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Found 16 results

  1. hmm, where to start, well firstly credit needs to go to @silvertriple as without his hard work, this project wouldn't be possible. So, Marui in the 80s, one of the early iconic RC manufacturers which made the first RC monster track, as with Tamiya, they had a RC catalogue with all they had to offer. Except one car in their line up never made it to market. In fact as far as I can tell, there has never been a picture of one, not even a prototype, and that is RC 9 Mitsubishi Jeep the Chassis is shared among the Big Bear, Golden Eagle and Toyota Landcruiser. I am not too sure why Marui abandoned this, especially as they clearly intended on releasing it, but either way there doesn't seem to be any examples at all, even a prototype, of which at least a couple of them must have existed. So chatting to @silvertriple, he'd been diligently 3D modelling the Mitsubishi Jeep based on what little pictures there are as well as referencing the other models this to bring it to life, and I had offered to make a sticker set for it, the idea was hatched to make a kit version as well. So this thread will track this project, with the idea of making everything so that it's just like a boxed kit you would have bought if it had been released. That includes the box, all the bags, and packaging etc inside the box and hopefully some sort of manual as well. The plan is to have the complete kit by the end of the year. The plan is to make everything too, well as much as possible. I'll of course source the nuts, bolts and screws, motor, electronics, some metal pieces, but everything else I should be able to make in some form, by either 3D printing, vac forming or general printing. I will also have to recreate all the artwork for the box, the manual (I'll borrow heavily from the Golden Eagle and Toyota Landcruiser manuals) and then make up the rest of the header cards etc based on the other models. @silvertriple 's thread where he 3D models this and the other Jeeps can be found here, its worth checking out.
  2. Decided to bring an old friend back to life with some parts from Ampro engineering from Shapeways and my own 3D printed parts. Ampro Engineering independent front suspension upgrade and front bumper Losi Mini-T rear suspension and transmission w/3D printed adapter Made a new floor since the old battery compartment is no longer being used, so there's more room for electronics and lowers the center of gravity 3D printed wheels 3D printed rear tires in rubber-like F80 resin Losi Mini-T front and rear shocks Hot Racing Spool for Mini-T 2.0 Losi MIP CVD axles MG90 steering servo 2440 Brushless motor SkyRC stability control gyro 3200mah lipo
  3. Hi friends. I became the owner of Tamiya TT-02 at the beginning of winter and while I was collecting the kit, I realized that I had found my brand in the RC world) Then I started to get acquainted with the history of the brand, various RC cars that were produced and noticed one feature for myself - very often some moments in the design of the car, they are made not in order to achieve better results on the track, but in order to create one's character, a fan. And Tamiya has many iconic models that, after a long time, remain relevant even now. One of these cars turned out to be a buggy that I liked - Wild One. And I like the rear wheel drive and the old school design. At that moment, I was not ready to buy it, I was just studying it. But every day the desire to get it or something similar began to become obsessive) And just before that, I bought an Anycubic Photon 3D printer from a friend. Therefore, in order to put this energy somewhere, I decided to try to create this buggy in Blender. I had little experience in it, but I had enthusiasm and a good background in working with 3D Max 10 years ago. And drove off) Since I don't often have time to go and use the 1/10 model outside, at one time I had the Wltoys k989 1/24 and it brought a lot of fun for 10 minutes of distraction from work. But ESC 2in1 burned on it. It was also decided to use its as a donor of spare parts and electronics that I cannot print. Immediately try on a scale, try to feel the proportions and design based on the template. Then the first steps to build a form in 3D. I got an idea of how to build a gearbox, found suitable wheels and started modeling, simultaneously remembering 3D and studying Blender. Constantly printed some parts to understand how the printer works, what gaps need to be made and so on. I decided to start with the most difficult, so that or if it is impossible to implement - to abandon this idea. Or it will be easier to pass this stage and further. I thought so)) Gearbox today is already printed in the 8th version, but works nice with ball bearing and grease) Then parts of the suspension, experiments with oil-filled shock absorbers, searching for the right technical solutions. And periodic dialogues with friends about what and how best to do. As a result, several people in my close environment have already formed, with whom they have already decided that after the completion of the project, we will print several copies for participation in mini competitions). Therefore, the home project gradually began to grow into something bigger. And the idea appeared to prepare the model so that it could be printed, assembled and go for a ride) And since I became a fan of Tamiya, I decided to follow the main ideas of this brand as closely as possible when implementing my project. During development, I had a lot of questions about the features of Tamiya and specifically Wild One. And since no one in my environment has this buggy - the whole project is done according to the photos and the manual for assembling the model. It was recommended to visit TamiyaClub. That's how I ended up here) Buggy is still far from finished, I plan to post periodic updates and ask questions. I hope I can get answers here) Also, if anyone is interested, I will present here the full story from the very beginning with photos and some videos.
