Sand scorcher from dt-03 bits?

[Bdongyface 28]

I have just bought a sand scorcher body set but I currently don't have a chassis for it to sit on. I was wondering if it would be possible to use some of the parts from a dt-03. I currently have all the parts except for the chassis. I was wondering if it would work to make some kind of aluminium plate or chassis rails to bolt the front and back end onto? Or is there a better way? Would I need shorter arms?

[TurnipJF 9192]

I would think that a dt03 would have a significantly longer wheelbase than required. However fortunately the main significant difference between a DT-03 and a DT-02 is the central chassis. The suspension bits are pretty much identical, as is the gearbox. And a DT-02 chassis would give you a shorter wheelbase. Maybe this would be a point from which to start?

As for the arms, if you want to reproduce the look of a classic Sand Scorcher, they would need to be significantly shorter. However if you want to replicate the look of a modern Baja Bug with it's extended suspension, the longer arms should be fine.

[Mokei Kagaku 2706]

33 minutes ago, TurnipJF said:

I would think that a dt03 would have a significantly longer wheelbase than required.

Wheelbases:

DT03: 287mm

DT02: 260mm

SRB: 250mm (Sand Scorcher)

The wheelbase of the DT02 can easily be shortened by 3.5mm by using F103 offset uprights (item number 53259). I did that on my DT-02 Holiday Buggy and Sand Rover to make them look a tiny bit less silly. See photo of parts below.

By taking material off the rear uprights and "shimming them forwards", a few more millimeters can be gained, although probably not quite 6.5mm as it would weaken the rear uprights quite a bit if removing that much material.

I haven't checked if the DT-02 tub fits inside the Sand Scorcher body, but I have removed the side pods of a DT-02 tub (everything beside the battery tray on both sides) for another purpose and the remaiing part was reasonably stiff and strong and for a fragile body like the Sand Scorcher, you probably don't want to run the model that hard anyway.

[ThunderDragonCy 7886]

The dt02/3 rear arms are quite heavily offset. I bet if you flipped them it would give you the right kind of wheelbase if using DT02 as a basis. The other option if looking at a DT02 setup is a shortened plate instead of the centre tub. This is fairly easy to do with DT02 parts. It's virtually impossible with DT03 bits because the front end kick up is integrated into the chassis. 

This guy did a carbon DT02 chassis.

If you had all the dimensions drawn up either fibre lyte would make you carbon bits (a 3mm carbon bottom plate would be enough on its own for what you need) or Cobra racing (they are on Facebook) would do you an aluminium plate for a good price. 

[Bdongyface 28]

That Astute gator was exactly the kind of thing that I had in mind! Thank you ThunderDragonCy ! I actually have a DT-02 at the moment as a holiday buggy, but I had hoped to be able to run them together as they both have a nice retro look, so I don't really want to break that one up, but I could  get the measurements from that to build up a shorter version out of aluminium or carbon fibre plate. But I guess it might be a lot cheaper to just buy a new tub! The scorcher body hasn't arrived yet, so I can't test the fit yet myself, I was just getting excited and looking into what parts I might need to order to get this build going.