Plastic vs Ally.......

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dwarfy

dwarfy

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This covers all makes and we all have our own opinions on this so lets here em! Most of you will know my FG's are pretty standard with no ally in sight. I like it like this because plastic is:

1. cheap
2. readily available
3. light weight
4. flexible to a degree so will absorb impact without distorting
5. isnt attacked by salt on beach runs to the same extent as ally. If it is, see items 1&2!!

I do get the bling thing and full ally does look very impressive so lets hear some other views on it
 
Fine!!
Totally understand, if you're racing - the lighter and more resilient (aka reliable) the better.
If you're running 'a special truck/car' then keeping it cheapo plastic like you can find in Toys'R'Us isn't really cricket I reckon.
Show is the Go!!
Totally get the 'something's got to give' bit, leaving a 'fracture' point, even if I don't, actually :(
Al.
 
My old Leopards and marders were half and half - ish From the tank back = Alloy, the front was plastic bar the hubs and servo saver. Things wore out but very rarley broke.

Now mt car is all alloy as standard with built in weak points, plastic front rod ends and the base plate for the shock tower. It has a plastic bushes in the wishbones which save the wishbones or pins wearing out.
I've broken 2 parts since the Leopard 2 came out - a diff carrier and bent a shock shaft.

The car is very good indeed - IMHO it's the best all round race car available. I just wish others would realise it and start running them - If I can pedal it round to such a degree as to be third in the championship then anyone can.
 
nice topic dwarfy and although i have a full alloy bling bling init chav mobile i wanted a strong car that could take a hammering the way mine was barrel rolling and break dancing on its roof yesterday proves its strong my engine in a stock 2wd beetle wouldnt be the same and wouldnt take the same abuse mine did

but if i had a stock beetle it wouldnt need the engine and ecu and red race kit as your car proved yesterday there wasnt much in it,im really thinking about a 4wd fg bug next
 
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Mike1970 said:
My old Leopards and marders were half and half - ish From the tank back = Alloy, the front was plastic bar the hubs and servo saver. Things wore out but very rarley broke.

Now mt car is all alloy as standard with built in weak points, plastic front rod ends and the base plate for the shock tower. It has a plastic bushes in the wishbones which save the wishbones or pins wearing out.
I've broken 2 parts since the Leopard 2 came out - a diff carrier and bent a shock shaft.

The car is very good indeed - IMHO it's the best all round race car available. I just wish others would realise it and start running them - If I can pedal it round to such a degree as to be third in the championship then anyone can.
Click to expand...

seeing your car at lsor event change my veiw on the new leopards there laid out nice,easy to work on and handle a 100 miles better than the old skool marder based cars and like you say its stock out the box comp model no upgrades needed other than servos engine and pipe and you can win races with it
 
Other than the servos, tuned engine, side pods, wing and bumpers, the car is as it came out of the box. The pipe is standard, the only "non stock" part is a little raiser that goes under the front shock tower.

All alloy - standard
Brakes - standard
Pipe - standard
Air filter - standard (I do use a bag though)

The car as a box of bits can't be beaten on price by and other car on the market and with a decent driver it would not be beaten on the track either.
 
My car came to me with a fair bit of alloy on it and I replaced it with alloy if I broke anything so slowly it became alloy....as I was nearly finished I only had a few parts left so they got upgraded too....

I'm only bashing with it so strength is a must....

It also goes much faster than I can control at times so still room for me to improve before I think about ....POWER:w00t:

since then though I have built a 100% plastic car and I must say its holding up well....completly stock .....
 
wezg said:
My car came to me with a fair bit of alloy on it and I replaced it with alloy if I broke anything so slowly it became alloy....as I was nearly finished I only had a few parts left so they got upgraded too....

I'm only bashing with it so strength is a must....

It also goes much faster than I can control at times so still room for me to improve before I think about ....POWER:w00t:

since then though I have built a 100% plastic car and I must say its holding up well....completly stock .....
Click to expand...

FG plastics are excellent quality and very durable and up there with the best if not 'the' best.
 
