Tag: car

Open RC F1 Improvements

Front Axles

As seen in my last post there were a few issues with my open RC build that needed resolving. The first was the front wheel axle snapping. I have since printed a whole collection of front axles with 100 % infill (solid). This makes them much stronger than when they were only 20%. As I printed a whole bunch I have spares at the ready if I need them.

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Steering

The next thing to look at was the steering. Here I was having issues with the servo not centering the wheels with no input. This indicated there were binding issues but it seems the servo may have also been at fault. While playing with the trim settings on the transmitter the servo went crazy and melted itself. There was a lot of smoke coming out so I quickly ripped out the Lipo battery and took the car outside. The house stunk of burnt electronics.

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The offending item was removed and remarkably caused no warping to the PLA chassis.

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I fitted a new servo and adjusted how the servo linkage worked to make the wire straighter.

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I also used  a multitool to sand down the inside of the car body so that the servo rod no longer snagged on it. Lastly I added a washer between the servo saver and lower chassis.

These things combined have fixed the steering issues I was having. The steering now centers itself and responds a lot better than before.

Tyres

I have been having a lot of fun printing TPU tyres at different settings and have made some progress with regards to producing tyres with more grip.

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That said the TPU tyres always lacked the grip of a rubber tyre so I caved in and brought some Tamiya tyres. I will go back to TPU when making a heavy vehicle as part of the problem is that the f1 car is so light the tyres are not creating much friction with the ground.

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The Tamiya tyres. I had no idea that these came in different compounds so I ended up with super soft rear tyres and standard front ones.

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New rims had to be printed for the Tamiya tyres and the wheel ends up a bit bigger than the printed tyre version. You can see that the rear tyre almost touches the bargeboard. This is good as it increases ground clearance a little which should lead to less damage when driving over uneven terrain.

I have only tested the Tamiya tyres indoors at the moment on wooden floor but I can already tell they perform miles better than the TPU tyres. I did make a second video however of my second generation TPU tyres at the weekend. These were a step up from my previous attempt which were much too hard. These are printed at 10%. I still have not had much success with printing them at 5% at all.

Next time with the rubber tyres the lack of grip should be a thing of the past!

Open RC F1 Car Part 1

I recently built a new 3D printer having wanted a bigger build bed and to go back to open printing. I went for the Ender 3 Pro which has turned out to be a great machine for the price.

I have always wanted to print and build an Open RC car but did not have a big enough print bed to print the parts. Now I do however so I thought it would make a good test for my new printer. All of this model apart from the Tyres will be printed in PLA. The Tyres will be printed in TPU so that they are flexible.

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The first thing I did was to try printing the chassis. I printed this with a bit more infill than the rest of the parts to make it stronger. The chassis parts and the rear axle holders were printed at 35% infill. Continue reading Open RC F1 Car Part 1

Tamiya P34 Six-Wheeler

Before going on to another tank I have decided to have a go at something a bit different.

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I am a fan of Formula One and strange vehicles so I thought it was time to give the six wheeled Formula One car a go. I have been working on this one for a little while but Continue reading Tamiya P34 Six-Wheeler

Chevy Impala Police Car Complete

I finally finished a model for the first time in a while. There is still some tidying up I could do but considering my back log of half built kits its done for now.

I decided to build a police car after playing Need for Speed Rivals and its not something I would usually build. In fact this is probably the first road car I have ever finished.

I am pleased with the results and hopefully this will inspire me to tackle some of the more challenging kits on the pile.

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I purchased two police officers from eBay to fit into the kit. These required cutting down and even then I only just managed to squeeze them in.

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They add a lot to the model and Continue reading Chevy Impala Police Car Complete

Chevy Impala Police Car Part 2

IMAG0710This has been an interesting model to paint, requiring lots of careful hand painting around the window frames and other areas. I still have a bit of tidying to do but its getting there.

One thing I found useful with this kit is a lot of it snaps into place meaning you can test fit parts easier before making them permanently attached. I am not sure if this it common Continue reading Chevy Impala Police Car Part 2

Red Bull 7 Preparing the Bodyshell

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I did not intend to do any actual work on the display body as it requires removing the engine head to fit. My plan was to just wait for the display body.

SAM_5854The long awaited racing body arrived last week and was found in my local green Continue reading Red Bull 7 Preparing the Bodyshell

Revell 1:25 scale Chevy Impala Police Car Part 1

This is something a little different I have been working on over the holiday.

I got the desire to build a police car from playing Needs for Speed rivals on my PC.

I managed to find a kit in the distinctive black and white livery used on American police cars in the game.

The Revell 1:25 scale Chevy Impala Police Car

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I nearly chickened out Continue reading Revell 1:25 scale Chevy Impala Police Car Part 1

RB7 Progress: Air Filter

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As I mentioned in my previous post. The air filter is something special on this model. It is in fact hidden within the drivers helmet.

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I soaked the filter sponge in filter oil before screwing it into the helmet structure. Decals were then applied to the helmet to give it the detail shown in the photos.

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Who would of though Mark Webbers head would become an air filter?