Losi XX how to tell if its graphite (no graph markings)

[fakiee]

Got a bunch of Losi XX parts that I will be selling soon, can't tell if there graphite or not. 1 part has a grainy/fibre effect to it while the other looks more like a solid black texture. However I don't think the grainy tecture is graphite. I've got a picture below to explain a little better:

The top part is the solid black plastic, the bottom part is the grainy/fibre looking part. Is the bottom part graphite or did losi release a few different composites for their plastic parts?




Thanks for your help

[GJW]

yes thats correct the non graphite has more of a dark grey/black look to it, while the graphite appears to be a little lighter in shade and has a definate grainy appearance. ( due to the graphite )

[fakiee]

Thanks Marui,

The problem I have here is that I have the same part with "graphite" written on it and it appears much lighter and the grain is even more defined. So i'm left with 3 parts all graduating in difference:

Solid black colur: definately plastic
Black / grey grainy: not sure about this one
Light grey grainy: definately graphite

It gets even more tricky when comparing the chassis. I thinking there were some early production and late production parts that are both plastic but have slightly different compounds. Or am I looking into this too much?

[GJW]

the chassis i choose for my kinwald has a heap of graphite grain in it and thats why i went forthat particular one, looks wicked.
sometimes its a little hard to tell between graphite and non, i just go by the colour difference, more grey compared to black ish.

make sense?

[Jay Dub]

Try using a DVM to check for continuity through the part. I know this works with C/F sheet, never tried it on injection molded parts though. -Jeff

[DerbyDan]

I think both your un-marked parts are probably both non-graphite standard parts (although these are still fibre impregnated plastic - Losi called it 'stiffizel' IIRC). I can remember there being variances througout the production of the XX. I have a NIB XX... it is a very early version with slider driveshafts & the plastic parts are very 'black', which was like my original XX, however I can remember building a CR XX for a friend, where the parts had a much greyer appearance - (more like my XXX)

The graphite parts are quite a bit lighter & more textured

[fakiee]

Try using a DVM to check for continuity through the part. I know this works with C/F sheet, never tried it on injection molded parts though. -Jeff

Like your thinking Jay Dub, I was going to give it a try but Derby Dan's post above confirms it for me. Definately not graphite but a later production plastic.

I'm building up a XX to flog so I didnt want to tell people it was graphite when in fact it ain't!

[DHC6]

I can't for the life of me remember what they called the material that they used to make the XX, it's something like stifizel, or something like that. It's not plastic, and it's not Graphite. I am sure it's probably written in the original manual for the XX (I would look in mine, but I am not at home to check), it's come kind of composite. I remember at the time it was pretty advanced when it came out. So you'd be right not to tell people at the track that it's graphite. The graphite parts are easy to spot they have a pretty noticeable gray tint to it.

[highwayracer]

I was talking to the Losi rep before the junior 2 chassis first came out (4 months before the release of the kit). I was told that the origin of the name was "stiff as hell"...which for obvious reasons, could not be used.

The "plastic" chassis was better than the graphite plate because of it's lack of conductivity...which reduced radio glitches. In addition, it was much stiffer when assembled correctly.

As far as the graphite parts, if it doesn't say graphite (and the parts are new or look new), then they are probably just the regular parts. Losi wasn't shy about stamping GRAPHITE on everything...it's a great marketing ploy.

[DHC6]

Ha, that's awesome!! I knew there had to be a story about the name of the material.

[wyldbill]

if i rember correctly stifizell was what they called it in magazines and instruction manuals for censorship reasons. to team guys and everyone else at the track it was called "stiff as hell"