Davidl, how well does the v-force work compared to the oldskool and the dynamic?

the steering block, c-hub and arm are all connected, they all pivot together, and without an upper arm to keep the tire perpendicular to the ground, there is alot of camber gain. All of the plastic peices on the new style front end are all new, and the only thing that is standard AE parts are the springs (although you might be able to use the speedmerchant rear springs? david?) and maybe the hinge pins.

I can't answer the question. Right now there are differences. The team is still working on combinations, so it is too early to tell. The progressive spring used in the rear of the car will not fit this new front suspension, as the prototype is made. Modifications can be made, but the production version would be wise to be able to accomodate those springs. The prototype is also about .5 oz heavy compared to the others. I expect there will be more modifications in prototype form before there is a production unit.

Let's just say this. The guys in the A-Mains at the Nationals used either the dynamic strut or the "Old Skool" suspension. You aren't hurting yourselves by using either of them at this point.

would you say that the "old skool" front suspension is better than the dynamic strut as this was used by the a-main guys?

thnx... :cool:

I won the Masters National Championship with the "Old Skool" suspension. But I have run extremely well with the dynamic strut as well. Here is the difference. The dynamic strut has features I like for technical, twisty tracks. The "Old Skool" ran extremely well on tracks that had sweeping corners and no 180 degree corners. But there are other guys that do very well with the "Old Skool" suspension on technical, twisty tracks and visa versa. There is no magic here. You have to try both and work with them to find the best thing for you. And above all, as I have been saying for 3 years now, practice, practice, and when your done, practice some more. All the guys at the top have tremendous work ethic and that is how you join them. Pick your configurations based on how well you can tune and maintain them. For practice to mean something, the car has to be reliable so you can try a lot of things. Make it so you don't waste track time for repair time. Get everything done at home before you go to the track. That way all your time at the track will be spent running the car and trying all the options. That will be the same for the V-Force when it is ready for distribution.

Hey guys, couple of questions:

I just got a Switchblade, its the 6-cell, purple graphite (yeah baby) version. Can anyone explain the front end to me? Ie what the 2 links do? And the different mounting points?

Thanks

I'm considering getting a Quantum Sport or a Quantum Super sport instead of the Gt7 I was going to get for my 1/12 car. Does anyone think I would be at a very big disadvantage racing against someone with a Quantum Comp. or a Gt7 or one of the other high end speedos? What are the main differences that I would have between the Quantum Sport and a Quantum Comp? The main thing I want to make sure is that having an esc with a higher internal resistance will not make a large difference in top end, would I be able to notice a difference? I won't be racing mod with my 1/12 scale, mostly it's just to get better at racing with my sedan and have some fun with it, it's not like I'm doing any international competitions or anything. So any opinions would be greatly appreciated. My Carpet Knife is supposed to come tomorrow, yay :D :D :D !

racer, go for the GT7 or quantum comp. The on resistance is much less and that translates into more power for your motor and longer run times...important in 8 min 12th. Save yourself the trouble of having to upgrade later to be competitive as your skills grow by getting the tope o da line stuff now. And yes you should be able to notice a difference between a quantum comp and a quantum sport. You may not be going to any big races with it soon, but you'll still want to be able to compete locally, and having a good speedo will help.

Thanks for the help. I think I'll go with the GT7, a lot of the guys at my track say I wont be able to tell a difference between the two. But I was able to tell a difference between my old Duratrax Streak and a Cyclone TC, it was like night and day, the power and the acceleration was soooooo much better. Than if I decide to put the esc in something like a touring car it would work much better than a Quantum sport. I was just mainly looking for someone to back me up on my idea :cool: .

Make sure you get an updated GT7 (there is a diode covered in heatshrink on the wires). GT7's have been known to suddenly fail even after a battery pack for no apperent reason, and i have seen this will novak factory driver's esc's as well.

I have been very happy with all of my other novak esc's (i have had cyclones last for years), and for 12th scale i always run quantom competitions, since they are very small and i have been very pleased with their performance.

When did Novak start shipping the updated version? How will I know if I bought the updated version without opening the box?

Corner speed question:

I have a question about my driving style, can anyone help me out? I start almost every corner wide. Initially, Ill lift (not brake), to reach a speed close to what the corner can be taken at. I never go completely off throttle, though. I turn the wheel, adding steering to scrub speed as necessary. Coming out of he corner, I use as little steering as possible, and get back on the throttle hard.

Is there a better way, such as not using the tires to scrub?

Thanks

I finally got my 1/12 in the mail today, the Carpet Knife with old style front end. Anyway, its been going together great but I've hit a block at the damper tubes. First of all one of the damper tubes after the delrin part gets pushed into the aluminum tube too far it creates a lot of friction, any idea on how to make it smoother? Mabey putting in some oil of some sort, which brings me to my second problem. The manual calls for Losi Hydra fluid or something like that, is that just shock oil? Or is it more like Associated green slime? Would it work to use Associated shock oil or green slime? (for those of you who don't know what Associated green slime is, it's some grease type stuff to lubricate your shocks). Otherwise I haven't had any problems. What is Losi Hydra fluid anyway? I've never heard of it. Thanks for any help, I want to get this problem figured out as soon as possible so I can continue to build on my kit.

But I have to say that the instructions arn't what you call good, and I was warned that most 1/12 cars don't come with very good instructions. But I've had some wierd problems with the bagging, eg: say on step 5 your supposed to use bag 3 and bag R, after you've completed step 3 you end up putting some parts back in bag 3, and than you have to get the parts from bag 3 back out for step 9. It's not really a problem, just something that's a little annoying.

Racerdxr, Look for burrs on the inserts

Clean the tubes out with a Q tip. Keep a couple in your tool kit

I use 100 Wt shock oil It works great. Use the thickest shock oil you have to get it together. then you can try 90, 100 or heavier shock oil. Or you can use 1,000 Wt diff oil which is really 100 wt shock oil.

David Root

Oh, I know, one more question:

On my new Swqitchblade, the damper tubes have a small pin-sized hole in the side of the tube, near the bottom. Is that supposed to be there? And the tube is wierd, it has a little spring in it, is that supposed to be there? I didnt have oil, so I used diff fluid in it, is that ok?

Thanks