Son's Manta Ray Build

[burakol]

Day 1 of my son's Manta Ray build.

We got through parts bag A and will continue tomorrow. My son is almost 9yo and I'm letting him do most of the assembly. Just helping him tighten the screws and apply some grease and double check that the part he's putting together are the correct pieces. I told my wife I need to buy another kit for my own build... 

 

[Nobbi1977]

That is the best part of this hobby for me 😀

[ALEXKYRIAK]

Great stuff!  I can’t wait until I can build kits with my son. My dad helped me build my Hornet when I was about 10, still have the memories, it was magical. That ‘toy’ was leagues above anything else I had at the time. Really shaped the way I understood how things worked. 

[burakol]

Day 2 Build

Today we went through all the assembly for parts bag B - from the front diff, until the installation of the front and rear dampers. Took us about 2 hours to get through the steps. Tomorrow will be parts bag C, which I think starts off with the servo install. 

This is where my son got a little frustrated. The dog bones kept falling out of place when he was inserting the U-pin into the mounting point... at this point he didn't feel like listening to me and thought he already knows how to do it... in the end, he was able to push the pin through... 

We are making progress... 

[burakol]

Day 3

Forgot to take pictures. My son was a little impatient today. He struggled understanding how to center the servo and just wanted to get the build done and play with the RC. I ended up redoing the servo and re-centering the steering. He (we) also struggled a bit putting the tires ok the wheels but overcame the obstacle anyhow. Test drive it around the house and this thing runs smooth... 

When I was doing all the final checks and making sure all screws were tight, I did notice that the bottom screw on the motor mount is not tightening... could it be that the plastic already stripped? Should I use a different screw? 

Also, I think I used some blue thread lock... towards the end, the manual did mention not to use a thread lock because it might thin the plastic... could this be the case? I will probably end up replacing the shaft and motor mount later on but I wanted to run it stock for now... 

[rwordenjr]

2 hours ago, burakol said:

Day 3

Forgot to take pictures. My son was a little impatient today. He struggled understanding how to center the servo and just wanted to get the build done and play with the RC. I ended up redoing the servo and re-centering the steering. He (we) also struggled a bit putting the tires ok the wheels but overcame the obstacle anyhow. Test drive it around the house and this thing runs smooth... 

When I was doing all the final checks and making sure all screws were tight, I did notice that the bottom screw on the motor mount is not tightening... could it be that the plastic already stripped? Should I use a different screw? 

Also, I think I used some blue thread lock... towards the end, the manual did mention not to use a thread lock because it might thin the plastic... could this be the case? I will probably end up replacing the shaft and motor mount later on but I wanted to run it stock for now... 

Are you able to take a pic of the exact area it’s not tightening in ? 

[Problemchild]

I’ve never used thread lock tbh on tamiya 

Looking forward to seeing it with its painted shell

JJ

[burakol]

3 minutes ago, Problemchild said:

I’ve never used thread lock tbh on tamiya 

Looking forward to seeing it with its painted shell

JJ

any color suggestions? My son wanted blue... I want white... I don't have a silver paint right now... i'm also considering grey... I will probably spray it with some plastidip so we can change the color in case he wants a different color later on... I also have a teal paint...

[burakol]

51 minutes ago, rwordenjr said:

Are you able to take a pic of the exact area it’s not tightening in ? 

Confirmed...the lower post on the motor mount cracked...I suspect it cracked when my son was holding on the motor and it carried the weight of the whole rear end... for now I was able to find a similar size self tapping screw but longer... it holds fine for  now...

Also, I noticed that the top of the steering buckle hits the tub when I turn the wheel left.. I figure I can avoid this by adjusting my EPA, but is this a design flaw or install error? The car rolls fine with very little drift...I think I did a decent job centering the servos and making sure my turn  buckles are within specified measurements.... 

[TurnipJF]

21 hours ago, burakol said:

Also, I noticed that the top of the steering buckle hits the tub when I turn the wheel left.. I figure I can avoid this by adjusting my EPA, but is this a design flaw or install error? The car rolls fine with very little drift...I think I did a decent job centering the servos and making sure my turn  buckles are within specified measurements.... 

No error there - that is just how they are when you reach maximum lock. If you set your EPAs so that it just touches when turning left, and the throw to the right is symmetrical, it handles very nicely. You don't need more lock on this chassis.

[burakol]

Thank you. Tomorrow we will try to spray the shell with some plastidip if the weather gets warmer and drier... 

[Problemchild]

Plastidip is great - hopefully it works well

id be worried that a little knick and it’ll all start peeling 

have you used it on a shell before?

do lots of pics 

JJ

[burakol]

Hi, today was cold and not good for painting so we had to hold off...

I've used plastidip before and since we spray it inside, it doesnt really peel at all...just apply enough coats to build a good thick layer and it should be good... I posted my GF01 in one of the threads where I peeled the red paint and re-sprayed it with an orange color... I think it is more forgiving than using a regular hobby paint, and cheaper... but yeah, I will take pics for sure... 

[burakol]

Painting Day - 

So the sun finally came out and I was able to spray some paint on the Manta Ray. 

