Custom Super Astute

[slydar 242]

Here is my Super Astute. It's getting close to done but this is where I'm up to.

It actually started with a cheap used Madcap from FB market place.

At the time that I bought it there was a bunch of really well priced re-re Super Astute parts on ebay from broken up kits. 

The initial plan was just to convert the Madcap to FRP chassis, but as my cars are pretty much always runners to some degree, I wasn't really happy with the used parts and apparent questionable driveline reliability. 

Sold the Madcap on complete, which left me with most parts except a transmission. Was considering printing a case to use some easier to find/more durable Tamiya internals, but it started to feel like too much work, in the midst of researching various gear sets to work inside a custom case, I noticed M06 gearbox architecture is similar to a buggy, so ordered some parts to have a look.

Mounting only took elongating the 2 front holes in the gear case very slightly, similar at the rear in the chassis plate, and some filing of the edges to let the case sit down in the hole for the diff, that had it mounted ok, but the driveshaft angle was a bit average, so I trimmed the back half of the Astute "upper deck" and made up some custom posts, although you could just shorten the stock ones. this got it sitting a little lower in the chassis, which is where its at today. 

Testing today and it seems to be working well other than thermaling the ESC, which is probably not a surprise with an 80c battery and 25t motor in 35*c+ ambient temp. I was hoping I could squeeze 5 mins out of it so I can race it, but didn't quite get there. The limit for brushed motors in the Vintage race I want to do is 27t anyway, so I'll probably switch over to a Dirt tuned or Lightly tuned motor. which means I should be able to stick with the TEU-105BK, which I think has the right aesthetic.

The dampers are CC01, with longer rear shafts from some CVA's. Rear springs from a crawler,  fronts from my parts bin, think they're Porsche Cayenne (DT01T). 

Has Blitzer hubs front and back, and YR and 3R turnbuckles, ball studs and cups. 

Anyway, here's some pics, let me know what you think or if you have any questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sgt.Speirs 1416]

Looks interesting…well done!

[Grastens 2802]

Fascinating! It really looks slick with the M-06 gearbox 

[Thommo 1242]

 

Well played Sir !    Thanks for sharing your idea and this Astute.  I really dig it !

Like others I've been curious about an alt gearbox for a long time.....this might be it.

Did you try a DT02 gear box ?  

[slydar 242]

16 hours ago, Thommo said:

 

Well played Sir !    Thanks for sharing your idea and this Astute.  I really dig it !

Like others I've been curious about an alt gearbox for a long time.....this might be it.

Did you try a DT02 gear box ?  

Dt02/3 transmission isn't really suitable.  Bit bulky, and doesn't have many ratio options, also has a few extra mounts that would be in the way for the bulk head and rear arms, and a unique diff that only has a few options. 

M06 is manta ray/df01/ta01/2/3 diff etc, which is the the diff I originally wanted to base the a custom transmission around.

[Thommo 1242]

 

Cheers.... that's good info and I already have spare TA02 gear diffs and drive cups as a start point.  

So far the M-05 / M-06  F parts with the circular bearing carriers seems to be the hardest part to find.  Thanks for the reply and I'll post up here or ask any questions along the way when I get there....

 

[slydar 242]

17 minutes ago, Thommo said:

 

Cheers.... that's good info and I already have spare TA02 gear diffs and drive cups as a start point.  

So far the M-05 / M-06  F parts with the circular bearing carriers seems to be the hardest part to find.  Thanks for the reply and I'll post up here or ask any questions along the way when I get there....

 

I used a bronze bushing as a spacer (ta02/3 front inner hub bearing) with a flanged bearing inside that. Added a few shims and it works 👍

[slydar 242]

Little bit more progress today.

"do it once do it right "

Re-wired the esc for the second time with some lighter 14 gauge wire. Bit easier to fit past the body/shock tower, and a lot nicer solder joint at the circuit board.

Once this was re-done,  I changed the pinion from 20t to 16t (16/18/20 options with the M06 trans).

With this gearing I got a full 8 mins run time without any thermalling from the esc at all. the motor stayed under the magical 70*c too without a fan, so I can run my alu' fan/swaybar mount delete I made. Was hoping this would be the case, looks a lot cleaner. 

Trimmed/notched the body and got it fitting pretty well. It's a Penguin copy, it's not too bad but its not like a Tamiya body obviously. 

I'm going to take it out on Sunday for a few laps at our local track. Unpainted,  but the timing will be set up, so we will see how it stacks up against the my XB2 and SDX4 

FYI the wing is just some generic copy of something, got it for free as a sample from Outsiders RC, local aussie ebay seller I use for the wings for my race cars.  little bit narrower than what's on those and pretty simple, so doesn't suit too badly. I'll use this to save destroying the original style 3pc one.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jeekelemental 528]

Nifty, I really appreciate the cleanliness with cables positioning. 

[GeeWings 2859]

Very nice, great work @slydar

[slydar 242]

Did some painting this weekend. Less happy than I'd like to be but I'll get over it

There is a fade but it's not as pronounced as I wanted. Didn't  have window masks, starting from scratch with those makes doing the window borders pretty hard. The borders I did do between the blue and white are in  metallic purple, I wanted to do black but was worried about doing black over white. I could probably put a bunch of stickers on it and it would look "better" but I was hoping to go for a cleaner look.

