Kyosho Opti/ Ulti/ Tami hybrid buggy build

[KEV THE REV]

I always fancied a Kyosho Optima and have built a few Ultimas , so I thought I would merge the 2 and add some custom fabrication . I started with a Kyosho Sandmaster nitro chassis but soon found that the chassis tub was too wide so I built an alu chassis and upper deck and made a custom rear damper tower and grafted in an Ultima gearbox with Thorp diff . I was offered a ready to go Optima shell by Superluminal ( cheers mate ) and a Sport Tuned motor by Wez-li ( thanks to you too ) . I set about getting the Optima look front wheels by modifying some Tamiya Hornet front wheels by adding a wide plastic rim to the front wheel inner section and fitted the spiked tyres onto the modded rim by using Hornet inner and outer rear wheel parts ( thanks again to jonboy1 for the wheel outers ) and fitted inserts. I fitted 11 x 4 x 4 bearings into the wheels to suit the Kyosho front axles .I made my own front axle thread extenders by using some internal threaded tube and an M4 threaded rod to give an original look rather than barrel nuts . The rear track was narrowed to match the from by letting the rear Tamiya wheel mount disc into the rear wheel studs .I modified Kyosho front steering arms to suit the Ultima C carriers . It works perfectly - looks 4wd , but is 2wd . I got a new driver kit from NulnOilTycoon ( big thanks to you ) .The dampers are generic adjustables . I built and fitted F&R sway bars . All in all I'm happy with how it has turned out . I made the 'special' buggy as I wanted to try out some new mods to see if it would work

[Frog Jumper]

“modifying some Tamiya Hornet front wheels by adding a wide plastic rim to the front wheel inner section and fitted the spiked tyres onto the modded rim by using Hornet inner and outer rear wheel parts”

Can you show me/us how you did this???

[KEV THE REV]

Hi Terry . Basically I used a .75mm thick plastic card strip which was 3mm narrower than the rear wheel inner part. I marked 2 pencil lines the width of the inner rim central on the strip to help guide rim  straight on the strip whilst I  glued it .I Gorrila glued one end to the front rim then rolled the rim along the strip with glue on it , then cut the excess off the end and clamped the ends til dry. I then cut 2 narrow strips and bonded then inside the glued strip to match the front wheel inner rim to make it flush for the tyre bead to sit against just like the rear wheel inner part.  Then it was a case of sanding the edge to smooth off . See pic of wheel rim on bench 

[Frog Jumper]

Ima gonna hafta try that...

[Superluminal]

So thats what it is!!! Been looking forward to seeing this. 

Awesome work on the front wheels, it looks great.

[KEV THE REV]

Cheers guys . The front wheel bearing idea was something I had been pondering for some time and even bought some eBay hex adapters with bearings to try hex wheels on the Kyosho shafts but to 'stop the slop' , you have tighten up the adapter and that stops free rotation on the bearings  . This mod could possibly be adapted to other wheels

[KEV THE REV]

I decided to make a taller front damper tower to lower the front end a bit