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ThunderDragonCy

Grasshopper (DT0)3 - Adventures in getting back into RC - Now with Proline truck shell

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After a couple of misfires getting bores at wrong angles because of all the 3 deg construction planes in the CAD model, these babies finally arrived today. I think I'm on version 6 of the design now!! 

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Much more meat around the pivot.

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Have become slightly obsessed with how top links affect handling recently. Added the spacer under the ball end on the shortest link setting which should give the best steering IN THEORY. Currently battling understeer a bit on grass, but think I might just need spikes on the front wheels instead of cut stagger ribs. 

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When I actually get to try all this out is anyone's guess, as the weather is still really rubbish. Still, nice to have the car back together again.

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🤞

Still loving that purple.

Are you also running longer wheel hex’s?

(edit. Apologies for the double post. Just realised I posted in the other thread. Saw this again I thought it hadn’t posted originally 😳)

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No worries! Looking back i forgot to post about those on here. They are the longer TG10 axles with 10mm wide hexes. With the truck wheels on the front track is wider than the rear which looks weird. This just evens it out by widening rear track by 8mm. Also should theoretically improve turn in and traction.

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Weather and timings worked yesterday and i got the purple bits dirty!

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Nothing broke and it was fun to get a good run in. As i mentioned a few posts ago, now i am running on grass and switched the spike rears i have been chasing a better setup to reduce understeer and make the rear a little more lively. You might notice skme spacers under the ball ends on the new uprights? Well, i have properly down the rabbit hole on how upper link length and angle affects the car. Short answer is a that a short, angled link reduces roll/traction/grip, and a longer, more parallel link increases roll/traction/grip. So, spacer angling the shortest arm option (which is just a couple of mm longer than the stock position) reduces rear grip a little. 

Other thing i did to try and move grip to the front is put the stiff silver DF03 rear springs on (up from the middle gold option). Even with these as you can see the car sits down to roughly arms parallel to the floor which is about right. The big difference with the new uprights is that whereas before this would only result in about 20% drop to this point from full droop because of the kit uprights limiting droop by catching on the wishbones, now because the suspension is free even these stiff springs have about 35% droop to ride height which gives the suspension loads more roll capacity in corner and travel into bumps. When i ran on stones/gravel i was constantly battling groubd clearance vs grip because a medium sized stone catching on the u derside would kick the car up in the air. Ground clearance is much less of an issue running on grass, but this seems a good improvement to me.

Speaking of which, the other change i tried was taking off the softest black DF03 front springs and putting the really soft 50519 kit springs on. I could never run these on gravel for the reasons above - it would constantly jam stones under the car and get kicked up. Plus on gravel i was always trying to give the rear more grip. It's the opposite now. I have also u hooked the front roll bar to improve front grip too.

Bice thibg is all these changes seemed to come together in a positive way! On grass the lower front isn't a problem, but the front had way more grip and turned in really nicely. The rear still doesn't really slide or spin up; but now the front dives in when i turn its much more fun to throw around than before. I made so many other changes that i cab't really comment on the 3 deg toe in but it certainly ran really nicely. This is the Grasshopper3 as it stands now.

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Next thing i will do is get the rear roll bar back on and see if that makes a good difference at all.

 

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Got the rear bar on and front end has borderline too much turn in! On dry grass i was grip rolling a bit the other day. I think the kit fronts are still a little soft. The wishbones sit beyond parallel at rest. After a bit of research i have the TRF501 front springs on the way. 

Anyway, today i decided to run on the buggy wheels for the first time in months. Rears are still on CAT blocks, and i found some slim mini spike front i forgot i had. Man they have some grip on grass! Hard turn in, grip rolls, the works! Anyone who says DT03s have understeer problems needs to just get aggressive on their front tyre choice. 

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Another little change this evening. Finally gave in to hopupitis and got the carbon rear mount. With my adjustable uprights i am getting interested in what changes mean moving the shocks and pivots around. 