  4. @netsmithUK On the main page under resources, would you consider hosting a repository for 3d printed custom parts etc? I know there's free mods on thingyverse (?) Etc but it would be nice if there was an option where people could upload them here with even a tab on the specific model page that would link to the files! If space is an issue, tamiyaclub could start with a link and description etc The link option would be useful for non free stuff on shapeways for example We have movies so why not 3d printed files? Thanks
  5. I often find myself disappointed by the selection of wheels available for touring and drift cars. Things are better than they were, but one of the best brands for choice and availability was HPI, but unfortunately the brand seems to be in continual trouble and AFAIK its future is still in question. There are now some great new manufacturers on the market but it can be a lottery getting the right wheel at the right time and the right price. What could be better than wheels on demand? It was @CarterTG's thread on wheel printing that encouraged me to buy the Elegoo Mars in the first place. If he can get a successful wheel print, then so can I, right? This thread will document my progress from prototype to finish or failure, and point out any issues along the way so anyone working along with their own resin printer will be able to learn from what I've done. So, with my future as a wheel designer laid out before me, where do I begin? First - with an idea. Ultimately I want to have a range of wheels in a range of offsets, so I began by designing a rim and hub based off a standard Tamiya wheel. 26mm wide, with inner and outer beads and a 1mm wall thickness. The hub is oversized but that allows me to subtract from it later to make unique face patterns on later designs. Offset is a standard-ish +3mm, that is the back of the hex is 3mm towards the outside of the rim from the centre. This seems to be about right for a Tamiya wheel. Actually the measurements I took from a standard wheel weren't absolutely the same, but the wheel was used and my caliper is cheap so I wasn't expecting 100% accuracy. More to follow after I grab a coffee...
  6. OK, this has been a bit of a labour of love for a few weeks now. Still in the prototype stage as I type, but I have a spare evening so I figure it's time for some admin and an update on progress. So, wossis then? Well, it's a winch mount / tough bumper for the Axial SCX10 G6 Rubicon that has been my go-to rig for trail duties for a few years now. For why? Various reasons. 1) The stock bumper isn't perfectly flat, so it's not easy to mount the winch on it. The 3-Racing winch has a big metal base plate with built-in fairlead, and it doesn't sit right on the G6 bumper. 2) The stock bumper (and mount) are flexible ABS. Good for avoiding breakages on the trails, bad for winch duties. In fact with the ground anchor hooked over the roll cage for stowage, the entire bumper twists and looks ugly. 3) I have Proline Flat Iron XL tyres with a huge 120mm diameter, which catches on the corners of the stock bumper. So, to begin with, I found this thing: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3489699 To start with, I printed it out in grey resin and offered it up. It looks cool enough but a) the mounting posts were too close together as printed and 2) the bumper sits a little too low for my lifted body. I figured the whole thing would look better if I lifted and deepened it, as well as adding a direct-to-chassis mount in place of the post-style mounting to reduce flex during winching and stowage.
