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Full rebuild with:

  • waterproof electronics (new purchases)
  • front bumper (new purchase)
  • HT servo saver (new purchase)
  • full ball bearings (stock spares)
  • aluminium hex hubs (stock spares)
  • front suspension pins (stock spares)
  • front and rear stabilisers (stock spares)
  • rally block tyres (stock spares)
  • longer shocks with Mini CVA front springs (on front and rear / stock spares)

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My bits-a-builds projects and TRF415MSX restoration are awaiting parts, but the last little bit of purple arrived today so I'm going to start on my TA03F-Pro 'Purple Haze' 

The base kit is a TA03F-Pro Drift Spec, which will not be built to 'drift spec' 😂. As far as I can tell the only drifty thing about the kit were hard plastic tyres and an aluminium heat sink, so it's not like it was really a dedicated drift kit in the first place 

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The purple elements are mostly small hardware (screws, nuts and ball connectors) but there are also some nice damper springs, servo mounts, drive shafts, front C-Hubs and a servo horn

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And then there are a few other tasty Hop Ups to be incorporated along the way

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The reason for pushing ahead with this one is that the body is already done. It's an AMG GT3 shell that I painted a few weeks back and intended to sell, but unfortunately really liked it so decided to keep! It's currently sat on a TA04-R which is destined for an Audi R8 LMS, so it needs a home and will fit well on a TA03F, so...

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I've done nothing but bits-a-builds this year, so it's a treat to have an actual build manual to follow for a change 😊

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That's a posh haul👍🏻

I wonder any purple ball connectors are left over after your build 😉😉

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24 minutes ago, svenb said:

I wonder any purple ball connectors are left over after your build 😉😉

I'll let you know 👍

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Straight into it this evening, first job to sort the hardware and make it easy to access

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I bought as many purple screws as I could find, but think I'm going to be short of the 10mm round heads. We'll see how it goes...

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Ball diffs built, using the stock balls for a change. I did upgrade the diff joints though...why not?

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They are super shiny!

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Attaching the front arms and bumper means breaking into the J Parts

This kit comes with a complete boxed FRP conversion kit inside it, containing the chassis plates and J Parts

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Interestingly, the J Parts are black. I've owned (and sold) a TA03F FRP set and a TA03RS FRP set, and in both cases the J Parts were grey. As far as I am aware the black J Parts only come with the David Jun F-Pro and the R/RS-TRFs, so it was a surprise to find this 'bespoke’ set in this kit

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The aftermarket purple screws look a fairly close colour match 👍🏻

I've just opened the metallic black dampers and I really like them, better than black black

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11 hours ago, svenb said:

I've just opened the metallic black dampers and I really like them, better than black black

Yeah they’re smart aren’t they, the purple springs are a nice bright contrast too

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Assembling the front damper stay and it's time to build the turnbuckle arms. I was pleased to find this set, I know all the bits are readily available but it’s handy to have the instruction leaflet for accurate measurements and the visual sizing aid

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Then it’s onto the counter gear and Hop Up counter shaft...

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Spur gear and Hop Up carbon shaft...

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And finished off with a Hop Up aluminium pulley

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Building up the front hubs meant taking the plunge with these after-market purple C-Hubs. They're specified for TA02 / FF chassis so not guaranteed to fit, so I also have a set of Tamiya silver hubs as a back up just in case

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In the end, they fit perfectly. As far as I can tell the only real difference between these and the 'proper' TA03 carriers is that the TA03 carriers have an extra section on top with a hole in to receive the stabiliser bars. So by using these hubs I won't be able to attach front stabiliser bars, but I can live with that

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Then with the hubs and drive shafts attached, it's time for motor decisions. In this case I'm going for a trusty black-can Sport Tuned paired with a 28T steel pinion. The only purple-can motors I could find were  Yokomo Drift Brushless motors which range from $84-$119...very nice, but a bit spenny

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The kit comes with two different shaped motor plates. I've not come across the squared-off one before, so I went for the round one 🤷🏻‍♂️

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I'm liking the purple hubs👍🏻 a very close match in shade .

I'm not a fan of non tamiya but good choice 

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19 hours ago, svenb said:

I'm liking the purple hubs👍🏻 a very close match in shade .

I'm not a fan of non tamiya but good choice 

Agreed, I'm getting less inclined towards non-Tamiya 'for the sake of it' bling but these looked like nice pieces and were a decent price. I'm chuffed with how they turned out, despite the loss of capacity for front stabilisers

GPM made a rear upright in purple once upon a time but I've not come across a set in a year of looking. If one ever shows up I will add them to this build 💜 

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Been a busy but lovely day today; a nail-biting morning on the sofa watching the cricket (yay!!), a couple of hours in the garden doing the pre-winter tidy up, an autumnal walk along the canal and now a roast chicken in the oven. Perfect Sunday!

I managed to squeeze an hour in to work on the rear section of 'Purple Haze', pretty much the same Hop Ups as the front...

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Front and rear all finished 😊

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The SLF dampers are amazing, the inside walls of the cylinders are almost mirror polished 

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When built, they're silky smooth 

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The purple springs are a different shade to the anodised parts but are a good match, and really 'pop' against the black plastics 

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With the front and rear sections complete, it's time to move onto the chassis plates which means breaking out the F-Pro FRP set that came with the kit, along with the black J Parts

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It turned out I needed to make some choices, as the Hop Ups don't all work together. The QR Battery Holder doesn't fit if you use the Carbon Batter Plate, so I had to decided...and went for the QR Battery Holder 😁

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I really like how this part works (functionally), and the fact it has an FRP plate makes it a better match with this chassis. Conversely, the CF battery plate didn't really work with the FRP plates

I've ordered a few extra bits of purple hardware (8mm cs screws, cs M3 washers, snap pins) to finish of the battery holder assembly 

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Then onto steering, and again a couple of options to choose from...kit plastic or aluminium Hop Up?

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In the end I stuck with the kit plastic, as I think the black works better with all the purple highlights 

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I also left out the carbon steering bar, for the same reason that it doesn't really go with the FRP plates

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And the belt is threaded through and front and rear sections attached 😃

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