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Never superglued carbon before so i used some spare m3 threaded rod and a couple of nuts to make a handle which made it all go very smoothly. No fingers anywhere near glue.

Fitted up. The middle holes are same as the kit so i have moved them in. Might even out the currently slightly excessive front rear by giving the rear a different feel. We'll see.

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TRF501 springs arrived so i installed the softest red ones on the front. Stjffer than the kit fronts, but still fairly soft. Definitely better! The kit front springs gave tonnes of grip but also bit too aggressive turn in on grass, so was hard not to grip roll. These are about right for my quite heavy buggy.

Ran the car today and tried out the different shock holes on my carbon shock tower. Went to outermost position and low setting (outermost) on the wishbone. Turn in was good, but on tight turns the inside rear wheel would lift a bit and spin up (i have a geared diff). Seemed to me like it was running out of travel and lifting up, so i went back to the inner wishbone mounting position. With my 3 deg uprights not fouling the wishbone this setting gives much more droop and travel than the outer position. This improved things but still was happening a little, so i moved the top mount to the inner position. This setting now gives the softest suspension, the most roll and the most travel, and therefore most traction. This was the best setting with little spin up of the rear wheel and less aggressive turn in, so here it shall stay! Managed to drive one handed long enough to get a bit of video

 

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Project Find A Cool Lexan Body For The DT03 began today. Found out those Azarashi Quracca bodies were originally for the Kyosho RB5 which has a 285mn wheelbase. UK supplier DMS Racing has them on sale with two wings for £15. Decided to take the plunge. Very rough first cut looks promising. Ordered some paint and decals.

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Snug over my fan equipped ESC and 27mhz Rx but all fits. Probably will need some cooling holes. Quite excited.

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19 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Project Find A Cool Lexan Body For The DT03 began today. Found out those Azarashi Quracca bodies were originally for the Kyosho RB5 which has a 285mn wheelbase. UK supplier DMS Racing has them on sale with two wings for £15. Decided to take the plunge. Very rough first cut looks promising. Ordered some paint and decals.

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Snug over my fan equipped ESC and 27mhz Rx but all fits. Probably will need some cooling holes. Quite excited.

Great looking shell Cy!! Hope you got more than one :)

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That looks great. 

50/50 on wing height/size, maybe it needs colour, but the main body looks so much better than either the Racing Fighter or Neo Fighter. 

Looking forward to seeing this finished. 

Are you keeping it running truck wheels or planning on going back to buggy wheels with this? 

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28 minutes ago, Man1c M0nk3y said:

That looks great. 

50/50 on wing height/size, maybe it needs colour, but the main body looks so much better than either the Racing Fighter or Neo Fighter. 

Looking forward to seeing this finished. 

Are you keeping it running truck wheels or planning on going back to buggy wheels with this? 

Going to keep the truck wheels on mostly. I just prefer them. Will do some pics with buggy wheels as well when it's painted.

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Looks good with the wider wheels anyway imo. Seems to suit it a work well. Certainly doesn’t look out of proportion or anything in the pictures. 

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Painted! Tamiya PS18 Metallic purple. Covers so well compared to the oranges I have used on lexan! The protective film was on the outside/underside of the wing which i believe isn't the usual way around. Gave it a go anyway and came out well. I guess other colours might not. 

Window masks were spot on but being so large and over curved surfaces they are really hard to get on straight. I used the last of my core rc metallic black for the windows. Just a light coat to do the windows and back the purple before it ran out. Pretty happy with it. Got some Tamiya stickers on the way and I'll do some pics with buggy wheels then too.

So, cool body for the DT03?

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Looks great. Spoiler looks better now it has colour too. Maybe it was just the other picture angle making it look big. Looks much better now. 

Looking forward to seeing it decal’d up now. 

Its a ‘cool’ from me anyway! 

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3 hours ago, Man1c M0nk3y said:

Looks great. Spoiler looks better now it has colour too. Maybe it was just the other picture angle making it look big. Looks much better now. 

