Yokomo YZ-2 CAL3.1 Build
Discussion
I've been into crawlers/crawling for a few years now and have a pretty nicely built Axial Gladiator. Haven't done much recently with the hobby but recently for my sons birthday I picked him up a relatively cheap WLToys 104002
whilst prepping it in the evenings the week before his (3rd) birthday I found I got a huge amount of satisfaction from adjusting the turnbuckles for camber and toe, setting the correct gap between the spur and pinion, rebuilding and oiling the shocks, removing and greasing the diffs correctly and making a few tweaks to the electronics by fitting a Flysky BS6 receiver and mating it to my FS GT5 transmitter.
This got me to thinking about taking this a step further and giving myself an autumn / winter hobby while the nights draw in and my evenings are (sort of) free.
I started watching videos on YT surrounding 1/10th scale 2wd buggy racing and thought this could about right for a project / new interest. A look on FB found COBRA; a race club in Cardiff which isn't too far away and a quick message to them confirmed they have a 10th 2wd class (of course). Now I had to start researching which buggy would be the one for me. It seems there isn't a huge amount of choice which is good as the popular models tend to be used often which translates in to parts / knowledge support.
The choices were the Team Associated RC10B, the Schumacher LD2/3, TLR 22 and the Yokomo YZ-2 CAL3.1. I looked at LC Racing but they don't do anything in the 10th 2wd class that I could see.
I settled on the Yokomo for a few reasons
1. It looks super cool (as most of them do)
2. I like the fact that it's Japanese designed / made
3. Good parts support in the UK predominantly it seems from MB Models in Leeds.
4. A known quantity and raced at the local club (this is important as I DO NOT HAVE A CLUE on how to set the thing up)
The above coupled with MB Models knocking the price down just as I was looking from £350 to £199.99 made it too tempting to pass up so put an order in.
I was initially going to purchase the much cheaper RO (Rookie) 1.0 kit with majority plastic parts and a more simple chassis etc which is RRP @ £199.99 but when the far more advanced YZ-2 came in at the same price I couldn't ignore it. Would I have been better off with the RO 1.0 for my introduction to carpet racing? Yes. In my opinion the pre built nature of the RO buggy and the lower performance would have got me racing with far less work involved to get there as well as lower expectations as it's more a 'newb' entry and therefore the stakes would be lower. What I've effectively done is started my first race season ever in F1 rather than go-karts. I'm now in the leagues of Mr All the gear no idea showing up with my 17 times world champion winning buggy and not being able to make the first turn. It is what it is in regard to this, I have no illusions of TQs or A finals and am doing this simply for fun. The build is going to be a challenge though as is all aspects of this hobby I think until I get on my feet with it!
So the kit itself
The box is lovely, the parts bags (stick with me here) feel premium, the chassis is a work of art that I've held and wondered at for at least 10 minutes. The manual, stickers and hop ups brochure are all beautiful in bilingual Japanese / English. It's a mesmerising and daunting kit for me in equal measure.
of course the kit is only 40% of the story. I still need motor & esc, servo, lipos, wheels and tyres, mylaps transponder, paint and a host of tools and accessories to actually build the thing.
Now from this strong start of - buying the bare bones this won't be a quick fire / tour de force of build updates and look at my new shiny thing! posts. This thing could potentially take me a few months to build as I don't have the time/ resources to go and spend another £500 odd on bits to make it work etc at the moment. I'll update when I can but even having a space to build it where I can leave it out without fear of a 3 year old coming along and casting 1mm washers and tiny hardware to the 4 corners of the known universe isn't guaranteed yet.
What motor & esc combo do I go for? I don't know. What pinion do I run? I don't know. Which holes do all the shocks, camber, toe, roll centre, bump steer bobbins go into? I don't know. Thankfully there are people on the internet and in COBRA that do seem to know so I'll be relying on those resources throughout the build.
