Manix92 121 Posted May 27, 2020 Hello all First post here and it turns out to be what I will be building! Been out the hobby for nearly 19 years but bought my daughter a Rising Fighter to play with during virus pandemic and realised it would be a lot more fun if we both had a car. My last proper build I would guess was a Lancia 037 TA03R-S when they came out. (Still got it, no good for offroad fun with daughter's rising fighter) So fancied a 2 wheel drive buggy for myself. Initially was looking at the 2018 Super Astute but looking on posts the Zahhak DN-01 kept coming up as a more modern capable buggy with less problems in the design. Problem one - Zahhak's are not that easy to get anymore. As a result had to order one from China from Ebay from these guys https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/atyhobby?_trksid=p2047675.l2559 Cost + shipping came to £168 to the UK. Tax/import duties on that, well that's anyone's guess - worst case anything up to around £50 but sometimes you get lucky and it's £0. Tracking at the moment apparently on the flight from Hong Kong Lets hope the box and contents aren't too smashed up by the time it gets here Ordered a load of other bits I will list in a following post. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Manix92 121 Posted May 31, 2020 List of items used in the build - Tamiya parts - 58477 Zahhak car kit DN-01 42164 TRF Sticker C Sheet 53930 Super Stock BZ Motor 54217 TRF201 48 pitch pinion (22T/23T) 54218 TRF201 48 pitch pinion (24/25T) 54219 48 pitch spur gear (77T) 54276 Aluminium motor plate 53585 (op585) 3mm Shim Set 54119 WO Assembly Universal Shaft (Rear) 54016 (op1016) DB01 Assembly Universal Shaft (Rear) - Problems in operation so removed from car and changed to WO version 54119 54260 (op1260) DN-01 Slipper Clutch 53640 (op640) 5mm Aluminium Ball Nut (Blue) 54028 (OP1028) TRF Buggy Aeration Oil Filled Damper Set 53160 (OP160) 4mm Anodized Aluminium Flange Lock Nut (Red) 53943 (OP943) 3x46mm Hard Turnbuckle Shaft 54242 TRF201 Aluminium rear suspension mount front 3 degree 54257 5mm Reinforced adjuster grey 54185 Dual Block tyre K front 51321 Dish wheels rear white 51414 Dish wheels front white 51415 48 pitch spur gear 79T (spare kit item damaged in use) Non Tamiya parts - Pro-line Blockade 2.2" M3 1/10 Buggy tyre rear Non Tamiya electrical/electronic parts/accessories - Mtroniks Tio Storm 19T ESC Ripmax Quartz QZ501 Servo digital Spectrum STX3 3CH 2.4 GHz FHSS Radio System Voltz 4600 mAh 7.2v NiMH GT Power C6D 50W AC/DC 6A charger Paint - Tamiya PS-16 Metallic Blue paint Tamiya PS-31 Smoke paint Consumables - Tamiya Ball diff grease 53042 Tamiya Ag thread lock tub Tamiya Cera Grease HG 87099 Loctite Universal glue 2x3g Woodland scenics Moly Grease With Molybdenum Other - Aluminium sheet 1mm x 100 x 100 (Skid plate for front bumper) 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Manix92 121 Posted June 5, 2020 Only things not here yet are the paint (no surprise there, Tamiya paint stock is bad everywhere at the moment) and the car kit which lets face it I can't do anything until that arrives. Status is - Departed from Local Distribution Center. So can't be long now, I can dream it will be delivered Saturday morning. It could happen I suppose Anyway all this waiting has got me thinking too much. Caved in and ordered a slipper clutch (started getting scared of a melted ball diff), got it from Plaza Japan like a load of the other stuff. Noticed they had some Blue ball nuts in stock as well and being cheap it adds a little bling to the car. Could have saved £8 postage if I ordered these with the other stuff, never mind. The other thing was I liked the idea of universal shafts like the TRF-201. Now Plaza Japan had about the cheapest price on these but they were out of stock. So ended up ordering off Ebay. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GTodd 1306 Posted June 5, 2020 What do you need to convert to a 201? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Howards 450 Posted June 6, 2020 On 6/5/2020 at 8:18 PM, GTodd said: What do you need to convert to a 201? Slipper, shocks, UJs, one piece out drives, alloy sus mounts f & r, blue heat sink motor plate, maybe hardened turnbuckles, alloy suspension balls, hardened diff balls. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gregdogghurst 321 Posted June 6, 2020 1 minute ago, Howards said: Slipper, shocks, UJs, one piece out drives, alloy sus mounts f & r, maybe hardened turnbuckles, alloy suspension balls, hardened diff balls. Pretty much this carbon reinforced plastics in some areas too... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gregdogghurst 321 Posted June 6, 2020 I impulse bought and built the rere super astute at the start of lockdown. Then bought a Zahhak 2 weeks later. The difference is night and day.... If you haven’t already get a 3mm thread tap and the correct JIS screw driver I’ve already built mine and am planning to do a build thread when I get round to it! Enjoy 👍🏻 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GTodd 1306 Posted June 6, 2020 8 hours ago, gregdogghurst said: I impulse bought and built the rere super astute at the start of lockdown. Then bought a Zahhak 2 weeks later. The difference is night and day.... If you haven’t already get a 3mm thread tap and the correct JIS screw driver I’ve already built mine and am planning to do a build thread when I get round to it! Enjoy 👍🏻 Well you are building a car that's 20 years newer and one that's based off a champion off-road car, it better be worlds difference. Sorry, I'm a huge fan of the Astute and it's younger brother the super Astute. Not quite sure of all the hate. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gregdogghurst 321 Posted June 6, 2020 4 hours ago, GTodd said: Well you are building a car that's 20 years newer and one that's based off a champion off-road car, it better be worlds difference. Exactly what I was saying. Wheres ‘all the hate’? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Manix92 121 Posted June 7, 2020 Well dreams do come true - the car kit was delivered Saturday morning! So been building it tonight, obviously haven't finished. I'm taking my time. Taking lots of photos to upload later and will detail any thoughts or issues. Observation. All plastics are pretty much GF (glass fill) and where the polymer is noted it is PA (Nylon). I would guess 30% glass fill. For a injection mould geek of note they direct fed using a electric valve gate (shut-off) nozzle on the Tub. Basically once the mould is full a pneumatic pin is activated to shoot forward in the nozzle and shut off the injection point leaving just a ring mark - nothing standing up. It adds a lot of cost to the tool. Talking about the Super Astute I like it but being I'm just getting back into the hobby the Zahhak sounded less hassle and more up-to-date. It is still on my wish list for the future. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Manix92 121 Posted June 8, 2020 (edited) OK lets get going. So the Zahhak Kit finally arrived from China, as mentioned earlier not much choice on this in the UK. The Box only came covered in a plastic wrap so it had a few dents from transport. It could have been a lot worse. I guess if I had ordered it from Japan they usually package a lot better and there would have been no dents on the box Onto the contents (sorry about the child's play mat but wife would not be happy with grease and stuff in the lounge!) I'm not going to be using the Zahhak stickers or paint scheme. At the moment the plan is metallic blue with smoke glass and TRF stickers. Edited June 8, 2020 by Manix92 Sorted out photo hosting 8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Howards 450 Posted June 9, 2020 Figured out what the 'bonus parts included!' are? Mine came with four, yes, four wings. And white wheels. Pffft. 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Manix92 121 Posted June 9, 2020 I only got two, feel left out now There is the ceramic grease which isn't mentioned once in the manual, I just carried on using the moly grease as shown. Edit - Just remembered I found the Ceramic grease in the manual in the end, of course it's the gearbox. The confusion comes from the manual. See below And then 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GTodd 1306 Posted June 9, 2020 Man now I remember how bad I wanted a TRF 501/511 😟 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Manix92 121 Posted June 9, 2020 Right I better add some more, was all set up with pictures yesterday but then had issues with hosting. Anyway so first off just to reduce the amount bags I did the wheels. Just used standard super glue on the tyres. From here on I kept to the build order in the instructions. So ball diff is the first part. Not too tricky. The smaller ball bearings are fiddly to get in though and then deciding exactly how tight is required. I guess if it melts I will know it was over tight Next up idler gear and counter shaft. Pretty straight forward. Lets look at the motor plate. What I will say here even though the kit comes with a aluminium motor plate as standard I would recommend upgrading to 54276. It has a recess on one side which the housing fits into, with the standard one there is no recess and dirt will easily get on to the pinion/spur. The picture I took unfortunately is of the other side of of 54276 so you can't see the recess. Next step put the gear case together, remember to grease as instructed! And to round off this post fix the motor plate using thread lock (not supplied in kit). You can see the recess around the edge on the upgrade motor plate in this next pic. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Manix92 121 Posted June 10, 2020 Next up spur gear on. Gone initially with 79T supplied in kit. I also have 77T option. Rear upper deck and lower assembled ready to be attached to main tub. Rear decks attached. Rear arm assemblies. Attaching the rear arm assemblies. Bit fiddly if I remember, the N1 parts kept dropping off just as I was about to put the bits together. Also I think that the clearance could be reduced. The arms once fixed into the chassis can move along the steel shaft a bit. I wonder if a couple of washers would improve things here and take out the slack. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gregdogghurst 321 Posted June 10, 2020 5 hours ago, Manix92 said: Also I think that the clearance could be reduced. The arms once fixed into the chassis can move along the steel shaft a bit. I wonder if a couple of washers would improve things here and take out the slack. I found the same and added washers both sides which helps nice build thread 👍🏽 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Manix92 121 Posted June 11, 2020 Agree gregdogghurst, so I have gone back and added some washers. I found a solution supplied in the kit which works! If your servo fits without shimming (I think most standard servos will) you can use 8 of the 0.2 shim washers to fix this problem. Happy days. So on each arm with 4 shim washers it takes out 0.8mm of slack. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Manix92 121 Posted June 11, 2020 (edited) OK moving on. Attaching gear case. Through the hold build there were just two screws which didn't grab/bite as they should. They happen to be on the exact same part. Page 7 operation 9 the two BB4 screws 3x10mm just didn't bite hard. So I have locked them with superglue. I think it should be fine, if not I will drill the hole out a bit bigger and use 2 pack resin to fill in. Wait a day then re-drill and tap. It's a pain but really solid fix. Next up is rear drive shafts, turnbuckles (I hate doing those) and damper stay. Onto the motor guard and strap from gear case to damper stay. The next instalment moves on to the from chassis items. Edited June 12, 2020 by Manix92 Spelling and added info. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Manix92 121 Posted June 12, 2020 Today's instalment starts the steering linkage. It needs to be set to 3.7mm. 3.69 is close Steering linkage assembled prior to installation. Oh no not more turnbuckles, have I said I don't enjoy doing them. Next up get the steering linkage and turnbuckles fixed in the tub. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Manix92 121 Posted June 12, 2020 Next up is the suspension arm assemblies. Get those fixed into the chassis. The central arm support moulding you need to shave a little off as shown in the instructions until a nice fit is achieved. This is great for minimising movement in the arms. More turnbuckles. Onto the damper stay. Get the damper stay fixed on and the last turnbuckles. I will finish off there for today. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rb4276 803 Posted June 12, 2020 Looks good, my chassis is here and the L part i need to rebuild my dn01. Going to rebuild it Sunday 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Manix92 121 Posted June 13, 2020 12 hours ago, Rb4276 said: Looks good, my chassis is here and the L part i need to rebuild my dn01. Going to rebuild it Sunday The L bag just checked and it's the steering. I was really happy with the steering assembly on this kit, not the usual Tamiya looseness. In fact the whole kit is really good. Anyway have fun on the rebuild. Hopefully later today I get round to uploading more on the build. My biggest problem at the moment is paint. It's really anyone's guess when certain colours will be back in stock. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GTodd 1306 Posted June 13, 2020 Very nice build, I'm living vicariously through you until mine arrived. Are you going to upgrade to Aeration or big bore shocks? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites