ZenMoto

Any large home improvement store (Home Depot, Lowes, etc.) should have it in varios sizes and thicknesses. Most will no longer cut sheets to size anymore, but you should be able to find it in 1' or 2' squares. ...if you are in the UK, I have no idea! []

quote:Originally posted by thesuperthe alu. arms came from www.asiatess.com they have lots of stuff and the site is really easy to navigate. id="quote">id="quote">That link isn't working, but I'll check out JR-RC, thanks. quote:the box? funny thing, i went to a sporting goods store....and when i saw all the fishing tackle boxes....i thought "my search is over". they are really great. the one in the one in the picture that i take with me is not very big. but for small parts like that, it works well. id="quote">id="quote">That's funny, I just had my parents ship me my old tackle box, a double-sided Plano brand box, that I used back when I raced my Hotshot (1986?). It still has the original stock, mono-shocks in it as I'd upgraded to the 4-point suspension system for racing (this was before the Supershot came out). It also has the original manual stuck in the lid as well as the rear wing, and a ton of misc. gears diff & pinion gears, etc. There's also a bunch of handy tools that I'd forgotten about and left in there ...even my old bottle of "oil of wintergreen" ...that was the best $2 I ever spent in my racing days! lol Ah the memories ...tackle boxes rule!!! []

Ok, this could be a different thread I suppose, but I'll ask here anyway. My TRF dampers came with gold ball-ends, are they any better/different from the black polished ones that came with my TB-02? Thanks.

Super, Nice damage pics! lol Looks like you've been having lots of fun with your car! [] BTW, where did you find the aluminum suspension arms and hub carriers?

I don't know if you are in the UK or the US, but check your phonebook for a bearing house. They are all over the place and should all be able to match the bearing for you ...probably sell you a package of 100 for a buck or two. That's what I'd do. In fact, if you have the bearing sizes you can probably get better bearings, cheaper for setting up an entire car! lol

mr_pushrod, You're right ...I should't type at 3am. The TB02 indeed has twin ball diffs. Like I said, when the "spare" chassis shows up I'll get into the mods and seeing what I might need to make it into a killer rally car. [] I think what CarKing said about limiting my cutback of the pan to have that limit suspension travel is a good idea. Right now the chassis subs out under the arm and a set-screw in the arm is used to adjust the travel. I can still use that portion of the chassis to limit travel by gringing it back to th desired depth.

lol I'm not worried about the shocks being damaged on landing, simply pointing out that I'd rather have a stop for when the suspension extends than have their extension limited by the dampers; you know, like a bumper that the arms won't travel past when fully extended. It probably won't hurt anything to have the dampers serve this function though. I'm not really planning on jumping the car, but you never know what might happen in the heat of the moment! [] The TB02 comes with a gear differential and a heat sink for the motor. The chassis won't be here for a week or so (from Hong Kong to US) so I'll have time to think things through.

quote:Originally posted by thesuperZenMoto....so only the screw and the part you plan to cut out are limiting travel? really? hmmm...interesting. id="quote">id="quote">That's how it looks to me! ...should be a lot of potential with this chassis in that regard. I have, in fact, ordered a second tub to experiment with (don't want to butcher my new car without a backup) lol I'm also thinking of bonding some lightweight metal mesh/screen material over the holes in the chassis (beneath the battery and motor); this should allow airflow but prevent anything too nasty from getting into the chassis and motor. ...I might get really crazy and form some inner fenders to prevent stuff from getting thrown up from the tires. We have an FDM machine at work as well that created 3D parts from ABS plastic. It doesn't make perfect final parts as it "prints" in layers, but the final product is 70% the strength of an injection molded part and it can make them in black, red, white, etc. Once I have a rally shell picked out, I can design inner fenders to fit and "print" them to the FDM. ...next day, viola' ...parts! [] quote:Do you mean the stress when the piston hits the bottom of the damper can as the shaft extends fully?id="quote">id="quote">That's what I'm thinking. If it gets air, I don't want to destroy my dampers. Besides (and more likely a problem) will be the swingarm extending to a point where the dogbones either bind, or fall out. I'll need to limit travel to a point where they can still function well. I think for rally, lightening the overall package will be important as well. ...I see some hop-ups in my future ...though I'm not sure I'll spend $50 on Ti screws everywhere! lol

