TOPIC:

larbut wrote:

It's a beauty, all right

Thanks Lars, I know you're more a box art man (maybe not so much the M-Ray though) so I'm glad you like it.

Another hopup option not tamiya but an option fibre-lyte
Some nice carbon plates

Yes, great stuff indeed.
I found them before though - they're on page 18.

Well, I didn't sell the first finished build after all...


May not be surprising I am again contemplating on another plan for it.
We'll act as if that will never happen and consider this to be an existing car...

What might happen in reality is that it will become a drift car (preferably with a 911 Taisan body) since I have just about all the parts to turn the chassis into an on road version with spares that belong to a DF-01 Hummer.
It will need on road shock towers then, shorter suspension arms and dogbones - and also shorter shocks.
Parts that are all in stock!

Only complication will be the (length) of the wheelbase...
A Hummer uses a chassis that's the same as the TA01 (only that is grey) but the suspension arms are of the TA02.
These are pointed more towards the rear because they normally compensate for the TA02 chassis being shorter.
Therefore the two chassis have the same length.

Because of the TA01-TA02 combination of parts, the Hummer's wheel base is longer.
If is use it for on road like that I will have a (virtual) TA01LW (Long Wide).
When a Taisan sits on a TA02SW (Short Wide) chassis.
If I am right in the assumption that the suspension arms of the Hummer and the Taisan are actually the same.
Needless to say I would need to solve that. A TA02 chassis seems to be the shortcut...

The Manta Ray body will undergo some modification (possibly another respray ) and go toward the FRP chassis.
The drifter plan is long term anyway and I will start a new thread for that when the time comes.
For now I'll be taking the final small steps to finishing the FRP car.
First a rebuild of the front end with the black aluminium C hubs and some nice teflon sealed ball bearings.
I made a rookie mistake ordering them (1050s instead of 1150) but I hope the right ones will arrive soon after all.
Last bit will then be the rear, before I release it for a test run.

Now I just gotta stop looking at pics like this if I don't want to get distracted and side tracked again...


And all the (home anodised) gunmetal aluminium parts I could hop it up with.
But this one first. And that one maybe.

Edit - I think it was also you, waterbok, from showing me those TA02 Elfer links!

Sorry won't do it again

But the chassis wasnt in a very nice shape anymore, lots of the grey parts were replaced and the body wasn't much better, the wheels looked ok though.

btw do you have a set of steering (c2/c4) arms for a df01 lying around
(if have got a set of gpm's but they dont fit the tub )

If I were to go for a "real" Taisan, I'd definitely try to make sure the grey gearboxes are in good shape... and not run them.
The one you linked to a while ago was in a much better condition.
I don't need shelf car exposure to get motivated on a particular car.

But I should get a long way with the parts I have if I can find a nice body for it.
A TA02 chassis would make it a better drifter concerning weight distribution, the motor being more towards the center.
The plan won't materialize all too soon though...
But it does fit nicely in the trend I seem to follow in the evolutionary aspect of cars - sometimes making a hybrid even.
When I get to it, I'll make a metamorphosis thread. Gotta love a versatile chassis like this.

On the steering parts - who recommended me for an SPA?
That means that I have them btw. Gotta see what condition they're in though.
These particular vintage parts seem to develop small cracks...
Nothing the tiniest bit of CA won't take care of though.

Seeing Spitfire on line doesn't help tempering Taisan fever either.


Mmm... when the brain cells are going! I could "settle" for something like this quite easily :


Won't be in that colour but that option is as open as can be - and the basics are already cut :


It's not an Elfer but a fine piece of German product nonetheless...

I feel a piece for the blog coming on about all the descendants of the Manta Ray...
And the great range of possibilities they offer.

Anywho - what else could I possibly change on this FRP car that I've been working on for over a year?


Well, more than you'd think. A bunch of stuff on the front end for example :


Nothing more cool that those universals but I'll hop up the C hubs to black GPM aluminium, put some teflon bearings in it instead of metal shielded, replace the turnbuckle with a titanium specimen that matches the rest - and lastly, deanodise the blue aluminium ball nut. Then the last bit has been changed from blue to silver and titanium.


That motor mount above is nice but momentarily not relevant.
The GPM hubs can be fitted with 850 size ball bearings, which makes the complete steering free of friction.
This car uses eight more bearings (including four for the FRP chassis steering assembly) than a Manta Ray that way...
I'll go for the same teflon shielded type that will go on the wheel axles.
GPM themselves seem to think that when you go for alloy hubs, you'll settle for nylon bearings.
As with their steering assembly. I don't get that...

Now there's nothing more that could possibly be upgraded! Until I zoom out of course...
Hope I can withstand going for titanium screws with all this Evo info of late.

Edou wrote:

I feel a piece for the blog coming on about all the descendants of the Manta Ray...
And the great range of possibilities they offer.