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ruebiracer

Avante 89

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Hey, looking good! That black window line sticker was my least favourite part of the build, really worried me about messing that up.. that 3M tape looks pretty useful too.

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Thank you for your likes! And yes Lee, that window sticker is tricky, so I tried it the other way round this time and tested the 3 M tape. It works great, but I have to state a little warning here: I layed down some more paint in the front area and tried to speed up hardening with my hair dryer, which caused the tape to lift slightly, where I had to stretch it to get the needed shapes. Pressed down again before the next layer is important then. It can be a very small lift, which you might not see at first. I guess with thin layers time by time, it should not be a problem.

Now I wait for my MCI Stickers again, as I placed another order before Christmas. Then I will see, which yellow / orange Stickers get the proper look for me. Also I will put a Motor inside and finish the gears inside finally. 

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Finally, in time for end of my vaccation, I got my second MCI sticker set for the yellow parts. As expected, they are brighter than the wheels, as it is with the 2011 box art. I let it be this way, although it is not matching the orange parts. So I am keen on your expertises. Cockpit is still in the making, and I Need a well lighted photo box or location for some decent shots. But looking at it is just fun for me, really like the looks. but have a look yourself. Upperdeck is still 100% Vajra, lower deck narrowed and with 2 additional holes drilled. The undercowl could have been trimmed less on the front end, so the carbon plate could have been covered a little more, although dealing with 15mm more wheelbase. Motor is my old Graupner 540BB VZ with a Technigold sticker from MCI, which covers nicely some scratches from back in the days.;)

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This is just wonderful! So much thought in the planning and great skill in the execution. I stumbled here having been following @TomEG's dirburners long wheelbase Avante on his site – so sad he doesn't seem to have got that one finished yet. But yours has it's own flavour, and some super subtle finishing. Love it.

To recap, did you do all this with just parts from an Avante re re and a Vajra (plus some hi-caps)?

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On ‎5‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 9:58 PM, Bwaaatch said:

This is just wonderful! So much thought in the planning and great skill in the execution. I stumbled here having been following @TomEG's dirburners long wheelbase Avante on his site – so sad he doesn't seem to have got that one finished yet. But yours has it's own flavour, and some super subtle finishing. Love it.

To recap, did you do all this with just parts from an Avante re re and a Vajra (plus some hi-caps)?

Thank you very much for the kind words, I´m also waiting for TomEG for his updates on his, which was the Inspiration for mine. For the parts, I reused the Vajra kit, and bought some of the Avante 2011 bits, as the undercowl, body and rear wing holder / rear bumper. The Vajra ball diffs and drive shafts I swapped with my Vanquish runner. (that was the only Intention I bought a Vajra kit, because it was so cheap and the single parts for a modern runner so expensive) So the drive Train is so to say Avante 88 again, by the Vanquish parts. The front Highcaps I bought as kit with the shock tower from Seidel, the rears as single parts. Rear shock Tower is again the 2011 Avante part. (although modifying the original Vajra part would work, too. And forgot the old aluminum uprights from the Vanquish, which give the Retro look compared to the modern CNC gold plated ones. (plus I wanted the more rigid ones for my runner, too)

I´m still about to make the driver, as I couldn´t decide for a Long time, how to fix it. Now I want to fix it to the chassis as original Avante spec. (second Option would be to fix it in the body as on the 2001 Avante. So I have to dig out a plan how to do it. Afterwards, I will think About a second Body set, which already is here and a nice runner paint job, which will be a little more custom style, as initially planned. And in the long term, I want to drive it some day to compare it to my Vanquish and an Avante 2001, I still have to restore.

Best regards, Matthias

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Thanks for such detailed answers Matthias.

Look forward to seeing the finished machine.

I have my own concept Avante build almost complete (much less ambitious than yours, mainly cosmetic) and will share when I have good pics.

