Caster S10b
 

Joe will be driving the caster 4WD next season, so i thought a few build pictures. not sure how this works so might be a few teething issues on the pictures:cry:
Attachment 19031

exciting box shot!!

well that worked, so i will continue later

Why the caster?
having competed for the last two seasons with the BMAX, it was getting a bit tired and we had a choice of buying a new BMAX or looking at something else.

at the Kidderminster MAMS meeting we saw the caster and thought it looked promising, a chat with the guy racing it(sorry didn't get your name) and a good fondle of his car gave us something to think about on the way home.

did some research on the internet talked to Answer rc the distributers of caster in the Uk, did a bit more research and placed an order.

It is available in 3 versions. a brushed RTR, a brushless RTR and the alloy pro kit. general consensus was the RTR was all plastic and too flexible whilst the pro was all alloy and too stiff!. however all parts are interchangeable and the way to go was an alloy kit with a plastic chassis.

there are some RTR features of the pro kit. dogbone rear driveshaft and centre drive shafts, however an upgrade kit to change these to the more usual CVD's was available.
there was also some issues with the slipper and diff bolts.

the pro kit comes with pre assembled diffs, but in our kit we received the upgraded gears,thrust balls and rear CVD driveshafts.

what we decided to do was build the kit box standard and then document the changes to the car to go racing.
so on with the build.

all the parts bagged and ready for assembly.
Attachment 19035Attachment 19036

start with the chassis and attach front bulkhead,motor mount and rear brace.Attachment 19037Attachment 19038Attachment 19039

All the crews are good quality hex head and all were attached using loctite.

diff cases are the same front and rear just add spacers for the rear one.
Attachment 19040Attachment 19041Attachment 19042

the diffs were put inplace and shimmed as required, we have not received the CVD centre shafts yet so we are building with the dogbone setup, no grease in the gearbox yet as we will be rebuilding them with the upgraded gears and ceramic ball later.

attach shock tower to gearcase and bolt down with the ball stud carriers

Attachment 19043

shiney!!

on to the steering.
a bag of bits.
Attachment 19045

steering parts laid out
Attachment 19046

and attached

Attachment 19047

at this point i was going to attach the top decks.
Attachment 19048

however mr machinist obviously went to lunch and left this bit.
Attachment 19049

not a big deal 5 minutes with the dremel and sorted, well actually as the dremel was flat it had to wait a bit.

so onto the steering hubs etc all alloy and very nice fits.
Attachment 19050
Attachment 19051

attached to wishbones and front brace fitted.
Attachment 19052

rear hubs same quality
Attachment 19053

at this point the dremel was up and running so top deck adjusted and fitted.
Attachment 19054

almost a roller

Nice pics/build. This buggy is under-rated. Really nice looking chassis.

I have a Caster S10b too. It's a good sold (infact bullett proof) car, but is a cheaper version of the Hot Bodies Cyclone D4. If you go on-line and look at the old Hot Bodies site you'll see quite a few similarities between this car and the D4 Cyclone.

I'm not knocking it, just pointing out that it's not a completely new car. Just HPI re-realising it under a different brand/diguise :blush:

I was looking at running mine up north, but have decided to concentrate on 2wd. Think I'll be putting mine up for sale shortly.

PS: Have you rebuilt your diffs yet? I understand that the D4 locking nut assembly is a must!

car looks awsome i when i first saw it i was tempted and i was hoping it would have geared diffs but when i found out they were ball -decided to stick with my bmax ( well upgrade it to ft ) and i am very glad i did
my mate at racing got one of the mint ones and one of the cheap ones for spares as well came to race at bury and chadderton and did not complete a race - or start one in some cases . generally because the diffs are crap and need bits replacing or other cars diffs fitting . think he had a few issues with some other bits possibly steering and hubs
any way after a very annoying day his car broke on the way to the start line for the final and proceeded to be kicked back to the pits in a explosion of parts and anger
i have met a couple of people who like em though but only after heavilly modding the diffs with b44/d4 bits
personally i think it has some nice features but might need work to keep racing
i think you might be pushed to keep it going as long and reliably as your bmax but keep us updated with its ongoing performance
also it will not fit durango diffs in it like the lazer/bmax/d4

you can fit durango diffs in the bmax?

is it easy?

they drop straight in the bmax casing and i think the drive shaft and coupling fits one side of the slipper but not the other
however it will need new bearings and some shims which i havent bothered to measure up and order yet
it should be a very simaler install to how nick c did his lazer ( i think its on here somewhere) and there is some where on here that some one has modded some into a d4
i managed to get some 2nd hand durango diffs and drive shafts and worm gears and have started working out how to get it in the bmax in my old champ pack car
but recently it has been ripped to shreds by my fellow bmax owners who cant drive or be bothered to order spares .......
so progress is slow however initially its looking good the rear diff and drive shaft would be easyer to fit but i think a bit of modding and maybe some kyosho coupling parts might be needed to do front
as i get more time and bits i will start a thread with pics hoping to get it running by summer when were outdoor again and the diffs take a heavy beating

and i still think its a pity that not many 1/10th cars run geared oil diffs they are strong dont wear and once set up almost maitainance free
in my 1/8th they are perfect and in my 4wd sc truck they take a beating every week
why is there not more in 1/10th - especially in cars like this castor
sorry to go off topic move this to the yokomo forum if ya want guys

