Buggy-Sport.Info

Review of the Team Associated RC8Be Factory Team / Part 2

 

Review of the Team Associated RC8Be Factory Team

 

Part 1: Basics
Part 2: Building the buggy
Part 3: On the track
Part 4: Roundup

 

2. Building the buggy

 

According to the very well written manual, we started with the assembly of the front end. As usual, the RC8Be Factory Team features some milled aluminum part in highly stressed areas like the fronts top end and the lower suspension holder.

 

 

 

Some kind of a surprise was the material Associated chose for the steering blocks. Aluminum again, but in this case no high quality milled parts. Instead of this, we found casted versions which usually can be found at RTR-buggys. Parts like this don’t seem to be really adequate for a competition car and, as mentioned above, it’s a surprise that Associated decided to equip one of their flagship with cheap parts like that.

 

 

Good work was done to save the steering. The adjustable saver combines solid synthetic materials and aluminum and offers a very solid construction. The stiff spring will probably make a perfect job and support a precise handling.

 

 

As found on many modern cars, the RC8Be offers a system of different setup inserts. To change the geometry of your suspension, you don’t have to swap the whole part. Instead, you just exchange or even just turn the insert which results into different angles. We like that method for its easiness and the fact that you don’t have to purchase expensive extra parts.

 

 

Once the assembly of the front part was finished, we saw a combination of useful materials, accurate fit and solid basic construction. All parts left a reliable impression despite of the weak steering blocks. Good work of the manufacturer so far.

 

 

Coming to the rear, we basically found the same strategy as in the front. Again, critical areas were equipped with strong aluminum parts like the massive lower suspension block.

 

 

As you can see in the picture, the rear shock holder offers a great number of different options to mount the shock. No matter which angle and geometry of the shocks you prefer, it won’t be a problem to put it into practice.

 

 

Again very solid is the construction of the rear wing mount and again you find many different mounting positions. It’s not only possible to change the wing’s angle but you can also slide it forward and backwards to bring the perfect amount of pressure to your rear end.

 

 

At the end we again found a combination of some alum parts with a majority of nylon. For beginners, it should be mentioned that it wouldn’t be useful to produce the whole suspension from aluminum as this material is very stiff and cannot compensate impact energy, for example when you hit a heavy obstacle. Further on, nylon parts help to save some weight and raise the performance of your car. Especially for a competition buggy, Team Associated created a well balanced construction.

 

 

Going on to the middle, we found a quite simple construction. Not surprised about that – most brushless buggys don’t feature a mechanical brake, so the amount of required parts is reduced drastically. As common, one of the center diff mounts also carries the electric motor and has to be very strong. According to that, Associated manufactured it from massive milled aluminum which left not doubt to be solid enough even for the strongest brushless motor.

 

 

After the montage of the center diff section, we can see a typical basic structure of a brushless buggy. All following components will find their places close to the middle which results into a optimal center of gravity.

 

 

Before the test drives could start, we had to decide which electric components should be used. Choice fell on LRPs brushless set which includes the SPX8 ESC and the Vector8 brushless motor with 2.500 kV. Next thing was to find the right power suppliers. First, a single LRP 3s-LiPo with 3.600 mAh should come into action which would give us the chance to concentrate especially on the buggy. Finally, a pair of LRP 2s-LiPos with 5.400 mAh each would show us how the RC8Be acted under race conditions.

 

 

 

 

One last word: As you’ll certainly notice in the following action shots, there is a gap between the body’s front end and the front shock mount. This was caused by the author who wanted to correct a mistake that didn’t even exist. When you purchase your own RC8Be, you get a clear body which has already been cut and will suit your car perfectly.
 

 

Stay tuned for part 3 of the review

• < Prev
• Next >