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very stylish david, amazing build

jwscab wrote:you know, if you integrated the rear shock upper mounts into the cage, you could totally remove the bulkhead and shock tower, which mean you don't have to cut them up to fit the 4wd system.

otherwise, I love the tube chassis builds!

Thanks for the warm comments gentelmen, it just ad to the satisfaction!

I thought about integrating the shock mounts (front and rear), but as this is a tribute to MIP, I wanted to use as many of these parts as possible. On top, when using the MIP trailing arm set-up, the shock position is slightly raised and the MIP rear shock tower included in the kit is hence higher than a stock one, meaning the integrated shock mounts would have to be raised above the cage and it would look just weird. Then I could also use smaller rear shocks, but I just don't feel like it. The amount of decisions and thinking behind the build were numerous and sometimes difficult to take.

I would also like to thank Mike (Mikedealer) for building the cage and being so patient. He really has goldfingers when it comes to bending and welding! KUDOZ Mike!

Man!!! This car is something. Reminds me of a vintage Porsche being brought back to life-

Charlie don't surf wrote:Man!!! This car is something. Reminds me of a vintage Porsche being brought back to life-

I like the sound of that! I need to get my '75 911 from my parents house and start driving the crap out of it!

This project definitely reminds me a vw rail buggy in full scale though. I like it!

So only 5 years later I can finally update this thread I had major troubles with Mike that actually never delivered the killer tuber chassis seen in previous pages and I have lost a mint Top Cat in the deal Since then Mike is off the radar and couldn't be reach any longer no matter the channel... Anyway, it took me quite some time to get back working on this thing as all my plans had to be rethought, not mentioning the sourness linked to the bad experience...

In the meantime, many ideas crossed my mind in terms of chassis possibilities and since I really wanted this build to be feature a tuber chassis, I decided to use the cage of another completed build and use it for this project. Fitting the front gear box along with the chain and the rear trailing arms turned to be a real puzzle in terms of layout and design if using the existing chassis. I hence decided to draw my own chassis and have it cut by Jeff aka Gomachv. I also wanted to include a 2x3 battery layout and get rid of the G10 bar that is supposed to be used to mount the rear trailing arm mounts. Two pieces of black G10 were used on each side to raise the height of the alloy trailing arm mounting blocks and I also designed a battery holder much inspired by the one Masami made for his RC10GX that I now own.

Lost of fitting, adjusting, filing and grinding were necessary to get to the first result you see below and I'm still not done! The next steps include installing a mono shock setup in the front, enhancing the steering setup, replacing the grey nose plate with a black team car one, finding back the rear Losi wheel covers and using Proline Octigrabs on all corners, and eventually fabricating a roof top along with side panels out of lexan. I have ordered alloy parts that should help me to make the inner front camber links more sturdy. I had to be quite creative to flip around the front shock tower . Anyway this is already presentable and I'm quite happy with how it looks so far.

Thank you Jeff for the awesome work on this:



You don't see a NIP Checkpoint so often!

This is the first I've seen this thread. All I can say is HOLY CRAP! What an awesome build! I would never have even attempted to just gather the parts for this. WELL DONE !!!!

Very nice. I like how you mounted the front shock tower. Realestate around the front end is at a premium and I like how you managed that in your design.

This is freakin' awesome! Too bad about your Topcat though.

Now THATS what a traditional dune buggy is supposed to look like! Very cool.

If you were to make those in 2wd, I bet they'd sell well.

Holy crap, I love this thing. The 4wd stance and cage buggy platform....

yellowdatsun wrote:Now THATS what a traditional dune buggy is supposed to look like! Very cool.
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What he said! Super cool buggy!

Pretty speechless on the build, simply awesome work! I have a soft spot for MIP, back in the day at one time or another had pretty much every part Eustace offered back in the '80s. He made such quality parts.

Again, well done on the build, it looks fantastic!

->Mark

One more thing...

Did you ever find out the history on the aluminum front hub carriers? I've seen them in the harder black plastic and white nylon, but never aluminum.

I NEED one of these cages in my life.

duckhead wrote:One more thing...

Did you ever find out the history on the aluminum front hub carriers? I've seen them in the harder black plastic and white nylon, but never aluminum.

No maybe I should contact Mr Moore himself about these. I found they need some trimming to free up the front CVDs when the suspension is compressed.

Thanks for all the positive vibes around this buggy. A lot of patience and thinking went into it. I would like to try and mount a MIP mono shock set up in the front and add some lexan panels at some point. Rear wheels need to be replaced with a pair like the fronts and some other minor details need fixing. Stay tuned for an update in 6 years