Aqroshot DT03-T 'Monster Racer'

[Nitomor 2122]

Anyone want to hazard a guess at the weight without battery?

 

 

That's stock DT03-T except fully ballraced, plastic geared servo and futaba 6ch rx, ball diff and Brat shell because the regular one isn't cut out yet or painted! I must admit, that is lighter than I was expecting

 

 

 

[Jason1145 3986]

Is it 1408g?

wow this build motored along, good stuff!

Personally I like that Blackfoot decal shell the best!

[Nitomor 2122]

Thanks, correct 1408g.

The BF decal shell is actually an Amarok shell from a WT01-N sporting Blackfoot III decals from my WT01 4x4x4 build, it was supposed to be a modern twist on the BF because I kept the Blackfoot shell pure black polished.

The build has ground to a halt courtesy of using the hop up ball diff which necessitates different universal shafts so I can't currently use it until they arrive  unless I strip the gearbox back down and go back to stock which I don't want to do at the moment!

[Nitomor 2122]

Front track 295mm, rear track 287mm, wheelbase 287mm so quite a square footprint!

84mm front dia tyres 45mm wide, rears 82.5mm dia and 48mm wide. Photos to follow shortly

And here they are of the Amarok, still struggling with the others...I don't think this shell suits the chassis too well...

[Terz1 745]

That's interesting that the front and rear are different dimensions. They do look the same but I haven't got the robocop eye lense with built in measuring system .

And regarding the weight of 1408g, was your Vajra well over 1700g? It would be interesting to see how this budget truggy compares performance wise to tamiyas top end version with the same motor etc.

[Nitomor 2122]

Apologies for that random post, it was supposed to be accompanied by pics which I'm having trouble uploading but I didn't want to lose the info, I'll edit it later to add the front/rear pics requested earlier.

The Vaj is 1596g with a metal geared servo and remember that is also 4wd with ball diffs front and rear so pretty lightweight really. I'd love to go and bash the whatsits off it, but can't bring myself to pull it out of the cabinet yet lol! It looks a bit delicate in a high maintenance sort of way. It has the GT Tuned motor in that.

It's all shaping up to be promising so far on paper. The tyres come up different sizes when mounted because the rears stretch them somewhat being a wider rim, I think the front rims also have a shallower offset too.

 

 

[Jason1145 3986]

How long are the dampers on this, and how much suspension travel do they allow?

Anything with the work "truck" in it should jump decently in my book so these numbers will decide that! ;p

I haven't jumped an RC vehicle for a good few months now..... no coincidence that my little 7 month old is 7 months old too!

[Terz1 745]

Oh I remember now it was another truck that was over 1700g, can't remember which one. I agree use your monsterised buggies and wt01's for bashing and just admire the Vajra.

[Blista 1519]

5 hours ago, Nitomor said:

I don't think this shell suits the chassis too well...

Thanks for posting those photos.  The Amarok does look a bit too big on there unfortunately.

[Nitomor 2122]

I'll have a look at suspension travel tonight and take some measurements. Personally with the stock tyres the ground clearance isn't as much as I would like and not surprisingly it's not a patch compared to a modified WT01 with GPM towers and 93mm shocks. I think the rear springs are too soft currently too, but I have the hop up springs on the way. The full arm travel is fully exploited by the shocks currently except the shocks have travel limiters in them as stock at the rear to prevent bottoming out of the chassis. Here are some more pics front and rear of the different bodies...

and just for fun, my beat up McRae shell...

The rear shocks get in the way at the moment of a decent rear body mounting point, however with different rear shock towers (GPM or the Tamiya hop up carbon) that may be alleviated somewhat combined with the turnbuckle top arms!

Cheers for now 

[Jason1145 3986]

To say I'm jealous of the time you can put into new builds is an understatement, keep up the good fight brother ;p

[Nitomor 2122]

Thanks for the compliment but don't be too jealous, I'm actually very time poor, I'm just an insomniac and a little ocd, so I take ages messing about with builds and spend a bit of time tinkering with trying different setups after putting the kids to bed etc as I enjoy that part of the hobby and I like to try and do a really neat job with wiring, which I haven't done yet on this!

The actual build took about 3-3.5 hours. I usually spend longer on the shell than the build.

My Bruiser build is still incomplete after nearly two years lol!!

[Darat76 265]

And I'm the opposite, I'm time rich, but that's due to having no kids, the problem is, I don't have a place to spray bodies here so I've avoided getting anything that requires painting, and all of my tinkering atm requires some orders of new parts, to which I'm cash poor due to 1 mediocre income in the house...

