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Vintage Manta Ray customisation quest 12 years 10 months ago #849

  • Edou
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Is the standard mainshaft like the Hotshot/Boomerang one?

If it is, I'm guessing the hop-up shaft will fit these cars?

Looking at the manual and the set up I'm guessing the propeller shaft might be shorter than that of the Manta Ray.
The prop joints are slightly different also - but these look quite similar.

I'd be able to tell you more if you could measure the length of the shaft in the Boom and let me know how long it is.
Haven't been able so far to find that info on line...

:)

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Vintage Manta Ray customisation quest 12 years 10 months ago #851

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This is how the chassis looks at the moment :



The shock towers, body posts and wheels are fitted for the Humvee right now.
Wheelbase is 12mm more than normal because it has longer wheel axles and wider washers.

But now I should continue with the original thread. :lol:

Getting started on strengthening and painting the body

My first car was a Grasshopper and that is why I could not get used to the flimsy lexan body of the Manta Ray.
This made me decide to strengthen the shell with fiber glass and resin :


Of course I put this on the inside of the shell as not to change the form of the car.
This part of the project was actually much more work than I had anticipated.
It took hour after hour of sanding to get close to the smooth result I wanted.
Here's a small sample of the paper I wore out just to illustrate that :


I'll show the process I followed with pictures of the wing.
First I applied the fiber glass mats and resin. Hardener has to be added to make it dry out within a reasonable time.
Putting too much harderner in gives incredibly hard lumps that are not easy to smooth out again.
As can be seen in the red circle :


Next layer is one of fiberglass putty - that was accidental because I initially meant to apply polyester putty :


And then the last layer. This time 2-component polyester putty :


In between applying the different layers I sanded the wing down every time to get the smoothest result possible.

When the surface is satisfactory it is time to spray on plastic primer followed by a few layers of regular grey primer.
This is the result for the body after these steps :



At this point we have a hard and very strong body shell for the Manta Ray! :cheer:
Naturally it will need more finishing.

To be continued...

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Vintage Manta Ray customisation quest 12 years 10 months ago #856

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Is the standard mainshaft like the Hotshot/Boomerang one?

If it is, I'm guessing the hop-up shaft will fit these cars?

This I copied from the manuals of the (rere) Boomerang and Manta Ray :


The upper one is from the Manta Ray. I know about this one that it is 174mm long.
The other dimensions I have calculated from scale.
So I'm guessing the prop shaft from the Boomerang is about 144mm long - so 30mm shorter.
With this I have to say I am relying on the fact that Tamiya uses the same scale in both manuals.

So the alu shaft for TA01 won't fit a Boomerang. :(
A TA02 has a chassis that is 20mm shorter (and even more aftermarket parts) but that still seems too long.
Maybe a 4WD M chassis could have a shorter prop shaft. But then the prop joints would also have to fit.

Sorry it's not an easy match...
Would be a really cool hop up for a Boomerang though!

:S

Edit - I noticed an M chassis won't work either because there isn't a version that's 4WD...
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Last edit: by Edou.

Vintage Manta Ray customisation quest 12 years 10 months ago #857

Is the standard mainshaft like the Hotshot/Boomerang one?

If it is, I'm guessing the hop-up shaft will fit these cars?

This I copied from the manuals of the (rere) Boomerang and Manta Ray :


The upper one is from the Manta Ray. I know about this one that it is 174mm long.
The other dimensions I have calculated from scale.
So I'm guessing the prop shaft from the Boomerang is about 144mm long - so 30mm shorter.
With this I have to say I am relying on the fact that Tamiya uses the same scale in both manuals.

So the alu shaft for TA01 won't fit a Boomerang. :(
A TA02 has a chassis that is 20mm shorter (and even more aftermarket parts) but that still seems too long.
Maybe a 4WD M chassis could have a shorter prop shaft. But then the prop joints would also have to fit.

Sorry it's not an easy match...
Would be a really cool hop up for a Boomerang though!

:S

Edit - I noticed an M chassis won't work either because there isn't a version that's 4WD...


Thanks very much for that. B)
I didn't expect you to go to so much trouble though!:P

I have done a bit of research, and found that the dogbone/cups from a Re-Release Hotshot will slot straight into a Boomer.
Looks a bit sturdier than that piece of wire! :lol:

The body of your Ray looks pretty good btw. ;)

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Vintage Manta Ray customisation quest 12 years 10 months ago #858

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Starting to look pretty cool right - the chassis? B)
I've got some minor blue stuff (king pins, motor mount) still coming in...

Most awesome change to undergo still is the rims and tyres that I want to fit.
I'm going with 2.8" low profile so that's gonna look awesome.
And that will even make it run faster. Good thing I have a motor in it that can handle that.

