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Blista's TT02R Subaru WRX STI NBR Challenge

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I ordered the MST wheels and a few other bits which arrived today.  A new pinion (18T) should change the gear ratio to something more suitable for drifting.  The springs will help with tuning for both on-road and drifting, and I got some shims to help tighten things up a bit.

Sqr4Nqq.jpg

This is rapidly becoming a TT02R drift build.  These wheels put me back on track with WRX.

FFanvxv.jpg

The 26mm slicks look a bit puffy on the 24mm wheels, but I'm really happy with how the wheels look.  I'll be looking into finding some tyres and some aluminium wheel hexes next.  I almost bought the full aluminium steering setup.  Thankfully rcMart sold out as I'm supposed to be saving for a crawler/trail truck.

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As it's been raining all week I tidied up the garage for drifting.  Even in a double garage there's not really enough room for more than a few figure eights.  Other than a bit of dust it survived unscathed (had a close call with the push-mower blades).

YTG73mD.jpg

I've added the 18T pinion which is a big step down from the stock 22T.  Surprisingly, I couldn't find any solid information on springs for a 4WD drifter.  At least nothing that wasn't also contradicted somewhere else.  I went with what seemed logical: soft springs at the rear with large spacers and medium up front with small spacers.  Seems like a nice improvement although it could be the placebo effect of adding new parts.  The problem is understeer when coming off the throttle.  A one-way diff might cure that.  I'm not sure I'm willing to fork out for one.  I'll try a bit more suspension tuning.

qWKLoh6.jpg

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Have you tried the springs the other way round? Stiffer at the back and softer at the front. If it understeers you want more weight transfer to the front as you brake which lightens the back. I would also try lighter oil in the front (30w) and heavier in the rear (50) If the back is then stiffer with little or no sag it should break free quicker especially if it is stiff laterally with little chance to roll. I had the opposite problem with my TT-02R in that I couldn't get it to get the power down without snaking or spinning so ended up soft at the rear, stiff in the front with a shorty pack pushed back in the battery slot.

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You should give a one-way serious consideration.  The one-way allows the front end to free wheel when cutting power or braking; the effect is like using the e-brake/parking brake in a real car.  The rear end of the car will break free while the front end will stay planted and won't understeer.  It's a night and day difference between a standard diff and a front one-way.

Grotty's suggestion for springs is the more typical setup for a drifter.

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One way is the way to go. I remember not being able to clear some corners due to front wheel slip and understeer. Matter of fact, you will need it for some of those tight corners, it's physically impossible to slide the rear end in a small radius otherwise.

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On 5/20/2018 at 7:39 PM, Grotty Otty said:

Have you tried the springs the other way round? Stiffer at the back and softer at the front. If it understeers you want more weight transfer to the front as you brake which lightens the back. I would also try lighter oil in the front (30w) and heavier in the rear (50) If the back is then stiffer with little or no sag it should break free quicker especially if it is stiff laterally with little chance to roll. I had the opposite problem with my TT-02R in that I couldn't get it to get the power down without snaking or spinning so ended up soft at the rear, stiff in the front with a shorty pack pushed back in the battery slot.

I'll give it a go this weekend.  Since I'm generally only running outside on concrete I probably won't notice too much difference between damper oils though.

On 5/21/2018 at 1:00 AM, speedy_w_beans said:

You should give a one-way serious consideration.  The one-way allows the front end to free wheel when cutting power or braking; the effect is like using the e-brake/parking brake in a real car.  The rear end of the car will break free while the front end will stay planted and won't understeer.  It's a night and day difference between a standard diff and a front one-way.

Grotty's suggestion for springs is the more typical setup for a drifter.

I've been thinking about it but the cost puts me off since I would still need to sort out getting more steering.  I should probably look at a drift specific chassis if I'm going to spend that much money, but there's no drift track where I live so I'm unlikely to do that.  I'm kinda stuck between just living with what I've got or having a really expensive TT02.

On 5/24/2018 at 12:27 AM, _oliK said:

One way is the way to go. I remember not being able to clear some corners due to front wheel slip and understeer. Matter of fact, you will need it for some of those tight corners, it's physically impossible to slide the rear end in a small radius otherwise.

If it was a bit cheaper I'd definitely buy one.  I think it's the limitations of a cheap chassis which puts me off buying it.  Sort one problem, there's still plenty more.

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Yeah, that's true. I never had one either. 

