Hirobo 44Bs and Zerda :)

[silvertriple]

44B City/Vega radio box cover printed during night. There is some issues with the print, probably linked with the way it was on the bed, as right side is not as clean as the left side (but this can be addressed easily with sand paper...



It fits the radio box, but it may require an additional millimeter in length to be perfect...

[silvertriple]

Hirobo 44B/Zerda Pulley cover printed as well...


it matches the rear gearbox (it was already tested by Andy from tamiyabase, but it was missing some space for the motor screws, which is the modification)...



Thinking about printing some gearbox, arms, knuckles and other chassis parts...

[Dadio]

The genuine pulley covers are not great , really low on clearance round the diff outdrivres , you probably did better.

[silvertriple]

The genuine pulley covers are not great , really low on clearance round the diff outdrivres , you probably did better.

There should be enough. On the other side, Andy mentioned a very small clearance around the pulley, but it is the same with the original part. My guess is that there is a reason for this.

Here is a section analysis of the Zerda. There is room for more (a lot).


Now, the same on a 44B LWB (1983, which was on the market long before the Zerda). The pulley cover which was optional for the 44B City when it was out of the market and later on included with the Zerda was working with both, and it is the 44B SWB defining the profile of the pulley cover, and the clearance around the pulley...

[silvertriple]

Another Hilux 44B arrived today.... I saw it within a lot of pictures of someone selling a big lot of cars and contacted the guy few minutes after he published the listing. From the additional pics, I knew the bodyshell was nice, and that there is quite some work needed on the chassis...

Here is the car. The front body mount is broken, clearly, and the bumper is missing...


The red parts were painted in black. There is fair chance I can get them back in red, and they seems to be in proper state, but we will only know once we get the paint removed...


The wheels are not original Hirobo wheels, the tires are the same we can find on Bandai/Monogram Interceptor RS. The front blocks are vanished, but they were similar at some point. The tires are mounted the wrong way (they are directional)... I'm not sure for the rims, but I have some suspicion the slots were not part of the original design...



The transmission/diffs are in good shape. The wheels are mounted with some Nichimo parts, apparently...
I will probably start rebuilding the other one before getting this one in parts...

[silvertriple]

Tonight, it is about to get ready for some builds...

Target is to do at least the 44B Hilux chassis soon, but I may also look into the LWB chassis as well... I did rebuild the diffs and extracted the 44B parts (the Zerda did have different pivot balls than the original ones so it was different to identify where the pars are coming from when the pivot balls are still there)...


I've checked and it seems I have enough ball bearings for 2 cars, I may have to complete for the last one (some were damaged and the wheel axles will be replaced by a coulple of ball bearings with an additional part, like on the Bearcat SS...

[stevar]

Hello,

Yes, a very good work of @silvertriple on this Hirobo.
In this picture my 3d print of radio box 44b from @silvertriple.
I'm not good with the 3d Print, but it's a good way for next.
Thank you so much.

[silvertriple]

Early this afternoon, I decided I would go a for a double SWB/LWB build, and I started to put all the parts together for this...


And two cars parts take a lot of space on the table... So I stopped to put the elements on the table and went to the build


First, I just added a bit of grease in the diffs (and also to make sure there was no issue in the two that I did not opened)...


Then I added bearings and axis to the rear hubs and front knuckles (same principle than for the Bearcat SS, with a small printed part, and two ball bearings to get less wobble). The second car is going to be mounted on single ball bearings with the idea to allow the comparison between the two.


Next, we get the knuckles installed in the front hubs...


And it is time to get to the chassis and install the front part of the transmission... SWB on top, and LWB on bottom...


The rear part is always quite crowded on a 44B (this is the same on the Zerda), and the path of the synchronous belt is quite complex...



And I did that on both cars... I will need to work on some elements on the Zerda, as it seems some shafts needs to be shaved...


Then I focused to add the radio box on the LWB


And here is a check of the fittings of the radio box cover... With the front mount, it is actually almost ok (the pin is required to keep the box closed... I'm now sure that 1 mm more would be way too much...


I had to clear the table, so next steps will be later or tomorrow...

[silvertriple]

This morning, started by adding the radio box on the Hilux chassis.


Next was a quick print installation (it was done yesterday, as I have only 2 of those parts for 3 cars). The profile matches the gearboxes walls around and it fits perfectly...


Here is the 2 chassis in their current state. They were more or less like that at some point within their original boxe (that I don't have).


I had to do some room in the storage boxes, I decided to assemble the wheels as they take more room in parts than when assembled... Did I already tell you how much I love those 44B wheels? They are really nice, and for me among the top 3 in terms of look with the Marui Samurai and the Kyosho Javelin (that being said, I'm not able to sort 1, 2, 3 )


I sorted the remaiing parts. I have still some missing elements to complete the 3 cars, as I forgot a few things when doing the inventory:
- A pulley 18T for the Zerda (CT-23) : it was missing on one of the cars, and I have some other pulleys but not this one. That being said, I have an aluminium 18T pulley, but I don't think it will last long...
- On shaft side, it is good, I'm just missing 3 spacers (2 for the roller pulleys, and one for the 18T pulley shaft) - But I suspect I can definitely sort this with my 3D printer, so it is ok)
- An upper arm for one of the 44B. I check and it was missing when I got the car. I will have to find a solution for this (pivot balls are 4.8mm if I'm not wrong, but I'll check this).

