TOPIC:

blakbird wrote:

I've never seen a Nichimo build!  Following with great interest.

Cheers blackbird  

silvertriple wrote:

I think it is quite a bad statement to compare this thing with any Tamiya, even for the vague ressemblance with the Hotshot...

Many people speak about Tamiya being kings in terms of over-engineering, but the reality, is that they are kids compared to Nichimo designers in the matter...

This thing, like the Spirit FF (which is using the same front train) was quite innovative for quite a good number of aspects... It had 4 Wheels Driving and Steering, the internal cinematic was quite surprising...

... and it even included a central differential, with a way to control the slippage...

(for the small story, they call this differential LSD (for limited slip differential), and maybe the name of this thing stands for the magic mushrooms they were using during their brainstorms... This thing is feature over features, and it pays in the amount of screws you need to unscrew to tear the car down completrly to change the pinion or set the slip feature of the diff...

In short, a nightmare of engineering, with a nice set of potential issues (which may be what it has very common with some Tamiya 4WD cars of the same period)  




 

Putting that LSD together certainly was an experience.
 

 Steps 4 to 6 : Build the diff , finish Front Gear box and attach Motor.

I forgot to get any images of the limited slip diff build process, or the finished product, prior to getting the whole unit buttoned up. 

So here are some images of the instruction pages which refer to that part build, as well as attaching the motor. 

 

Front gearbox and limited slip diff unit complete .

With chassis attachment parts and motor also attached.   A nice piece of amber plastic helps to guide the motor screws, and has a handy pinion gear size position chart moulded into it.  I have a tongue tuned motor attached at the moment , but I now think another motor would be a better. 

 

 

Steps 10 to 12: Build rear gear box 

The rear gearbox is a pretty straight forward build now, with the internals being a repeat of the other  gearbox build
Only the outer gearbox case shape, and chassis attachment parts changed. 

Here's a group images of the gearboxes. 

 

So , on to the next part of this build .. but first me from yesterday has this to say. 

IMG_5992 by Michael Andrew , on Flickr



 

Ok , first things first .    Seeing a Tamiya motor in a Nichimo vintage RC doesn't feel correct .. I decided to change the motor .  

The Midships will now be powered by an AYK Magnum 480R motor ... NICE!!  Took a new now out of the packet for this , a little wiring and she is in place . 
I've read that this is a pretty heavy buggy, so I hope this AYK will  have the torque to get it moving along.

AYK Magnum 480 R : Is a rebuildable motor. -with timing adjustment and bearings fitted both ends
 

Steps 13 to 16 :    Build up the rear arms and steering for the rear end.

This buggy has for 4 wheel steering , as well as 4 wheel drive.
You'll see some small red plastic parts in the first image, these are the system used to retain the ball in the arm  - looks cool when done,  but a P.I.T.A. to do.   I'll show nmore on that in the next post. 

Here are the red plastic ball retainers on the tree  - along with an image of the instruction page and the finished parts. 
 
 
 

Step 16:   Attach the suspension arms to the Front gearbox.    And that's where I had to call it quits today.

The morning was taken up with a few things, and by the time I had a chance to continue the build I only had a bit of afternoon time free.
Hopefully I can get stuck into this again on Friday.