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Didn´t spot your answer in time, but can´t wait to see yours! Your skills with the decals and TXR Imagination will be way more cooler than mine! I Need another Body set with some of your custom stickers...;)

Have a nice weekend, Matthias

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On 6/8/2019 at 8:08 PM, ruebiracer said:

Didn´t spot your answer in time, but can´t wait to see yours! Your skills with the decals and TXR Imagination will be way more cooler than mine! I Need another Body set with some of your custom stickers...;)

Have a nice weekend, Matthias

Cool! My pics are due on next week or two, and I’m happy to share my decal designs if you like.

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Hi rubiracer,

 

Could you authorize me to use your photo in my new video? I am making a video about Avante with a long chassis. I hop I could use one photo from you in the video as an example.

 

regards

 

chip1

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On 3/21/2020 at 9:54 AM, Chip1 said:

Hi rubiracer,

 

Could you authorize me to use your photo in my new video? I am making a video about Avante with a long chassis. I hop I could use one photo from you in the video as an example.

 

regards

 

chip1

Hi Chip,

I´ve no problem with using my photos of the lengthened Avante! Maybe you just leave a note or link of my thread here, that would be kind. Some weeks ago  I also decided on my final solution with the driver Cockpit, which I now mounted on the chassis like on the original Avante. (not to the body like on the 2001). Unfortunately my clear coat didn´t work well, so I have to repaint the driver and don´t have any pics yet.

Very keen on your video, hope you post a link in here. Good luck for the video,

Kind regards, Matthias

 

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Long time, no update. But been struggling the last 2 years about which shocks to use for this very special model. Then this year, the Egress Black Special was announced. Bingo! Real Hicaps, in a gold color. I knew, I had to use them. But unfortunately Tamiya made the Black special a limited edition, so you all know what comes: The special parts will not be sold as single spares! Ouch!. But hey, a plan came up my mind: Slaughtering of the kit would leave me a complete full tuning Rere chassis fo a Vanquish "CS" (carbon special). That´s the fully hopped up Vanquish in the original manual with all the hop Ups of the later coming Egress. My childhood dream from the magazines. So I preordered a BS Egress for a good price (399€) in Germany, and finally, I can present now my Avante 89 with the for me suiting gold shocks! Finally, I added the current state of the model to my showroom today:

58489: Avante 2011 from ruebiracer showroom, Avante 89 - Tamiya RC & Radio Control Cars (tamiyaclub.com)

The next month I´ll try to do some regular updates, in the end a runner body shall be done with a custom paint job and some running gear. I´ll probably will also add the Torque splitter set and ball diffs for pure Egress power. Had some tests with my Avante 2001, and with the torque splitter set it was just so nice driving on grass in a garden track last year. Very agile, but still stable. Anyway, I´ll have still the choice between center ball diff, center spool or Torque splitter.:lol:

Hope you still like the project,

Matthias

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I’ve had the same exact thought, the gold Black Egress dampers are a perfect fit for the Avante.

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So seems I have to start the next build phase for this project, as my Avante brother @Bwaaatch is pushing me!:lol:

For all the others joining in the thread now, it´s already 4 years ago that I started this project from a cheap Vajra kit I slaughtered the drive train out. With some research on the residual parts and the strange design of the Vajra monster truck, it became clear to me, that after all these years Tamiya designed a Carbon chassis with the Avante layout (big upper, small lower deck). These was done in 1988 already from some aftermarket tuning companies to get a bigger wheelbase as later done by Tamiya on the Vanquish, the official Avante CArbon graphite chassis set (which has the later Egress layout with small upper deck, and big lower deck). So with some residual parts from my stock like NOS uprights, Avante gear diffs and centre diff this Retro-Tuning Avante was brought to live. However, the last 4 years I was tinkering with how to proceed in this project. Shelfer body was kind of boxart with the tweaks for the longer chassis. But I always wanted to drive that beast one day, to compare it to my Vanquish and Avante 2001 runners. For this purpose, I already sourced a runner body 4 years ago, which has to be custom cutted the same way as the first one. That´s the next step, after finding my favourite shocks this year. I immediately knew after the first teaser pics of the Black Series Egress, that these were the shocks I waited the last years, still some original Tamiya, but something very special for a special car. And the flat gold finish was just so good to get some Avante box art feeling back to it.

