The problem is that it is still relatively expensive way of doing things, but what makes it really a no-no is the fact that I struggle to source any components that require machining, like the axles – they were made by a friend of mine on a one off basis as there were no machine shops willing to do small batch of axles to a reasonable cost (as can be imagined).

Otherwise an SLS chassis and rims with solid rubber tyres (donuts) and shell would cost 90 GBP made on a one off basis which obviously is not cheap.

Finally it is here, the finished car - I am absolutely thrilled with the result and the pictures below hardly do it justice, it is simply magnificent when seen in person (even if I say so myself).

We also went for a run in the nearby village hall – we spent one hour there and paid 10 pounds for the privilege – I have to say one of my best spent money. We took all of our indoor “toys” and just played with them, BUT you will be disappointed to hear that the test of my new chassis failed – the floor was extremely slippery and the gearing of my car to high or low (dependent on your perspective) – I had way too much torque at the rear tyres for the available grip - even 25 per cent throttle on a straight line would spin the car, so the promised video will have to wait until this coming Saturday (weather permitting), when we plan to go to our outdoor playing ground with a lower gearing (more speed), so hopefully we should have some fun there.

Just to give you an idea how low the grip was – my standard Losi Micro Rally chassis would spin at anything beyond half throttle. So why did I say it was fun – simply because it was, we had absolutely great time and even my wife liked it and we are planning to do it again at some point.

Just one more thing – I thought I need to give my chassis a name, so I went for one that might sound a bit boring to most of you, but I like it – the Speedster

Just found this the other day, is this your body or a knockoff??

http://blackstarhobbies.com/index.ph...roducts_id=518

Yes, it is my shell, I made few and they were sold out

And finally here is a video of my Saturday’s outdoor run – the car is driven by my six years old daughter and I am the one filming it while also trying to help her with some advice on the driving so the filming is not the best in the world. Having said that, I am absolutely thrilled with the experience – the chassis is more than what I expected and it was great fun on the tarmac. I decided to fit one of the shells I painted previously (using paint not intended for lexan) as I was worried that the odd stone here and there would through the car upside down and ruin the look of my Martini shell, but luckily this didn’t happen. The pinion we used was still the slow one, so there is even more speed to come as there is plenty of power in the motor.

The video is at:

My 1/20 scale pancar chassis and shell (2 min 53 sec)

While working on the rc car, I did three static models using my shell (all as birthday presents) - the first one used a carbon fibre flat stock plate for the chassis, while the second and the third cars used cardboard chassis I made out of several layers of cardboard (from cereal boxes) glued together with superglue and then covered in carbon fibre vinyl.

All they use my 3D printed wheel rims, some in natural colour and some painted.

Enjoy!

And more pictures...

I've got a few questions....
1) Could you share the approximate cost of just the chassis?
2) Did it end up stiff enough?
3)Why did you mount the steering servo with the arm going down instead of up?
This is a cool project! I came across it trying to find if anybody has done this kind of thing with printing a chassis. I was thinking of designing a micro rock crawler using a servo modded for continuous rotation as the drive motor. Any thoughts or suggestions?

I forgot to say, that Tamiya connector looks GIGANTIC!

im making a 1/36 scale pan car, it has homemade foam tires and getting a carbon and lexan bodies for it, its not finished being made yet but here are some pics..

here is mine, its done now!!!!

Apologies for the late reply numanair, I stopped actively following this forum some time ago due to personal problems and still don’t come very often, but luckily I can now sit and answer your questions.
The chassis cost me around 80-85 GBP (can’t remember the exact number) together with delivery and it is reasonably stiff – my model doesn’t have rear suspension so some flexibility was desirable. I am very pleased with the result. If more stiffness is desirable, then some more depth designed into the chassis will deliver this. I mounted the servo the way it is, as this was the best compromise from packaging point of view, while achieving the steering ratio I wanted to achieve.
I am sure a chassis build in a similar manner for rock crawling will do the job well if designed correctly. Unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to comment on the servo suggestion using it as a motor as I haven’t tried anything like this before.
Thanks for the kind words.


trentbmx95, great to see you are doing your own project – this is something hugely rewarding. Good luck!