found that issue with Tamiya PS clear coat and I'll test first. Worth a shot.

    Thanks for all the thoughts on this.


  10. 9 minutes ago, simalarion said:

    Well its Lacquer paint for plastic, it should stick better than acrylic X and XF paints that i believe is ment for use on plastic models for display inside.

    how LP flat clear behave on top off Black X i do not know but i think it should work ok. It you apply much Acryl paint will be runny so i would apply a thin layer first and let it sit for 2 days and apply another. Always test new ideas on a peace off test Lexan first

    Good tips. Thanks.


  11. Extremely minor update. I tidied up the cracking along the tape edge (I can't believe I thought paint might be a time/effort saver vs the decals) and test mounted the interior:

    InX4y5O.png

    Next job is to bite the bullet, do the front/rear window decals and the then start cutting out the near infinite number of tiny stickers for the front grill.

    Really (really) wanting to get the body finished now so I can move on the the chassis (a self-imposed rule).

     

     

    • Like 2

  12. 22 hours ago, simalarion said:

    Not sure, but Hobby King have some on « sale». So you can even use it to clean the Lexan, thats how gentle it is:

    144A610A-9BBA-48FE-B63A-50238B16FAD0.png

    Hobbyking no longer seem to ship to the UK from their Global or EU warehouses.

    Anyone else in the UK noticed this? As it happens, I bought the battery for my XV01 from hobbyking a couple of weeks ago. I could only select products that were listed as having UK stock. If I attempted to buy anything from EU or Global I was told there was no warehouse available that would ship to my location. This was definitely not a problem before Christmas.

    Is this Brexit? If so, I'm going to write to my MP and demand it is raised in the Commons...


  13. It is not a shelf queen. It will be crashed, it will lose paint :(

    So, yeah, I should have done this on the inside but it didn't occur to me at the time (plus I think the masking would have been even more difficult).

    As I say, worst case, I can just add the decals later :)

     Cheers.


  14. Okay, so window surrounds update.

    Brush painted with X1. Good news is I managed to avoid any runs or significant leakage under the tape:

    3syTZ66.png 

    Less good is that I got a bit of cracking along the edge of the paint when I removed the tape. I get the feeling the X1 paint does not adhere very well to the polcarbonate body. Certainly, not as well as it adheres to ABS plastic. FYI, prior to painting I cleaned with water then white spirit and then gave a sand with super fine paper to try to give the paint something to key to.

    On balance, it'll need a bit of tidying up in places but I think it looks okay. Would the decals have looked better? Maybe, but only if I'd applied them really well. I've seen plenty of attempts where crinkles or peeling have spoiled the effect of the window decals on these cars. From a distance, this actually looks pretty good. I think durability is going to be my main concern. Is this all just going to flake off?

    I'm going to try the decals fro the front and rear windows and see how I get on. I can always remove and paint if I make a mess of it.

    And yes, there is a smudged finger print on the door. How come the paint flakes off where I want it to stick but it's adhered perfectly well to the door? I think I'll get away with that one since the door decals will cover it.

    • Like 6

  15. 15 hours ago, Big Jon said:

    I've done a few Mamba X speedos in the XV-01, but I don't have any pics on this phone. I used "low profile" bullets for neatness, though, with the wires at 90°, not vertical.

    Thanks.Yeah, I guess that's the key. I've had a look around for decent low profile ot 90 degree bullets but nothing jumped out at me. I'll have another swatch about.

    TBH though, I might just mount the ESC at the back of the box. I can keep the original fan in place and the 30cm sensor wire will still reach (I think). Only issue is having to drill a couple of holes for the motor wires to exit through the cover.


  16. I fear I may come to regret this but decided to go for painted window surrounds. Masked up and ready to go.

    What's the worst that could happen?

    jyZSoT9.png

    I'm starting with the sides. Dependning on level of success I'll decide whether to use same approach for the front/back.

    • Like 2

  17. 13 hours ago, Big Jon said:

    If you remove the fan from the Mamba X and use a 300mm sensor wire, it'll install nicely in the front of the electronics box, and you'll only have to widen the wire exit slot slightly for the extra wires. You can install a 30mm fan in the lid if you feel that the extra airflow is necessary. For reliability, I ALWAYS remove the switch on Castle ESCs.

    Given the quality of the rest of the castle kit, the switch (and even the wiring to the switch) is a weird anomoly. Nothing like the quality of the HW switch. I might remove it just for the neatness to be honest.

    As to fitting the Mamba X in the front of the electronics box, it'll definitely fit there with the fan removed but I'm finding the motor wires still foul against the lid. If you've done this install, I'd love to see a photo.

    Cheers.

     

    • Like 1

  18. Thanks guys. Rest assured this will be a slow build. Plenty of time in 'the mind shed' trying to figure out how to do stuff.

    Speaking of which I'm pretty sure I can squeeze the MambaX in there (even with it's fan) if I just extend the motor wires a bit and drill a couple of small holes in part of the elctronics compartment lid. I'll add pics if/when I can demonstrate this.

    Lastly, thinking doing the window surrounds as black paint rather than using the included stickers. I'd use the X acrylic brush paint and mask with decent tamiy vinyl tape. Figured it might look better. Basically, I'm scared of doing the fiddly stickers.

    That said, not sure how well the X acrylic paint bonds to polycorponate?

    Cheers. 


  19. Other update was that my Castle Combo turned up yesterday. Here's the ESC sat in the electronics box:

    NZN9tEl.png

    Long and short of it, this is going to be a tight fit.

    I think the ESC fan will need to be removed and the opening in the cover widended to allow for all the wires. If needed, I'll try to find a way to mount the fan in the lid of the elctronics box. I think it should fit in the space circled below (stock photo).

    That said, given the Mamba X is designed for 1/10th and even some 1/8th sized cars up to 6S, perhaps I won't need the fan at all to run this car on 2S. Any thoughts?

    7fZpfQi.png

     

    I'm also going to cut a hole in the top of the battery box (x marks the spot in the first photo) and route the battery cables up and over to the ESC. That way I can connect/disconnect/charge the bttery without having to unscrew the battery cover each time.

    • Like 1

  20. So, I bottled it on the window tint. I think it would look awesome to have a slight tint to the windows but the chance of managing to do it well seems remote. So, removed the window masks and peeled of the overspray film. No going back now.

    J7RaZrW.png

    I'm really happy with the colour and the arduous backing process (white then black then shoo-goo then black again) seems to have worked really well. Nice solid colour and the body feels robust.

    12 hours ago, davidwj95 said:

    I've been reading this thread with interest over the last week.  I'm going to start on my XV01 lancia tonight.  I bought it 3 years ago but the thought of stickering the body has been putting me off building it. 

    Thanks, glad it has been of some use to you. I'm posting a lot of fairly benign detail here but hopefully it answers some of the questions that come up during the build (for a relative novice like myself).

    I too am a bit put off by the stickers. In part that is why I chose to stay away from the original colour scheme. I'll only be using about half the stickers provided (avoiding the larger blue/red/back curved ones). If I really want  a more trad looking Lancia, I can just buy the stock KillerBody one.

    Given I'm eschewing the full martini livery, think the only stickers I'm really concerned about are the window surrounds. I'll post details as/when I grow up and get started on them.

    • Like 5
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