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Here's the build start after the disassembly, cleaning process and chassis prep I know it isn't much at the moment, but the new graphite towers will replace the originals along with anything that needs the some attention. Stay tuned, much thanks goes out to Don!

Cool about time you found time to rebuild and restyle her . don

Nice! Did you sand the chassis? Looks like an early one without the rear motor guard holes.

THUNDERSTRIKE1 wrote:Cool about time you found time to rebuild and restyle her . don

I was holding out for a new sidewinder to pop up but I became impatient A few more bits are coming this week, I'm hoping to have everything done in the next couple of weeks. I don't plan on changing too much... just wheels, turnbuckles and steering.

Asso_man! wrote:Nice! Did you sand the chassis? Looks like an early one without the rear motor guard holes.

Yeah, the nose front left was delaminating so I felt compelled to do something about it. After fixing that I figured I might as well attempt to take the scratches out of it. As you probably know it makes the finish look dull, I bathed it in some shock oil to bring the sheen back to it rather than clear coating it. I may try plasti dip, haven't decided quite yet.

About the motor guard and holes, I guess I'm going to leave it as is since I don't think I'm going run this one.

Why is the chassis so wavy at the kick up?

slotcarrod wrote:Why is the chassis so wavy at the kick up?

Good question, I don't know. I do know the camera flash makes it look even more strange than it really is. Maybe something to do with how the the nose is heated and then stamped for the kick-up? No idea really, just guessing

Reassembled now minus electronics Onto the body next, almost ruined it in the mounting process due to the area in the rear where it was paper thin I had to flip the transmission brace around just to make it work Keep that in mind if you buy this body. More about that later, I'll be designing and painting the body next week sometime and take more photos.

I have 2 those white spring spacers about the size those black ones on top the front spring clamp,if need them .DON

Very nice!

I have a Composite Craft RC10 LTO chassis that looks wavy just like that chassis you have.

lookin good!

Thanks guys... let me get back to you on that

teman wrote:

slotcarrod wrote:Why is the chassis so wavy at the kick up?

Good question, I don't know. I do know the camera flash makes it look even more strange than it really is. Maybe something to do with how the the nose is heated and then stamped for the kick-up? No idea really, just guessing

The wavy look is the internal carbon fiber modulus. They're all a bit different, but uni-directional carbon fiber matting/fabric is "laid up" and then resin is applied and heated to make a composite out of the ingredients. The wave is the reflection of fibers that didn't stay straight during any step leading up to the curing of the material, like bunching, snags and such. CF/Graphite is only heated or cured once, it's a chemical and physical change after that it's done...can't be un-done or re-done. The panels were made with that angle in the mold/vaccum bag during the curing process, then cut as one unit (early chassis, like yours were flat routed, then fixed at the nose and routed, then drilled. Look @ the cut lines at the nose area near the belcranks on the side of the chassis) Later TQ10's used a different top layer of uni directional fabric, more of a pre-preg material, so they lost that sheen and were uniform in look, also a 3 axis router cut them in one operation, so the "flat" cut on the early noses went to a "sharp" cut on the later noses. Nerd-rant over

Thanks Reggie, very interesting information. You don't really see it when the tower and mounts are bolted up so out of sight out of mind I'm happy with it and it's nice to look at

I drew up the masks, cut and applied them. Hoping to finalize the design, I may just paint it black and do vinyl pinstripe work since the body is just so paper thin in certain areas - well that and it doesn't seem to fit quite right either Maybe some day I'll stumble across an original.