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nicherotors

Wild Willy’s 3d printing adventure - by NicheRotors

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@nicherotorsyour SWB GF01 chassis looks really interesting. I’m wondering if it might be good for the Jimny body I wanted to put on a gf01

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Interesting question @GeeWings; due to the common use of the WR-02/ GF-01 chassis rails I’m sure it would physically work. However, we have moved those chassis rails to replicate the relationship between the Wild Willy body and the front and rear axles as per the vintage original.  From the Jimny/ GF-01 conversions I’ve seen online that combination looks a safe bet where the wheels and wheel arches look pretty well aligned but have never seen one in the flesh.

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The idea of disc brakes seemed like a good idea at the beginning of the month. 

They seemed like a good idea when designed and rendered on computer. 

They seemed like a good idea with bright red calipers.

They seemed like a good idea right up until the rims were fitted when it became difficult to tell if they were there or not!

Anyway, a fun little exercise and I wanted to build a chassis with these rims which I like - may get a black set given they seem fashionable on full size 4x4 at the moment.

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On 12/21/2021 at 2:49 AM, Willy iine said:

Looks good, @nicherotors  

Reminds me of mine.. :lol:

Nice touch - got to respect anyone who commits to putting two-tone wheels into production given the extra effort at scale that is involved with both manufacture and QA.

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On 12/21/2021 at 10:20 PM, simensays said:

another not so well contemplated, original idea...

They look interesting and may be fine for some. 

Lamborghini could have pulled something off the Brembo shelf when they developed the Urus. 

But they decided to bring the development in-house to meet their spec.

As stated before, this was our original inspiration - we shrank the dimensions of the disc to 1/10th scale (both diameter and thickness which are different between the front and rear).

We could have bought something off the shelf too but decided to design something to meet our spec - I’ve not seen anything similar on a GF-01 based chassis before but happy to be corrected given your clear head start on the rest of us.

 

On 12/22/2021 at 7:21 PM, Willy iine said:

@nicherotors Your calipers don't spin with the wheels, right?   

A close look at the picture suggests the calipers are screwed to the disc and would rotate with the wheel.  Instead, I wanted my calipers attached to custom hubs while the discs rotate with the wheels. I also wanted the hex to have as much surface area in contact with the Tamiya wheel and the one in the picture looks short. 

 

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Yeah - they're all non-functional tacky novel parts for 1/10 drift cars...

On 12/21/2021 at 3:30 AM, nicherotors said:

They seemed like a good idea right up until the rims were fitted when it became difficult to tell if they were there or not!

Planning (thinking) ahead is a good thing...
But hey, you put it best yourself, this was a bad idea for a WW.

Fascinating to observe how your "creative" strive for vintage accuracy in the first post has evolved/dissolved...

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Context and connotation!

Original in the Vintage forum = most likely getting the best out of ~40 year old parts.

Original in the Design forum = most likely getting the best out of using modern software to design parts and the application of additive manufacturing to make them.

 

As stated before, we remain focused on replicating the i) wheelbase ii) track and iii) height and location of the body (without cutting it up) of the 1982 original by using a combination of a unique chassis and unique wheels with the correct offset.  I'd be in the Vintage forum if I was striving for vintage accuracy.

 

Regarding the faux disc brakes, not sure I used the word ‘bad’ - but hear the point you are trying to make.  I suspect you’ll be pleased to know that I had previous attempts that didn’t make the final cut.  However, in contrast I view the experience as invaluable.

For example, take the pocket size for a 11mm OD bearing in the hubs; we have learnt the world of difference between 10.90, 11.00 or 11.20 (and we've tried many others in-between) - all of which could be workable depending upon the materials used and the application.  The same lessons have been learnt for self tapping screws and the fitment of metal axles etc. It’s because Shapeways and SLS printing more generally is so consistent that these things matter.

 

I can’t recall if any @simensays designs accommodated bearings, axles or gears but given your huge head start I’m sure this is all very familiar to you. We only started using Shapeways/ SLS printing in earnest six months ago.

Our experience is now being leveraged on the development of a chassis for the Wheeler where, amongst other things, we have undercuts that couldn’t be injection moulded.

 

And that’s the message to anyone who is still persevering with this thread - have a go and be inspired by the experience and the endless possibilities - rather than just say ‘why bother’ (see 2nd post). There is only so much that can be garnered from an armchair.

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There are a number of successful headlight conversions for Wild Willy on here that provided much inspiration.

