Caster SK10 Pro. Any other Casterites out there?
 

Just got me a secondhand Caster SK10 Pro. Looks pretty good, I have to say! Has anybody else out there got one and managed to get it sorted and working properly.

There is no Caster specific section, so I've popped this in here...

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Hope pictures have worked OK. Shell is not my doing, but I actually quite like it!

Jimmy

Don't know much about the Caster Jim but I understand it has more than a resemblance to the old HPI Hotbodies Cyclone D4 (has a section), some parts may be interchangable. The D4 could/can be made to go well, good luck with it. Hope this is helpful

I have up graded from the rtr SK10, to nearly full spec pro. I have had some good results with it and enjoy the challenge of competing with the more popular brands out there. It certainly can compete, and on a good day, be right up there. Alot of people keep saying that I shoud get rid of it, but I love driving the car and each time I don't do as well as I would of hoped, for one rerason or another, it just makes me more determined to try different things. I love tinkering with it and improving things. I will be running it for another year in our regionals and throughout the winter months, at quite a few series. I truely believe the car has so much potential yet to be unleased. Pete at Answer-Rc is the main importer, and offers excellent customer service and advice.

Good to see another fellow SK10 drver.:thumbsup:

feel free to PM me if you have any questions

Hi Collegeboy. You wouldn't believe the number of people who have tried to discourage me from getting this. Like yourself, this is just fuel to my fire! To me, this thing looks just fine. This is the full V2 conversion with enough bits to build another car!

I'll PM you with my contact info so we can compare notes...

Jimmy

Hi Jimmy,

Got your PM and I will send you pictures of the mods I have done, when I next see my stepson, as i have not got a clue on how to attach pictures:lol:. He's good at all that stuff, so I might be able to send some setup sheets that I divised.

Have fun

Paul

Havent got one myself but always fancied one. I kind of collect 1/10 4WD cars and would love one. Shame they dont come up too often on the bay.

hi ive run the castor sk10pro for two years.the car has got better an better each run.geared diffs are a must.i couldn't get on with caster shocks changed them then went from d finals to b finals.pete at answer has been a good help so many thanks to him.if i can give any help to anyone i will.

Hi.

I'm getting more and more into this thing now and just love how unpopular (exclusive) it is! What I'm a bit puzzled about is the argument about chassis stiffness. How can a cars chassis be too stiff? One complaint about the Caster with the alloy top deck and chassis is just that. Surely a stiff, stable platform is a must? Yet, great efforts go into making it more flexible?

Anyway, mine will be built alloy/alloy to start with and then I'll soften it and see.

Still assembling after disassembling and cleaning and I continue to be impressed by the build quality. Should be ready to go in a few days....

Jimmy

have a look here m8.

the forum is a caster forum only... they have tips tricks etc...

casterracingusa.com/

i belong to it because i have the k8t

Hi, yeah, thanks.

I've been on there a few times and will ask them the same thing.

However, I also think there are a good scattering of people over here who can impart their knowledge, and I'd really like to generate a healthy core of Caster drivers over here who can help promote the car and develop it to be more of a contender at the top end of the sport.

It's basically a good car that has had more than it's fair share of teething troubles. Caster in the USA seem to be very keen to keep improving it, so the Caster SK10 available now is a whole heap better than the one available 2 years ago. They've also been careful to make sure that a two year old car can be upgraded to the latest spec quite easily.

If there are a decent number of Caster owners I might ask Oople to give Caster a slot in the specialized section.:thumbsup:

Jimmy H

A chassis that is too stiff if much harder to drive - the B4 (carbon? graffite?) chassis is often replaced with a non factory team one (which is plastic, and flexes more) as it grips the track and takes the bumps much better.

