lukej

I don’t have this model, but I do have a similar one plus a couple of acorns receivers & servos. Luke

Secured the bag…

It’ll be better when I build it 😉

Another work of art Kevin, very jealous! Luke

I’ve mentioned in another thread of mine that Marc Rheinard is a bit of a hero to me, and if you love TC & Tamiya why wouldn’t he be, but for some time it’s been a hope of mine to build a replica of his car as a shelf queen. The time for that is now! Thanks to Simon Smith over on the Facebook TRF Owners page, a MIB TRf415 MSXX MRE is making its way to me, and my plan is to build it into an exact replica of Marc’s car from the 2007 Reedy Race. Given that this special edition is based on the car he used to claim that win, the process should be simplified, but I’d love to get you guys help in finding the exact spec and components he used - I even messaged Marc for a steer… 😂 Anyway, here’s to the start of a fun project! Luke

Did you get any further with replicating this car? Luke

Yes, I need to pay you 😊 Edit: Sent

A few extra bits arrived today, now to work out which hardware I'm missing and then I can finish the rolling chassis! Luke

Sometimes, the hunt for one thing leads you to buy several other, loosely connected items. So, whilst hunting for TRF tools (and I have received an offer for some) I came across this broken box wrench on eBay. Now, having already ordered 2 more of these from Sweden to turn into more useful tools, I wanted to repurpose this one into something I've discovered a need for. Presenting, the TRF 3mm Thread Forming Tap! This low effort hack means that I can now press threads with a little more dexterity and control, and also that my tap now has a blue handle on it that cost me all of £11. I'll take the coating off of the broken box wrench and see if I can braze the crack shut, but it seems like it split when it's previous owner either overtightened something or tried to break the torque on something when removing it. Anyway, the bit may live again, and if it doesn't, well my thread tap has a nice handle... Now to see if I can get the rest of the TRF tools in the door without drawing the ire of the Mrs - The M-07, M-08 & TB Evo 8s have only just received retrospective permission! Luke

A few smaller packages for me today: A carbon handle for my cheap transmitter, because carbon. This broken box wrench for which I have a cunning plan. And the delivery that got held by customs. £46 for VAT, £12 for the privilege of Royal Mail delaying it a week. Sadly won't be doing much with these for the next week because I'm off to race real cars at Donington Park. If anyone is local and happens to pop in, come say hi to us at the Praga paddock. Luke

An import VAT bill

Small update to bring you on this one, but after some conversations with Kevin I've decided to ignore the build rules and put more blue bits on (sorry Kevin!). I was having some issues with the Awesomatix ball nuts binding in the cups, and the OfficinaRC items are available to me through MonacoRC, but not without a hefty shipping bill so I've raided the spares tray and will do my own "KRF" interpretation here because Tamiya would add more blue right? Despite working to free the Awesomatix parts up, I had some problematic resistance in the suspension arms, and have opted for Tamiya's finest blue 5x5mm and 5x8mm ball studs & their 5x5mm ball nuts. These are 0.1mm smaller at the ball than the specified parts, and the ball nuts 0.4mm taller due to a thicker hex but using the same parts top and bottom should keep the suspension geometry the same whilst lowering the COG by 0.4mm overall - a competitive advantage this is not, but I'll claim it regardless. Some discreet but very necessary blue components I'm sure you'll agree. I also took the opportunity to add an additional 6x0.1mm shim to the underside of the ball cap because I felt some play in the arm once everything was positioned, and we don't want that slop in the car if it's to drive predictably. Once fitted, you will not see the extra shim, but the small amount of play I did have between the ball caps and suspension arms is now completely removed. Luke

So after nearly a week away from this one, and some light tinkering on another build thread, I had to pick up the tools and fix the consequences of my own tired actions... Having installed the rear diff incorrectly on my KRv4.1, I decided in a panic to check if I'd made the same mistake on my front diff in this car. Positive news, I had not, and everything was as it should be; negative news, I snapped off a 10mm aluminium screwing the bulkhead. *****s! The offending item. With that now removed, I decided that I'd pop the dampers off to achieve 2 things: 1) Increase the ride height with some preload - the then 2.8mm was about 2.2mm too low for the rules at SRCC. 2) Install by shiny, new, blue TRF spring platforms. Why? Because they're blue! The preload adjustment was easy, I just used one of the plastic collars to get everything to a fixed baseline and I can tweak from there, but the spring platforms presented 2 problems. Exhibit A - The kit parts way very little, just 4.3g I seem to remember. Exhibit B - The blue option parts weigh over double that. Eh, they're blue, lets move ahead and ignore the 9.2g of additional unsprung weight. Turns out that's not an option because I, buyer of blue things and little research (not something I normally overlook), bought 42192 which fits the 42354 and my TRF 420X rather than the silver coloured 53595 which fits the 42102 shocks I have fitted to this car. Again, *****s! So, the upshot of my evening's work on this car is: - The broken screw has been successfully removed and replaced. - The dampers have had preload added which mostly (4.6mm RH) corrects my non-regulation ride height. - I have some spring platforms that do not fit this car. - I have some spring platforms that fit another car for which I already have this part. We'll call it a small win on balance. Luke

That’s a work of art! Might pick your brains on building one after the KRF is finished! Luke

Will do!