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Hey Blista have you done any more to this ? Tempted to get the Subaru shell for a TT01E, I just missed a cheap shell on ebay. Tempted to get the MST wheels as the car is currently wearing a GTR body, so the wheels are wrong anyway. I haven't been able to find anyone selling the MST tyres and in general 24mm ones are a bit thin on the ground, I might wait and see if the 26mm ones work ok.

Your guide for the paint and stickers is very useful, thanks!

 

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5 hours ago, Mark_C said:

Hey Blista have you done any more to this ? Tempted to get the Subaru shell for a TT01E, I just missed a cheap shell on ebay. Tempted to get the MST wheels as the car is currently wearing a GTR body, so the wheels are wrong anyway. I haven't been able to find anyone selling the MST tyres and in general 24mm ones are a bit thin on the ground, I might wait and see if the 26mm ones work ok.

You guide for the paint and stickers is very useful, thanks!

 

I haven't had the chance to do more to the TT02 recently.  I'll probably at least order some tyres soon though.  If you can't find any local sellers then places like rcMart and AsiaTees usually have decent amounts of MST stuff in stock and I've always found them reliable.

Glad to hear you found it useful.  I keep meaning to write up a few other tips and ideas about trimming, painting and applying decals to the WRX.

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I have seen the MST tyres at rcmart & asiatees, but there is no indication if they are 24mm, not even on the MST site - I wasn't sure if they made more than one wheel width. Yeah Racing do some 24mm slicks on rcmart too but I was thinking more of treaded tyres.

I was considering getting the grey ones and the using a translucent "smoke" paint to darken them, but I found plenty of pictures of the real car on black wheels and I think they kind of match the black splitter/side skirts.

Not ordered from rcmart before, but I can get everything from them in one go, so might be the easiest way.

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Yeah, MST aren't too good at providing information on their website.  As far as I know their rally and road car tyres are 24mm.  I'll probably get their road tyres for my WRX.

If you wanted a gunmetal colour for the wheels then you could try using the Tamiya TS spray paints.  I've never used them on wheels but someone here would know about it.  I'm looking at adding a disc-brake wheel hex set so I think the black wheels will help them stand out more.

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Softer springs should be in the rear. I have a TT02 as well, and there's not much info out there on turning them into drifters. I found that 10 or 20 wt. oil all around works welln, with Tamiya yellow springs up front and red ones in the rear.

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On 7/13/2018 at 1:18 PM, velineon said:

Softer springs should be in the rear. I have a TT02 as well, and there's not much info out there on turning them into drifters. I found that 10 or 20 wt. oil all around works welln, with Tamiya yellow springs up front and red ones in the rear. 

Yeah, a dedicated drift chassis doesn't cost much these days so I'm not too surprised not many people drift the TT02.  Thanks for the tips.  I'll try out a few different set-ups once the weather here clears up a bit.

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The TT01E turned up, so I've just ordered the wheels and some RIDE 24mm radial tyres from rcmart via ebay. Web-selections on ebay had the body set available for under £30, but wasn't sure the car was going to turn up, so I held off. I messaged them and they said they break a kit every now and then when they can get one cheap from their supplier. Both rcjaz and rcmart work out £31-32 (I think) for the body set.

I didn't realise the PS-48 paint was so expensive, I need to order the paints - I found euro car parts sell them and was hoping to find a discount code, but none of the ones I can find work for those products..

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2 hours ago, Mark_C said:

The TT01E turned up, so I've just ordered the wheels and some RIDE 24mm radial tyres from rcmart via ebay. Web-selections on ebay had the body set available for under £30, but wasn't sure the car was going to turn up, so I held off. I messaged them and they said they break a kit every now and then when they can get one cheap from their supplier. Both rcjaz and rcmart work out £31-32 (I think) for the body set.

I didn't realise the PS-48 paint was so expensive, I need to order the paints - I found euro car parts sell them and was hoping to find a discount code, but none of the ones I can find work for those products..

I fitted a set of 24mm tyres to my MST wheels last night and I'm not sure it looks right.  They look a bit small inside the wheel wells even though the difference to the kit tyres is minor.  I'll post photos sometime in the next few days to show what I mean.

The PS48 looks good but painting the WRX shell can be expensive if you follow the instructions to the letter.  If I was painting a runner and didn't already have PS48 I'd probably look at using PS41 Bright Silver.  It won't be the same but I think it would be close enough, costs half as much, and can also be used for backing on the PS16 Metallic Blue at the same time.

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You would say that now! never mind, mine are already on the way. I can always use the 26mm ones on the existing wheels.

I found the instructions for the bodyset and that says to back with the PS-48 but as you say I guess going with a cheaper silver will work.

