Caster Racing EX1.5
 

So I know some may not have heard of the Caster buggy, or maybe not of Caster Racing at all. But I thought I would start a thread to sort of introduce the buggy.

Just to sort of let you know what I will be doing with mine when it arrives in a few days or so.

I will be posting high quality pictures, possibly a few video's show casing the Caster buggy, and I will also be explaining and going through all the upgrades and other things that I will be putting onto the kit.

The version of the kit I have bought is manufactured as the RTR buggy, though it still being brand new, there are some things that are not as a usual RTR kit. The Radio system & speed controller have been taken out of the kit, and the box is going to be very much damaged as it was caught up in a fire in one of caster's warehouses.

Fortunately for me, this means I get it at about half the price, give or take a few pennies.

So I hope this topic will interest some people, and hope you enjoy how the buggy progresses through its stages.

Pictures and updates will be appearing within a week or so

Cheers

Picked up the buggy yesturday!

Along with a mamba monster v3 ESC + Castle LiNK

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/8042/cimg0001o.jpg

http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/7281/cimg0007ps.jpg

All is going very well!

So far I am very impressed with the quality of the plastics and overall layout of the components. The steering is very responsive, the spring dampening seems to be pretty good and all seems very controllable.

Though for testing I have been using 2s lipo, simply because I couldn't wait for my 4s to arrive and just had to have a go!

As you can see from the pictures, I have changed out the wheels and tyres for VP Pro Condor XX pre-glued wheels and tyres, and also a JQ wing for the aggressive styling!

The stock motor is only 2000kv, though depending on the speeds I get on 4s I may opt in for a castle creations 2200kv.

It wasnt long before I felt the need to call in the big guns! Savox 12kg, although the stock 9kg servo was a nice addition, It just wasn't up to speed.

http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/3343/cimg0002c.jpg

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/5198/cimg0006rg.jpg

I also found deep down under the crap in my toolbox a set of DE Racing read skid plates for the Mugen MBX5. I was told by a guy that they would fit so I went ahead and installed one of those!

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/3046/cimg00222.jpg

Sure enough, they fit. Slightly out of line so not perfectly but what can you expect.

Already taking a few scratches from just running around on the dirt.

Hope you enjoy the mamba monster v3 ESC, it was me that sold it to you :thumbsup:

Ah wicked :) Thanks very much mate, works a treat! Just got it all programmed properly today.

Look out for a red and yellow caster ex1 at the nene over the summer :) It'll most likely be mine! ha

It'll be great when I get the 4s :D

Battery tray mod.

I removed the battery bar, and replaced with 2 velcro straps to eliminate the frustration of loosing clips to hold the battery down :)

http://img807.imageshack.us/img807/6113/cimg00082.jpg

http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/84/cimg0015tn.jpg

You may have noticed the plastic mud guards protecting the rear driveshafts and lower shocks from dirt and debris.

I did have a slight issue with tiny stones getting in between the hinge pin and diff casing at the rear of the buggy, hopefully this will resolve that :)

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/6439/cimg00132.jpg

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/1497/cimg00102.jpg

As you can see, they have a woven texture to them which gives them a rather nice look in my opinion. I found an old plastic crate, which I then cut out the sides and shaped to fit the rear arms of the buggy.

Held on by the rear sway bar mounting screws and some strong double sided tape along the back edge to stop them moving around

The new battery came a couple of days ago so I took the buggy out for a long awaited session of practice.

This is the buggy with the new turnigy lipo - It just about squeezes in the battery tray if its lying on its side.

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/2995/cimg00033.jpg

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/6990/cimg00053.jpg

2000kv should be plenty. with 4s many of us run 1700-1900kv motors. 2200 is just overkill and gobbles up the Mah making your run times shorter and necessitating bigger packs.

I use a longer wider losi tray so I have alot of flexibililty on packs. I don't have a problem with saddle packs like on that model and it is good for keeping the weight and center of gravity down. Your current HUGE pack works ok I'm sure but its very high center of gravity wise and looks less that "snug" sitting there. You might want to try picking up 2-3 of these 3000mah 4s (click text) packs. and setting them up in parallel to give you 6000 total mah for longer mains or you can use just one for 5min qualifiers. with both of them sitting in the saddle pack positions the CG is about 20mm lower then your current pack and you will feel a difference. Plus being your using 2 if one ever did puff in the future you toss that one and your not out a larger expensive pack. They also have 2500 and 2650 4s packs if you want to trim the weight.