I’m preparing to do exactly this, need to buy a servo lead kit to shorten those too! Luke

So I've gotten as far as I can I think now, at least until my RCK delivery arrives. It was shortly after this image that the video manual showed me an error in by build process. No idea why I flipped the diff, but that'll have to be undone when I take it the carbon top plate out to add the bearing shims. I might even swap to the 3Racing diff Kevin uses at the same time. The moment the penny dropped. This afternoon/evening's building started with the rear droop plate sub-assembly, which ultimately didn't progress very far because I don't have the OfficinaRC ball studs yet. Those were ordered this evening from MonacoRC, and the required pivot balls were sourced via eBay at the same time. Baby steps. The rear driveshaft build followed. I've ordered 54934 now too so that will sort me out for the TRF 420 drive cups and blade drives at both ends of the car. A TT-02 oil diff was added in. @wtcc5 is the 3Racing diff you have necessary to accommodate the TRF420 drive cups? As I built up the suspension mounts for the front and rear of the chassis, I had to compromise on perfection. Kevin's instructions state that the front set screws should be installed to leave 4mm out, and the rears with 3mm showing, but I can only get so close... Finally, using my spec racer for reference, I pulled the kit diff cover off and snapped the head straight off an aluminium screw in the process. I'll extract that tomorrow! Luke

They all come in one set, so I'll get them ordered up. Now to swap the rear diff out and build a spool! Luke

A bit more progress today, though I'm rapidly running out of sub assemblies to build with the RC-Kleinkram delivery being delayed at customs. I think I'll reassess the screws I'm using too as the aluminium ones are getting chewed up a touch. Anyway, I started off by modifying the front bumper mount, because the 3D print needs a little sanding to fit right and I decided that this would be better achieved before the sun warmed up my flat too much. Dremel and vernier callipers in hand, I set about reducing the post height to 9mm. I've got two kinds of sanding wheels available to me, 60 grit and 240 grit, and I also laid a piece of 600 grit on a flat surface to level the posts and finish them once I'd made all of the progress I was comfortable with power tools. As a precaution, and in order to ensure I wasn't sanding unevenly, I used a sharpie to recolour the post tops and would then inspect where it was worn away by the Dremel. Marking my posts to ensure a flat surface. The results of a single pass. For reference at 5000rpm with a 240 grit wheel, the Dremel removes about 0.1mm/pass, switching to 60 grit and 10,000rpm removes about 0.35mm per pass. When the heights of the posts were set to the required 9mm (I got them to 8.98mm, so a little under), I ran a 2.8mm drill through the inside of the post to clear the molten plastic and any swarf, and I trimmed to outside edge of the posts with a hobby knife before colouring the post tops in again. Finally, when fitting the bumper I slid a 0.75mm shim below the carbon piece to level the bumper relative to the ARM mount it rests on. The whole assembly is then screwed together with 3x14mm countersunk titanium machine screws. These will shortly be replaced by 3x16mm versions of the same to ensure the thread bites into the nylon insert of the 51255 3mm thin aluminium lock nuts. And here's how it sits as I break for lunch. Luke

Kevin is the creator of the KRv4.1, a modified TT-02 for a GT class of the RC-Kleinkram series. You’ll have to forgive me if I get some bits of this wrong, but essentially the class rules mandated that you had to use a standard TT-02 bathtub & a few spec electrical components but everything else was free. @wtcc5’s development and race reports thread gives a detailed insight into how the car came to be, all the trials and tribulations of making it what it is, and a brief foray into the world of Awesomatix style dampers. You can find it here. The reason this was so impactful to me, is that I went down a rabbit hole on the internet one day and ended up of RCTech reading his build thread. As a new member of the forum, I got a frosty reception from some quarters, but Kevin was always polite and respectful, & when I saw that I could buy his upgrade parts kit I took the chance. He’s even supplied a carbon prop shaft and spool to me which aren’t parts of the regular kit. Luke

Started a new build & the accompanying thread. Very excited for this one! Luke

Things are properly underway now, and the build space is prepped! I started by following the instructional videos, but deviated from time to time to check fitment of parts I have whilst I wait on those that I don't - HMRC interrupting play there... And with the pressure relief holes showing under the tub. From here, I started building up the suspension. Unfortunately I didn't do the cleanest job of grinding the carbon down for the two droop plates, but that's hidden so the perfectionist will have to pretend I didn't do a less than perfect job. Unless you want to file me a pair Kevin? I'm going to take the droop plates off again, but I'm using the assembly to check for flatness across the mounting points. At this point, I think I have approximately 0.5mm to remove on one side of the front plate as there's a little twist here. Driveshafts being built up. @wtcc5 which blade drives and drive cups are you using in the videos? Here's how I'm leaving it for this evening. A productive-ish night. More parts to order and hopefully I'll be away! Luke

As some of you know, I work in motorsport, and I've had the challenge of building a car to a set of regulations many times before. Extracting all of the performance from a rulebook, finding the grey areas, and coming out with something competitive is some of the most interesting work I can imagine. To have found an enthusiast in this hobby who has done the same then, well that's the very best thing! Before I start with the build, I want to extend my deepest thanks to a member of this forum, someone who represents the best of us and who has demonstrated incredible knowledge, skill and talent to bring this product to market - Kevin Kreft. There are few people I can point to who have had more impact on my love of this hobby than Marc Reinhard & Atsushi Hara, their battles in the mid 2000's made me fall in love with 1/10 on-road, but Kevin (@wtcc5) outranks them both. I plan to have a TRF 415MRE and an HPI RS4 Pro 4 Hara Edition in my collection at some point, but they'll be joined in my perfect trio of touring cars by the KRv4.1, the ultimate version of the TT-02 with a few blue touches to make it the "KRF". Let's get started then, with a large glass of chocolate milk, a clear workspace and a ton of excitement. Thanks Kevin! Luke

Seems like a few of us had presents from Tamico today. Fortunately mine passed through the border unmolested, but the same cannot be said of my RC-Kleinkram order which has some more interesting things in it. A set up board, some painting supplies, and two Bittydesign Seven20 bodies ready for future Eastbourne/King of Clubs participation... Luke

Didn’t make the cut when you needed tape though, did it 😂