Thanks very much for that. B)
I didn't expect you to go to so much trouble though!:P

I have done a bit of research, and found that the dogbone/cups from a Re-Release Hotshot will slot straight into a Boomer.
Looks a bit sturdier than that piece of wire! :lol:

No trouble really. :) When posed a question like that I can never rest until I find the answer! :lol:

You'd be surprised how many parts fit different cars. I was anyway.
For example parts from the Manta Ray can be exchanged with a number of chassis that wouldn't be expected.
This info is always hard to find though and takes some research.
But it really pays of by having the satisfaction of an upgraded (and sometimes unique) Rc!

:cheer:

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Last edit: by Edou.

Vintage Manta Ray customisation quest 12 years 10 months ago #859

Starting to look pretty cool right - the chassis? B)
I've got some minor blue stuff (king pins, motor mount) still coming in...

Most awesome change to undergo still is the rims and tyres that I want to fit.
I'm going with 2.8" low profile so that's gonna look awesome.
And that will even make it run faster. Good thing I have a motor in it that can handle that.

Thanks very much for that. B)
I didn't expect you to go to so much trouble though!:P

I have done a bit of research, and found that the dogbone/cups from a Re-Release Hotshot will slot straight into a Boomer.
Looks a bit sturdier than that piece of wire! :lol:

No trouble really. :) When posed a question like that I can never rest until I find the answer! :lol:

You'd be surprised how many parts fit different cars. I was anyway.
For example parts from the Manta Ray can be exchanged with a number of chassis that wouldn't be expected.
This info is always hard to find though and takes some research.
But it really pays of by having the satisfaction of an upgraded (and sometimes unique) Rc!

:cheer:


I'd like to check out the rims you have in mind. B)

You're going be sporting a very sweet Ray by the sounds/looks of things! ;)

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Vintage Manta Ray customisation quest 12 years 10 months ago #860

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I can't seem to stop upgrading it! :lol:
Hopefully I won't need treatment for this addiction to Manta Ray parts. ;)

These rims are meant for the Ray :


Normally they're fitted on a Tamiya Levant. Very shiny!
Tyres I'm still shopping for. There's so much choice in the brutal wheel section...
I like the options that Pro-line has. Should be very good quality from what I hear.

These rims (also 2.8") will go on together with the Hummer body :


Pretty awesome also. :woohoo:

But as soon as I have tyres to put on them, I'll post a picture!

B)

The posts in this thread are getting close to the point of where I actually am with this rebuild...
So here's another small episode.

The vintage Manta Ray - what it looks like at halftime

Reinforcing the body shell worked out quite well. Although I had to put a lot of labour into it.
The cockpit window had a natural line running across the outside and that's why the strengthening is nicely camouflaged :


This way I could give the nose a bit extra strength in the form of a couple of extra layers of fiber glass mats.
After rebuilding the chassis (still with original shocks) and finishing the base of the body, the car is in this state :


The tyres that are now on it are on road scalers (Hummer) because these work much better on tarmac than the original pinned rubber that was mounted on the dish wheels.

For the time being I used these (1.9") rims :


More to come still...

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Last edit: by Edou.

Vintage Manta Ray customisation quest 12 years 10 months ago #865

The black 2.8" rims are great!
Are they just normal 12mm hex?

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Vintage Manta Ray customisation quest 12 years 10 months ago #869

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The black 2.8" rims are great!
Are they just normal 12mm hex?

I really really hope so! :lol:
According to my research they should. The design is originally for a Jato and these should have stock 12mm hex...
I accidentally ordered its 3.2" big brother (thought the set I bought was the same as the rims shown) with different specs.
These come with 17mm hex and 14mm adapters. Worst case I would have to go in search of 12mm to 14mm adapters.
But I think (and hope) that won't be necessary.

A decision on the tyres has also been made.
Pro-line Dirt Hawg 30 series will be fitted :


Together with the Levant rims it would look like something this :


Pretty awesome with either choice of rims...

:pinch:

Edit - Almost forgot I got a new blue part today. Which is an upgrade that's recommended :


Blue alloy GPM 16T-21T motor mount. Very nice... B)
These are also on the way :


I lost a king pin (step screw) and didn't have a spare. :S
So I thought that would be a great (maybe final) detail.

:woohoo:
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Last edit: by Edou.

Vintage Manta Ray customisation quest 12 years 10 months ago #883

thats gonna be one sweet manta ray when its finished gonna need sunglasses for all that bling B)

just ordered a bit of blue alloy for my ta03 chassis toyota corolla wrc after viewing your posts looks so good :)

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