maybe when the price drops after worlds

Why would the price drop? Lol, AE does not drop prices just because they win or lose an event. Lol, they didnt even really drop the price much on the 4.1 when the 4.2 came out. I would not expect the price to change. It would have been nice to be able to use amain or tower codes on it with free shipping, but that looks like it may not happen.

Guess it's official that Associated is moving away from Composite chassis to Alloy moving forward. They were one of the first to put out a kit with an aluminum chassis and then Andy's put out the Carbon Composite as a less expensive alternative to the way overpriced CF chassis and Associated realized the carbon composite was an excellent material to experiment with and they've been with it ever since. Now everyone is going BACK to aluminum and it looks as if they're following suit.

That's not something I was expecting from AE.

I'm hopeful Avid releases their own cars soon as I'd likely switch to run their stuff.

Where are you getting this that they are switching to aluminum?

As far as I know they are only a distributor for the Centro conversion kit, which means centro decided to go to an aluminum chassis.

Personally I like the idea as aluminum chassis aren't as brittle as composite chassis'. Any advantages above and beyond that I am un aware of, but that alone is a nice treat.

The alum chassis bend and i have yet to break an AE composite chassis. And the c4.2 is alum because alum is easy for small companies to make. Molding is very expensive and finding the right material is a pain. Aluminum is just easy. That being said after owning a few different alum chassis cars. I think the weight down low has a certain feel to it. I felt that on the 22, rb6 and dex210 it felt more stable in the bumps and when casing a jump while coming up short. My issues with the current line of chassis is the very limited amount of space for wiring and batteries. Shorties help with this a little. And the rb6 had nice channels in the side pods to allow for hidden and secure wiring. But the esc under the rear tower in the rb6 was crap, crap crap. Anyway, AE has no spy shots of the b5 or b4.3 so I dont think you can speculate as to an alum chassis or a convertible mid/rm car yet. Look at serpent. They went with a comp chassis and dedicated rm/mm cars. I personally think like the idea of different chassis like the durango and yokomo. They have a composite and alum chassis options. I think the future RC cars will probably have flex tuning options kinda like how the kyosho guys remove x number of screws to change the flex. Or hoe I loosen some screws on the 22 to gain rear traction.

Exactly what you said Wildcat. AE moved away from aluminum because of chassis warping which tended to be quite common. I also have yet to break a composite chassis and I've had some massively sensational wrecks!

Also, the Serpent looks to be of a cheaper plastic material rather than a composite.

AND to whom it may concern, I heard that some of the people involved with the design and engineering of the final product said it was not very good and required a lot more refinement and development before it can be deems a viable competitor to the big 3.

As for why I'm guessing Associated might be moving towards Aluminum chassis… as Wildcat said, Cost and the fact that they are selling the C kit means they are endorsing the product fully. I'm not saying it's a 100% certainty they will go aluminum, but it looks as if they will.

Like the rear motor B4 design , if Ae actually makes a mid design their own ?


Maybe I will reconsider, but only then ....
Not buying a half breed & another B4ride just the find out the rear motor still rules ....

The big reason for using a alloy chassis is only for its weight .

You can focus more weight at the lowest point of chassis for a lower center of gravity.

This is where all the stability you feel in a Kcar or others is coming from .


Not using alloy for strength or durablity...

I heard the c4.1 chassis bent pretty easily. Hope it's fixed.
I like serpents plans for dedicated composite chassis too.

it does. But how should they've fix it except for a brace that is already available for the C4.1?

Maybe different machining or something like thicker aluminum in one part of the chassis? Or braces I guess I don't know in sure they could design a chassis that still flexes but doesn't bend. Kyosho seemed to achieve this.

Didn't someone say Avid was working on something?

I've got a couple of B4 builds I would like to finish up, looking for some parts if anyone has any they can donated.

Rear T-plate x2
Ball studs x2 cars
arms / shock tower
bearings

if you can help PM me, I also have a T4 roller I would like to finish and donate to another person starting to help kids out with cars (RCAddiction)

I've got some T4 tires/wheels I would trade for either a B4 roller or SC10 doesn't have to be complete but must have the tranny.

The kyosho rb6 has plastic side braces that go over the whole chassis, that's why it doesn't bend. (and i think they bend the sides of the chassis too, like you do with 1/8th chassis)

They can't just make the chassis thicker in one part, because they would have to use a thicker metal sheet and the maching would be much more expensive.

it's more or less impossible to make a flat chassis without braces that doesnt bend, i really don't know why they don't get that. Maybe they just want to make more money with bend chassis. I personally wouldn't even run the car without braces and i don't think that the optional side braces actually help that much. A top deck like the Xfactory has would be easiest solution without making molded side braces (like the RB6 and 22 have)

The C4.2 has carbon fiber side brace that help. However i do know that the rear shock tower has soem issues and they are reinforcing them with some carbon fiber to help the issue.