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Circa 1985
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MORE PICS
BELOW
The
Story:
The
Alienator first showed up at R/C club at my high school about 1.25 years ago. A
friend of mine needed a car for the club and dug it up. He said his brother had
raced it in the yard for a while. After replacing a battery wire he brought it
in. It sucked for speed but could do decent burnouts. One day while doing
maintenance on it (at this time I was the club’s repairman) I decided to tweak
some of the potentiometers inside the car to maybe increase its 10-foot range.
The screwdriver went right through one of them, and from then on range was only
about 1 foot from the tip of the transmitter’s antenna. At this point my
friend, who was really cool about it, just left it and the car sat around his
place for a month. At one point I noticed it had a 540 can on it and decided it
had potential, so I asked him if he’d sell it. I turned down his offer to give
it to me for free and gave him $20 for it. It sat around for 6 months while I
learned more about R/C cars and earned some money. 6 months ago I went
shopping, came home and started to cut and retrofit. It's done now, and looks
totally stock, down to the original 27Mhz transmitter and original switch wired
to the new ESC.
UPDATE
1/2/05
By now I
have several of these cars, they came in different colors and names, but most
used the same chassis. Some also have white or black wheels instead of these
silver ones. I gave this Alienator to my friend with the equipment here
included, and now I am planning to modify my Aero Thunderbolt (same chassis) to
compete with him. The ATB has better tires and the gearbox doesn’t click; it’s
near new. I fitted a set of gold chrome 2.2 wheels made for a Tamiya Blackfoot
to the rear and Pro-Line Dirt Hawgs, but I may replace those tires soon.
Equipment:
-Dynamite
Tazer 19T ESC with reverse and brake
-Futaba
S3004 steering servo w/ BB
-Futaba
FP-R122JE 27Mhz receiver
-Traxxas
Stinger 20-Turn 540
-Original
Nikko transmitter, excellent range and striking good looks
Cool
Stuff:
-The gearbox makes a clicking sound that sounds like a small glow engine at top speed, adding character. –ONLY ON ALIENATOR
-Handling is good, but keeps you on your toes when you try to corner at high speed.
-Could probably fit a 7-cell.
-Loves to spin around, do donuts, and 180 degree bootlegs.
-Can put new 2.2 wheels on, using included 5-point hubs
Not
So Cool Stuff:
-I can’t
get the gearbox off the car; it’s a typically buggy-style swinging one. The shaft
may be pressed on the ends or something.
Future
plans:
1. Find another Alienator for parts, then continue list below. -DONE
2.
Replacement wheels and tires if possible. -DONE
3. Buy and
install good ESC and low turn motor of some sort or maybe a brushless system.
4. Make a
better servo saver.
5. Fix
that one side guard. –IMPOSSIBLE, WEAK POINT
6. Replace
missing rear shock. -DONE
7. Race,
and perhaps cause opening of “Beginner Modified” class. –HAHA, RIGHT
Design
notes:
Most components just dropped or bolted in; however the steering was a new issue entirely. The included servo was in an odd L shape and had 6 wires for what seemed to be a manual position sensor. Really low tech. I scrapped the servo but saved the linkage and saver. The new Futaba, with brackets cut off it, went into the old slot snugly by unscrewing a small plate and filing down a ridge. The original clamp fit fine. The saver’s mount to the servo was round with a flat spot, so no way could I adapt it easily. I ditched the servo saver and stuck the plastic bit that the steering arms fit into onto the servo head. It fit well but was loose, so I use epoxy in the depression on it to mesh the surfaces of the plastic bit with the servo head’s teeth. If there’s a real sharp hit, the epoxy breaks and the teeth on the servo head spin freely. At that point I just pop out the old epoxy in one piece, re-center the steering, and put a new epoxy plug on it. Works OK for now, but I want to put on a metal-geared high torque servo for a solid setup, or somehow include a servo saver.
END OF
PICTURES, EMAIL ME IF YOU WANT MORE.
rhenbelz@hotmail.com
Last edited 1/2/06