That's all I've got to say about that at the moment. I'm popping down to COBRA as they're racing tomorrow to have a first chat and get some steer on the build. I'll update when I know a little more
whilst prepping it in the evenings the week before his (3rd) birthday I found I got a huge amount of satisfaction from adjusting the turnbuckles for camber and toe, setting the correct gap between the spur and pinion, rebuilding and oiling the shocks, removing and greasing the diffs correctly and making a few tweaks to the electronics by fitting a Flysky BS6 receiver and mating it to my FS GT5 transmitter.
This got me to thinking about taking this a step further and giving myself an autumn / winter hobby while the nights draw in and my evenings are (sort of) free.
I started watching videos on YT surrounding 1/10th scale 2wd buggy racing and thought this could about right for a project / new interest. A look on FB found COBRA; a race club in Cardiff which isn't too far away and a quick message to them confirmed they have a 10th 2wd class (of course). Now I had to start researching which buggy would be the one for me. It seems there isn't a huge amount of choice which is good as the popular models tend to be used often which translates in to parts / knowledge support.
The choices were the Team Associated RC10B, the Schumacher LD2/3, TLR 22 and the Yokomo YZ-2 CAL3.1. I looked at LC Racing but they don't do anything in the 10th 2wd class that I could see.
I settled on the Yokomo for a few reasons
1. It looks super cool (as most of them do)
2. I like the fact that it's Japanese designed / made
3. Good parts support in the UK predominantly it seems from MB Models in Leeds.
4. A known quantity and raced at the local club (this is important as I DO NOT HAVE A CLUE on how to set the thing up)
The above coupled with MB Models knocking the price down just as I was looking from £350 to £199.99 made it too tempting to pass up so put an order in.
I was initially going to purchase the much cheaper RO (Rookie) 1.0 kit with majority plastic parts and a more simple chassis etc which is RRP @ £199.99 but when the far more advanced YZ-2 came in at the same price I couldn't ignore it. Would I have been better off with the RO 1.0 for my introduction to carpet racing? Yes. In my opinion the pre built nature of the RO buggy and the lower performance would have got me racing with far less work involved to get there as well as lower expectations as it's more a 'newb' entry and therefore the stakes would be lower. What I've effectively done is started my first race season ever in F1 rather than go-karts. I'm now in the leagues of Mr All the gear no idea showing up with my 17 times world champion winning buggy and not being able to make the first turn. It is what it is in regard to this, I have no illusions of TQs or A finals and am doing this simply for fun. The build is going to be a challenge though as is all aspects of this hobby I think until I get on my feet with it!
So the kit itself
The box is lovely, the parts bags (stick with me here) feel premium, the chassis is a work of art that I've held and wondered at for at least 10 minutes. The manual, stickers and hop ups brochure are all beautiful in bilingual Japanese / English. It's a mesmerising and daunting kit for me in equal measure.
of course the kit is only 40% of the story. I still need motor & esc, servo, lipos, wheels and tyres, mylaps transponder, paint and a host of tools and accessories to actually build the thing.
Now from this strong start of - buying the bare bones this won't be a quick fire / tour de force of build updates and look at my new shiny thing! posts. This thing could potentially take me a few months to build as I don't have the time/ resources to go and spend another £500 odd on bits to make it work etc at the moment. I'll update when I can but even having a space to build it where I can leave it out without fear of a 3 year old coming along and casting 1mm washers and tiny hardware to the 4 corners of the known universe isn't guaranteed yet.
What motor & esc combo do I go for? I don't know. What pinion do I run? I don't know. Which holes do all the shocks, camber, toe, roll centre, bump steer bobbins go into? I don't know. Thankfully there are people on the internet and in COBRA that do seem to know so I'll be relying on those resources throughout the build.
That's all I've got to say about that at the moment. I'm popping down to COBRA as they're racing tomorrow to have a first chat and get some steer on the build. I'll update when I know a little more
Edited by squareflops on Tuesday 17th October 10:45
So popped along to the meet this morning. I came away and on reflection with mixed feelings about the sport and me diving into it.
