Quandry 378 Posted December 31, 2013 Here is my Avante 2011 Black Special build thread For anyone who has been following my Hotshot build thread you will know I am a sucker for the Tamiya ReRes. As a young teen I was fascinated with Tamiya cars and as my desire for a Hotshot went unfulfilled, a later lust was to build and own an Avante. Such a futuristic looking machine - it was almost like a space ship! I had picked up a copy of the Tamiya RC guidebook and found the famous picture of the car all layed out in pieces, that provided hours and hours of entertainment staring at it all and imagining myself building one.... Who knew that many years afterwards that dreaming could become a reality?? 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Quandry 378 Posted December 31, 2013 Unboxing Not much to say here, I'll let the pictures talk for themselves... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Quandry 378 Posted December 31, 2013 Comparison between the Avante GT motor and a Mabuchi RS540SH My Avante will be powered by a Carson 12T brushless setup though: Now unless the gods are smiling on me I will be unable to update this thread until 2014... So Happy New Year all and talk to you next year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sidewaysdave69 188 Posted December 31, 2013 that looks good fun. roll on the egress black special. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tamiya Era 778 Posted December 31, 2013 OHHHHHHH MAAN! Another great Thread...Definitely will follow Enjoy the build as it is indeed a great build 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wood5tock 864 Posted December 31, 2013 Another Quandry build... Awesome I'll put the kettle on and get comfy 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GTodd 1350 Posted December 31, 2013 Such great fun to build and run, I LOVE MINE!!! I hope you run yours! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grastens 2795 Posted January 1, 2014 I can attest to that! But for now, I will put testimonials aside to read another great build thread in the making! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Theibault 1535 Posted January 1, 2014 Im going to enjoy this build. Not a day goes by that I dont look at mine and wonder if today is the day that I tear the shrink wrap off and start building. I believe you have given that shrink wrap a further repreve from the tearing. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Boothy 58 Posted January 1, 2014 Noooooo I really want an avante and Banzi have them in stock... must resist, must resist... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ralphee 293 Posted January 1, 2014 You need an Avante lol, finished my std 2011 a good while back, but i warn you, there too nice to run lol, so youll need two! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
neverfollow 599 Posted January 1, 2014 Awesome. I love my Avante. I have a 7700kv brushless set up from Castle running on a 2s lipo in mine and absolutely love it. Though mine isn't a true black special, I've done all the mods to get it up to snuff with a BS. Enjoy the build! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Quandry 378 Posted January 2, 2014 Thanks for the comments guys. Christmas and New Years is a hectic season so unfortunately I've not had much time to work on the ABS, however I did get a little done last night... First job was to get my parts organised. I have a phobia of loosing a C clip or some tiny part underneath a couch or between a floorboard etc so I like to get my bits in order before the build begins. I have designated one storage container per bag and I sticky tape the labels to the container so as not to confuse the parts At the moment my daughter and I are building a Lunchbox also, hopefully I don't get confused and start putting Lunchbox parts on my ABS!! With the parts organised it's time for a Nescafe and read through the instructions 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ralphee 293 Posted January 2, 2014 Oh come on, every little girl would want a bright yellow Lunchie body on the Black Special I know my Daughter would, but it would HAVE to be pink! Thats a good way to work, sorting bins are gold when building or restoring model cars, i swear by them! lee 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Quandry 378 Posted January 2, 2014 First step in the manual is setting the motor plate to the rear gearbox A few screws and a bit of foam tape and we're job done. Tamiya have setup the Avante with an adjustable motor mount based on a sliding plate. This has beveled screw holes and also what looks like pressure fitted captive nuts. Overall a simple but nice piece with a high quality feel to it in your hands. The motor pinion can be found proudly on display in one of the blister packs I like to use a little thread locker on my pinion grub screws One thing I noticed though is that in the manual Tamiya specify a 13mm gap for the pinion spacing, however the picture in the manual IS NOT 1:1 Just something to keep in mind as often their instructions are 1:1 (which is far handier btw) Assembly is then easily done with a couple of screws holding the motor plate in to position, per Tamiya's instructions I set the pinion way out loose and we come back to this later when the main gear gets installed. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wood5tock 864 Posted January 2, 2014 Ow like the setting out of parts bags idea... Thinks... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Quandry 378 Posted January 2, 2014 The next step of the instructions calls for the lower deck to be liberated from the blister pack. When removing things from the blister pack you have a couple of options: 1. Rip the whole plastic off. Pro = easy access to all parts. Con = you may loose stuff before you need it! 2. Cut from behind the cardboard to access individual parts. Pro = You won't loose bits you are not using. Con = Hard to tell where the blister starts and ends. 3. Trace around the blister with a sharp knife to access the parts. Pro = You won't loose bits you are not using. Con = if you are not careful, you could slip and mark the parts you are releasing.. So with no easy option, I chose the lesser of the evils and cut very carefully with option 3. Once I had the liberated plate, I gently ran around the outside with some ZAP CA to seal the edge as per Tamiya's instructions. The next step then involves body posts for securing the rear gearbox to the plate and also a half post/pin for battery support Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
neverfollow 599 Posted January 2, 2014 Great idea with the little bins! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Quandry 378 Posted January 2, 2014 Great idea with the little bins! Thanks, it was my daughter's idea actually. She also came up with the idea to colour in the numbers of the steps in the Lunchbox instructions as we go so we didn't get mixed up in a build that could last weeks. Here I thought I would be teaching her things but I landed up learning myself! Tamiya's aluminium mount posts are a nice fit and easy to attach. I used a little dab of thread locker to make sure the screws weren't going anywhere One thing I noticed is that the Avante has some funny angles going on. When I had my assembly together, I got the impression I had done something wrong, however when I looked more closely I could see that the moulding itself is designed that way: Next step in the instructions relates to the assembly of the front gearbox. This calls for some bearings to be fitted so I went to work with the sharp knife ever so gingerly I decided to release all of the bearings in to the wild rather than fiddle with the packet every time I needed one. For this then I threw them all in to bin A. There's a lot of bearings! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Quandry 378 Posted January 2, 2014 The rear gearbox casing is only a couple of bits, but it's designed quite cleverly with lego style mouldings. It practically holds itself together.. Again with the funny angles But smooth as you like courtesy of the bearings Tamiya then instruct us to fit the front gearbox and an L shaped bracket (battery stay) to the carbon deck. There are two positions available for the battery stay, one for long and one for short. In honesty they are very close together though. I am not yet 100% on the type of battery I will use so I just went with the shortest length for now and can adjust it later. I found it easiest to take the gear out of the assembly while mounting it to the lower deck as it kept falling out anyway. There's also a few differen holes to use on the casing, however only four of them line up on the deck correctly so it's pretty hard to make an error here. And this is how she sits today, patiently waiting for me to make some ball diffs when I get home from work tonight.... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tamiya Era 778 Posted January 2, 2014 Very nice so far! Me too, i use blade to cut the blister in a way to remove the parts smoothly without removing the blister fully... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ralphee 293 Posted January 2, 2014 Yep same here, i cut round half the blister, cool to see others doing this! lee Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wood5tock 864 Posted January 2, 2014 Thanks, it was my daughter's idea actually. She also came up with the idea to colour in the numbers of the steps in the Lunchbox instructions as we go so we didn't get mixed up in a build that could last weeks. Here I thought I would be teaching her things but I landed up learning myself! Is she available for consultantcy? She would clean up on the 'How do you store your spares' thread Very nice so far! Me too, i use blade to cut the blister ( little ) to remove the parts... And me hate the thought of loosing little bits. Taken too many carbs apart 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tamiya Era 778 Posted January 2, 2014 Is she available for consultantcy? She would clean up on the 'How do you store your spares' thread And me hate the thought of loosing little bits. Taken too many carbs apart Lool..let me be clear, what I meant by little is not fully remove the blister from its place. Just to cut into the way yo remove the parts easily. .;-) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites