Absima AB3.4 kit build

[richhrly]

Dunno if build threads are still a thing, but after a while out of RC I decided to take some snaps as I put the kit together. The pics aren't the best, but are more for me to remember stuff, and document the process. 

 

Hopefully this is useful to anyone looking at getting this kit. Thanks to @fnknan and @m4inbrain for the guidance to buy this kit. So here are the photos, and a few things I've learned along the way.

 

First up, the box! No expense really spent here, but that's fine. 

 

It's pretty nicely packaged, and everything is in individual bags so you'll end up fishing out loads of different bags to complete some pretty simple assemblies. Still, it's nice that you can then quickly check them off against the instructions to check that all the parts are in each bag - as I found out when I discovered two screws were missing from the Ackerman plate - Wheelspin sorted this out pretty quickly, so I just built the rest of the car and left the steering assembly until later.

 

Both diffs come fully assembled, so that's nice. They just need the shock towers adding, along with all the usual attachment points.

 

The rear diff has the motor mount attached to it, which at first I thought was nice, but it's actually a bit of a nightmare later on.

 

The kit came with bushings for the wheel hubs (the diffs are already have ball bearings). I didn't bother with the bushings, and went straight to ball bearings throughout. 

 

Front and rear wishbones and shocks all put together. This was a piece of cake, but the order they tell you to do it is a bit backwards. Generally speaking, the instructions are in a weird order, with weird photos where sometimes a part is on the wrong side of a shock tower or something, and the printed quality is awful. I ended up with the manual from the Absima website on my phone, and even then sometimes you need to skip to a photo of the assembled car to figure out how they want you to build something. It probably isn't a challenge for people with their heads in the game, but it threw me a couple of times.

 

Back end build up. Sadly this all has to come back out in a bit...

 

Big, black rear wing which isn't what is shown on the website, manual or other marketing photos. I'm a big fan, and have it in the laid-back position because I think it looks better (even though it's stupid).

 

Front end going together. Why C clips are still a thing used on anything is really beyond me, but there we go! The screws through the front wishbone assembly pass into the diff, so you need to balance the diff on the assembly, while screwing up through the chassis. The instructions also tell you to do all of this, then install the centre shaft. Don't do this, as you won't get it in, as I figured out. There is a serious amount of play in the shaft, too.

 

Plan shot of everything screwed together. The photos on the left-hand page are a great example of screws shown going into the wrong side of a shock tower.

 

Servo in, and there's a nice gap for you to get a screwdriver in to tighten the servo horn. The bad news is there's no way of getting to the bottom mounting screws on the servo posts, as the instructions have already had you install them. I've just got the servo held in with two screws at the mo, but will have to take those out, add the extra screws, then screw the posts back down. The servo is a Ripmax Quartz QZ502 which seems to do a very good job so far.

 

An on-the-wonk shallow focus shot because why not?

 

Quick electronics install. Installing the motor was one of the worst bits - I don't own any Allen keys, instead I have a ratchet screwdriver with a load of hex bits. Getting to the lower motor mount resulted in me taking the entire rear right hand side apart (including the wishbone) so that I could get anything into the gap to add the screw. I had a few dramas soldering my battery to XT60 connectors as it has some serious gauge wire (along with me being a moron and shorting it... twice). I moved up to XT90 and they just about sat in the cups on those, so much happier. 

 

Yes, I'm very bad at soldering 😅. I didn't want to cut down the motor wires to start with as they were nicely tinned, so that's why they go on a bit of a weird route. The motor is a Trackstar Brushless 13.5T, with a matching ESC. This is ROAR approved so I can take the electronics out later if I find a club and I wanna put it in a different class. I went with a Spektrum DX2E kit because along, long term I might want to put this in something a bit fancier. At this point I regret not having bought any foam tape.

 

And here it is pretty much done. There's a balljoint sticking out of one of the battery holder post as a M3 nut shook itself off while I was spinning around on my patio and I lost it, so I don't rate the nylon holding ability of the included ones very much! After £1 on Amazon, and 20 more, I'm back up and running. Added spacers onto the shock bodies to stiffen up the back end as it has a lot of droop. I might screw the grub screws on the wishbones to make it sit a bit lower too. 

 

I've not run it in anger yet, so I'll get some shots when I do that. A few things I want to do to make it a bit of a better job;

• Install the servo properly.
• Velcro around the sides of the body/chassis once the tape arrives.
• Cut down the motor wires, and solder them vertically into the cups on the ESC, and the "right" way around onto the motor. I soldered the positive battery wire vertically to clearance it against the motor, but the others sit pretty nicely for now. 
• Cut down the servo wires, crimp on new connectors to keep the cabling tidy. Add new female servo plugs onto the cut offs, so I can use the servo/ESC in other chassises which may need longer wires.
• I think it sits a bit high, so probably drop from 85mm shocks down to 70/75mm. Maybe some with a bit more visual appeal, even if they won't be as practical. 
• New centre shaft from some other model, or see if I can figure out another approach. I've used fuel tube in the past on front dogbones, so I may do that just to stop the rattle. 
• Aluminium wishbones, maybe shock towers, add a bash-plate to the front. 
• New shell, new wheels, aiming for a bit of a weird look I have planned in my head. 
• Bigger fan on the ESC for giggles

 

Hope this proves useful or interesting to someone considering one of these kits. Really enjoyed putting it together even with it's little tricks, and I think it represents pretty great value for money. Just need things to dry out a bit before I send it.

Edited February 19, 2020 by richhrly

[Ollykamakazi]

You’re going to want ally suspension arms front and rear as the oem versions are made of cheese. Other than that they are good buggies.
Hit about 45-50 mph with a 3. S.


Bash, Break, Build, Repeat...

[soopahfly]

Mine was missing the screws from the ackerman plate too, but I've got spares from tamiya models so not too fussed. 

Are the screws nipped up tight for the ackerman? Is it supposed to have any movement in it? 

@richhrly