After a year of running the GT14B i started to think of how it could be improved and ended up designing a new chassis - the switch hitter.
The key concepts behind the Switch Hitter are:
More even weight distribution (and hopefully improved handling)
Increased battery space
Increased flexability for electric installs.
Weight balance is the key, as the entire chassis stems from here.
One of the signature parts of the GT14B layout is the saddle packs, which in a 16th scale car, forced the motor to be placed at the front of the car, in this case front right.
With the motor weighing close to 90g, it always seemed to effect the handling by pulling the car right under acceleration and causing it to be a tad nose heavy in flight. (at least i thought it did)
so, as i've never been wedded to using saddle packs, what happens if we rotate the motor mount by 180deg and have the motor at the back left?
okay so it's not rocket science, but it should be easier to balance the car with the motor on one side and a lipo on the other at the rear.
I'm hoping that this configuration will also take the bite out of the steering, making it an easier drive and provide a better front/rear weight balance.
Those of you who are awake will have noticed that this means you have to run a single pack lipo, but i don't see this as being an issue, especially as the saddle packs are costly and hard to get hold of.
quick recap then;
1) weight balance - check
2) larger lipo space - by altering the layout and having the longer drive shaft to the rear of the drive train, we can fit a lipo of up to 65mm between the posts (and probably 75mm if you take the posts out).
a quick look around has thrown up lipos of up to 1300mah that will fit, more than enough juice i should think.
3) ease of electric installation - check! with no motor up front, the servo can go on either side, with your esc of choice and rx as well, no need to mount it on the top deck.
for pics, check out some out on Photobucket,
HERE
and you can buy the conversion from Team RCMI
HERE
oh, and the name? Well, it's october and i've been watching far too much baseball.