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matisse

Top Manta Force! - the DF01 chronicles

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Picked up the paint today. Translucent red and Gunmetal.

think about how it will look I think I’m going to leave the wing clear, not sure if it will look right when you can see the backing colour, and painted wings always flake.

Also, can I be ******* to mask the windows, it is worth it if I’m going to stick a decal on anyway.....?

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Out of sync on the build, but did the wing today, cut out the numbers as there will be no green on this car.

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Front gear box, pretty simple tbh, just with the addition of the torque splittern and then some long screws with Nylocs for security.

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Got the lightweight kingpins, mostly as they are just better made, and its a hex rather than a screw head. Another set of Ti tie rods completes the front end.

I'll have to shim those C Hubs in the future though, so much slop.

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Dampers. Thought about getting the TRF Aeration dampers, but two things stopped me. the price and the colour. The price is fine ,but limited budget and I wanted a few other hop-ups too.

The colour, well i'm just not a TRF/Tamiya Blue person (although RCjaz sent blue hexses....), plus it would look awful against the paintjob. So got some of the Gmade. Not as high quality, but not bad either. Pistons are beveled on both sides and nicely made, plastic is a little, well plasticy but it will do. Lengths are pretty much spot on which is nice. Chunky piston rods though, 3.5mm, used a dab of slime to help get the ends on.

Set up wise i dredged through old files to find the last time i ran 4wd to mimic that. Went with AE 30wt oil F+R, but set up stiffer at the front with  2 hole Piston and a 3 hole at the rear. Rebound wise, i'll set 50% for the front, and a little less for the rear. used the spring cups to help get as close as is possible across the pairs. other than that a healthy dose of AE green slime as the o-rings look to be okay, but not any better than that.

 

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They sit pretty nicely. the come with a mount so just needed a spacer, used a little spare plastic part for the front, and the rear needs less, just a press nut.

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Been a while since I painted last, so tested the paint job out on the floor plan.  Remembered after the first coat about heating the can, and after that it was like riding a bike, you never forget how.

4 coats of Translucent Red and 3 coats of Gunmetal. Looks lovely.

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if you wanna build a chassis really fast you need a montage,  MONTAGE!! * cue 80's music*

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Standy up bits!

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Bearings!

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Greased tie rods for easy addition of ball ends!

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TOP DECK!!

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DONE!

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Srsyly though, need to shim out hubs etc to remove slop, and took the opportunity to use longer bolts at key places where the chassis attaches to the gearboxes etc...

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In both cases a 3 x 16 was used for a little extra strength.

 

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5 hours ago, matisse said:

if you wanna build a chassis really fast you need a montage,  MONTAGE!! * cue 80's music*

You need to fade out on a Montage

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37 minutes ago, Superluminal said:

You need to fade out on a Montage

Or freeze frame and wipe.

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progress slowed here for obvious reasons, but got round to shimming various parts to remove slop:

Steering Knuckles: 1    8x5x0.3 shim

C-hubs: a single Tamiya  5x3x0.2 mm shim

Drive shaft: 10x5x0.1 on the outside of the bearing before the drive shaft exits the gear case

Axles: 10x5x0.1 on each inner bearing face / 10x5x0.5 on each outer bearing face behind the drive pin.

The whole setup feels a lot better.

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Already caught the hop-up bug. Steel ball ends on the way and looking at carbon shock towers.

Also made a huge error, got frustrated masking the windows and didn’t do it.... now I’m gonna look at using a sharpie to turn the decals black, happy with the paint job though.

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Satin finish Evo Style shock towers from a dude called Nick Walker on the TF Facebook group. Well finished, looking forward to fitting them.

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Busy night, finally got this thing in a running state (bar bedding the diffs in)

switched up all the brass ball connectors for steel, probs slightly stronger, but tbh they just look better.

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then got on with fitting the shock towers, having never seen the evo style towers before, they make a lot of sense. More rigid and increased shock and camber link mounting positions. Of course the front shocks may now be a bit long.....maybe I’ll switch them up for TRF buggy shocks in the future.

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I’m never happy with electric installs, never clean enough even when I was shortening wires etc.  Now I just settle for tucking everything out of site, like hiding things in a cupboard so you don’t have to think about it.

one bonus was getting a low profile servo, gave me the space to use and aftermarket saver and mount behind the Servo mounts I order to keep the link parallel. It’s not pretty but it’s turned out all right in the end.

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talking to @Hobgoblin about some 3D printed battery holders for longer lipos, and need to rework the rear shock spacers so I can use the top mounting holes. Other than that, it’s done!

Sunny pics of the new towers etc later

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Got some alloy standoffs on the way, so will get there shocks mounted properly.

seen a few cars out here with rubber hose over the drive shaft ends. Useful or no?

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The Tuning Haus spacers are great, spot on at 5mm and plenty of clearance for the shocks to be able to use all the mounting holes. 
 

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First run today, light one to run in The diffs, more on that later.

Discovered that 100% reverse is silly, so will need to change the profile on the esc. The Toe in/out needs looking at, as does the camber, but I have a gauge on the way for this.  Otherwise it handles well, and the 13.5t is enough for me to speed wise with the optional hi-speed spur gears and pinions. 
 

Diffs,  I’m toning down the initial throttle using the exp on the transmitter but now they are run in, does anyone have any tips for final setting? A little slip is okay, but Is there an easy way to set them? Read a few guides but they are as clear as mud and all seem to be 2wd based.

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On 4/8/2020 at 8:46 AM, matisse said:

talking to @Hobgoblin about some 3D printed battery holders for longer lipos, and need to rework the rear shock spacers so I can use the top mounting holes. Other than that, it’s done!

Sunny pics of the new towers etc later

just wondering if you needed them longer than the ones I have on thingiverse happy to update or send you a solidworks/autodesk file

The shock towers look awesome!

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58 minutes ago, Hobgoblin said:

just wondering if you needed them longer than the ones I have on thingiverse happy to update or send you a solidworks/autodesk file

The shock towers look awesome!

Those should be fine, the batt I have can squeeze in, but a nice fit would be good.

chur!

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7 hours ago, matisse said:

Better pics of the shock towers.

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The TF differentials run perfectly when set up per the manual. They really aren't adjustable. If you loosen the hex screw more than the manual suggests they will loosen completely.  

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7 hours ago, GTodd said:

The TF differentials run perfectly when set up per the manual. They really aren't adjustable. If you loosen the hex screw more than the manual suggests they will loosen completely.  

Yeah, this is the concensus, shame that the manual is pretty vague beyond “tighten” . Still I’ll nip them up before the next run now they’ve had a light run in.

all we need now is for try lockdown to end and for tracks to reopen....

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