TOPIC:

Original bumper springs are an issue... Really too hard to absorb anything. 

The wire of those replacement springs is 1.2mm instead of 1.8 mm, that makes a whole difference...

The final set of prints arrived this morning...


All those parts look nice, and that is good to get into reality... I was a bit scared for the body part by the print provider team during the validation of the files as they mentioned warping and aspect risks during the file validation stage... But it looks good...



And i'm very happy with the dashboard as well... Man, I want to tune this radio


The ifrst thing I've done  during my lunch break was to check the sizing of the stickers so Johann can eventually modify them...





I also put the body on an original chassis, and it fits perfectly...




There is a few parts I still want to print, for some reasons...



I intend to get the prints done over the week-end... The build itself will probably happen tomorrow for the chassis. I'm still undecided at the moment regarding bodyshell paint or not... I may have a window to paint it tomorrow, but do I want this is a good question

For this body, no paint for the main body but you have to paint details. The print is enough thin to keep it like that. And you order a "shelfqueen" body wich you'll paint in a pure dark black with a lot of clear coats to have a black mirror. 
and if you have a spare pilot I can adopt it in the collection.

The body looks like line x painted.

There was no way I would even think one second to run this project car with original tires (not that I don't have some)... But for the fun, it has to be printed tires (and because I would always think the project is not over if I don't do it this way)...

So I took the same resin as the one I used for Samurai and Ninja tires. I think it is slightly on the hard A shore side for this usage, but since I could not have successful prints with the other resin I tried (plus they fact that the rare success tend to be tored too easily), I have no real choice...

The printer worked since yesterday, and as precised within my 3D printing thread, I think I have now the right way to do the post process (rear side is still bad, but front is nice)...

Here is the result (2 other tires will be printed this afternoon)...



You may notice the very different profile for the tires between the rear (thought for the rigid axle and almost flat) and the front (thought rounded to ease the turns). I've tried to be consistent with original tires thread thickness as the front thickness is higher than the rear, probably to give more weight to the front...

And next to original tires (partly depleted) on one of the Super Wheelies (the test rig for the transmission), here is the pic...


In terms of parts I still need to print rims and internal locking rings... And unfortunately, it seems the body mount didn't arrived today as I expected...

And finally, the rims are printed...


Trying to include a ring (TPU printed) in the Hunter tire turned to cut the tire, so I'll try first to run those tires without (the pilars used for the impression will somehow replace the ring, that may be sufficient)...
I will need to prepare a group picture of all the parts for the build (hopefully, the missing bdoy mounts will be here tomorrow - they are the actual reason of the delay)...

I had to wait all the parts being here to do this before I start the build...


That being said, it's a bit late tonight, so the build will start another day...

Lol sure you already begun .

Time to build, we said...Time to start with the chassis, and particularly with the shock mods. The chassis do not include the holes for this, as I wanted to have the possibility to get it in a standard fashion, and the shock mods being a mod experience rather than just an add-on. The shock mods cluster includes 2 parts designed to define the holes positions in the chassis (I may also provide a version working for original chassis but it is yet to be decided)...
The two parts are lining up with the existing holes in the chassis making the lining easy to deal with...
The chassis being ready, it is time to get the parts for the front train... The main shaft and the springs are the only part that can't be easily replaced. I could have replaced the rest, but it happened that I have enough to cover this car with parts available in my stash without issue to rebuild the cars I have to rebuild...
The fornt suspension cluster I'm using is the one shocks ready which include hook for the pivot ball to attach the shock.
I'm using the original spring and shaft to keep the range of the front suspension. The use of the mini CVA requires this, as otherwise, the spring cup on the shocks reduce the range for suspension shock...
The servo is fixed on a Big Bear fashion, with a servo saver that I had sitting there, and the front shock extension is sitting in place
Next is to add the shocks...
Then it is time to get to the gearbox... The gearbox is on steroid, with ball bearings, brushless, strengthened diff, and SLM stainless steel printed idle gear...
Very quickly the gearbox is almost complete. It is missing the rolls for the wheelie bar, but I'll tackle this later... The hooks for the pivot ball replaced the one from the arms cluster, and they are part of the shock mods cluster...
Next step was to fix the gearbox to the chassis... Again, the range of the suspension is the same as the original chassis with springs (on the bottom it is limited by the chassis)...
The ESC finds its place under the rear suspension brace (which I believe is required due to the mods to reinforce the chassis). You may note  the room for the battery pack slightly more accomodating than the original chassis, allowing for 138mm length packs and the holes to facilitate the wire management when we run the car... The body mounts are Tamiya hex body mounts...

The chassis is almost ready. I still need to find the proper allen key for the non standard M2x8mm screws I have in my stash for the rims assembly...Next is going to be about the bodyshell...