Did you do the windows smoke colour as it suggests ?

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On 7/19/2018 at 5:47 AM, Mark_C said:

You would say that now! never mind, mine are already on the way. I can always use the 26mm ones on the existing wheels.

I found the instructions for the bodyset and that says to back with the PS-48 but as you say I guess going with a cheaper silver will work.

Did you do the windows smoke colour as it suggests ?

I was about to order some 24mm tyres myself before I remembered that the TT02R kit actually came with a set that I hadn't even opened (I really need to organise all my parts into a single container or something).  I took some photos but they didn't come out too well so I'll try again tomorrow.

I'm not sure that backing the body with PS48 would make much difference to the PS16 Metallic Blue.  It might enhance the metallic look of the paint, maybe?  Don't let me discourage you from trying things out though.  While seeing other people's paint jobs is useful, ultimately I've found having a go and hoping for the best is more fun.

I did use smoke on the windows.  I went quite dark (4 or 5 coats I think it was) since I didn't have a cockpit set.

The WRX body is officially finished since I mounted the spoiler today.  I went out and bought an 8mm drill bit for the mounts, and the car is almost half a meter long and no longer fits in a standard Tamiya TT02 box, so now I'll have to buy a plastic container big enough.

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Body should be here next week, wheels & tyres - who knows, they are coming from rcmart so sometime between now and christmas is the delivery date.

Provided you do enough coats of blue I guess backing it with anything won't make much difference. Deliberating an on road partner for the TT01, not sure yet, it can use the GTR shell the TT01 came with (or wear the NBR shell).

I was looking at pictures of the real car, seen at least 3 different rear diffuser designs but will probably stick with the body as it comes (2016 spec of real car).

I bought a brushless absima setup from ebay, works fine but when you release the throttle it has a brake, which stops the motor dead and therefore makes a rather alarming crack as the gearboxes lurch to a halt. Can't find out if and how I can program it. The chassis came with a tamiya ESC and a 20T HPI motor, so might just run that rather than risk the gearboxes with the absima.

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Ok, the WRX NBR body is finished at this point.  I thought I'd add some thoughts about it and post an update about the wheels.

The rear spoiler has been fitted, but I should've got some photos of the small edge spoiler first.  There's a pair of decals for it and they probably presented the most trouble on the whole body.  It took a bit of effort with the hairdryer to get it to conform to the edge and in the time since then until now they have popped up slightly.  A little glue might be necessary to hold it down.  If you've got the patience to mask it, painting it black might be better.  You can also see the mold lines on the attached plastic rear spoiler here.  I didn't paint it but if I did I'd want to sand them down.

9eGYSVe.jpg

Next up, the front splitter decals.  There's several black decals but the splitter below them is painted black.  Next time I'd probably put the effort into masking and painting these instead of using the decals.  I think it'd be easier that way and you wouldn't need to worry about decals lifting.  Cutting out the grill seen here in the photo and adding some fine mesh would enhance the realism, but if you're at that point you might want to chop off the lexan splitter and attach a solid one too.

BllD9F7.jpg

There's red decals on the front corners that weren't hard to fit but you can see the small gap I left between them rather than trying to mold them across the edge.  It'll just lift and be the first to get scratched up so I think keeping them apart works better.

Byw1Bgg.jpg

The small black wheel arch extensions have to be painted.  They are a bit tricky to trim, mask and paint.  There's some front and rear.

gmi3wHG.jpg

AJrlB9S.jpg

Out the back is the rear diffuser.  This is how the instructions say to trim it but they also say to cut it off entirely if you like.  You can see the line where it should be trimmed to look like the actual WRX, but in doing so I think what little structural strength it has will die.  I'm tempted to cut the whole thing off.

8vYEwBc.jpg

Up front the decals have the fake aero canards (bit with the RDS branding on them).  Slideology sell rubber canards for drifters that could be used here.  You can also see that some light buckets wouldn't be hard to adapt up front.  The biggest problem would be making ones big enough if you wanted to do the whole light unit.

vbo5BM5.jpg

Taking close up photos has revealed the little details and mistakes in the painting and decals.  Here I was thinking it looks pretty good, now I'm just noticing bits I need to improve on.  It's like an invasive examination.  An RC colonoscopy.

Anyway, onto the MST wheels.  Here's how the kit wheels look.

yfg4DXp.jpg

63jL2Fq.jpg

Now here's the MST wheels with some Tamiya medium-narrow tyres from the TT02R kit.

