More Frogtima progress!

My time to work on this project has been sporadic, but it has been a lot of fun.

I replaced the servo head with an aluminum one, and used angled links to bring the arms towards perpendicular. I also shaved the top mount on the servo to make room for the body.

Next step was a roll cage. I decide that I wanted an actual roll cage rather then the lexan shell, and I went with one from the Kyosho Scorpion. The Scorpion's rollcage is more angled than I wanted, however, so using a vice and a heatgun, I brought the angle more vertical:

I found an interesting way to connect the rear bars to some spacers jutting out of the rear shock mount plate.

The next step was the body. As mentioned above, I tried to create one using a heat gun and a sheet of lexan. That proved far too difficult. The arduous process was leading to something that looked ok, but I could tell that I wouldn't be crazy with the end product. Lexan goes from pliable to melted really quick. Instead, I decided to chop up a preformed body that was closer to what I was going for. I found this in a BOKI Racing Aftermarket RC10 Protech 2 on Ebay.

Here's the original "fit" which gave me a lot of material to work with:

Slowly trimming away, I brought it down over the chassis:

And then I trimmed a bit more:

While I was working to get the body on the chassis, I decided that the roll cage could use some more work. To add some more form to it, and to better secure the back end, I ran some spacers between the rear shock mounts to the roll cage (I also reversed the vertical bar):

I might not be done with the roll cage just yet.

And then the paint:

And some headlamps:

I have some decals on order from MCI Racing, and a few more tweaks that I would like to make. I've added oil to the shocks, and greased the gearbox. I have also added an ESC and a receiver.

Next up, finishing the roll cage (I'd like some bars running across the back), adding decals, and taking it for a spin. ATM I have my old Kyosho 240S in there. I'll post that next. I was pleasantly suprised by the handling.

It probably needs a driver. I have also painted a spoiler, which I might add or make optional. Some of the decals I am using are from the Tamiya Frog, which includes an awesome "No Guts No Glory" spoiler decal. I almost want to add it for that alone.