Looking forward to seeing it decal’d up now. 

Its a ‘cool’ from me anyway! 

Spoiler is cut down and shaped quite a bit from the clear photos. I am sure the big air dam is good for racing but I just wanted it to look good!

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18 minutes ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Spoiler is cut down and shaped quite a bit from the clear photos. I am sure the big air dam is good for racing but I just wanted it to look good!

Lol. Obvious now you say it. Didn’t even notice. Looks good though so you definitely achieved what you set out to do. 

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13 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

So, cool body for the DT03?

Very. Nice one. :) I think it works really well mate, you must be chuffed. It’ll look even better with some Tamiya stickers on.

How does it look with standard size wheels on? 

Have you ever thought about getting those two front damper mounts (ie the two halves of the standard plastic mount you cut in half) to be either 3D printed to your own design, or cut in flat plate aluminium or carbon fibre? 

Awesome thread as usual, Cy, good work!

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13 hours ago, ALEXKYRIAK said:

Very. Nice one. :) I think it works really well mate, you must be chuffed. It’ll look even better with some Tamiya stickers on.

How does it look with standard size wheels on? 

Have you ever thought about getting those two front damper mounts (ie the two halves of the standard plastic mount you cut in half) to be either 3D printed to your own design, or cut in flat plate aluminium or carbon fibre? 

Awesome thread as usual, Cy, good work!

Tamiya stickers were waiting when i got back from work. More pics including buggy wheels tomorrow.

Been wondering about just getting the carbon mount. As i have a nimh battery I don't have to worry when charging so generally charge it in the car so the body doesn't come off often. I guess the other thing is I haven't felt the need. Front now have plenty of grip so no nagging tickerers doubt about missing out on a set up tuning option.

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13 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Tamiya stickers were waiting when i got back from work. More pics including buggy wheels tomorrow.

Been wondering about just getting the carbon mount. As i have a nimh battery I don't have to worry when charging so generally charge it in the car so the body doesn't come off often. I guess the other thing is I haven't felt the need. Front now have plenty of grip so no nagging tickerers doubt about missing out on a set up tuning option.

Carbon or indeed standard mount would work fine with the new shell as the nose is like the Racing Fighter and you just slide that under and then clip. Give some strength/rigidity back too if any has been lost. 

Have you a theme in mind for the stickers?

Eager to see the finished result. 

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Stickers and buggy wheels as requested @ALEXKYRIAK @Man1c M0nk3y 😉

Tamiya DT03 Chassis fitted with a Team Azarashi Quracca body and wing. Tamiya PS18 paint. Decal Designs orange carbon Tamiya TRF repro decalsTamiya DT03 Chassis fitted with a Team Azarashi Quracca body and wing. Tamiya PS18 paint. Decal Designs orange carbon Tamiya TRF repro decalsTamiya DT03 Chassis fitted with a Team Azarashi Quracca body and wing. Tamiya PS18 paint. Decal Designs orange carbon Tamiya TRF repro decals

If I keep this body on most of the time I am going to have to have another look at my rear setup. Very noticebly sitting up about 5mm higher with the lightweight race shell on compared to the ABS Grasshopper2 shell. Usually the rear wishbones are parallel to the ground. Not now. Will run it and maybe try the next stiffness down on the springs.

Stickers are the "orange carbon" option of the Tamiya TRF sticker sheet from Decal Designs. I couldn't see any other buggy decals I wanted to use and didn't want to take a punt on some expensive MCI decals that might not work. These were 4 quid! Woukd be nice to have some more interest on the shell in terms of stripes or something but couldn't paint that and don't know how it would just get orange stripes as stickers. 

Oh, and looks like the carbon front tower decision made itself this morning.....

