Tamiya TA04 3D printed parts

[Tizer 606]

Recently I aquired not one but 3 TA04's almost at the same time. 2 weeks ago I also got in a set of TA04-SS Toyota MR-S bodies. With this whole lot my goal is to build 2 nice TA04's out of the parts I have now, and build up the third with whatever I have left if possible.

Ofcourse I was missing a couple bits here and there, so with me being at Shapeways everyday I decided to print the parts I needed.

First parts to be finished are the battery holders for the TA04 plastic tub chassis. One of my cars was missing them, and they were easy to make so I drew up a set and they fit great on the first try.

In case you want to buy one, they are now available on my Shapeways shop: https://www.shapeways.com/product/C4TDGN5JP/tamiya-ta04-battery-holder?optionId=64338862

Next up is the little bushing/spacers that sit on top of the steering arms when a carbon fibre upperdeck is used. I found a SSG carbon upperdeck for sale at this years IconicRC Revival and bought it, only to find out I needed the spacers. My latest TA04 had the full carbon fibre chassis on it, so it was easy to copy the geometry... But printing them to be the exact right size seems to be very difficult. The third version is in the printer now and hopefully it will fit snug this time

[Grastens 2795]

Intriguing! Especially as a TA-04 owner...

I look forward to seeing this project progress!

[Tizer 606]

Succes! The third version of my spacers fit perfectly. 

As you can hopefully see, it's not just a standard bushing. It has a little step on it to sit against the bearings in the steering arms. 

Here's the TA04 I'm working on at the moment.
And a photo taken with something other than my crappy phone.

 

[Tizer 606]

In the meantime I'm also working on another TA04 project. This one is an old TA04 with carbonfibre chassis I got in an auction from Japan. It was set up as a CS drift car, but had some nice upgrades. The previous owner put the suspension from a TRF415 on it along with some changed pulleys and turnbuckles.

I took it all apart and used a plastic donor TA04 for parts. I polished up the carbon decks to get rid of the dull spots and used the best pieces from both cars to start building again.

This is where I'm at right now. I am still missing a few pieces but it's more or less there. I stole the TRF dampers off an FF01 project I bought a while ago and also added a brand new TA04SS suspension.

The TA04SS arms shorten the wheelbase a bit to fit the Toyota MR-S and Audi TT bodies. I managed to score two complete sets of MR-S bodies a while ago from a local auction including the box. Very cool!

The carbon fibre print body will live on this chassis. I'm not sure yet if I want to try and clean the windows to they are transparant. We'll see.

I also added a 3D printed servo dummy to keep the wheels straight on the chassis while it's on the shelve.

Another shot of the chassis as it is now. Hopefully I have some time soon to start 3D designing some parts for it again.