Thunders TD4 Mod Log - Hotshot cage/body fitted for added awesome

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Another thing that was obvious today was the Super Hotshotbody stopping where it does leaves quite a bit of "naked" TD4 chassis. I did wonder about designing some 3d printe covers, but actually the solution was in my bit box. I cut up the Super Avante body i am never going to use and attached the back corners to their body posts. I cut them to overlap the Hotshot body to hold them in place and cut the bottom edge in line with the Hotshot body

Presto! Rear side chassis covers. I need to shoot some more silver on the hotshot body, so i either shoot spare silver over the top of these bits, or see it i have anything darker in the paint box. 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Ran this a bit on the astro at my old club. Was quite hard to drive as the bumpy track showed uo it seems very under-damped at the rear. Need to pull the shocks apart and check pistons. CVA work best with 1 hole pistons IME. Looked cool with the black painted side panels cut from the Super Avante shell

Got some Supershot decals to put on it.

 

[bRIBEGuy 3378]

24 minutes ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Got some Supershot decals to put on it.

You should sticker it as a "Super SuperShot"! 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Did the decals! Soooooo happy with how it came out.

Just looks so proper. Nice to get a few of the spare sponsor decals on my side panels. Can't recommend rcdecals-2 on ebay highly enough. Great quality, clearcoated and die cut.

Just a bit frustrating that Tamiya didn't do something like this with a properly fitting body and cage. Wouldn't have taken much. Call it the Hotshot 3!

[GToddC5 2024]

On 5/8/2024 at 10:25 AM, bRIBEGuy said:

You should sticker it as a "Super SuperShot"! 

Or "Super Duper Shot" LOL

[BloodClod 366]

Beautiful project!

 

I'm wondering if it would work with a Hotshot body.

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

36 minutes ago, BloodClod said:

Beautiful project!

 

I'm wondering if it would work with a Hotshot body.

Would work with any of the Hotshot bodies, but they would come up a little short at the front. That's why i chose the Supershot. You could just paint a Supershot body red and use Hotshot stickers

[BloodClod 366]

18 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Would work with any of the Hotshot bodies, but they would come up a little short at the front. That's why i chose the Supershot. You could just paint a Supershot body red and use Hotshot stickers

Thanks! So the major custom part is the 3d printed rear plate to attach the roll cage?

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

6 hours ago, BloodClod said:

Thanks! So the major custom part is the 3d printed rear plate to attach the roll cage?

There are three custom parts. Rear plate to replace the kit skid plate to attach the cage there, revised shock tower with cage attachment and cage clearance, and the front mounting plate.

[Howards 641]

Dayum that’s good

[Howards 641]

I want rear uprights that are tougher. But I don't want to use XV01 / DB01 bits because I shouldn't have to, and it messes with the geo and design intention.

Could a beefed up set be designed and printed? Or can I persuade someone to make some alloy versions?

[BuggyDad 5904]

18 minutes ago, Howards said:

I want rear uprights that are tougher. But I don't want to use XV01 / DB01 bits because I shouldn't have to, and it messes with the geo and design intention.

Could a beefed up set be designed and printed? Or can I persuade someone to make some alloy versions?

I think the main reason to fit the XV/DB bits is to narrow the track enough to fit smaller offset wheels under race width rules. If you want to do that you'll have to change the swing shafts as a minimum. But you can use stock arms with a little dremel work. 

Printed uprights could be done. They may need to be bulked up quite a lot to be made stronger than the originals though. 

[toyolien 5908]

57 minutes ago, Howards said:

Or can I persuade someone to make some alloy versions?

I emailed Xtraspeed, Yeah Racing and Tamiya about alloy rear hubs. They all said they had no plans to make any.

[Anthroxoid 190]

3 hours ago, toyolien said:

I emailed Xtraspeed, Yeah Racing and Tamiya about alloy rear hubs. They all said they had no plans to make any.