Oops

Just randomly failed whilst driving around on grass. New carbon tower 12.75. New plastic tower (which comes with a whole new chassis tub on the sprue!) 15.75. Decision made. But only after i wrestled for about 10 minutes wondering whether to get the plastic one with tub and build another DT03 "cheaply" from all my spares 😂

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38 minutes ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Stickers and buggy wheels as requested @ALEXKYRIAK @Man1c M0nk3y 😉

Tamiya DT03 Chassis fitted with a Team Azarashi Quracca body and wing. Tamiya PS18 paint. Decal Designs orange carbon Tamiya TRF repro decalsTamiya DT03 Chassis fitted with a Team Azarashi Quracca body and wing. Tamiya PS18 paint. Decal Designs orange carbon Tamiya TRF repro decalsTamiya DT03 Chassis fitted with a Team Azarashi Quracca body and wing. Tamiya PS18 paint. Decal Designs orange carbon Tamiya TRF repro decals

If I keep this body on most of the time I am going to have to have another look at my rear setup. Very noticebly sitting up about 5mm higher with the lightweight race shell on compared to the ABS Grasshopper2 shell. Usually the rear wishbones are parallel to the ground. Not now. Will run it and maybe try the next stiffness down on the springs.

Stickers are the "orange carbon" option of the Tamiya TRF sticker sheet from Decal Designs. I couldn't see any other buggy decals I wanted to use and didn't want to take a punt on some expensive MCI decals that might not work. These were 4 quid! Woukd be nice to have some more interest on the shell in terms of stripes or something but couldn't paint that and don't know how it would just get orange stripes as stickers. 

Oh, and looks like the carbon front tower decision made itself this morning.....

Oops

Just randomly failed whilst driving around on grass. New carbon tower 12.75. New plastic tower (which comes with a whole new chassis tub on the sprue!) 15.75. Decision made. But only after i wrestled for about 10 minutes wondering whether to get the plastic one with tub and build another DT03 "cheaply" from all my spares 😂

Looks great. Subtle. Looks good back on buggy wheels too. 

Sod’s law on the front mount although maybe it was destiny 😂

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Absolutely loving this mate. Looks really good, a massive change in character, stance, poise, and appearance, yet still the DT03 chassis underneath. Looks a lot better on the buggy wheels in my humble opinion. As usual am very impressed with your creativity and lateral thinking. It looks really quick now, like you need to stick a 10.5 in it or something...! Sorry to hear about the suspension mount break but.... it’s a sign! ;)

 

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18 minutes ago, ALEXKYRIAK said:

Absolutely loving this mate. Looks really good, a massive change in character, stance, poise, and appearance, yet still the DT03 chassis underneath. Looks a lot better on the buggy wheels in my humble opinion. As usual am very impressed with your creativity and lateral thinking. It looks really quick now, like you need to stick a 10.5 in it or something...! Sorry to hear about the suspension mount break but.... it’s a sign! ;)

 

Funny you should mention hot motors. I put a 7.5t 5100kv in it the other week but was too much. Selling that and picked a 2nd hand 8.5/4400kv which went in today. The brief run looks like this is the one. Quick but manageble. I'll a post on the whole thing once I am happy with it.

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Well fitting the carbon tower was a wrestle! The holes were about 4mm out on the mountings. Seems running without a brace on the tower has slowly bent the mounting uprights. After much faffing and trying the old plastic mounts (same) I loosened the aluminium ones a little until the tower was bolted up tight, then did the screws back up. 

Tamiya DT03 fully hopped up. New carbon front shock tower. Team Azarashi Quracca body.

Next hurdle was that the shocks didn't fit! Despite the instructions showing the front end with top wishbones it has the ball nuts screwing directly to the tower. This caused my springs to seriously foul the wishbones. Ended up using the large shock spacers to get it sorted. Anyone else have this trouble? Or is the front of my chassis battered?

Spacers on shock mount to get shocks to fit

Hope it doesn't stress the mount too much. Might have to put the turnbuckles back on. Still, back up and running, with more shock tuning options to play with.

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