Carbon Rough Rider

Carbon Fibre Rough Rider.


I always loved the Rough Rider from the day I first saw one.


BUT............


I didn't want to simply build another RR, stock parts, box art paint etc. I had to do something different. I wanted a runner & it had to be tough, no point building something that's too fragile to be used.


After seeing various models in people's showrooms with carbon fibre parts, I knew that was the way to go. The Super Champ deck plate design was also a requirement to allow the use of a modern ESC & stick packs.


The chassis is cloned from a regular SRB plate, & made from 3mm aerospace grade carbon fibre containing in excess of 70% carbon (this is why it looks dull, not the glossy finish you see on cosmetic parts & is much stronger). The deck plate is made from the same spec material, only in 2mm thick. At 3mm thick the chassis is rock solid, approaching the stiffness of an aluminium part, but significantly lighter. The underside is protected with one of my stainless combined stiffener / skid plates.


I sketched out the designs for the carbon parts on paper, transferred them to thin card, then marked out the carbon sheet. I used a diamond wheel wet tile saw to cut the shape out, then Dremelled & filed the final shape with a vacuum hose to my workbench to extract the dust. The wet blade tile saw makes light work of cutting the carbon sheet & the water means there is no hazardous dust, but it's extremely messy. All the shaping work was done with diamond coated tools, having tried to cut carbon with ordinary hand tools I found it blunted even quality HSS tools in just a few minutes, even seconds in some cases.


Standard front uprights & cross beam carry tool steel suspension pins in clear anodised tubes. Front shocks are GPM, designed for the Losi Mini-T, with the mounting eyes opened out to take 4mm brass bushes & longer rod ends to increase overall length. The GPM parts are supplied with 2 different springs, are adjustable & should make a distinct improvement to the handling. With the lighter springs the front sags very slightly from full downward extension, but I suspect more tension will be needed to carry the full weight of what is still a pretty heavy buggy.


Steering has been converted to a direct method using CRP heavy duty rods ends & the servo mounted with my milled aluminium servo bracket.


Rear suspension is bolted to stop it bending in a heavy crash, & will also have GPM Mini-T shocks fitted, adjustable bump stops are fitted to flatten the rear suspension camber.


The deck mounts on Super Champ rear deck posts & custom turned front posts, slightly longer than stock SC ones at 31mm to bring the deck parallel to the chassis plate & is secured with regular R clips.The plate is designed to carry the race pack either across or along the chassis, allowing me to experiment with different layouts to balance the handling. If the battery is mounted across the chassis, the receiver & ESC sit tandem in the centre of the deck, ESC at the back, nearest the motor.


The gearbox has been opened out to hold a Sport Tuned motor, then bead blasted & sprayed black. It is fully ballraced & has a full brass geartrain. The universals are hardened Super Champ ones.


The rear end will be fitted with one of my bolt-up cages & a proper SRB twangy aerial. Where possible, the alloy parts have been polished just to add a little sparkle.


The electronics are standard Acoms 27Mhz AM RX, AS16 servo, & Mtroniks Viper RV11 ESC.


Comments always welcome in my showrooms.