Try at least looking at pargustore on eBay. It’s a Korean CNC shop with a hankering for making novel wheels and recreating classic RC car wheels in al7075. I vaguely recall seeing parts for the Egress and other popular Tamiyas so perhaps worth a shot, though I cannot vouch for quality (yet) as my first order with them is still en route. 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

11 hours ago, Howards said:

I want rear uprights that are tougher. But I don't want to use XV01 / DB01 bits because I shouldn't have to, and it messes with the geo and design intention.

Could a beefed up set be designed and printed? Or can I persuade someone to make some alloy versions?

I could design a beefed up set for 3D printing. I did start on a version that is 3mm narrower to use regular 70mm swingshafts. 

[Howards 641]

11 hours ago, toyolien said:

I emailed Xtraspeed, Yeah Racing and Tamiya about alloy rear hubs. They all said they had no plans to make any.

Which is really strange, because most of the other alloy bits are largely pointless, save for the rear suspension mount. 

[Howards 641]

12 minutes ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

I could design a beefed up set for 3D printing

I'd try them, if you believe you could make them genuinely tougher. 

I haven't destroyed one yet, but did manage to 'bend' one the other day that resulted in a still drivable car albeit with a hilarious amount of rear toe-out on one side.

[Honza 1167]

45 minutes ago, Howards said:

Which is really strange, because most of the other alloy bits are largely pointless, save for the rear suspension mount. 

I noticed that, too, when I've been looking for alloy caster blocks. Maybe it's too complex shape to make a cheap part?

[Howards 641]

2 hours ago, Honza said:

Maybe it's too complex shape to make a cheap part?

Yeah. I wonder if it's because it needs to be machined whereas the others can be stamped or some other formative process. 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Ran this for the first time in months

Was really nice to drive. Ran and ran, and it's so lovely and smooth and planted. Grip rolled a couple of times, and it was a little understeery, but not enough for me to have a go at today. I noticed the dampers looked a bit, er, damp, so i think a bit of fresh oil and new seals and maybe some stiffer rear springs. Maybe even a rear anti roll bar? Really seemed to help Ultra G EVO. I have tonnes of ARB bits from touring cars, and i will have to fashion something myself now i have the hotshot cage instead of the little rear crash structure from the td4 kit. That's where the ARB mounts. 

We also chatted at length about the car now they are so cheap, and how much better mibe looks than stock. They really need to put a nice retro scale ish buggy body on this thing. With diff nuts, metal bevels and the linkage delete steering mod it's quite delightful. 

[BuggyDad 5904]

5 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

We also chatted at length about the car now they are so cheap, and how much better mibe looks than stock. They really need to put a nice retro scale ish buggy body on this thing. With diff nuts, metal bevels and the linkage delete steering mod it's quite delightful. 

If I could think of even half an excuse I'd buy another at the price they now are. 

Anyway, yours looks cracking. Sad I couldn't make Junkies this time. See you soon! 

[toyolien 5908]

Love it with the Super Hotshot body. If only Tamiya would have done something like that with the TD4.

[Howards 641]

Folks would still dislike it for some other boring reason. 

id like to see Cy come up with a better way to mount the front sway bar. The method the designers came up with is indefensible! 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Ran on the suppy grippy outdoor astro today. Steering on Tx needed tweaking to turn down steering. Definitely has glimpses of that planted, modern buggy feel, but it was grip rolling on occasion and also quite bouncy. Had a look at the dampers and the oil was pretty mushy and also found they were running the 3 hole pistons, which i never use in CVAs. I had some random 700 oil in my box so i put that in and it was definitely better. Bit more planted, but still not right. Need to rebuild the dampers with new seals, one hole pistons and 500 oil. Also wondering about putting the steering back to stock (i fitted the xv02 6 deg caster blocks a while ago, just for tinkering)

I had also forgotten quite how ballistic it is with enough straight to open up the speed passion 10.5 motor. Probably faster than i really want/like. Might be looking to sell that to find a TBLM 15.5

 

[ThunderDragonCy 8380]

Just a note to myself that I rebuilt the dampers with 1 hole pistons front and rear with 500 rear, 550 front oil. Also added small travel reducers on outside of rear shocks as oil seals showed evidence of being hit by the piston.