a different breed 'low-buck race machine'

[Mr. ED]

I have been playing with different platforms for long time already: wanting something to race without worries: strong, 2WD, decent slipper, 12mm hex wheels, long suspension arms and good shocks... and my TCP would have made a good candidate except: I don't have many spare parts for it and I would really have wanted something mid-motered as I find that so much easier to jump.

This is what came out of the box when I finally found the right platform = rad2 (or blue eagle if you prefer)

the non-rad2 parts used are:
- STR15 topshaft, 10X5 bearing and slipper plates plus Losi slipper hydra-drive spring
- JG carbon chassis for the ultima (previously poorly drilled for an A&L Letheal weapon2 drive train)
- ultima2 front carrirers and steering knuckles
- hot trick axles for tamiya wheels on an ultima
- kyosho pro-x swept-back front arms (for medium wheelbase)
- Andy's straight front arms for ultima (for XL wheelbase)
- ultima outdrives and dogbones
- HPI rear axles
- ultima front bulkhead
- front brace from broken B44 topdeck half
- custom works sliding steering system
- alloy 12 mm hexes
- triumph front wheels
- lazer ZX5 rear wheels
- parma tomcat body for lazer
- losi pro-SE front shock tower
- medium and long kyosho gold shocks
- traxxas bullet servo mount
- some servo mounts and scrap pieces of caron for the battery holder
- STR15 front bumper
- front arm brace from scrap GRP
- yokomo wing wire mounts
- academy wing buttons and nylon wing
- another pair of servo mounts and 3 tamiya bodymounts




















The car held up perfectly over the 2 days in its firt race: only stripped 1 spur when the moter came loose in the last qualifier.
Considering my lack of practise, the cars first run ever and the cheapo moter/ charger/ batteries , vintage ESC it shouldn't be a big surprise I ended up 2nd to last on this international top event. Still my best time wasn't that much off from the guys above me and its performance was promising enough to tgo further with this one and try to perfect it.
One point which annoyed me was the custom works steering system apprently holding just enough friction to keep the servo from centering perfectly.
Such a pitty when you can't go full speed on the straight; certainly as my full speed was perhpas 60% of most others

[SRTracer121]

holy %^&$%&$% that is an epicly great looking buggy.

[nvxwax]

Wow, That is an impressive use of parts, the car looks sharp also, Nice work

[Mr. ED]

Thanks guys
I was very happy when all these parts finally found their place and everything worked out together. None of them were intentionally bought for this car.
Except for the front shocktower all parts had been lingering around for half a year or longer; as they were no longer used or never fitted what I bought them for.

For nearly each part I also have a spare or easy alternative, or replacement are easily available. So I shouldn"t run into trouble in that area to soon if I can continue racing this as intended.

[Lonestar]

I love all frankenbuggies but this is one of the most awesome one!!! Congrats

where did you race it in the end? Int'l event???

Paul

[Mr. ED]

Thanks,

EIR 2011
http://www.team-durango.com/blog/?p=2383

there's a short documentary from a local tv-channel which zooms into my car for about 2 seconds also: unfortunately not in action

[dave00beer]

WOW! I gotta say that is some very ingenious use of misc parts.

Looks bad-ass man, nice build.

[Coelacanth]

That looks almost too good and too well-crafted to be what most people would consider to be a "low-buck buggy"! Nice work!

A lot of your practical experience custom-fitting parts from different cars came in handy with my CYANide build.

[Mr. ED]

Thanks guys,

I was really glad to see this buggy perform well from its first time out: kinda re-assuring I learnt to do things at least partially right after so many years in the hobby. Now let's keep our fingers crossed and see if I find time to pick up the side of the hobby that's been on a low fire for me for too long: actual racing.

I agree it would not be low-buck if you had to go after these parts to build a copy, but on the other hand most parts aren't new and would probably have been tossed if they'd be on a restoration project. Low-buck doesn't need to be poor

[m_vice]

Man, that looks very cool, nice work as usual. If this was my racer I think the only thing I would do it to add some bracing from the tranny / motor plate to the front top chassis to give the center of the chassis a bit more rigid.

more pics late please,

[GJW]

that's very well thought out ed, did the build just fall together in your head or take quite a bit of planning? how does it drive?

[Mr. ED]

A full brace from the nose to the gearbox or moterplate is indeed on my plans also.
I was only able to finish the car hours before the race and at that time it still had the battery going from left to right. In the first qualifier the retaing tape got cut and the battery flew out
On the night between the 2 race days I made the change to the length location. This also makes the brace better feasable so it will get there eventually.

planned/unplanned... bit of both: I had collected several parts in the past which I thought were good, and had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted for concept; so that's planned.
But it's only on this chassis/gearbox combo everything fell together and turned out compatible. So the final selection was more unplanned.

Running: bit of an issue with keeping a straightline: probably the Tamiya on-servo- servo saver. Other wise very easy: no under or oversteer, no rolling either and nice even jumping.
Actually the car was so table I could barely tell the effects of changes I made over the 2 days (including the battery relocation).
In the last qualifier I narrowed the front track by relocating 2 spacers and got 1 tour better result. Might have been the driving which imporved as well

[EvolutionRevolution]

Switch to a Kimbrough servo-saver. Somehow, even Tamiya's hop-up extra strong servo saver has play in the servo-saver itself (from new) that makes it impossible to properly center the servo.

Ever wondered why your F-101/102/103/104/C-car never went straight? Look no further than the servo-saver...

[Mr. ED]

That's the plan, I just need to find one which is not too loarge so it can move under the front brace. Any good source online?

[Asso_man!]

Very nice Erik as usual, maybe one of the best? Cheers buddy!