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Ferruz

Building a new Manta Ray... with driver?

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Life is keeping me busy, I haven't started the build yet but all the parts have arrived and I found some time to work on the body shell, so at least I can update the thread with some pics.

After a lot of masking tape and a lot of patience (not my favourite thing to do) it's done. At first I thought I made a horrible mess... the wrapping film gets me every time! 

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20190408_211043-567x1008.thumb.jpg.12b5f31bef0c123b05c38f1e55dad817.jpgBut no, it looks like it turned out to be a good job eventually and I'm quite happy with it. The hues are annoyingly warped in this pics -especially the yellow- due to the poor artificial lighting, tomorrow first thing I'll take some photos in natural light

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Tell me about it...

Yeah it's pretty rough, and in a way it's one of the main reasons why I got into RC again after 20+ years!

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Usually better to paint darker colours (blue) first.

With your scheme it might've been easier to mask off the yellow parts too :) 

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Having finally started the build, I have a couple pics to update the thread.

Nothing to declare so far, just a lot of fun :)

I've also completed the setup of the electronics, with zero issues so far. I've read about a few people complaining about the TBLE 02s, this is my second one (it came with the kit and so did the first one) but in my case I was lucky and had no problems. I hope it'll stay this way once it'll be time to run the car

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Nice build.

I will share my experience with painting wheels.

I painted the wheels for my Neo fighter, as I wanted something different. I have had very few wear issues, only thing I messed up, was not thinking when I mounted the tyres. But other than the nicks from mounting the tyres, so far so good, holding up great. Here's what I did.

First I scuffed them with a 150 grit dry paper to key the finish.

Then I used Tamiya white primer.

This I wet sanded with 600 grit.

Then I applied the colour paint - 2 layers. Dupli-Color acrylic spray paint in my case from the local hardware store.

Then sprayed Dupli-Color clear gloss acrylic paint in three good layers.

Finished off with my small battery powered buffer I normally use for the hard-to-reach nooks when detailing my car. Medium cut, fine cut, and then polish. Turned out a treat.

If anything will get scuffed, it will first and foremost be the clear - and I can buff that up quite easily.

 

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Thank you DK308 for sharing your experience with painting wheels.

I did a very similar thing for mine, though in my case I didn't sand the finishing clear gloss layers, being some sort of lacquer and not acrylic paint.

I had no issues in mounting the tires, but I sure messed up something else. I didn't test the paint before starting (dumb dumb..) so I found out too late that it wasn't fluorescent enough for the result that I wanted! 

So I had to re- spray it white and then yellow again -this time another brand- and afterwards top-coat it with a couple good layers of the clear gloss sealant.. with these extra layers I was almost surprised I could still fit the tires! 

Also, if you take a close look, the less-bright yellow can somehow still be spotted here and there under the layers of bright one, so yeah it definitely isn't the best paint job I've ever done, but I think it's good enough for my purpose, counting that these wheels will soon be spinning in dirt anyway. At first sight it still looks good, and even if it's a bit messy in some spots, I have a feeling it will be pretty hard to chip/scuff and, if that happens, that would be on the top clear layer like in your case. Time will tell :)

 

In the meantime, I've installed and connected the electronics, and mounted the front and rear gearboxes on the chassis. It's coming together! ...though part of me would like the build to never come to an end, being so much fun.

I've noticed how the propeller shaft (like most, I've installed a thicker, aftermarket alloy one) seems to slightly touch the chassis on that plastic little deck where the receiver is placed, and was surprised that no proper bearing system was designed for that part, oh well. I couldn't help putting at least a little grease where I thought the friction is happening.

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The wheels are on, now the mechanics are almost done. I even took it for a slow mini-spin in my livingroom (just for a minute, to check that everything worked properly).

I'll probably try to handcraft some sort of lid to cover at least the receiver for when the time will come to hit the dirt, but besides that the build is kinda done, so the next step will be to figure out the decals and then, finally, I'll be able to dedicate some time to the title of this topic20190506_002036-1134x2016.thumb.jpg.757868579214bed034c55d6c726bd57e.jpg20190506_002027-2016x1134.thumb.jpg.99040992b7e33a14c658d350fd17a104.jpg.. the driver!

 

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What? "Thaw out"?? We're so far up north here that we don't even know what that word means...

This is how I fare these days:

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...naah just kidding (though that pic isn't but a few weeks old).

By now even we get to be blessed with some summertime:

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...but let me tell you, such extreme weather makes for heaps of fun with RC!

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I've been experimenting with the final looks of the Manta lately (whenever I found the time), dry-fitting many stickers and trying different solutions and decal schemes. I've spent a few hours on it already, and I'm still not done... I find that fitting the "right" decals in the "right" place can be time consuming and quite complicated unless you know exactly where you wanna get, or you are following box art.

In this case, I don't mind the plain look of the stickerless body, though I thought it was screaming for some sponsors.

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Unlike other times, I have plenty of eligible decals but it is hard to choose.

Here are some pictures of how it's coming along, anyway.

