Academy V2 Pro
 

The new Academy SB V2 Pro has been released - I have seen the V2 in carbon guise already long ago, but this is the first time the V2 has been released in as a PRO and it contains some upgrades / changes from what the earlier Academy V2 team cars.

Possibly winging its way to a review near you some time ? who knows :)


http://rcforum.co.kr/rcbbs/data/rcne...d3_LOW_RES.jpg

Still got plastic towers, naff shocks and wobby carbon then.... they just haven't learnt then.

I thought the 12 cell slots was daft, no need! but this one seems to have a centre alloy brace to the upper deck, which I would of thought should help things.

non threaded shocks? i dont beleive it. The best idea is the ability to run the motor on either side, and the cells can go just about anywhere

So can dust and dirt:D:D:D

Ive been racing the SB V2 car with the FRP chassis for a few months now and ive been really impressed! It performed really well out of the box and apart from having a few proplems with the diffs (all sorted now after a rebuild with some better grease!!) its been fantastic!

Its very stable in the air and handles the rough stuff very well and it even runs well indoors!

Im new to racing buggies and dont know a huge amount about them but its put a huge smile on my face! especially as it beat a X5 and a tamiya 501x indoors on sunday :D

The actual dynamics of the car was sound, it was just the implementation and material usage let the original car down, and the carbon used on the first car was pointless, I do sincerely hope they got it right this time, but they are still way off the mark for a 'Pro' car.

Team Academy presents: the SBV2, if you remove the undertray you can have your own sandpit right ontop of your pit table!

This was due to the Academy had funny tyres that stuck to carpet and expanded to twice there size when you reved it up :eh?:
Oh and yes the Tam was running full spikes all he had and the X-5 was running 10 year old gone hard mini pins :(

Oh and i may be wrong but i am sure it was the X5 driver who noticed and fixed the diff on the Academy LOL.....

But enough with the Excuses well done Jimbo ill get you next time ......

DCM: Have you seen the new car in person yet? The new carbon material is of a higher quality then years past, the plastic is made out of a new material. If I recall, doesnt the xx4, Laser ZX5, and a few others come with Plastic towers? There arent too many companies that offer all time 4wd and a one way in the same package either. :cool:

Dave Graboski
RC CAR PRODUCT MANAGER
Model Rectifier Corporation

Dude, over here in the UK, we tried very VERY hard to push the Academy kit, and get Academy to push things forward, and it all took to long, great concept, wrong company.

I have seen the SB2 in person and it was mostly similar materials, an improvement, but not a package that is fully raceable.

Not Fully raceable? Wow....

Time will tell. :)

DCM: Been a long time since we spoke, all well over there in the UK?

I got the SB V2 Pro new in the box here, and there is ALOT of improvements here that I think you should take another look at the vehicle. The graphite chassis alone not attached to anything felt significantly stiffer than my fully assembled SB V2 Sport did. Really beefy.

The suspension parts in the new hard material are just that, HARD. No flexing around anymore.

Also, with the included extras for the price over heard (about the same the ZX-5), you get a lot of vehicle for the money.

I hope oople does a review soon of the new vehicle. Academy really stepped it up with the V2 Pro.

As for threaded shocks, yes that would have been nice, but, never won a race because my shocks were threaded :)

My first question would be... have they changed their metals, like in the outdrives, the drive pins on the driveshafts, the drivecups on the shaft.....

Gearbox internals were fine from what I remember, it was all parts ofaround it that wore at a stupid rate, the stuff that had to be done to remove the wear was daft.

If those are sorted, wishbones, steering arms, caster blocks, steering knuckles are properly stiff, then it might be a workeable base, but I would want to see a V2Pro in my hands and check it out before I would part cash for one.

as steve said..we worked our butts off to get the original sb raceable and quick,even i made a C final at nationals with it so we must have got something right...but oh the wear on the outdrives,having to replace every 2 meetings was not good.

we sent suggestions over to academy(korea) and spoke on the phone in length about the problems but all we got was empty promises,nothing got changed and we had to have parts manufactured ourselves.

too much damage may have already been done by academy to ever get back up with the big boys over here but time will tell...

dave

I remember tapping out drive pins out of the ends of the CVD's and replacing them with stainless steel pins and bonding them in place to just try to reduce the wear, it was daft.

I even made topdecks (single peice) to run the 4wd nitro truck steering arms, as they were nice and stiff. It wasn't so much tweaking the car for the UK market, a few of us ended up realising that the car needed redesigning from the chassis up.

I wouldn't refuse a free kit though, to test and make me change my mind.... lol

i machined a front kick up plate and cad drew the new one piece topdeck...then the front steering arms.

dave

The v2 never came with metal outdrives, nor was there ever an issue with the universal pins. All of these issues were with the original SB. The v2 and v2 pro have single piece topdecks. The V2 and the V2 Pro solved all of these issues. I really think you guys will be very impressed with the V2 Pro. Looking forward to you seeing it.