So no longer story telling, but some main ideas for the next steps:

- Cut out runner body

- Use Tamiya RAcing wing set (Astute/Egress) instead of the flexy original. These brings already the decision of the winglets shape: Original Astute /Egress or some custom cut with more Avante shape???

- Electronics installation. TBLE02S is left over and will be installed to have equal hardware as my Vanquish and Avante 2001. Engine is a 13,5t speed passion MMM motor. Find that a reasonable power for my Vintage fun runners to get them lively enough on the track, but not to overpowered to risk the old stuff.

- paint scheme: Probably the hardest part for an Avante! It shall be a custom paint job with a little Retro looks, so no modern sponsors, more old school. Even Tamiya TRF stickers are maybe a bit early for a given release date of 1989. At that time, I had the Tamiya sticker sets for racing which featured "Tamiya performance Racing" or "Hop up options". Colors probably a mix of 2 or 3 and with bright colors for easy location of the cars on the track. The Tamiya stickers used a lot of neon colors in that era, and many painted bright colors. For some important/ historic Tamiya goodness, I tend to include the famous Tamiya Cobalt green as a main color! What do you think? A nice contrast to it is white, and for some pop the third could be camel yellow!

- decals: Here I have to say already thank you to Bwaaatch, who offered me his help in designing a custom sheet for the print at MCI.:) The ideas I had was the main thing, that bothered me as a kid back in 1988: The best and fastest looking buggy from my favourite brand did not win major titles!:blink: Ouch! Must be a traumata I have since then! All the magazines in German, that I still have suspected the Avante to be in the first places... So after this shame, with a laughing eye my idea is "Perry´s revenge" in 1989: Back "to the top"! @Bwaaatch had already started his fantastic imagination / storytelling in a showroom comment, which I mention here:

 

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"Decal suggestions:
- make a technigold 2 or ‘plus’ or ‘pro’ or ‘evo’ sticker for motor.
- Change the number from 6 to something else
- Rear wing slogan: “Being back is Boss” or “Being Back is Bananas!” (Second one I prefer, as it picks up on the ‘crazy’ element of the original AND the notion of returning). Consider the Avante 2001 wing if you want more room for Bananas!
- get some “Avante ‘89” decals in place of the regular Avante markings.
- look for some subtle detailing changes we could do in the colour scheme (like perhaps more red stripes like the ones leading to the big air intakes?). Or update a few small sponsors. I love F1 cars of the the era, and the changes between a Williams Fw10/11/12 are small but cool."
 

So cool ideas already in this one post from  @Bwaaatch::wub:

- Techigold label: could be changed again, totally true. I´ve been lazy with gold foil on the Speed PAssion BRushless engine with an MCI Technigold Repro sticker so far. 

- Numbering has to be changed, I fully agree! I always come back to "89", because it is also the number of the later Egress. Which should be the answer to all problems on the track, that the Avante was leaving open. Second reason is my naming of the project "Avante 89", which tells the (imagined) release date. Third "funny" reason could be, that Paranoid Perry would have to start very far from the top after not having big successes in 1988.:P

-Avante 2001 wing is already here (same as Egress / Astute / Tamiya Racing wing set.) So space would be there! A rear wing slogan is a must for me, as it was one of Tamiya´s core identities on there buggies when I was young! My initiial thought was to use Egress slogan, "way out running!",but I think it can be better. Even the side pod lettering would have been better also for Egress: "out in front!"  Still like the Vanquish´s "Away!". But I feel you´re right with alittle more relation to the Avante and the idea of the build. So my favourite was yet: "Revenge!" or "Revanche!" But you also hit the nail with  your two:

"Being back is bananas!" or "Being back is boss!" Would have the strong relation of "Being xy is zz!" from the Avante! -> Any suggestions welcome here!:)

- Subtle details is a very good idea! The air intakes are also important given the fact, that the Avante was known for some cooling problems of the high modified motors of that Era. I also like the stripes on your TXR Avante project! (for all who missed this marvellous imagination project from @Bwaaatch check the showroom: 58489: Avante 2011 from Bwaaatch showroom, Avante v3: TXR Avante prototype - Tamiya RC & Radio Control Cars (tamiyaclub.com))

Regarding the cooling problems: Tamiya e.g. told you to cut out the cooling ducts in the original Vanquish body manual! That could also be a detail for the runner body, maybe in addition with a mesh or something.