The people I spoke to there were very pleasant, welcoming and knowledgable first off. Great bunch and even grabbed one blokes number who was at his first ever event there, he’d just smashed up the front end of his LD2 so had a bit of time to talk
My mixed feeling are as follows, i’ll split into
pros:
welcoming bunch
the track and racing looks good
cons: (not cons but the not ideal points)
limited access to the track (1 sunday fortnightly)
no real opportunity to practice, it’s turn up and race
prep / gear required
travelling to Cardiff (35 mins) and giving up a Sunday
To expand on the above, it overall looks like fun, Im not massively competitive but it seemed there were all skill levels there and the vibe was relatively chilled so i’m happy to get up there and start getting in people’s way.
The downsides generally for me would be the lack of practice time. Id like to throw the buggy down and rip around for a few packs worth of time getting used to the buggy and making changes etc. The race director noted that doesn’t really happen and experienced or new it’s qualify out the gates then race.
The fortnightly schedule doesn’t allow for much actual carpet time. What id like ideally is a carpet track 5 mins away that was 24 hour and I could whizz around until i was bored and then race when i’m happy with the setup of the car. Obviously that’s not very likely to happen for anyone but this seems to be at the other end of the scale. No one’s fault i’m sure it’s just venue restraints etc, so doubt that hall is cheap to rent out etc.
The prep and setup is quite involved. Everyone there had a picnic type table, camping chair, mains lipo charger, car stand, full set of tools / spares, food for the day, big bags to carry it all in etc. If i’m going down by myself I don’t really have the resource to cart that lot along.
Despite that i’m going to give it a go. I get 3 free rounds before I have to sign up to the org. (BRCA maybe) at about £30 a year. The lad whose number I got dropped me a message kindly stating he hopes I decide to go as we’re both at a similar level which was nice.
Good visit overall and will have to suck it and see!
Whilst I was there the owner of L&L Models Lee made time to have a good chat and answer most of my questions, top bloke. He’s given me lots of info / advice on parts and of course can supply them. I bought a servo off him as it will be good to have during the front end build as it gets fitted quite early on
The other kit i’ve more or less settled on is as follows
ZTW Beast Pro G2 160A ESC Bluetooth Competition Speed Controller 2S sensored
SkyRC ARES Pro V2.1 Modified Motor 10.5T Part number: SK-400003-67
Intellect LiPo LiHV 4400mAh 2S 18.5mm Shorty 7.6v IPLP2S4400PT2
About £260 worth there which isn’t too bad imo, the ESC is a peach and allows for full adjustability (they don’t really do a stock class only mod) via bluetooth and will grow with me if I do stay in the sport long term.
There’s ancillaries like wheels/tyres, paint for the body etc but I think i’ll be all in for the build complete around or under £600. A lot of money but not horrific.
The people I spoke to there were very pleasant, welcoming and knowledgable first off. Great bunch and even grabbed one blokes number who was at his first ever event there, he’d just smashed up the front end of his LD2 so had a bit of time to talk
My mixed feeling are as follows, i’ll split into
pros:
welcoming bunch
the track and racing looks good
cons: (not cons but the not ideal points)
limited access to the track (1 sunday fortnightly)
no real opportunity to practice, it’s turn up and race
prep / gear required
travelling to Cardiff (35 mins) and giving up a Sunday
To expand on the above, it overall looks like fun, Im not massively competitive but it seemed there were all skill levels there and the vibe was relatively chilled so i’m happy to get up there and start getting in people’s way.
The downsides generally for me would be the lack of practice time. Id like to throw the buggy down and rip around for a few packs worth of time getting used to the buggy and making changes etc. The race director noted that doesn’t really happen and experienced or new it’s qualify out the gates then race.
The fortnightly schedule doesn’t allow for much actual carpet time. What id like ideally is a carpet track 5 mins away that was 24 hour and I could whizz around until i was bored and then race when i’m happy with the setup of the car. Obviously that’s not very likely to happen for anyone but this seems to be at the other end of the scale. No one’s fault i’m sure it’s just venue restraints etc, so doubt that hall is cheap to rent out etc.