I race with 4000mah to make 10-15min Ebuggy mains. Most RC pro and ROAR races here in the states are getting standardized at 10min for Ebuggy. If I had that car i'd do these packs at 1800mah Each with 35-70C rating x 2 via parallel would give me 3600mah (perfect for 10min main with 1-2 hot laps), be Super light at 400g and short enough that I can move the packs up or down the tray to tune weight balance for traction or jumping effects. Thats just me, your cool either way man. Glad you like your ride!

Thanks for all the details, are you running the caster buggy or...

I ask because of the trays you mensioned :)

As for the batts, the big 5000mah pack works good, and as you say, the CG is pretty high the way it is, but on the surface I will be running on it won't matter too much :)

I may go for some smaller packs in the future to run in parallel, though i'm not completely sure yet :) I will get down to the track in the next few weeks and see how it goes with the current batt setup.

I understand what your saying about the mah's for short heats and mains, but I'm not a *competitive racer, I can drive, don't get me wrong but for now it's great to just turn up at practice days at my local track just to have fun with the guys there, doing small races within practice with other guys at the track :)

Though your comment is muchly appreciated, and If I do decide to take racing more seriously I will indeed test out a parallel battery setup with around 3000mah of each.

Thanks again :)

Yeah I thoroughly enjoy running this one, more then any of the other kits I have, and have had. It's setup perfect for my needs and steers on demand.

plenty of torque and top end too!

The buggy is still running strong with only minor issues so far.

- Front lower arm broken
- Wing mount bent to one side
- Screws on underside coming loose + front upper hinge pin grub screw came loose

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/4692/cimg0004y.jpg

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/4310/cimg0018f.jpg

Things to be aware of:

- (at least in my case) Screws on the underside of the chassis, such as the motor mount screws came loose and I was lucky enough to find a direct replacement in my toolbox for the one that completely came out. I advise using lock tight on screws that go into aluminium as they don't have any on to start with.

- Another thing to think about is the centre front hinge pin block is plastic made, I have already snapped the two tabs off that hold it straight on the chassis so will see if there is an aluminium one for the mbx5 buggy from mugen

- The stock 2000kv motor can run pretty hot on 4s Lipo even with the shell off, so be weary of temperatures. I did get the original one replaced due to it burning up on me un-necessarily. So I did go and pick up a head sink + fan to fit on the motor to help keep it cooler.

I can't wait to take the buggy to the track!

Take a look below to see a short video I made today of the caster in 1080p.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKtTp6TMx4U

nice vids mate im interested in a 1/8 e-buggy at the mo...you seem to have had a few problems with this though ...whats your overall thoughts on it? ...my other choice would be a hyper which i know are strong as hell...did the front arm break from a massive impact or a small knock?
cheers for any help mate !

Hey mate,

Thanks :) Much appreciated!

Not problems, I would say, Minor hickups ;)

If you did chose to buy this kit, all I would suggest you do is lock-tight any screws going into aluminium.

And as with all rc's, keep an eye on your temps!

It' a true performer from what I have experienced so far. Personally I would go for the caster over the hyper, simply because of the traditional design and layout. Plus you have the parts support of mugen :D

Moving onto the front arm breaking, during the video posted up above was when I broke it, I hit a big rock about the size of 4-5 bricks that was stuck in the ground and sticking up.

I am very pleased with how the buggy handled it because it could have quite easily bent a shock shaft, snapped upper arm, stripped out pivot ball.

I can still use it which is the amazing thing, until I get a replacement part from mugen :D

So I'm veyr very happy with this kit, and with the parts support of mugen, you can't go wrong!!

nice one thanks for the reply sounds good!
where did you pick it up from mate? i cant find a u.k supplier? ;(

If your in the UK, contact Russ at future world models and he will be able to sort you one out :)

You can either pick one up, or get it sent out :)

thanks!
i have a 74mm motor that i was going to fit looks like that will be a bit tight ....also looking at the kyosho inferno .... got the money and the system but not sure what to buy ;)

Aaah that's a shame, I had a look at the kyosho too, but LHS didnt stock parts, atleast they stock mugen, and people at the track mostly run mugen & caster's :)

Good luck

After running the Caster buggy for a couple of packs today, I have taken into account the use of a single 4s pack in one tray is overkill, and decided that it is necesary to swap out to dual 2s packs.

