The Kawada SV-10 Alcyon

[alcyon]

Since no one has started a thread about this car, well, I think I should. It was a HPI RS4 clone from Japan, released in late 1998 to stake its claim on the touring car throne. I bought one in march 2000 and won a few races with it, something that I could never achieve with my TA02 and TA03.
In the US, it was very popular in the Seattle area, one of the top drivers was Mr Brett Sisley, and I knew a guy who works in Boeing, Mr ted Schultz who drove one too.
Here are some scans and ads for this car. More info to come if there is interest for it.

[GoMachV]

We were a Kawada dealer and I owned one as well as one of their 4wd chain 1/12 cars- they were very high quality and I was very impressed with the build of the Alcyon.

[EvolutionRevolution]

They still make newer models:

http://www.kawadamodel.co.jp/kit/sigmadc/index.html
http://www.kawadamodel.co.jp/kit/sigma2/index.html

[V12]

Thanks for the scans, this is a very nice car. Whenever I see a Kawada touring car, I have a look if it´s the one with the vertical chassis braces. The Alcyon is the Kawada touring car for me.
I think the Alcyon was much more than a RS4 clone. Clone always has a negative and cheap touch but this car was topnotch and a very fast racing machine. That time I was heavily into touring car racing and had great results with a car that was fast after some modifications but really a cheaply made RS4 clone, I think made by Hong Nor. One of my buddies gave me a hard time winning races whenever he was racing his Alcyon. But other than that it was really unknown here.

My personally preferences today are pancars and I have several Kawada 1/12 cars of the M300 series, but the Alcyon is one of the few touring cars I also would like adding to my collection.

Regarding the 1/12 4WD car I think this is the Wolf series? Another car at my wish list.

[alcyon]

Hi there V12, firstly, i do not mean any disrespect about calling the Alcyon a clone of the RS4, but i have my reasons. Also, please note I am a complete Alcyon nut case, as you can tell by my username, I never felt as strongly about any other touring car in my life ! I have almost all the magazine articles about it, even from japan, and i will be posting more. When the HPI RS4 pro came out in 1997, and because it was selling so well, Kawada wanted in on the market too since they were a hop up manufacturer just like HPI. So in late 1997 they quickly came up with protoypes. By mid 98, the prototypes were tested. Here is the last prototype before release.

You see, there are many similarities, it had a twin belt, same motor and battery position, and most importantly exactly the same option of running the car in 190mm or 200mm guise, just like the RS4. I beleive only 2 TCs offered that option, the RS4 pro and the Alcyon.
However, the Kawada definitely outshone the RS4 in the drivetrain department. The belt drive was light years ahead of the competition at the time. It was the first twin belt TC in 1998 to use 16T top pulleys and 36T diff pulleys. The competition at the time like the MR4TC used 15T and 33T, and the RS4 used 15T and 32T .
Becuase of this the belts can be set very loose, and also becuase of the low friction material of the pulleys, the drive train is super smooth. Also becuase the spur gear was mounted very close to the layshaft bearing, this also kept offset losses very low. I personally beat the heck out of everyone in 2001 in motor controlled class, becuase i as the only guy driving a alcyon.
Here is a mag article from 1999 ,when greg degani won a major US race.


If anyone would like more scans i will post some more !

[alcyon]

I still have a lot more.

[EvolutionRevolution]

You see, there are many similarities, it had a twin belt, same motor and battery position, and most importantly exactly the same option of running the car in 190mm or 200mm guise, just like the RS4. I beleive only 2 TCs offered that option, the RS4 pro and the Alcyon.

The Kyosho TF2 Spider and TF3 could also be build in 180/190mm and 200mm, and were twin-belt, and were first released around the same time.

[V12]

One of my few touring cars is a TF3, but I always have trouble to remember the correct name. Full Graphite, one-way diff front, special shocks, special suspension just used for that type and not at other TF car.

[alcyon]

The SV-10 was great car for its time, its driveline was what set it apart from many other cars, even the competition from the near future. But by 2000, it was apparent its suspension was already outdated. There were a few problems with this car.
1. Because the motor was mounted on the right vertical deck, this cause that deck to flex everytime you applied power or brake. Things got worse with a more powerful motor. Also the chassis tend to take a tweak after a hard hit.
2. The suspension arm was short , because Kawada wanted to give the 190/200mm option. So the suspension did not generate a lot of grip. Because of this the shocks had to be laid down a lot.
3. The chassis was very wide, because of the way it held a stick pack. The was an option part called SV-01E which was narrow saddle pack only chassis.

So kawada came out it with a revision of the ALCYON, the ALCYON II in early 2000.

The new innovations were
1. A new super narrow chassis that could still use saddle or stick packs. The saddles were moved 10mm closer to each other.
2. A separate motor mount, that moved the motor dead center in the car.It also gained an additional top deck brace, and a upper deck. The VOLT side decks were still there but they were both the same shape now since the right side VOLT deck did not have to hold the motor anymore. Because of this the car had zero flex, and no more tendency to tweak in crash.
3. Plastic bulkheads to lighten the car since it was heavier now. However alloy bulkheads were still available as options.
4. New front arms and long C hubs, to increase traction. New shock towers which lengthen the upper link and allow shocks to be placed more upright.
5. New Rear arm uprights which placed the hingepin further out for more traction, and choices of 4 hingepin mounting position as well as upper camber links. New rear shock towers which allow more upright position of shocks.
The SV-10 II handled better but lost some of its driveline efficiency, because the spur gear was pushed further out from the bulkhead. I still drive a modified SV-10 II today and it does handle a lot better than the original.

[njdriver04]

figured I would add a pic of one in da stash