Project Dusty the Blackfoot

[Pumesta]

So as I am waiting for the postman to bring the parts to fix the front end I decided to crack on with the gearbox

To my uneducated eyes there looks to be little wrong, going to replace the bevel gears and bearing's clean and reasemble

[Dave F JR]

whatcha you gonna run for a motor ?

[Dave F JR]

im not so anxious to tear into the gearbox haha

[Dave F JR]

gonna give mine a bath as well today i see yours had different servos as well as a different motor than mine came with mine has Tamiya servos

[Pumesta]

So gearbox back together

Old part compared to shiny new improved version

Old drive shaft, new on the bottom

Gearbox reattached to chassis, with load bearing matchsticks replaced with screws

New motor installed

[Pumesta]

One of the mounts in the chassis was damaged so the screw wouldn't tighten, so some improvisation was required

Front suspension repaired

New track rod ends fitted

Getting there

I had planned on fitting the servo cover from the later 'Super Blackfoot' which bolts to the shock tower and the speed control mounting plate (the standard Blackfoot one only cable ties to the plate). This acts as strut brace strengthening the front shock tower, but I cant bring myself to pay the £30 they go for on Ebay .

There is still a bit of slop in the front suspension, but I think it just the design of the system, if you tighten everything to remove the slop the front will not compress or rebound even with the shock removed. Thanks to the new bearing in the rear there is not slop what so ever at the rear wheels

[Pumesta]

So I am still waiting on my ESC to arrive , so still don't have a clue if I have put everything back together correctly. I decided to turn my attention to the paint, my least favourite part of any model.

Stripped of all stickers

Repaired broken grill mounting point

Chrome looking tired

Primed

A quick blast of chrome paint

Unfortunately the bodyshell didn't go as smoothly. It all went funy and bubbled, so rubbed it back down and cleaned it all again

But it done the same thing again

Anyone any ideas

[KEV THE REV]

the paint is reacting to contamination on the shell . You need to strip the old paint off using either brake fluid or graffiti remover and then thoroughly wash the shell with soapy water . Use light coats of plastic primer before top coating.Did you manage to repair the lower fender part?

[Pumesta]

the paint is reacting to contamination on the shell . You need to strip the old paint off using either brake fluid or graffiti remover and then thoroughly wash the shell with soapy water . Use light coats of plastic primer before top coating.Did you manage to repair the lower fender part?

That is sort of what I was thinking. I did rub it down, and wash it in soapy water, then when it reacted I done it again and cleaned it with white spirit. I will try again tomorrow, the roof is the worst bit there is a small bit on the rear bed and the top of rear wheel arch, naturally no where that will be covered with a decal lol. Never did get the lower wing fixed, I would only make it worse. I was looking for a cheep damaged shell that I could perhaps cut a bit out of but gave up. It add character lol

[XV Pilot]

You've got a nice shine on that grille. What paint did you use?

[Pumesta]

You've got a nice shine on that grille. What paint did you use?

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/paints-body-repair/specialist-decorative-paints/halfords-enamel-spray-paint-chrome-300ml

[chevelle]

You have definitely got some contaminant on the body I media blasted mine, then washed in soapy water before etch priming Still haven't top coated it yet Like you painting isn't my favorite part, but I am improving Preparation and patience is key (ie: light coats)

[Pumesta]

I decided to have a go at fixing the broken part of the front wing.

Cut out a 'repair section' from an old Mini Disc

And secured with plenty of epoxy

Not sure if it will work or last but looks better than an exposed bumper bracket and will keep the front grill in place. I think by the time I give it a bit more shape and paint it, it will look ok

[Pumesta]

Well began painting today, Ford panther black if anyone's interested

I fear it will be a case of good from a far...........but far from good

[Pumesta]

So painted and lacquered

Going to leave it until I get home from work tomorrow and give it a wee buff and a wax

[Pumesta]

Trial fitting of lights, These are old school none of this LED stuff, They can run of the main battery pack but with lipo's not liking being drained I will run them of a 9 volt battery. TBH if the grill didn't have holes in it and replacement's so hard to come by I wouldn't bother with them at all

[Pumesta]

HELP !!! got my ESC today and got everything installed and running. Everytime I accelerate the motor side shaft comes out of the gearbox

[Frog Jumper]

Screwmod...

