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Saito2

Monster Beetle vs Blackfoot body durability

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I'm going to stick one of these bodies on my "basher" ORV monster. While I won't drive outside the chassis's limits, I want to enjoy it without fretting about the occasional, inevitable roll over from time to time. I may not even paint it. As such, which of the two shells are more durable? My findings over the years have been:

Blackfoot pros: 1.body is thicker and somewhat beefier

                  cons: 1.while the body is thick, its extra weight tends to put stress on one of thinner, weaker stress points, namely the front                                        body mount hole in the center of the hood.

                             2.the roll bar lights are more vulnerable (may leave them off)

                             3.Some of the detail-work is vulnerable. I've seen front grill/bumper sections broken out along with rear tail lights

Monster Beetle pros: 1.body is lighter and seems to put less stress on the front mount.

                                       2.the body shape lends itself to rolling back on it wheels

                                       3.with the exception of the front spot lights, there seems to be less vulnerable detail-work

                            cons:  1.the body being lighter may lead to more major damage when/if it occurs. I've see fender sections cracked on                                               these  before, though have never come close to doing that myself

                                        2. I've personally had more issues with the rear mounts breaking, perhaps because they are held against shear                                                   forces?

So, what experiences do others have? All input welcome!

P.S. I'm not going lexan.;)

edit: I have no idea why the spacing is coming out all goofy when this is posted. Sorry.

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Ive watched my nephew beat the badword out of his blackfoot!

Ive watched him barrel roll it around a proper off road track at full speed for hours on end.

Ive seen him plough it full speed head on into immovable metal poles and walls.

Ive seen him tackle stupid jumps and watched it cartwheel sooo many times.

Im completely amazed its not in a thousand peices and gobsmacked that he hasnt even cracked the shell yet!.

 

Buy it, build it, thrash it like a kid would and just fix it when it breaks.

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1 hour ago, graemevw said:

Ive seen him tackle stupid jumps and watched it cartwheel sooo many times.

That's how I killed my current Blackfoot body. I took on a jump and the front hood plunged down over top of the front mount leaving a nice dime-sized hole in the hood where the mount pushed through. I was so hoping that big hood decal would hold it all together, but alas, not. In all fairness, it was an old body.

33 minutes ago, mongoose1983 said:

What about the rear wheel arches on a Monster Beetle runner?

So I take it they are prone to breakage? The one thing I noticed about the MB is the smaller body seems slightly more protected by the big tires....or maybe I've just been lucky and the rear arches are soon doomed ,lol.

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Also, for years I've seen people trying to avoid damages to the rear tower points by getting an expensive aluminum bracket, while the problem isn't really there but right down to the contact points below. I've had success using a re-re Brat metal crossmember: https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=94451&id=23692

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Well, I've had an MB for a few years now. In that time it's done a lot of rollovers, hit quite a few immovable objects, and basically taken just about every bit of incidental abuse that comes with being an RC car driven mostly within the limits of what it's supposed to do.
It's no showpiece now, most of the finer detail parts are gone and it's scuffed a bit, not to mention damage on the hood around the front body post which is bodged up with a piece of plastic underneath to support it.
But, I'd say it's held up pretty well considering. I don't have experience with the blackfoot body sorry.
 

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I think whichever I choose, I may start out reinforcing that front mount area under the body. That's a good bit of load concentrated on that one central body mount.

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6 hours ago, Saito2 said:

I think whichever I choose, I may start out reinforcing that front mount area under the body. That's a good bit of load concentrated on that one central body mount.

Good idea. Wish I'd thought of it.

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I had a different problem.  Body post tabs kept breaking off. 

I suppose it's a question of how the body was impacted.  I wish Tamiya used slightly softer plastic for posts.  

69vize2.jpg

 

My plan was to replace body posts, but the ghetto fix held up pretty good. So they stay even to this day.  I drilled holes where the tabs used to be, and stuck in some soft plastic sprues (blue part below).  It's been 20 years, so I forgot how it's not pulled out. (I should go home and take a look at it. But there are wires wrapped around the posts)  They blue tabs are not glued, they fit loosely.  But loose fit and being soft seem to help with not-breaking.  

Reinforcing is a good idea.  I also planned on putting something soft between the posts and the body to cushion the blow even a bit.  (If you imagine a resin shell as a piece of glass, even a business card can protect somewhat. But I never got around to it)  

VqXD7Ih.jpg

 

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2 hours ago, Juggular said:

 I also planned on putting something soft between the posts and the body to cushion the blow even a bit.

Yeah, I found some rubber washers at the local hardware store that I place over body post. Quiets things down too.

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Here is my ghetto mod.  For those who want to run it before parts arrive, this could fix it temporarily (or years).  

One of the reasons why this broke is because of the strengthening bars... you strengthen one spot, another breaks up the stem.  

I did drill another hole for the wires. So the sprues won't get pulled out.   

I put in another piece of sprue to press against the one in the middle.  I wrapped the wire around.  Zip tied also. 

My memory was wrong, there isn't much play.  I need to get me some rubber washers.  

FUaknnS.jpg

tMZRhm7.jpg

It doesn't look like anything is different from outside.  (lol... excuse the dust)

u9NL0rX.jpg

 

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On 11/1/2019 at 3:17 PM, Saito2 said:

Yeah, I found some rubber washers at the local hardware store that I place over body post. Quiets things down too.

I use Parma #8054s on my bodys.  They are stick-on.  They help a lot with the body shakes...

Terry

 

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Speaking of Parma - you might just want to consider doing a lexan beetle shell up as a Monster Beetle and swapping that on only for running. I do that with a few of my hard-bodied runners (Lunchbox, Midnight Pumpkin, BF3). The lexan beetle shells available are a much better match than the F150 Blackfoot analogues.

In addition to being less prone to being destroyed they are also lighter and lower the C.O.G. which helps stability A LOT.

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9 hours ago, Frog Jumper said:

I use Parma #8054s on my bodys.  They are stick-on.  They help a lot with the body shakes...

Terry

 

That actually looks quite good.  I don't know why I haven't come across this sooner. 

I'm sure similar ghetto mod could be done.  

EHxxjqq.jpg

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I did a ghetto job on my Blitzer @Juggular, they are the  little felt pads used on the back corners of picture frames to stop them scuffing the wall. (I happen to be very friendly & also married to the Boss where they came from, which is handy😉) They’ve worked really well so far and I’m sure would work on other cars. 

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