TOPIC:

Lol, that's me in the title of course. Dunno if that'll stay there.
But I'll have to do some decent tech stuff on the custom FRP chassis front to get this one right (and I am not easily satified)...

Anywho, plan is to build a driveable yet rather insane base for this shell :



Traded that for a Blazing Star / Terra Conqueror.
But I think it's one of the sickest shells ever (apart from a non existing 1/10 on road 959).
You could think of this as visiting the other extreme of this build :



As off road as I thought I could make a DF-01 'scale' car (277mm wheelbase and over 300mm tread).
This build will have to be matching the specs of the on road TA02SW though, a rather notable chassis that has a wheelbase of only 237mm and more tread on the rear than on the front (wide rear tyres, the W in TA02SW).
What's challenging about this, is that I will be using the suspension arms of the Hummer.
That's simply because that's what I have lying around (with matching dogbones)...



For the front, this is actually a width the chassis would normally be using. So that's not bad.
It means I'll have to get hold of a pair of TA02 front knuckles (with matching bearings) though.
The wheels will otherwise (if I were to use DF-01 bits) be sticking out the arches.

Now the rear is the tricky bit. I will also be using the Hummer arms there.
The original chassis gets it's shortened length (the S in TA02SW) from using TA01 rear arms, which are pointing sidewards.
Those that I will be using are longer (DF-01 scale cars only) - and they are also pointing to the rear (by 20mm) like with a TA02.
Although this messes up dimensions, it is actually a lot better for motor cooling (see guide book below).



Recapitulate - too long and too wide on the rear.
First issue I will be trying to solve by fabricating ultra short chassis plates.
These should be 20mm shorter than a TA02 and 40mm shorter than the Manta Ray / TA01 chassis plates.
Second issue... I should be receiving the original wheels and it looks like these can be flipped over for different offsets.
I think I'm gonna have to go with painting the caps gunmetal (pic from previous owner).





More than a few parts will have to be 'borrowed' from the FRP (Dirt Thrasher) shelfer I've been building since the dawn of time...



Can't think of much more to freely build with otherwise but a couple of Hummer shock towers (parts wise correct)...
No worries for that buggy, it'll have enough parts and still a good base to linger on it for a few more years.



It will be a RWD only. Like I think this Porsche should be.

?

Like button can only be clicked once.

The one piece front arms are TA02? And what's the transparent object in the middle?

Not even mentioning the J10s...

Its all TA and DF bits and piezzles.

That object is from a XB DF chassis



arms I dont now think they are also on the TA02w

Thanks, that was the unknown chassis factor.
I figured the one piece front arms belong with the rears and they seem to have the TA02 offset.
The Hummer parts should be more solid (he said, theoretically)...
Could I bother you to compare the DF and TA front arms, to see if the dimensions are ultimately the same?



There's a whole bunch I could very well use to complete this Elfer.
Gotta go with black gearboxes (the ones from the DT are virgin still).



The W for TA02s seems to only stand for 31mm rear wheels, possibly offset, I discovered today.
Didn't quite get there yet but the whole spectrum of this chassis is a bit of a jungle.

I'll be making a wooden mock up chassis. Pretty sure I could never get the FRP right the first time.
Tips on what wood type to use are appreciated (fine but firm or even hard structure). Or possibly another material.

Shortening a DF-01 chassis by 40mm places the battery right next to the steering servo.
Electronics will have to go on the upper plate...
Or maybe an extra wide saddle pack chassis can do the trick (wb, you got some ideas there?).

Edit - found it :

waterbok wrote:

How thick is the FRP going to be? And is the thickness of the prototype important? Reason I ask is that plywood tends to be up to 1.5mm thick & then 3mm or greater - there's nothing in between & that area in right where I'd guess your chassis thickness would be.

I would think it's probably quite a good material to prototype in, as long as you get a couple of coats of sanding sealer on before doing fiddly holes or slots or putting any load on it.

edit - birch is a nice pale colour, "Far Eastern" ply tends to be reddish brown once you seal it, I don't think there's much to choose from in terms of structural integrity, but the birch will be higher quality.


MDF I wouldn't recommend as I suspect in that thickness it could snap like a soggy biscuit

Styrene sheet is another option, though you might need to bond on some stiffening strips to stop it sagging. It's also available in black.


I also had a thought for the RX & ESC - there's an awful lot of space at the back end on a Porker, is there any place to hang some sort of double decker crash structure that could double up as a home for the electrics?

The FRP will be the same thickness as orginal plates (2mm if I recall correctly, I did measure before buying last year at least).
For the pieces of wood that is less important, it's mostly for getting the overall dimensions and holes right.
Thanks for the tips there.

I'll be making both a lower and upper deck for it. After some recent brainstorming and parts searches (man those carbon TRF bits on wb's pic are pricey) I think the chassis will be thus short that a saddle pack setup could be a stretch when it's comes to available space. Probably best go with a normal perpendicular battery and put the electronics on top of the upper deck.



Man, when you come to it you always need a lot more parts than you planned on.

try search for saddlepack (rubber) straps.
maybe that works

Xpress



or

Posterity for the eBay ad : battery saddle pack nylon

Thanks, it is appealing indeed but the plate might be too short for them to fit, servo will probably get in the way.
In that case I'd have to make it very wide so they can fit on each side...
Gonna have to dig up the DF-01 plates (they will be the template as well) to see how much space there would be exactly.



Edit - oeh, nice stuff. I was posting late by about 20 40 minutes (got distracted by music).