Introducing the F104-BC Edition. :)

Just finished this today...

Idea developed over a couple of days... designed and built in 2 nights.





This change in design hopes to achieve a couple of things:

- I run some weight on the rear of my normal F104... with the saddle pack configuration, I'm hoping to be able to run a lighter car but achieve a similar balance front to rear.
- locally our F1 runs include a 60-lap final. The typical 4000mah lipo that fits into a standard F104 doesn't allow me run anything else besides a standard silver can 540 motor - any hotter motor and the car has a high chance of running out of juice. This change should allow me to keep up with the guys running chassis which can fit larger capacity packs (e.g. Exotek conversions, HPI F10s, etc.)

Hope the weather allows this car to be tested sometime soon... we have a F1 run this weekend...

Finally got back to machining some stuff

Took a break from machining for a bit but over the weekend I finally got round to doing some of the parts I've had churning around in my head for a bit... Here's a quick rundown.

First off, the Tamiya TRF511 was taken off the shelf. It's been sitting there ever since my 23mm tall saddle pack lipos were decommissioned and I bought some 25mm tall LRP ones. The reason is that the taller packs didn't fit in the 511. I've seen some very creative solutions to fit the taller packs and the one I liked best was to slightly shift the packs back to clear the center bulkheads. These would shift the weight backwards as well which in my opinion is a good thing for the somewhat aggressive 511 buggy. So I machined the outer Lipo retainers, a center "spacer" as well as new battery straps.

The other advantage is that this mod allows me to use the heavier 5000mah packs which are about 35g heavier than my previous packs. I used to run 45g of weight around the batteries so now I can remove most of that *and* gain more runtime.








Next up the TRF502 also got a new mod. After the recent race I found that I could use a tad more low speed steering. I've heard about the mods that Lee Martin in Europe had done to give the 502 better steering geometry like the 511. So I machined a center steering link to move the ball studs forwards and slightly outwards to allow the 502 to get similar ackerman as the 511.






Lastly, the 2WD section also got some of my attention. I've always wanted to get the Cougar to work better on the dirt tracks that we run on and I've suspected that the loose rear on the car is generally due to weight distribution. I wanted to move weight more to the rear so I decided to go to a saddle layout. Schumacher sells their own version of these as an option but I went ahead to machine my own. Preliminary tests show that the car is a *lot* more planted but the rear shocks now need tuning as they are way too soft for the increased rear weight bias.

Here's a before/after view...

BEFORE



AFTER



Testing to be done on all cars as soon as I get the chance! :)

Vids from our NOOB Series 4WD Round 1 Race

Took the win today with the TRF502X. Run 1 was won by the always competitive Tein with his DEX410 but managed to snag the win by taking Run 2 and Run 3.

A Main Run 2




A Main Run 3

Just some 2WD action from last Sunday's bash

Traction's been awesome at the track lately after a bout of rain followed by a couple days of sun...

TRF502

Almost finished with this build. Initial thoughts:

• Although there've been comments that this car is a AE B44 clone, it is quite a different car being similar only in overall layout of electronics
• build quality is typical TRF, i.e. simply excellent
• love the adjustable battery trays (forward and aft positions possible)
• quality of plastics feel very good, quite unlike the softer type used in the TRF201
• not much space for electronics though, for this car, small stuff will work better.
• compared to the B44, this car should be far easier to wrench on
• price of the kit is less than initial release prices of the TRF501/511 but they did skimp on some parts: turnbuckles are the cheaper ones released with the DB01 (I believe steel?), no HL (gold) shock bodies or ti-nitride coated shock shafts, basic steel diff balls...
  

Overall I really enjoyed the build... far more than when I built my B44. Looking forward to hitting the track with this buggy!

Maybe a different paint scheme from the typical yellow blue and red?

YZ10 Track Test #2

Had a chance to run my YZ10 with some other vintage cars yesterday. It's only got a black can motor installed (standardized motor for the upcoming vintage run) but it's quite zippy. I imagine with a faster brushless in this buggy it'll really rip!

JRX-2 Front Hingepin Brace

One nice advantage of running the Andy's front arms is that they actually allow room on the hingepin for me to easily fit a brace on.

Quick job on CAD and then to the Sherline and this was whipped out - a front hingepin support for the buggy. This should give the front bulkhead that little bit more protection.