thanks, looks like around 1-2mm on each side of the rear?

yep

thr front tires shouldnt rub at all but the rears might barly rib

Just finished building a mo5 chassis,car seems to have loads of front toe out with the 2mm spacing between the toe links.Is this how you guys run them? Or do i need to be putting it to 0* or -1* toe in?

TIA

It seems to be the way most of the guys down at my local track run their minis... Plenty of toe out.

Well, it took almost a week but it's DONE! Tamiya have outdone themselves with this shell (again). There's an extra polycarbonate moulding with the rear diffuser, light buckets and some other bits to use if you're into detailing to the Nth degree. Difficult to cut accurately too.

The emblem on the top alone took me three days to paint (rattle cans and masking tape job). All the stickers are for decoration, but if peeled off, the car has been painted in the correct colours underneath (window frames, chrome, white strip at the bottom, lights are clear so I can use the light kit later if I want, etc). The colour looks flat because of the artificial lighting and the crappy camera flash. It is in fact a really nice metallic green created with Tamiya fluoro green backed with bright silver and interlayered with Lame Flake. Spot the mistake on the Abarth emblem and you get the prize.

Car has all the upgrades I consider useful, and drives perfectly straight out. It cost a pretty penny though with TRF shocks, balldiff, all aluminium steering, stainless steel hingepins, ballbearings, front and rear aluminium uprights and turnbuckle camber links.

One suggestion to people hwo complain about front toe-out. Drop the ride height a bit and it will take some of the toe out. It will improve the handling too. Mine sits at about 5mm and I like it. With the kit shocks (revolting items, those) it is considerably higher. I didn't use any o-rings int eh TRF shocks to achieve this, but have a minimum of preload on the springs, used short shock shaft ends screwed in all the way. I use a stick pack Lipo with dimpled bottom and a strip of lead taped to it.

I like a challenge, so I had a closer look at the pics...

On the roof logo, under the 'Abarth' text, you have the 3 colours of the Italian national flag as red/white/green left-to-right, but it should be green/white/red (as on the rear license plate decal).

I wouldn't worry though, as no-one will notice unless they're looking for it, and it doesn't detract from a good looking bodyshell.

I'm not a big fan of the standard Tamiya Fiat 500 bodyshell, but the Abarth version looks better. Although I'm lazy, so I wouldn't even try replicate the Abarth logo myself, I'd just buy a pre-printed vinyl one like this (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fiat-Abarth-st...item2554243f05).

You bastard. Congrats. You get the prize for the biggest anorak without a life. Your certificate will arrive in the mail in four to six weeks.

Yep, that's it. It is because I flipped the mask in the computer before cutting and then looked at the flipped image to paint it. Was high on paint fumes too.

I didn't really like the wya the colour turned out. I have used the technique int he past and I turned out better colours, but it is starting to grow on me.

There are numerous other imperfections, difficult to spot in such low quality pictures, but I am not that big a paint nerd nor do I hold delusions of grandeur. Come to think of it, it sure is a lot of time spend painting a shell. Dang.

The car goes like stink though, and that's the most important point for me.

I only saw the 'mistake' because I compared it to an Abarth logo I found online, I wouldn't have had a clue otherwise. I'm pretty good at spot-the-difference puzzles though!

And if you use the bodyshell for racing, you won't notice or care about any 'imperfections' after a couple of races. Or maybe that's just my bodyshells, they do tend get beat up a bit...

Keep persevering. My shells used to get beaten up quite badly in the past too, but as I got older they tend to keep in shape better these days. Some say it's skill, hehehehe!

One of the first lessons I learned when started racing many years ago was: "Old age and treachery overcome youth and exuberance every time".

Not every time

Thanks for the advice about the toe in guys,i ran the car for tonight for the first time but it wasn't to great but its got plenty of potential.What kind of oil/spring set ups are you lot running? Were running on low-medium traction carpet with lipo/tamiya black can motors.

Wow. You're gonna have some issues there. Drop the ride height as much as you can. Use a low profile servo and add lead under it mercilessly. Add lead under the battery if it has dimpled bottom. Use a very soft oil (I use 10wt) with three hole pistons (TRF mini shocks). The idea is to let it roll gently into the corners rather than breakaway suddenly and traction roll. A little bit of camber is what I would use too if the problem still appears. Use liftoff oversteer to hook it around corners in the tight infield (if it is the case at your track). Start with M-grips on the front and S-grips on the rear. Have another pair of M-grips handy for the rear in case you need them.


We should have a thread with pearls of old (or middle aged) folks' wisdom. I think there's plenty of us but don't expect me to be a hardcore contributor. Wisdom is not my forte.

Latest 210mm SWB Mini shell from Spice.

A mid 90's Toyota Starlet.

Niznai,

Were not allowed to use slicks at our club will the M grip radials be ok? I take it there better than the kit tyres? And are M's softer than S's?