The prep and setup is quite involved. Everyone there had a picnic type table, camping chair, mains lipo charger, car stand, full set of tools / spares, food for the day, big bags to carry it all in etc. If i’m going down by myself I don’t really have the resource to cart that lot along.
Despite that i’m going to give it a go. I get 3 free rounds before I have to sign up to the org. (BRCA maybe) at about £30 a year. The lad whose number I got dropped me a message kindly stating he hopes I decide to go as we’re both at a similar level which was nice.
Good visit overall and will have to suck it and see!
Whilst I was there the owner of L&L Models Lee made time to have a good chat and answer most of my questions, top bloke. He’s given me lots of info / advice on parts and of course can supply them. I bought a servo off him as it will be good to have during the front end build as it gets fitted quite early on
The other kit i’ve more or less settled on is as follows
ZTW Beast Pro G2 160A ESC Bluetooth Competition Speed Controller 2S sensored
SkyRC ARES Pro V2.1 Modified Motor 10.5T Part number: SK-400003-67
Intellect LiPo LiHV 4400mAh 2S 18.5mm Shorty 7.6v IPLP2S4400PT2
About £260 worth there which isn’t too bad imo, the ESC is a peach and allows for full adjustability (they don’t really do a stock class only mod) via bluetooth and will grow with me if I do stay in the sport long term.
There’s ancillaries like wheels/tyres, paint for the body etc but I think i’ll be all in for the build complete around or under £600. A lot of money but not horrific.
Edited by squareflops on Sunday 8th October 19:19
Agree bud, the whole point of this is to have fun, if I'm getting stressed with any aspect of it I'm doing it wrong. The consensus yesterday was the YZ-2 is a good base to start from as it will grow with me rather than being limited in performance like the RO might be as skill level (potentially) improves.
Will get it checked over, few of the boys down there run Yokomo so they can cast their expert eye over it. I've had a good play around with expo settings etc with the crawlers so have a little background knowledge, will be starting from scratch again with this no doubt though.
Outdoor isn't something I'd considered looking at, I'll need to buy a DTM (dirt spec) YZ-2 for that!
Will get it checked over, few of the boys down there run Yokomo so they can cast their expert eye over it. I've had a good play around with expo settings etc with the crawlers so have a little background knowledge, will be starting from scratch again with this no doubt though.
Outdoor isn't something I'd considered looking at, I'll need to buy a DTM (dirt spec) YZ-2 for that!
Re the outdoor tracks that's good to know bud. Yea agree I've read threads etc where people are swearing all the hop-ups are needed and you can't race without X upgrade. This buggy is like the starship enterprise out the box compared to most things so I'm trying to ignore the hype over upgraded parts etc. I haven't go the money for them if nothing else!
Yea cactus I believe in yellow and cut staggers up front seems to be favourite, I'll be going with whatever is recommended.
The house isn't really big enough unfortunately but will give it a go, at least to set end points etc as you say.
I've been looking at tools yesterday evening, realised Yokomo (shiny things!) make hex and nut drivers at not insane prices, I have a cheaper driver kit that I use for the Crawler but want new tips etc for this build, that's another £50 just in tools
Glad you're enjoying it bud, what and where do you race? Be good to see your setup! I've been looking at Midlands Raceway as a perm venue to go and have a play on at some point, something to make a day of! Hopefully you can get to COBRA at some point bud.
Yea cactus I believe in yellow and cut staggers up front seems to be favourite, I'll be going with whatever is recommended.
The house isn't really big enough unfortunately but will give it a go, at least to set end points etc as you say.
I've been looking at tools yesterday evening, realised Yokomo (shiny things!) make hex and nut drivers at not insane prices, I have a cheaper driver kit that I use for the Crawler but want new tips etc for this build, that's another £50 just in tools
Glad you're enjoying it bud, what and where do you race? Be good to see your setup! I've been looking at Midlands Raceway as a perm venue to go and have a play on at some point, something to make a day of! Hopefully you can get to COBRA at some point bud.