The other day, after a few beers -which definitely influenced my decisions- I went pretty bold and not only did I stick many, but by doing so I ended up adding another colour to the party (fuchsia).

Definitely odd and definitely not for everybody, in fact right after putting them on I thought I'd peel many of them off once more lucid but, after a good night sleep, the car still looked totally bad *** to me and so... they are all still on :rolleyes:

I can always change my mind and peel the odd ones off whenever, so I'll just leave them on for now. I might add and/or change a little something here and there, but it looks like the final identity of this buggy is going to be something like this.

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Hope you like it so far.. :ph34r: ...any imputs, thoughts, ideas always welcome of course.

I've also tried it -VERY carefully, there shall not be any invasive action until it's fully finished and dutily photographed- and well... at least to my humble standards, it's SO freaking zippy! B) crazy acceleration (to my standards, I repeat) with the 20T pinion. Thanks so much @juggular once again for the tip.20190527_184703-1701x3024.thumb.jpg.21108e2d775d165bc77c411de14dc504.jpg

 

...and now, finally, it's time to do the driver!! Am excited though I haven't chosen the exact colours yet. Anyway you guys were so right, plenty of room under the hood.

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Driver done! Here's my Slippery Sam, to be installed anytime soon, last thing to finish the project. It's about time as I can't wait to drive it

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7 hours ago, Ferruz said:

Driver done! Here's my Slippery Sam, to be installed anytime soon, last thing to finish the project. It's about time as I can't wait to drive it

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That (and the buggy) look so smart. 

Can I ask is that the Avante driver?

Was considering (once I get all my other bits done.....!!!!) putting one in my Vanquish (you know once I actually get round to doing the body!!)

 

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Yes it is indeed the Avante driver, Paranoid Perry -no kidding he's paranoid with all these little screens to watch- which turned into the Manta's Slippery Sam for the occasion (loving those silly names lol).

It fit very well under the hood. All I had to do was trimming the front end of the cockpit a few mms. I did the fitting/placement before I started painting it, so now all I need to finish my car is, like, 5 minutes to screw it in, hopefully soon today..

 

I am sure it will fit in your Vanquish, at worst you'll just have to do some light trimming. But desn't the Vanquish come with an awesome looking driver to begin with?  The ones where you can see the face under the helmet are my favourites :lol:

Btw, the Vanquish is a sleek looking buggy. I wonder sometimes if we can hope for a re-re (the originals being kinda out of my budget).

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I've decided to cover the receiver, which looked way too "naked" and exposed to the weathers in that position. I've used part of the plastic blister that some of my wife's products came in (a cream maybe), crazy how female accessiories are so easily turned into a great source of parts for random, self made solutions and touch-ups :lol: at least that's it in my case... I've glued it to the chassis with a low-temperature glue gun, which already proved to be as effective as not invasive the other times I've used it. Far from waterproofing the receiver, it will at least provide some basic shelter and protection against direct splashes of water and dirt.

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the Driver has also being installed.

Now the Manta Ray is 100% complete, but the instant I put the body back on the sky became overcast. This is quite the worst light possible to take pictures of such colors, so I'll have to wait :angry: meaning that I can't run the buggy yet (no way I'm getting it dirty before the final pictures, after waiting this long!).

So for now here's a few more with the driver and no shell. I'll take the ones of the finished project whenever the next beam of direct sunlight comes out, hopefully later on today or tomorrow.

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One last bunch of pictures of the finished project.

I'm very happy with how it came out! I hope you will like it too.

Thanks everybody for your help nd input. And now, finally, time to go kick up some dirt.

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A little update, now that I've finally had a few real, full-throttle runs with the Manta Ray. 

My hobby grade rc experience so far was limited to the Tamiya Hornet and the Kyosho Big Boss and, even though I love them both (because of all the fun and bashing) well... as most of you already know, this is another level! So zippy and precise. Silent, sharp, agile... wow.

Only one thing: the lock nuts loosened on each wheel. After the first run I thought it might be normal, I just re-tightened them and went straight back to driving, but it keeps happening, even though less and less with each run.

I have noticed back when I built it that the holes on the wheels are unnecessarily larger than the axles, so that the wheels can't really sit on them on the other side of the hex hub. Could that be the reason? Makes sense to me. But again, why such large holes when the axles are narrower?  Is there something I'm missing?

It is also true that I've painted the wheels, so primer and paint sandwiched between the lock nut and the wheel itself amd chipping off might have been a reason, but after three runs or so there was none left and now, while the nuts lock straight on the wheels with nothing in between, it's still happening.

Any shared knowledgle or point of view on the fact will be appreciated.

Anyway, this definitely increases the itch for different, lighter wheels...

 

Hare are snapshots of some action, sorry for the low quality and the low jumps, I'll strive to get way better ones in the next days.

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Thanks so much!

Enjoyed a few more runs last week end, can't resist sharing at least a couple snapshots...

Getting dirty

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Resting after a successful hill climb

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...and catching a lil'air!

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Man the DF-01 chassis is the last of the breed for Tamiy. Fun to build, fun to look at, great basher, and a great race car when built properly. 

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