Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 15, 2021 Step 14FD: rear axles and arms Vintage dog bones (#50336) and pins from a WR02 kit (#54695). Im also using Step 16TS for the camber arms. I used a 1.5mm and a 2.5mm spacer on each of the suspension pins. Up next is Step TS17. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 15, 2021 Step 17TS: rear sway bar I pieced together a red kit (#49046, #49325, and #53645) and a rear bar from Tony. I also managed to find a vintage TShot kit (#50338). I wasn’t planning on using this… As it turned out, the red stabilizer ball ends (#53645) wouldn’t fit on the ends on the sway bar. Sad Terry ensued… I ended up having to open the vintage TShot kit just for the ball ends. I really wanted to use those red ball ends… Next is Step 18TS. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 15, 2021 Step 18TS: rear sway bar and rear shock tower. I thought I had read somewhere that the stock shock towers flexed so I got the Xtra Speed aluminum mount. It’s a beautiful piece. Black with silver edges. It all went together like a dream. A couple dabs of cera-grease in all the joints and this thing flaps it wings like a duck! No resistance, minimal wiggle, as solid as it’s going to get! Sad Terry now happy again! If I were using the FD manual as my main source, I would have also built the rear shocks (steps 16FD thru 18FD). But since I’m using the TS manual, these steps were used for the rear sway bar. The rear shocks are built later on, when the front shocks are also built. It made more sense to do all (4) at once than (2) at a time. As such, just one last step and the rear will be done for now. Next up is Step 19TS. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 15, 2021 Step 19TS: rear bumper I wanted to get the Parma repro rear bumper on Shapeways. I really did, but it’s ugly as sin and seems like it would function better as a large mud-flap. Yeah…. Kit version it is… I couldn’t find a 37mm button hex head, but I had a 40mm SS cap hex head. I used a couple of spacers to even it out. You can also see Step 15FD. In that step, the rear shock tower went on, but that was already installed on Step 18TS with the rear sway bar. Here is the complete (for now) rear. Next will be the front and then shocks. Next up is Step 20FD, which is almost identical to Step 20TS. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 16, 2021 Step 20FD, 21TS, 22FD and 22TS: front end I got a little carried away and forgot to snap pictures. But I did get a few… Parts used: X10115 vintage TShot F parts GPM GF01 stainless steel king pins Pargu A5 brace #54695 suspension pins (2x 52mm) #54395 suspension pins (1x 22mm) HPI #107886 suspension pins (2x 24.5mm) #50336 TShot drive shafts #50335 TShot joint cups Shapeways extra tall body mount Shapeways HD arms Xtra Speed front shock mount Vintage F Parts with SS king pins on ReRe hub. HPI pin onto HD arms. Vintage cups and shafts. Pargu support and suspension pins in (3) locations. I thought about cutting one of the 22mm pins, but I elected to use a M3x20 button hex screw and a 0.5mm washer. The brass ball tube has no problems with this type of connection, the front shock mount holds it in place, and it is the perfect length. Next up is Step 23FD 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 16, 2021 Step 23FD: front sway bar Good news! The red ball ends (#53645). Happy happy joy joy! The ball ends we’re a little long… But a little experimenting found a solution… The Xtra Speed mount holds the weird pin/screw described in the previous step perfectly… Next up: Step 24TS > 31TS (four shocks build and mounting) 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 18, 2021 Step 24TS > 31TS: shocks I was this close to getting 50519s and 50520s, but these guys were just a few dollars more. I just had to wait for RCMart to deliver. They went together beautifully. No issues at all. I used some 5mm balls at the lower end. Next step is 32TS > 33TS 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 18, 2021 Step 32TS > 33TS Electronics. I’m not a fan of this part of the build. While important to the car, it does nothing to satisfy my love of fiddling with small mechanical devices… Typical Futaba and HW. Found a red servo horn and posts. First, the HW needed some surgery to work for the Dragon: insert a switch that would fit the tub, and switch to XT60. Found an old switch in a spare parts bin. Some experimenting with a battery and flashlight bulb helped me figure out which wires to use. Trimmed off the unused black. Surgery complete. Binding and testing… Test fitted the servo with the red horn. Yeah that going to be too long Racing… A quick trip to the LHS fixed that. High Torque SS set… So nice… And it fits the way it should. Too bad on the red… But red posts! Picked up this ESC tray from shapeways TS Pitstop. It the “custom” version… Going to work quite nicely. No conflict with the battery tray below, actually helping to enclose the battery inside the tub. Fitted for now. I’ll clean up the wires later… Next up is Step 30FD. