Shodog's HPI Mini RS4 build.

[shodog]

I bought the HPI mini RS4 sport way back in 2003 so it has been a very long term project. It was missing the entire steering system, body mounts and a shock so it languished in a box for years







Over time I bought parts for the car when they were at a good deal. There isn't very many of these around and because of that I've seen eBay sellers asking ridiculous prices for some of these parts. Over the last couple of years I've been on an HPI binge. Mainly trying to find parts restore my RS4 original and freshen my Pro2 bought from Incredible Serious. Luckily I was able to pick up a new built Pro2 at a dirt cheap price. I cherry picked the items off of it for my Pro2 and what I had left was enough extra parts to create a mini pro 2. I used the motor plates, belt tensioner and arm mount braces along with the ball diffs, shocks and rear tower. The Graphite chassis plates and Kawada wheels were bought on eBay. Found a new in the bag 2 speed transmission kit and bumper foam bumper kit from a local hobby shop.





Spent a long night last night and finished it up this morning. I love how it turned out

[Incredible_Serious]

That's come out very nice..... as per usual.

One question, are those Kawada wheels alloy, or just chromed plastic? Hard to tell from the pictures....

Alex

[shodog]

That's come out very nice..... as per usual.

One question, are those Kawada wheels alloy, or just chromed plastic? Hard to tell from the pictures....

Alex

They are plated plastic. Kawada does a killer job at making their plating look real.

[Incredible_Serious]

That's come out very nice..... as per usual.

One question, are those Kawada wheels alloy, or just chromed plastic? Hard to tell from the pictures....

Alex

They are plated plastic. Kawada does a killer job at making their plating look real.

Cool, they do a great job!

Was just asking, as I know of two sets of alloy wheels that are going up soon.... and one set is Mini size......

Alex

[clm]

Looks great! Now you need a nice Classic Mini shell to drop on it!

[shodog]

Looks great! Now you need a nice Classic Mini shell to drop on it!

I haven't decided on a body yet. I've got a couple of vintage mini bodies. A Mini Cooper and a pajaro. I've also looked at some of the abc mini bodies of vintage 70's cars

[rccars4sal]

Nice 2 speed. I love a slick shifting 2 speed!

[tamiyadan]

.

[Lonestar]

two speeds didn't really work.

loss of brake control, lack of ratios, which granted is less of a big deal, weight.
for racing the more simple design works better.

if you look at a modern 1:1 Tesla they have a 1 speed gearbox direct drive. it works much better then a 2 speed or more because the instant torque basically wrecked the shifting gearbox pretty much the same issue with small scale as well. it just does not really work all that well and you get better performance with a single gear ratio.

still they are trick and cute and something different.
i have the 2speed box for the mini and also an Rc-10

Two-speed by essence is non-sense for an electric motor... the gearbox (edit: not just RC!) is designed to alleviate the very nature of IC engines, which lack torque at the low-end. Which is where electric motors develop their most torque.

It sure looks uber-cool, though!

Jim, the mini-pajero is the right body - if only because it was sold with the mini-RS4 bitd. I believe there was an MkI Mx-5 too... But any of the ABC 70's stuff will look fantastic on this chassis anyway!

[shodog]

I ran a 2 speed on my RS4 original. I liked it but it was finicky. Early in the battery pack it would shift too soon, mid pack was perfect and then never quite shift towards the end of the pack. The 2 speed works excellent on my Nitro RS4. Regardless though, I'm going to put them on every RS4 I have.

[TRX-1-3]

The 2 speed is awesome.

[shodog]

Since my last update in 2016, I’ve picked up parts for this build. I had my HPI box and tools out from a HPI Rally project so I was able to install my parts stash on this car tonight.

This car started out as a sport mini to which I added Carbon fiber upper and lower chassis, shock towers and transmission brace. HPI two speed transmission. Aluminum heat sink motor plate. Aluminum front and rear bulkheads. Front and rear ball differentials. Aluminum Pro2 dampers with aluminum spring perches.

[RC10th]

You should top it off with a Kawada Comical body.