Beetle Bodied Project

[soupdragon]

Being somewhat keen on beetles and being old enough to afford a second childhood, I'm wanting to build something using the Blitzer beetle body

I want it to be a runner with some mild bashing. A Blitzer Beetle could fit the bill but they seem to be pricey these days so prob not good for bashing so I'm after a 2wd buggy/stadium truck that would fit a blitzer body. as i understand it the blitzer beetle had a 260mm wheelbase so my thought were something based on the DT-02 chassis should do the trick. Most other manufacturers buggies i've looked at have much longer wheelbases or wider track so would require some fudging

any input regarding sizing and dimensions of the dt-02 and a blitzer body would be great, or I'd welcome any other suggestions

[wolfdogstinkus]

I have a blitzer for sale!, also have the original tamiya body and decals.

Interested?

Clicky

It's had a paint job since those pics and new wheels but I still have the orange wheels, can put up more pics if you are interested

[bigoggy]

what about a brat or frog, and possibly use a beetle body from kamtec

[soupdragon]

Well I've gone ahead and ordered a Desert gator, from various studies of wheelbases and pics on blitzers I feel it should fit ok the wheelbase being a little too long but its the same case with the blitzer.

I've now just got to eagerly await the postman.

[soupdragon]

Well it arrived this afternoon, spent an evening building it up and managed a short run in the gardern with fading light. Was a pretty simple build up and certainly much nicer working on that the 18th scale losi baja. its entirely stock atm but as per the topic my plan is to build a version of the blitzer beetle.

A few questions and requests,

would anyone be able to measure the wheelbase of blitzer body either to the centres of the arches and the ends. from various info the wheelbase should be on the shorter side of 250mm but as the body has open arches I'm not sure where exactly this is measured to

It does understeer somewhat but from my research that tends to be the case from stock, I'm planning on some wider front wheels what are my options in terms of wheels that will fit.

It doesnt have a slipper so my concern is how much abuse that the drivetrain will suffer. anything rfolks can recommend for making this more bullitproof.

Cheers in advance

[pastimesteve]

would anyone be able to measure the wheelbase of blitzer body either to the centres of the arches and the ends. from various info the wheelbase should be on the shorter side of 250mm but as the body has open arches I'm not sure where exactly this is measured to

It doesnt have a slipper so my concern is how much abuse that the drivetrain will suffer. anything rfolks can recommend for making this more bullitproof.

The DT-02 is a fun chassis -- I think you're going to really enjoy it. The biggest drawback to the DT-02 is the lack of pinion gear combinations available, which can be an issue when running larger wheels and tires for a Blitzer Beetle type of look. I turned my DT-02 into a Blitzer Beetle (can be done rather easily), but needs a semi-powerful motor, due to lack of pinion options, to get it moving with larger wheels and tires. Still, I have a lot of fun with mine, both in Blitzer and buggy format.

Since you're looking to replicate the Blitzer Beetle look, the VW shell should work just fine. However, it would not work very well for a scale look (ala Sand Scorcher) because the chassis is still a bit long and the A arms are way too wide. Regarding wheels, check out the HPI SS Monster 2wd wheels, which come with adaptors for Tamiya and come in gold, chrome, white and black. They are nice wheels and enable you to run just about any 2.2 monster/stadium truck tire combination.

I wouldn't worry about the slipper. In my experience, the tranny is pretty bulletproof. I've put mine through quite a bit of abuse. Even if you do damage it, replacement parts are easy to find and cheap.

Steve

[wolfdogstinkus]

The blitzer body from the mould line on the rear wing to the mould line on the front wing is 250mm, but the rear mould line isn't in the centre of the wheelarch, probably 240mm from centre to centre. From end to end it is 330mm.

Width on the front is 165mm and the rear width is 185mm,

hope that helps

[DCLXVI]

The stock pinion on the Desert Gator ois made out of cheese and will wear quite rapidly, I also managed to mount a 18T pinion on the motor by drilling the motor mount holes by 1 mm and then using a washer on the two motor screws...works like a charm...

And as stated earlier, the tranny is bulletproof, I've run a hot brushless (although not with great batteries) and a 14x2 motor and I can't see any wear on the drivetrain...

[soupdragon]

Ta for the answers

I've managed to find somewhere thats selling the blitzer bodies for a non ebay inflated price so thats gonna be next, I did consider some of the kamtec bodies but my dremel has died so I'd rather have something pre cut plus the fact that my dremel work always looks I've used my feet rather than my hands to do the cutting.

Motor wise I would like to go brushless more for longer runtimes rather than daft amounts of speed I've been looking around for some milder and torqier motors something around the 3000kv mark This looks intresting and cheap too KD36-60-08L 3000kv Brushless Inrunner Its the same diameter as a 540 can but is longer at 60mm but that shouldnt be a problem as far as I can see.

Wheel wise done some digging and blackfoot wheels seem like a possibility, although I'd quite like to see if its workable to convert the front wheels to hex's so that could open up a wider choice of wheels

I'm hoping to take it out for a beach run this weekend in its stock form so I'll try and get some pics