Goo to hear that the non-current buggies can still be competitive! I think it will mostly come down to whether I can get it around the track in one piece as you mentioned in an earlier post, I doubt I'll be pushing the buggies capabilities for a while.
Ive seen the MIP stuff, lovely isn't it. I'd love to be able to drop £300 ish on a whole MIP/Hudy kit! I was looking at the Wera stuff too for nut drivers, as you say there's no real stress on those. The 1.5/2.0mm Yokomo hex and 5.5/7.0mm nut drivers come as a kit for about £27, not cheap but for the 4 I think I'll stump up.
Will set up a few searches for stuff, always good to pick up a bargain. Although I am looking at a Yokomo body reemer, £20!
Cool cheer for the recommendations, I can see me being happy to travel at least a few times a year. I just need to get building now!
Ive seen the MIP stuff, lovely isn't it. I'd love to be able to drop £300 ish on a whole MIP/Hudy kit! I was looking at the Wera stuff too for nut drivers, as you say there's no real stress on those. The 1.5/2.0mm Yokomo hex and 5.5/7.0mm nut drivers come as a kit for about £27, not cheap but for the 4 I think I'll stump up.
Will set up a few searches for stuff, always good to pick up a bargain. Although I am looking at a Yokomo body reemer, £20!
Cool cheer for the recommendations, I can see me being happy to travel at least a few times a year. I just need to get building now!
I bottled straight away and hit buy now 
If you do get one drop a thread, there's a huge shortage of 1/10 comp buggy builds on here!
I was going to get the build started today but looking at my crawler tools the tips on the hexs weren't looking the best. I'll hold off until the Team Yokomo ones arrive, itching now to get started!
If you do get one drop a thread, there's a huge shortage of 1/10 comp buggy builds on here!I was going to get the build started today but looking at my crawler tools the tips on the hexs weren't looking the best. I'll hold off until the Team Yokomo ones arrive, itching now to get started!
Ah yea really doesn't seem like you need another one bud!
I've been looking at tyre choices and look forward to having a good stock to choose from. Also been looking at the Yokomo hauler, that's a lovely thing for race days but £200, crikey.. Who'd have thought this hobby could get expensive
I don't like spending money without recouping it somehow so I've just sold the private reg off my Boxster to even out the RC spending
I bought it with the private plate on it and never really liked them so the imminent spend on electronics gave me the push to get rid of it.
That Xray looks lovely! Can see me potentially picking another one up if I enjoy this build! Not sure what I'll have to sell to find that one..
I've been looking at tyre choices and look forward to having a good stock to choose from. Also been looking at the Yokomo hauler, that's a lovely thing for race days but £200, crikey.. Who'd have thought this hobby could get expensive
I don't like spending money without recouping it somehow so I've just sold the private reg off my Boxster to even out the RC spending
I bought it with the private plate on it and never really liked them so the imminent spend on electronics gave me the push to get rid of it. That Xray looks lovely! Can see me potentially picking another one up if I enjoy this build! Not sure what I'll have to sell to find that one..
Trying to stick to the basics, I'm currently being influenced by Ryan Harris from YT, may have a made an essential purchase last night that I didn't know I needed until I had the soft sell on the internet. I'll do a dramatic picture reveal when it all arrives.
Good to know on the tyres. I'll loiter around the pits and see if anythings going begging. I heard a recommendation for Loctite 406 for tyre glueing as apparently better than super glue, who knows...
Yea I'll be running stock for a while I think as you say the last thing I want to do is stack it, I'd be devastated as I get propery attached to inanimate objects ha. Re pinion I have no idea really, I think 20-22t is in the right ball park, I was gonna ask!
roly79 said:
Your car and electronics could quite easily make an A final
That's good to know, the same may never be able to be said about the pilot Good to know on the tyres. I'll loiter around the pits and see if anythings going begging. I heard a recommendation for Loctite 406 for tyre glueing as apparently better than super glue, who knows...
