Feedback on my 3D Printed Stuff, please. :)

[Crash Cramer]

Looks very cool and as an owner of the original chassis, that servo bit sure is a PITA, so good on you if it works out AND makes another length option for this chassis.

[VagabondStarJXF]

36 minutes ago, Crash Cramer said:

Looks very cool and as an owner of the original chassis, that servo bit sure is a PITA, so good on you if it works out AND makes another length option for this chassis.

Thanks Crash.

I've often wondered why Tamiya didn't offer this length chassis as an option. If the M04 chassis was 210mm to begin with then everyone would've been happy. The spacers are pretty rigid so adding one for the 225mm and two for the 239mm wheelbases wouldn't have been too much of a hassle or, at least, I don't think it would've been.

And why did they make it so difficult to remove the servo saver on the M04?

[Tizer]

Man that's great! I love seeing other people still enjoying the M04 chassis. I have also been thinking a lot about redesigning the M04 chassis frame but never got around to it. I'd like to have it with a square hole for normal Lipo packs (and shorty), and maybe a better servo position or even an entire new steering setup.

[VagabondStarJXF]

4 hours ago, Tizer said:

Man that's great! I love seeing other people still enjoying the M04 chassis. I have also been thinking a lot about redesigning the M04 chassis frame but never got around to it. I'd like to have it with a square hole for normal Lipo packs (and shorty), and maybe a better servo position or even an entire new steering setup.

That's gonna be the next stage if I go any further. I don't run LiPo batteries tho so all my data regarding measurements is going to be from the interwebs. I'd considered moving the servo to accommodate a different steering setup but that's mean redesigning a lot more of the chassis than I was prepared to. If I did that then it wouldn't really be an M04 anymore. I'm still looking into it tho.  

[VagabondStarJXF]

My prototype M04S chassis, along with the coffin spoke wheels, arrived today.  

Now I just have to build it all up.

[Crash Cramer]

3 hours ago, VagabondStarJXF said:

My prototype M04S chassis arrived today, along with the coffin spoke wheels, arrived today.  

Now I just have to build it all up.

That looks great and if we find all the pieces that are difficult to buy individually for the M04 because they break a lot, we can just have you design them in 3D print so we can piece our old chassis together.

[gpgp01]

These are fabulous! I must learn a drawing tool like sketchup.

I wish I could do small things someday that are required even not so delicate and complicated works.

 

[VagabondStarJXF]

Here's my M04S assembled.

I've pretty much ruined this bodyshell after getting the body post holes wrong. Otherwise the chassis fits quite well and, surprisingly, with very little flex. The central brace piece, although a bit tight, fits well and removes most of whatever excess flex was left. 

The battery holder brackets fit near perfectly but I've managed to lose the other half of the battery quick release kit so I've just fitted a standard holder piece until I can find it.

The servo saver area opening is more than adequate enough to unscrew the servo saver without having to disassemble the whole chassis. If anything, I could probably close up the space a little. 

The offset of the wheels needs to be addressed. Thanks to the M04L wide hex setup the rears stick out a bit too much. The toe-in is also a bit pronounced due to the wider hexes but I am confident that these things will be corrected once I change out the universal drive shafts for standard length ones. The fronts might be OK but I think I'll need to see how it is after running it a bit. 

All-in-all I'm pretty pleased with this chassis.

[Badcrumble]

It looks great! Can we have some more shots from different angles? Did you have to put more holes in the body?

Will this become a 'runner' body... so you have to get one for the shelf?!

[VagabondStarJXF]

21 minutes ago, Badcrumble said:

It looks great! Can we have some more shots from different angles?

Sure. Here you go!

23 minutes ago, Badcrumble said:

Did you have to put more holes in the body?

Will this become a 'runner' body... so you have to get one for the shelf?!

I enlarged and "stretched" the holes out to where they needed to be. Not entirely destroyed but it isn't pretty. This shell is now pretty much fit to be only a basher shell. Good part, the silver lining if you will, is that I now know where the holes need to be so my shelfer shell should, hopefully, be done right (when I get to it).

[Badcrumble]

I think you have done a great job with that chassis and those wheels.

Can see what you mean about the rear track, hope the switch from unis fixes the problem.

Looking forward to seeing the Lancia finished, even with that body.

[VagabondStarJXF]

Rear track is sorted. I put in some standard axles & dogbones and the rear wheels sit nicely in the rear arches. I also changed out the touring car (55mm) dampers for M-Chassis (50mm) ones and it sorted out the ride height nicely too. Unfortunately that didn't sort out the issue with the front wheels like I was hoping. The offset is just a little too much so the 60D tyres just clip the arches. I could just trim a little away but I've decided that I'd prefer to make some 0mm or 1mm offset wheels instead. After my recent personal troubles I'd just like something to go right, or just look right in this case, so that's what I'm aiming for.

