Caster build

Well - been making some progress with the Caster. Yesterday afternoon, I got the diffs built and made a start on the front gearbox and suspension. It's the first time I've ever built diffs from scratch, so there was a bit of tension and trial and error. In the end it's fairly straightforward, but now I've gotten a little further in the build and seeing how hard diff access seems to be, I wish I'd run them in on a drill for a bit and then changed the oil before going further :/ You live and learn.



Anyway, here's the current status - looking good, huh? :

Weekend

Well, I didn't get started on the Caster. Mostly because of a gazillion things to do around the farm. Not to worry - I'll get it done next weekend for sure, because I'm on vacation \o/

I also have received planning permission to move the farmring to somewhere far more interesting. It's drier, and it's a square bit of land, so should allow me to do a much more interesting track. I'm quite pleased about this, especially because it's closer to the house, making it a bit easier transporting stuff to and from it...

Photos of the Caster kit from kit to buggy next weekend.

New toys...

Well, in the end, I plumped for a Fusion Pro kit from the states, with a Mamba Monster and motor combo....

It's arrived. Almost. Stupid, stupid Chronopost - because I have to pay duty on it (yeah - got stung for that, must take note of the USPS service that sends via Chronopost and not regular mail and remember not to use it) - have left it in their nearest office. It's 100km away. Yes 100 - not 20, or 50 or something you could do in less than an hour. Oh no. And they want money from me to retrieve it. Chronopost sucks.

Spring has sprung!

Cracking weekend (again!) this weekend, so fiddled with the firestorm a bit and spent a while bashing it round the farmyard. The 'ring needs a bit of work, but that should be done in the next couple of weeks.

I'm now (thanks, Chris!) toying with 1/8th scale brushless offroad. Chris wanted me to buy a Caster, but I've taken my time and read up a bit and now have something of a shortlist.

In no particular order :

1. The Caster Fusion in RTR form. Decent value for money, but will need me to fork out for 2 x 2S lipo. Still possibly the cheapest option, but where's the fun in that :)
2. The Caster Fusion "Pro" Kit with a seperate ESC + motor. Adding, say, a Mamba Monster would have the advantage that I could save on news batteries (at least for the time being) because the Mamba Monster can handle 2 x 3s Lipo.
3. The Ishima Rave. Now I don't know why but this strikes me as being a really good looking product, and going by the cost of the RTR nitro version (300 quid or so) should not be crazy expensive.
4. The Losi 8ight-E 2.0. The dog's cojones.
5. Hobao Hyper 9 electric. Not out yet (but then is the Ishima??)

Winter break and winter breakage...

Well, I couldn't resist. It was cold, it was dry - I took the firestorm out for a raz.

Proline Edge on the front and Goosebumps on the rear - it gripped like crazy...

I broke it :/ :



After 20 mins looking for the driveshaft; I got it back on the workbench (new!!!) :



that's the new work area in the cellar. It's great :)

Winter break

I took the new tyres out for a spin today. They're a gazillion times (at least) better than the stock ones. The Goose bumps clog up a bit more than the Step-pin ProLines, but they stay way grippy, and the Edge ones on the front are loads more incisive.

Overall, they're great, offer loads more grip - I'm well pleased with them. The HPI dish wheels look the part too.

The track is now getting really wet - the part of the field it's on is quite damp and never really dries out over the winter, so today may have been the last run there for a while. I can now get on with seeking out a club...

Tyres, wheels etc

I received this morning a big box of tyres, wheels and stuff. Have now some new tyres to try out - specifically :

• JConcepts Goose Bumps (Rear)
• Proline Step Pin (Rear)
• Proline Edge M3 (Front)
• Proline Blade M3 (Front)

The blade will probably not be much use until spring now - but I'm looking forward to trying out the rest.