always liked hot-rods, so I built this

[Mr. ED]

Some of you may have seen pics of my two-tone real-size volvo amazone, or my fenderless 1:10 sedan from the late thirties... well they are both gone and I wanted something with the same spirit again.

And this is what I came up with:

The aftermarket body is intended for a traxxas 1/16 Revo, and I bought it over a year ago to fit to a 1/12 pan-car... but never got round making the custom wheelbase chassis. So underneath the body now instead hides a mix&match of mainly Kyosho TF-2 and Yokomo YR-4, with a touch of Tamiya M-chassis and a hint f Academy Wyvern:

EDIT: I should have made pics before running the car: te black mess of tire smear on the roof will probably never come off again as tat part is painted with Pactra paint = on the outside for a more canvas like texture

[SFC K]

I like that! It turned out really nice for throwing a bunch of parts together.

[GoMachV]

Very nice!

[Mr. ED]

Thanks guys.

Took me a lot more work than just throwing the parts together
Making all the different sourced parts fit together and get at the desired wheelbase and width, all while keeping the geometry right, avoid bumpsteer, get the body to drop low enogugh, trim it where needed to clear moving parts, battery mounting... took me a lot of trial and error

Also lost a lot of time trying to keep it 4WD... probably will try that again

[R Cane]

Pretty sweet!

[Coelacanth]

Looks awesome! I know exactly what you went through to build that chassis...the final result is worth all the effort, though.

[mk-Zero]

Looks awesome!

[Mr. ED]

Thanks folks.
I'm happy to say it ran pretty much ok too after some experimenting with tires and bringing the steering down to 50%.
I tried rubber and foam slicks but these threaded rubbers worked the best. The only things which need improving are some thicker oil and stiffer springs for the front, and a geared diff to replace the crappy ball-diff.
Some toe-in at thte rear would have been nice too, but I tried different hubs already and the rims start rubbing the lower arms. Maybe I'll try making a replacement for the rear hinge holder.

[Asso_man!]

Fantastic Erik as always! My favourite so far probably. You're still in Belgium? We should try to meet again early next year, it's been a long time now.

[Coelacanth]

Here's a suggestion, though it's unimportant and only aesthetic. A hot rod needs chrome. The blue peeking out from under the body and the front hinge pin holder kind of stands out. I'd deanodize that hinge pin holder, then simply polish it up to an almost-chrome gloss. I can't tell if those blue shock parts are alloy or plastic, but I'd do the same if they were alloy, or dye them black if they're plastic. I just feel the blue makes it look more toy-like and affects the scale realism. It's an awesome build, either way.

[Mr. ED]

Merci David.
I'll be running this in Merksem tomorrow night if you want to come and take a look.

Coel' I'm not so much into the chromy thing, kind of prefer a rat rod over a hot rod.
The colour scheme I picked is a bit of a compromise: too many guys complaining they don't see my cars well enough on the track unless I paint them fluo (damn we need a thumbs down smily)

I may follow up on your suggestion and get the blue ano removed. The shock parts are plastic and I have plenty black ones, I'll do that for sure

[Hcp22]

I like that too!

[Mr. ED]

Just came home from the second time running, really had a lot of fun with it.
Just free running, no race: perfect since it won't fit any category, nor am I good enough to beat the other drivers with their yok's and X-rays that dominate the touring scene here.

Before I took it out again I changed a couple things:
- gear diff instead of ball dif,
- RPM arms front and back; orignally for the HPI RS4,
- longer drive axles
- optima axle carriers in the rear
- and optima C-carriers and steering knuckles on the front
- plastic parts on shocks are replaced by black ones
- put some fresh oil in the front shocks and stiffer springs

So I have a good 20 to 30 mm extra width for both front and rear and no more rubbing the body.
These changes also added about 5 to 15 mm extra on the wheelbase and about 1.5° toe-in in the back.
It doesn't look as nice proportioned anymore and less scale-like, but you quickly forget that can barely tell when it's running around.
The changes were a succes: I can now go through the curves a lot faster and turn shorter without rolling the car over.

[Mr. ED]

I did run this chassis quite a lot for one winter season. This winter though I didn't run indoor at all and the car stayed on the shelf.
It will probably remain there, so I decided to add some chilli to it.
These grasshopper wheels and tires have found their perfect match.

[klavy69]

I liked the old way but the new shoes really set it off in the hot-rod dept...


Todd