Tamiya Astute

[hondaman]

What do you guys think?

Wow.. I have not really paid too much attention to a build of an Astute but I have to say that is one crazy car.. Bearings in the suspension part is interesting.. Way overkill but cool in it's own right.. Tranny is too complex though.. The chassis looks way too flimsy for all that weight and I guess it is.. Wonder if there was an optional top deck for these cars or if someone put one.. I have always liked the crp160f part.. saw one in an Avante and thouth that was perfect for it.. Compact and does double duty wherw there is little space for electronics..

Still, I like the look of the car.. Almost pulled the trigger on one on the bay a little while ago.. Kinda regret not buying it but I have enough to keep me busy for a while.. Great build.. Looking forward to seeing it complete with a body..

Shawn

[stickboy007]

Very professional build

I have an Astute I picked up off of eBay a while ago. I have some plans for it, but I keep getting distracted by vintage Yokomos. One thing I thought about doing was cutting a custom upper deck from a CF plate. The easy way to do this would be to go from the servo posts back, to avoid the plate hitting against the servo horn. It might be possible to wrap such an upper deck around the horn with enough cutting, but I don't think it'll add any more to chassis stiffness, especially if you add a Super Astute or Madcap front bulkhead brace, since the 'arms' that would wrap around would be pretty narrow. Another thing I'd like to do is fab a front bumper/skidplate that screws into the four screws at the bottom (the front two that go into the bumper/bulkhead and the rear two that go through the front of the chassis into the rear of the front bulkhead). As I understand it, this is the main structural weak spot on the Astute. I want to add this skidplate to the bottom (in addition to a Madcap brace) to add some further structural rigidity there. I have some Kydex sheets for this (and to make some YZ10 bumpers of my own). For the gearbox, I plan to use the A&L lethal weapon. Granted, it is not a Tamiya part, but at $140 with a ball diff and slipper clutch, I think it's a pretty good deal and probably easier to get parts for than the TTC. I do plan on getting some delrin arms made at Dynotech, but again...those YZ10's keep draining my wallet Maybe I'll have it all done by next year's VONATS to show you...

[Brandon G]

Yup, Yokomos are def good at draining the wallet...

But then again, Tamiyas do a pretty good job of it too.

[Tomas Karlsson]

Great build sir!

Astute was my first racemachine, would love to find one.

[tamiyadan]

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[Percymon]

Cracking new build - always great to see a new build of such a beautiful buggy,even with its flaws. I love to give mine an outing from time to time, I did the Madcap rear arm/hub change after the Astute hubs proved insufficient for even a few small jumps.

[tamiyadan]

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[knixdad]

If you have a tamiya fox then you know the hell that can occur with the hinge pin screws and the upper and lower suspension arms splitting.

Totally right about that., that's why my runner Fox has solid, machined Delrin rear arms.

[hondaman]

Cracking new build - always great to see a new build of such a beautiful buggy,even with its flaws. I love to give mine an outing from time to time, I did the Madcap rear arm/hub change after the Astute hubs proved insufficient for even a few small jumps.

Nice Astute percymon.. Like Tamiyadan said, beautiful car to look at.. I love the paint scheme..

Wow Tamiyadan, you are a tamiya encyclopedia.. I always learn something when reading your posts.. Thanks for the info.. Maybe Tamiya should scoop you up to r&d their products..

I really need to stop looking in other posts.. makes me want one of these along with the egress.. oh well..

Shawn

[tamiyadan]

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[stickboy007]

Sounds like masochism to me

[tamiyadan]

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[knixdad]

it was a time where not everything was a cookie cutter design.

today everything is a RC-10 B4

Hey now! A TLR 22 is not a RC10B4

[DennisM]

it was a time where not everything was a cookie cutter design.

today everything is a RC-10 B4

Hey now! A TLR 22 is not a RC10B4

I support that - Even I can tell the difference

[Coelacanth]

bearings in the hinge pins is quite the overkill, if the car was run in dirt they would be destroyed quickly.

I totally agree, but not just because of the problem of bearings getting dirty. The function of bearings is entirely wasted if the degree of rotation is much less than 90*. There's really no point or advantage.