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#1
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D4 Review
Coming soon!
Just dropped the car off with Mr.Price, team oOple driver, so he can install his brushless (which arrives tomorrow). And all being well we should have it going at Bury Metro National this weekend. John is a better driver than myself, having acheived F2 status and D final at a National in 4WD, so should be a good test pilot for the car (enabling me to concentrate on writing and photographing). John came over and built 99% of the car himself whilst I took photos. The paint job is a bit average, done in a rush last night, but it's the same paint scheme as Johns oople review X-5 which he's piloted for the last year. There are some things that are a bit odd (to us), the washers in the front hubs (why), the multi piece shock top-caps, the fairly average manual which only ever mentions screw sizes by a daft code number (meaning you have to keep looking at the key at the side) - but plenty of nice touches. Motor install isn't that good, it seemed we couldn't find an easy way to install the motor without removing the battery post - I'm sure it is possible but with our tools and combined brain power (!) we couldn't do it. Fine for brushless (which rarely moves) but something like a Reedy KR which needs a skim per run it would be a nightmare. The LRP brushless motor I installed was a good fit, the Mamba Max was CLOSE but would fit with some persuasion. the new Mtroniks brushless motor I tried to fit was no where near fitting in the car, the chassis looks like it would need some dremeling to fit. The undertray mounting is great (had to remove / reinstall a few times just for photos, and it takes seconds). The quality of the plastic mouldings is really good also, and hardly ever needed any work. Indeed the quality of pretty much everything is at the very top. Had a few doubts about the car before starting it, but I was reluctant to hand it over to John tonight since it looks rather nice and feels great quality. The car does look a lower spec than some other cars, I think because of the black alloy that is used in all the sparts of the car. It just looks like plastic to the casual voyeur and gives the car less of a 'tricked out' look that so many modern 4WD buggies enjoy. But I'm glad the purple is kept to a minimum. Anyway - that's what we've been up to this week and why I've not been online much. |
#2
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looks good, i'm liking those orange stickers!!!!
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#4
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I've just built mine. Got bored and had a bit of free time so I thought I'd get it built.
Went together very well indeed. The only part that got me frustrated was building the shocks, as they kept getting loads of lock and it took ages to get them right. Other than that, everything was fine. It was nice to be able to build the suspension without having to file and sand everything too. Picky attached, not rate good as i just got the camera and snapped it. Now I can race 4wd, YAY! Obviously it needs tyres on. And I couldn't be arsed to paint the wing, but I think it needs it, so I'll do that tomorrow. Last edited by telboy; 11-09-2008 at 03:29 PM. |
#5
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Yeah definitely needs your paint on there mate, I dont like the look of a clear wing - but it's much easier for racing than painting loads up.
We found the same with the shocks - they weren't as easy as some to get right. Probably not a trait of the design, more a certain lack of experience that we had with this type of shock. I just don't like multi piece top caps. I don't understand them or like them in any way - why not 1 bit of plastic? The suspension did indeed go together really nicely with no hint of binding. I like the rubber hinge pin mountings - I guess these should also cut down on breakages by absorbing some of the shocks?!? it's a cool feature I've not seen before anyway. I wasn't sure about the shell, but I quite like it now. These things tend to grow on you when you have to sit down with an airbrush and look at them for a while. |
#6
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The shocks build in pretty much the same way as the RB5's, but they went together beautifully, and when I saw them in the instructions I thought the same thing would be the case here. But, I've got them right now.
I liked the shel from when Adam brought the first proto' for me to paint, but it is a pain to paint though . Wish I'd gone for a more simple design like yours, but I wanted it to match the RB5. |
#7
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Which MTroniks won't fit? I thought most 540-sized motors, brushed, or brushless, should be roughly the same size? If I were to buy a brushless for the D4,what should I pay attention to (size wise)
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#8
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Brushless generally are all the same length as brushed motors - but where a brushed motor generally is narrower at the rear, where the brushes and end bell are, some brushless are different.
The Mamba MAX for instance is square at the rear - so it is maximum diameter all the way to the back - but this motor is shorter than some, so it will just fit. The LRP motors are beveled at the rear so will fit even though they are longer than the motor area cut into the main chassis. The Mtroniks motors are same length as the LRP motors but same diameter all down the length like the Mamba motors and so foul on the chassis (the rear of the motor sits up on the chassis). It's probably not a big problem for most cars, but the D4 could have used a longer motor cut out is all. |
#9
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Thank you Jimmy for the explanation!
D4 still out of stock in HK! Can't wait to get my hands on one... |
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