2011 Vonats Falcon

[Brandon G]

This buggy I plan on running in the Classic class. Pretty much a bone stock Falcon with the exception of Losi springs and HPI superstar wheels and J concepts tires. Same combo I ran on the Frog.

More pics as I get her finished up as well.

[tucker330]

Looks like a nice start!

[Brandon G]

I worked on the Falcon weaknesses the last couple of nights.

One was the rear shock towers. They will snap if hit from the side. To strenghthen this I used 1/8" FRP and cut it to fit in the slot that was already conveniently moulded into the towers. It goes down and screws into the chassis, which was also perfectly lined up with the slot. Nice and strong now.

Two was the front chassis. They are notorious for snapping off where the front end screws to the chassis. I had a CRP metal brace but didn't really care for it too much. So I had 2 Losi XXL camber links set aside for another project but used them to beef up the front. A little overkill, but they work!

Three was the steering. Can you say bump steer? I don't think Tamiya spent much time engineering the steering systems on much of their early cars. 1 pivot on the servo saver offset in the chassis, one link longer than the other. Anyway, I used some A&L steering bellcranks and mounted them pretty close together on the chassis. Had to do this to keep them from hitting the sides of the chassis. Made the rack out of the same 1/8 FRP. Now the turnbuckle links are equal and are the same length as the distance between the inner and outer suspension arm pivot holes. I had to space up the ball studs 1/8" on the rack to get the angle between the links and the arms the same. Zero bump steer.

Four was the rear dogbones. I took the easy way out and bought a set of the CRP bones. If they pop out still I can put some o-rings inside the outer cups to push them further into the gearbox cups. I'll wait to see if this will be necessary.

Five was the shocks. The stock oil and springs were way to stiff to be effective. Rebuilt them and used orange Losi springs in front, white in the rear. Stock pistons with Losi 20 wt oil. Nice and plush.

I still need to install the receiver and speedo and paint the body. Hopefully get this done soon!

[Lonestar]

Awesome, I like the steering job!!! Bump steer on early tamiya cars is appalling indeed to say the least... you nicely fixed it, in style with yellow plastics

All 80's tamiya cars are oversprung and overdamped or sometimes even worse, grossly UNDER-damped. In stock shape the falcon was bouncing all over the place behind the plastic parts' elasticity rather than the suspension, which is a shame as it had four "hi-tech" shocks, which was pretty unheard of for cars priced like it bitd. If you check out tamiya's promo vid for the falcon, it's hilarious to see the car bounce on every little piece of gravel on its path

I really like what you did with it - make sure you shoot a vid of it in action!

Paul

[Mad Racer]

You have done a superb job on that.

Just the way i like it. Nicely moded with thought behind it. Best of all it still looks like a Tamiya but will go so much better.

Really Tamiya always had a good platform but seem to rush it out into production and not finish it off better.

Please report back how she goes.

Cheers

[illshou]

Nice job. The falcon was always one of my favorite tamiya cars

[bearrickster]

WOW, thats a lot of thought into what was a low end car, now a great car I bet it runs good now. Tamiya needs to hire you to design their cars. truely a Great build

[RichieRich]

Nice job, Brandon! I really like the steering setup you've created there. Love the ingenuity. Let us know how it handles.

[ROH73]

Very cool! My uncle had a Falcon back in the late 80s; I built it for him. I always liked the car and it's great to see some really well thought out improvements made to it.

[dldiaz]

I love this! I have several Falcons; I have thought, if I ever make it to the VONats - I will run a Falcon in Classics...

Did you consider using the Thorp (Dirt Burners) steel dogbones/axles for this build?


-cheers

[Mr. ED]

I think you nailed all the weak points (except one) and it's nice to see some solutions for them.
The point you missed is the spolier and more specificly the the way it mounts to the main body.
I remember my friend was fixing it all the time just to break it again in the next run

[fredswain]

Great job! I need to think about the steering on my Fox as the bump steer always annoyed me. I also didn't realize that Losi springs would fit the old Tamiya yellow shocks so that's a good tip. I just so happen to have a set of A&L bell cranks lying around. Perhaps I'll look into something similar on my car. If possible that is.

[Brandon G]

I love this! I have several Falcons; I have thought, if I ever make it to the VONats - I will run a Falcon in Classics...

Did you consider using the Thorp (Dirt Burners) steel dogbones/axles for this build?


-cheers

I was actually going to make my own setup with a CVD arrangement but simply ran out of time. The Thorp hardware for the Falcon is pretty hard to find!

[Brandon G]

I think you nailed all the weak points (except one) and it's nice to see some solutions for them.
The point you missed is the spolier and more specificly the the way it mounts to the main body.
I remember my friend was fixing it all the time just to break it again in the next run

Yes, I agree in regards to the spoiler. I guess I only have one solution for that right now. Don't crash!

[Mr. ED]

I'm going from memory on this: if I'm right there's 2 more or less cubic risers on top of which you bolt the spoiler? Maybe you could cut 2 small blocks of balsa wood that fit perfectly into the humps and use longer screws.