rc-zombies

iTrader: (9)

The fronts looks to be the same...but the rears are completely different location.... they are farther apart and closer to the wheels.

rc-zombies

iTrader: (9)

Just saw on RainbowTen-Japan.

Release date in Japan: Dec. '03
Cost: 54,800yen = approx. $465.00 usd.

scroll to the bottom...
http://www.rainbowten.co.jp/english/...newrelease.htm

utieh

iTrader: (3)

must be the manufacturer retail price (they say price/release are pending)
will also be the price we will pay in France

ROBORAT

iTrader: (7)

rc-zombies: agree that thicker is not "always" better. i guess my real concern is stiffness. yes, stiffer is not always better as well but for my application and at the tracks i run in, i do find stiffer to be better coz i need the responsivness and quick transitioning a stiff chassis gives. again, the reason i asked about the thinkness of the plates used is because of this concern. BUT, if they were able to control chassis flex despite using just 2mm plates, then that would be great. that would make it stiff and light! .... but i'd hate to get the car when it's realeased only to have them release an optional 3mm chassis and upper deck to stiffen things up. i believe thats one of the improvments they made to the EVO3-SE, they used thicker plates compared to the original EVO3.

Kamen Rider

rc-zombies

I mean the hole positions at the gear box, sorry for the misunderstanding. And you can change the height by adding different collar length. Just like Cuda and EVO 3 Surikarn Edition.

That's why many SD user used Rear Shock Tower for front. It has a straighter shock position and also the camber link positions. The positions at the rear shock tower is just in between the positions in the front shock tower.

Look at Pro 4 Prototype before Hara use it in IFMAR. It was mainly tested by Umino at first which he won B1, that is the first time that we heard a shaft car from HPI is in development. Umino tried to drive TC3 and dyed everything in Purple. Then at IFMAR in South Africa, the Pro 4 prototype with purple aluminium gear boxes came out and many parts have very high resembles of TC3. After that, Hara tried out different motor positions and different configuration as well. Look at the final touches of the Pro 4, it added some Tamiya's EVO 3 and Barracuda elements in it. This is my opinion. To be frank, there are not too many ways to build a shaft car. The most important is whether the driver can bring out the best out of it. EVO 3 strips front one way gear very easily. Some people blamed the gear box design and others blame the gears. SD also have something similar but not as severe as EVO 3.

Herminator

Speaking of how the Pro 4 prototypes have changes, could someone post a series of pictures in order of how the car changed. Would be interesting to see each stage it went through.

Kamen Rider

2002 Cleveland Indoor

This is the earliest one that I can find at this moment.

elnitro

iTrader: (1)

Hopefully, it should be cheaper than that when it gets here. Just like the SD, Surikarn, and the Cuda.

Joel Lagace

iTrader: (4)

Here are a few from Cleveland that i took.
http://www.igs.net/~rbeaudet/NCMA/rc...d/img_0055.htm

http://www.igs.net/~rbeaudet/NCMA/rc...d/img_0056.htm

http://www.igs.net/~rbeaudet/NCMA/rc...d/img_0057.htm

ROBORAT

iTrader: (7)

kamen/rc-zombies: i dont have an evo3 but just this weekend we had some out of towners running the surikarn ed. they said the only thing they needed to change were the gearboxes. after inspection, they were indeed sporting thes aluminum gear boxes (only the inner halves - the ones the upper deck mounts onto). they say this helps eliminate or at least minimize the gear stripping they were experienceing with the stock plastic gearbox covers. maybe the alum ones help the diffs run truer promoting better gear mesh .... i dont really know, i am not in a position to say what actually causes the gear stipping, but thats what they solved their problem. with regards to the pro4, i hope they dont have a similar problem (maybe the stiffer composite graphite gearboxes will help). it seems that quite a number of racers have been experiencing this with the Evo3 and even the Yok SD. maybe this an inherent problem with one ways on shaft cars? or maybe it just needs extra effort to properly shim and seat the gears on this type of transmission/drivetrain? i cant say ... the only shaft car ive had was the tc3 but i never ran a one way in it.... i would have wanted to though coz i like to run one ways on my cars. i do hope that HPI have come up with a fix to the problem in their pro4.

Joel Lagace

iTrader: (4)

The problem with EVO gears going is the way the centerline is built.

TC3/SD/PRO4:
-2 bearings front gear box
-1 bearing befor spur
-2 more bearings in rear gear box
-center shaft is "floating" within outdrives
Basically this design ensures the Drive gear at either end in captured securely within the gear boxes and that the shaft is floating.

EVO 3:
-1 bearing front gear box
-1 bearing before spur
-1 more bearing in rear gear box
-center shaft goes full length of car from drive gear to drive gear and is "keyed" into each gear.
This design provides an almost zero back lash or hesitation in the acceleration but the lack of bearing support allows movement of the drive gears during a hard hit or with mod motors(maybe). Basically the gear can move damaging the ring gear.


So if your car hits dead on to a wall with the tc3/sd/pro4 design there is some give in the center line due to the floating shaft. But with the evo3 that shaft has no where to go so there is the chance of flexing that will cuase drive gears mesh to move.

Cant prove this but all i know is that my SD is has gone through no ring gears nor has my 2 year old tc3. The 2 guys runing evo3s blow through one a race.

ROBORAT

iTrader: (7)

Joel: great analysis. i think the additional bearings in the gearboxes will indeed make a big difference and help keep the gears from skipping especailly on hard impacts. by the way, do you use one ways on your SD and TC3?

cHckbOY5

wat about the cuda design hehe

Kamen Rider

EVO 3 dirvetain is just simply too direct before it doesn't have any yield. The Square Aluminium Gear Box simply raise the roll center of the car. I know a person that simply put two Red Gear Box and still stripping his gear. I don't know whether Tech's Center shaft for Evo 3 fixed the problem or not. I just sold the car to one of my friend because I prefer SD over EVO 3.

I like the idea that I can stock a few things instead of buying couple set of front and rear A Arms and many thing. I like that One type of A-Arms for front and rear.

I think Pro 4 is probably as durable as TC3 and it will not have the gear stripping as bad as EVO 3 because of the Gear Box Design. But this will create a little more time consuming in Spur Gear Changing. I think the Pro 4 is very competitve but the pricing is a little high. But this car will not cost as much as Tech Racing's MY-02R though.

Some people feel cuda has a little more torque than TC3 and I think that is the reason why Pro 4 uses the same ratio as Cuda.

Joel Lagace

iTrader: (4)

I use the oneway in the SD. Dont own one for the TC3, but if you need durabilty proof:
-many at my club run the tc3 with oneways a few of wich are very hack drivers(no gear damage to report)
-also keep in mind that the NTC3 use identical drive line components add a slipper to the ring gear. I know many run oneways in that car as well.

So i think its safe to say that any 5 bearing floating shaft car will have protected gears.