Frederik

I tried a different set of springs, longer and softer, the losi xxx springs that came with the shocks, maybe a tad high but it might settle down when I am done adding stuff on the chassis: And a video of the travel, seems good! It's got quite some droop too! http://youtu.be/06qPIEUwObA

Some short vids! Because sometimes it's cool to see things moving Don't mind the squeaking noises, I need to put spring seats up top of the struts so the springs does not sit directly on the inner fender lol http://youtu.be/wQv2DZSHsYk http://youtu.be/hyhNZDxUVUo http://youtu.be/4A8Ty_ttfVA

Yesterday I made the hole in the floor for the other front wheel so both wheels can turn full lock now and I also made two little mounting brackets for the steering on the struts, so for the first time I now have a full standing chassis with the two front wheels linked together! I also slapped on random springs (too stiff) in the front, it was a good feeling having it standing by itself like that, and be able to roll it around the place!

I must say I did think about the extra power a brushless setup could provide. But I want to try a regular setup first, especially since this is the type of build you want to drive cautiously. In a way, lower power on a quite heavy car will probably have more realistic handling characteristics, i.e. you have to build up some speed and use the throttle and steering properly to drift it around on dirt, not like a typical rc car would be. But I agree a torquey brushless setup would be pretty sweet.. maybe a bit later! Speaking of weight, it should not be so much of a brick, it is currently around 4 lbs with all components so I dont really see it weighing more than 5 lbs in the end, so to reuse the comparison I made earlier, my Tamiya TB-01 rally car is 1.8 kg (4 lbs) and it haums itself fine with a stock motor and 4WD. Hopefully the Escort with similar power (sport tuned instead of stock can) with only 2 wheels to spin, and bit more weight to haul, should have a pretty cool loose surface handling! (Read: a handful to drive! Lol) I'm still open to other power sources, in fact I have not jumped the brushless barrier yet so it is still unknown to me, I did acquire (but never tried) my first lipo set for this car though, 2S saddle pack (one each side of the tranny tunnel). Thanks for your interest buddy, discussing all these options really help bring new ideas to my mind, maybe creating new needs too lol but that's all good hahaha Fred

Thanks a lot buddy! Yes a two pieces driveshaft would avoid all interference, Inwas trying to stay away from the added complexity and weight though.. That's one of the nicer options for sure. But I think the 1:1 has a one piece driveshaft too so not sure how it'll end up! Thanks for the idea, always good to have them coming!

Thanks Tamiyacowboy, I was disappointed at first but at least it works and the tunnel is not 100% in the way, just a small area that really interfered. I will likely do a small boxy cover to go there, or an extinguisher support. The interior will likely stay stripped to metal though, at least that's how I've seen most pics the only thing is to look proper it would also have to have a roll cage! Lol But seriously I will likely need some bracing to avoid flexing the chassis on bumps, the torsional rigidity is not all that good currently (I knew from the start the flat chassis rails would not help).

Did some work tonight but hit a pretty big setback... I lenghtened the driveshaft, that part turned out ok. Problem is the driveshaft sits a bit too high in the tunnel and hits it at the back near the diff when compressing suspension... That is mostly because how high up the output is on the tranny. I lowered the tranny as much as I could, but still had to make a hole to clear, not sure how I'll solve that down the line but for now it's just a hole... Here is a shot with shell, now that the tunnel is all there, with driveshaft and motor secured: I'm not very happy that I've not noticed this would happen, but that's ok and part of the fun I guess lol... So that's it for now, tonight was mostly head scratching and cursing

Thanks a lot Tamiyacowboy! I did not think of carpet but that's a neat idea! And having round head screws will help hide them under the mat. Now I'll need a nice skid plate to protect the suspension and tranny because right now if a rock hit the underside it could do some serious damage! thinking of using the thinnest steel sheet, or even thin aluminum so it deforms nicely over rocks

Today I completed the cleaning today and it is better now. I started on the motor/tranny mount. I first cut a round shape in the front cross member to have the motor sit at the right height. I will make something that clamps the motor there eventually, but to get started I might just put a tie wrap You can kind of see it here: And the mount at the tranny, with these two mounting points (tranny and motor) it should be pretty tight: I will have to drill two holes in the tunnel sides to mount it though. Could have done something that mounts from the bottom of the floor but I would then have to drill the floor...

