RB5-CMS-build (manual-ish)

[Lowie]

Some things to consider:

* this is an attempt to write a build-manual of Fabs RB5 CMS
* I am not native English-speaking, learned my English at school .. and was not the best student.
* I'm not familiar with all the correct rc-naming as I consider myself still rather noob
* I'm not the best pilot neither (see previous point), so my knowledge of setting up a car is minimal to medium.

* I' m writing this in an attempt to help people out with building this kit, as Fabs has not found the time yet to take some adequate pictures or write a build-manual.
* such a build-manual is needed as some parts do need some special care
* as some parts were not delivered AS Fabs ordered them

* I'm writing this on a laptop, on a warm summer-day, the kids playing in the little pool, me, dad, sipping from a lovelu fresh Duvel (*). (Life can be good )
* ... (and all other things that might give me an excuse to make mistakes)

==> please correct me when I make a mistake, (but please in a positive way, thankyou)

I'll write this in multiple posts in stead of one LAAAARGE one, so that this will be easier to mod if needed.

(*) A Flemish beer which you MUST have tried before you can consider yourself a beer-connaisseur.

The car .. as it is suppose to be: one of the first kits assembled, Fabs own, and which was later on driver passed on to a local-good-driver to test and demonstrate the possibilities of the car:

[Lowie]

First, a situation-report:

I allready had a RB5, originally from nathan Ralls. That car had allready some modifications done compared to the original RB5, but is not 100% the same as the latest edition.
The RB5 CMS can be build, starting from every RB5-car, AFAIK (... but I'm not certain if the latest RB5-edition uses the same spur-shaft?)

Fabs designed this kit, wanting to make a mid-motor-version of the RB5.
The RB5 is a very good 2WD electro 1/10-buggy.
He build himself a prototype,
tested it (with the help of some good friends)
it turned out to have more steering then the Losi XX-CR2, but being more forgiving then the Asso B4 and GREAT to drive...
and he made a batch of 30 kits.
All chassis are numbered and it is intended to be a limited kit!

Unfortunately, Fabs had to discover that some of the parts were not made as he ordered them. As an example: some of the screw-holes were designed to be 3.2 mm diameter ... but we discovered they had to be drilled out as a 3MM-screw would not go through.
Some holes were intended to be counter-sunk, but weren't, ...
So this explains why, when building this kit, some of the parts did not fit 100%, but this was always resolved with a little bit of filing or re-drilling.

This also explaines why Fabs was not able to ship all kits immediatly. He will be (or has allready) re-finishing all the parts that need to, to be certain that they actually fit 100%.
aaannd, I personally think that it is better to have some parts that are a bit hard to assemble at first then parts that are to loose.

I met Fabs online first, IRL at the 2010 EIR-race in Charleroi, and we kept in contact over the internet.
As far as the kit concernes: Fabs told me about a race on a local (Paris) track and I decided to just drive all the way over to his place, meeting him at the track of Maison-Alfort on saturday, pick up the kit, build the kit on site, and race it on sunday.
This all happened as planned, except for the raining and the fact we did not have some cover and were intereupted twice, having to quickly pack everything and hide under a tree, and to re-start the build.
I tried to take some pics, and did so, but I'm not a very good photographer, so the pics are not the usual oOple-quality (sorry) (but hey, better then nothing, nah )

The track @ Maison Alfort, France:


Fabs gave me a cardboard-box, containing all the parts.



I started with dis-assembling my RB5 and did build the kit with Fabs directions. I'll try to copy them over here.


! You don't need anything else then:
* your RB5-car
* Fabs CMS-kit
* two extra bearings
* 4 extra button-head 3X12 screws (for the rear shock tower)
* the usual tools, greases, ...
* ... and maybe a fresh Duvel, ... but that's optional I guess

[Gayo]

Nice work, Ludo! Keep it coming!

(Next time I order a beer on a bar it will be a Duvel )

[Lowie]

allrighty, part 3 ...

the parts on the table (as i said, sorry for the bad quality. The parts are not all very clear)



the gear-box (4-gears), which seemed made out of a strange kind of plastic



...
yup, my kit is N° 5


FAST-racing stands for the names of Fabian and one of his best friends Albo (Fabian Alban (corrected) Simonini ...). I later dicovered that they have more then one prototype on the drawing table !! (to be continued...!)

! However ... chassis n° 0005? ... I don't think there will ever be made 1000 kits . Doesn't matter, I luuuve my unique chassis



back on topic: the build ..
mounting metal parts on metal ... so I immediately did put the thread-lock on the table. Fabs assured me that it isn't necessary but better safe then sorry

FIRST: mountin the Side-parts of the chassis.

!1: you don't need all the screwholes to be used. In an attempt to gain some more flex, only 8 bolts are used. Two holes per side are left unused. See pics







the most important picture on this stage:

[Lowie]

Part 4:

Mounting the T-bar:

This part is made of anodised stainless steel, so very strong. I think it might bend but I don't see it ever break. (the chassis is anodised aliminium).

This T-bar is mounted with some provided screws (short 3mm ones) and the two "T-bar-mounting-plates". Again, I used Thread-lock (but you don't need to, says fabs).

On this picture, the left side is bolted on:


to be honest ... this is one of the parts that we discovered not being flawlesly made. Fabs did a minor filing to make it fit the chassis.



aaaand then the right part was bolted:


which gave us:

[Lowie]

part 5:

The front end ....

well, it's very simple ... just disassemble the front end of the RB5,



(keep the screws on the build-table, all screws from the RB5 are re-used on the CMS!)


... and then mount it onto the CMS-chassis, with the aid of some "front-end-mounting-poles" and long screws.