  7. Download it here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3882132 I abandoned my 4S Mod Clod project around 2 years ago because I couldn't get it to drive straight. The axle-brace mounted servo mounts I had were no good because they interfered with the 4-link, and when I re-drilled them to go on the forward transmission case screw holes they flopped around too much and kept bending the screws. I realised after some close inspection that what I needed was a similar mount, but braced against the axle brace screw hole. And here it is! An early prototype here: suffered due to insufficient material around the brace mount, and cracked during drilling Redesigned version fitted perfectly and had curves and bracing to strengthen the rear mount, but the sidewalls were too narrow to drill into for the servo mounting holes
  8. I figured I'd try something simple for my first 3D printing project. I've done a little bit of amateur vector graphics before (I do my own designs for my race cars) but never played with CAD. This turned out to be the perfect project to get me started and help me streamline my workflow. So, what is it? Well, recently I got yet another CC01 with yet another missing battery clip. Seriously, what do people do with these clips?? Why is it every time I buy a CC01 or similar it comes without the battery clip..?? As I was about to get started with the design, I realised I could go a step further. Everybody knows the problem with CC01s and the like is that the stock battery clip won't fit over modern LiPos. So I figured I'd make an offset clip that would work. That isn't this design. If that's what you want, tag me in a reply here and I'll see if I can be bothered to modify this design. The reason I didn't build that is because I have some Core RC batteries that are the same size as Tamiya stick packs. They fit perfectly in everything. So, no need to make an offset clip. However, one of my pet hates with the CC01 clip is that the battery lead always pokes into the lexan and distorts the shell. Seriously, there's no point in having a fine-looking body if it's all twisted by the battery, so, I thought I'd make a clip with an offset leg that will hold the wire back out of the way. I went through half a dozen iterations and uncountable test prints before I ended up with a serviceable product, and here it is: Three successful prints. OK, one of them has a slight distortion in the clippy leg, not sure why, my guess is it twisted on its supports as all the others are OK. No bother, it's perfectly serviceable like that. Battery fitted, leads held back out of the way. Here you can see the clip doing its thang. Now that I know a bit more about the properties of my resin, I think I could have made the legs thinner. As it is, it just about touches the shell, but not as bad as the stock wires did. Also I'm using a large R-clip which touches the shell - a smaller one would be better. And you can see that, due to the mounting holes in the chassis being a bit short, there is some twist in the clip - it could be better, but exactly how to make it so, I don't really know. If you want to make one of these, you can download the file from here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3879684 If you want to use this with longer LiPos, you should be able to trim 1-3mm off the back of the clip. Remember to leave the locating lugs full width otherwise the clip will twist and touch your shell. Pic above is of a Land Cruiser body. I'm not sure how much clearance there will be on other bodies. Bonus pic - some test prints hanging off my build plate:
  9. @netsmithUK I was just thinking it would be nice if sometime in the future on the model description page there was a new tab where people could upload designs for 3d printed hopup parts? Obviously it would be nice to see some free sharing for people to print themselves but understandably even a link to the part in someone's shapeways shop would be helpful, shapeways is ok but it would be more convenient here located next to the model