Hi Jimmy,

Sorry I haven't got back to you, been very busy at work. I am so glad there are other Caster drivers out there:D and I love the idea of a section on oople. As someone said earlier, gear diffs are a must. I have tried various combinations of oil wt in both front and rear with varying results. I have found that a good starting point for indoor (carpet) is 7000 in the front and 3 or 4000 in the rear. Outside on astro I have run 10000 in both front and rear with good results, but a good starting point is 12500 in the front and 5000 in the rear. The other week at the Surrey and Hants GP I ran 5000 in both (on Astro), it was ok but I felt that I couldn't carry good speed through and out of the corners. As for the chassis stiffness at present I'm running alloy chassis and kit (plastic top decks). It did not feel like it normally does. I will be changing back to the plastic chassis and alloy top decks, this combo feels the best for my style of driving. I will email you some of my setup sheets and a blank one when I get a chance.


Have fun mate, I'll pm you my email.

Can we know get the same spec of kit as you can in the US where the kit comes with the gear diffs, metal gears, CVD's and a lot of the other upgrades?

Hi Badger

Contact Pete or Carl at Answer-rc, they will be able to help.

Yes you can! It's called the Caster SK10 Pro V2 and it's available at a variety of shops.

http://www.bmmracing.co.uk/caster-ra...te-p-3358.html

Or from Pete at Answer RC 0161 762 1105.

All for £214! A fair bit cheaper than many of it's rivals. However, we are still not entirely sure that the all alloy construction is the way to go. I'm going to be building mine all alloy and then, using a variety of tricks, I'm going to soften it to make it easy to drive. Flexi joints and the like... The next few weeks will be interesting....

Jimmy H

Thanks Col,

Concurrent with what you've just posted, Chris Peterson who drives for Caster in the USA explains it all very nicely in this thread on the www.casterracingusa.com forum:

http://casterracingusa.com/forum/sho...ed=1#post80091

Post No45.

Jimmy H

So the Caster has been totally stripped down and rebuilt.

I have modified the chassis slightly by putting cuts into the chassis as shown in the picture.
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Also shown are the two Flexi-Joints which attach the rear part of the upper deck. This seems to have loosened the chassis up a bit. I could use more flexi's on the upper deck, but I'll wait until I test it first!

Here are some other photos of the leccie bits..
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It all looks pretty good. My only concern is the the Alturn servo doesn't seem to be centering very well. I'll worry about it once I've driven it a bit more.

Jimmy

I'd be concerned about the chassis snapping! Is this a mod suggested on the states forum?

The alloy chassis is really solid, so I reckon it should be OK. This mod is a pioneering modification by MYSELF! If it snaps I'll pop it all back onto the plastic chassis. It won't though.....I hope! I may drill a larger diameter hole at the end of the cut to spread the stress point out a bit. You've got me worried now!

Just driven it up and down the road for a few minutes and it runs sweet and quick. Needs the anti-roll bars back in....

Jimmy

looking good im a bit concerned about the cuts also you want to fit a shock tower brace they snap the gear box lugs for a past time use the one that came with it or buy the proper one cheers

Hi! Yeah, I'll put the one on that you made until I can get the fancy alloy one.

Pretty sure the chassis won't be compromised at all. Any shock that could stress that part will be absorbed by the top deck.

Can you remember what shock and diff oil were in it when you sold it? This'll help me get the right range of oils for my pitbox!

Keep in touch!

Jimmy

i used 2000wt rear 6000 front in diffs and 35wt front and 30 rear shocks i ran on fairly smooth grass/ astro with a couple of low jumps hope this helps

Thanks!

Jimmy

That's exactly what I thought when I saw this. In my opinion it looks like it'll be way too stiff. I'd go with the pastic chassis all day long.

It won't break, but I think you could be right about it being too stiff. We'll see. I'm ready to drop everything back into the plastic chassis at a moments notice!

Jimmy

Been contacted by the chap who runs the Caster factory in Taiwan. He's seen the photos of the mods and is very interested to see how it works out! The wonders of the internet!

This is all fine and dandy, but until my ****** charger arrives from China I'm stuck looking at it! Aaaarghhh...

Jimmy.

