ThunderDragonCy 7881 Posted August 1, 2017 Been fascinated by DF01's since I learnt that the Top Force was a derivative. Love all the different chassis and other options there are. Then I spotted the Terra Conqueror and fell in love! I'm a sucker for a bit of orange. Unfortunately Terra Conquerors are like hen's teeth, and I wanted a project. I did buy a Top Force ReRe and then had to send it back due to a couple of big bills arriving that week, but I had already spent a bit on some of the bits I'd need to put on it. I realised that as I don't like the Top Force body the whole kit is a bit lacking due to needing to upgrade the shocks, motor mount, proper motor and ESC etc. Needs a lot of money spending on it after buying a pretty pricey kit. So I started picking up bits and pieces of must have DF01 hop up parts over the last few weeks whilst looking for a donor car. Picked up a virtually unused Blazing Star for reasonable money, and got a good chunk back selling the wheels and body. Now the final parts have turned up, here we are on the ground floor: A parts list: Blazing Star DF01 rolling chassis. Has some mad Futaba 40 MHz Tx and Rx too, which is kind of cool TBLE-02S Speed Passion 13.5R MMM motor Robinson steel 19t pinion Pargu metal motor mount Yeah Racing Universals for front axle TA02 Plastic Touring Car gearset Full bearing set TBG Terra Conqueror Repro Body MCI Terra Conqueror decals Tamiya PS white and orange paint Top Force Parts Bag E with chassis posts and upgraded prop shaft Top Force J Parts Top Force shock mounts Fibre Lyte Lower Deck Fibre Lyte Upper Deck Fibre Lyte battery straps Assorted M3 button flange head screw and nylock nuts DF02 Y-Parts x 2 for changing the CVA's to black to match Terra Conqueror TRF501X Ti Nitride shock shafts (originally purchased to convert the Top Force kit shocks to pistons and already posted when I sent the TF back) 0.5mm aluminium shims for the suspension Tamiya 5mm rod ends M3 threaded rod 200mm to make top arms and Top Force steering centre rod Aluminium 5mm ball nuts for shock top mounts and suspension top arms Tamiya 5mm ball ends with 9mm thread for wishbone end shock mounts Schumacher Black 12mm Hex 4WD 2.2" wheels front and rear Schumacher Cat Block Rear Tyres for front and rear + medium inserts There are metal 12mm hexes and some Lexan sheet to make an undertray on their way and I have some spare low friction suspension shafts and 5mm ball ends that will get used in appropriate places. Should be interesting...... 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Robert5000 928 Posted August 2, 2017 I have also been pondering a terra evo conqueror since the news of the Top force re re re, but haven't gotten round to it yet. Needless to say I'm looking forward to follow your build! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ThunderDragonCy 7881 Posted August 3, 2017 And so it begins..... Woke up early so got an hour in to get things kicked off. First stage - disassemble the donor vehicle Electronics out This is why you get metal motor mounts on DF01/TA01 cars Original tub removed and gearboxes out As I suspected - original metal spur gears and an incomplete bearing job. 1150s installed but 850s all still bushings. And back together with the TA02 Touring Car Plastic Gearset parts and 850 bearings installed. Left the 1150s supplied as they are metal shielded which is better for gearboxes. The full set I bought are rubber sealed for the uprights so this is a little bonus. Geared diff out. Never had a ball diff, and been nervous of the maintenance. DF01 geared diffs are sealed units though, so in goes a big dollop of 300000cst diff oil for some limited slip effect. Front gearbox apart. Slightly more major surgery on this as the front shock mount will be replaced as will the top arms and the driveshafts. Again, metal shielded 1150s already in there, but no 850s. Original gears in very good condition, but replaced them anyway as I have the new parts Front diff apart. This time with much thinner Ansmann grease which is around 5000cst Uprights were only partially bearing'd, with plastic bushing on the outside. All replaced with rubber sealed 1150s. Yeah Racing Universals replace the original dogbones. Got the front end mostly back together, but installing threaded rod top arms and Top Force shock mount, as well as the chassis change, will require the Top Force manual which I haven't downloaded yet. That'll do for now. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ThunderDragonCy 7881 Posted August 3, 2017 OK, I lied. Not quite finished! Looked at the Top Force manual over breakfast, grabbed my bike cable cutters and got to here: Need M3 x 32mm rods for front arms according to the manual Bike cable cutters Got some M3 button/flange head screws. These are all 12mm long to put this together Under ordered on the M12s as I want to drill out the C-hubs and use screws and bull nuts right through instead of threaded ball ends in, so I guess that really is it for today. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snappy1 966 Posted August 3, 2017 Like Robert5000, I also have a hot Terra in the works, mine is a genuine article , I have 2. From my point of view, a Terra Conqueror really needs ball diffs, as it was one of the original hop ups on this model. Mine is running alloy lightweight ball diffs from an Evo, the top force driveshaft has been replaced with a carbon fibre unit. I think I fitted some carbon fibre gear shafts too. I will also keep mine brushed, as I think the Dyna Tech motor is also an integral part. Top Force uni's are fitted to mine all round, the new hi caps are in the post..... While I am rambling, could I suggest some more hop ups? 53267 TA-03 ball diff, cheap, low maintenance and lighter than the Evo's lightweight alloy unit, I run a pair in a Top force with an 8.5 turn, no problem 53127 OP-127 Speed tuned gear set, you have a lot of headroom to go gearing wise with a 13.5 turn...... Get rid of the Blazing Stars driveshaft, they are junk, fit a Top Force standard unit. Your Blazing Star looks mint, it will look even better as a Terra Conqueror, sorry for the thread crap and carry on with your awesome build 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ThunderDragonCy 7881 Posted August 3, 2017 Thanks for the suggestions. I am going to stick with the geared diffs. Really can't be bothered with ball diff maintenance! The driveshaft do indeed look bad. I have some all metal ones from when I put unis in the front of my Thunder Dragon so I think they will go in the rear of this one when I do the rear top arms. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ThunderDragonCy 7881 Posted August 15, 2017 Now on holiday with a box full of bits and tools. Spent a nice hour this evening on chassis bits J parts and aluminium spindles installed on Fibre Lyte carbon lower deck. This has got me thinking/wondering about a longitudinal battery location with some different holes. We will see. Ball bearing Top Force steering linkage. So smooth! Rear end installed. Much more work to be done here as I have a Top Force shock mount and threaded top arms to install. I also found a crack in the gearbox casing so that will need sorting eventually I did get the front end installed and found an error in my parts buying. Top Force Parts Bag E I bought not only had lots of the steering, chassis and battery mounting items it also has the upgraded stainless prop shaft. Unfortunately it doesn't include the gearbox outdrives (they are in Parts Bag B which has lots of things I already have hence not buying it). I assumed the stainless prop would go in the stock DF01 outdrives for the coat hanger shaft but this is not the case. The coat hanger shaft is about 20mm longer than the Top Force shaft. For now I will keep building and run it 2wd if I get it finished on holiday. Ordered a Yeah Racing alloy shaft and outdrives for when I get home. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ThunderDragonCy 7881 Posted August 19, 2017 So this is where we got to Had to replace Blazing Star steering rods with the Top Force ones as they were too long. Learning as I go along. Decided I really needed to do all the changes to the rear end before carrying on. Off came the shock mount and top arms. On goes the Top Force mount. M3x12 with 6mm spacer from CVA2 shock sprue and the lightweight ball nuts for the top shock mount, 5mm thread ball end for the top arm and held in place by M3x10 flange head machine screws which should hopefully be better than the 2 self tappers I took out. I am sticking with the original wing mount. Next I used the rest of the M05 shaft set I bought for another project to sort the wishbone pivots. 0.5mm shims and 3x48.5mm shaft for the inboard pivot and 3x37mm with 4 1.0mm shims (Top Force shafts are 3x33m). Top arms made from M3 rod and Tamiya ball ends. Upright end used another 5mm thread ball end. This is the Top Force part but I wanted to put a through screw and ball nuts like the front but i didn't bring my drill to open out the holes. The ball screws seem solid so we will see. Final couple of bits are 9mm thread ball screws for the bottom shock mounts in the wishbones as per the original Terra Conqueror and swapped the Blazing Star driveshafts for Thunder Dragon ones I had spare. Added the machine screw/spacer/ball nut top mounts and 9mm thread ball screws to the front as well and that is it for this evening Found that the original CVA yellow shocks don't work with ball connectors. I am not convinced I have enough e clips and oil seals with me to build my new CVA2 shocks so I doubt it will get functional whilst I am away. Still have to cut, mask, paint and sticker the body which I have never done in polycarbonate before so I guess that is next. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mman2005 443 Posted August 31, 2017 Cracking write up so far thunder!! Loving the thread. Keep up the good work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ThunderDragonCy 7881 Posted September 4, 2017 Epic catch up tonight. Masked the body whilst on hols last week. Never masked lexan before. Found it pretty hard. Sprayed it this weekend and found it tricky to prevent over spray Used the decals to guide the masking. L7ckily it worked! Got back from my trip and the new prop shaft was waiting. Popped the gearboxes and found 2 cracks on the screw holes so drilled them out and bolted through Needed an o ring to stop the prop from one end. Only one though Shock assembly. DF02 Y parts for the bodies, red o rings and 2mm e clips, trf501 piston shafts and TRF415 CVA seals. Piston and rod ends from my other CVA leftovers. Overall cost about £28 so cheaper than full CVA sets. Better than the poxy metal plate things in the Top Force ReRe Fitted 2 hole pistons and the soft front and Hard rear springs from a regular CVA short shock set. Way too soft. I get about 50% sag so need to try some other springs Checked the Futaba 40mhz electronics in and nicked the ESC from my DT03 whilst waiting on the proper one to be soldered. Popped the wheels on Peeled the masking and decals on the shell tonight. Didn't go full vox art as I didn't like the yellow splashes on the body. Tried to make an underway but just ended up snapping the lexan sheet I bought. 8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mman2005 443 Posted September 4, 2017 Coming along well and great progress made! Masking is a real ache but worth it when done properly. It's amazing what some people can do. I get brain ache trying to figure out how to layer colours and have multiple layers of masking Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ThunderDragonCy 7881 Posted September 28, 2017 Still not properly run the car. The guy who soldered my esc screwed it up so getting that sorted is taking time. In the meantime the lack of Dirt protection was bothering me and after finding a pic of a blazing star with a top force undertray I took a punt. I cut it high just taking off the skirt of the moulding. Glad I did as it barely reaches the terra conqueror shell. Obviously it is not a perfect fit or seal but it is way better than I could have made and doesn't seem to flare the shell much. If I had known from the start I would have probably cut my TC shell 10mm deeper to get a bit of overlap for some Velcro. Got some black paint waiting to go on now I know it fits so that is this weekends' job. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
