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Are you going to run inside or outside?

The plan is to have an outdoor concrete track poured in about a month. Prep work on the lot has already started.

We've already been running some cars up and down the road in front of the shop. For, um, "testing" . . .

But that has its hazards (can suddenly get busy when the train blocks the main road).
And it's hard on the cars, even though we all have junk tires we can run.

Most of my previous RC experience was on water, so hilarity is sure to ensue.

Minor update: The Novak ESC will be coming off next week and I'm going to be experimenting with some other ESC/motor combinations.

Okay, if you're going to run outdoors, get rid of the 64 DP spur and pinion, and install 48 DP gears. The 64 DP gears strip really easily outdoors due to small stones.

Some of the cars came with 48P, I'm still running 64P on this one because that's what came on it and I have several different spurs to experiment with.

But I will change it over before I run it on the track. Those little teeth worry me too.

And thanks to everyone for all the advice. I freely admit that I'm flying by the seat of my pants here and know just enough to get myself into trouble.

Updates and a question . . .

Trying a Trinity spec 19 motor that I got in a trade, and a new HPI SC-15WP ESC that I bought on eBay.
Can't do it today, got family coming for Easter, but I want to put the tach to the wheel and see how this motor spins.

I still have the Novak ESC (two of them actually) and I'm keeping it in reserve.
I may trade away the one off the truck, since I clipped the wires. But the one that was on this car still has the plugs installed and could be swapped out in a minute.

I have a couple of bodies ordered from McAllister, a "Lernerville" and a "Bakersfield." These are both 10" wide bodies.
One is for me and the other will go on a friend's car. Since I ordered them, I get my pick of whichever I like the best when I actually get my hands on them.

I also need to get my front bumper made. I know a guy who makes holsters, and he said he should have a piece of Kydex that would work. Or I may use some polycarbonate I have, but it's clear and would have to be painted.

Tentative design (subject to change):




I do need to do some front end work, I have new turbuckles to replace the rusty ones. When I do that I will fix the steering blocks, they are upside down!
The front end came to me mostly assembled and I never noticed this until I had it all mounted and adjusted. But it does need to be changed, the front of the chassis sits too low.

As it sits right now:



Oh yeah, the question. What is the opinion on the battery trays? Anyone else using these?

On the one in the rear I have the strap fixed with screws, no clip, the battery slips underneath the strap. The one in the front has the clipped-on strap.
This is convenient but I'm debating on going to velcro straps instead.

TerryC wrote:
Oh yeah, the question. What is the opinion on the battery trays? Anyone else using these?

On the one in the rear I have the strap fixed with screws, no clip, the battery slips underneath the strap. The one in the front has the clipped-on strap.
This is convenient but I'm debating on going to velcro straps instead.

Velcro straps might catch on stuff on the running surface. The advantage of the battery cups is that they simply screw on.

Is that Trinity a recent 19T motor? If so, I hope you'll get enough downforce from the McAllister bodies, they kinda lack rear wing, cause recent 19T motors are about as fast as vintage 12T motors and you're running on 8.4 Volts... An alternative body that does have the proper downforce would be Andy's Mercedes (listed on here). I think that's it for the USA though, unless the increasing Pro10 popularity nudges Protoform to start producing the P-35 and Peugeot bodies again...

Time will tell. I got the body, and I have it trimmed and ready to paint. It has a rear spoiler that I will be using.
The body I have is really a better body for downforce I would think, but I'll be running the massive Late Model body when I run with the guys.

The motor is a Chameleon 2. Not sure how long these have been out.
This one is not new, but I don't have any idea just how old it is or how much it's been run (brushes look good).

I haven't put the tach on it yet, because I've changed gearing since I tached the Orion 13x2 Method R SV2.
I'll have to switch gears for a direct comparison.

That one screamed!
To tell the truth, I was a little afraid of it.
I don't think I have the driving skills for a motor like that yet.

Big changes in plans.

