silvertriple 3557 Posted June 6, 2022 Today, I started something... For the small story, I had a Kyosho 1/12 back in the eighties, it was 4WD, there was a chain, and a one way at the front, and a prototype body... I did not have a proper place to run it at that time, so it was sold almost once build, and I did not really run it. When I saw the rerelease, I added it to my list, and did not thought about it more. This week-end there was a vintage event with both offorad and onroad track and I had nothing to run on the onroad track... Maybe I should rather say, nothing built yet to run on the onroad track during a vintage event. I bought the Fantom kit few weeks ago. it was waiting under my desk. Early July, there is one vintage event only track focused (no offroad track). I want to participate, so I need to have at least one or two cars ready. I'm still missing something to be able to finish the other one, so I started by this one. I have a mini size servo, a motor, and esc and a RX, so everything is good... I started the build early afternoon. Bag A : Front knuckles It's quite surprising : you open the bag, you lay out the parts, you assemble them... ... and the bag is over. Right side is reverse thread, and there is groove on the cup to help identify it. One Bag, one step, if it continues like this, with 5 bags, it will be a quick build. Bag B: It's all about the front train. First you assemble the structure... Then you add the knuckles That's probably the most difficult part of the build : you need to push the spacers between the structure and the knuckles and get the screw to enter in. And Bag B is finished. 2 bags, 3 steps. Bag C: it's about steering First the servo saver Quite easy, actually. Then you assemble the steering tie rods, including the input one. Next is to put all of this on the chassis plate And on next step, you add the body mounts, but I forgot to take the picture... And bag C is over. Bag D: It's about the rear train, and it starts by the Diff gear It's quite fast and easy to do The rear axle mount is next, and I also forgot a picture... The ball bearings are inserted in a part allowing to set the height of the chassis (useful when tires are worn, for example). Next the rear train goes on the chassis, with the motor and the pinion You may notice on this picture I forgot a part on the front. It was added after that picture. Bag D is over, and we are about to start the last bag. Bag E: it starts by the radio plate. Very easy and quick The most difficult is to insert the 3 rubber washer which I suppose are there to reduce the vibrations... And at the next steps, the radio plate joins the chassis... In which you will be required to add the battery before adding the chain... Then comes the chain... I don't like the fact it seats on the radio plate, and I'll work out a chain guide in 3D print. Once the chain is in, only wheels remain to be added... And that's it for the chassis. I trimmed the body shell after this and it did not took much time to get there... 10 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Room335 738 Posted June 7, 2022 @silvertriple Enjoy your Fantom! I had a blast driving mine for the first time (on some local tennis courts). I shared the same concern with the chain dragging on the radio plate. The pic below shows some wear on the plate and rubber grommet; this is after only 5 minutes of running. I think a chain guide is a great idea. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted June 7, 2022 I suspected this risk... There is things that disturbs me in the layout of this car: - the chain rubbing on the radio plate - the risk of the ESC power plug going to mess with the chain - in the case you use Lipo battery, the risk of having the balance connector messing either with the ground or the chain... I had to do something. I made a chain guide and 3D printed it. It does guide the chain. I does allow to attach the power plug. It does allow for proper storage of the balance plug. I'll put this later on Thingiverse... EDIT : Chain Guide for Kyosho Fantom EP-4WD by silvertriple - Thingiverse 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted June 9, 2022 My friends tend to take their car on the track at night during the vintage events... I have one planed early July, so I need to do something for this so I can actually run my Fantom at night... But I wanted something not attached to the body shell, as I need to refix them often on the cars where I did glue led buckets inside the shell, and I didn't want to drill the body shell... Thought about it, took measurements, and designed two parts... One for the front, one for the rear, easily removable for day run. I will just need to add masks at the proper place on the bodyshell while doing the paint job for satisfactory results. And this is already on thingiverse https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5407045 (I'll update with a jpg for masking at some point) This is basically the reason why I did not made the paintjob yet (and also because I did not want to finish the car in one single day ). Next steps : - Molotow liquid chrome effect in the led buckets, led connections - paintjob. Need to think about the colors and the layout... 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted June 14, 2022 A bit late about this... Due to the fact I wanted to use white as background on the bodyshell, I decided to use liquid mask I have 2 hobby knifes designed to be used with the index, I will try those for this (my wife had those for scrapbooking, found the idea being good, and decided to try). I layed out my cutting plan on the shell using a black marker. Maybe I should have used a thinner one, as it was not really easy to spot the mistake during the cut or during the paintjob (no pictures, sorry). Started by some translucent purple at the bottom and at the top. The plan changed slightly when I started to remove the mask for next layer : while my cut was proper, I probably waited too much for each layer to be dry before applying next one, and as a result it did not peel in one layer, but 3, making it slightly more difficult than plan. As a result, I made some mistake and readapted my plan, rather than stripes of light and darker blue, it will turn in fading blues... I was not really happy with my paintjob (symmetry issues, some stuff that I did not see, and some areas where the liquid mask was not in proper adhesion with the bodyshell, probably because I did mistake while removing the previous area... Decided to use some tricks. Black lining first. Then some vinyls to hide the poor job I made on the shark tails and some addition on the front wheel extends (to hide some small issues I was not happy with... Added some chrome on the driver figure visor... I'm still not happy with my paintjob, but that will do it. I still need to add the leds, some sponsor and numbers... 8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
matman 1499 Posted January 28, 2023 WOW , very nice . Great 3D design's you have on thingiverse.com . I will have to print some of them , thanks . Great paint job , wheel arches are a pain , but sand paper to smooth it out . 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted April 25, 2023 My son likes my Fantom... During one day at the club, he finished to damage the bodyshell... That was in September... Last time I ordered some bodyshells to TBG for multiple projetc I took a Plazma Alfa Romeo bodyshell, as it should be fine for the Fantom... It's here since quite a long time already. I've not done anything yet, but I need to get the car ready for teh Vintage events of the year... Specially considering that in May, June and early July, each time there will be both offroad and onroad tracks... I trimed the bodyshell after my day of work... I actually prefer this bodyshell to the original Fantom one... I need to define what I do with the decoration... Maybe like my Alfa Romeo GTA based on M06 chassis, or something totally different... But this time the idea is to keep it very simple... We'll see soon :-) 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted April 28, 2023 Initially, I planed to go fetch spray cans tonight, but tonight is long week-end, and that means there will be a lot of trafic on the highway heading to Alps, which is one of the surest way to spend 2 hours driving instead of usually 1 hour... I decided to do with what I had remainin in the spray cans (and there is quite a few empty ones now)... Here is the livery of my Fantom for the vintage events this year I still need to prepare the leds for this car... And to reprint the front bumper/leds holder in TPU and perhaps with extended light buckets... But at least no nee for paint anymore... Numbers and few sponsors maybe... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silvertriple 3557 Posted April 29, 2023 There is at least one of the Vintage events (if not two) this year where there will be night runs on both offroad and onroad... I need some of the cars to be ready in this extend... I've modified the front Led holder I designed for the Fantom to suit the new bodyshell, printed in TPU and installed leds (not the definitive set, as ths one as too many leds on it). The front one is also working as bumper, so it will reduce risks to damage the bodyshell... Ad here is the result with the bodyshell... The lightning of the driver helmet is totally unexpected and due to the one too many leds in the led set... But I may keep the idea for fun :-) 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