  10. Another day, another skillset to tackle... Where wheels and suspension arms and gears are best created with CAD software, the other end of the 3D spectrum is represented by digital sculpting programs for those who want to create organic, non-mechanical subjects using an artistic approach. The choice for those committed to sculpting is ZBrush. Are there ways of using scanning tech to acquire 3D data? Yes, but specifically for capturing living subjects, the choices become very narrow and harder to come by as explained here. Capturing/scanning 3D data without ANY sculpting knowledge means being locked into that one pose until more $$$$ gets ponied up for additional scans. Using some reference photos and coaching from "likeness sculpting" YouTube videos, a self-portrait sculpt gets finished in ZBrush... Sculpt is exported as an STL mesh and brought into the ChiTuBox slicing software (Free download & bundled with the $250 Elegoo Mars 3D printer). For this particular model, there weren't any egregious overhangs that warranted generating supports. YMMV. The model is double-checked to print at a target 1:10th scale. If it wasn't already done in ZBrush, ChiTuBox v1.5.0 offers another opportunity to hollow out the model by specifying the wall thickness. The CBDDLP file generated by ChiTuBox contains all the sliced image data along with resin exposure time info. All that's left is to feed this into the Elegoo Mars via USB thumb drive and tap the touchscreen Print button. This printer's touchscreen makes a Pause button available where it'll even raise the platform out of the resin to visually confirm and double-check the progress. Tap the screen and the printer continues back on the same spot it left off. Nice touch not found on my previous resin printers. All of 24 cents worth of resin used, the high resolution print finishes in three and a half hours. Remove it from the platform, quick rinse in an isopropyl tub, and it's off to the UV tanning bed for 10 minutes. As stated in another thread, I've devoted this resin vat to holding black resin. Once additional vats are available, I'll use those extras to hold Elegoo's grey, clear, and skin-colored formulations. For figurines, painting on black resin should make the colors pop more. The Elegoo Mars shares the exact same resin vat dimensions with the Anycubic Photon. This will allow users from both sides to jump brands or even find this market large enough where third-parties start offering replacements (eBay has vats listed for ~$35) Note how the eyeglasses printed perfectly. 'Nuff detail for ya? The main downside to a fresh black resin print is the difficulty in capturing the sculpted details despite using a macro lens and a light tent. Earlier red resin prints from years back posed in the driver's seat of the M-04L. Future iterations might involve tweaking the sculpt to evoke the sense of being reclined in a seat with arms reaching toward a steering wheel. This was not possible on the red resin printer as it was configured for a super-tight build envelope. On the Elegoo Mars? Plenty of build platform space to include the driver's seat headrest, steering wheel and even the instrument cluster - all in a single printed object. Still plenty more additional tasks to finish in this vein... sculpt a helmeted version for the F1 F201 chassis... review a bunch of YouTube videos on painting/airbrushing techniques with acrylic... Exercise that sculpting muscle and the world opens up to sooo many possibilities -- take your own creation and alter it at your whim... road-raging Xenomorph Wild-Willy substitute behind the wheel flipping the bird? Do it. Do it NOW!
  11. Completion of this project has been almost a decade in the making... Commercial-level high-rez resin 3D printers had been sitting beyond $200,000 for all of the nineties and even when smaller desktop units dropped below $20k by 2011, their build envelope was only large enough to cram 5 or 6 custom ring designs into... IOW, not terribly applicable for 1:10th scale modeling. Jewelry casting resin was $175 a liter. Disruptors came on the scene with their $2500 resin printers. In 2012, this was a downright bargain compared to my first printer at $15k. Resin was "less" costly at $100/liter. Reasonable expense for paying clients, but remains extravagant for hobby tinkering -- and the build envelope stayed minuscule at 5.7 x 3.2 cm. The only way to fit a standard on-road 26mm wheel into this space is to orient it upright. I attempted this very exercise around 2014 but the end-result wasn't worth posting here. Problem? Vertical print position pooled and caused a resin imbalance. The build-envelope constraint permitted no other alternative attempts. The wildly off-balance wheel was only good for shelf display. 