marcuskeeler

I bookmarked the thread about the Fastest Marder but when I went to add a post to it, I saw the "Post Reply" button was inactive. Is the thread locked? [&:]

Here's the link to the thread [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3546054/mpage_5/key_/tm.htm]HERE[/link]

Anyway, the question is a little rhetorical as I know where the Marjet is, I have it. After Tony ran into some minor problems, I took the project over from him and have, with respect to his work, started over. I haven't run it up yet so I have to ensure I haven't taken some steps rearward in that department at least, but I intend to see how fast she'll run "all out".

I have a page on my site covering the project, see it [link=http://www.mkeeler.com/models/marjet/]HERE[/link]

5m0k3y

Respect mate!![8D]
I was wondering what had happened to the marjet, good to see the project is still alive.
Looking forward to see what its new owner has planned!!!!

jimbo1890

I think the thread was locked because it contravened RC rules ie he tried to sell it here rather than the comercial forum. I thought the decision was a bit harsh.

Anyway, it's good to hear that "The fastest marder ever" lives to melt pavement again.

J_D

he sold it - or is trying to sell it

marcuskeeler

er.... I think you need to read the first post in this thread a little harder

marcuskeeler

radio_controlled_mad

look forward to seeing more vids

J_D

haha, yer sorry bout that retarded post [&:]

Axis21

Very, very nice!! To the inventer & the new owner. A quick suggestion that nobody really wrote about tire traction. How about some tire warmers? Have all 4 of them being heated during the start up then remove all to run. Just my .02 on what you probable all ready thought of or changed. Definently agree with making it much longer. W/o tires providing powe/traction to move car left/right it will always be that slick. You lose your centrivical force of balancing, like on a motorcycle. If your turning a motorcycle, say a u-turn & pull the clutch in, the bike wants to fall over. Simple, with clutch out the bike stands and stears w/o it dipping. So, I think with the turbine running, its trying to pass it self. It's Like the rear tires are trying to pass the front ones, ie: the spin outs. Great job though!! SIIIIIICK!!!

cmar-ireland

Another tire suggestion, use FG Formula 1 tires front and rear. Larger diameter and supposedly stickier...

CodeToad

Cool, glad to see the beast lives on.

marcuskeeler

You guys are totally right about tyres being important in this application. Tony had Touring car wheels on the Marjet when he had it which might have been a nice idea in real Hot weather, but when cold those tyres are useless. I originally intended the thing to run on FG Truck slicks which stand much taller than the touring car items (see pic below) and are very sticky when warm. The more I thought about it though, the more I figured that the slicks wouldn't get warm enough during the relatively short run durations. I've used truck slicks before on stock Marders and they stick fantastically, but only after 5 hard minutes of hard use.

Therefore I plumped for a set of wheels/tyres from the new FG Stadium truck. They are smaller than the Monster Truck/beetle wheels but taller than the truck slicks further reducing wheel speed, and sticky from minute-1. There may be a ballooning issue and I will be fitting a rubber "O" ring around each wheel as soon as I find some appropriately sized. If all else fails I will refit the Truck slicks.

I think a tyre with some flex is a good idea, to help absorb small bumps. Those slick side walls are as hard as plastic and very unforgiving on uneven surfaces.

The spinning out thing on Tony's previous videos isn't entirely due to the tyres.

Here's the sequence -

- Marjet held on brakes, Turbine powered up to Max
- Brakes released
- +1 second and Tony's heartrate has tripled
- +2 seconds Tony has throttled down and on the brakes (rear only), turbine is ramping down but still producing significant power
So, Marjet is under power, rear brakes on and Tony is steering away from looming building/curb/friend
Spin is inevitible. In a small area I imagine the Marjet is almost useless especially with rear brakes only. I hope to take it to a larger play area plus I have 4 disks installed plus my tyres have much more grip.

it's going to be Mad, I'm afraid of it even now, and it's only sitting here on my desk looking at me in a most menacing way [X(]

aicecoldone

cool if you cant finish the car i can take it off your hands for free

HeatFire

maybe you should hmm make a wing or something that directs the air so it presses down the car.. maybe tilt the eninge a litte.. letting it point to the sky:P just a tiny tiny bit?

marcuskeeler

Yes, the angle of the motor is slightly down at the front now although I don't think a degree or two will make much difference. I could really lower the front by 5 degrees or more but I don't want to waste too much of the forward thrust vector.

CodeToad

I'm not sure how much it would help with a few degrees down, or five for that matter, but here is a quick look at what would happen.

Let’s say the turbine makes 100 N of force (just for round numbers sake) and is oriented at a five degree angle:

Horizontal force component - 100*cos(5)=99.62 N
Vertical force component - 100*sin(5)=8.72 N

So this means that if an angle of 5 degrees of the turbine's exit facing up was used, 92% of the force would be applied in the horizontal direction (foreword thrust), and 8% would be applied in the vertical direction (vertical, planting thrust).

Hopefully the new tires solve the problem, but if not this may be an option to consider down the road.

marcuskeeler

Getting close to test run. The project has evolved quite nicely and I only wait for some brake parts and some machining on the rear stub axles.

I've had a lot of problems along the way, none that I couldn't fix but time consuming nevertheless..

The web site continues to track the progress in summary

I'll be charging the video batteries.....

[link=http://www.mkeeler.com/models/marjet/]Marjet Link[/link]

kiora

35mhz for a "surface" model tut tut

col.

P.S. looking forward to the vid.

marcuskeeler

It might fly

hellya

chitty chitty boom boom

qaz393

anythin new gonna to happen to marjet?

methodman

well theres a few vids on his site now looks like its started up ok now, we all wanna a proper vid of it in action!

Croozer

My Feedback: (1)

[sm=thumbup.gif] Good Luck!

marcuskeeler

I know it's been a while, but a lot has happened with the Marjet in the meantime. As well as chassis modifications, the Sophia motor has been ditched in favour of a new JetCat P80. The Sophia was hard to start and, in comparison to the new JetCat, low on power output.

Here is an 11 minute [low res] video of the initial test runs of the "new" Marjet. The motor started first time and is behaving perfectly. It's making far more power than the previous motor, so much so that I'm now questioning the wisdom of unleashing it at full chat :blink:

Rough ground isn't the turbine's friend unfortunately, despite having an air trap the shaking does produce bubbles in the lines which in turn causes flame outs. Not a big problem though, it was never made for rough ground, smooth tarmac is this bad boy's playground.

At the end of the video we took it to a big car park for some smooth testing, unfortunately the run was cut short as the ECU battery pack voltage dropped too low tripping the power-fail watchdog.

[link=http://www.mkeeler.b4-host.com/upload/marjet_mk_01_320.wmv]Video 45mb [/link]

jpachill1

Ohhh It's killing me! I can't wait for the vid of it on the pavement!
I almost posted something last week as a matter of fact about the Marjet. I was searching for new vids, and found the a lot have been deleted, I guess? Also a website for it was no longer.
Good job and like I said, let's see some new vids on the tarmac.

Paul