TOPIC:

Today, I started something... For the small story, I had a Kyosho 1/12 back in the eighties, it was 4WD, there was a chain, and a one way at the front, and a prototype body... I did not have a proper place to run it at that time, so it was sold almost once build, and I did not really run it. When I saw the rerelease, I added it to my list, and did not thought about it more. This week-end there was a vintage event with both offorad and onroad track and I had nothing to run on the onroad track... Maybe I should rather say, nothing built yet to run on the onroad track during a vintage event.

I bought the Fantom kit few weeks ago. it was waiting under my desk. Early July, there is one vintage event only track focused (no offroad track). I want to participate, so I need to have at least one or two cars ready. I'm still missing something to be able to  finish the other one, so I started by this one. I have a mini size servo, a motor, and esc and a RX, so everything is good...



I started the build early afternoon.

Bag A : Front knuckles
It's quite surprising : you open the bag, you lay out the parts, you assemble them...


... and the bag is over. Right side is reverse thread, and there is groove on the cup to help identify it.


One Bag, one step, if it continues like this, with 5 bags, it will be a quick build.

Bag B: It's all about the front train.


First you assemble the structure...


Then you add the knuckles


That's probably the most difficult part of the build : you need to push the spacers between the structure and the knuckles and get the screw to enter in.
And Bag B is finished. 2 bags, 3 steps.

Bag C: it's about steering
First the servo saver


Quite easy, actually.


Then you assemble the steering tie rods, including the input one.


Next is to put all of this on the chassis plate


And on next step, you add the body mounts, but I forgot to take the picture...
And bag C is over.

Bag D: It's about the rear train, and it starts by the Diff gear


It's quite fast and easy to do


The rear axle mount is next, and I also forgot a picture... The ball bearings are inserted in a part allowing to set the height of the chassis (useful when tires are worn, for example).

Next the rear train goes on the chassis, with the motor and the pinion


You may notice on this picture I forgot a part on the front. It was added after that picture.

Bag D is over, and we are about to start the last bag.

Bag E: it starts by the radio plate.
Very easy and quick


The most difficult is to insert the 3 rubber washer which I suppose are there to reduce the vibrations...

And at the next steps, the radio plate joins the chassis... In which you will be required to add the battery before adding the chain...


Then comes the chain... I don't like the fact it seats on the radio plate, and I'll work out a chain guide in 3D print.

Once the chain is in, only wheels remain to be added... And that's it for the chassis.

I trimmed the body shell after this and it did not took much time to get there...

Nice skate board. Very interesting chassis. 

I kind of like the Fantom, but at the same time don't like it. If that makes sense!

Reverse thread on the R/H front is a very nice feature.

The chain looks like it could almost do with 1-2 less links?

Yes, the chain is too loose, but I'll take care of this once the guide chain is printed (I've printed one already, but it needs refinement, and normally the chain would be then with proper tension)... 

There is things that disturbs me in the layout of this car:
- the chain rubbing on the radio plate
- the risk of the ESC power plug going to mess with the chain
- in the case you use Lipo battery, the risk of having the balance connector messing either with the ground or the chain...

I had to do something.

I made a chain guide and 3D printed it. It does guide the chain. I does allow to attach the power plug. It does allow for proper storage of the balance plug.


I'll put this later on Thingiverse...

EDIT :  Chain Guide for Kyosho Fantom EP-4WD by silvertriple - Thingiverse

My friends tend to take their car on the track at night during the vintage events... I have one planed early July, so I need to do something for this so I can actually run my Fantom at night... But I wanted something not attached to the body shell, as I need to refix them often on the cars where I did glue led buckets inside the shell, and I didn't want to drill the body shell...

Thought about it, took measurements, and designed two parts...


One for the front, one for the rear, easily removable for day run. I will just need to add masks at the proper place on the bodyshell while doing the paint job for satisfactory results.




And this is already on thingiverse www.thingiverse...ng:5407045 (I'll update with a jpg for masking at some point)

This is basically the reason why I did not made the paintjob yet (and also because I did not want to finish the car in one single day ).

Next steps :
- Molotow liquid chrome effect in the led buckets, led connections
- paintjob. Need to think about the colors and the layout...

Wahoo. I love this front light bucket

Now that is cool

Very nice Marc! 

Thanks !
I may want to improve the front led buckets to include some sort of mirror in the design... It should work this way, but there is certainly ways to make better...
And I'm also considering flexible material for the final prints of those led holders. I believe it makes sense to have them working as bumpers as well