[Nitomor 2122]

Jason, front shocks are 75mm with 20mm travel, rear shocks 95mm with 20mm travel before they hit the stop insert, but by then the back of the buggy is on the floor anyway, ground clearance is just approx 27mm at front and just approx 32mm at rear. That is on the stock Aqroshot tyres.

 

[Nitomor 2122]

Well, I know this looks like the same image but I'm quite chuffed to have resolved the rear body mounts by robbing a couple of parts from my WT01 spares. So here is how the body sits.

After trialling all these bodies, the irony is that the body I intend to run (Monster Racer Hilux) hasn't come into the UK yet, so I'm hoping it will be a good fit, ideally it will have larger arches than the scoob above letting me run the larger tyres I hope!!

[Jason1145 3986]

I certainly like the anticipation of new body shells arriving, the boxes are quite large and you feel like it's a reward for yourself lol... Sorry Darat that you don't have space to paint any shells that must be a bummer! I make do out in my little back garden with a cardboard box to stop  over spray.

Thanks Nito for the measurements, some bling alloy upgrades should be easy to source if desired. Can't wait to see the Hilux shell once done... It's going to be red, white n blue?

[Nitomor 2122]

I feel for you Darat, it can be frustrating either way, it would be nice to find that elusive work/life/financial balance, the cost of living is so high over here that in reality it's not easy, but at least (in the south east rat race anyway) there are opportunities to earn a decent wage if you put in the hours but the commuting etc mean I rarely see my house in daylight lol. I try to remain at home at weekends but that is becoming increasingly harder as the kids have sports fixtures and clubs at weekends that we have to run them around to, then there is all the preparation time getting their kit ready etc etc. It's exhausting stuff so this hobby is a quiet way to unwind from the stresses of the week

I used to find the painting side quite frustrating and still do because I'm fussy and always trying to improve on the last attempt,  Cardboard box works well, this was my next step up from spraying outside on a calm day...but of course you still need somewhere to do it, be it a garden or other. I ended up moving to an airbrush in the end so I could do it indoors in the conservatory as you get a lot more control to keep the spray well contained in a semi indoor environment, but that becomes a whole other frustrating story/hobby!! but rewarding just the same  lexan shells are a lot easier because you can just spray them outdoors in a much smaller box and still achieve excellent results.

Edit: In fact all the above shells bar the Amarok were painted outdoors with Tamiya PS sprays.

 

 

[Nitomor 2122]

Hi Jason, you're welcome. I think you're thinking of the Nissan King Cab scheme, that shell isn't available anymore, so I'll be going with the sister model, the Hilux Monster Racer which is white, red, yellow but I'll reserve paint scheme and all thoughts of until I can get it to fit right first!

 

[Nitomor 2122]

My revised body mount scheme has meant the Amarok shell fits on far better now...

The new body mount set up. I need to get some 3mm rod for the rear mounts to brace them like the front ones.

And wiring is all tidied up now too. The ESC is just velcro'd in, I can't see that one stopping long!

 

[GregM 1109]

Those touring car bodyshells on a buggy/truggy chassis remind me a lot of J-Spec: http://www.ultimaterc.com/misc/j-spec/

[Nitomor 2122]

Awesome, I'd never heard of that class before but it reflects my own fleet perfectly lol!!

I like having recognisable 'real' bodies on a usable go anywhere chassis.

Thanks for the link

 

 

 

 

[Terz1 745]

Your definitely a J-speccer nito. Just looked at that the link, it is your style of truggy with a touch if realism.

Amarok shell looks much better now. It'll look even better with beefier tyres. 

[Nitomor 2122]

My Monster Racer shell arrived and is a bit of a disappointment at the moment...

Instead of looking like this...

The one I received has no holes drilled, which is fine, but I didn't expect it not to have any cut out lines on the arches, so mine is like this...

How on earth am I supposed to cut the arches to the right size/contour...

 The seller has checked all his stock and they are all like it, perhaps the undrilled body version has the arches unmarked for freestyle applications?! Who knows...time to take some scissors to it I guess. What a pain, I hate cutting shells out enough as it is.

[Jason1145 3986]

Luckily you can just show us one side of the finished job so we'll never know if there's arches will match? I can see you cutting them both.. Then realise one is a slightly different shape do you take more lexan off but go too far, then you need to adjust the other side... Before you know it you're left with a ratrod style 60's fenderless shape

Good luck! 

[Nitomor 2122]

Exactly.

The rear isn't too bad, the front is going to be a real pain, I think I'm going to need to make a template for the front to keep them equal. I've cut it roughly for now to offer up and will need to drill holes and trim those arches properly. The good news is it looks a good fit with the wheels etc for clearance. I need to try it with the larger wheels but for now here it is...