Area51 RC10 B4 Stealth Build

[Lonestar]

The B4 is undoubtely to the 00's what the gold tub was to the 80's (and a good chunk of the 90's): the absolute benchmark. Nothing else comes close, no car has consistently won everything from club-races to WC for 7 years in a row with minor changes.

However... the plastics quality has degraded considerably since TT took AE over a few years back. They'd been manufacturing AE stuff for years anyway, but once they got control on the whole thing it seems they went for slightly different plastic formulas. The parts quality (molds flashing, arm holes sizes, ...) has also not improved as much as the other manufacturers' - anyone who's assembled an Xray car would know what I'm talking about. For instance, there's quite a bunch of C-hubs where the hinge pins just won't fit unless you use a vice.

Tips from a former B4 racer (I sold it a couple of months ago with the idea of buying a TRF201X for the winter season as I race 8th scale offroad only in the summer - but then again the 201X's price has kinda shocked me so I might very well pick another B4 soon enough as I still kept parts for it...):
- ditch the stock gear cover and replace with the RPM one
- Replace the 4/40 screws holding the front block to the chassis with M3 screws
- ditto on the rear ones
- ditto on the top ones that hold the front brace to the chassis, use socket heads and use washers
- ditch the front body holder (that funny "pierced" socket head) and use velcro to attach body to chassis
- don't overtighten the tranny case screws
- Run the team composite chassis and not the graphite FT one (later FT kits have the team chassis in the box btw...)
- if the track is tough on front arms, don't hesitate to use the RPM bumper - it's ugly but it's a life-saver in some cases.

Here's my (ex-)ride, pics taken by a web-reporter during an indoor race






There is no $200 car on the market that works so well straight out of the box. A true modern classic that keeps beating the competition consistently in everyone's hands year after year. The pinnacle of 2WD

Paul

PS: Mayfield and Cavalieri are AE's two most prominent drivers these days

[Ruffy]

I finally got around to painting my B4's stock body, and at the last minute decided to try another vintage boxter look with a modern touch. Up until now I have been using a borrowed body from Jeff Harris.
I haven't had or found the need to do any of the things you have mentioned lonestar, but then again I have always found that I have never had to use aftermarket products or make changes to Associated's RC10 buggies to make them better, last longer or be more competitive. I've grown accustomed to just always running my buggies box-stock. I've been running mine box stock and it has been a fantastic racer. Nothing needs changing still, just wheels and tires as I wear them. I'm even running all my cars with an Airtronics CS2P radio on 27mhz FM.

[m_vice]

Nicely done Ruffy.

[Darkrider]

Looks awesome man! my B4 has gotta be one of the best purchases i ever made. One of the
better handling buggies in my current collection! I can see why a lot of you guys retrofit B4
parts to your gold pans.