Caster EX1.5

So I know some may not have heard of the Caster buggy, or maybe not of Caster Racing at all. But I thought I would start a thread to sort of introduce the buggy to the forum :)

Just to sort of let you know what I will be doing with mine when it arrives in a few days or so.

I will be posting high quality pictures, possibly a few video's show casing the Caster buggy, and I will also be explaining and going through all the upgrades and other things that I will be putting onto the kit.

The version of the kit I have bought is manufactured as the RTR buggy, though it still being brand new, there are some things that are not as a usual RTR kit. The Radio system & speed controller have been taken out of the kit, and the box is going to be very much damaged as it was caught up in a fire in one of caster's warehouses.

Fortunately for me, this means I get it at about half the price, give or take a few pennies.

So I hope this topic will interest some people, and hope you enjoy how the buggy progresses through its stages.

Pictures and updates will be appearing within a week or so

Cheers

Picked up the buggy yesturday!

Along with a mamba monster v3 ESC + Castle LiNK from a great guy that races at my local track

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/8042/cimg0001o.jpg

http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/7281/cimg0007ps.jpg

All is going very well!

So far I am very impressed with the quality of the plastics and overall layout of the components. The steering is very responsive, the spring dampening seems to be pretty good and all seems very controllable.

Though for testing I have been using 2s lipo, simply because I couldn't wait for my 4s to arrive and just had to have a go!

As you can see from the pictures, I have changed out the wheels and tyres for VP Pro Condor XX pre-glued wheels and tyres, and also a JQ wing for the aggressive styling!

The stock motor is only 2000kv, though depending on the speeds I get on 4s I may opt in for a castle creations 2200kv.

It wasnt long before I felt the need to call in the big guns! Savox 12kg, although the stock 9kg servo was a nice addition, It just wasn't up to speed.

http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/3343/cimg0002c.jpg

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/5198/cimg0006rg.jpg

I also found deep down under the crap in my toolbox a set of DE Racing read skid plates for the Mugen MBX5. I was told by a guy that they would fit so I went ahead and installed one of those!

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/3046/cimg00222.jpg

Sure enough, they fit. Slightly out of line so not perfectly but what can you expect.

Already taking a few scratches from just running around on the dirt.

Battery tray mod.

I removed the battery bar, and replaced with 2 velcro straps to eliminate the frustration of loosing clips to hold the battery down

http://img807.imageshack.us/img807/6113/cimg00082.jpg

http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/84/cimg0015tn.jpg

You may have noticed the plastic mud guards protecting the rear driveshafts and lower shocks from dirt and debris.

I did have a slight issue with tiny stones getting in between the hinge pin and diff casing at the rear of the buggy, hopefully this will resolve that :)

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/6439/cimg00132.jpg

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/1497/cimg00102.jpg

As you can see, they have a woven texture to them which gives them a rather nice look in my opinion. I found an old plastic crate, which I then cut out the sides and shaped to fit the rear arms of the buggy.

Held on by the rear sway bar mounting screws and some strong double sided tape along the back edge to stop them moving around

The new battery came a couple of days ago so I took the buggy out for a long awaited session of practice.

This is the buggy with the new turnigy lipo - It just about squeezes in the battery tray if its lying on its side.

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/2995/cimg00033.jpg

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/6990/cimg00053.jpg

The buggy is still running strong with only minor issues so far.

- Front lower arm broken
- Wing mount bent to one side
- Screws on underside coming loose + front upper hinge pin grub screw came loose

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/4692/cimg0004y.jpg

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/4310/cimg0018f.jpg

Things to be aware of:

- (at least in my case) Screws on the underside of the chassis, such as the motor mount screws came loose and I was lucky enough to find a direct replacement in my toolbox for the one that completely came out. I advise using lock tight on screws that go into aluminium as they don't have any on to start with.

- Another thing to think about is the centre front hinge pin block is plastic made, I have already snapped the two tabs off that hold it straight on the chassis so will see if there is an aluminium one for the mbx5 buggy from mugen

- The stock 2000kv motor can run pretty hot on 4s Lipo even with the shell off, so be weary of temperatures. I did get the original one replaced due to it burning up on me un-necessarily. So I did go and pick up a head sink + fan to fit on the motor to help keep it cooler.

I can't wait to take the buggy to the track!

Take a look below to see a short video I made today of the caster in 1080p.

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKtTp6TMx4U]YouTube - ‪RACING AROUND THE YARD - CASTER EX1 BUGGY - 4S MAMBA - HD‬‏[/url]

ill be getting a 1.8th buggy soon here with in the next few weeks

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dizzyinzo

ill be getting a 1.8th buggy soon here with in the next few weeks

---

Nice :) They really are great, This is my first, and I can assure you not my last! Unlike the monster truck class (simply not for me) Revo, upgraded to best bits but it still sucks for what I like, but hey, it's gone now :)

looks like a mean buggy
a tip for clips/pins on body or battery bar i use fishing leader lines which are thin nylon coated metal line with loops on both ends works great