As mentioned, I will be using a PlastiDip paint. My son wanted this color (Teal), but I figured if we wanted to change it later on, we can easily peel off the paint. 

Tracing the cockpit area for masking which will be painted black later on... 

After cutting the outline...

After a handful of attempts to get the masking lined up... 

Gave it one more soap bath, dried, and now ready for spraying...

First coat... 

Second Coat. 

After Three coats...

Will need maybe two more coats... 

The wing gave me a little bit of a challenge due to the deep corners. I had to spray heavy to reach the crevices... but once dry, it should ok. 

[burakol]

So while waiting for the black plastidip I ordered. I was browsing on thingiverse and thought maybe instead of blacking out the cockpit area, why dont I put a driver in it... so i went and looked and saw this... someone designed it for a Grasshopper so i dont knowing it will fit the Manta Ray's... i guess i have to wait and see after the print... 

How the paint turned out to be looks good. I havent peeled off the protective plastic so there will be a considerable gloss once I do that... but my son said he prefers to black out the window than put a driver in... 

[Problemchild]

Looks good - interested to see the driver

 

JJ

[burakol]

On 5/3/2020 at 7:24 PM, Problemchild said:

Looks good - interested to see the driver

 

JJ

Ray's Driver -

So this is what came out after printing in the original size... While it will fit, I think the overall size is a little big and the tip of the helmet will hit the shell... note that this is just a mock-up. 

So I had to scale the model down to 80% and it will fit much better...

The front section will be sitting on the top of the front diff case... will be using velcro to hold it in place... I thought of remixing the 3d model and extend the steering shaft of the model and cut a hole so I can use the front body mount, but that will also lift the whole driver up and will hit the shell... 

I had to cut a portion off to clear the propeller shaft joint and the diff case. 

Another mock-up with the shell on...

To make it look balanced, I cut off another piece off the opposing side... here it is primed... this is my first time doing this so I am not trying to be meticulous... since my son said he'd prefer not to have a driver, it needs to be easily detachable... 

On the original design, the face and the helmet was printed separately... 

I didn't like that it has gaps after I pushed the face in... it was probably done like this for ease of painting... but I'd rather have the face and helmet printed as one so I re-mixed it on Tinkercad... The box next to the head will be used as a space holder for the rear section of the driver... It will be sitting on top of the servo, and the driver will be sitting on top of it... Once done, it will be primed and hand painted using the left overs from my daughter's paint by number acrylic paints... 

 

 

Please feel free to comment and give some suggestions and advice... I am thinking of a way how to create a tinted window using my black plastidip... im just not sure if it will give the same effect if i try to just lightly spray on it... I am afraid that it will dry like overspray (dots) and will not give me the end result I want... 

 

[Hobgoblin]

Might be better off getting some translucent black tape, or an ink wash? 

Like the driver figure, looks like it fits in well.

[burakol]

 

Ray's Driver Cont... 

So I started painting the base with black while the head is being reprinted.

I had no idea what color combination to go by so here it is... I attached the head using a nail and glued with CA glue.

Pardon my work... I have very little artistic touch... 

On the underside, I printed a simple cube that will be a place holder on top of the servo using velco which is the same on the tip

Mock up

Cozy inside. 

The driver is actually tilted upwards when looking at sideview with the shell off... I needed to mount it like this in order for the head to clear the top... Matter of fact, it is actually pressed against the shell a little bit, but it should pose no issues at all... 

 

Next will be decals... 

[Nicadraus]

Nice family build-bonding bro. Looking forward to seeing the Terra too.

[Ferruz]

Nice family build indeed! 

The driver looks cool, I would keep it! I put one on mine too, here's a link to the thread in the re release section if you want to check it out. There's plenty of room under the hood to make it fit

 

[burakol]

Thank you! It is a fun build indeed... Will try to tackle on the decals later on... 

 

 

[burakol]

D-Day 1 - decal day that is... 

My son enjoying ripping the protective film off the shell... this is pretty much is participation today... 

I had my heat gun out so I thought this could also be a good time to fix my GF01's decals... 

After several heat passes, no more visible peeling off the LC's grill.

Now time to start with the Ray's rear wing... I don't have a craft or hobby scissors, so I ended using an X-acto knife. 

After about 3 tries and tearing-off a part on the letter "L", this is how it came about... not bad in my book... 

Next is the main body... at first I was somewhat confused on where the sticker should be placed so I had to look up pictures on the internet... 

After applying the sticker on the nose section, I realized that there was something off... upon further review of the box art and other images online, the nose section was supposed to be blacked-out... Good thing I used Plastidip and I was able to peel off the Teal paint on the nose section... 

I forgot to snap some photos when I masked-off the area I needed to spray with black... I again used Plastidip... 

Once the paint has completely dried, I will need to clean the edges off, and apply the remaining decals... with the driver figure on-board, it is highly likely that the window will be left clear, or may be smoked in the future... 

For the wheels, do you think I should color it black, or keep it as is? 

 

[TurnipJF]

Looks good so far! I'd vote for black wheels with that colour scheme. 

[ALEXKYRIAK]

I also think black wheels would work well with that colour scheme. Will make the body pop out more I think.