Operation RC10 Golden Arrow Is On

[morrisey0]

Since my teens, I have loved RC10s.

Since my teens, I have thought RS Golden Arrows were great looking.

Since getting back into vintage RC, I have thought about combining the two, but gold pans just weren't all that compatible with the GA body. So, I just back-burner'd the idea.

But recently, I picked up a cheap graphite chassis based RC10. And, well, things are looking promising so far.

I was hoping to lay the body so low as to be at the same plane as the chassis, but I don't see that happening. The original GA body was meant for a tub, and it kinda needs it as it is very shallow, so all I can do is get it close to a flat chassis. I am about 1/4" off on the front at this point, and I think that is going to be close enough. The GA was mid-engine, so I have to do the same to the RC10 to get the wheelbase in the same neighborhood. I am printing an adapter now to mount the 6-gear and bulkhead flippy-flopped without any chassis mods taking place. No harm will be done to an RC10 graphite chassis in this build! This is about my 5th-6th RC10 build so far, and although I like to change a lot about them, I have yet to drill a hole in a factory chassis.

[MarkyDents]

Looks like a real nice early graphite your working with.
This is a really cool idea, can’t wait to see the piece you come up with for flipping that rear.

[morrisey0]

The rear mid-engine adapter was not an issue; I got it about right on my 1st, 2nd, maybe 3rd, okay it was my 5th attempt! The problem with trans plates and 6-gears trans is not the lack of holes to worth with, but the fact that the holes are so close together! Only those that have looked at it will get this, but once you flip the trans, you want your four trans mounting holes to line up equal-distant around the holes that used to hold the bulkhead. But one you start creating six holes that close together, and then trying to incorporate screw heads, it becomes a PITA. The same pops up in the back when you want to mount your bulkhead around the holes that used to be for the trans.

This is where my adapter sits at this point. I may very well wake up tomorrow thinking, "geez Robb you are an idiot! Why not do it this way?!?" And I will come up with a much better idea.

BTW: the driveline angle is no where near as bad as it looks in this last pic. That is just camera angle.

[Frankentruck]

The Golden Arrow always was a good looking buggy. That will be a nice retro buggy 'sleeper'.

[morrisey0]

Yep, I am going to continue to taint this sub-forum with this monstrosity! TBH, so far, I love it!

The original plan was a nice combination of Golden Arrow Gold and RC10 Gold would just work together, but yea, not gonna happen. I wanted to use an actual AE gold pan, but no way the body works with that, so went with a graphite chassis. Then, Golden Arrow Gold is more like a light brown, while AE Gold is more a orange / copper. The two are just not compatible! So, to stick with making a look-alike Golden Arrow, I will loose the AE gold of the shocks in the near future. The AE white nylon will go black to line up with the GA.

Best part about a build that has no guidelines is that you can design / build whatever you want! The RC10 chassis now sports a battery / ESC / RX mount, a rear body mount making use of the stock GA body holes (going with no extra chassis or body holes on this build), a rear wing adapter to make the GA wing mount as a standard RC10 wing would, and some rear wheel adapters to mount some Hornet II wheels, which aren't exactly like original GA but close enough and readily available.

Threw the body on just for fitment, and the low-profile of this body kills me on this chassis. Love the combo so far!

[Frankentruck]

I'm all for 3D printed brackets that negate the need for servo tape. The only thing I'm seeing is that the servo lead is on the opposite side of the battery from the receiver. Would that wiring tunnel under the battery holder?

I like the upgrade from the X-star to the Radon 2 motor.

[morrisey0]

Good Eye!

Yes, there is a wiring channel under there. TBH, forgot about it during initial mounting.

[Tang]

This is awesome! I had two Golden Arrows back in the day. First met it's demise trying to jump a pool. The other just got beat down over time. Wasn't much after that when I got my first RC10. Very neat mashup!