 

Opinions needed, please: I know I could buy some 'universal' stealth mounts but space beneath this Stratos shell is limited so I'm considering redrawing the M04 body posts to be 'M04 Chassis Specific' stealth mounts. 3D printing would be more expensive than a generic kit, as usual, but these stealth mounts would be designed specifically around the stock mounts' design. It's a lot of work for something that's not exactly necessary because of what can be bought... I don't know... Anyone have any thoughts on this? Should I go ahead and design some stealth type body mounts for the M04 Chassis?

[VagabondStarJXF]

I've started on the stealth mounts to see how it looks. Obviously the front is where I've begun...

 

I'd tried designing it with a pin to hold it in place but I couldn't get it to be what I wanted it to be. Instead I came up with a clamp type version (as above) it requires an M3 nut and screw to tighten the main arm down around the shaft portion. It isn't gonna be pretty having the M3 screw head and nut sticking out above and below the main arm but it means that the shaft (and, therefore, the head that holds the magnets) can be rotated to suit the angle of the body it's fitting beneath. That's the idea at least. The head is mounted on a pivot and is designed to hold a 10mm x 1mm magnet with a slight overlap for the magnet that'll be stuck onto the body shell. The shaft is short as I don't see the point in printing off more than I need but if I add it to my shop at a later date I can always make longer shafts available. It's also hollow. The overall height has been dropped to make the magnets sit as close to the same height as the lowest hole on the standard body mounts as I can get.

 

I've also finished a 0mm offset version of the M-Chassis Coffin Spokes. The face had to be drastically 'flattened', more so than I thought I'd need to, but it doesn't seem to have done it any harm looks-wise. It's such a disappointment that the 3mm offset doesn't fit right on the my Tamiya M04S with HPI Stratos shell combo. At least it fits ok on the HPI Cup Racer chassis & Stratos shell combo (as per firefoxussr's Stratos project).

[Crash Cramer]

Goodness, the body mount looks so much more promising than me hacking and cutting and fiddling about trying to fit my BMW2002 body to the M04 chassis. I sure hope these come along quickly and I can then get something in the way of progress.

[VagabondStarJXF]

8 minutes ago, Crash Cramer said:

Goodness, the body mount looks so much more promising than me hacking and cutting and fiddling about trying to fit my BMW2002 body to the M04 chassis. I sure hope these come along quickly and I can then get something in the way of progress.

How high does that body sit? The Stratos shell sits all the way down to the bottom of the stock body posts. If you're interested in these mounts I'll make them available to buy, after testing, and with longer posts/shafts if needed.

[VagabondStarJXF]

Well... The rears were a lot easier to modify once I knew which direction I was going...

 

Again I've gone for the clamp type thing but I'm not sure if I've made these shafts short enough. There's almost zero room beneath the body mounts and the rear shock tower. Ah well... If I've made them too long I'll just have to cut it down to fit. Anyways, time to figure out how I'm gonna bundle two front arms, two rear arms, four shafts and four heads together...

[Crash Cramer]

12 hours ago, VagabondStarJXF said:

How high does that body sit? The Stratos shell sits all the way down to the bottom of the stock body posts. If you're interested in these mounts I'll make them available to buy, after testing, and with longer posts/shafts if needed.

I grabbed my project and it looks like I bodged on some other mounts from a similar interface, they are the square mount on both sides with the 90 degree bend straight up, could be a TL01 mount??? I know that this body on the front will possibly sit best right on top of the stock front shock mount, but I have to pull all the body mounts off that I was trying to mount up those magnetic mounts to. I love what you have done there on the front and the rear modified mounts there. I am so far away it seems from getting things done.

[VagabondStarJXF]

I've just been rummaging around and found that Fiat Abarth 1000 TCR Berlina Corse body that I'd bought for my M06. It wouldn't fit on the M06, sad to say, but good news!!! 

It fits my M04S really, really well! 😁 😁 😁 

If I decide to build another M04S for this shell I think I'll need to change out the rear body mounts for some TL01/M03 rears and reverse them like I've done with the stock M04 ones. They were being pulled forward a bit too much for my liking. And I'll need to get some standard M-Chassis tyres instead of using the 60D Rally Blocks... because I bought them for my Stratos. I'm also undecided as to which motor I want to use for the Stratos. This Acto M-Special motor is going to go into either my M06 or my M04XL/247mm wb so I may need to buy another motor. If not I'll probably take the Torque Tuned out of my MF01X to use in my Stratos... then I'm stuck with what motor to use for that!

[Crash Cramer]

I see a yellow BIGWIG back there, nice Abarth too

[VagabondStarJXF]

8 hours ago, Crash Cramer said:

I see a yellow BIGWIG back there

Yes... Yes you do...

One day I'll get around to finishing it and maybe edit together my time lapse build vid. It's in so many parts all because I was missing bits 'n pieces as I was building.

8 hours ago, Crash Cramer said:

nice Abarth too

Thanks.  

[Crash Cramer]

Of course you caught me on the way to my vacation, but I do have a few. Intake BW parts here, perhaps when I get back you can let me know what I have here that I can send you to help.

[VagabondStarJXF]

2 hours ago, Crash Cramer said:

Of course you caught me on the way to my vacation, but I do have a few. Intake BW parts here, perhaps when I get back you can let me know what I have here that I can send you to help.

