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Mokei Kagaku

Aidong Wild One aluminium chassis, a missed opportunity?

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I apologise if this topic has been covered in the forum already.

The aluminium chassis for the Wild One offered by Aidong RC has been available for some time, but yesterday I stumbled over their new "Blockhead" version, and my already existing urge to know other fans' opinions was revived.  I haven't seen any photos of the chassis actually fitted with all the needed Tamiya parts, so I can't say anything about fit or durability, but judging by the photos, the manufacturing quality is high. Also, a lot of considerations and technically qualified thoughts have obviously been put into the design. Or in other short words; the chassis seems to be pretty good!

What I wonder however, is if it's not a missed opportunity? I mean, the original chassis has ample flaws and back in the mid/late 80's, I'm confident that an aluminium aftermarket chassis would have sold pretty well. Being released pretty much at the same time as the Fox, the Wild One wasn't chosen for racing by many, but a robust and well designed aluminium chassis would have been attractive anyway. But what about now?  If I was to specify an aftermarket chassis for the Wild One just for my own preferences, I would have wanted it to get rid of the flaws of the original of course, but the most important feature would have been scale looks. Also, I wouldn't have wanted it to have all the openings of the Aidong chassis, as I prefer to run the Wild One on loose surfaces and would want the chassis to keep debris out. 

What do you think? Has Aidong nailed it, or is it a missed opportunity because of the "racing" rather than scale design? Btw, the chassis is available in black and silver anodized too.

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s-l1600 (38).jpg

s-l1600 (42).jpg

s-l1600 - 2022-06-30T142621.740.jpg

s-l1600 - 2022-06-30T142627.702.jpg

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Well, if I'm going to be critical (and I am, as you've asked)

I'd have machined the battery hole to fit a square hardcase LiPo in it, not just accommodate NiMh and specially shaped packs.

If you fit the battery longitudinally, where's the receiver and ESC supposed to go ? 

Dome head screws mean using a smaller allen key than you can use with socket cap bolts of the same thread size (I think a 2mm allen key versus 2.5), which means that it will harder to get the screws tight, which will probably mean threadlock, which will then make getting the undone even harder.

I'd have anodised it black rather blue, to fit in better with the colour scheme of the original vehicle.  It would look awful on a FAV with military colours, but the black would have been ok.

It will still be heavier than the original plastic bathtub, and will allow a lot of dirt, dust, and water at the electronics.

a front end impact would be fairly disastrous (as it was with the original ultima) and consequently very costly.

Having said all that, I do like it, It would give the wild one a look similar to the original Ultima, 

Out of interest, how much are they selling for  ?

 

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40 minutes ago, MadInventor said:

Out of interest, how much are they selling for  ?

About 75 EUR anodized silver or black and 84 EUR anodized blue. (Edit: I just noticed that despite shipping included, actual price varies with the buyer's location. So, between 75 and 100 Euro is seemingly the more appropriate answer.)

Auction links:

Black and silver

Blue

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1 hour ago, Mokei Kagaku said:

Also, I wouldn't have wanted it to have all the openings of the Aidong chassis, as I prefer to run the Wild One on loose surfaces and would want the chassis to keep debris out. 

The beauty of all the holes is that it also lets the debris out of the chassis.

 

I have one of each for a couple of Wild Ones I'm planning on building in the next couple of months or so:

DB7RJPV.jpg

PRZQXtJ.jpg

 

 

 

They look quite nice using the silver parts from the Blockhead kit:

v6wm2Yv.jpg

 

 

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