Yea I'll be running stock for a while I think as you say the last thing I want to do is stack it, I'd be devastated as I get propery attached to inanimate objects ha. Re pinion I have no idea really, I think 20-22t is in the right ball park, I was gonna ask!
Cheers for the info Roly appreciate it, took a while to accumulate that knowledge no doubt! I haven’t ordered anything yet but think i’ll order the electronic from L&L before the next COBRA event and get said pinion gear then.
Received some stuff to help the build go smoothly so hoping to start tomorrow
These are 1.5mm, 2.0mm hex and 5.5mm, 7.0mm nut drivers, the sizes used for this kit. It’s almost as if Yokomo put together a set to accommodate this..
And lastly something to help me see what i’m doing. My eyesight is pretty good but the lighting in my dining room as awful so this should help. £20 off Amazon seemed fair
Received some stuff to help the build go smoothly so hoping to start tomorrow
These are 1.5mm, 2.0mm hex and 5.5mm, 7.0mm nut drivers, the sizes used for this kit. It’s almost as if Yokomo put together a set to accommodate this..
And lastly something to help me see what i’m doing. My eyesight is pretty good but the lighting in my dining room as awful so this should help. £20 off Amazon seemed fair
Edited by squareflops on Friday 13th October 17:20
Build done up to slider status then. An incredible amount of work has gone into this already. Looking at the car as it sits it hard to equate how it looks to the effort put in. Some guys online have said they can build these in 4 hours and not refer to the manual, lies!
Having watched the Hearns Hobbies build series on this kit (well the DTM) I got to it. I’d picked up some good advice such as greasing the plastics before putting the fasteners in, they go in a lot nicer and will come out more easily if needs be. This extra step took a huge amount more time as well as wiping any excess off the outside of the plastic to ensure no dirt / grime collected in those greasy spots. I had constant FOMH (fear of missing hardware). A few times I couldn’t find a screw / link end or whatever and came to a complete halt thinking I wouldn’t be able to finish the kit but a little searching always sorted the issue. I’ve got quite a few fasteners left over in the 24 or so bags (hopefully as extras rather than missed steps!)
The kit went together beautifully and I was consistently impressed by the quality, fit and finish of the components, it’s a work of art in some places.
A few pics from beginning to end
Have dropped L&L Models a msg to pick up all the go fast bits and will pick those up on the 22nd at the next race event.
Having watched the Hearns Hobbies build series on this kit (well the DTM) I got to it. I’d picked up some good advice such as greasing the plastics before putting the fasteners in, they go in a lot nicer and will come out more easily if needs be. This extra step took a huge amount more time as well as wiping any excess off the outside of the plastic to ensure no dirt / grime collected in those greasy spots. I had constant FOMH (fear of missing hardware). A few times I couldn’t find a screw / link end or whatever and came to a complete halt thinking I wouldn’t be able to finish the kit but a little searching always sorted the issue. I’ve got quite a few fasteners left over in the 24 or so bags (hopefully as extras rather than missed steps!)
The kit went together beautifully and I was consistently impressed by the quality, fit and finish of the components, it’s a work of art in some places.
A few pics from beginning to end
Have dropped L&L Models a msg to pick up all the go fast bits and will pick those up on the 22nd at the next race event.
Watching Hearns on YT building a YOKOMO RO 1.0 (already thinking about my next buggy build 
) I noticed i’d put the ‘wrong’ diff cam insert in. I had it on the highest setting which is apparently for lower grip surfaces (anti-squat possibly?) so i whipped the diff case off and dropped it to a more neutral position which saw the driveshafts move down slightly, moved from the +3 setting to +2
Looking at wheels, settled on jconcepts monos as they’re pretty. Not sure whether to go standard or narrow width on fronts, have popped a message on the COBRA group so again will go with the consensus.
) I noticed i’d put the ‘wrong’ diff cam insert in. I had it on the highest setting which is apparently for lower grip surfaces (anti-squat possibly?) so i whipped the diff case off and dropped it to a more neutral position which saw the driveshafts move down slightly, moved from the +3 setting to +2Looking at wheels, settled on jconcepts monos as they’re pretty. Not sure whether to go standard or narrow width on fronts, have popped a message on the COBRA group so again will go with the consensus.
