Dread's Mad Rat

[Dreadstar]

Well,I finally managed to get my hands on one of these little gems,from a fellow oople'r.

I've fitted the ballraces to her,added the AE basic shocks from my knackered B4,modified and fitted an RPM mini front bumper,and to top it off,added a 3-Racing rear wing. It's been outfitted with Ballistic Buggy green mini-spikes tyres all round,(still to be glued),which should allow me to run on grass,as well as wet Astro. I haven't changed the motor over yet from the stock one,and she's running with a Nosram Hawk Power Reverse(15T)ESC. This set-up will do me fine for test purposes before I fit in my Speed Passion 3000Kv brushless unit.
I needed to swap over the bottom eyelets on the AE shocks to the Ansmann ones to allow them to fit properly.

[Naushad]

Great transformation... The rat's mutated into a formidable beast! The 3000kv is a good choice. I'm using a ultra sportsman 10.5t in my cougar sv pro. I think anything lower becomes difficult to handle and the car just flips if you are trigger happy.

Some ppl don't like ansmann... Think their cheap etc...(which they are!). But this example just shows the great potential. Ansmann also have a great backup service in terms of spares.

Ansmann is part if good german engineering...following in the footsteps of big brothers such as BMW.

[Dreadstar]

I decided to be daft this morning,and take it for a run ouside on the snow covered streets.I changed the stock 21T pinion for a 24T one,and with the tyres still not glued,ventured outside for a wee test. Now to be honest with you,I wasn't expecting very much,with the streets being snow covered,I was almost expecting the buggy to wheelspin in place. Contrary to what I had been expecting,the Rat took off down the street, at I estimate a good 20mph. Turning was as I expected a little tricky,but with a few runs back and forth,I found that I could drift turn quite effectively. The mini-spikes worked really well in the snow,and even if the buggy became buried in a small drift,you could power right out of it with no real problem. I'm really quite taken with this little car,as it performs far better than I had expected it to,even with the poor Clash 21T motor. I hate to think how it'll perform with the Speed Passion 3000kv in it.
For an entry level buggy,this thing is brilliant,it's far faster and more maneuverable that most of the cheaper RTR's out there. I'm really glad that I finally took the plunge and bought one of these Rats.
As for the unglued tyres,they never moved off the rims once. For a steering servo,I've fitted her with a Perfex KS 1401,which come as standard in the 1/8th Inferno US Sports.

[Dreadstar]

Finally found a 27T pinion,which I've fitted to the Rat. I'm going to take it to the park tomorrow for a test run,and try and film it too. I've never tried driving and filming at the same time,but I can film and sail simultaneously,so how much harder can it be?
I'm pretty sure that she's set up properly,but |I'm sure that you'll tell me if she isn't. I've still just got the stock Clash 21t motor in her.

[kaylon]

I'm really looking forward to seeing the driving vid

You got a Youtube channel?...I'll subscribe if you do.

The Madrat is such an Unsung hero...so many people right it off without even driving it. In the US the TQ 2wd cars are kicking arse in competition. We just need more driver support over here. My X-pro has never let me down. Im gonna have to do drive train re-build soon though to keep her fresh I think..and I NEED to go brushless! But that aside I've never driven such a responsive 2wd buggy.

J

[Dreadstar]

Ok Kaylon,here's a short clip of her first test run on grass,with just the stock Clash 21 motor with a 27T pinion. Unfortunately,I had a little accident later on,when I was running around the carpark,I hit a traffic cone,and broke an A-arm,so I'll need to wait 'til replacements arrive.
I'm really impressed with it's turn of speed on grass,though it's speed on tarmac is something else. What I'll need to do though is to tighten up the servo-saver,as there were a few occasions when I hit bits of branch,and it knocked the wheels out of alignment. She is really stable,with a fantastic response to steering input,I'd be tempted to say,that the steering feels more responsive than my old B4,and that it's harder to flip the buggy than is the case with the B4.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrOb__ItU9U

[Dreadstar]

I contacted Modelsport later on yesterday afternoon and ordered up some spare front A-arms,imagine my surprise to find them on my doormat this morning. Now that is what you call service.

[jpmatrix]

Hi dude.

I just got a mad rat for xmas from the missus.