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 18, 2021 Step 30FD: rear body mounts and battery stays. Frankly, whoever at Tamiya thought these stays were a good idea needs to be fired. Terrible! Thankfully someone in another department thought to put strap slits in the tub. The battery stays are nit being installed… I thought about modifying the TS mount to accept the FD body and I may still do that. But for now (since I don’t have a TS body), I’ll hold off on that mod… Next up is Step 35TS 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 18, 2021 Step 35TS: steering arms Red. 32mm in the arms and a 35 trimmed to 28mm… Next up is Step 36TS 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 18, 2021 Step 36TS: steering I picked up Cy’s attesting kit in Shapeways along with the proper bearings. Its a fantastic design, and works wonderfully. A little experimenting with nuts and shims, and stuff and it’s nice and smooth and solid… Next up is Step 37TS > 38TS 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 18, 2021 Step 37TS > 38TS: fill the tub Fitting the rear… And the front along with a blue (yikes!) shaft. I thought about getting an off brand red shaft from China but they looked so chintzy. I decided this part needed Tamuya quality. Also installed o-rings in the cups. And now it’s a car! Up next is Step 39TS. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 18, 2021 Step 39TS: bumper Yep, it’s a bumper alright… Skipping Step 40TS (driver figure and top cover). The cover won’t fit the way I have my ESC installed, at least not without surgery. And I’ll paint it when I eventually paint the driver… So the next is Step 41TS. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 18, 2021 Step 41TS: partial - wing mount only I don’t like the wing mount. It looks like it wants to snap off with the first roll over. I wish BigT would ReRe the old TShot rear wing kit with metal bracket and wire… I decided to experiment. Egress wing mounts and third party buttons. I don’t know the wire size I need yet… Found out I needed 2mm and 1.5mm wire. Also found out I have closets full of 2mm wire… Looks pretty good so far! Ill make a trip to the LHS and pick up some proper spring steel piano wire… Skipping step 42TS. I want to find some proper Velcro straps to use instead of the zip ties in the kit. I’ve ordered some that I think will work. I’ll come back to this step at a later date… Also skipping Step 43TS. Wheels and tires deserve their own thread. I won’t burden the community with that, but I will come back to this step at a later date. For now, I’m using vintage Proline Dirt Hawgs on JCRacing and 2.2” Egress wheels. So next up is Step 44TS. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 18, 2021 Step 44TS: wheel adapters I don’t plan on ever using the FD wheels. I will likely pick up some TS wheels (white) at a later date and using those. But I may change my mind since I did manage to put together a set of (4) Dragon wheel sized street tires. I love BigT, but this bothers me. Why not just include these in the kit and keep the TBLE02??? Here are those tires I mentioned above… Installed… The rest of the manual involves painting and decorating the body. I’m going to hold off while I collect masks and paints and decals and stuff. Speedy donated a Clod body to this project so I may try to figure that out. I also picked up a Winger body that I really want to mount. I will post that stuff on this thread when I get to it. Anyways, at this point, I need to tweak a few things (steering, clean up wires, finish wing mount, etc). I will post those as I do them. I will also write up a post with all my wheels and tires. Yes my name is Terry and I’m addicted to RC tires… Thanks to all for reading my thread. Thanks to everyone that posted their own TShot experiences. And thanks to everyone here that helped me with questions as I was putting together this project. Comments welcome! 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 18, 2021 While looking through my photos, I found these. At one point I took the front one way apart since it wasn’t working the way I wanted. Turns out that the plastic spacer I installed needed to be removed. Remember reading above how I said I wanted to install the second spacer??? Yeah, no… zero spacers works for me… Here are the three pieces. Notice the text on the bearing. Also notice the shim. Close up… The bearing unit on the left will flip over and into the housing on the right, ie the end with the text goes down against the shim. Like so: Then install the top housing and install per the manual in the front tranny. Easy! 