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MontyMole

Questions about building a Terra Scorcher

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Hi everyone, new user here. I recently managed to get me a Terra Scorcher re-re, and I had some questions before building it (and possibly making a mess).

  • I know about the weak A5 and B8 parts, so I wanted to address that right at the start. My intention was to use the reinforced A5 part from shapeways (which I think is from one of the users here? Correct me if I'm wrong) and steel shafts with c-clips from the tamiya 54613 hop-up kit; if I understood well, I need the 58 mm shafts for the front and the 48 mm shaft for the back. My question is, do I need spacers too? I've seen photos from some showrooms that used those. In that case, what hop up code should I look after?
  • Still on the topic of substituting hinge pins with shafts, are there any more places where I should work of, like the upper suspension? What are the shaft dimensions required for those?
  • For now I think I'll go with a Torque tuned motor I've salvaged from a TT-02B. In case I want to go with something more "spicy", like a brushless motor, what should I look after? In my other car I have a 13.5T brushless motor, would that be too much for such an old design to handle?
  • Finally, should I look for the reinforced transmission shaft from shapeways too, in place for the coat-hanger included in the kit?

Oh, right: to upgrade the 3 E1-washer combos they put instead of the original release's thrust washers, I should use 1150 bearings, those sized 5x11x4mm? Or is the size a little weirder than that, like 5x11x5mm?

Thanks in advance.

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Hi there. Welcome! 

The Super A5 part is mine. You don't necessarily need spacers or washers, but there will probably be a bit of slack you could take out with them. The Tamiya set you need is 53539. Shims are 53585.

Its not possible to fit shafts on top arms, but that's fine. I have never broken a B8. I would install it flipped to the wider holes at the bottom to give some rear toe in. 

I run 13.5 brushless in my Thunder Dragon no problem. Just get a steel pinion. I would recommend the DT03 17t pinion for that motor. 

Not sure about the thrust washers. I just put another regular bearing in mine. 

As for reinforced shafts, i bought the Super Hotshot gearbox outdrives 9808130 and the TT02 alloy prop shaft. It doesn't clear the plastic MSC tray, and you have to open out the chassis hole a little, but it works great. 

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@ThunderDragonCy thanks for the suggestions, and sorry for responding so late, between the deliveries taking forever and life stuff I could only get on building this model only just now. One more question, should I try heat the head of the screws holding the gearboxes to the chassis when I put them in, or will it hold fine even without that?

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3 hours ago, MontyMole said:

@ThunderDragonCy thanks for the suggestions, and sorry for responding so late, between the deliveries taking forever and life stuff I could only get on building this model only just now. One more question, should I try heat the head of the screws holding the gearboxes to the chassis when I put them in, or will it hold fine even without that?

Bit of heat doesn't hurt. Have fun with the build. 

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On 2/14/2021 at 10:55 AM, ThunderDragonCy said:

Its not possible to fit shafts on top arms, but that's fine

Oh yes it is! If your only replacing some of the screw pins, these are the ones to do, I find they crack/split first.

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=133367&id=2692

It's all in my showroom entry, I found by dremelling approx. 3/4mm off the shaft the front shock tower captures it perfectly with a washer or two....

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I got the speed aluminum A7 B8 waiting for my 2021 TD the A7 ie the front suspension block has 4 50mm c clip hinge pins. I presume 2 are used on the block and the other 2 are spares.  I guess these are 2mm too short for the top mounts?

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Don’t worry too much about this beauty...the A5 metal part sold on ebay is sufficient if you don’t go crazy with the power. I run a GT Tuned on TEU 105 Bk with the 17 teeth steel pinion from the DT03. Just about perfect. 

BB0CDAC0-BDEF-4A95-ABAE-701A1CB45157.jpeg

10E876F1-2384-45C3-BD39-18DD3B0DD55F.jpeg

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Well, sorry for the wait, but it's done! Definitely an interesting experience. I have a few musings about the build:

First, of course It's that I'm pretty bad at painting bodies. My attempt at making window masks, however laudable, had left a lot to be desired, and the paint bled through the painter's tape I had used to make them. Also, the silver paint can I've used to do the grid was too old, and it sputtered only a few precious drops. I barely managed to complete it, and it left a few, barely visible blotches in the paintwork. But hey, it was free.

20210411_155829.thumb.jpg.65a632f94b105bc76b52c04b9af939ad.jpg

Second, i've tried to mount the suspension shafts with the e-clips through the flipped B8. Is it me, or is the resulting toe in different between the left and right side?

20210412_184535.thumb.jpg.59896280b96384f94889ccd4b916725d.jpg

Finally, I couldn't really give it a proper first run due to the weather, but I did a few laps in my courtyard. It's kind of noisy, anyone had issues with that? Probably it's because I'm used to my other TT02B, which has less moving gears, but this feels like a power drill.

Also, I think the diffs are "notchy", they have some rough spots; I think someone mentioned this in older discussions? Is that a problem, or will it solve itself with some more running and with the gears seating properly?

Thanks to everyone.

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Hi!

I cannot comment on the B8 part. In my point it was not necessary for me. I have only updated my Terra Scorcher with the A5 part.

The metal gear in the Diff needs some running time. What I do is to hang up my cars for a few minutes, fix one tire with a duct tape and let the car run on 50% speed with no stress on the drive line. I repeat that for the other two wheels as well. This lets the car run smooth.

However, make sure you have cleaned up the E3 gear parts properly as they are cut from the sprue. I always sand them and make sure they are perfectly round and balanced. Otherwise they cause some noise and stress.

Also, make sure you have glued the tires. They also baloon and imbalance the car.

Hope this helps. At least these are my impressions.

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On 4/14/2021 at 9:14 PM, MontyMole said:

Well, sorry for the wait, but it's done! Definitely an interesting experience. I have a few musings about the build:

First, of course It's that I'm pretty bad at painting bodies. My attempt at making window masks, however laudable, had left a lot to be desired, and the paint bled through the painter's tape I had used to make them. Also, the silver paint can I've used to do the grid was too old, and it sputtered only a few precious drops. I barely managed to complete it, and it left a few, barely visible blotches in the paintwork. But hey, it was free.

20210411_155829.thumb.jpg.65a632f94b105bc76b52c04b9af939ad.jpg

Second, i've tried to mount the suspension shafts with the e-clips through the flipped B8. Is it me, or is the resulting toe in different between the left and right side?

20210412_184535.thumb.jpg.59896280b96384f94889ccd4b916725d.jpg

Finally, I couldn't really give it a proper first run due to the weather, but I did a few laps in my courtyard. It's kind of noisy, anyone had issues with that? Probably it's because I'm used to my other TT02B, which has less moving gears, but this feels like a power drill.

Also, I think the diffs are "notchy", they have some rough spots; I think someone mentioned this in older discussions? Is that a problem, or will it solve itself with some more running and with the gears seating properly?

Thanks to everyone.

Mine was the same, they eventually calm down, however with the 'extra' vibration this causes, I have had wheel nuts and shock nuts come loose, so now wheels and shocks have a dab of threadlock to prevent this happening any more

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On 4/20/2021 at 10:20 AM, CKU87 said:

Also, make sure you have glued the tires. They also baloon and imbalance the car.

Done that! I'd figured it would be a good testbed for later attempts, even if I'm running a rather plain motor. Could be done better, since I'd simply resorted on using your regular superglue in a bottle, but it definitely is firmier than the wheels of my other TT02B, which are not glued, even if the tire is quite hard. In fact I'm thinking of new tires for both cars, but I guess it's a topic for another thread.

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