Hahah thank you Tamiyacowboy for the nice comments! It does look somewhat like a beaten car underside which was hammered back to shape and welded for repairs lol I was thinking of using JB Weld to fill in the holes and things like that, but I am afraid it will make solder repairs impossible so maybe I'll just leave it like this. Or use a more removable kind of patching method. Now I need to make me one of these rollover jig lol :

Small update! Spent a few hours on the tunnel. Here is a pic of how crappy it is before any type of cleaning... At least it seems like the solder sipped in nicely for most of the joints: And a few pics after some cleaning, not done yet as there are still quite a few big blobs of solder that formed on the inside, I'll use a small spherical cutting head on the dremel to complete the cleaning: Not very nice but it'll work!

I de-soldered the tranny tunnel and adjusted it a bit to make it fit from under instead of inside. And I started with the driveshaft tunnel too, I will somder it all at once to make it easier. For now I am installing just s few bolts to hold it flush with the floor and help to solder, then I'll buff the bolts off. Would have taken mor pics but the phone was full... Here is what I am at now:

Thanks for taking the time for the nice comment, the shells (both the MK1 and the MK2 which both fit my chassis) are from retroracing, but it looks like they are not producing these very reliably, as in sometimes you can get to talk to them and order, and sometimes they vanish and do not sell any more shells. Edit: just found out they happen to be available again now, but I have to warn you my experience with them was very frustrating. It arrived damaged and after pics of damage they promised to send me a replacement for the damaged half, but that never happened and I am SOL with a bent (roughly bent back to shape after I thought I'd get a new one). Anyways, the shells are pretty nice in how they are shaped and are pretty accurate. The only things I don't like about the retroracing MK2 is how the roof kind of bends inwards, and the door windows are molded too small (the glass should go lower, molded window trim should be thinner), and some of the shapes are a tad too rounded. The window size I can probably work around it by not painting the window trim and leave it clear, it might work in making it look more correct. I got the MK1 shell from a friend at scale4x4rc and it is also from retroracing. I was very happy when I found out it fits the chassis. From your member name, it sounds as if you are a Subaru fan too? I have my little bugeye sedan wrx since 2004 and still going strong, enjoying it all four seasons (winter is fun in the snow with the stock suspension and summer is fun after I swap to the lower stiffer suspension and fat tires). I have the 10th scale Tamiya 2001 WRC prototype done mini-me style (just plain world rally blue without the decals) and also have an old ongoing project of a large scale impreza (5th scale) with pocket bike motor, but that one has been on a back burner for a long while.

Oh no, this is very sad news, this is unreal, I did watch him many many times on video and he always impressed me. Very sad day.. I am at a loss of words, but nevertheless thanks for letting me know...

Thanks a lot! A 5th scale Escort would be cool, especially if you make it RWD! Thanks buddy for your comment! Hahaha that seems like a recipe for problems lol ! I bet you could hear the tranny whine pretty well! Thanks for your nice comments, I also thought I could hide the less good solders with JB weld, my only fear is then the solders are probably not repairable, whereas with solder alone I can always de-solder, straighten and re-solder if needed. But in areas where de-soldering is not likely to ever happen I might apply some JB weld to even out the rough seams. On another forum I also got an idea from another member; after mentioning how I thought of de-soldering the tunnel and try to have it better the second time, he suggested I put the tunnel from under instead, squeezing it in the hole and soldering the tabs under the pan, instead of inside. Would make for very nice inside seams, and be easier to solder (less tricky access to the upper firewall area). I might just give that a try. You bet the solders were ugly at first big drips of solder, black stuff everywhere, flux dripping around. Was not nice. Needed some grinding and cleaning to look like in the pics! And it is not that nice already hahaha Thanks again all for following and commenting, always very appreciated to have your feedbacks. Fred