A quick picture of the bottem ..
(oops, I seem to have forgotten a screw)

[Lowie]

part 6:
the difference between the production kit (on the front) ...
and Fabs prototype (in black)





CorrectedFabs had forgotten to have one of his prototype front-end-mounting-poles anodised. Hence the clear aluminium-coloured one

[Lowie]

part 6:

The servo ... again the same ... just switch it from the stock chassis to the CMS-chassis.



(I do not use the standard Kyosho Servo-horn ... as it did not came with the RB5 when i bought it ... but will be changing it one of these days. The stock Kyosho servo-horn is actually better then the one I'm using there.)


.... and then it started raining

[Lowie]

part 7:

The gearbox

notice the two gearbox-halves ... and the special extra (4th) idler gear.
It will be provided in the kit, is a genuine Kyosho-part but is of another material of the stock idler gear.



Fabs explained me that the stock (white) idler gear contains fiberglass fibers, which eat out the spur-shaft.
This new part does not contain this fiberglass and will be much better.
So the order or placement of the idler gears is important.
My spur-shaft was very worn-out so this was the perfect opportunity to replace it with a new one.



!2: the kit does not contain the extra bearings for this 4th idler gear. Luckely I had some in my tool-box. These are standard bearings, also used for the wheels, so big chance you have them lying around somewhere in your spares-box.



Again, i preferred to be on the safe side and I used some green slime (asso) on the halves, just to seal the gearbox from the dirt.





...

more to follow.
My Duvel 's empty!

[Rebelrc]

Very nice report...i just couldnt stop reading it
Nice work also Fabs it looks the nuts + nice speaking to you at the EPR national
Hats off to you both

[Chrislong]

It looks bloody good, its really impressive. Great work Fabs! Don't shelve the project - get it marketed and sold continuously!

[Fabs]

Thanks for all the comments guys!

Two details Ludo, my friend's name is Alban, and I did not lose a post I forgot to put it in the bag of parts to be anodised, this is still the prototype post, it just didn't get anodised...

Thanks for doing this build Ludo, it's planned that I take the pictures etc for the official build on sunday, unfortunately I've had some very bad news today, and I might have to fly to Italy yet again

I'm also very sorry to all the people who haven't received their cars yet, it's not been lost it's just that as I was told monday I have to move out, I'm not finding time to prepare the cars, as there's about half an hour of filing, drilling, tapping etc... And also I don't want to lose bits (wink Ludo !). At the present moment, I cannot tell if I will be able to complete my house moving this week end or if I'll be going to Italy. Please bear with me as it's a very tough time for me, and I promise you won't be disappointed with the car.

[Lowie]

Originally Posted by Fabs

...
Two details Ludo, my friend's name is Alban, and I did not lose a post I forgot to put it in the bag of parts to be anodised, this is still the prototype post, it just didn't get anodised....

Originally Posted by Fabs

unfortunately I've had some very bad news today, and I might have to fly to Italy yet again

I'm very sorry to hear this, Fabs. I wish you and your family strength to cope with these difficult moments.

And also I don't want to lose bits (wink Ludo !).

I'm still looking for that part in between my stuff.

I guess that, in the mean time, I can go on with this little build-review?
I'll try to finish it this weekend.

Have a safe journey to Italy, Fabs.

[Lowie]

part 8: Gearbox ...

next comes the motorplate. It is a fine machine part of aluminium.
A first fitting:




It needs one countersunk screw on the front side and the three original gearboxscrews on the other side.
Fabs assured me that they didn't need hard tightening, so I didn't.





next are the Hingepin-holders.
On the RB5, there is a little part extruding (is this the correct word?) on the T-bar on which the inner hingepin-holder fits.
As there is no such extrusion on the metal T-bar, Fabs provided two very slim carbon shims. One to use and one spare
Fabs also told me I might mount the Hingepinholders 1mm high with the aid of some shims, just as a setup-tip for an astrotruf-type track on which we would be running the next day.

The inner hingepinholder with the carbon shim:




And here is a mounting tip:
First screw one screw in (with the blue 1mm shim), then add the carbon shim, and then screw in the second screw and tighten them both.





!3 !! Later on I discovered I also had to remove some material on this inner hingepinholder, so please first read on before building.

Next is the outer Rear hingepinholder. I used a blue aluminium one on my RB5, but this needs some "adjustment".



This part also needs to be mounted on a (provided) carbon shim ... + the extra 1mm-shims to mount the hingepin 1mm higher on the T-bar

On the next picture, you can see what has to altered. It just needs some filing, to take away some curved edges. With a strong file, it took me about 20 seconds, ... no biggy
The result can be seen in the next 2 pictures:






... so next I was ready to mount it on the T-bar, using some red 1mm shims (I ran out of blue ones, lol )







on this previous picture, you will also notice the extra slim carbon shim.


back on the !3 !!
As stated higher, in order to be able to mount the gear box, i needed to remove some material of the inner Hingepinholder.
This part needs to have a flat side and in stead , has some bumps.



On the next picture you see the same part with one of the two bumps allready shaved (filed) away on one side.



I filed away the other bump and mounted it on the T-bar again

[Fabs]

I will add that those using the aluminium mounts won't have to do this. In fact Ludo here has the aluminium rear one, but if you have the plastic one this also needs filing to be able to fit the gearbox. I hadn't realised the plastic ones were different until I assembled Craig's car !

[tsan]

Originally Posted by Lowie

First, a situation-report:
I tried to take some pics, and did so, but I'm not a very good photographer, so the pics are not the usual oOple-quality (sorry) (but hey, better then nothing, nah )

Don't sell yourself short, Lowie. Those pictures are excellent. Everything you are describing is clearly illustrated and in focus. As a devout RB5 fan, I`ve enjoyed following this project almost since the beginning... this build thread makes me want to order a conversion for myself!
Great job guys.
Tim.