TOPIC:

The neverendingstory

Signed,

Edo

----

Kiddin' very cool project, already got ideas on the shell's?
Color, or what type it's going to be.. i see you've got more than one body.

I think I'll do the Dirt Thrasher body first, in pearl white. Also have the original decal sheet.
The Terra Conquerer / Blazing Star will be getting a flip flop paintjob... it reminds me of a croc and the movie Predator.
Since I reinforced the Manta Ray body with fiber glass, I can't fit it on the FRP chassis easily.
So I'll modify it again and give it gun metal and carbon look this time.
Last but not least, I still have the Evo shell I got from you! That'll be box art...



I've fitted the undercowl last night too.
Because of all the fiddling around modifying that TBG item, I assasinated another set of screws. They were titanium...
That means I'll have to take the front apart again to get them out.
Like that it's really becoming a never ending story. With a deja-vu.


But it does look very cool with that undercowl...

Aha! I think I have gotten aware of the reason for the genocide on these particular screws in the chassis.
They are connected to the chassis mounts on which both plates are fixated.
If you try to unscrew them when the car is horizontal, the weight of the car will put extra strain on them!
Caused by the flexibility of the FRP. I guess chances this would happen with a carbon Evo are smaller...

I have taken the car apart and fixed the problem once more.
Putting back in the screws, I purposely only screwed them in loosely.
But right now when I wanted to take them out, it was suddenly difficult again!
Holding the car vertically solved this instantly.

Pics will follow. And I hope I explained the issue understandably...

Edou wrote:

...

...

Holy carp! What did you try and undo those with? A spoon?

Maybe they show some signs of frustration.
Worse though, binning titanium is a tiny nightmare in my book...

These used to be hex head titanium screws.


I won't discuss the hassle and reassembly because I couldn't get them unscrewed anymore.
And the fact that I had to use pliers and force on the aluminium chassis mounts...
I prefer to go into denial and summarize : repeated (and a variety of) badword!



The Mark 1 TBG undercowl after cutting :


Nevermind mind the rough looking edges and apparent scratches - that is just the blue protection foil.
It is not exactly cut as one is supposed to - I've left a little more meat on it.
Fits like this (although not with the Terra Conquerer body yet) and why cut more than necessary?

Because the dimples in the lexan where the holes should go did not aligh with the chassis, I had to dremel two of them.
That gave just enough room to expose the designated place on the chassis :


But it's quite the compromise...


Still too much dimple material on the front too because a gap was showing there :


Only thing is that if you take away more material, the holes will be too big for the screws to hold the thing down.
So you're going have to washer 'em up all round.
Which in turn means the crews need to be longer and an even bigger compromise with double washer setup and round head screws instead of countersunk. Meaning I gonna have to come up with something better.
Nothing in stock for that though.


Oh well, this undercowl is for running the car and it does look pretty slick.
And probably even better when it's painted black...

Phase one of the Dirt Thrasher - cutting out the body :


There'll be more to see when there's paint on it.

Edou wrote:

...Because the dimples in the lexan where the holes should go did not aligh with the chassis, I had to dremel two of them.
That gave just enough room to expose the designated place on the chassis :
...
But it's quite the compromise...

...

I've come to the conclusion that all TBG stuff is smaller than it should be ... I don't know what they make their vacform bucks out of, but it's pretty clear they are simple casts of the original items, as if you do that & don't add material after, things coming out smaller is the result. I don't know _why_ that should be, but that's better than TBG - they don't even seem to know it happens

Indeed when they take the shape of the inside, the shell will be too small.
In addition to that, I think this particular item also shrunk somewhat...
Takes a bit of a thought leap but with these dimples you get an opposite effect causing them to be too large.
So they don't fit in the countersunk hole of the chassis and you have no choice but to dremel them off.
Leaving large holes that will require the use of washers.
Tbh, if I'd known how much time I'd be spending on fitting this thing, another route would have certainly been chosen...

With the undercowl, TBG have become aware of this issue because I e-mailed them about it.
They now use a thicker lexan sheet and the dimples have been flattened out.
And they were nice enough to send me a Mk2 at $6 shipment only.

One fat chassis and all the DF-01 buggy body options you could ever think of.


In chronological order (of shape) :

- 58087 Manta Ray
- 58100 Top Force (same as 58107 Evo)
- 58115 Terra Conquerer (aka 58204 Blazing Star)
- 58160 Dirt Thrasher

Of course the Top Force is the only shell that matches the undercowl exactly.
The other ones come pretty close but I will need to do some trimming :


The lexan from the Dirt Thrasher offers a cool extra detail - the form of a hatch to cover up the gap when using an ESC :


That'll serve as a nice template as well.
And I think I have thought of a better solution for the many washers and inappropriate screws on the undercowl...
So there's more to come.