Custom F1

[dale]

I wasn't really happy with any of the existing F1s, so decided to build my own.

Carbon bits are all home-made (using a CAD package, pillar drill and dremel).

Tri-shock rear-end is something I always liked on the later RC10L type cars and works really well. Mega traction out of the corners and very tunable (even a 2lb change in springs makes a big difference to the cornering).

Weight distribution is optimised for outdoor circuits, and is perfect left-to-right at both ends, without any lead needed. Generally I run 4-cell in the rear slots, but can move the cells forwards if needed.

[Conrad]

Very nice work

[Alfonzo]

Looks great!

[duarte7]

Hi, i`m very interested in making a very similar rc car (school project ). But i`m going to do with only one dumper (no need three), for lipo and for brushless system.

Can you tell wich parts you used all ready made, such as engine mount, rear axle, front arms, wings, body, the dumper, stering system, etc...

And off course some advice on building or some needed tweak.

[Bradley@BMM]

Did you take pictures during your build?

[colmo]

Nice job - it looks like it has a fairly short wheelbase?

F1 is a good class for a custom build - suspension parts are cheap and easy to get (F103 front end, is it?) and third-party items will fit a lot of different cars.

I really must get my F109 built!

[dale]

The car has the F1 lap record around my local tarmac circuit... sadly the F1 class outdoors has pretty much died so the car isn't currently being raced. This car is awesome, but most others have struggled with F1s on tarmac and have moved to other classes.

The wheelbase is quite short; slightly shorter than an F103 so a lot shorter than an F109.

The pictures above were taken before the car had actually run, so there were a few changes after track testing (different wings, motor mount and alloy caster adjuster).

The front-end is off the F109 which I like as it has a nice range of adjustment. The alloy caster adjuster is essential as otherwise the top arms twist around the mount.

The final motor pod I used was the 3racing blue one for the F103/F103GT. The diff is the Tamiya F104 which is excellent, and the left hub is the 3racing clamp one for the F104 which is also excellent. The axle is made from 6mm steel bar as this is pretty much the stiffest material available (stiffer than carbon, Ti and ally) which stops the spur gears stripping due to axle flex. You always hear F1s with noisy spurs; this is the reason why!

The wings I settled on were the TRG ones; the rear one is massive and the front one is nice and small which gives a good aero balance (these things tend to have oversteer at high speed).

Servo mounts are off the F103GT, damper is a Tamiya TRF one which works very well and doesnt leak, even though its upside down.

Carbon parts were designed using Draft IT (free download). Then just print it out, stick it to the carbon, cut it using a dremel, centre punch the holes using an optical centre punch, and drill with a pillar drill.

Hope that help!

[colmo]

As your plans are in a digital file, have you any plans to release them? (For free or fee, your call!)

I've enough projects to do me, but I'm sure some folks would want to try it!

G10 would be a cheaper and easier material to work on than carbon, any thoughts on the relative merits of those materials?

[dale]

Originally Posted by colmo

As your plans are in a digital file, have you any plans to release them? (For free or fee, your call!)

I've enough projects to do me, but I'm sure some folks would want to try it!

G10 would be a cheaper and easier material to work on than carbon, any thoughts on the relative merits of those materials?

Not sure what G10 is, but if it's basically fibreglass it won't be stiff enough without a topdeck, and I didn't want a topdeck due to limited space and also the tweak that a topdeck usually causes.

I might stick the CAD up here; it may require some mods to fit saddle lipos, but probably not too much work... certainly a lot quicker than creating it from scratch!

[qatmix]

It really is a great piece of work. Is it ok to stick pics of it on my blog?

We race f1's indoors on carpet at my club. ATM the f109 I have seems to have lost the rear end grip it had. Although I might try some new soft rears.

[samd]

Nice work! Did you just use cut off disks on your dremel to
Cut the carbon out?

[AJ Roberts]

Awesome mate, do you wanna knock me one up

[sldmodels]

Dale, got yourself down to Marston's next week with some flyers or similar for Bedworth the week after. I think there's about half a dozen f1 people going to be there next week. I'll be getting mine out too if the test session goes well this week.

[sldmodels]

I'm looking at doing something similar over the next year too with a new toy I'm planning on getting that will be able to make things in plastic, so will be able to make front and rear wings. Looking into the option ok a flexi wing like Red Bull are supposed to have, still trying to figure out how to do that. Also looking at a an F-duct system, but this will be a more electronics thing.

[dale]

Originally Posted by samd

Nice work! Did you just use cut off disks on your dremel to
Cut the carbon out?

Yes I just used standard cutting disks. I tried the Dremel tile cutting tool but it struggles with carbon and leaves a really rough edge. If you're good with the cutting disks you can do very nice gentle curves and straight lines, meaning almost no filing or sanding afterwards.

I generally sell my cars when they're no longer being used, but this one I'll be keeping due to the amount of effort it involved!

[dale]

Originally Posted by qatmix

It really is a great piece of work. Is it ok to stick pics of it on my blog?

We race f1's indoors on carpet at my club. ATM the f109 I have seems to have lost the rear end grip it had. Although I might try some new soft rears.

Yep feel free to put the pictures on your blog (as long as you don't claim you made the car ;-)).

Indoors it should be fairly easy to get a balance on the 3racing kit tyres. Outdoors you need more like 25 rear and 40 fronts.