I would say that before deciding on what chassis/ top deck combo, you need to look at what surfaces/grip level you will be racing on.
If its going to be low grip then more torsional flex will help generate grip.
A stiffer chassis in a high grip situation will make the car a bit easier to drive.
Without trying the car you will never know.
Putting the cuts in the chassis before racing it was probably the wrong thing to do as you cant undo it.
Personally I would of gone alloy chassis/plastic top decks.

Here's the thinking, Kenny.

It is pretty commonly accepted that the alloy/alloy combo is way too stiff in standard form, even for high grip surfaces. However, with the alloy top deck fully tightened up without the flex-joints it is pretty much totally solid - virtually zero flex, even with the chassis cuts.

I'm hoping that with the chassis cuts, and a variety of levels of flex-joints, I can vary the flex for different situations. What I'm trying to do just now is to get some way to measure the flex. (Torsional flexiometer required!). I have a sneaking suspicion that even with a fully flexied upper deck, the chassis is still going to be too stiff! At this point I'd say the chassis is probably similar to the standard alloy chassis and the plastic uppers. But possibly not as soft as the plastic chassis and alloy uppers. :cry:

Anyway, I want to have the car at a stage where at least I can try and adjust it at a meeting just by adding or removing some flex-joints. Could be interesting....

You going to Ayr?

Jimmy

Yeah will be at Ayr.

Come and race at Falkirk this weekend to try it.

Still don't have a charger! Urgghh. Might arrive tomorrow though! Also don't have any shock or diff oil. I'll be ordering that stuff tomorrow.... Quite fancy it though. We'll see.

Jimmy

I will have a spare power supply & charger with me you can use.
I also have shock oil.
Im sure the guys that run Durango's can help you out if you need diff oils.
Get yourself through.

That's me told! I'll see if I can wangle it.....

Jimmy

Not going to make it. No charger, no shock oil, no body with an undertray etc etc. Don't want to run it until I'm sorted. See you at Ayr!

Jimmy

hi plastic chassis alloy top deck works well any where an surface

It's finally done!

New body (Hotbodies D44) fits absolutely perfectly - including undertray. Paintjob is a bit retro, but I like a simple design. Bold and crisp at a distance!

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I have further modified the chassis. Those of you who know this car will notice that I have removed some bits of the top deck too. This should increase the flex a little more, but has the more useful benefit of allowing the slipper to be adjusted more quickly. Won't effect top deck strength.
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Racing this weekend for the first time in 20 years! Cross your fingers for me!

Jimmy

Hi a team of us used the caster for the York ebor24hr race apart from the car eating itself because our stock motor failed in the first half hour and we then ran a 6.5 for the rest of it. The was good handeld well and got plenty of traction, the only things which were not so cracking were the shockers don't compare to the oppositions and bit at the front hinge pins rub in to the chassis or and the slippers garbage! Probably sounds like I don't rate it ,but I really enjoyed driving it and with a couple of changes it could be a top car.
Ben

Were the shocks the 14mm wide bodied ones? Mine seem fine, but I haven't driven it in anger yet. I have noted the front hinge pin thing and am keeping an eye on it. I think it was designed to do this, but it looks a bit dodgy! The slipper isn't great, but seems serviceable.

Jimmy

with the chassis cuts,haven't you thought that alloy doesn't bend like plastic? plastic bends and flexes back into its position whereas if you have a bad landing or crash it could permanantly bend the chassis ?

thanks

dont think they were a large bore, we ended up using kyosho big bore springs on them (only cause i had some). we also milled out the chassis but only to let air to the motor, with 4 slots with a 45degree chamferd edge about 5mm gaps the width of the motor. the diffs were good, no bearings failed only went through 2 slippers and spur gears, 3 drive shafts in 24hrs non stop and a box full of tyres!:drool:

Yeah, the alloy will never bend like the plastic one, but the original chassis with the alloy chassis/top deck is absolutely solid! With the chassis cuts, flex joints and upper deck reduction it now moves about as much as an all carbon fibre setup. ie still not much! Better than before though... I don't think the chassis is permanently bendable! I tried!

Jimmy