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 18, 2021 Tweaks and fine tuning: Cleaned up the wiring. I’ll tinker with it more but I’m satisfied for now… Replaced the 32mm turnbuckles with 35mm. They may still be just a touch too short… I found these red springs in my tool box. No idea where they came from. Likely cheap Chinese blingy shocks… I found these 26mm HPI wheels on eBay for cheap. And my LHS had Tamiya rally blocks. They look so cute! Here is the Super Mega Fire Dragon as it stands now. I’m still working on wing wires. I got the wire I needed at my LHS but I just need to play with them a while longer… But for now I’m satisfied. I’ve taken the painted FD body out on the box for test fitting. Pre-painted red is dull and lifeless. Why Tamiya why?!? Off to charge a battery and try another set of wheels! 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 18, 2021 Tried out these Chinese generic wheels with generic rally tires. Painted red since they didn’t take red dye… Still working on the wing wires. I made this mock-up wing to test the angle. Here is the rear view of the wing. Front view. Ready for its first test-drive! 9 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 19, 2021 Oooo! Clod body and Hot Shot wheels! Look delish! 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TurnipJF 9192 Posted July 19, 2021 19 hours ago, Frog Jumper said: Tried out these Chinese generic wheels with generic rally tires. Painted red since they didn’t take red dye… Still working on the wing wires. I made this mock-up wing to test the angle. Here is the rear view of the wing. Front view. Ready for its first test-drive! I suspect that you may be pleasantly surprised with the red once you take the overspray film off the shell. I know I wasn't terribly impressed with my last pre painted body, until I realised that it had overspray film. At first I didn't even realise it was there! 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 19, 2021 1 hour ago, TurnipJF said: I suspect that you may be pleasantly surprised with the red once you take the overspray film off the shell. I know I wasn't terribly impressed with my last pre painted body, until I realised that it had overspray film. At first I didn't even realise it was there! LOL! I thought there might be some on there. But I picked at it a bunch and couldn't ever get anything to lift, so I decided it was just a crappy paint job I'll try again tonight... I think I'm going to try to make a window mask and spray the back silver to liven it up... Terry Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jonboy1 2943 Posted July 20, 2021 12 hours ago, TurnipJF said: I suspect that you may be pleasantly surprised with the red once you take the overspray film off the shell. I know I wasn't terribly impressed with my last pre painted body, until I realised that it had overspray film. At first I didn't even realise it was there! I was going to say the same - the window looks far too cloudy to not have the overspray film on it. Keep picking away at it!!! Loving the build Terry, thanks for sharing it with us 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 24, 2021 Fitted a CRP #3046 Hot Shot Nerf Wing. I needed to drill (4) new holes in the wing and the chassis. Flanged nuts and m3x8 screws. I’ll look for flat head screws tomorrow… I wanted to protect the battery and also have nerf wings protecting the rears suspension arms. This does the job… With battery installed. Waiting on battery straps to arrive in the mail… Close up view: The under-side. The two outer “grooves” in the chassis hide the nuts perfectly. Battery does not rub on them. Frankly I don’t think anyone likes having a battery rubbing on their nuts… Here it is with the body, which apparently has protective film on it. Who knew??? Oh that would be everyone but me. I wish Big T had included window masks so I could finish the paint job. I’d love to give it a good backing silver… Not too shabby… Still working on the wing… 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frog Jumper 3662 Posted July 29, 2021 New balls since the brass ones didn’t work with my color scheme… Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KEV THE REV 2319 Posted July 29, 2021 Super sweet . Nice work Terry - great improv. too 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