Just wandering, I got a 17t brushed motor and increased the gearing to a 24t pinion gear from the stock 21t. It certainly does shift and gets to top speed very quickly especially now that i haveconverted to lipo.

Now that I seen you running a 27t pinion Am I under geared?



I still got the stock tyres with the ribbed ront tyres and I suffered from serious understeer on the race track ( astro turf ). Obviously my set up isnt quite right yet. What tyres do you suggest on astro turf? I also read that putting weight up front somewhat cures the understeer.

Any guidance/ help would be much appreciated..

Regards

James

[Dreadstar]

For running on astro,I'd get myself 2 sets of front tyres,yellow mini-pins/spikes for the dry,and green ones for the wet,or as I've read,staggered ribs seem to be quite a good choice too.

As to your gearing,with a 17T motor,I wouldn't chance a 27t pinion with it, possibly a 25t at max,you can try it,but watch the temps in your motor & ESC.

I'm going to try filming another vid of her running on tarmac this time,which should be roughly the same speedwise as I'd get on astro. I'll still have the stock Clash 21t in her,just to see how she performs before I put in the Speed Passion 3000kv brushless unit. I think,that I'll need to drop back to a 24t pinion for that though.

[Dreadstar]

A short test run vid on tarmac,I'm going to have to check the mesh,as she doesn't sound great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcx7PNLDpkE

[Dreadstar]

I've fitted the Speed Passion 3000kv unit into the buggy,and fitted it with a 24T pinion. I took it outside and ran a full 3700mAh pack through it. Wow it's good,but when I brought it in to check the motor and ESC temps,the motor wasn't even slightly warm. Should I try it on a 27t pinion,or should I try to get hold of some 25 & 26 t pinions first?

[bigchris]

Hey dread - you for racing this wee beasty?

[B4power]

Nice buggy!

It looks pretty sweet. Have you also installed a B4 slipper clutch on it? I do know people that did that.

Yes, I guess you could gear up a teeth or two. Just be carefull with your temperatures.

[Dreadstar]

That's the plan Chris,but I need to buy some more hop-ups first,turnbuckles and poss rear hubs too. I certainly will need to get 25 & 26t pinions also,then I can give her a proper test drive.

B4power,she just has the kit slipper in her at the moment,which seems to work not too badly. I'd to cut a flap in the bodyshell to allow the esc to fit under the shell without the fan fouling. Ok,so it won't be waterproof,but I don't intend running her through any puddles anytime soon.

Test run with brushless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS1zSS9a16g

[Dreadstar]

Another modification to her,this time I've fitted the large RPM bumper to it,to try and protect the front A-arms.

[Dreadstar]

I couldn't wait any longer,I just had to try out the 27T pinion with the SP3000. Now I had said that I'd need to keep a close eye on the temps in the motor. Out I went,blasting this thing up and down the street for all it was worth,expecting the thing to be getting quite hot. Imagine my surprise,when upon examination,I found that the motor was really cool. Now this is the largest pinion that will comfortably fit in the Rat,and it's still effectively undergeared. This is marvelous,as it means that there is no way that I can cook off the motor. The Rat is only running on 3700mAh 7.2V sticks at the moment,and the speed is I would reckon around the 30-35mph area. She covers 150yds in approx 5 secs,this is certainly fast enough for me. I don't know how you lads can race these things with 6.5T or less,I would have thought that it would be near enough uncontrollable at that speed?

The more I drive this buggy,the better I like it. Now I just need to find the time to get her trackside and see how she performs.

[OneKiwi]

where did you get that bumper from? Ok Ive looked around and see it at a few places.. did you have to mod it at all to get it to fit?

[Dreadstar]

It's the large RPM bumper for the B4/T4. You have to cut off the locating cups on the back of the bumper,which fit into recesses on the B4,and also mod the locating holes a bit so that they match up with the Mad Rat's ones. It's a very easy mod to do,and should help protect the A-arms a bit,just like it did on my B4.

Hope that helps Onekiwi.

[OneKiwi]

Gonna keep it in mind Ill see over the next few times I go racing if I break any more A arms
I found one for about £6 so not too expensive to try out

[Dreadstar]

A quick test vid of her on grass,not too good this time,as I kept losing track of her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QluESx8n4uA