As i said in an earlier post i had done my research and am aware of the issue with the diffs.

the diff nut is 2mm and is locked in place by another 2mm nut, it is almost impossible to adjust and set the diffs correctly, several people have modified the diffs using as has been suggested D4/b44 parts.
the remaining issues have been the quality of the gears and drive rings, actually there is nothing wrong with the quality of the gears the issue is in the shimming of them. just like the BMAX if you dont shim both the main and bevel gears correctly they will be stripped by the second lap.

however the kits from Answer RC are now shipped with a nice pack of shims for this purpose and having spent this afternoon pottering in the workshop have come up with several solutions to the diff problems, simple cheap and painless.

so first thing strip the kit diff, at which point you will understand how difficult it is to get hold of that 2mm nut!!.

then go on the internet/phone DMS and order associated AS31167 which are TC5 outdrives.

you end up with these
Attachment 19072

find the 2mm nut and push it into the T nut carrier and for a £4.99 plus P+P your done.
Attachment 19073

as with all the cars i have rebuilt the diff using ceramic diff balls, my personal choice is the vampire ones again from DMS or your local X factory stockist.

onto the diff rings, stock kit ones are notchy and not smooth. according to our american friends "BFAST" are the dogs, however i have not used them so cant confirm, i can however confirm that losi XXX-cr shims are a straight fit and i had a pair so in they went.

i used the stock kit gear however for those who wish too BMAX gears drop in. not sure on the bevel gear as that is the next job.

one thing i did notice is the bevel gear runs eccentric, on initial inspection of the RTR diff and the PRO diff both bevels ran with the same eccentricity, i assumed a poor moulding, however it is just not fully seated, a quick tap on a hard surface and it runs true, just to confirm i did it to both diffs and it cured the problem.

put the diffs in the car paying particular attention to the bevel gear shimming and all was smooth.

because i can and i have the necessary parts i am going to run one car with the kit gears and the other car with alternate gears (BMAX) to see if indeed its quality or just proper building thats the issue.

having just reread my post you should note you get two T nut carriers in a pack, i pictured only one as i had already fitted one

As John says a large amount of the gearbox troubles I've heard about are due to either not being shimmed correctly or the slipper being too tight.

All I've changed in mine are the balls and diff plates, it's now ran for about 5 meetings without a problem. (now I've said that it'll die at the next meeting:) )

Peter

Thats nice work John, we still have our D4 and would be interested to know how easy it is to swap parts, you know how difficult D4 parts are to find. The diff shimming reminds me of the Kyosho XZ5 if not fitted right & tight it stripped the gears. All the best with it, Mick

Thanks for posting this John - car looks really nice, hope they get the diffs sorted

Could this be the same car with stick pack layout and B-max shell?
http://www.hobbytech-rc.com/car.php?id=160
It looks very similar

Diff are sorted out. On loose outdoor tracks we do not have problem with properly shimmed original diffs. For those who is running on carpet or mod motors there is Metal Bevel Gear 16T&Metal Diff Gear 39T

http://casterracing.com/news/main_vi...id=898&urno1=1

And newest Pro Kit will come

1. with Front & rear CVD (SKOP034);
2. with Pressure Diff Sets (SKOP035) Front & Rear;
3. Ceramic Balls (SKOP036) x 26 pcs;
4. with White Teflon pistons (SKOP030) x 4 pcs.

I think price will be a little bit bigger, but not to much...

Caster Racing are producing some things for hobbytech so it could be very similar...

BTW maybe someone could direct me where online I can buy this Hobbytech buggy?

Im about to trade my good ol' B44 with a NIB SK-10 pro, is this a dumb move?
I was thinkin about gettin' a plastic chassi, some front/rear cvd's, thrust bearings, bfast diffrings and some metal gears.
Some say the slipper and bevel gears work ok if they are shimmed right.
Others say go for D4/B44 gears, what's the clue here?

Thanks in advance!

@John the ref lookin' forward for a update on ur building tips!

Hi,

I traded my B44 for Caster :). In here we run only on big 1/8 outdoor tracks so B44 is not so reliable in these situations. First I got plastic RTR, now I have also Pro version (just not build yet).

Bevel gears are ok if you shim them right. They are ok if you do not ride with mod motor on high grip tracks. If you do - change to Kyosho/AE/HB gears or Caster new metal gears

http://casterracing.com/news/main_vi...id=898&urno1=1

Here's a vid from the Green Hill track in Sweden,running the SK10 Brushless RTR,for those that haven't already seen it in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOzZFiUsHNI