thesuper

these pics took longer since the neighbor's house had an underground water leak and it flooded a part of the track, which is not a big deal since it's been about 100F lately. after the track dried out we found that the bermuda and st.augustine grass is VERY robust in some parts and the runners didn't get cut by the weed wacker. so i think we'll have to let the cars do that. the grass grew back really fast (coupled with the high heat here we have about 50-80% humidity) so here is the connected perimeter and some inner sections. we still need to get the cars on the track to make corrections in places were it's too narrow or the corner is too tight. we went through an adjustment phase with the last track, too. the cool thing is that if we don't like a section we let the grass come back and re-cut. the west end.... the middle.... the east end... all of the east end.... the middle northern... west from another angle... mostly middle.... the west corner.... we still need to run the cars on the track and after that we'll widen or narrow or modify where we find we need to....

Real Wild One....no problem! pm reply sent.

Real Wild One....for the TA03R-S, F-S, and R, i had ordered lower arms, and the towers. two pairs, in both silver and blue, to go on two cars. they fit well but i ended up tossing the suspension shafts that came with the arms since they were oversized and didn't fit in the mounts on the gear box. i'm not sure if that's been fixed but there's that. the other issue i came upon was that the nylon inserts in the arms, that the shafts ride on, are too small. i ended up having to cut one sus. shaft with a cutting wheel leaving a razor sharp edge and punching that through the insert. worked well. the cars were used for rally purposes and they held up. nothing bent or broke. they did get beat bad since they were run in gravel a lot but no issues. if play develops between the shaft and the insert there are several extra inserts included in the bag. the finish was textured and not smooth. the shipping was quick and the price was fair.

mr. Rallying....any low tack tape is great. the blue 3M painter's tape has worked wonders for me! where one piece meets another...it's never a bad idea to dry rub the edge so there is a nice seal between the two. and on that note...it's always best to have some kinda tool to rub at the edge of the tape to give the best edges. all the rally cars in my showroom were masked with the 3M blue tape. i even stopped using the window masks that come with the bodies since the 3M allows a bit more room for mistakes since i trim it myself.

CarKing...hey! long time no type! it rained a couple of days ago so we're waiting for it to dry out. we're trying to figure out how best to lay out the perimeter to get lots of long straights and interesting high speed corners. once that's done it's weed wacker time. but...if the soils is still damp the weed wacker will end up making a mess so we gotta wait. i think today or tomorrow i'll connect the the perimeter since that's just trimming grass.

Wrc action...ahh university...ladies and parties and cake sometimes. oh, and the learning too. thinning out the collection? never a bad idea. i hate to see them sit unused too long. et al...this is a perimeter cut. we didn't get a chance to figure out how to connect it since there is some question as to what path would be best. but that'll sort out soon enough. with the perimeter in place we can get a better idea of where there is room to put what features inside and how much to wider the perimeter and what sorts of corners at each of it's ends. it's been raining a lot so everything is just exploding in growth which is nice since it means we'll have a nice defined edge around the track that should strand the the car if it goes off. the ground out here isn't totally flat as there are places that collect rain. this works out since there will be slight compressions and crests that should pair well with top speeds. at the far end of this corner there is a decent compression. drops gradually about 4 inches so it's not a rut. and just before the corner in one direction should be interesting and at the exist of the same in the other direction. that same corner on the right in the photo. again, it's one pass with the mower so we'll widen things up later and trim down to the dirt to finish. from the far corner in the previous photo looking down towards the other end. lots of small gradual compressions and crests here too. at the end of the long section in the previous pic... the last corner to the current end... more progress this weekend....

after being out of the rc thing for a while it seems things have settled in away that should allow me more time to rally. the rc thing conflicted with cycling (i just ride lots of miles for fun, no racing) and for the last few years i've been riding a ton so that meant rc was put aside for a while. rc will always lose out to a long 60+ mile ride. which is unfortunate 'cause i enjoy both equally. so now i've got a bit more time and my brother and i still have our chassis' (TB01, TA03, M04, M03, TB02, and a few others in my showroom) so why not? a couple of years ago, my brother bought the house next door and so the back yard is now twice the size. the dog loves it but even more, we dig it cause it means we can re-cut a new track. we had a track years ago but it was a bit small to really let the cars have room to run. once the fence between the properties came down we started talking about a rally course. pics that are too small, of the old course... the problem with the old course usually was that some of the corners were a bit too tight. there should be a few of those but with the 1/10th scale cars it was a bit tough to get through some places. so we'll be planning things out better this time. after some heavy rain the grass is full and in need of a cut. maybe next week we'll have the start if it trimmed down with the mower and then finish the course with the weedwacker. the area we're working with is about 100 feet by 30-35 feet so there's plenty of room for lots of cool features.....but....we'll be mostly focusing on a rally type course. maybe a jump or two, some areas where it'll be a challenge to keep speed and direction, some short cuts, stuff like that. we're starting with an all dirt course first since that worked out best originally. we may add section of tarmac later on. if anyone has any ideas about features they've seen or think would be cool for this track, feel free to post. we're going for some scale so nothing too nuts. just keep in mind that's it a rally course. the majority of the pics in this thread that i posted are on photobucket. i've grown to hate photobucket since it's super cluttered with ads and pull down option and on top of that the rather confusing options and limited lay out. i'm in the process of moving all the photos from photobucket to flickr. flickr has more simple layout and no ads of any type and offers lots of useful options with regards to photo management. if you want to browse the photos you can do so here.... i hope that the people who posted here and the rally fans are still around. lastly, these guys rule! we're not going to get to this level but it's still amazing to see their work. great stuff!