I have just received a new set of mini wheels intended for Tamiya M chassis cars, and while my current favourite wheels were the 4 spoke with staggered offsets, the mini size (tire size) really seems to be the proper diameter for these Escorts... I also like the white 5 spoke look, I have seen quite a few Escorts with this type of wheels, more of a modern look though. They leave less room for the brakes up front though... The calipers won't fit with mini wheels. If I can find a way to custom make some tires for the 4 spoke wheels and end up with smaller diameter, same as the mini tires, I think I'll have the perfect setup. I am thinking of hacking the semi tires, get rid of half the sidewall, and wrap them around the 4 spokes. I would overlap the plastic sidewall integrated into the wheel. Ideas and ideas... Edit: I added a pic of the 4 spoke to compare the tire diameter :

That was certainly one long due update haha! Thanks for the comment buddy!

Thanks Bicko! I like the effect of the half body on!

Update! I cut the tranny tunnel hole roughly because I tought I'd solder it from under. Was a mistake, I should have soldered from the top all the time. I thought I'd use strong magnets to hold the piece in place while soldering... Did not work very well, after a few seconds of heating the magnets lost their magnetic properties and the piece moved around. So I removed the magnets on one end, keeping only the other ones on the end not being soldered. As usual the first side I made is crap and the second is better. The top of the tunnel was reajusted for better fit but was still not right enough for the solder to sip in so the top is pretty much not soldered.. Fugly side: Better side: Motor sitting by itself on crossmember (not fixed yet): All in all I learned a few things and it does not look very nice but it seems pretty solid. Would have liked to have it soldered nocely all around but I guess I'll do better next time with the rest of the tunnel...!

Thanks! Having compliments from you guys with 1:1 Escorts is really nice! Very happy you like it and I appreciate your comments, can't wait to put some more time on it!

Thanks a lot! By near side door view, are you referring to the large hole in the floor? Lol I read these were quite prone to rust! Thanks for the comments buddy and sorry for the delay!

Hahaha ! Yes some of the parts can get into origami territory lol! Thanks for the comment and for following buddy!

Brand sparkling new transmission tunnel! lol Just like Preston did on his Escort build (prestonlal on rcuniverse or trini2dbone on scale4x4rc), I trimmed the tranny so it fits nicely in the transmission tunnel: This is how I drawn the tunnel in 2D first, this is the height I am aiming at for the motor and tranny, I want the bottom of the tranny to be about floor height. And I want the motor to sits on the wheels: I will have to lengthen the driveshaft by approximately 1 inch, I will do that with a solid extension on tranny output shaft. Some pics on the car: And some comparison to a reference pic: The driveshaft tunnel should be same size as the small end of the tunnel,and I might be able to get away not doing a diff tunnel in the rear, because the height of the small end (and eventual driveshaft tunnel) should be just enough to clear the diff at current full compression.

This furnace is really fascinating, lots of potential safety hazard Though! Lol but definitely worth digging some more and find out how it is done (the welder project he did previously which this is based on apparently). Thanks for the link! Update now! I did a little bit of work tonight, but first some teasing Anyone guesses what this is? Obviously it is not finished in that pic, but you won't wait long to know, just the time to write the post and link the pics

Thanks a lot for all the material sourcing ideas! Funny I discussed that with a client at work this week, he says he often see voltage transformers which are made of copper ribbon istead of wire. They are like 4" wide and thickness can vary based on transfo power. I have lots of various pieces of scrap metal, computer case, plastic trays, aluminum pieces from an old laptop, all different thickness but not any brass or copper. I'll try to find some to put in the materials bin!