The Magpie Effect.....

[blakeatron]

Well it started off as me ordering a few alloy parts for my e-maxx as the standard plastics kept breaking...

Now I have started to rebuild it with my new shiny parts I have decided I need more and have ordered everything but the main chassis and gearbox cover

So come on - who else is drawn to the shiny bits?

[TA-Mark]

Pretty on the shelf. Not practical on a runner basher truck. Shiney bits bend... and don't bend back like plastic.

Steering knuckles, rear uprights and C-hubs are worth doing. Wheel bearings do get rather warm after a hard run, the plastic gets soft and you have wobbly wheels. Gearboxes in alloy are good too for powerful motors, no flex between gears. Lower arm eyes are another that benifit from being alloy (bulkheads), but leave the arm plastic so there is a weak spot.

[Spetz83]

It does look awesome!

But no, I don't do it for my car/s

Mainly because for the price to bling my whole car up, I can get another car so it's just not worth the cost

If the bits were cheap I'd probably do it. But at this stage on my TGX it's close to $40 a piece. So, front arms, rear arms, hub carriers (f/r) and knuckles (f/r) is already more than $200.

Then there's the steering, shocks mounts, brakes, upper arms and some other bits and pieces...

If they added performance I would consider it though, but still all those will cost more than a TGR which will outperform the TGX either way

[terry.sc]

I thought the point of the E-Maxx was that it was durable, now you've thrown most of it away. Not a shelf queen fan so shiny alloy parts have no use to me and never understood the need to bolt on extra bits of metal everywhere. As Mark says alloy parts look shiny but add extra weight which will reduce performance, and if you crash it they stay bent and won't bounce back like plastic parts will. If you want something even stronger than alloy that's going to survive crashes, especially as it's to satisfy your need for speed, then you should be looking at RPM parts

[lentner3]

did it to my TT-01, once I did one upgrade they started flooding in till I'd blinged it up to the max.

Performance is awesome too. Couldn't help it.

[blakeatron]

Well the e-maxx wasn't durable to begin with - in 3 weeks I went through 3 shock towers, 2 skid plates, 1 hub, 1 steering crank and 2 bulkheads!

I know the alloy isn't the best but surely it must be slightly better?

Anyway this truck is not about out and out speed and jumping (thats what my flux is for!) this will just be a nice strong truck that the wife/friends can have a play with - and will look nice on the shelf when no-one is using it!

Dont worry - I dont have any true shelfqueens, everything gets run - just I am more careful with some

HOWEVER saying all that I have just bodged a steering fix for now and taken it out on the dog walk -

1. it is much more stable at speed, and seems more planted over the rough stuff (probably the extra weight),

2. it doesn't bottom out on jumps now - have about 6mm of ground clearance on full compression

3. it does like to rollover on quick, sharp corners - but I have got the springs wound right down, softening might help?

4. It is much, much more stable in the air and landings on all 4 are much easier

5. Its not shiny anymore - but is still in 1 piece

[retroman]

I had some "Magpie" issues with my Losi XXX-S Graphite Plus. It has just about every piece of the Matt Francis Red alloy bling on it that Trinity made! Looks cool though. Come to think of it, the XXX-S has a pretty funky looking chassis anyway

[terry.sc]

2. it doesn't bottom out on jumps now - have about 6mm of ground clearance on full compression

The reason it's supposed to bottom out is that the force of the impact is spread across the bottom of the chassis. If the chassis doesn't touch the ground all the force of the impact with the ground goes to the shock mounts, shocks and lower wishbones.

3. it does like to rollover on quick, sharp corners - but I have got the springs wound right down, softening might help?

That will be down to the extra weight. Try a thicker oil in the shops to dampen the chassis roll.

[GGtrialer]

i LOVE shiny! im resisting/giving in shinying up my F150 with metal. it would be great for strength as a basher but adds lots of weight. ive broken plastic before but never metal on an R/C car.

[blakeatron]

Terry - will try the shock oil thing

But when it lands it does not hit the chassis - it hits the f/r skid plates which then transfers all that force onto the bulkhead-chassis joint. This joint appears to be the weakest part of the chassis. Also the rear skidguard digs into the ground twisting the rear section up and away from the chassis - again stressing it more!

But I understand the forces are still there and just being applied to different areas if the skids dont touch down!

Just checked my flux and that doesn't hit the ground either?!

[terry.sc]

You'll be wanting the RPM skid plates then. Protects the bottom and blends in the front of the rear skid plate so there's nothing to catch. More expense!

[taliesin]

Magpie Effect ...

Just be careful you don't start taking the shiny bits home and leaving a "trade" item such as a pine cone or pretty rock like the those blasted birds are prone to do. I'm sure the birds don't see it as thieving or even a bad trade, but your local hobby store might think differently.