This car is no longer going to be running the track, other than maybe a few fun laps if/when I can arrange it.
I plan to revert it back to saddle pack style batteries, and it will keep the original body.
I hate this, but it no longer fits into the plans (which I have no power to influence).
The demographic of the group also changed, as I suspected it would, when it was seen where there was money to be made.
Any further comments would turn into a rant, so I'll just leave it there.
I have no desire to gut this car and start over. From now on it's a parking lot plaything (and a damn good one I might add).

I have another car, a "mystery" chassis that I've never really identified, that I've built up specifically to run on the track we will now be using. It's a small (very) indoor track actually better suited to 1/12 and 1/18 cars than these 1/10.

I will get some pics up of the other chassis soon, I'm sure someone here will be able to tell me what exactly it is.

Anyway, here is a photo of the 'collection' . . .



And here is the new car with the body mostly detailed . . .




I do plan to install the sideboards on the spoiler, I just haven't done it yet.

This body has only been run solo so far, I switch over to an old body when there are other cars on the track. Eventually I will have to bite the bullet and let it get it get it's dents and dings.

But not just yet.

TerryC,

Where did you get that decal pack? I want, no need those decals.

Quik

Awesome job Terry! But you gotta let us see under the hood! Also who makes those sweet orange tires? Do they make other colors? Wicked job you did on these cars! Love it

The orange-wheel tires are from Rc4less. I don't know about other colors, all the ones I saw were like these.
Be aware though that the Rc4less tires were slightly larger in diameter than the BSRs they replaced and this gave me some minor clearance problems on the front bumper and rear pod. Nothing a little work with a sander wouldn't fix.

I haven't taken any pictures of this chassis but I will get some and post them.

Most of the decals, I made.

The flames (Advance Auto), the die-cut BFL logos (AR15.com store), and the big vinyl numbers and small vinyl letters on the front (Staples) were all purchased. And the McAllister sticker on the rear deck came with the body.

All of the smaller fender decals, along with the front and rear Chevy bowties, the flags, and the lettering on the rear quarterpanel, were printed on Avery full-sheet label paper, cut out, and then covered with Avery laminating sheet that extends about 1/8" past the edge all the way around. The clear sheet sticks to the body and seals the ink/paper decal from moisture.

I've made decals for my motorcycle this way and they lasted a long time before the sunlight and exposure to the elements finally cracked the plastic sheet.

Because these were so small the cutting had to be nearly perfect or it would show badly. And I rejected and reprinted a couple because the edges got off the line or were just not smooth enough. It was a LOT of work.

I also added a sig over the drivers side window.

The thing about the sticker selection is that I did not just pick logos at random. All of the items on the car are products I own, use, and support. There may be a couple more added, but not much as it's about as crowded with decals as I want it to get.

Quikenuff, if you would like I can send you the images I used to make the decals.

They will print to size at 600 dpi. At that resolution they have really good detail, at least on my printer.

This photo was taken more to show my battery box project, than for ID purposes. Not sure how much help it will be, but here it is . . .



That battery box was formed from the thin aluminum angle shown. Three sides: inside, front, and outside, one piece notched and bent. Covered with the plastic edging and mounted to the chassis with servo tape. The bottom is lined with thin craft rubber foam.

An experiment. Ugly, but it works. And despite it's bulky look (that's the plastic covering) it weighs very little.

Nice collection of cars there

As for the battery tie down issue, for all my 10l's I use the Associated off-road battery cups p# 6334 - lightweight & inexpensive so they work great! You can bolt them to the chassis or just use 2-way tape.

teman wrote:Nice collection of cars there

As for the battery tie down issue, for all my 10l's I use the Associated off-road battery cups p# 6334 - lightweight & inexpensive so they work great! You can bolt them to the chassis or just use 2-way tape.

6334 Battery Cup Set.jpg

I have those on the other car, mounted with tape. I just wanted to try making something myself. I'm stubborn that way.
Not sure what i'll do in the long run.

The reason I put the plastic edging on was to keep the sides of the pack off the upper edge of the aluminum, but it turns out the the pack sits a little deeper that I thought and the edge is not an issue. I'll probably take off the plastic before the next trip to the track.


This is how the car looks when it's getting bashed on . . .