Impostor (!) DT-02 Astute Runner

Well - this has been simmering on my back burner for ages, but I've been slowly working my way through the more expendable projects to get some practice in before hazarding to work on the ones I really don't want to screw up completely.


I was inspired to do this by Bruce Wilton (bwilton84)'s version of the same thing from a few years back and I was really impressed with the results. It really does look a LOT like an Astute...especially when speeding around at ground level! And I must say I'm pretty impressed with the DT-02 chassis for a tough no fuss runner. It's tough - and fast!


I actually picked this up a while back as a XB bare chassis from a parted out RTR Holiday Buggy or Super Fighter or one of those (which came with white friction shocks?), which I picked up from my local hobby shop F+M Hobbies on ebay (another plug for you Jim! -- they really are great though. more on that later). It came with astral dish style wheels, which I hate and gave away I think. My intention originally was to use Madcap wheels on this... but the roller that's part of my Astute resto project had really decent original Astute lightweight wheels on it which, since I got all new ones for the Astute, I had all ready to go for this!


In order to fit the wheels on the front uprights I had to change them out for Hornet-style ones from CRP, which I had laying around anyway. The lightweight wheel inner hubs are recessed relative to the inner rims unlike the stock wheels, and the stock DT-02 uprights are the straight-back ones like those on the Mad Bull (but obviously not with the longer Mad Bull axles). The Hornet uprights have the ball mount angled inward to clear the wheels. The fit is perfect.


The body is a Desert Gator body painted with PS-2 Red and Smoke inside the cockpit. The decals are actually really garbage, and I'm going to replace them with better quality ones soon. They are not a direct fit on this body, so a little creative placement and modification is required... but the overall aesthetic is unmistakeably Astute. Adding to that - one benefit of multi-year procrastination - is that in the meantime the DT-02 Super Fighter GR came out which has the same exact friction dampers but molded in yellow. So - naturally - I had to get my hands on the yellow DT-02 F parts to rebuild the shocks in yellow for the finishing touch! I reached out to Jim from F+M (plug #2... BAM) who dug up a set, which he didn't sell previously (probably parted out a NIB kit to do so - thanks again Jim) and listed them for me to grab. They are actually pretty decent, despite being even more of a pain in the butt than building CVA's. On that point, I wasn't going to put CVAs on this... but based on how much I like how it runs I may do just that after all.


With a Sport Tuned and a TEU-101BK it runs great! In fact I first tested it out with yet another local TCer and ebay seller Eddie (transamman908 on ebay, unclepunchy on TC) who dropped by my house recently to trade some parts. We were both really impressed with it. Will post back when I've mounted better decals... and I might even go bananas and put brushless in this thing, now that I've tasted the forbidden fruit. I'm confident the DT-02 chassis could handle it!