DCM: You know that I remember those days well. But the V2 Pro has really fixed those issues. Give me a list of what you would like to see about the buggy, and I will take pics, answer questions, etc as the build goes on.

Not sure what is done with Academy in the UK now, but it would be worth a look if someone gets the SB V2 Pro local.

Care to send me one?? as Helger Racing (UK distributor) has no plans at marketing the Academy range as a Race Car or have a team.

Got to finally begin my build!

The diffs went together great. Went with AE greases instead of the kit stuff, noticed the kit stuff however looks to be different than what I have gotten before. Different labeling.

The SB V2 Pro parts are a whole lot stiffer than the previous iterations, heck, I don't think my AE graphite parts were this stiff or beefy! Really impressive. The graphite is also light years stiffer than anything before too!

So far only issue is that I get a slight "ping" sound when rotating the drivetrain. I am not sure what it is, I am thinking it will probably go away once I drive it to set the gears. It sounds like its coming from the slipper spring area.

We have been racing tenth scale off road for several years and running mostly Losi & Associated Buggies and Trucks. With over 400 1/10 scale races at the finest track on the Eastern US Coast we understand what it takes to win...all I can say is don't pre-judge the new SBV2 PRO. Our season is just starting in a few weeks, but already the SBV2 PRO has the attention of many of the drivers.

Everyone has there opinion, but at least drive it before you comment. IT IS A WINNER in the making! :)

Cross over the Pond and come to Family Hobbies Raceway in NJ, the BEST Off Road track on the East Coast and in existance for over 20 years. Everyone from Kinwald to Gil Losi himself has raced here. Come and see how it's done if you can survive the boards! No Candyland plastic pipe here. Hard wood, hard dirt and big air. Come on over and play...we have alot of Fun along with some fine racing. :)

For those of you who are interested in the V2 Pro and support parts it looks as if there may be a UK distributor signing on with ACADEMY. Stay tuned for more details.

That would be good news indeed, it's been a while since this brand has been pushed over here and I think it's a shame as the 4WD looks good for the money.

Do we old team drivers get our sponsorship deals back then :D
I still got my SB's!

Form an orderly line Ian.... behind me, roflol, still got pics of the SB shell and tray I did for you!!

The SB shell is still in my cupboard brand new :D :rolleyes:

both of you can get to the back of the queue :)

dave

I was really tempted to buy this kit or the pro version, as Jimmy says the price is very tempting the only thing that stopped me in the end was the fact that there were only one or two shops that sold spares!

Unless a distributor is willing to push the car, it makes running one very difficult, without Helger pushing the car, what was the point. If someone is seriously looking at pushing the car in the UK, there are quite a few of us who may well be tempted back.

ACADEMY RC is speaking with a MAJOR player in the UK, stay tuned for more details!!!! Its nice to see the eagerness of your guys to jump on board with ACADEMY vehicles!!!

Talk to you soon!

I think for most of us, the firsdt thing we would look at is the diff outdrives and the material, then basicaly all the alloy drive bits, as they were the first fault of the SB, then the plastic and it's rigidity.

i didnt mind the plastic as such,it was the outdrives and the flex in the steering bellcrank/servo saver that was the worst point.

dropping a carbon topdeck and extra post in to stiffen it up along with the alloy bellcranks made the world of difference as you know steve..something i pointed out to academy immediatley but fell upon deaf ears.

dave

I know Dave, we all did, the outdrives were a mix of poor alloy and the pins on the dogbones being too short too, culmination of errors. If they are fixed and the price competitive, I might be tempted. Not convinced on the Swiss Cheese chassis though, especialy on high grip.

I am trying to get confirmation as per who will be distributing the ACADEMY line in the UK. I will post as soon as I hear. :)

I saw one of these in the skin for the first time last night it was stans very impressed with it the diffs where relaly smooth we couldnt believe stan built them and the slipper looks good. The only fault i could see was the steering as it foulled on the gear box cover so stan had cut the first hold off so it had more lock. Other than that very impressed. And there is defently an interesting way of holding the wheels on.!!!

A

If thats like the old way which I think Stan said it was, its funny not interesting Ash!

I would love to loosen one off for the comedy effect. The wheel comes off and so does half of the front end of the car lol

A:o:o:o

sbv2
 

Man you guys are very hard on a car that works very well .I think Academy has really steped it up with there newer vehicles everything is stout solid ,durable, you guys talk about wear they are race cars for goodness saks your not going fast enough if your car is not wearing not only that it is 4wd people ,they are fast, they they fly farther then any other electric cars they are going to wear and if you say that none of the others wear your full of it.

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