rc-kramer

Hi all,

So I bought a Tamiya Super Fighter GR kit from www.tamiya-shop.com.au...



Started the build pretty much straight away, such a simple kit to build is the DT-02 chassis, and pretty robust once all the pieces are in place : )





The kit came with 2 bodies; the standard grey one which I used for the decal kit, and was able to get away without even painting it! There is also a white body parts set which I'll do a custom paint job on once I get some time/ideas...





The finished buggy...



Just waiting for ESC and motor to arrive!!

rc-kramer

And in a "here's one I prepared earlier" kind of way, the ESC and motor are installed. I opted for the SkyRC Leopard Brushless combo, which I bought from www.hobbyhot.com for an incredible price! The ESC is rated at 60A which is plenty to run a 3S LiPo pack through, and the motor is a 9T 4370kv sensorless. I feel this combo is very well made, however its reliabilty is yet to be proven. It certainly looks the part...





So there she is, all ready to run. Just waiting on the Turnigy LiPo packs I ordered from Hobbyking and I'm good to go!

The Mad Modder

Brings back memories of building my younger brother's first car with him(super fighter g). It's definitely a fun buggy to drive. Do you plan on upgrading to oil filled shocks?

rc-kramer

Hey there, great to know it brought back some fun times... : ) Yep, I ordered some cheap oil shocks from Hobbyking but the fronts were too short, so I'm waiting for some Gmade 85mm piggybacks for the rear and 75mm Aerations for the front. Also going to fit the Tamiya stabiliser kit F&R, 3racing alloy front & rear hubs, 3racing alloy/carbon front & rear shock towers, steel gearbox joints and halfshafts, and upgrade the steering tie-rods to 3mm titanium with larger ballends. Will fit a better steering servo to it eventually but the Turnigy item I'm using has pretty good throw. Just a shame the front tyres have absolutely no grip!! I should also mention it's fully BB'd...

This is my first foray into RC cars for like, 18 years or so, and its actually quite addictive!

rc-kramer

Hey there,

Well I took the buggy for a spin earlier...







First few runs were good on the grass. Got about 20 minutes of running on a 2.2Ah 3S LiPo, and about the same on a 5Ah 2S until I crashed and broke the rear suspension...





Scuffed up the body and rear wing too...





But not before totally shredding the rear tyres on the netball courts!!



Told you that BL system was FAAASSST!!!! ; )

The Mad Modder

Wow, she must have been cruising.
I wonder if a hinge pin brace could be fitted.

thehuntingterminator

How is the tranny holding up? Doesn't it just have plastic gears?

rc-kramer

Yeah, not sure... I'm thinking that the rear upper mount upgrade includes a reinforcement of that area across the 2 halves of the gearbox. Whilst its in pieces I'll see if I can figure out something to fit and machine a brace if possibe. Handy having some CAD skills : )

rc-kramer

Apart from the case where the wishbone hingepin tore out, the tranny internals seem fine. I'll have a decent look at them once I do the repair, but the diff. gears are metal and the nylon spur gears are quite wide, and of course straight-cut so should handle a fair bit of punishment!

The Mad Modder

If plastic gears are built well, they will easily stand up to brushless power and they're a good deal lighter than metal ones.

thehuntingterminator

How much did that kit set you back (money)?

rc-kramer

Hey there,

I had some new parts arrive this weekend, so I got to work while the buggy is still waiting on a new gearbox case. First up were the shocks; they're by Gmade and I have to say are some of the nicest aluminium oil shocks on the market, and for the money, well worth it in my opinion...





They were pretty straightforward to assemble, with clear instructions giving an option of soft or stiff setup depending on how you add the oil. I opted for the soft setup as these are the fronts and I want to keep it on the ground. I'll build the rears to the stiff setting.



This pic above shows the slight difference in height compared to the standard shock. Notice I used the outer lower pin hole to acheive this, with it being too high otherwise. I also had to come up with a solution for the upper mount, as the hole is quite large and the bushes that came with it were not really suitable. I ended up using the bushes that came with the CRP FX-10 kit for my Lunchbox; they were a perfect fit after I had enlarged the screw hole slightly...



So here we are, nice new front end! Will be fitting a stabiliser bar when I get round to ordering one.

thehuntingterminator

Looks nice man. Let us know how those shocks perform.

The Mad Modder

The new shocks look very good on it.

rc-kramer

Cool, thanks : )

I built up the rears last night, and they are just as well made...





What is even cooler about them is the adjustability, but they are still not very stiff; quite soft through most of the travel until about the last 1/4 when the remote reservoir comes into play (there is a small piston inside that pushes against a spring and a screw in the bottom which adjusts the preload). I could preload the springs but then I get wishbone interference, and I would rather have the actual shock take care of the damping... I'll try to re-oil them the way the fronts should be for the firm setting and see if that makes a difference.