[Pumesta]

I am not sure that would fix the problem. The problem appears to lie with the new universal joints, there is a lot of play, the shafts that go into the silver bit in the gear box sit very close to the end of them and when you accelerate hard the shaft comes out. I shimmed the shaft with a couple of washers which cured the problem, although when I took the car out it was near impossible to drive in a straight line. I suspect that this was because by shimming the gear it meant more drive was going to one shaft than the other (it did do some awesome doughnuts lol). Then it ate one of the grub screws in the shaft, So I swapped them out with the flawed original ones and everything is tight. Going to take it out for a spin and see what happens

[Frog Jumper]

I am not sure that would fix the problem. The problem appears to lie with the new universal joints, there is a lot of play, the shafts that go into the silver bit in the gear box sit very close to the end of them and when you accelerate hard the shaft comes out. I shimmed the shaft with a couple of washers which cured the problem, although when I took the car out it was near impossible to drive in a straight line. I suspect that this was because by shimming the gear it meant more drive was going to one shaft than the other (it did do some awesome doughnuts lol). Then it ate one of the grub screws in the shaft, So I swapped them out with the flawed original ones and everything is tight. Going to take it out for a spin and see what happens

JPG no worky for me... I guess I'm not sure what you're talking about...

Terry

[Pumesta]

JPG no worky for me... I guess I'm not sure what you're talking about...

Terry

Should be working now

[Frog Jumper]

Should be working now

Oh, ok... I thought you meant the silver cup was coming out of the tranny case... nevermind!

Terry

[Pumesta]

Oh, ok... I thought you meant the silver cup was coming out of the tranny case... nevermind!

Terry

Thank's all advise and help greatly appreciated There is a bit of movement, but the original crappy hex shafts fit nice and tight. On closer investigation the shaft pin has fell out, I guess that if it was installed incorrectly, ie grub screw not tightened up it might cause the shaft to pop out especially as the pin started to work out. Then to add insult to injury with all the messing about I guess I didn't tighten the wheel up correctly and it fell off . So I have ordered new pins once they arrive I will try fitting the universal joints again and see what happens

[Pintopower]

This should be a fun project! I think an ESC is a must but that is me being biased and utterly despising MSC's. I think I have 2 esc's that are LiPo compatible but for the rest I use lipo alarms. I was skeptical about LiPos when went to buy one but the reliability, charge rate, discharge rate, capacity and weight are in a league of their own. Couple that with incredible pricing and they are a no brainer. Get yourself a good charger, a lipo charging sac and do not waste money on Lipo's too cheap to be true. If you say "wow that's cheap!" then it is an should not buy them. I have a 6500 mAh Lipo 2s that i use in all my cars. In my monster beetle with the stock 540, it will run so long that your arm will hurt from holding the radio. The only issue I have ever had was in fact in the MB at the beach. I was running the truck so long it started to slow down. I was worried that the lipo alarm malfunctioned but when I got to the car I realized that the foam i put over the motor to keep sand out was causing it to over heat since i had been running it over an hour straight.I seriously love LiPo's. do not waste a cent on a NiMh.

Hey Pintopower,

What brand lipo are you using? Been thinking about getting new nimhs for my cars, won't mind picking up some reliable lipos.

Sorry for the crazy delay. I use the Venom 2s 20C lipo packs. They are soft-ish and have the shape of a nicad pack. Most are way too long but these are a dead ringer for the old style stick packs. They fit all of my Tamiyas perfectly, including my FF01 & M03.

[Pumesta]

So had another go at reinstalling my new universal joints after replacing the pin and grub screw, and still no joy

https://youtu.be/ZHN2vqnBGDA

Loads of play

On closer inspection the plastic swing arm was badly worn, I replaced this for a new one I had in my parts bin. This cured the problem but now it runs very uneven, if you compress the suspension so the drive shafts are straighter it runs ok. So have currently went back to the original hex shafts