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23 minutes ago, Grotty Otty said:

Cracking on with Cat K2, what an absolute pleasure to build. The quality, fit and finish of the parts is exemplary. Hopefully do some more over the weekend. 

DSC_0022.JPG

While I often enjoy playing with Nikko trucks of dubious, Singapore production line level QC, there is a lot to be said for high quality stuff. Such a pleasure to handle and build. 

 

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Ordered a re-re Manta Ray and bearing set from Time Tunnel models £94 for the kit and about a tenner for the bearings. Can't argue with that price. 

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4 hours ago, Supercoolnothing said:

Ordered a re-re Manta Ray and bearing set from Time Tunnel models £94 for the kit and about a tenner for the bearings. Can't argue with that price. 

Absoloute bargain I think. Similar price to the Hornet but way more sophisticated and capable but still distinctive and old enough to have vintage charm.

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Another commission from @neowhizzthis time it's a plasma edge shell, nothing too exciting just a single colour with tinted windows. Unfortunately my camera doesn't really do the blue justice in the lexan it's a lovely deep metallic blue very similar to the avante box art and ps smoke for the windows. 

20180524_221616_PerfectlyClear.jpg

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54 minutes ago, Supercoolnothing said:

Another commission from @neowhizzthis time it's a plasma edge shell, nothing too exciting just a single colour with tinted windows. Unfortunately my camera doesn't really do the blue justice in the lexan it's a lovely deep metallic blue very similar to the avante box art and ps smoke for the windows. 

20180524_221616_PerfectlyClear.jpg

What blue did you use?  It looks great

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13 minutes ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

What blue did you use?  It looks great

It's a createx one I can't remember if it's metallic or the iridescent blue (because I ordered an odd amount it came in a plain container) but it sprays beautifully once it's thinned down appropriately 50/50 with their 4012 reducer. I also backed with tamiya ps silver just to make it pop. 

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Weather is rubbish so no running today. Set about rebuilding the dampers on the Zahhak. Nothing obviously wrong, but wanted 3 hole pistons in there and my preferred 30wt rear 40wt front oil setup. Have the seals some oil too and shimmed the pistons so about the best CVAs can be. Can't wait to give it another spin.

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On ‎4‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 11:11 AM, yogi-bear said:

I was hoping this year I'd have more time for projects, sadly thats not quite been the case. I do however want to earn how to use the lathe and I've finally managed to machine my own hotshot rim as my first project. Its a little plain and once I sort out proper clamps for my dividing head, I'll add I'm a little more detail around the rim. Now to do 3 more!

 

machine-hotshot-wheel-rims-1.jpg

 

machine-hotshot-wheel-rims-2.jpg

 

machine-hotshot-wheel-rims-3.jpg

 

machine-hotshot-wheel-rims-4.jpg

That looks better than my effort:

img33435_712017105908_6.jpg

img33435_712017105908_3.jpg

img33435_712017105908_4.jpg

img33435_712017105908_5.jpg

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1 hour ago, MadInventor said:

That looks better than my effort:

img33435_712017105908_6.jpg

img33435_712017105908_3.jpg

img33435_712017105908_4.jpg

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they are still pretty good! Probably the only difference is that I spent about 15 mins polishing while still on lathe with wet and dry and then some polishing compound.

How long did it take you to machine them all? I think I was about 2 hours on my last rim, but I can see where I was wasting time with setting up etc so hoping to do them a lot quicker, but still learning what might be a realistic time.

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I just did the equivalent of a rain dance to ensure it rains tomorrow by prepping my onroad cars for the first outdoor meet here in years. I had to replace the kingpins on the TRF102 as I broke one last meet. I have no idea how, but now I have 3 different methods for mounting the uprights on the F103 front end, but only have the parts to do it one way on both sides,

I also checked over the TA07 and found a couple of screws that had backed out a bit (or I never tightened them enough in the first place) which was contributing to the flex in the rear end. I was showing my wife the flex and saying its dumb to spend money on upgrades when I could buy a new car, then showed her the upgrades on RCJaz and talked through what I thought would work. Then put the car away and sat down and ordered them while sitting next to her. It wasn't at the threshold where I discuss purchases with her but I think I got permission beforehand anyway. I ordered the carbon reinforced k parts which replace the current FRP ones (its designed to mix and match to adjust flex how you want it) and the carbon centre brace, which is new. This should make a big difference and hopefully be at least as good as the Xpress XQ1S clubracer which would be the next step. I spent a quarter of the price of the XQ1S just on stiffeners so fingers crossed it workz!

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Trimmed and painted body.

Glued rear tyres. Not sure if I will glue the fronts.

First time experience for both.

My wife was kind enough to cut the window decals which I used for masking. ♥

1527325518514-722365975.jpg

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15 hours ago, yogi-bear said:

they are still pretty good! Probably the only difference is that I spent about 15 mins polishing while still on lathe with wet and dry and then some polishing compound.

How long did it take you to machine them all? I think I was about 2 hours on my last rim, but I can see where I was wasting time with setting up etc so hoping to do them a lot quicker, but still learning what might be a realistic time.

All I remember is I took a fortnight to do all 4 working in spare time in the evenings. 2 hours a wheel is not bad at all. I made mine by boring out the inside of the wheel first, first with drills up to 10mm,(Including drilling the centre hole, so it's aligned with the rest of the wheel), milling cutters of various sizes up to 20mm for speed, then moved onto using a boring bar. Finished off the inside with a radiused boring bar to leave a strong rounded edge on the inside of the wheel. Then I used  a normal cutter to get the right diameter on the outside, and used a parting off tool to remove the metal to make the slots for the tires. Then took the wheel out, turned it round and gripped it on the inside of the wheel with the chuck jaws. Then it was just a case of taking off a small amount of metal to shape the outside of the wheel. For the six drive holes I simply clamped the wheel onto the milling machine and then used the PCD function on the Digital Read Out on the mill after centering it on the wheel hole, which saves a lot of time if you have one.

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Finished the Cat K2, as much of a pleasure to build as the XLS was a pain in @%:#! 🤪 First modern hi spec chassis, really is quite something although heavier than I expected. Quick run shows its rapid and handles brilliantly straight out of the box, easily adjustable on the throttle although no where near as pointy as the XLS. Probably a tyre difference thing to be fair. Undecided whether to paint the wing, but only as I'm unsure if there is a protective layer on it and I can't be bothered to mask it all up! 

DSC_0022.JPG

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Started the rebuild of the Manta Ray, first of all new rear gearbox casing, the back mounting holes where snapped on the old one and no longer actually holding the thing to the chassis.

All the parts are on the same sprue:

l0ehfeVl.jpg

Cleaned up all the gears a little and applied some new grease. New plastic motor mount (again, on the same sprue) added to the HPI motor and installed.

XGVVfTpl.jpg

 

Fitted Top Force shock towers front and rear (original front one was snapped and I remember it always being a weak point). I need to work out a bushing for the top shock mounts and a spacer, be dead easy to knock up on a lathe but I don't have access to one. the OEM Top Force parts can't be located at this time. This is how it sits tonight.

AeotvMPl.jpg

Not pictured is the body - I trimmed it and have painted it but the humidity seems to have affected the paint, so I think I will have to strip it and do it again.

Also, the Lunchbox I got off ebay had its first ever run. The description on ebay was "Never used thanks to a stroppy teenager who couldn't build it correctly". They weren't joking! almost every screw was in the wrong place. I have stripped it and completely rebuilt it, highlights were the self tappers trying to hold the motor to the gearbox, the incorrect servo saver that was using the wrong part, so didn't grip the splines and the spacer in the gearbox being on the wrong shaft. I added bearings whilst I was there.

 

Next ? Need to sort out the shock mounts and probably re-paint the body for the Manta Ray and find two sets of radio gear - 1 for the Manta Ray and another for the Midnight Pumpkin (Lunchbox stablemate).

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So my car prep/rain dance worked and racing has been cancelled. I'm not that sad about it as we have a school quiz night fundraiser last night and while I was pretty sensible and didn't get carried away (my wife doesn't remember getting home, or the whisky i was given that she drank for me, glad thats one she took for the team) I have still woken up feeling like I have a hangover. I've had a mild flu sort of thing this week and its back with a vengeance - guess that'll teach me for thinking I can handle going out til 2am!

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Today I stickered up a re-re Holiday Buggy body (the polyethylene body feels so weird) and began piecing together my newly acquired peppermint green Javelin cage. 

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16 hours ago, MadInventor said:

All I remember is I took a fortnight to do all 4 working in spare time in the evenings. 2 hours a wheel is not bad at all. I made mine by boring out the inside of the wheel first, first with drills up to 10mm,(Including drilling the centre hole, so it's aligned with the rest of the wheel), milling cutters of various sizes up to 20mm for speed, then moved onto using a boring bar. Finished off the inside with a radiused boring bar to leave a strong rounded edge on the inside of the wheel. Then I used  a normal cutter to get the right diameter on the outside, and used a parting off tool to remove the metal to make the slots for the tires. Then took the wheel out, turned it round and gripped it on the inside of the wheel with the chuck jaws. Then it was just a case of taking off a small amount of metal to shape the outside of the wheel. For the six drive holes I simply clamped the wheel onto the milling machine and then used the PCD function on the Digital Read Out on the mill after centering it on the wheel hole, which saves a lot of time if you have one.

Thanks for that, thats good to know.

I'm thinking it might have actually taken closer to 3 hours. My cut cycle was to machine bar to rim diameter, then face off, drill out centre using about 4 steps from a centre drill to 25 mm drill bit. But I did have issues with the 25 mm drill bit in that my tail stock holder kept slipping, so will have to work out what is wrong with my setup. I then used a boring bar to roughly machine out the base in 1 mm increments. Following by some cleanups.  I then used the cut-off tool to make the grooves for the tyres and then cut off the wheel about 0.25 mm bigger than needed. Turn the rim around and face off and machine out the inside.

