AE TF-10: An AE Top Fuel Hodge Podge
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2022 8:59 pm
Why be in the middle of one build when you can be in the middle of four? It eats up all that time you sit around waiting for parts, and paint to dry, etc.
My inspiration behind this one was thinking that I was an AE guy back in the '90s and I had a local shop / track where I raced dirt and oval (multiple scales). But, as was the times, the track closed. I turned to thinking how I could recycle a car and multiple parts into a vehicle that I could run without a track. So, I decided to build a dragster out of what AE parts I had sitting around. Sidenote: Flashforward 20 years or so and a similar guy did the similar thing with a Slash, and he created a whole genre!
One point here was to use only AE 90s parts if possible. Obviously the chassis will be new and custom, but try to keep as mush as possible AE parts.
So, I started with a RC10LS. These things come to me like a moth to flame for some reason. I own six RC10L variants, and five of them are small rear pod / twin front arm variants, and none of them are fiberglass. So, a RC10LS was the donor with the intent of only using parts from it, and really just "limo'ing" the chassis to stretch it out.
The plan was to go to a ~24" WB top fuel dragster. RJspeed still produces a cheap kit around this spec, so figured it was safe to hang around there, and would have a readily available body. RJspeed uses a main bottom plate with a vertical "backbone" along its length for rigidity, but I thought that was kinda a big waste of space. I decided to go with a dual deck chassis design, and use most of the space of the chassis for battery placement. This allows for some weight dispersement, and doesn't limit me to sticking a pack in the only place it will fit. The two chassis plates actually clamp down to the batteries, so the batteries become part of the structural support to a degree.
First plan was to mock it up and print it out. Literally had to print each plate out in three pieces as I can only print about 8" long.
Had to make a couple of changes to the original mockup along the way, but overall it stayed the same. Worst part was that I used 3000mah batts for mockup thinking subc was subc, but when I got the final 5000mah batts in, they were larger, so last minute design changes had to happen. But when close enough to happy, designs went off to Jeff a couple or few times because of errors on my part, but waalaa, real chassis parts arrive.
With the build starting, I had to move away from strictly RC10LS. The front wheels changed to 12L, which will be narrowed by nearly half soon. The rear 10LS wheels are awesome as they are at about 2" / 50mm wide. The front suspension had to be changed to standard 10L for space sake, and the fancy 10LS movement wasn't really needed. Steering turned into RC10 half bellcrank system run off a micro servo to keep things tight. Not 100% on this one, but so far it works. I did print one part, and that is the shock mount because although it is effectively the same design as stock, I wanted more screw holes for chassis rigidity so it is widened some and has more holes. The rear pod plate shown is not the final one, as that one is on the way, as again I screwed up the design.
The intent is to mount the ESC on top of the rear pod and just have that guy out there in the breeze. This is all really just mockup still, as once it is all figured out, everything will be torn down and built up properly.
Next is figuring out the muscle end of it, which I have no idea about. I have a Zeta drag ESC and it can handle up to 20 cells.
I have a cheap Reedy 15T to start with, and figure I will just figure it out from there. The chassis is designed around 11 cells, but more can be added if needed. 
My inspiration behind this one was thinking that I was an AE guy back in the '90s and I had a local shop / track where I raced dirt and oval (multiple scales). But, as was the times, the track closed. I turned to thinking how I could recycle a car and multiple parts into a vehicle that I could run without a track. So, I decided to build a dragster out of what AE parts I had sitting around. Sidenote: Flashforward 20 years or so and a similar guy did the similar thing with a Slash, and he created a whole genre!
One point here was to use only AE 90s parts if possible. Obviously the chassis will be new and custom, but try to keep as mush as possible AE parts.
So, I started with a RC10LS. These things come to me like a moth to flame for some reason. I own six RC10L variants, and five of them are small rear pod / twin front arm variants, and none of them are fiberglass. So, a RC10LS was the donor with the intent of only using parts from it, and really just "limo'ing" the chassis to stretch it out.
The plan was to go to a ~24" WB top fuel dragster. RJspeed still produces a cheap kit around this spec, so figured it was safe to hang around there, and would have a readily available body. RJspeed uses a main bottom plate with a vertical "backbone" along its length for rigidity, but I thought that was kinda a big waste of space. I decided to go with a dual deck chassis design, and use most of the space of the chassis for battery placement. This allows for some weight dispersement, and doesn't limit me to sticking a pack in the only place it will fit. The two chassis plates actually clamp down to the batteries, so the batteries become part of the structural support to a degree.
First plan was to mock it up and print it out. Literally had to print each plate out in three pieces as I can only print about 8" long.
Had to make a couple of changes to the original mockup along the way, but overall it stayed the same. Worst part was that I used 3000mah batts for mockup thinking subc was subc, but when I got the final 5000mah batts in, they were larger, so last minute design changes had to happen. But when close enough to happy, designs went off to Jeff a couple or few times because of errors on my part, but waalaa, real chassis parts arrive.
With the build starting, I had to move away from strictly RC10LS. The front wheels changed to 12L, which will be narrowed by nearly half soon. The rear 10LS wheels are awesome as they are at about 2" / 50mm wide. The front suspension had to be changed to standard 10L for space sake, and the fancy 10LS movement wasn't really needed. Steering turned into RC10 half bellcrank system run off a micro servo to keep things tight. Not 100% on this one, but so far it works. I did print one part, and that is the shock mount because although it is effectively the same design as stock, I wanted more screw holes for chassis rigidity so it is widened some and has more holes. The rear pod plate shown is not the final one, as that one is on the way, as again I screwed up the design.
The intent is to mount the ESC on top of the rear pod and just have that guy out there in the breeze. This is all really just mockup still, as once it is all figured out, everything will be torn down and built up properly.
Next is figuring out the muscle end of it, which I have no idea about. I have a Zeta drag ESC and it can handle up to 20 cells.
I have a cheap Reedy 15T to start with, and figure I will just figure it out from there. The chassis is designed around 11 cells, but more can be added if needed. 
I always used an Xacto to make slashes, then rotate and repeat. Took forever just to prep a single 6 cell pack. 