And I search the servo saver of the Hilux for quite long, to discover at the end it was never removed from the servo, which was still in the project box with the Zerda parts . One hour lost because of this

At the end, I won't be able to build more than a complete chassis right now.
It will be 44B Hilux as I need it to show up the bodyshell...

Transmission is set in place... The motor is a torque tuned, and this car is likely to run at some point...


The fitting of the pulley cover is good. I'll decide later if it goes on the Zerda or the 44B Hilux (or both, but in this case I need to reprint one)


It is now time to fit the arms...


And very soon we have the hubs and upper arms in place...


I have shocks (they are not originals, at least for this car), but they are supposed to go on 3mm screws. I print will solve this.


And it works as expected. Shocks are in place. I change the orientation of the rear shocks plate to increase the clearance. On the front I used a longer screw and a nut to increase the clearance: I'm likely to create a brace for the front (probably combined with the front body mount), to make this a bit more stronger, as I suspect it would break otherwise ...
And yes, electronic is already in place. I will also have to do something to prevent the servo to move (but I know already what I'll do for this...


I did used my hammer to make the part fixing the bumper more plane...


I will now have to do some prints :
body mounts, bumper, and some other stuff...

[silvertriple]

After the nozzle change, the quality of the prints is back to usual... Printed a 44B Hilux Bumper and its winch...


Aso printed a part to lock the steering servo in place, which makes the direction more precise. As matter of fact, fixing servo with double face adhesive tape is so 1983-1984 I needed to do something (if I provide this part, it will have to be a step file, so peple can modify it to suit any servo)...


Had to put the bodyshell on the chassis to see...




Next :
- Work on the body accessories to make them easy to print
- Trim the white bodyshell and install accessories, eventually think about adding windows to it (not sure I can do something for this, but if someone has an idea, please talk )
- Order some stickers at mciracing to see if they fit my body
- Paint the white body (not sure yet for the color)

Hopefully, I'll be able to have the car in a very presentable very soon

[Dadio]

Is the white body ABS ? if it is then there's scope to strengthen it so you could cut the windows out , then I'd look for some clear plastic .

[silvertriple]

Is the white body ABS ? if it is then there's scope to strengthen it so you could cut the windows out , then I'd look for some clear plastic .

It's not ABS, it a mix of two products, but it is not ABS : it works at lower temperature than ABS for vacforming, and anyway, the real target of this white body is to show the final result of the body when it will be lexan...

[silvertriple]

I'm missing an upper arm for the 44B Long Wheel base chassis... As far as I know, there is only one piece missing for the Zerda and it is the 18T MXL pulley.

I have one in aluminium, but I believe it is to soft, as I can mark the surface easily with a screwdriver. In the meantime, that should allow me to complete the Zerda, at least, awaiting I find one of proper quality to do the job...


Beside the front gearbox wall, the build is quite similar to a 44B build...


With the same complexity for the belt path than the 44B, with a little twist...


The twist is that the chassis is so flexible than pushing down on the pulley that acts for the tension of the belt make the nose of the chassis going up...
And the fact of having the pulley cover in place doesn't really change anything to this... I put the motor which was in the car initially as a placeholder. The overall intention is to run this car, and I may put a different motor than this one... No clue yet.


The rear belt cover works also on the Zerda, and I found back an original part, so it won't be used for this car...


The overal target was to have one single picture for a publication later on cults3D... The pulley belt cover is in place with the rubber boot on the upper arm (reused the one that came with the car)...


All arms are in place... There is very little room for the front split pins...


Added the shock towers, and the bumper. I will need to find a servo for this car in my parts bin...


Basically, it misses a few things :
- steering servo and servo saver, and for this I need to keep in mind that the servo may collide with the radio plate, which is not going to ease my life...
- definitive motor and esc
- radio plate - which is theorically supposed to offer more rigidity to the chassis, but I have my doubts
- shocks - I've not decided what I do for this. I have 2 set of rear 44B original shocks in new state, some damaged zerda shocks, but I may opt for some Kyosho shocks (which may require me to work out some limiter for the range)...
- roll cage it will be black, although I would have prefered a red one...
- wheels : I have some tamiya tires that should work with the Zerda original rims (but I also have the intention to print Zerda tires at some point )

Had to clear the table for some other activities, and therefore stopped at this stage... Lot of activities ongoing, and I also need to work on the Hilux bodyshell

[Dadio]

Looking good , you'll have the full 44b based set soon , I tried the aluminium pulleys and your right they don't last long , I've got one in the Mini Mustang I just printed that I'm hoping will last a little while, I'm planning on trying to find a harder option but everything is on hold for now.

[silvertriple]

Looking good , you'll have the full 44b based set soon , I tried the aluminium pulleys and your right they don't last long , I've got one in the Mini Mustang I just printed that I'm hoping will last a little while, I'm planning on trying to find a harder option but everything is on hold for now.

I remember our discussion on the MXL pulleys... That being said I found a reference on Amazon, which is said for high torque and high speed applications (suitable for cnc, and other applications which are not rc), so I ordered one (although it is quite expensive compared to the one on ebay or aliexpress), and it should arrive within the week or the following... We'll see..