RC10 40th Build

[GTodd]

Well the Gold Pan is done and it was a joy to build. All the parts where there, the quality is impecabaly, the instructions are ok, and the only difficult part was the 6 gear trans it has alot of parts and does not forgive mistakes easily. Sattle up and enjoy the build. Updated 8/3/24.

 

The RC10 bug bit me in 2020 when I found a near perfect team car on a local for sale website.  A couple moves since then and that team car has been sold, another is being restored, and with AE celebrating their 60^th a new run of RC10 classics have been released.  Im a Tamiya fan through and through, my first car was an Astute that I still have and drive with my son, but the lack of exciting reres from Tamiya (for me anyway) and a desire to build a new RC10 not a restoration had me wanting the RC10 CC or Worlds but I wasn’t going to pay $1000 for a NIB.

I regretted not getting the RC10 classic 10 years ago (!!!!!) and jumped at the chance to get one when it was rerere’d as the 40^th anni.

This will be a back yard runner, and an occasional track day car.  The 40^th chassis and nose plate will stay in the box until I either sell it or transfer it to the shelf, BUT I have no shelfers….  Here we gooooo.

 

 

[GTodd]

As delivered.  Ummmm whats with the  Death Star and YODA names…LOL. I just noticed that. 

 

 

 

The box is of pretty high quality, I guess because it was made to be a display stand.

 

 

 

Inside the parts are nicely organized with the bags lettered to match up with the step in the manual.  Every screw, nut, and plastic part needed for the step are located in the bag. 

 

 

 

I purchased a reproduction chassis and a used nose plate that has some battle scars, I dont want to subject the 40th gold parts to abuse.  Bearing and worlds steering from Fan RC to be used during the build.  Fan RC is using Nylon for their parts, its not just 3d prints.  The quality and dimensions of Fan RC parts are parity to AEs. If I didn’t already have a team car build in process currently, I would’ve purchased Fan Rc’s Worlds Graphite car, great stuff!

Fan RC Worlds steering installed, super smooth. 

Getting the front suspension ready to build, all in one bag, love the organization here. This Is my first New RC10 build, loving how the bags contain everything needed for the step. 

image to url

Front end ready to install.  The parts are really white, whiter then the other rc10s that Ive rebuilt that were more of a cream color. Not sure if these are actually whiter then what they were in the 80s, or if the ones I have were just a different shade due to age.  The castor blocks are 30 degrees which is different then the OG RC10 Gold Pans. I believe the 30 degree blocks came latter as options and were only standard on the Worlds car.  Im ok with the aggressive castor, I love the turn in of the team and world cars. 

On the car

That kick up and castor, theres the reason why my friends RC10s turned better then my Astute when I was a kid. 

 

 

 

[GTodd]

This is where things get different.  Ive now rebuilt (2) RC10 team cars, and (1) RC10T2.  They all have stealth’s and got together very similarly to this, EXCEPT this has the 6 gear trans.  It looks very complicated, not 3spd complicated, but very close! Here we go!!! Wish me luck.

 

[donfilippo]

Looking great so far! Are you going for box art or for a different paint scheme?

Good luck with the gearbox! 

[GTodd]

13 hours ago, donfilippo said:

Looking great so far! Are you going for box art or for a different paint scheme?

Good luck with the gearbox! 

Thank you!!I'm going to go with a derivative of Jamming Jays body using Joconcepts Worlds Dominator body .

[GTodd]

The gearbox is done, what a nightmare! I almost quit at least a dozen times. I've got a spare stealth and as you know they are drop ins. The snap rings and the differential shaft where very tough. The Tamiya Bruiser gearbox is ten times as complex and ten times easier to assemble. Pics tomorrow. Need to decompress! 

[GTodd]

The six gear trans is very smoooooooth.  The ball differential as is is very smooth, I didnt upgrade the differential balls, sand the rings, or partake in any other ball differential tricks.  I have all RCCar action magazines through Dec 1999.  I found articles that were focused on making the gear box smoother, more relaible, and easer to assembly.  None of the tricks were needed for this assembly.  The internal gears were all finely machined with no burs in between the gears or on the outsides.  The mesh is perfect and again, so smooth.  To note none of the issues were due to a lack of quality, the materials are of the highest quality and a joy to handle. 