2019 is the next watershed year where resin 3D printers have started tickling the $200 milestone. How'd they achieve this? By utilizing super-inexpensive components from the cellphone industry -- deploying a relatively cheap 2k-resolution smartphone screen rather than building a 3D printer around a $1000 theatre projector makes all the difference in final cost. All the buzz became loud enough to take notice. At $200, there are indeed some cheap resin printers cost-wise but also cheap in quality; questionable design features abound. Experience proved invaluable in identifying features to avoid. The standout winner worthy of a spot in the stable is the Elegoo Mars at $250. Jaw-dropping price point no matter how you cut it. Tons to like: Stretched-film release design similar to my $15k printer suggesting low-maintenance workhorse reliability/repeatability. Superb Z-axis rigidity using a linear-rail like design. A wobbly Z-axis arm can cause disastrous banding in the print. User-replaceable critical components as demonstrated by their own instructional YouTube videos. Crack the masking screen? $40-ish replacement makes things right. Considerable leap in the build envelope. The Elegoo is able to print what fits within 11.9cm x 6.8cm (x 15.5cm height) and still maintains a 50-micron resolution. Color touch-screen control. Files read off a thumb drive. Prior resin printers mandated tethering to a dedicated computer to drive the projector. (itself limited to a bulb lifespan) After running a few calibration tests (largely unnecessary and for my own satisfaction), it was time to address my long awaited project. 26mm width BMW Style 35 wheel fitted to a Tamiya hex hub. Elegoo Mars 3D printer. Quickly Glowforged a pedestal storage box for it and made sure there was resin on-hand. One liter of their resin is just $45. Third-party resins can be used as long as they're formulated for these kinds of masked-SLA printers. Laser SLA like Formlabs and Moai require different resin formulations. Still, not many are gonna beat $45/liter! The free support & slicing ChiTuBox software has quite a bit of nice features coming from this veteran resin jockey. The ways to identify & edit supports for undercuts or floating islands is praiseworthy. One nit is that there's no apparent publicly centralized data pot for exposure times for Elegoo resins. Possibly walled off in their Facebook page. The product box only provides a range -- thus my initial tests. Small-object test prints suggested that my settings for Elegoo Black Resin be 60 seconds for the first 5-6 layers and all subsequent layers can be at 6-seconds exposure. As shown here, the represented build platform has plenty of space to accommodate an on-road wheel. For reasons outside the scope of this hobby forum, a flat lay-down positioning of the wheel isn't necessarily the most recommended, but I've printed using two alternate ways and got away with successful prints. ChiTuBox goes as far as asking how much I paid for this batch of resin and can calculate the projected volume of resin used and total cost of parts put on the build platform. Let me do the math for you.. a liter of resin ought to yield around 66 Tamiya wheels. Toss the sliced file onto a USB thumb drive and feed it to the printer. Here's the angled & supported version... What kind of detail does 50-micron yield? Hex heads on the lug bolts resolved with a faithfully reproduced dimple at the center of every one! Here 'tis mounted to the M-04L chassis... spins just as nicely as the Tamiya-made wheels. No off-balance issues. Giving the back part of the rim a squeeze shows that it takes nearly DOUBLE the effort over Tamiya's ABS plastic to start deforming. At roughly 1mm resin wall thickness, the toughness observed so far suggests it would fare no worse than manufactured wheels. Once I get my hands on more resin vats, I'll dedicate each one to their own resin making for super-quick printing material changes... black, grey, white, translucent, etc Now all the things that normally get scuffed up (side mirrors, body posts) can be easily and affordably re-grown on the high-res 3D printer. Onto the possibilities of fabricating all the details I only dreamt of decades ago... windshield wipers, light buckets, suspension arms, action cam mount...