8mDzadQ.jpg

MKxu9Dn.jpg

The kit wheels to me look better sized in the wheel arches.  The bigger tyre sidewall would also suit some Dunlop decals for added realism.

i7CVqBr.jpg

vsLWppo.jpg

You can also see that the offset of the MST wheels needs to be taken into account.  They sit much further inboard, so some wider hexes are a must.  Tamiya kit wheels are +2 and I think the stock TT02 wheel hexes are 6mm (might be 5mm?).

3cWbZ4g.jpg

v42b5z8.jpg

MST sell some road tyres that look to have a bigger sidewall.  I might look into that option.  I'm sure there's something that works, it's just a matter of how much effort I want to put into getting it looking just right.

For now, that's the WRX NBR done.  There's a bit here and there to tidy up, like small decal bubbles, but this is going to be a runner.  I'm tempted to get another one to paint this coming summer.  I still have a long list of other bodies I want to do though.

The TT02R chassis itself is still a work in progress.  I bought it to be a cheap chassis just for fun but adding more hop-ups is proving too tempting.  A new camera might be on the cards first.  As you can see, my current one isn't doing too well.

p7hJ0Uo.jpg

 

16 hours ago, Mark_C said:

Body should be here next week, wheels & tyres - who knows, they are coming from rcmart so sometime between now and christmas is the delivery date.

Provided you do enough coats of blue I guess backing it with anything won't make much difference. Deliberating an on road partner for the TT01, not sure yet, it can use the GTR shell the TT01 came with (or wear the NBR shell).

I was looking at pictures of the real car, seen at least 3 different rear diffuser designs but will probably stick with the body as it comes (2016 spec of real car).

I bought a brushless absima setup from ebay, works fine but when you release the throttle it has a brake, which stops the motor dead and therefore makes a rather alarming crack as the gearboxes lurch to a halt. Can't find out if and how I can program it. The chassis came with a tamiya ESC and a 20T HPI motor, so might just run that rather than risk the gearboxes with the absima.

I think the metallic blue is thin enough that you'd need to put a lot of coats on before it became opaque enough for a backing to make no difference.  After 3 coats I was still surprised at how much light it let through.  Two coats of bright silver backing and it was opaque.

I haven't made the jump into brushless motors yet, but it sounds like maybe some kind of an ESC setting.

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3 hours ago, Blista said:

Ok, the WRX NBR body is finished at this point.  I thought I'd add some thoughts about it and post an update about the wheels.

The rear spoiler has been fitted, but I should've got some photos of the small edge spoiler first.  There's a pair of decals for it and they probably presented the most trouble on the whole body.  It took a bit of effort with the hairdryer to get it to conform to the edge and in the time since then until now they have popped up slightly.  A little glue might be necessary to hold it down.  If you've got the patience to mask it, painting it black might be better.  You can also see the mold lines on the attached plastic rear spoiler here.  I didn't paint it but if I did I'd want to sand them down.

9eGYSVe.jpg

Next up, the front splitter decals.  There's several black decals but the splitter below them is painted black.  Next time I'd probably put the effort into masking and painting these instead of using the decals.  I think it'd be easier that way and you wouldn't need to worry about decals lifting.  Cutting out the grill seen here in the photo and adding some fine mesh would enhance the realism, but if you're at that point you might want to chop off the lexan splitter and attach a solid one too.

BllD9F7.jpg

There's red decals on the front corners that weren't hard to fit but you can see the small gap I left between them rather than trying to mold them across the edge.  It'll just lift and be the first to get scratched up so I think keeping them apart works better.

Byw1Bgg.jpg

The small black wheel arch extensions have to be painted.  They are a bit tricky to trim, mask and paint.  There's some front and rear.

gmi3wHG.jpg

AJrlB9S.jpg

Out the back is the rear diffuser.  This is how the instructions say to trim it but they also say to cut it off entirely if you like.  You can see the line where it should be trimmed to look like the actual WRX, but in doing so I think what little structural strength it has will die.  I'm tempted to cut the whole thing off.

8vYEwBc.jpg

Up front the decals have the fake aero canards (bit with the RDS branding on them).  Slideology sell rubber canards for drifters that could be used here.  You can also see that some light buckets wouldn't be hard to adapt up front.  The biggest problem would be making ones big enough if you wanted to do the whole light unit.

vbo5BM5.jpg

Taking close up photos has revealed the little details and mistakes in the painting and decals.  Here I was thinking it looks pretty good, now I'm just noticing bits I need to improve on.  It's like an invasive examination.  An RC colonoscopy.