Here we have the shafts the internals will ride on installed.  No issue here, I cleaned off the shafts with bake clean. The plate is flat and smooth. No issues here. 

First issue was self inflicted but amplified by AEs use of snap rings, the evil cousin of e-clips. The outdrives use a brass bushing that I replaced with a bearing.  The flanged bushing is long requiring two bearing when substituted. One flanged and one non. I mistakenly used just a flange bearing at first.  I didnt realize that I had made an error until I had installed the snap ring.  Even with snap ring pliers it took me a good hour on each drive to remove the snap ring. Im sure with time and experience Id get more efficient at removing the eveil snap rings, but yeah the worst and not fun. 

I screwed up and forgot to take pictures of the differential assembly. The issue I had here was assembling it the way the manual recomends.  AE wants you to assemble the entire assembly and then install the eclip, even with the notch I wasnt able to get the eclip on. It took me another hour of fighting this.  My solution, assemble the shaft with ering, insert it into the case and then assemble the differential, this worked really well. 

The one and only mod I installed was the instalation of ball bearings for the case.  This was a popular period modification that provides additional support for the outdrives, the bearing are the same size that you use on the stealth's outdrives.  The spare stealth donated its bearing for this build.  The right side bearing is captured by the motor plate, the left side needs a small screw installed with a washer in order to capture the bearing. 

photo upload hosting

All ready for the next step, great transmision, but going forward im sticking with stealths. 

 

 

[GTodd]

Up next, install the trans which requires the rear bulkhead and the rear shock tower. Enter Bag D. 

[guggles]

The original idler gears were moulded poorly and required alot of filling or running to get the transmission to run smoothly.

The innermost hole under the wing mounts on the rear bulkhead wasnt on the originals and was a popular trick to use that hole with longer camber links. This changes the roll center.

[GTodd]

1 hour ago, guggles said:

The original idler gears were moulded poorly and required alot of filling or running to get the transmission to run smoothly.

The innermost hole under the wing mounts on the rear bulkhead wasnt on the originals and was a popular trick to use that hole with longer camber links. This changes the roll center.

I have the Jammin Jay arrive on how to improve the trans. I didn't have to do any of the mods. AE has done a great job.  Yes I remember reading about the extra hole, I believe the OG Worlds has that first right? 

[GTodd]

Shock tower and bulkhead assembled and installed on the chassis.  Fit and finish is very impressive. I appreciate the hex cap head screws.  They might not be as clean looking as Tamiya:s standard type screws , but the ability to drive them easily into hard nylon plastic is useful.

Another view, looks great no matter the point of view! You can also see the unused hole below the wing tubes that were first used with the team cars I believe .

[GTodd]

Next up was Bag E and the suspension arms.  Just like the rest of the build. The material quality is top notch, required no reaming, or shiming. Smooth non binding operation with no excess flashing. Nice job AE. 

 

[GTodd]

Next up, rod ends.  Ok, I said the trans was the only thing that was hard. I guess I mentally blocked out the rod ends.  I used Jconcepts black titanium turnbuckles, and had to tap the threads of the white ball cups to stand a chance of getting them installed onto the turnbuckles. Kind of a pain, literally and figuratively but they rarely wear out like Tamiyas and offer zero slop.

Some tamiya anto wear helps too. 

Sorry again, I just powered through the assembly of this step I didnt really want to stop once I got going.  They look very nice and are numerous times stronger then the standard Gold pan threaded rods that bend very easily. 

Heres a set installed on the front end.  LOL pretend you dont see debris from its first test run!

 

 

 

[GTodd]

Im not really a fan of building shocks but I wanted to see what the big deal was. RC10 shocks have always been known for their high quality.  Unlike the Worlds Rere these shocks are assembled just like the ones from the 80s. 

Some people just need a reason to complain and theres been alot of critism in regards to the shocks color,  to me the shock anodizing looks briliant. 

This shock assembly tool was over 20 us a few months ago before the clear and 40th came out. Nice to have new parts again! Anyway you assemble the seals and spacers, and then install through the top fo the shock. 

Slathered on some green slime before installing.

Sorry gang looks like I was just too excited and just finished assembling the car after this step.  

 

 

[GTodd]

I left the standard body in the box, used a Jconcepts Dominator body that I spent the last week painting in a suedo Jammin Jay style. I think it came out pretty good! Ill take some more pictures with better lighting tomorrow. Time to get it dirty!