Page 1 of 2
Mr. ED's yatabe bug : updated with action pics!
Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 10:38 am
by Mr. ED
The Yatabe rules say the suspension arms and transmission design have to be from 1989 or earlier for vintage cars.
So here's my nearly finished attempt to put some more fun into an ultima chassis with the original arms and gearbox.
Under the hood there's still some work to do, so nude pics are for later

Here're the teasers.
EDIT: 1st time at KND cricuit today.
Action pic on the way, but naked shots at the end of the page already.
Re: Mr. ED's yatabe bug under construction
Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 12:19 pm
by MOmo
Dahms Bugsy body?
Looks good. I like it.
MOmo
Re: Mr. ED's yatabe bug under construction
Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 5:50 pm
by AYKBOBCAT
What are those tires? Cool!
Re: Mr. ED's yatabe bug under construction
Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 6:26 pm
by Mr. ED
The shell is the lexan scorcher clone from Parma, been using this specific one for about 15 years already. It's incredible strong.
Here you see it on the previous car, with fenders still:
http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=663
Those tires are from Panther: these were the only allowed tires for the Ifmar World championships. I thought they worked well and look almost scale with this body.
Re: Mr. ED's yatabe bug : naked!
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:16 am
by Mr. ED
Well here it is: taking over lots of parts from its racing brother which is currently in the garage for another face-lift.
what's special? Basically I tried to make the best: most fun, of parts I won't use for my vintage-illegal racer.
And I'm pretty happy with the result sofar.
1) The in-length battery configuration was abandoned for the standard side-ways for 2 reasons:
- to lower the CG: making space to mount the electronics in the tub.
- to reduce the number of nose scrubs on the jumps. By shortening the chassis by an inch and inversing the front-arms the wheelbase is almost the same. The wheels are however further forward from the nose for the same ground-clearance in height.
2) Heavy old ESC: placed low and upfront for low forward CG.
3) Standard full-size servo right behind the battery: again to keep the CG forward and mounted standing up to allow lower mounting of the light receiver behind it.
4) original 2mm chassis: countersunk and using small-head screws: lighter than the 3mm turbo chassis.
This doesn't compensate for the heavier body and electronics, but it helps.
5) single arm steering swivel: to reduce the play in the steering. worked perfect, but as you can see in the pic I should have used a servo saver on the servo outdrive. I was in such a hurry to get the car track-ready I simply forgot

The horn in the pic was the 2nd servo horn I broke with 1 pack and it ended the fun at thtrack for today.
Re: Mr. ED's yatabe bug : naked!
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 2:54 pm
by JK Racing
Mr Ed, what front hub/carrier combination are you using? It appears you have new RB5/ZX5 front rims/tires, and I have had this though also, since I race both, for one of my RC10's.
Re: Mr. ED's yatabe bug : naked!
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:29 pm
by Mr. ED
Those are from an optima mid. (well TF-1 option parts, but they are all the same in design)
On another car I'm using the new RB5 set-up: It's narrower so it is usable with the longer andy's arms.
Re: Mr. ED's yatabe bug : naked!
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 11:34 pm
by RichieRich
I really like this bug. It's also nice to see Ultimas getting their props.
Do you get any weird camber changes with the arms inverted and the bend in the upper link?
Re: Mr. ED's yatabe bug : naked!
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 1:47 am
by Mr. ED
RichieRich wrote:I really like this bug. It's also nice to see Ultimas getting their props.
Do you get any weird camber changes with the arms inverted and the bend in the upper link?
Thanks for the encouragement
The arms swing over the same axle still so the movement is the same. I also didn't have to increase the down angle much as the large modern wheels and tires make up for the loss of ride-height from inverting the arms.
The upperlinks shape doesn't matter: as long as the part between the attachment points is rigid, the action is no different from a straight axle. I had longer ones; running straight and in front of the shocks earlier, but they got bend when hitting the corners (REALLY need more practise)
Re: Mr. ED's yatabe bug : naked!
Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 11:44 am
by knucklebuster
Sweet ride Mr. Ed!
Re: Mr. ED's yatabe bug : updated with action pics!
Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:36 am
by Mr. ED
grass doesn't make for the nicest action pics

but I hope you still like these:
Re: Mr. ED's yatabe bug : updated with action pics!
Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:41 am
by Dr. Robotnik
Awesome. Were you taking pics and driving?
Re: Mr. ED's yatabe bug : updated with action pics!
Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:59 am
by bearrickster
Looks like fun!! I like the flyin grass. I am jealous though all of mine are in peices getting re built. I scored 3 cases of old Losi parts for 50 bucks at my local hobby store and thought it was time for a major rebuild. but they havent been apart in ten or so years they were due. love the pictures
Re: Mr. ED's yatabe bug : updated with action pics!
Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:28 pm
by Asso_man!
Great action pics ED, looks like you had some fun

Re: Mr. ED's yatabe bug : updated with action pics!
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:40 am
by Mr. ED
Thanks guys,
I would have had more fun if I had glued the back tires on the rims; after half a pack I got tired of pulling them back on to the wheels.

- pulling tires.jpg (65.92 KiB) Viewed 3190 times

- pulling tires.jpg (65.92 KiB) Viewed 3190 times
I ran my latest project last weekend with the same wheels and tires, but it had a slipper and milder moter, so that went all well.
http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2172&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=15
The reason I didn't glue them yet is not because I don't know better, I just want other tires on this Tamiya wheels at some point in the near future.
I drove, the misses took the pics, and I just cropped them later: here she is:

- IMG_3582_cr.jpg (225.61 KiB) Viewed 3190 times

- IMG_3582_cr.jpg (225.61 KiB) Viewed 3190 times