Anyway, onto the MST wheels.  Here's how the kit wheels look.

yfg4DXp.jpg

63jL2Fq.jpg

Now here's the MST wheels with some Tamiya medium-narrow tyres from the TT02R kit.

8mDzadQ.jpg

MKxu9Dn.jpg

The kit wheels to me look better sized in the wheel arches.  The bigger tyre sidewall would also suit some Dunlop decals for added realism.

i7CVqBr.jpg

vsLWppo.jpg

You can also see that the offset of the MST wheels needs to be taken into account.  They sit much further inboard, so some wider hexes are a must.  Tamiya kit wheels are +2 and I think the stock TT02 wheel hexes are 6mm (might be 5mm?).

3cWbZ4g.jpg

v42b5z8.jpg

MST sell some road tyres that look to have a bigger sidewall.  I might look into that option.  I'm sure there's something that works, it's just a matter of how much effort I want to put into getting it looking just right.

For now, that's the WRX NBR done.  There's a bit here and there to tidy up, like small decal bubbles, but this is going to be a runner.  I'm tempted to get another one to paint this coming summer.  I still have a long list of other bodies I want to do though.

The TT02R chassis itself is still a work in progress.  I bought it to be a cheap chassis just for fun but adding more hop-ups is proving too tempting.  A new camera might be on the cards first.  As you can see, my current one isn't doing too well.

p7hJ0Uo.jpg

 

I think the metallic blue is thin enough that you'd need to put a lot of coats on before it became opaque enough for a backing to make no difference.  After 3 coats I was still surprised at how much light it let through.  Two coats of bright silver backing and it was opaque.

I haven't made the jump into brushless motors yet, but it sounds like maybe some kind of an ESC setting.

I used PS-16 got a 100ml can for my F103 body.

 

I didnt have any color to back it up, ended up using the whole can, About 5-6layers. No need to back it up now :)

 

about the braking, definately a esc setting, yesterday I had a go at mine, didnt have any breaking and revers was not working.

So checked the settings and the internet for some clarification.

finaly, drag brake - off, initial braking - 40% and brake strenght 100%. Finally it works now. Reverse speed to 25%. 

Drag brake is heating the motor up they say.

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38 minutes ago, Fabia130vRS said:

I used PS-16 got a 100ml can for my F103 body.

 

I didnt have any color to back it up, ended up using the whole can, About 5-6layers. No need to back it up now :) 

A whole can into an F103 body?  I'm not surprised you didn't need any backing paint!

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The body turned up yesterday, so I have ordered paint and got some tape to mask it up with.

 

Ref the rear diffuser, original style (2014-):

2014-Subaru-WRX-STI-NBR-Challenge-rear-q

 

2015- spec

2015-subaru-racers-revealed-wrx-sti-for-

 

2018 spec, its quite subtle but you can see in the second picture they extended the diffuser

2018_subaru_wrx_sti_nbr_0.jpg

 

2018_subaru_wrx_sti_nbr_1.jpg

 

 

Provenance at Nurburgring 24hr (SP3T class):

2014 - 4th in class, 32nd overall

2015 - Class win, 18th overall

2016 - Class win, 20th overall

2017 - DNF (21 hours). Fuel fire.

2018 - Class win, 62nd overall

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I missed your last picture Blista - I would try changing the memory card in your camera first - sometimes they can go faulty and cause corruption like that.

I have just sprayed the black on my shell. I haven't cut out the wheel wells as neatly as you did. I did take up your suggestion of masking out and painting the lip spoiler on the boot. It also didn't make much sense to paint the back side of the arch xtensions blue and then putting a black stickr on them, so I've maked those up and painted them. Fingers crossed it works out. If the black is okay, I'll start the blue tomorrow.

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9 hours ago, Mark_C said:

I missed your last picture Blista - I would try changing the memory card in your camera first - sometimes they can go faulty and cause corruption like that. 

I have just sprayed the black on my shell. I haven't cut out the wheel wells as neatly as you did. I did take up your suggestion of masking out and painting the lip spoiler on the boot. It also didn't make much sense to paint the back side of the arch xtensions blue and then putting a black stickr on them, so I've maked those up and painted them. Fingers crossed it works out. If the black is okay, I'll start the blue tomorrow.

I've tried a few things but I suspect the camera is just suffering from old age.  I got it free when a business I worked at shut down over a decade ago.  Can't say I didn't get good value out of it.

Hope the painting goes well for you.  I'll be interested to see how it comes out.

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If you are drifting you probably wouldn't use drag brake anyway, since you gain more throttle control possbilities without it

 

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