I think for me the Astral Stars are a "cheap" looking wheel which isn't helping. 

Lots of whining there lol. I'm not bummed, its ok. Wasn't going to paint the wing but It needed it. Although it's hidden in these photo's, the wing has the purple border against the white, can only see this on the outside though.

I did do a few laps at the track pre-paint, it needs new tyres,  and set up, but I did a couple of jumps without crashing it. It was a timed practice day for the club though, and the current cars are way too fast to be circulating with. I got ran into the back of super hard once, so decided to call it. bit of a hazard out there really   I did my fastest laps even with my race buggies though, so it was a positive day for sure. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ThunderDragonCy 8379]

Don't be so hard on yourself. It looks fantastic. Although I agree with you about the wheels. Awful things. Can you get JC Racing Products stuff for any kind of decent price out there? I have been really impressed with their 2.2" replicas of classic Tamiya designs. Although you would need some kind of hex conversion to get wide fronts in the Egress style. 

[bavee 1142]

Fantastic car, looks great!

[slydar 242]

On 2/7/2022 at 5:55 PM, ThunderDragonCy said:

Don't be so hard on yourself. It looks fantastic. Although I agree with you about the wheels. Awful things. Can you get JC Racing Products stuff for any kind of decent price out there? I have been really impressed with their 2.2" replicas of classic Tamiya designs. Although you would need some kind of hex conversion to get wide fronts in the Egress style. 

First. Thanks  

RE the JC racing wheels. I am probably the only person in the world who doesn't like them. I've got some options. Just baulking a little at fitting them because I'm not 100% sure what tyre's I want to fit. 

[ThunderDragonCy 8379]

17 minutes ago, slydar said:

First. Thanks  

RE the JC racing wheels. I am probably the only person in the world who doesn't like them. I've got some options. Just baulking a little at fitting them because I'm not 100% sure what tyre's I want to fit. 

Fair enough. I actually prefer the JC Optima wheels to anything tamiya based, but the offsets are weird on tamiya cars unfortunately. 

If you want wide fronts the TRF201 wheels would fit. Front only though. Rear are pin drive, but you could get any old racing disc wheel to match. White is 51414, yellow is 54285. You'd need 1050 bearings instead of 1150.

[slydar 242]

On 2/8/2022 at 11:17 PM, ThunderDragonCy said:

TRF201 wheels would fit. Front only though. Rear are pin drive, but you could get any old racing disc wheel to match. White is 51414, yellow is 54285. You'd need 1050 bearings instead of 1150.

... yeah pin drive was a surprise.. 

Anyway these are my options for wheels. I guess I was just hoping to get a start on the set up with some old tyre's, so I didn't have to decide what to go with. But there's a vintage event coming up and they've specified ribs and pins for 2wd though so easy enough. 
 

 

 

[OOZZEE 104]

is that for racing @ Chargers Rc mate ?? pins won't last very long 

what dates the meet on.

 

[ThunderDragonCy 8379]

@slydar I think you could pull off the pink wheels with the blue shell 😁

[slydar 242]

7 hours ago, OOZZEE said:

is that for racing @ Chargers Rc mate ?? pins won't last very long 

what dates the meet on.

 

Posted today, Vintage race will be run 2nd race of the summer series, 2ish weeks from now, the 27th 🙂

... Re tyres. Nothing lasts very long at Chargers 🙃

[slydar 242]

3 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

@slydar I think you could pull off the pink wheels with the blue shell 😁

It's what I started lean towards 👍

[slydar 242]

Little update. 

I have a couple of little jumps in the backyard now, which gave me some motivation to fiddle around with this thing again.

Got the shocks set up pretty nicely now. Also Improved how the gearbox is mounted. I shortened the standoffs down 2.4mm so the gear case can sneak under the FRP rear brace/body mount plate. It's a very snug fit now

Link to video on my insta'. 

https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cj7GpLPjLbM/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

[slydar 242]

Bit more work today.

Fairly happy already with how this car handles, but was definitely lacking a little punch. 

It's not anymore

 

Slightly over kill for sure, but the LRP speedo and the R1 17.5 are currently not being used in the race rigs so they have found a new, maybe temporary, maybe not home. It seems super fast though even with the smallest pinion, 16t, at around 7 ish FDR. Feels like maybe a good plan to drop down to a (cheaper) 21.5t and gear it down more.

Also fitted up the Pragu front bulkhead. It's a great option to have, and I'm sure its stronger than the stock part, but I can definitely see a few places I'd do things differently.

TA03 Ball diff also installed. Have run about 5 packs now and seems to be holding up. 

And obviously, the proper wing mounted and painted. Stoked with how that turned out 

Also added basic little "turn buckle" brace for the transmission. M06 trans is a little flimsier at the front mounting "tabs". This is usually a full length column, but with this brace is it seems really solid, with plenty of jumps it is still staying put with the brace in place even with both tabs cracked through (which happened before adding the brace).