Thanks man! I saw your showroom before, thought maybe you were an Art Center type working for the manufacturers. Thanks for the info, I'll be looking mainly for a good price on hop-ups for my TB02 and TA04; little stuff he can mail back easily. We should meet up some time for some driving!

I don't know that they're "poorly designed" but rather just a PITA. ...after building my TB-02 last night I can say with authority that I hate building turnbuckle connectors! lol ...my fingers are killing me! [] On that note, here's a rminder when building a kit in one sitting, build the dampers first while your fingers are strong ...less chance of damaging the damper rods by over gripping them that way! (no, I didn't mess up my dampers). I do seem to recall having a harder than normal time with my old Traxxas kits, but it's been a long time ...and the fun when it was done still ouweighed the hassle. []

Well, I know the pics are bad, but it's a rainy, gray SoCal day and I don't have much light here. This is the completed chasses (with Red TRF dampers). and this is the set screw that sets ride height against the chassis tub. I've double checked and it is the only thing (until the arm itself hits the chassis) that limits travel. Here is the bottom view of the area. And this marks the area I will have to trim out to allow for more extension on the swingarms (they are very simliar front & back, this happens to be the back). I will still have to find a way to limit the travel as I'm not sure I want the dampers to bear that kind of stress; it's not really what they are designed for. I'm sure I can wrangle something together. [] As for the CNC, no, I don't really have a CNC. I have a programmable mill at work though. not good for complex parts, but plenty good for machining out a flat shape/outline and placing holes in the right spots. [] PS, Neo ...that background, on the last two, was intentional just for you! []

5.5 hours!!! ...that's how long it ook me to build the TB02! lol That's without installing any electronics (I don't have any for it yet) and without doing the body. BTW, the CLK body is a work of art! Man these things have come a long way since I last built a Tamiya kit. The assembly was really straight forward and I managed not to make any mistakes or lose any parts! [^] As for the rally capabilities of this car, I can only see a few minor drawbacks: 1. Waterproofing: Not much of an issue for me as I live in Southern California ...I will never take this car out in the wet. But, like most new cars from Tamiya, it has an open tub chassis (unlike the TB01 with the lexan cover). 2. Holes in bottom of the chassis: I know they are there to both lighten the chassis and allow cooling for the motor and battery, but rocks and other debris can get up there too. Probably not a bid deal as long as the motor case vents aren't pointing down into the hole. 3. Suspension travel: It looks different on the TB01 & TA03 chassis, but the suspension travel is limited to barely past horizontal at full extension by the chassis. However, thee is no other structural purpose for the chassis to extend out under the suspension arms. I'm sure I will be able to grind away the chassis and come up with another solution for providing a stop-point for the arms. Otherwise, this thing is a really sturdy kit. I can see now why people buy titanium screw kits ...there are a ton of screws in this baby. The gearboxes are sealed, as are the pinion and drive gears. It came with a 19T pinion, but with 3 drive gears, I think they are a 55T, 58T and a 61T (I installed the 58T for now). There are also some pretty blue aluminum spacers in the kit and I have no idea where they go! lol There will be a lot of room for hop-ups to reduce the weight a bit. I'll probably machine my own shock towers to help out with the overall lift as well. I think this will be a fun project! []

Ok, ...I bought a kit to try and build a rally out of. ...but I decided to make it more challenging! [] I bought a TB02 (Mercedes). I'll get a different body for it for rally, but I'm going to see how hard it is to mod it forbetter clearance. I could have bought the TB01 Focus, but they were the same money and I figured I'd opt for the new chassis design and figure something out. ...let the games begin! lol I'm going to go start building it. ...the first Tamiya kit I'll have assembled since my old Hotshot (hmmm ...1989?) []

