The Racing Factory Blog

Last part of the TRF501X build then.

Since the 501 I built will be a display model for RacingFactory.fi I decided to paint it like the one in Tamiya’s promotion pictures.

That is the car of Tamiya – TRF Japan driver Satoshi Maezumi. His bodies are painted by Takashima Design, one of – if not THE- best RC body painter in the world.

I can paint nowhere as good so my version had to be a bit more simple. I’m pretty happy with the end result this time though. It’s ok.

The wing included looks very high downforce/drag. It can be cut to any size you want obviously, and has marked trim lines for various heights.

As you can see I left it very high and cut off very little.

The included underbody together with the body itself seal the chassis very well against dirt. The included welcro-straps means that basically the only places dirt and dust can enter is at front through the openings for the steering links and through the cooling airflow openings.

To finish off with a few photos of the buggy with the painted body mounted.

Final part for today. Tommorrow I will post some pictures of the painted body, underbosy and wing!

A few photos of the wheels and wheel fastening system.

Rear wheels.

Front wheels.

Front and rear.

Rear wheel fastening system.

Front wheel fastening system.

Here are some photos of the complete TRF501X.

The final main part to build are the dampers.

In TC racing the TRF dampers have long been the best. A buggy version of these is also available as an option part for some of the more entry level buggies from Tamiya.

For the TRF501X Tamiya developed totally new dampers though that will better hold up to the abuse of off-road competition. These dampers reminds much of the competition’s products in how they are designed.

The superb quality and precision is once again evident just like on their TC dampers.

The dampers are threaded and use two o-rings and no bladder. Three different two hole pistons are included with the kit. Yellow springs are included front and rear.

There will probably be tuning springs available from Tamiya in the near future and based on the TC springs softer than yellow will be red while harder should be blue and then white. The springs are actually white coloured following the current trand from TRF TC’s but are colour coded like I just mentioned.

The damper caps have moulded indents for holes for bleed screws. If you want to use these you just need to drill these out and use the included small hex head bleed screws.

Now mount the dampers to the chassis and the buggy is beginning to look complete!

Time to mount the front and rear suspension to the chassis.

For the front suspension balls on the hingepins go into the rear mounts already fastened to the chassis while at the front the suspension balls are not used. Instead a solid aluminium brace holds the hingepins again with the aim of strength.

At the rear the front suspension balls go into the already assembled front suspension mount while the rear a solid looking nicely machined aluminium block holds these.

A plastic moulded spacer is iused to adjust anti-squat.

The precision of the parts is very evident here as the spacer fits snugly into grooves machined in the alu block meaning that when assembling or de-assemling this will not fall out and cause any frustration as would often be the case.

Very impressed by this bit.

Rear mount mounted.

Rear bumper mounted.

Front bumper mounted.

Front kick-up.

Front suspension mounted to chassis. Also seen here is the nicely moulded front diff cover/roll-bar mount.

Rear suspension mounted to chassis. Also seen here is the nicely moulded rear diff cover/roll-bar mount.

After the chassis is ready the next step to be built is the suspension.

First step of this is to assemble the driveshafts. These are the same type of rebuildable CVD’s used on most TC’s these days. The 501 version comes in steel that is black coloured.

The rear units come with 64mm shafts and long axles while the front ones have much longer shafts at 78mm with a short axle.

Remember to use a bit of thread lock on the grub screws.

Next up you assemble the complete rear suspension package consisting of the arms, uprights, camber link and driveshafts.

The arms themselves look very strong (track testing will have to prove if this is the case) and the shape and geometry look similar to B4 arms.

The uprights or hubs are beautiful parts with a nice shape (to my eye anyway) and hold the 5×10mm bearings (2). Plastic spacers are used to adjust wheelbase. I used some of Tamiyas 3mm shims (included) to take out a bit of play.

The inner hingepins use the same suspension balls as the TRF TC’s and again you can adjust wheelbase with spacers.

It would have been nice to see some quality titanium turnbuckles included but I suppose the incleded ones will do their job as well. Newly developed for this car is the reinforced (HD) ball cups that seem like quality items with very little or no play.

To hold the outer hingepin in place Tamiya have incorporated these small 2,6×5mm screws. The hole at the other end of the wishbone is semi-closed, with just a small hole going all the way through. A nice idea (although taken from other cars) that’s much better on an offroad car than using clips or a grup screw on the hinge pin.

Front suspension assembled. Again the arms look strong. Three positions for the damper just like at the rear and with the same system holding the outer hingepin. other features are also the same although there is no wheelbase adjustment spacers on either hingepin. Probably good at the front though as it will take some abuse…

The only issue I encountered during the whole building process was with the front uprights and steering spindle fitment. When assembled these did not move as freely as I would’ve liked so I had to take some time to correct this. Not a lot of work was required but I’m actually not 100% sure on the cause. I filed down the uprights where the king-pins go into them and also very slightly enlargened the holes for these.

Been a busy weekend!

I’ve had no extra time so that’s why the interuption in the 501 buildng process.

The 501X is basically finished though and I have continued taking photos along the way and will now that I have time try to post them.

First I will start off with some photos of the car at the stage where my last post was made, i.e. with the chassis assembled but missing suspensions and dampers.

Here they are.

BEAUTIFUL

The next step in the build of Tamiya’s new TRF501X buggy is the front end, starting with the front differential.

The front diff is exactly the same as the rear, with the exception of the pulley. While the rear pulley is from the TA05 and 36t the front pulley is from the TRF415 and 35t. This creates an overdrive for the front axle meaning the front wheels will spin faster.

Obviously you could also fit the same pulley front and rear if you want. Once again my limited experience in offroad prevents me from having an opinion about this feature…although I understand what it does and what the effect should be in theory.

Usually TRF machines are very throughly tested and have lots of development work so this is obviously something that the TRF team found beneficial.

On this picture you can see the round diff rings.

Steering assembly ready to go onto the chassis. The steering is very smooth with a total of 6 bearings. Obviously the steering is tilted to match the front kick-up.

Next up you attach the front bulkheads to the chassis. Also attached to the chassis at this stage are the rear mounts for the front suspension. As you can see very nicely machined and fits into the small pocket or cut-out in the front of the chassis.

As with the rear end, the chassis only extends to just behind the diff. Again this should help the front end from digging into the ground.

Here is the steering system attached to the chassis.

Time to attach the front body mounts to the front upper deck. Then route the upper deck under the belt and fasten the rear screws that attaches to the middle bulkhead loosely.

The final part of the chassis then. The upper front bulkhead and damper tower is is now attached with a similar bridge/camber link mount as at the rear end. Again the height of this mount (i.e. thecamber links) can be adjusted with spacers. The standard setting is 2mm just like the rear.

Before you tighten everything down it’s a good idea to place the chassis on a flat table or setup board (also loosen the rear upper deck screws) and check that everything is straight while tightening the screws that hold down these parts.

Once assembled the whole structure is very, very solid. Although the chassis and upper decks are ‘only’ 2,5mm thick, the way that everything is designed, with the bulkheads and stiffeners, means that the chassis is really stiff. There’s virtually no flex at all.