triumph project (Venture Hobbies Voltima tribute)

[harvey]

Thanks for digging up this thread Jeff as I never saw it in '09. This car is so weird I love it, straight out of the wild west days of buggy engineering!

[dirt oval rc]

well 5 years gone and now I'm back looks like a real deal Voltima was found. I'll have to post pics of my runner so you can see it in action

[Ooben]

I found this thread after I pulled my Voltima KV off the shelf to give it a cleaning. I have quite a bit of info to offer up on the development of the KV, I worked for Venture Hobbies in the late 80's and early 90's. It's late, but tomorrow I'll post some pics of mine and fill you in on the story......

[Mr. ED]

Yeah baby, yeah!

[Lonestar]

I found this thread after I pulled my Voltima KV off the shelf to give it a cleaning. I have quite a bit of info to offer up on the development of the KV, I worked for Venture Hobbies in the late 80's and early 90's. It's late, but tomorrow I'll post some pics of mine and fill you in on the story......

That'd be quite a thread resurrection - looking forward to seeing the pix!

Welcome aboard

[Ooben]

Ok, are you ready for a blast from the past, a trip down memory lane...blah blah blah? You have to know....all this info is coming from 30 year old memories, so please, don't quote me, and please do not sue me if I'm wrong.....

I'll get the pics out of the way first....



This is the body I used when we were night racing...it's amazing how well florescent orange shows up under mecrury vapor lights....









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[Ooben]

This is the body I used most all the other times....especially if it was windy....that other body acted just like a parachute coming off the bigger jumps....









I used the venerable Futaba Magnum Jr., you should have heard the cry babies whine when I put my battery pack on the bottom of it....they were just sure I was getting more power out of my radio with it....even after I showed them it was less voltage than their AA packs....sheesh....



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[Mr. ED]

Those robinson c carriers with the inclined kingpin are a rare sight too.
And I really love the lower body with the gen1 top.

[Ooben]

Those robinson c carriers with the inclined kingpin are a rare sight too.
And I really love the lower body with the gen1 top.

Wow....you know your vintage stuff! Yeah, those Robinson carriers sure made a difference in cornering traction, along with the Andys wide a-arms......

[Lonestar]

that's an awesome set of pics, with some awesome patina on those metallic parts!

[Ooben]

that's an awesome set of pics, with some awesome patina on those metallic parts!

Hee hee....yeah, my poor Voltima sat out in a damp garage for 15 or 20 years.....

I started working at Venture Hobbies just about the time when the owners Rich and Larry were getting started on the Voltima project. I remember that the first batch of carbon plates for the frames didn't have the screw holes counter sunk...I spent a couple of weeks doing nothing but counter sinking holes. It took quite a few bits to get it done, carbon can dull steel real quick....

As one person noted, the Voltima had quite a bit of anti-squat built in, there were two different battery strap/suspension pivot pin mounts to change how much. There were also two different suspension arms made to change the degree of rear toe in, 2 and 4 degrees if I remember right. The arms and the battery strap/pivot pin mounts were made out of Delrin, pretty darn tough stuff.

Two versions of the kit were made, the Voltima, and the Voltima KV (Kilo Voltima). The KV frame was longer in the back, it provided protection for the motor. Also the KV came with a front carbon shock tower that let you use longer rear shocks on the front. Some of the tracks we had around here were really rough, the added suspension travel helped with that. Rich always wanted to sell either the Kyosho Gold or Platinum shocks with the kit. I tried both....didn't like the Platinums at all, thought the Golds were good.....but what I really liked were the plastic bodied shocks that came with the Ultima Pro ( at least I think they came with the Pro....). The plastic shocks were as smooth as the Golds...however they were lighter....and cost a bunch less. Rich told me fine, if you want to race with those shocks go for it.....but don't be bragging them up. He didn't make as much selling the plastic ones....

If you look close at the full color add on the first page of this thread, you will notice that the car pictured has the plastic shocks on it. Rich asked me to prep that car for the photo shoot....so to prank him I put a set of plastic shocks on it....

I think total sales of the kits might have been 150 to 300....I just don't remember for sure. I always thought it made for a pretty darn capable car. The main advantages of it were moving the battery inline, the ultra stiff carbon frame....and how light it was. I think it weighed in under 2lbs {EDIT: under 3lbs, not 2lbs....}, giving you the option of adjusting the balance of the car by placing the needed weight to qualify anywhere you wanted.

[Lonestar]

Interesting story on shocks... I had some of these plastic shocks on my Mid Custom bitd and all I can remember is they were not rebuildable, the o-rings were locked in the bottom and they would leak easily... so I can understand about the lighter part, but performance-wise this is a bit counter-intuitive!

such an awesome, quirky design!

Still waiting for a vid for almost a decade now from all the many posters who said they'd do one Who'll get there first?

[Ooben]

Shocks are pretty much a personal preference....what works for me may very well not work for you....I was a very conservative driver.....no big air, tried to drive as clean a race as possible, you can really move ahead of the pack by missing all the crashes.....

I don't remember having problems with the plastic shocks....they did break easier than the aluminum ones....3 out of 4 shocks on my KV still have oil in them....25 years down the road....and they can be rebuilt. There is a little star? keeper that holds the o-rings in place. I "think" the o-rings are the same size as the Gold rings...



Anyway, I have hijacked this thread enough....I would love to see a vid of the OP's car...a handmade KV....simply awesome!

[Lonestar]

There is a little star? keeper that holds the o-rings in place. I "think" the o-rings are the same size as the Gold rings...

whoa I had totally missed that 30 years ago! for my teen self, they were just NOT rebuildable .... Thanks for this!

[Ooben]

I used to have a plastic spacer I put under the shock piston to force the rings and keeper back into place....the washers shown works the same....