Kyosho ZX-5 Review, page 5/7
The last part of the build is adding the centre drive shaft and top deck. The centre driveshaft can be installed / removed without disassebling the car. The rear drive cup grubscrew is loosened and the drive cup slides back against the slipper allowing room for the removal / installation. This also allows room to change the front drive cup between a solid and one-way unit. The top deck is a thick plastic affair and adds a lot of stiffness. Twisting the chassis from either end the chassis feels as stiff as the Bj4x4. The worst part of the build ? the posidrive / phillips screws, they seemed fine in the old days, but with this hard plastic its real hard work to NOT strip the heads, i have a nasty blister on my palm from building this car. |
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The manual is sometimes unclear, the lines showing which screw goes where cross over each other and gave me a headache trying to follow them. Many of the plastic parts are on large spurs, and NOTHING is numbered ! so to find the correct part you have to keep refering to a diagram in the front of the manual. The good stuff, well, the car went together really well, just minor tweaks to the front gearbox. The shocks are really nice to build and very plush (on the bench). The suspension front and rear went together nicely also without any hassle. The motor access is good and its great to have a kit that comes with so many diff / one-way options as standard, no spending £70 on a one way here. |
The Shell for the ZX5 shares some of the lines from the original optima and optima mid series. Shell design is a matter of personal opinion ofcourse but quite honestly in my opinion this is the nicest buggy shell around right now, the lines are fantastic and simple, its a classic. There are no concave roof lines, no over done humps or scoops, no super low "stamped on" look. The kit decals are, well, alright, but i have done a quick redesign and printed my own, i stretched out and slanted the kyosho logo making it a bit more dynamic, which seems to fit the styling of the car better. The Kyosho logo down the side is ofcourse huge, to let everyone know that kyosho are back. |
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The front of the shell slots through the shock tower, and allows the shell to pivot up to change cells etc, without having to take the shell off, it will be interesting to see how long this lasts without snapping off. Around that front area, its very complex to cut out, and you need to keep everything rounded otherwise cracks can form in any sharp areas, so to "cut" this area out, i used a dremel and a small sanding drum. The shell comes covered with overspray protector, but as usual the wing is protected on the wrong side !, so the overspray film needs taking off prior to painting. |
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