Cheers for the feedback guys, noted and totally agree! Pointless me doing fine tuning set up before I've even got onto the carpet for the first time.
My thought process here was to get away from the 'extreme' of the cars setup. Also; as the carpet I'll run on is quite grippy there's no need for the high diff setting so what I'd like to aim for is 'middle' with most setting and as you both say work from there. It'll be a while no doubt before the settings even make sense let alone changing them to make me quicker.
My thought process here was to get away from the 'extreme' of the cars setup. Also; as the carpet I'll run on is quite grippy there's no need for the high diff setting so what I'd like to aim for is 'middle' with most setting and as you both say work from there. It'll be a while no doubt before the settings even make sense let alone changing them to make me quicker.
That's a good resource recommendation bud cheers. I've actually already got pill calculator (no idea how to use it obvs) but didn't realise it was part of a wider site, cheers.
Ordered a reamer (resisted the urge to spend £25 on a Yokomo one
) and some tyre glue for Sunday. I'm itching to get going again with the build.
Ordered a reamer (resisted the urge to spend £25 on a Yokomo one
) and some tyre glue for Sunday. I'm itching to get going again with the build. More stuff to buy Nigel! I've got a little wrench that came with the kit but that would be better, no doubt I'll end up getting one of those. I'm amassing tools so I picked up a ProTek TruTorque tool bag, will be here next week.
I received my reamer and scissors so thought I'd make a start on the wing and body. Not a fan of the black and gold colour scheme but - eh it doesn't really matter does it.
Wing and body went fine, never done it before but watching a few YT vids and getting some basic good hints/tips for doing it saw it go quite smoothly with no disastrous 'cutting into the body' moments. I scribed around the lines, cut up to the line with scissors and worked the lexan back and forth until it snapped off cleanly on the scribed line, quite simple
Before I post the pics I apologise for the general chaotic state of the picture backgrounds, I don't seem to have a 'neutral space' for the pictures, is what is!
I found talking small slivers off the body where a compound curve was helped keep the scribed line and allowed the extraneous lexan to be removed without risking too much stress to the shell itself
I took a little off the back of the rear wing as all that drag isn't really necessary plus it looks better to my eyes. I won't be painting the wing so applied a few decals roughly centred and level. Reamed the body out for the slipper, not perfect and can see it being a potch when taking the body on and off, I'll probably open that hole up in time as the body will rub on the nyloc nut for sure.
I received my reamer and scissors so thought I'd make a start on the wing and body. Not a fan of the black and gold colour scheme but - eh it doesn't really matter does it.
Wing and body went fine, never done it before but watching a few YT vids and getting some basic good hints/tips for doing it saw it go quite smoothly with no disastrous 'cutting into the body' moments. I scribed around the lines, cut up to the line with scissors and worked the lexan back and forth until it snapped off cleanly on the scribed line, quite simple
Before I post the pics I apologise for the general chaotic state of the picture backgrounds, I don't seem to have a 'neutral space' for the pictures, is what is!
I found talking small slivers off the body where a compound curve was helped keep the scribed line and allowed the extraneous lexan to be removed without risking too much stress to the shell itself
I took a little off the back of the rear wing as all that drag isn't really necessary plus it looks better to my eyes. I won't be painting the wing so applied a few decals roughly centred and level. Reamed the body out for the slipper, not perfect and can see it being a potch when taking the body on and off, I'll probably open that hole up in time as the body will rub on the nyloc nut for sure.
Cheers bud. Yea I was thinking that, it'll rip itself to pieces I think when its out there being slammed into various things..
Well I'll have the shiny things on Sunday so that maybe motivate!
Im currently having a melt down over the colour scheme. Stick with me here. My chassis protector from SEMCS was going to be yellow and pink. Unfortunately the supplier of said protectors has gone bust and SEMCS only have grey/blue left. Now my colour scheme was/is going to be purple/pink/yellow white (PS1, PS10, PS27, PS29) but the blue underneath has thrown me off. Now I think I need to incorporate blue in to the shell but that's too many colours.