Super, Thanks for all that information ...I'm more confused than ever! Seriously though, I still have no idea what I'd be better off doing. I'm going to go hobby-shop hunting today and see if I can find any sleeper deals. If not, I may order up a TB01 for the sheer economy of it. In either case I'll be hitting you up for help locating hop-ups. ...has anyone found a great place to find the TRF dampers? Thanks again, your write ups are great. ...are any of you in the US? I'm in Southern California and just getting into this hobby again after a 13 year absence. I may even drive down to Irvine for Tamiyacon in April (http://www.tamiyausa.com/articles/feature.php?article-id=61).

Thanks for the reply. I'm thinking a general gravel basher. ...something to play around in the dirt with, not for jumping or anything though. I just want to build a decent bruiser for little $$$. I like that the TB01 comes fully ball-raced and am inclined to go with that ...but I also like the suspension adjustment of the TA03. lol ...I can't decide!!!

So which one would make a more competent rally car? I could pick up a nib ta03F (Impreza WRX), ta03f-s (Toyota Corolla), or TB-01 (Ford Focus). Hmmmm Let me know what you guys think, I seriously want to build a rally car!

Thanks for the feedback, that is exactly what I was concerned with; the open gearbox. However, I really like my 04, I may just have to "invest" some of my tax return on a nib ta03!

Hey thesuper, great write up and pics! Is this all on the ta03 platform? Have any of you set up a ta04 for rally? I am very interested in doing this to my 04r as I won't be running it on any indoor tracks and the pavement around here is dismal. Any tips are appreciated. Especially about suspension setup. I currently have the stock (for the ta04R) dampers; will these give me enough extension for rally? Thanks again, keep up the great work!

Can anyone help me out here? I'm trying to figure out if you can use the 3PK Synth radio with NiMH batteries. The manual only mentions NiCad but should it work with the NiMH as well? Thanks!

A friend of mine is moving to Tokyo (and is fluent in Japanese). I was thinking it may be cheaper to have him buy me parts (hop-ups for my TA04 etc) there and send them over with his regular scheduled packages. Can anyone reccomend any good shops in Tokyo? I figured it can't hurt to ask. Thanks!

So, is this a good price for the TRF-415 $350? http://www.ultimatehobbies.com//p615.html I thought they were more expensive than that? (that's also the cheapest I've seen it anywhere). I think the next cheapest I've seen the TRF415 was a little over $500!

Thanks for the response. I'm actually not likely to be racing, ...at least not at a track. A friend has a course at his house (converted pole-barn, garage space) that is carpeted with the kind of stuff usually found in an office. It's not a large track, but good enough for some one on one racing; we will be running around on that. I was thinking pin-type rubber tires might do the trick, they work on my buggy pretty well, but I can't find them in touring car sizes.

Thanks guys ...I'm in the US so I'm hoping to find something more local (where the shipping won't = the price of the tiems), but worst case, I will check into the ones you mentioned. I've heard of the Carpet Dragons, but never seen them. While I'm on the subject of tires, does anyone know if there is a rallye "block" style tire (tyre for you Brits) that will fit the ta04 chassis. Thanks again. Dale (aka noob).

I have a TA04R with "radial" (replica street tires) tires on it which are great for smooth pavement and tile, but I will be running on carpet soon and have no idea what tires are good for that? Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

I would absolutely flip if they re-release the Hotshot. It was my dream car as a kid, and when I finally got one I hopped it up and took it racing. That thing dominated for me until it was stolen. Always wanted to get another one. Of course then I'd have to find the suspension upgrade kit (I still have the orignial mono-shocks in a box somewhere), and find a suitable replacement for my old Diamond #2 motor. ...ahh, the good lold days!