I wanted to leverage an existing Tamiya lens given they are gin-clear and often have authentic looking details on the inside that are hard to replicate with current 3d printing technology.

After looking at a few that are readily available including the Bullhead/ Celica Gr.B/ Clod and Sand Scorcher sprues I settled on the same conclusion that @kaindi  and @Toykid made over 17 years ago (https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=42618&id=50); that of using the Toyota Hilux lens - which thankfully are readily available as spares today.

While it’s a snug fit because there isn’t much height to play with we have been able to replicate the outside ring (with three screw heads) using the smoothest fine detailed plastic and accommodated the locating tabs found on the Hilux lens to lock them into position.

We replicated the different diameters of the two locating pins so that the headlight ring can only be inserted into the grill one way with the single screw head at the top (ala poka yoke).

The light bucket has been designed to be permanently glued into position on the back of the grill and accommodates 5mm LEDs which are readily available wired to plug straight into a spare slot on the receiver.  The LEDs are deliberately facing down to illuminate the ground immediately in front of the vehicle.  The luminescence can be subtly adjusted by changing the position of the LED in its socket.

Unlike most Tamiya light buckets this is a conical design to reflect the shape of the bulbs used on the full-size.  I like using the radiator part (https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=135460&id=18923) included in the WW2 kit and despite it being tight these custom light buckets still fit. 

Cutting the two holes in the grill turned out to be straightforward enough - and cut in three easy steps, i) rough cut to remove most of the material, ii) sand close to the line and then iii) as a happy accident my bag of general sanding items included a 16mm diameter sanding drum which just needed to be pushed through (from the back to avoid any mistakes) to complete the job.

I’ve found the translucent nature of natural versatile plastic used in the light bucket allows some light to escape which does a good job of illuminating the inside of the body and clearly doesn’t look right - an easy step to stop this has been to glue kitchen foil to the outside of the bucket - that way the only light to be emitted is through the lens.

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Attention has shifted to Willy’s Wheeler now that all the parts I wanted for the M38 have been designed (just need some time for painting and building). 

Here are some pictures of our first 4wd chassis for the Wheeler.

The purpose of this test mule was to check the general layout and find the best place for the electronics. Trying to keep the clutter away from what will be the interior so have designed a small tunnel in the chassis to allow wires to connect the electronics which will be located on both sides of the chassis. 

It runs well enough but there is still much work to do to get the correct ride height and map out the rest of the interior.

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On 2/1/2022 at 11:55 AM, nicherotors said:

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Now this is interesting. I always thought it would make a great rally style car and 4WD is perfect. Need to think about some wheel options for off-roading 

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3 hours ago, njmlondon said:

Now this is interesting. I always thought it would make a great rally style car and 4WD is perfect. Need to think about some wheel options for off-roading 

That's cool.  On the other polar end, I'm going to lower mine as low as it can go (with proper suspension setting, of course) and do an on-road setup.   With the weight and tight turn radius, I am hoping it drives better than my M-chassis on my make-shift indoor track. B)

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I started with the ride height of the rerelease and then lowered it by a couple of mm. That should be fine for me but there will be room to lower a bit more albeit with reduced suspension travel. Still playing around with the location of the camber links and am still trying to reduce the track of the rear axle - probably with a custom hexagonal space.

I’m probably only going to build one Wheeler for myself and favour the look of a fast street car with some modern touches. I’m looking at what these guys have done with the Renault Turbo, another icon from the same period, for inspiration https://legendeautomobiles.fr/

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Maybe we should model some solid 3d printed shocks for you and just let the sidewalls do all the damping. :lol:

Appreciate all the encouragement. 

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Things are starting to find their place on this second test mule.  There are compromises with all designs - one with this chassis is that the steering servo needs to be dropped out to get access to the screws holding the motor in place.  I doubt I’ll be changing the pinion that often so it’s an acceptable price to pay to keep everything as low in the chassis as possible.  Keeping things low both improves handling and creates more space for the interior.  (At least I don’t have to upend the front suspension and servo linkage when changing batteries - starting to think my Super Avante will stay in the box for a while!).

The clean interior is an open invitation for lots of detailed parts to be designed.  Equally, rather than mask off the air vents at the front with mesh (as I’ve done before) I’m thinking of placing some faux engine parts in strategic places to give the illusion of a turbo four pot engine inside - we’ll see.

Focus now shifts to the interior with a roll cage, dashboard and fuel cell (modelled on the M38).

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