Tamiya Saint Dragon Project
Page 2: Upgrades!
At this point I've got a sizeable collection of models on the
Thundershot chassis. Most of them represent at least some sort of
variation in the chassis with respect to shock configuration or option
parts, but the Saint Dragon is really just a carbon copy of the Fire
Dragon with a different body. I better throw a bunch of aluminum
at it to make it stand out.
I had only just recently discovered the Jaz Rider web site (a division
of RC Jaz) and they had loads of parts for the Thundershot chassis at
quite reasonable prices. I ordered the pile of parts shown on the
left. I alternated between red anodizing and gun metal to try to
have some visual contrast. Of course, you get what you pay
for. The parts are beautifully machined, but one of the steering
knuckles did not have a counterbore so the king pin could not
installed. I don't really have any flat bottom metric drills, so
it was challenge to repair the part myself. You can see the result
on the right. The shiny aluminum part where the red has been
machined away is my repair. It worked OK and is invisible once
installed.
These pictures compare the front suspension before and after the
upgrades. The most important upgrade is the replacement of the
weak plastic A5 part with aluminum. Beyond that, the upper and
lower arms, C-hubs, knuckles, and shock tower are all now
aluminum. A5 and the C-hubs are gun metal, everything else is red.
Here's the same comparison for the rear suspension. Upper and
lower arms, uprights, shock tower, suspension mount, and bumper are all
now aluminum. There's probably no practical advantage, but
it sure looks pretty.
Here is the final upgraded chassis with all the bling attached.
Most of the aluminum is still visible even with the body on. Even
though the body is decorated in blue, I chose red for the upgrade parts
as an homage to the original Saint Dragon on the Madcap chassis. I
think it looks pretty good.
I now have all these plastic parts as surplus which will probably come in handy in the future.
©2022 Eric Albrecht