Also; I don't know whether to free hand blow the colours in so they fade into one another or mask up and have clearly defined sections. But if I mask I know the lines will end up being wonky as the shell isn't 'straight'. I'm not sure what to do. I'm leaning toward blowing in free hand but it feels like I could bin the shell because a) I'm not artistic at all and b) I really just don't know how to achieve what I have in my minds eye. Being a little OCD and s
t at something at the same time isn't ideal
I'll figure it out..
Well I'll have the shiny things on Sunday so that maybe motivate!
Im currently having a melt down over the colour scheme. Stick with me here. My chassis protector from SEMCS was going to be yellow and pink. Unfortunately the supplier of said protectors has gone bust and SEMCS only have grey/blue left. Now my colour scheme was/is going to be purple/pink/yellow white (PS1, PS10, PS27, PS29) but the blue underneath has thrown me off. Now I think I need to incorporate blue in to the shell but that's too many colours.
Also; I don't know whether to free hand blow the colours in so they fade into one another or mask up and have clearly defined sections. But if I mask I know the lines will end up being wonky as the shell isn't 'straight'. I'm not sure what to do. I'm leaning toward blowing in free hand but it feels like I could bin the shell because a) I'm not artistic at all and b) I really just don't know how to achieve what I have in my minds eye. Being a little OCD and s
t at something at the same time isn't ideal I'll figure it out..
Good info re the paints, this will definitely stand outI think, not many others will have pink/purple!
I'm proper gutted about the custom chassis protector not being available anymore. I've had to think of a way to inc' blue into the body to match the underside and my solution is to smoke the windows blue rather than black. It might work..
I was going to do yellow wheels on one side and white on the other also but I need to draw the line somewhere
I'm proper gutted about the custom chassis protector not being available anymore. I've had to think of a way to inc' blue into the body to match the underside and my solution is to smoke the windows blue rather than black. It might work..
I was going to do yellow wheels on one side and white on the other also but I need to draw the line somewhere
Ooff.. went down to the racing venue this morning to pick up the rest of my stuff. A princely sum was removed via debit card and I walked out with a box of shiny things. I was there for about an hour and had some great chats with some racers down there and actually really enjoyed watching the racing.
Not much more to report on that, pics then
I’ve pulled the BS6 receiver out of my crawler for now, i’ll buy another or maybe not if I decide to go FS Noble NB4 as the receivers aren’t compatible, obvs..
Took a few minutes to plan and decide where the electronics were going to go, hopefully no issues with this that anyones sees, it all fits looks relatively neat after wrapping the leads
Onto the wheels and tyres. I haven’t mounted these type of wheels before but it’s not rocked science. I took my time to get the foams as uniform as possible around the wheel and glued them all up both sides
and finally we have a roller.. loving the wheels and tyres
I have spoken to my next door neighbour who’s an electrical engineer about soldering up. Looking at it I’ll probably do it myself as again; it’s not that hard and Id like to do as much as possible on this one. I’ll try and grab an iron tomorrow and she might be moving under her own power soon
Not much more to report on that, pics then
I’ve pulled the BS6 receiver out of my crawler for now, i’ll buy another or maybe not if I decide to go FS Noble NB4 as the receivers aren’t compatible, obvs..
Took a few minutes to plan and decide where the electronics were going to go, hopefully no issues with this that anyones sees, it all fits looks relatively neat after wrapping the leads
Onto the wheels and tyres. I haven’t mounted these type of wheels before but it’s not rocked science. I took my time to get the foams as uniform as possible around the wheel and glued them all up both sides
and finally we have a roller.. loving the wheels and tyres
I have spoken to my next door neighbour who’s an electrical engineer about soldering up. Looking at it I’ll probably do it myself as again; it’s not that hard and Id like to do as much as possible on this one. I’ll try and grab an iron tomorrow and she might be moving under her own power soon
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