  12. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! It's the run up to the festive season so I've reduced some prices across my Shapeways store from now until January 1st 2018: CW01 (Lunchbox, Midnight Pumpkin, Montero Wheelie, etc) chassis braces (Model shown for illustration purposes only. Model not included.) Front Brace Rear Brace Both Braces Strong & Flexible Polished Front: Was $10.99 – Now $9.99 Rear: Was $10.99 – Now $9.99 Set of Front & Rear: Was $19.99 – Now $17.99 Metallic Plastic Front: $14.99 - $12.99 Front Polished: $14.99 - $13.49 Rear: $14.99 - $13.99 Rear Polished: $14.99 - $14.49 Set of Front & Rear: Was $28.99 – Now $25.99 Set of Front & Rear Polished: Was $28.99 – Now $26.99 Polished version not available until further notice. NEW! Premium Strong & Flexible Front: (Introductory Price) $17.99 Rear: (Introductory Price) $18.99 Set of Front & Rear: (Introductory Price) $34.99 Stainless Steel Front: Was $79.99 – Now $59.99 Rear: Was $69.99 – Now $62.99 Set of Front & Rear: Was $134.99 – Now $109.99 Raw Aluminium Front: Was $129.99 – Now $109.99 Rear: Was $129.99 – Now $119.99 Set of Front & Rear: $235.99 – Now $219.99 CW01/Grasshopper/Hornet Diff Lock (Shown assembled for illustration purposes only. Gear & shafts not included.) Special Price! (White Strong & Flexible Only) $14.99 M04S Centre Chassis Section for 210mm Wheelbase (Model shown for illustration purposes only. Model not included.) Left Side Right Side Underside to show modified servo access clearance. [Left side only] Strong & Flexible Polished: Was $34.99 – Now $29.99 New! Premium Strong & Flexible: (Introductory Price) $59.99 Metallic Plastic: Was $54.99 – Now $49.99 Stainless Steel: (Introductory Price) $129.99 Raw Aluminium: Was $359.99 – Now $329.99 Black Hi-Def Acrylate: Was $89.99 – Now $81.99 [Right side only] Strong & Flexible Polished: Was $34.99 – Now $29.99 New! Premium Strong & Flexible: (Introductory Price) $59.99 Metallic Plastic: Was $54.99 – Now $49.99 Stainless Steel: (Introductory Price) $129.99 Raw Aluminium: Was $359.99 – Now $329.99 Black Hi-Def Acrylate: Was $89.99 – Now $81.99 [Set of Left & Right sides] (Parts are connected by two sprues that'll need to be trimmed away) Strong & Flexible Polished: Was $64.99 – Now $57.99 New! Premium Strong & Flexible: (Introductory Price) $104.99 Metallic Plastic: Was $99.99 – Now $89.99 Black Hi-Def Acrylate: Was $169.99 – Now $154.99 (Stainless Steel and Raw Aluminium are not available in this format. Sorry) Link: The VagabondStar Project - Shapeways Shop Happy Shopping! For those who don't know... How does ordering from Shapeways work? Basically, when you want to buy an item via Shapeways you select your colour and material options (if those options are available) and add the item to your cart. You select your shipping method based on how fast you want your order then, once you've made your payment, Shapeways adds your order to the print queue. Once printed, the item will be sent to finishing where plastics will be dyed, metals will be polished, etc., then your items will be packaged carefully along with bubble packing then shipped via UPS to you. Shapeways has based in the Netherlands and in the USA so shipping to either Europe or US shouldn't be an issue. Shipping cost seems to be a flat rate so you can add as much to your order as you like without worrying about weight restrictions. Forgotten to buy something but you've paid already? No problem! As your order will take time to print off you can add more items to it without paying for extra shipping. Just make sure you tick the right box under their shipping options to ship with your previous order before that order is completed & sent to packing.
  13. So I'm sitting here a bit bored at Taipei airport waiting for my flight home wondering idly about a new design project. I've noticed that top end 4WD racers have caster angle built into the c hubs to add to the kick up at the front of the buggy. Added to this as I've been filling my evenings this week whilst here on business, I found an article on Jamie Booths Manta Ray from 1991 and he says one of the biggest things he did was get some extra caster added to the custom c hubs he had made. I have a Thunder Dragon and a Terra Conqueror DF01 now, and I think fairly easily I could do caster c-hubs for them via Shapeways. I just have no idea how much to add. My DT03 has 25 deg, but I haven't seen that much on 4WD for some reason. Anyone got any ideas? Looks like both my buggies have something around 10 deg kick up, so should I be trying to add 5 deg? 10 deg? 15 deg? All help, hand waving, wild speculation greatly appreciated. Cheers!