Here is one fitted to the gearbox (the undamaged side - just placed the order for the new parts I need)...







Being 85mm they are about 5mm shorter than stock, so I have acheived a 5mm reduction in ride height all round, which is what I was aiming for. This should give much better handling without risking bottoming out the chassis.

thehuntingterminator

Looks great. Any plans for new rear tires?!

Eman77

I think that is a fact that is often overlooked. Solid point, sir.


I have a DT-02, and the plastic tranny gears are BIG too. Seems pretty stout to me!

On a 4370 BL setup with 3s, that thing must fly! No wonder the rear tires are shredded already...hehe.

rc-kramer

Thanks, should look even better once I can get my hands on the 3racing alloy/carbon rear shock mount!!

Yep, I have a set of new rear tyres on the way... I also just ordered a 3300kv 12T Brushless system that I think I'll swap out, and put the 9T motor in the F103 chassis I'll be ordering in the next few weeks. That will give more torque but a lower top end, which should help with dirt duties and make it less prone to crashing at speed!

I actually ordered 2 spare gear cases, the gear parts bag and the A parts screw bag, so should be able to build up a complete second gearbox once I've repaired the first.

rc-kramer

Hey all,

So after a bit of a wait for parts from the UK and HK, I was able to make some more progress on my DT-02 mods. First up, new gearcase. Standard A-parts tree, but interestingly note where the original broke...



...and this is a pic of the BRAND NEW replacement part...



Hmmm. Oh well, good job I ordered 2 of the above!! Onto the more tasty bits, I got the 3Racing alloy front shock mount...



Nice piece of kit, but the first thing I noticed is I'll not be able to run the standard body without some trimming to get the nose through the carbon plate...



As with any aftermarket mods, don't expect them to fit straight away, first time, without having to use your initiative and imagination to solve a few problems. After all, that's half the fun of modeling!! With this kit, the upper wishbone inner mount required some ingenuity...







I also purchased the Tamiya stabiliser kit...



Nicely made, comes with hard and soft bars. I chose to fit the harder bars considering the shock upgrade I've done...





Be sure to read the instructions carefully and cut down the ball links as noted...



I also fitted a pair of the GPM 'almost universal' alloy servo mounts (really cheap so pays to stock up on them)...



So that, together with a pair of titanium steering arm turnbuckles, is the entire new front end...



Now just need to get the arse end sorted!!

The Mad Modder

Looks good. It looks like the front towers were made to be used with turnbuckles.

nitrosportsandrunner

Lookin good.

I have the holiday buggy (same chassis) and this thread makes me wanna go BL.

I did do a 540 motor swap. the stock 380 was way slow.

Im not surprized the rear pin holder broke running a 3s. These chassis' is light and a 3s BL system would be stupid fast!

rc-kramer

Yeah, I did think about that. The turnbuckle kit I bought came with four 45mm buckles as well as the 2 uneven length ones for the DT-02 steering, but they seemed too short to make a pair of upper wishbones from. I have a selection of lengths en-route from Tower so I may well order some more Gmade 6.8mm rod-ends and make some to fit...

BL systems I've found are very simple to set up and maintain, however they do require a certain driving finesse, so perhaps are not suited to all. I'm knocking back the kv of this chassis to 3300 from the 4000-odd before, and will put that in one of my new F1 chassis for pure straight-line speed runs so I can play around with some aero packages.

rc-kramer

I have just received my latest order from Tower; which includes a decent selection of turnbuckles!! I've already allocated a couple of pairs to the Lunchbox steering and upper arm locations, but still have a bunch to hopefully make a pair of upper arms for this - would be nice to shed some weight AND be adjustable.

rc-kramer

So with the front end all sorted and a bunch of goodies for the rear, I started building up the new gearbox...



Inside I used the option differential gearset (not the ball diff) that allows the use of splined output joints, which are required for the steel driveshafts I also fitted. At the outboard end I used the 3Racing alloy hubs with the obligatory metal bearings...







As you may have noticed, I swapped out the motor for a 3300kv item. The Tamiya stabiliser bar was then fitted...



...along with the Gmade oil-filled piggyback shocks I built earlier...



I had to use a 5mm washer between the hub and the alloy drive-hex, to take up the massive amount of end-float of the stub axle...



And here it is all back together!!





I found that the nose of the body doesn't fit through the carbon front shock mount, so I had to make a slight modification...





I used the spare body as I didn't want to butcher the original one with the stickers. I'll permanently attach the cut-off piece to the front body mount, once I figure a way to do so. Overall, the final result is tidy and looks pretty cool...





I'm really liking this DT-02 chassis; it's tough, easy to build, maintain, modify and repair, plenty available for it, and fun to drive!! I'm looking at collecting enough spares to build another stocker so I can shelve it with all the original bits I've upgraded on this runner!!

Right, off for a blast...

The Mad Modder

Looking good. That's got to be the most heavily modified dt02 I've seen.