Plastic Chassis B4 ?

[Rich D]

Hi Guys

I purchased a new B4FT kit from the States about three months ago. The manual states that its a 9561 chassis ( Carbon ) included. I was told that the new B4 kits come with a plastic chassis. I assume that its the plastic chassis that i need for Worksop. If i post a pic up will anyone be able to tell whether its a plastic or carbon chassis that i have got ?
It looks carbon to me but i would love your opinions.

Pic to follow - help !

Thx

[Rich D]

[jimmy]

It's quite hard to tell from a photo since your camera will try to expose the chassis wrongly (make it too bright) which can make it look more like carbon. You certainly don't NEED a carbon chassis to compete at all - from my personal experience the Losi XXX chassis was noticably softer in plastic guise, but both B4 chassis (carbon and plastic) are stiffer. I've never driven a carbon B4 since they came out after my car, but i swapped vickys carbon chassis to a plastic one in the vain hope it might have been easier to drive - couldn't see a difference that's for sure (wallop bang)
I'd not worry about it - if you can get a replacement chassis then that's great but running it like it is probably won't make much difference.

I think the latest kits have the Cragg car on the front? I got my B4 in about 2003, so it's been a while since I got a new one .

[Rich D]

Thanks Jimmy - my kit has the Cragg car on the front, if you feel that it wont make much difference to me then i`ll just go ahead and assemble using this one.

Thanks again mate - keep up the good work

[josh_smaxx]

I noticed a difference between the plastic and carbon versions, the carbon one seemed much sharper to me, made the car feel alot more connected and much better to drive. Personal preference i suppose.

[Rich D]

Originally Posted by josh_smaxx

I noticed a difference between the plastic and carbon versions, the carbon one seemed much sharper to me, made the car feel alot more connected and much better to drive. Personal preference i suppose.

Thanks for your input Josh, to be honest, its the plastic chassis that all the top guys use. The "flex" is supposed to help with grip. This chassis certainly has very little flex, but its the "new" kit. hence the confusion.

If anyone else can give me accurate info then id appreciate it

[Southwell]

Looks graphite to me. Not all kits come with the plastic chassis, the one with neil craggs car on the box does i believe.

[frogger]

That looks exactly like the chassis I got with mine and I'm not sure either. It looks like the same material as my graphite 18th scale chassis here and so I am leaning towards the fact that it's graphite.

[Rich D]

Here is the box.




Having looked around the net it would appear that both chassis look very similar. There are "Composite" or "Carbon" options. The Composite one looks very similar to the Carbon one so its likely that it is actually the "Composite" 9560 chassis that ive got.

[tom_chang79]

Oh wow, I think you got the updated kit. I bought an FT B4 a few years ago, and the box art was different.

The main difference between the Team and the Factory Team kit of the chassis appearance-wise is that the "Carbon" chassis. The "Carbon" naming is a little misleading since it's not "Carbon Fiber" but a carbon-injected into a plastic mold...

Appearance-wise, the plastic chassis is quite black. The "Carbon" chassis looks like there are threads and other stuff on the surface... It's also a bit grayish/light black in color...

The best way is to take it to your local track or local club meets and see if you can find someone with the regular Team B4, and compare his/her chassis with yours.

My only gripe with the FT parts are the front arms. The FT ones seems to be a lot more brittle and break with the smallest taps. I missed the old nylon arms like on the old RC10CE. I've never broken a single one of those, compare this to a bucket full of FT B4 front arms that I've accumulated...

:P

But to answer your question, from the looks of your pic, that looks like the "carbon" chassis. I can see little threads and other particles that were mixed into the mold to make this chassis "carbon"

[Southwell]

Didn't the early new kits still come with a graphite chassis?

[Rich D]

Still unsure but check these pics out

"Composite" Chassis -

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXDZY6&P=7


"Carbon" Chassis -

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXEAF3&P=7


Both look to have the "strands" to me. Mine is nearer in colour to the composite one.
Anyway, im going to just use the one ive got now - sod it !

Thanks for your help guys

[SHY]

Being a FT I'm pretty sure you've got a graphite chassis (I have the same kit, and I have an extra plastic chassis, which is more like black as opposed to the greyish graphite one). Theoretically (or for the top guys) a plastic chassis & arms etc. give some more flex and hence more grip. Some also claim plastic withstands crashes better. IMHO you don't notice the difference. And both are equal as to breakage.

IMHO it's just a matter of cost. Plastic is cheaper...

I can give an analogy from 1:8 TR racing as I used to import & race the swiss 99% CNC-machined aluminium car called SMP Slide. It was 100% stiff, no flex in any parts. Hence all dampening took place in the shocks/springs. The result was we ran A LOT stiffer oil and springs compared to the "plastic cars". Handling wise it was superb in high speed corners - very stable and controllable vs. the more "wild" plastic cars. BUT - in slow corners it was totally "dead" and understeered badly...

At least for tracks with low traction I think a quite soft buggy would be good - even softer than the "plastic" B4. The more grip you can pick up would be good.

[Tansley]

Just to add to the confusion.
I've been told that the latest FT cars now have a plastic chassis which is allegedly ideal for the UK market and the chassis that the team drivers prefer. That any easyest way to tell is, if you look at the cross brace just behind the 2 mounting screws for the steering servo mounts, if it's level with all the other braces its plastic, it it is slightly lower its "carbon / graphite".

I found while I had my carbon/ graphite chassis that it generated interference because the antenna cable touched the chassis as it ran through the chassis up the antenna tube. I fixed this by running the antenna cable in a separate tube from the receiver, directy and cutting into the antenna tube.

Hope this helps.

[Moose]

i have this new kit too and the chassis is graphite for sure but maybe it is just softer than the the old one.
the A Arms are stiffer, the T plate is softer

[Teinvall]

I belive the easiest way to determine if you have a graphite or plastic chassies is to take a voltmete, set it to the "beep"-function and meassure between two parts of the chassis. No beep - it's plastic. If it beeps you have graphite.

[Richard Lowe]

Originally Posted by Tansley

if you look at the cross brace just behind the 2 mounting screws for the steering servo mounts, if it's level with all the other braces its plastic, it it is slightly lower its "carbon / graphite".

Not always

There have been (afaik) 3 versions of the B4 chassis mould, the first version had the lower battery box wall and no bracing around where the t-plate attaches. Version 2 had either the higher wall or extra material for the t-plate (can't remember which), version 3 had both.

I've had all the different variations over the years in plastic and graphite, measuring the resistance with a meter is the best way to tell

[millzy]

Is the first one you mentioned the "snapper 1"??

i have no idea what version i got sent for this weekend

[Southwell]

It wouldn't be the first one, thier well old son.

[millzy]

no i know what ,its very black the one i got from CML

just aksing Rich if the one he mentioned was the dubd snapper chassis