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tnkgun

Sand Viper to Holiday buggy conversion

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Hi to all,

First, let me introduce myself: As most of the members in this club RC cars were one of my biggest hobbies in my childhood, and after finding my old RC toy last year and giving it some runs I decided that I needed to get into the hobby again and some months ago I bought a Team Associated SC10b. I really liked the scale looks and it is really fun to drive, but as it was a RTR car I always had the feeling that something was missing, and it was the pleasure to build the car myself. I then directly pointed to Tamiya because of their scale look and "easy to build" kits.

I felt completely in love with the Rough Rider, but its high price and not so good specs (compared to modern kits), made me rethink it and I decided that the re-released Holiday Buggy would do the job better for a lower price, but when I started looking for parts, I saw that the Sand Viper kit already comes with full ball bearings, ball differential and other extras, so my idea is to buy a Sand Viper kit and then add the Holiday Buggy body.

As this will be my first kit, there is a lot of basic information that I need to know: As far as I know, Tamiya kits come with and esc and a motor, but I have to add a servo and a radio. As I plan to run my car at the beach I would like to buy a waterproof servo, but I need to know which ones fit the DT-02 chasis and if an additional servo saver not included in the kit is needed. So, could somebody recomend me a servo?

I also noticed that many people in these forums recomend a low voltage alarm to use the provided esc with lipos as that esc thas not have a low voltage cut-off. Could you tell me where to fet one of these?

Then, I will need to know which parts are needed to mount the Holiday Buggy body on the chasis: In some fotos, I see that some body mounts are put on the shock towers, but I don't know the part numbers.

And last, I know that the Rough Rider has a plastic cover to protect the motor from water, do you knwo if this would also work wit a dirt tuned or sport tuned motor in the DT-02?

When I receive answer to my questions, I will order the kit and the parts, and I will edit this post to document it with the building/conversion process.

Thanks in advance for your answers.

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Welcome to the madhouse :D

You can download both build manuals from the TamiyaUSA website - you'll need to know the Tamiya kit numbers for the two items, but its easy enough to find those from adverts etc.. type the 58xxx numbers into the box on this link..

http://www.tamiyausa.com/pdf/manuals/

Comparignt he manuals should give you the differences in parts required and the part numbers are all listed on the last few pages of each manual.

For lipo you can buy a lipo low voltage cut out or a lipo alarm - both should be readily available on ebay or at the uk warehouse of www.hobbyking.com

the alarm is just that, an audible alarm which can be heard in uncrowded areas maybe 25-30 feet away. A cut off with do just that, cut the power for you.

Traxxas make waterproof servos, but they aren't very cheap compared to Acoms or even Hobbyking units - your choice whether to risk some water ingress in a cheaper unit, or buy one 3 times the price. astandard sized steering servo fits fine - Acoms AS-17 is a standard sized non waterproof unit for reference Bear in mind that salt water will also rapidly corrode the steel pins/screws etc of the chassis so any wet sand running needs to be followed immediately by a flush with fresh water.

Kit will come with ESC and motor (unless you buy from japan where esc will not be included) - you need servo and radio gear, plus battery etc to run

The motor cover from the rough rider/sand scorcher/buggy champ is specific to that gearbox design and will not fit a DT-02 chassis

hope this helps

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Thanks for your answers, they were very helpfull.

Then first thing is to choose the servo. Percimon, I see that in another thread you also recomend the Acoms AS-17 which is 18.0 x 38.0 x 37.0 and also the Futaba s3003 which is 40x20x36, so I supose that this hobby king which is 40.9x20x37.75 will also fit and is waterproof, am I right?

http://www.hobbyking...m_0_22s_60.html

Then I will try to find first in my local hobby store one of the two that you recomend and if not I will order online one the 3.

As radio gear I will buy a FS GT3c.

Super gripper, I will take into account that cover, although first I will try to fit the Holiday Buggy body over the Sand Viper body.

;-)

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The futaba s3003 and acoms as17 are not waterproof but ample for lighter buggies. Waterproof servos are £25+, the acoms can be had for £6 so assess the cost versus risk of water damage

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i say buy cheap servos such as those mentioned AS17 Carson CS3 etc and take off the top and bottom case parts and wipe a little silicone diff lube around the edges and put a dollop on the output shaft and reassemble , been doing this for years on my wet weather cars that get ran in salty conditions and even fully submerged and no failures yet .

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The Acoms AS-17 and Futaba S3003 are my favourite steering servos in 2WD buggys. I had Carson CS-3 and CS-5 servos, they are cheap but very noisy. Also had two Carson CS-9MG, rather slow heavy servo.

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I'd recommend a basic waterproof servo from an established manufacturer, such as this one:

http://www.modelspor...products/363626

Fully waterproof standard size HPI servo, yours for £12.82.

As for the motor, the Tamiya Dirt Tuned comes with a foam "air cleaner" cover thing that you put over the endbell. This does a very good job of keeping sand and dust out of the motor, and should be fine for beach running.

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Thanks for your replies! Actually that post from Tamiya blog was the one that made me choose a Sand Viper to build a Holiday Buggy instead of buying directly a Holiday Buggy Kit. I will also buy the dirt tuned motor and the hpi waterproof servo, as for the price difference, I will be sure that no water will enter the servo. I will be ordering the kit and the components this week, so a I hope that next weekend I will start building the car.

;-)

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