  14. [Thread moved to The Builds in April 2018 due to ongoing mods] Here's my Thunder Dragon, which although some parts date back to when I first got it 1988 (it was my first proper RC car), it's a bit of a Trigger's Broom, in that most of the plastic parts have been wrecked and replaced over time. New tub, new rear gearbox casings, new A5 (several times!! Now reinforced with a steel front section off ebay), new wishbones. Last year I decided to do a bit of a restomod on it: The original CVA dampers were leaking and just not in a good place, so got some Absima alloy body shocks which work well with the car for bashing about. At this point I also managed to pick up some Terra Scorcher wide shock mounts as I read these were better than the narrow original style. Rear ones work a treat, but fronts not only foul the body of my Thunder Dragon, they flexed like mad! So, inspired by Pintopower/AMPRO Engineering, I measured everything up and got a beefed up, wide stance front shock mount designed up and 3D printed at Shapeways. It's a bit hard to see in the photo, but it's a deep i-beam section which puts the uprights outside the TD body and allowed me to mount 62mm mini shocks on the outer most hole of the front wishbones. Due to the scarcity/price/performance of the original wheels, I did a 12mm hex/2.2" modern wheel conversion. I think these black 6 spokes look really nice on the car. Full bearing inside and out, a modern ESC and 21t brushed motor and 13t steel pinion from Modelsport here in the UK (where I get most of my RC stuff actually). Still running original ACOMS receiver and steering servo, although after tonight's run and my newly acquired knowledge from on here, I think a better servo saver would be good. Most recent upgrade was the rear Terra Scorcher anti roll bar. Absolutely transformed the handling of the car. I've removed the front bar now too as the wide stance mounts and new shocks hold it up nicely. It's now bordering on oversteery on turn in, and I grip rolled it tonight too which I never did before! If you have a Thundershot chassis car GET the rear anti roll bar. As you can see it's a bit rough, but it's a runner and I love it. It has all the upgrades I wanted to buy when I was 13 but couldn't afford! I would really like a new shell I could paint properly, but they're insane money now and I don't like any of the other TS chassis shells. Thunder Dragon has always been the one for me. Would love to know what you think, and if you have any suggestions for any more hop ups. I have brand new front gear casings on the A-sprue I bought to get the rears, so might refresh those as they're prone to cracking on the suspension mounts. Now I've been running a 3300kV brushless setup in my Grasshopper 3 I'm getting a bit tempted to go mad and get a GoolRC 3800kV brushless kit for this!
  15. I thought I'd share my successes and failures of owning my own 3D printer. Budget wise, like many people, I didn't want to spend too much, but the less you spend, the less features you get. However on the plus side, if can handle a very steep learning curve, you can gain a lot of experience from a cheaper 3D printer. I used this idea when I bought a small chinese cnc machine, and from what I learnt from that I built a better one. On the 3D print side, I am a total newbie, having never done, let alone seen a 3D print and I can't do 3D modelling, I just know it looks really cool! As a technical person, I'm not too bad, I did manage to build my own cnc machine ( I sourced parts but wired and programmed it myself) and a vac former. And I can use programs like illustrator pretty well. So I figured with enough perseverance I'd be able to master 3D printing and learn how to 3D model my own parts. So after doing lots of online research and working out my budget was around $600 AUD I settled on a CTC printer. This is essentially a clone of a Makerbot Replicator2. I bought this one for a couple of reasons: 1. It had dual printing heads and this looked really cool 2. It had a heated bed, many cheaper ones don't 3. It took a SD card 4. Matman also bought one, so I knew I have some else to chat about/trouble shoot with. I have a friend who has a wahoo printer and it meant I could also compare the two. 5. It reviewed very well in a number of places. 6. It had a decent build space for the money at 225 mm x 145 mm x 150 mm 7. Its capable of printing PLA and ABS (and probably some other materials too) The CTC is a Fuse Deposition Manufacturing (FDM) printer, using heat to melt a filament wire and building up an object bit by bit. Setting it up was actually pretty easy, the biggest issue being many of the screws where loose. It also came with a 1 kg roll of ABS filament. a bit more fiddling and I had my first test print. After that I had an almost endless amount of issues getting it to print properly again. So my next post will dwell on the things that went wrong.
  16. Hi all, I'm hoping that one of you guys will have a solution for me. I've fully restored my 1989 vintage Madcap 58082 and taken it out for a few runs now. It runs great, especially with the Hop-ups and the GT-Tuned motor, but I keep breaking the C4 part - Front C-Hub (not the steering arm, which is now upgraded to carbon reinforced) I know its 26 years old buggy and not up to todays quality standards, but its so annoying as this is the 2nd time now in a month (and sourcing new C4 parts is getting harder) I know newer models have alloy parts from GMP, Yeah Racing etc. Is there an alloy part that will fit my buggy Tamiya or otherwise?... or am I destined to spend £££ on 3D printing an alloy version. Photo attached Thanks Madcap74
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