My Blitzer Beetle thread as promised.

[kontemax 1725]

Yet don't know about the power plant, it's far at this moment. I must before work on the chassis.

Probably I'll use a brushed motor, something like a 14Turns.

Or, if I find a good choice, a brushless set up, not too hot.

Max

[bromvw 744]

Yet don't know about the power plant, it's far at this moment. I must before work on the chassis.

Probably I'll use a brushed motor, something like a 14Turns.

Or, if I find a good choice, a brushless set up, not too hot.

Max

Max consider the Ezrun 13t brushless and 2s lipo . Cheap as a good 14t motor plus ESC and IMO the perfect amount of power for the Blitzer . My own is over powered with a 9t brushless but extreme fun on a beach . BTW a 550 size motor fits as well so your options are vast .

[kontemax 1725]

I had been out the hobby for 4 years due some economical issue and yet not solved the money problem.

My wonderful Ni-Mh selected pack are over so now I need to understand what to do, if switch to Li-Po or not, to brushless or not.

These are technologies not well known by me at today.

Max

[Gruntfuggly 562]

I'm running a 9T ezRun with Turnigy 4000mah 2s lipos in my Stadium Thunder - loads of smiles, nothing broken (yet) and very reliable. I'd never go back to nimh packs now - maybe nicds at a push, but i've seen the LiPo "light".

Definitely go for brushless and LiPo - I don't think you'll regret it.

[redzone 212]

I'm running 13t ezrun's in both my blitzers, with 2s lipo & 15 tooth pinions. the thundershot unis didn't last, nor other brands, but the tamiya genuine df02 unis have cured the problem in both of them, no failures since..

[BadWagon 146]

Max,

I made the switch to Lipos and love them. The same with the brushless systems. Much less maintenance and so much more power.... If you want it.

I'm going to switch all of my runners over to brushless systems. I still have a few Nimh packs and brushed systems for my 5 year old's car and a basher I'm putting together for his friends to drive.

Yes I've broken parts, but that's because of choices I made and those were bad decisions (ie: trying to "lock" my fox diff with red n tacky grease). If you choose a sensible brushless set up, you can have more power, without destroying parts.

[kontemax 1725]

Ok, mounted some new parts.

The GPM shafts are smooth as I like, will see if them will be enough strong.

15T steel pinion gear is on the car now. With the motor on I noticed that also the gears must be changed due a strange noise they do.

TL01 Steel Suspension Shafts are a couple of millimeters longer than necessary but I'll solve with some spacer. I really hate the long suspension screws, believe me.

Next step will be the steering area and rear adjustable upper arms. A new lexan body is ready to be cut and painted.

No new pictures at the moment because the options are not so visible.

Stay tuned.

Max

[kontemax 1725]

Well, the work goes slightly on.

I mounted the steel suspension shafts to the Blitzer Beetle arms, rear GPM Universal CVD shafts and GPM wheel adapters, 5 mm ball connectors all around for extra damper smoothness and a 1 millimeter thick brass spacer to the front axles to minimize the front wheels slop. Now the front wheels don't move anymore on the axles.

Here the pictures of the model:

5 millimeters ball connectors on the arms.

And on the damper mounts.

1 millimeter brass wheel spacer.

Steel suspension shafts and brass spacer.

With the wheel.

GPM wheel adapter.

GPM CVD shaft.

That's all at this moment.

Max

[MetBoy 22]

Just caught up with this thread and noticed where you live! Never mind running it on a beach, take it to test track in (on!) Lingotto!

Man I love that place, my wife and I got kicked out of there by a security guard on a Vespa nearly 10 years ago! I assume it is still there?

Nice build thread by the way.

Cristian..

[kontemax 1725]

Hi, yes, Lingotto track is still there.

The oval track was on the roof of the first FIAT factory. The brand tested the new cars on the roof of the factory until the 50ies, then built a new larger factory a couple of kilometers away, the Mirafiori factory.

Now Lingotto factory is a multi purpose shopping mall, hotel, cinema, cultural and exhibitions center.

The track is still on place.

Max

[kontemax 1725]

Any CVD for DF01, DT02 and similar car will fit.

Mine are GPM, the cheapest ones on the market but you will find them from 3Racing, Yeah Recing, Tamiya and other brands.

Max

[kontemax 1725]

Ok, here new slow progress.

Striker restoration project took all my time and energy but I manage to think to the Blitzer Beetle too.

I bought another sticker set and a new gear set cause the one in the car is noisy.

Also bought these steering linkages from Yeah Racing.

They are for M-05 but I'll adapt them to the Blitzer to eliminare forever that odd bump steer.

Next step is another complete bodyset. The steering linkages are the bigger problem between my Blitzer and the road. When I'll solve this problem the car is almost ready to run.

Stay tuned.

Max

[Wild Willy Speed Shop 73]

Any updates on this build?, lots of great ideas in here, I may have to borrow some on my Blitzer when i finally rebuild it. Nice work.

[kontemax 1725]

No updates at the moment because I worked on the Striker restauration you can see in this forum section.

Anyway the car has big problems due the brittle plastic. Standing on the shelf it brokes the front and rear suspension mounts just only with its weight (without battery) so now I will came back on this car with some new plastic.

I will also mount the steering linkages and will complete the body as soon as possible.

Stay tuned!

Max

[kontemax 1725]

Here the damage...

This will be more money drain to Tamico...

Max

 

PS. Sorry for the dust.

[kontemax 1725]

Problems with the browser...

Will try again in the afternoon.

Max

[kontemax 1725]

This project is slowly going on.

The Autumn is arriving and the weather is no more so good. This forces me to continue to work on the Blitzer Beetle giving me more time before the first run. My movie drains almost all my time and the Striker Restoration ( https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=120836&id=24" ) + ( 

Well, let's go to the news.

I bought many parts from Tamico in Germany, here are the pictures:

As you can see I bought a new Sand Scorcher body. Why not a Blitzer Beetle body? Because the SS one was 10 € cheaper. It needs some modification like the roof holes to close, the bonnet hole to move and the side holes to drill but anyway minor extra works that worth the 10 € saving.

The holes on the roof.

Another difference is the side mirror holes but I decided to keep them as I will add the mirrors.

This body will be the shelf queen one. I decided to buy the new white shell because the original one (not re-release) had gone squeezed inside the box of my other NIB Original Vintage Blitzer Beetle. The squeezed body was replaced with another new original vintage a couple of year ago and this squeezed one will be chopped and modified for a future runner Baja project. In the picture you can see the damage on one side. The part has been bent back but it never come back straight. So, good for a runner, not for a shelf queen.

With the Sand Scorcher body I also bought the front SS nosecone, the rear exaust (for the baja project) and the driver. Every Blitzer Beetle needs a driver.

The finish touch is the complete vintage windows part (with the back window included), stickers and the chrome parts.

Let's make a summary:

1) Blitzer Beetle shelf queen body configuration: orange nosecone, chrome parts, white body and parts, white driver, sticker set.

2) Baja future project body: white nosecone, black body plus the other missing parts will buy in the future.

Now the question is: "If you have a shelf queen body, what body will mount this runner when you will use it?"

Here the solution! The runner body will be a lexan one, painted black and orange with all the yellow and green drops, like the original car. I own a couple of these bodies, well dirty and full of dust but new and uncutted.

Another sticker sheet for the runner body (I'm going obsessed?):

and another driver for the runner body, black this time:

Ops, I forgot to mention that in all this spare parts inferno I also bought a spare front and rear damper mount part.

That's all for the moment I suppose.

Max

[mr crispy 2293]

Where did you get those lexan bodies Max? they look nicely detailed. Are they straight copies of the Scorcher?

[kontemax 1725]

Hi, they are straight copies of the Monster Beetle (the wheel arches are BB ones).

I found them years and years ago in my LHS, now closed.

Parma did still do these repro lexan bodies. You can find them trough Tower Hobbies if I remember well.

Max

[kontemax 1725]

I checked the body after a good clean up.

In fact they are:

Parma VW BAJA 10340

Hope I helped you.

Max

Where did you get those lexan bodies Max? they look nicely detailed. Are they straight copies of the Scorcher?

[kontemax 1725]

Today I replaced the broken front shock tower with a brand new spare I bought from Tamico.

I decided to make the tread inside the tower holes and use two long M3 screws.

This should avoid new failures. Self tapping screws are one of the first causes of plastic breakages.

Et voilà, like new. Installed also the steering servo. I adopted the original steering servo configuration as per manual because the Yeah Racing steering links I bought didn't work with the Blitzer Beetle chassis. This solution is temporary, I will solve someway the problem.

Max

[bromvw 744]

Max consider fitting a brace between the front shock mounts . Tapping them as you have done helps but a brace will add some more strength while preventing any flex

[Gruntfuggly 562]

I've replaced a lot of the self-tappers with m3 bolts and lock nuts on my Stadium Thunder - even with some cracks it keeps everything a lot more solid. Got fed up with them backing out on their own...

[kontemax 1725]

I considered the problem. Keep in mind that the front body mount is still a brace itself. Anyway will find some decent carbon fiber sheet and will build another brace for front and rear damper towers.

Considering also to make the entire shock towers with carbon fiber.

Max

Max consider fitting a brace between the front shock mounts . Tapping them as you have done helps but a brace will add some more strength while preventing any flex

[kontemax 1725]

Yes, this is a "must" on these cheap Tamiya chassis.
I'll do it asap.

Max

I've replaced a lot of the self-tappers with m3 bolts and lock nuts on my Stadium Thunder - even with some cracks it keeps everything a lot more solid. Got fed up with them backing out on their own...