To finish off at the moment I'll be using a rotary table and chuck to make the holes. I still have to make the adapter plate to mount the chuck, so thats my next project when I get some spare time. Well that and an adapter so I can mount the new quick change tool post holder, no more shimming!

I was hoping if I could optimise the setup, I might be able to do each rim under 1 hr, but thats looking more and more like a pipe dream.

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Got my Neo Scorcher out on the backyard track.  First time running it this season with lipo instead of nimh.  It's quick with a 13.5t brushless.  Trying to figure out how I'm going to expand the track and really make it flow nicely. 

41471082775_d6efce68f4_c.jpgUntitled by Joe, on Flickr

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16 hours ago, Mark_C said:

Fitted Top Force shock towers front and rear (original front one was snapped and I remember it always being a weak point). I need to work out a bushing for the top shock mounts and a spacer, be dead easy to knock up on a lathe but I don't have access to one. the OEM Top Force parts can't be located at this time. This is how it sits tonight.

Next ? Need to sort out the shock mounts and probably re-paint the body for the Manta Ray and find two sets of radio gear - 1 for the Manta Ray and another for the Midnight Pumpkin (Lunchbox stablemate).

why not try and use the stock manta-ray shock tower and cut it up to use as the spacer you need until you can source the one you want. that way you shoud get your "bushing" you need 

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On 5/26/2018 at 6:28 PM, Grotty Otty said:

Finished the Cat K2, as much of a pleasure to build as the XLS was a pain in @%:#! 🤪 First modern hi spec chassis, really is quite something although heavier than I expected. Quick run shows its rapid and handles brilliantly straight out of the box, easily adjustable on the throttle although no where near as pointy as the XLS. Probably a tyre difference thing to be fair. Undecided whether to paint the wing, but only as I'm unsure if there is a protective layer on it and I can't be bothered to mask it all up! 

DSC_0022.JPG

I agree with you on the xls build the most challenging (for your patience) I've ever had it would have tried the patience of the God of patience and the Angels that were helping him🤔 as for your k2 they are a fantastic buggy to race it was the last buggy I raced at a club I converted my k1 into a k2! blistering fast and super sharp handling and a beautiful bit of engineering enjoy it😉

IMG_20160709_145243.jpg

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On 5/26/2018 at 6:28 PM, Grotty Otty said:

Finished the Cat K2, as much of a pleasure to build as the XLS was a pain in @%:#! 🤪 First modern hi spec chassis, really is quite something although heavier than I expected. Quick run shows its rapid and handles brilliantly straight out of the box, easily adjustable on the throttle although no where near as pointy as the XLS. Probably a tyre difference thing to be fair. Undecided whether to paint the wing, but only as I'm unsure if there is a protective layer on it and I can't be bothered to mask it all up! 

DSC_0022.JPG

Glad you enjoyed the build, now stock up on some front end parts, I'm currently waiting on new front shocks after a heavy garden swing incident! Here's my pair, Cat K2 and Cougar KR 20180416_190955(0).thumb.jpg.d61e7683c792d9383156b30cec6dae20.jpg

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17 hours ago, yogi-bear said:

Thanks for that, thats good to know.

I'm thinking it might have actually taken closer to 3 hours. My cut cycle was to machine bar to rim diameter, then face off, drill out centre using about 4 steps from a centre drill to 25 mm drill bit. But I did have issues with the 25 mm drill bit in that my tail stock holder kept slipping, so will have to work out what is wrong with my setup. I then used a boring bar to roughly machine out the base in 1 mm increments. Following by some cleanups.  I then used the cut-off tool to make the grooves for the tyres and then cut off the wheel about 0.25 mm bigger than needed. Turn the rim around and face off and machine out the inside.

To finish off at the moment I'll be using a rotary table and chuck to make the holes. I still have to make the adapter plate to mount the chuck, so thats my next project when I get some spare time. Well that and an adapter so I can mount the new quick change tool post holder, no more shimming!

I was hoping if I could optimise the setup, I might be able to do each rim under 1 hr, but thats looking more and more like a pipe dream.

I think an hour is ambitious unless you are going to use coolant. I find the aluminium gets too hot after a while and I have to let it cool down or risk the aluminium sticking to the cutters (I Blew apart 2 parting off tools doing exactly this). A 25mm drill bit might just be too much of a cut in one go from the previous size, maybe slightly blunt or too high a speed maybe. At 20 mm, I'm using a 4 flute milling cutter running at 250rpm held in a collet chuck. I think I used increments of 1 to 1.5mm with mine for the boring bar cuts. What you might be able to do is partially complete a wheel, leave it in the lathe to cool down, then move to your mill to drill holes in the next one in the production line while the one in the lathe cools down, then carry on with the wheel in the lathe.

Look on the bright side, I had to make 28 wheels for the War Rig, this lot was just for the trailers, and the whole lot took 3 months including making the hubs to mount them on:

img33435_03112015190554_3.jpg

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