Monster Beetle / ORV Metal Swing Arms

[ChrisRx718 4470]

My work colleague has a Monster Beetle, fully hopped-up with alloy parts and MIP's back-catalogue, it's his baby.

He still gets the persistent dogbones popping-out under load issue widely reported around here, not even running a "hot" motor. I believe (like many others) this is due to the flex in the swing arms under load, moving adrift because of the extra weight of the big wheels.

He just sent me a link to these:

eBay aluminium Swing Arms

Do they look any good? Seems incredibly expensive for that, but I appreciate the engineering that has gone into these. I wouldn't dream of dropping that kind of money on them, but I think my colleague is considering it.

Am I right in thinking there are no other alternatives at present? I'm amazed Xtra Speed / Yeah Racing haven't picked up on this, they'd make a killing!

 

 

[tamiya_1971 615]

Those look very nice. The 249 is a bit steep for me, but I'd hate for someone to clone them and sell them for 49.

AmPro (PintoPower) has created a double wishbone suspension, total price is more reasonable:

https://www.shapeways.com/shops/ampro

 

 

[matman 1499]

1 hour ago, ChrisRx718 said:

My work colleague has a Monster Beetle, fully hopped-up with alloy parts and MIP's back-catalogue, it's his baby.

He still gets the persistent dogbones popping-out under load issue widely reported around here, not even running a "hot" motor. I believe (like many others) this is due to the flex in the swing arms under load, moving adrift because of the extra weight of the big wheels.

He just sent me a link to these:

eBay aluminium Swing Arms

Do they look any good? Seems incredibly expensive for that, but I appreciate the engineering that has gone into these. I wouldn't dream of dropping that kind of money on them, but I think my colleague is considering it.

Am I right in thinking there are no other alternatives at present? I'm amazed Xtra Speed / Yeah Racing haven't picked up on this, they'd make a killing!

 

 

A few years ago 50calibercustoms used to make them and other parts for the orv . I did buy the other stuff .

BUT i didn't get these sadly at that time , as that would have fixed the problem as no flex . But i didn't .

Now that cooper813 has got it all ( as 50calibercustoms sold all the rights etc  ) the price is very high  . 

I can't justify the price . 

[Badcrumble 4204]

Are the Frog universal shafts any use? I think it may depend on shock length- found an old thread...

I am pretty sure the MIP diff set recommended them too. Actually, no - lifted from the MIP site

Direct Drop:

• Tamiya 2016 Blackfoot (#58633)
• Tamiya 2015 Monster Beetle (#58618)

The following parts below will be needed for use with the following kits:

 

Universal Shaft Kit (#53908)

 

 

Diff Gear Set (#9335026)

 

16 Tooth Pinion Gear (#3515004) - could be included in kit already

• Tamiya Subaru Brat - (original - #58038 & Re-release #58384)
• Tamiya Lancia Rally - (#58040)
• Tamiya Frog - (original - #58041 & Re-release #58354)

[Frog Jumper 3661]

1 hour ago, matman said:

A few years ago 50calibercustoms used to make them and other parts for the orv . I did buy the other stuff .

BUT i didn't get these sadly at that time , as that would have fixed the problem as no flex . But i didn't .

Now that cooper813 has got it all ( as 50calibercustoms sold all the rights etc  ) the price is very high  . 

I can't justify the price . 

50cal sold me his last 2 incomplete sets for about $60 or so. I had to have 3 shafts custom made and that cost me $100. I sold one of the sets for $80 or so and kept the other.

IMO $250 is way overpriced, and that if they were priced at $100-$120 they would all be sold by now.  I would have bought a set at that price...

Terry 

[Killajb 1546]

I saw these on ebay as well while browsing around the other day.  I can't justify paying that much.  As it is now, I haven't experienced any axle issues on either my Monster Beetle or Blackfoot.   Even at a reasonable price point, I wonder how many people would find these to be necessary upgrades.

[Gazzalene 171]

I always wonder about pricing of stuff in general "COTTAGE INDUSTRY".

In this case the guy must have some idea of RC parts and prices from upgrade companies. £$250 for this is very high, not many will pay that.i would think many would pay £$100.

The cheaper costs would get mmore sales AND  more in the long run. Whats the point only selling 1 or 2 ever?

At £$100 no way is he losing money.

[Rich T UK 9]

11 hours ago, Badcrumble said:

Are the Frog universal shafts any use? I think it may depend on shock length- found an old thread...

 

Monster Beetle 2015 comes with these as stock and it still occasionally will, if not fully drop, disconnect at the gearbox end.

I don;t know how bad it was originally, but it;s not a total fix.

 

 

[tamiya3speed 464]

I always wanted a set of the 50calibercustons sets and would love a set of these to go with my Full Option ORV gearbox.  But at $250 I'm not sure I can justify the cost.

Now on the weekend after some drinks....

[Hobgoblin 1059]

1 hour ago, Gazzalene said:

I always wonder about pricing of stuff in general "COTTAGE INDUSTRY".

In this case the guy must have some idea of RC parts and prices from upgrade companies. £$250 for this is very high, not many will pay that.i would think many would pay £$100.

The cheaper costs would get mmore sales AND  more in the long run. Whats the point only selling 1 or 2 ever?

At £$100 no way is he losing money.

I have mixed feelings having done small batch custom parts in this and other hobbies. 

If the seller is also the machinist, then parts are likely to come out cheaper, like the perhaps the original maker of these parts was. When I made things in house I took material cost plus time plus a small percentage on top (generally rounding up to a nicer number) I've had to approximate and extrapolate from breif Google searching. A CNC operator would be between 20-40 hourly rate, even with a relatively low material overhead, there's multiple parts and setups which will push the cost higher or, push the workers hourly rate lower to stay sensible. I think it's it's easy to remove the work that goes into a part Vs what it's actually for. Yes it's bling for a toy but it's someone's livelihood to sit there and cut the stock,  code it all up, buy the tooling and run the program. If it is homebrew or a small operation I can see where they get the pricetag though I completely agree it is a high price point for the product itself. Even when you batch produce a load in one go to sit for stock, the time you took to make them doesn't go away. Factory workers would soon get very upset if they didn't paid for the time they worked till the products they produced were sold! 

If it's an outsourced product and the seller is just sending out the drawings (bought under licence) then he's likely not making much profit in exchange for not much work.  Outsourcing will have material bought from the manufacturers contract holder (not the cheapest as you could do for yourself)  plus tax, plus paying the time to the company (who then have to pay the machinist), paying again for QC, packing shipping and then sales tax on the lot. This adds up even if you curve around the local scene and go to China. Here you can dodge the labour laws and pay people pennys per hour but the shipping and potential import still add up. Also you can't make to order unless your customer is okay with a 5 week turnaround! 

The price is fair exchange for the work but not a fair exchange for the product. If you are doing them yourself out of passion alone and don't charge for your time, just for consumables and material then maybe you can spit a couple out for $100 before you get burnt out. 

However this lies with the seller to work out if an idea is profitable BEFORE you start selling them. 

I hope this doesn't come across as me being aggressive or defensive of something I ultimately have no stake in. I just thought I'd add in my perspective