-Small sponsors will be a must. I´m totally fan of the old Tamiya sponsor stickers from that time. So maybe small variations to the original, which suit the new colors.

So long story telling again, but somehow I find it important for this project to get/understand the vibe of this. Probaly I´m being nuts.;)

Kind regards, Matthias

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@ruebiracer

 

Hi! Can yo do me a quick favour? Distance of the steering arms/poles, is it 37mm?

Yep, this question is related to that other steering topic.

Greetings, Tom

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Hi Tom,  distance of the steering bridge to the knuckle links is 66mm. distance between the 2 levers is indeed 37mm, as you suspected!

Hope this helps, but Avante steering is known for being no true Ackermann design regarding steering angles of front wheels. I copied the Avante 2001 geometry, as this was the latest evolution intended by Tamiya following this platform design...

Have fun,

Matthias

 

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On 12/25/2022 at 3:41 PM, ruebiracer said:

Hi Tom,  distance of the steering bridge to the knuckle links is 66mm. distance between the 2 levers is indeed 37mm, as you suspected!

Hope this helps, but Avante steering is known for being no true Ackermann design regarding steering angles of front wheels. I copied the Avante 2001 geometry, as this was the latest evolution intended by Tamiya following this platform design...

Have fun,

Matthias

 

 

Allright. I have a Avante2011 steering hop up kit laying around and wanted to tinker a bit around. But finally it was no success. Nevermind, thank you anyway.

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Finally some progress on the tasks! First was a rough fitting of the shell, cutted again to custom LWB demands. Rear Tamiya Racing wing with more downforce and width was also cutted to fit. Side Winglets were done from Lexan Scrap sheet first to create the original Avante shape. I´m still a little undecided to go this route vs. the original Egress/Astute winglets:

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Another task was to fit the electronics finally, which should be close from looks to my Avante 2001 and my Vanquish runner. Some day, I plan to do some track competition of the wild trio to find out, who is the boss.:D So, a TBLE02S had to be the ESC, together with a second hand 13,5t Brushless motor. Again I shot a nice Speed Passion MMM for low buck and pimped it with a golden Oracover foil and a MCI Technigold sticker for the "New Vintage" look. Servo was taken from my TB03R, which I upgraded this week, so a nice Power HD R12 servo was left for the Avante:spacer.png

Wires of the ESC were shortened, equipped with 3,5mm plugs for the Speed Passion motor and covered by some mesh hose and shrinking tube. On/off switch was shortened and replaced by a smaller Hobbywing switch from the rests box. Arrangement is nearly identical to my 2001 Avante runner now. The servo cable of the Power HD is very short from the factory. Good for your Touring car optics, but not for the Avante. I decided to make an extension cable from some rests, so a quick replacement on the track is possible at the track without packing out the soldering iron. The Plug sits nicely on the servo bottom:

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ESC Power cable was changed to XT 60 style for my 2 Lipo Stick packs. You consequently need a stick pack for the original Avante Undertray, which partly forms the shape of the battery in the rear. A square pack does not fit! I also needed to make a foam block on the battery holder, because the Vajra chassis has a more outwards battery position. I changed that in the beginning to original Avante position, but didn´t want to make new holes in the upper chassis. So the foam was aquick and decent solution for me.

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The antenna holder I couldn´t find today, there will be a small antenna tube like on my 2001 for the Vintage feeling.:lol:

That´s it for today, hope you like the news.;)

 

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