I was flipping left and right today, granted I was running on grass but hey, I still think I would highly benefit from dual 2s's :)

The CG is just way too high

Thanks for who ever gave me that idea :thumbsup:

After having run a fare few more packs through the caster buggy since my last update. I thought it was only right to continue to note my progress with the kit :)

As of now, I have 2 parts that are broken on the kit, Front right A-arm, which is being held together by a cable tie or two (works great!).

The other part currently broken is the front, inner lower hinge pin brace. Held straight to the chassis by two round tabs, though mine now has 1 so I will need to replace that sometime with an aluminium one from somewhere. Though it will hold up for now.

I was having some problems with the high C of G caused by the battery pack, which was causing the buggy to flip and roll when any throttle was applied when going around a turn.

Since i'm not made of money and can't afford new packs every week, I simply had to make do with what I had. I will post pictures later on tomorrow but I have modded the battery tray to accommodate the large 4s pack. its a tight fit but it isn't too hard to change out packs once you get the nack.

Another problem I ran into which was completely my own fault, was that the battery tray holding my 4s beast, was detached from the chassis when I landed upside down from a jump. The tray is held to the chassis by two m3 screws, which is fine if you are running 2x 2s lipo's but I am obviously not. So the plastic tray couldn't hold the weight and just stripped the threads. This was easily overcome by counter sinking the tray from the top, so I have made myself a notch for a small nut to sit in above the tray, and a bolt through from the other side. This is super strong and will ensure that your tray is safely secured down.

Not a compulsory mod, but if your planning to run this kit on a single 4s, it may be something you wish to consider.

Tyres:

From my experience, what I have found is that, on the side of the battery, the rear wheel has a considerable amount more wear on than the others. Now I know this is obviously due to the heavy battery, but just thought I would mention it.

One other thing I have changed on the buggy, is I changed the shock positioning lower and upper. I moved it to its most upright angle (top out, in towards centre). This has drastically improved the jumping characteristics surprisingly, which is great :)

I still have yet to get down to the track and try it out. Especially now with the new pack layout, it should work really good. I will get some video footage of the buggy at the track, once I get another pack, so it's worth my while when I get there :)

Cheers

So, since yesterday's update didn't have any pictures, here's to make up for that!

Here's a mid shot of the buggy, with the battery lying as low as it can.

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/4458/cimg0008z.jpg

This next picture shows the capacitor I had to put in the kit. The reason being is that the high powered savox servo was cutting power to the ESC when it was pushing a bit of weight, drawing more voltage. The capacitor is the exact same as the spektrum one you can buy except I made this one myself. This distributes the current evenly throughout the electrical components. ESC / MOTOR FAN / SERVO.

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/1609/cimg0010nm.jpg

I thought it may be worth measuring the height of the 4s pack in it's new set-up. Taking into consideration the ruler doesn't start at the bottom. So it read about 4CM give or take a few mm from the side mud guard of the chassis.

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6515/cimg0013l.jpg

This next picture shows the gap between the battery and the spur gear :)

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/5908/cimg0014g.jpg

Here we have my temporary fix of the front a-arm, 3 cable ties does the job :)

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/4831/cimg0015i.jpg

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/6128/cimg0016n.jpg

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/968/cimg0017sv.jpg

Next up, the battery tray mod to accommodate my large 4s lipo. This is only necessary because the pack I have features wires that come from the side, not the bullet style that are directly in the casing which are only used on hard case cells.

http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/9375/cimg0026t.jpg

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/362/cimg0027u.jpg

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/2918/cimg0028r.jpg

My Spektrum radio and the buggy after It had been out for a pack in the rain :)

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/1277/cimg0031fx.jpg

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/5925/cimg0033m.jpg

I get atleast 25min runtimes with the 4s 5000mah pack. and the motor stays hot but still touchable. and the battery is at room temperature. Esc is warm.

I am having trumendous fun with this buggy! but I still don't think I'm ready to cast a final thought on the buggy.

So within the next few weeks, I should get to the track, and have my mind set about the buggy.

Cheers