wtcc5's DF-01: A Top Force for my father to race with

[matisse 1565]

Wow, that is special. Bravo!

[ThunderDragonCy 7069]

Absolutely stunning. 

[wtcc5 3932]

Thanks guys!

 

The chassis is pretty much like I want it to be, except for the front steering hubs. The blue plastic is not very tough, so I looked around for silver aluminum replacements. Tamico didn't have what i want. In the end I found a pair on Ebay for 7,13€ including shipping. For that price I couldn't say no.

Yes, I was nervous, if the quality is good enough. Especially the seating of the ball bearings is important. Right now, I can fully recommend to buy these. Everything sits like it should. For my special use, I needed to grind away the outer hole. I lightly polished the grinded side and it looks like the real thing:

 

 Up to now, I didn't think about the r/l weight distribution. When I checked it, it occurred, that the motor is not centered as much as it should be. With the servo, battery and esc pretty much in the center line, this leads to a heavy left side. The stock battery location doesn't allow much weight shifting and the esc is too light to make a difference. A closer look at the chassis plate revealed four slots that play into my hands.

I spend a little time doing CAD for a new battery mount, then the printer had to work:

 

Oh, and I designed a new bumper, too:

 

The battery is now in an inline position and can be moved l/r for a perfect balance:

The esc and rx then can be placed next to the battery.

 

The new stadium-truck-style bumper:

 

I also went for a new motor-esc-combo. Last year I had a lot of failures/problems with Tamiyas Torque Tuned and TBLE esc. The sand and dust is just destroying the electronics. Hobbywing offers with the G2 series water and dust proof components. This combo is also sensored and with 4100kV very strong:

 

One last thing I added:

Tire inserts. I drove my trucks without up to now... 

 

While installing, I shortened most of the cables. I also was forced to remove the fan protection basket of the esc to make it low enough to move underneath the top deck. The only downside of this combo...the esc is huge. It somehow is ok for this large truck. I just couldn't imagine it in a buggy or touring/rallye car...

 

Edit: The upper two pictures show a small workaround I had to do. With the servo cable so short, I was forced to turn the servo around to have the cable exit on the left side. With this change, the steering arms switched position as well. 

 

In German I would call it a "Prachtlachs" (glorious salmon, not sure it means the same in english, as we use it in Germany) 

[Sgt.Speirs 1083]

On 5/5/2023 at 11:47 AM, wtcc5 said:

One last thing I added:

Tire inserts. I drove my trucks without up to now... 

From which manufacturer are these inserts? 

And of course, an awesome „Prachtlachs“! 😁

[wtcc5 3932]

@Sgt.Speirs: Thank you!

These are:

Tamiya Reifeneinlagen 62/35 (2 Stk.) DF-02 / DF-03 #84201

[wtcc5 3932]

The story continues...

With the Tamico Offroad Cup coming to Laupheim, just ten kilometers away from my home, @Sgt.Speirs, @Quincy, me and my father, got the "fever" and are now in full preparation for that event. @Sgt.Speirs and I will participate in the 2wd truck class with our Dyna Blaster. @Quincy and my dad will drive their DF-01. Quincy drives his Terra Conquerer and for my dad I will take a special chassis, that is more than 25 years in the hands of my family.

You maybe remember the Martini Manta Ray restoration here earlier. This chassis was bought by my father when we lived in Berlin and then stayed with my uncle after several fun family R/C meetings. I also remember my father having a green Top Force at home for several weeks. At that time (late 90s) I found the Top Force ugly. The russian communist tractor inspired wheels in combination with the strange body (something like a 60s early jet plane copied by the chinese) and the steep high rear wing...it really insulted my eye 

With my later knowledge of the TA-01 and TA-02, the rereleased Top Force Evo made more sense for me now. Even though, I build an Evo, I never touched the body once. Long rant short: My father will get a green Top Force for this summer to run it for fun and in the Tamico Offroad Cup.

 

 

At first, I wanted to build a car from spares, but then saw, that I don't have the amount of parts needed and buying them would become senseless expensive (not that this stopped me before, but still ). So the Martini Manta Ray will lose his chassis, which is a good thing in hindsight, because of the family ties it has. Parts for the conversion:

These tires look wrong on the Manta Ray body for my eyes...

 

The body arrived:

 ... and very important and hard to find:

These are a must for the full Top Force look (my second choice would have been the Evo towers).

 

With these adjustable camber links and cups were added:

 

I see you asking already: "Why is he using a tub chassis? The Top Force never had that!" Well this is mandatory in the Tamico Offroad Cup. No (Carbon) plate chassis types are allowed.

[wtcc5 3932]

The Top Force we had at home 25 years ago had Hi-Cap dampers, so these are a must for this build:

I build these like the manual suggested and they don't have the bladder problem, I have described here earlier... So the build went fine. As I need four rear dampers, had to steal two from my Terra Conquerer. The damper setup will change a bit from the Hi-Cap manual.I build them front and rear with the 1-hole-piston and the yellow soft Tamiya oil. Revolution Ultra O-rings replaced the sticky stock ones. For a bit of setup range, Tamiyas big bore spring sets will be used. For a perfect fitment, I printed upper and lower spring retainers and used the same 54869 open face adjusters, I have everywhere on the car:

 

Another special is the lower location of the damper mount. As more travel means better damping (the chassis needs it for the modern astro turf track in Laupheim), I used the outer hole of the screw holding both arm-halves together. A longer screw allows to mount the ballnut with some spacers. I did that front and rear and it works like "magic":

 

The electronics were another challenge. I want the body as flat on the tub as possible. The Top Force body is already a tight tailored suit and has nearly no space between the electronics board and itself. Small modern electronics make it easy to install everything behind the low-profile-servo. The challenge then was to get two fans on board and find a way to have the cables running low. It is tight everywhere, but worked:

A small mount keeps the battery cables in place.

 

Pretty happy so far:

[wtcc5 3932]

Last steps now... Coloring the body was really easy. One color wonder for the win:

 

First stickers applied:

 

Very nice reflections under artificial lighting:

 

And now to some wtcc-special:

 

Making stencils and cutting stickers:

 

After some steps:

 

After cutting more stickers of the Evo sticker sheet:

 

[Sgt.Speirs 1083]

Stunning work, mate! 👍🏻

[wtcc5 3932]

My Top Force in action:

 

It needed some tweaks to make it tough for astro turf, but now it performs excellent.