Thanks for the offer but I think I've actually managed to get everything I need... until I find out I'm missing something else!  Seriously, though, I think my Bigwig just needs the last few bits I've bought added to the build, the Technigold wires and capacitor soldered into place, an 8.4v battery bought and charged up, and I need to order some decals before I can do up a new body, but I think it's all good for the build.  

 

In the meantime... Have a happy vacation!

[VagabondStarJXF]

A rather incomplete 037 body set arrived today so my proposed 037 project is now definitely a 037 Stradale(ish) project. There's no light pod, no side pods, no light buckets, no lenses, no wipers and no wing mirrors... but it does have the windows piece and the decals.  So it's a "Go!" for my 037 Stradale(ish) Project but there's lots of stuff to draw up for this conversion and not really a lot of time...

In other news...

I've done a few more bits for my Stratos project to go along with my 0mm offset coffin spoke wheels and Stealth type body mounts.

 

I'm having another stab at making some 1-Piece suspension arms. After all the failures I've had at making arms for my other projects (some worse than others) I'm hoping that I've gotten my head around the issues and that these turn out ok and not too gappy. I've also put in a space for the M04 stabiliser kit just in case I manage to get myself another set sometime in the future. The fronts are also slightly longer, only another mm or so, to help turn the positive camber into negative. I just don't like the way the tops of the tyres are pointing outwards under the Stratos shell. I'm hoping that this little change might also help bring the front wheels up a bit, bringing the front ride height down a bit in the process. The front sits too high compared to the wheels/the front wheels sit too low beneath the body even though it's completely level with the chassis.

 

I've done up a rear shock tower but with a slight modification to bring it a little lower and a little more forward. The rear suspension of my Stratos seems to be sitting a little higher than it should and, after test fitting my Fiat Abarth 1000 TCR Berlina Corse body, I figured it could do with a little more space to clear the dampers too. Hopefully I haven't fouled things up by doing this modification and, if I haven't, it also means I have another piece for my DT02 Sand Rover/Holiday Buggy project which I've been slowly redoing.

 

Lastly I've put together a modified front bumper mount. Originally I only needed the top piece because I just wanted to fit on an original M04 bumper to my Stratos instead of the Square aftermarket one I'm currently using. Then I was contacted about drawing up ALL the parts for the M04 (which I might actually do eventually) so I figured I'll do up the lower piece too. That's when I had a bright idea about adding a skid guard, or a splitter, or something or other to the front. I've added a cluster of screw points just in case I go ahead with this idea. I could also remove them before sending it to the printers if I decide against it.

[firefoxussr]

On 7/26/2017 at 10:29 AM, VagabondStarJXF said:

A rather incomplete 037 body set arrived today so my proposed 037 project is now definitely a 037 Stradale(ish) project. There's no light pod, no side pods, no light buckets, no lenses, no wipers and no wing mirrors... but it does have the windows piece and the decals.  So it's a "Go!" for my 037 Stradale(ish) Project but there's lots of stuff to draw up for this conversion and not really a lot of time...

For a true Stradale the front headlights/grille/clip & rear grille/lights will both need a re-draw.   But if you ever get that ambitious count me in!  Now how about hacking that silly rear spoiler off :-D

And kudos on the M04-S, I like it!

[VagabondStarJXF]

2 hours ago, firefoxussr said:

For a true Stradale the front headlights/grille/clip & rear grille/lights will both need a re-draw.

True but I've decided that I prefer the Rally version headlights surround though so those are stayin'. The rear end is getting the Stradale revision if I can design it the way I want it to be. As for the rest... I'm trying to see how my FreeCAD skills handle the task. I'm having to draw up all the light buckets and lenses anyway so I thought "Why not?". I'm just not quite sure how I'm going to manage the hood vents, what with the way the piece would be curved in multiple ways. FreeCAD doesn't seem to like what I'm trying to do with that. It keeps going wrong. I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually. If I can get everything ready to print by the end of the August, and affordable, then I'll be happy. If not then it'll be put on ice until 2018. I've gotta finish up so much stuff... again... and I really only have until November because, well, Christmas.

2 hours ago, firefoxussr said:

kudos on the M04-S, I like it!

Thanks! The chassis redesign has actually proven to be more useful to me than I thought it was going to be. I've added two spacers to it to bring it up to the 239mm/M04L length for the 037 and, out of curiosity (because I've never been bothered about it before), I weighed the chassis with body on top. Amazingly, once my usual 7.2v stick pack is placed in there, my 037 has a weight distribution of 45/55 (bias towards the rear) at the moment. For this chassis type, being an MR, I've read that this weight distribution is probably closer to being ideal rather than the 50/50 I've heard good things about. Ah, who knows if this'll make any difference once this is all done n' dusted? I'm not a racer so it's all gobbledegook to me. lol

 

BTW, I see what you meant when you asked about moving the body posts back a bit. Those body post holes for the rear are quite a ways back, aren't they? Also the fronts need moving forward and both front and rears need moving inward as well if the original body post holes are to be utilised. Don't worry. I'm working on these too!