Wrc action....well....as you have noticed...i've been way out of it. been reading when i have time and it looks like this came out a real winner. after the few runs....and the talk about having to keep the speed up dues to not having a ball diff.....how do you rate the durability of the chassis for off road use? i'm still thinking about using an M04, to make a chassis for an 037, but really can't bring myself to buy the plastic shell and take it for a proper off road drive. ugg...too painful to think about a crash. anyway, it looks great and the shell looks very good as well. can't wait to see what other ideas you've got to work on.

your e-mail isn't working and i have a question about the rally photo contest.

Wrc action....ok...the M03 chassis with the long arm kit comes in at 183mm with a set of +2 offset road wheels. i think the TB01 with the same wheels and long arm kit is closer to 185mm. this is turning into one awesome thread. you're confirming a lot of what i thought could be done with the chassis. as for the front sus mount.....do you think it's possible to use the stock upper mounts or would the dampers lay too far down that they interfere with something? that's neat about the 257 wheel base! what chassis did the driveshafts come from? i kinda thought theremight be soem issues with the steering portion. but it looks like you've got it. i'm excited to see this thing run! i see also that you put a silver can in there....will this just be for testing and then you'll put something hotter in there? or are teh silver cans addequate?

et al.....wel.....i WAS going to take pics and then some things came up and i had to attend to those..... so first up a short report on performance. the TB01 and Tb02 had the same everything. rather than list everything, just know that they were identical in every way _possible_. the first few minutes clearly showed the TB01 was faster in and out of corners even thought all the wheel settings were identical. same tire compound and so on. even if i was careful about my speed and where i put my tires with the TB02, the TB01 was still more agile. the Tb02 did have a new motor and as soon as the brushes got seated the things really started to pick up speed. even though the two were geared the same, the TB02 was faster in a straight line. in all other aspects they were the same. stability, predictable when they broke free, and best of all.....no issues with anything. the only thing was some small bits of bark did get sucked up into the open pinion/spur of the TB01. other than that it was a trouble free run. as for the TB02. it's really nice. VERY stable and with the rear diff a bit tighter than the front....the back end can be broken free easily to get the car pointing the right direction. there was a bit of understeer but that's ok since i was still getting used to the car. no stripped anything and no issues with the drive shaft. i really like it for on road use. i'm not sure i'm going to find trying to getting it ready for off road rally so fun. there are lots of holes where dirt can get in. but maybe that's ok and i'll just make a shield to help keep the car from gaining a while lot of weight from the accumulation of dirt...rather than trying to keep it out altogether. so last...some shots...... my brother's TB01...while looking more like a road car...has a tank-like underside...... the TG10 bumper did really well at protecting the car when he cut the corners...... this was the only real damage that he had.... i, on the other hand, flipped the car several times and scratched up the newly stickered shell.....ack! worse yet....i didn't see these pieces of steel bar sticking up from between the brick and..... the car was going quite fast....i heard a smack and then it spun to a stop. right after i go going again i misjudged a corner and smacked a steel sign post.....the wheels were stuck turned to one side and i figured i'd broken something that would cost a bit to replace. turns out....the wheel hit the pole...the pole pitched the wheel so far sideways that it caused the driveshaft to pop out of the axle. wow! takes a lot to pop them out with the longer 42mm driveshafts. that's good though. wrc, no clicking noises. no noises at all in fact. this one was very silent running. the bumper did it's job well.....more evidence of cutting... some of these square edges caught on stuff..... and on a side note....my brother bought some new tires and wheels for the dirt....i'd had these before and noticed that they spun out a lot.....maybe they are best suited to pure dirt and not a rocky environ. we'll see......

Wrc action...oh yeah...i meant that i left one of the foams in the diff outdrive....it was one of the white ones cut in half. so that plugs the hole but lets the shaft sit as deep as it can. then one in teh axle just thick enough to keep the drive from moving around too much.

Wrc action...the TB01 looks great. this and the trailer would be perfect with the rally nuts from CZ. http://www.mz-racing.net/foto/2007/foto2007.htm i can see from the bumper that this has seen some heavy rally action. any troubles yet with any of it? ___________________________________________________________ et al......well....we FINALLY got out to have a good hard drive this weekend. the focus was on the drive so no pics of the drive but i'll post pics of the aftermath.....yes...there was a bit of minor damage. first i have to take the pics so i'll post in a bit........

let me know how close that other spacer gets the chassis to 257. thanks did you mean on the M04 or M03/FF02? i don't own a TL01 but if someone posts dimension i'll post the ones for the FF02 with the long arm set. i'd love to get an M04, put the FF02/Tl01 long arm kit on it, deck it out with some moderate hop ups.....and then top it off with an 037 shell. i'd be afraid to drive it at maximum attack but.....i bet it would look cool. but i'll keep up on this thread for info on how well it works out.

Wrc action.....wow! so what do you suppose cause the damage to the outdrive? that is what i was worried about with the plastic outdrives so i removed one of the sponges from the outdrive and added only one to the axle end...that way it would push the dhadt as far into the outdrive as possible..... also....good to hear about the bevel pinion and diff ring gear.....i figured that so long as they were assembled properly...there shouldn't be any problems.... is that the stock grease on the bevel pinion and diff ring gear? or did you find something better?