I have had this sidecar in my loft for a while now and decided to have a play with it, not really been into them but got some time on my hands at the mo. This started off as a Hunter sidecar but I have used some Mardave parts and made some parts myself, The chassis is alloy as the fibreglass one flexed so bad, I also made the front and chair wheels and made a sleeve for the rear wheel so I could fit a bigger tire, I moved the rear motor mount over 8 mm to get the front wheel and rear wheel in line so its more scale and not like the 3 wheeler Mardave. I have been trying to run it at work on a very shiney slick floor with very limited success as you can guess, on a 2 cell lipo and a 19 turn motor even with power down to 80% it is just impossible to drive, tried lots of tires, camber, toe in, weight position but no luck. Now I fly helicopters so go lots of gyros hanging around and I thought could I use one in the outfit ? well I did and what a resullt !! ok its still handfull but I can drive it at speed now and catch it when it tries to spin out, I have the gyro gain set quite high so get a little bit of wobble down the straight but I think with a faster servo it will be a lot better. I have taken it outside on tarmac and I can turn the gyro down and it rips but kills my foam tires but the gyro has transformed this model, I run the rear suspension pod very lose as well and a lot of toe in on the chair wheel, I like the Hunter body better than the mardave and just go to think of a paint scheme.

Nice sidecar, Steve
I have a Hunter body too:

I have tried a sidecar with a GY401 Futaba gyro and it was easier to drive
Have fun

lalain, you are man after my own heart, thought I was a first with the gyro thing 401 best out there !!

Well I had to do it,GY401 and S9254 servo, see how it goes tomorrow

Hey there Steve... Nice lookin rig... Any idea where I can find one of those bodies..? They look cool as... Was thinkin of useing an old tamiya f103 for an organ donor, and make a my own chassis...

Lukey B
Here you go
http://shop.huntersystems.co.uk/gp-m...n-tm-134-p.asp

I ran it this morning with that 401 gyro and that S9254 servo Its just fantastic !!

Thanks for that... Never would have found it..!

Reasonable price... And I got a birthday comin soon too...

Thanks again...

http://shop.huntersystems.co.uk/gp-s...ells-259-p.asp


bargain price for just the shell, build your own simple outfit to go under it

yeah its a good looking shell, like you say you can run what you like under it, the only problem is when you move the chair wheel forward 15mm like the Mardave it dont fit in the arch as well, will move it back and see how it goes. Ran it today for an hour and a half, it runs 44 mins with one 3300mah lipo on 120% throttle, looking maybe to go brushless with it as I am getting it flat out now even on a slippery floor, just a low Kv to see how it goes. I have added a little weight just behind the front wheel, helps it turn in and seems to stop it spinning out so easy on left handers, cant wait to get it outside on this new set up, I know its a simple thing but with the gyro and servo its just fun all the way

Sorry for the silly question Steve... Are you running a 'holding' gyro..?
If so how are you using it..?

Sorry... But I just can't get my head around it..?

Lukey B,Yes I am running the gyro in Heading lock it works fantastic, I am running 120% gain, it runs as straight as an arrow with no hands till you put an imput in, you just set it up so as the outfit tries to swing to the left the gyro in an instant turns the wheel in the opposite direction just the same as in a helicopter. I look at it as though the gyro is the driver of the outfit and can detect any movement and correct it in a milli second like you would if you were driving it in a straight line yourself, I just cant believe how well it works and may well have a go at some other models with a gyro, try it its really simple to set up. I have made another BIG step today and moved the chair wheel back 15mm to stock kit position, this has given me much more grip in the dreaded left handers plus more steering and it looks better in the arch. I must be going better as battery only lasted 30 mins and I could feel I was on the throttle all the time, in fact I am going to fit a 17 double in it tonight This model has come such a long way since I started it where I could not even pull away without spinning or turn left, to a model that I can thrash even on a slippery dusty floor, outside with grip should be magic. If you do down this route I can give you dimensions wheel positions batttery, gyro, esc and rx fitting position and cambers and part numbers, I did also fit a little triangle plate in the front Mardave suspension a frame so I could adjust the camber (see pic)
Cheers
Steve
I nearly forgot, I also put two washers under the front mounting screw hole A frame to give it some caster

Been doing a lot more testing on the sidecar this week, I have made new wheels so I can run slightly bigger wheels and a use a Tamiya reinforced F201 rear tire. Now this Tamiya tire is a real rubber tire and is wider then the foam I was using, the grip is fantastic even on my dusty floor where I run, I have added a little bit more weight just in front of the rear tire this gives me even better traction. I have also made wider foams for the chair and front, the wider front tire has given me a nice balance on the steering and I can really push hard on the throttle now, gyro gain can be turned down to 90% throttle set to 85% this thing is so much fun

The differance with a gyro unreal, you drive pretty much like a touring car, about 12 seconds alap differance around cotswolds

Very nice stuff there Steve... It sounds like the gyro really does its job we'll...
And looks like you're gettin the rest sorted very well too...

Once I finish some of my other projects I'd love to build a sidecar...
Thanks for sharing... And when I get one set I'll be chasing you down to help with gyro...

Well took this out over the Christmas holidays, It runs great, so fast and with the extra grip I can really give it some stick and turn the gyro down, can almost drive it like a car even though it was a bit damp out. Just started to lay some paint on, nothing special just going through some of my left over decals