When i had my Fg the best alloy part for me was the Alloy Engine mounts, never had any issues with engine movement or stripped gears again..
 
Built full alloy,half and half and 'just where you need it' cars. But with the full alloy it weighs a ton but looks more 'professional'.
With the plastic cars they are lighter,parts are cheap but IMO look cheap too.
J:rolleyes:

A bit like Keiths;)
 
i found when i first built my marder it was mostly stock then i had hubs strip there threads and got alloy ones then a pair of wishbones ect then before you know it its full alloy and strong but needing more power just over come the extra weight
 
Guilty As Charged!!

I've got another thread where I mention I've fitted MT slicks to ..... my MT.
I'm having great fun sliding it around, whilst the rubber's warming up.
Ambient temps of 26C in UK mean it takes much less time....

I've also been fitting a SuperBee, but have had problems.
Kent CORRECTLY diagnosed that somehow I had a 'mix' in the programming - 100% mate. This meant that when trying to install and use the Auxiliary channel, if I steered to the right I think, it cut the engine - not nice!

Just re-programmed after finding this, and set to 0% and re-bound, and was playing around again; left donuts, right donuts .... then swung straight into a wooden fence!
STEERING'S FECKED!
I've stiffened up the saver with thick O-rings, etc., so the Rhinos (fortunately!!) are still 100% OK, I've just broken both PLASTIC servo horns.
I was toying with the idea of changing to alloy in the past and decided NO.
Not the easiest of things to replace - 2 servos ... - but better than stripping the gears on the Rhinos.

Al.
 
atom3624 said:
I've got another thread where I mention I've fitted MT slicks to ..... my MT.
I'm having great fun sliding it around, whilst the rubber's warming up.
Ambient temps of 26C in UK mean it takes much less time....

I've also been fitting a SuperBee, but have had problems.
Kent CORRECTLY diagnosed that somehow I had a 'mix' in the programming - 100% mate. This meant that when trying to install and use the Auxiliary channel, if I steered to the right I think, it cut the engine - not nice!

Just re-programmed after finding this, and set to 0% and re-bound, and was playing around again; left donuts, right donuts .... then swung straight into a wooden fence!
STEERING'S FECKED!
I've stiffened up the saver with thick O-rings, etc., so the Rhinos (fortunately!!) are still 100% OK, I've just broken both PLASTIC servo horns.
I was toying with the idea of changing to alloy in the past and decided NO.
Not the easiest of things to replace - 2 servos ... - but better than stripping the gears on the Rhinos.

Al.
Click to expand...

ALREADY REPAIRED!!
Ready to annoy the neighbours tomorrow - I give them until 10:30 normally, but they're lucky - Monaco P3 starts at 10:00 UK time, so they've a moment's more 'grace'!! :D:):D:rolleyes:
Al.
 
atom3624 said:
ALREADY REPAIRED!!
Ready to annoy the neighbours tomorrow - I give them until 10:30 normally, but they're lucky - Monaco P3 starts at 10:00 UK time, so they've a moment's more 'grace'!! :D:):D:rolleyes:
Al.
Click to expand...

Got to love the Savox 1256TG's I use for the throttle/rear brakes and separately for the fronts - testing the alignment, before replacing the side braces of the MT, it pulls the motor out of line!!
That 20Kg cm might even be 'modest'!!

Al.
 
I guess I am in a minority then!! Might be cheap, look cheap, not blingy, etc etc but by feck it works well :D:D
 
The way I look at it is all stationary items could be alloy like gear boxes,engine mounts,diff housings,center diff mounts,etc... and probably benefit from it but upper and lower arms the the brunt of the abuse while jumping,crashing,and rolling and need that little flex. I don't really care how it looks cause most of the time it looks like Dirt! Paint the body to look pretty and all the mechanics be all business!!!
 
tallgoldguy said:
Paint the body to look pretty and all the mechanics be all business!!!
Click to expand...

Good way of putting it!!

Al: no offence taken mate. We all get the same buzz out of running them & then there is the banter on here.........all part of enjoying the hobby :D
 
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