New F1 chassis from MC3

[lfisminiz]

I'm in, looks good.

[Racer-HH]

Now you have my attention. Any indications on the price for a full kit?

[briankstan]

interested and will be following this one. the pics and video look great.

[briankstan]

is it setup to use both brushed and brushless? I notice in the pics it's running brushless.

[Sinister_Y]

Hi,

Pricing will be set at $199.99 Canadian for the chassis kits which include the body (plastics only). You will need to add parts to make it functional. We will have a limited time introductory price of $179.99. It will be setup on our site for preorder in the next couple of weeks.

The chassis was really meant for brushless only as it is engineered to simply drop in a brushless board from a MR03, either VE or VE Pro. It would be possible to put in a brushed board in the chassis itself however you'd have to use the coreless servo motor. Also, the motor mount has limitations for sizing. We'd have to come out with a different version for brushed motors.

We found during testing that the coreless servo motor performed better than the old, crappy, brushed servo motor found in the brushed F1 boards. We did this since everything is going brushless and this is something that Kyosho never did or has yet to do.

Plus, speed is good, provided it is useable speed, which in this case, it is. We did testing using a 11500kv motor and the car was ballistic. We recommend 9500kv or less, especially for less seasoned guys. The car was using a PN 9500 in the video, which was at actual speed for the ending sequence.

[EMU]

Originally Posted by Sinister_Y

Hi Eugene,

All points are valid. The bottom line is this chassis is amazing. Full stop. It, in fact, beats the fastest lap time of a fully modified brushless MR03 at our track. You can imagine how this is possible as the wheelbase is longer, giving stability and it uses those huge F1 tires which have a much larger contact patch than a touring car tire.

We were able to take the hassle out of F1 and make it fun again. I can't recall how many times I wanted to throw my old F1 at the wall; it handled so inconsistently.

I'd suggest if you are a F1 fan and I know you are. Get it. The kit is not for beginners. Also we have plans as they say....

I was close to equal in pace with my f1's to mr03... But it was a lot of work and tweaks to get there. I can see with this chassis how it would pace faster than an mr03.

Everything looks clean, and easy to work on. It is nice to finally get some good development on this chassis. It has been stagnant for so long.

A couple off questions, is the metal brace that connects the motormount to the front if the chassis included? is that spring steel?

Can racer alloy motormounts be used? What is the distance from the t-plate holes to the axle? In some of my own designs, I was working with a 94mm mount with a t-plate for an f1 half chassis that retained the servo and front end, but attached just behind and held battery compartment and pcb \ suspension mounts.

Thanks for taking on this project Shawn, it is no easy process to develop a chassis such as this. I Can only imagine how many prototypes and how much track time you must have gone through to get to where you are...

I would assume that the atomic 17mm motors would be a good alternate for a brushed motor. They should have more gearing options than the larger 130 can motors. They will be a little down on power in comparison to the 130, but would be very smooth.

[Sinister_Y]

Hi,

Nope. The spring steel plate that you see is from our MR-03 high speed stability kit (which is also now compatible with the KMD-FR01). It is sold separately at this time. It is not necessary as the car uses a t-plate suspension system. That being said, it does improve the handling as proven on our MR-03s and testing of the F1.
Again, all that said, will depend on what size layout, etc.. The high speed stability is aptly named. It is really a great addition for high speed layouts and anywhere like chicanes (i.e. quick left to right, and vice-versa) sections. It isn't really suited for very tight technical layouts. In those cases, we remove this piece and just use the t-plate.


The things that will come with the initial offering will be the main chassis, the rear motor mount, the top plate, the body, the front bumper/nose, the rear wing, all the plastic a-arm parts including the sleeves that adjust the camber. I'm considering adding knuckles and servo plates (which have been designed and tested to fit), however trying to keep the price as reasonable as possible. The process we use to print is accurate up to 120 micron. it is highly accurate and the material is awesome, it's nylon. Which is very strong and durable. We use the same material for all of our 3D parts.

The rest you have to buy separately. I am in the process of final edits on the manual which has a parts list which will make everything clearer.

We had envisioned most guys converting their old F1s and that most guys had MR-03 parts lying around they could use to build this.

However, I will be offering add-on packages so that guys that want to build from the ground up can do so (i.e. which would include the high speed stability kit). We also plan to offer a Kevin built special model so you don't have to do squat but pay, wait for it to arrive and then drive the crap out of it!

In terms of t-plate setup, it is adjustable, just like touring cars. That is the beauty of this system. You can adjust wheelbase to your liking.

Hmmm, never tested with other mounts. We came to the conclusion during testing (for our 2wd mounts (98mm just released and 94mm to be added (i have them but not packaged them)) that plastic is the way to go with the caveat that you use 9500kv or lower as the plastic tends to hold the heat. Agreed that alloy is nice but it weighs alot and the objective of this design was to mirror F1 style in that everything was designed for speed. Where things broke or didn't hold up to our standards, then we added material. You're right, it was a long road. Plus, trying to measure all the tiny little crap inside the stock chassis was a real hoot (not). At least according to Kevin who did all the work.

Thanks, the real thanks goes to Kevin who really did 99% of the work. I helped to direct design in some areas like integrated front nose with the bumper and stuff, but it was his baby. He really knows his stuff. I hate to sound like a salesman, but ppl should definitely buy the MC3 book, it's also probably 80-90% him.

As for the atomic motors (brushless), they do fit however they are limited in the gearing they can use as they are larger than the PN motors. We have also tried the GL Racing motors as we are a GL racing dealer. Their new 8500 or whatever motor arrives soon and we will test with that too.

Thanks for the kind words; greatly appreciated. Again, all kudos to Kevin for sticking in there.. sitting in front of the computer all night designing Mini-Z stuff : )

[Kevinmueller]

Just want to clarify one thing, the KMD-FR01 is not compatible with brushed motors with the current motor mount. I do have plans to design a brushed motor mount that will work with all brushed motors in the future.

Having the batteries length wise instead of across the chassis made the chassis a bit longer than the Kyosho F1 chassis. In order to keep the correct wheelbase length (in the 98mm T-plate setup of an Mr03) I had to shorten the rear motor mount which means that it will only work with 15mm to 16mm diameter engines (brushless). Anything bigger will not fit in (Brushed). I will be elongating the motor mount to fit brushed motors and still have the same wheelbase length of the kyosho F1 chassis (however it will be in the 94mm T-plate setup of an Mr03).

[EMU]

Kevin, thanks for the info. I was examining the pictures on mc3 site. It looks like the pcb would not accept motor wires screwed into the chassis for a brushed pcb as well. But they can just be soldered in place.

In a design that I was working on 3 years ago, I lengthened the chassis to run aaa length Lipo, and designed it for use with a 94mm mount.

I don't have any brushless electronics or motors, which is why I haven't ordered the chassis yet... But I really want to. Can you inform me of the horizontal distance between the t- plate screw holes and the center of the rear axle on the motormount? If it is close enough to my reflex mount, and I can set it up with my brushed setup, I will order the chassis and set it up. Even if it is shorter, I may be able to use the atomic 90mm mount with improvised damper arrangement.

[Kevinmueller]

Hi EMU

I sent you a private msg but could figure out how to send you the picture. This is a pic of what the motor mount looks like with a brushed engine. Notice that it does not fit the mounting holes. Maybe with the correct modifications it might work but theirs very little room.

[EMU]

Placed my order last night for the chassis. I'm excited to build it up... Now I need to start getting everything else together for the build.

[lfisminiz]

Recieved mine today! Now i just need the time...

[EMU]

I received my KMD-FR01 just before leaving for work today. Took a minute to open it up and get a look at the chassis. It is beautiful! The pictures do not do it justice.

Minimal chassis flex, which should reduce more when the servo cover is installed. Tolerances look amazingly tight for a 3d printed part. This is going to be a blast to put together once I get all of the other bits and pieces in, and find the time to do it.

It is stated in the manual for a 5 hour assembly... I may take a little more time, and spread it out over a few days.

Great work MC3! I will post pics once the main chassis is complete.

[GIHOSU]

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[cowboysir]

Finished up to servo install...getting a tie rod to slide smoothly worked best (for me at least) when using a kyosho plastic rod. Careful filing/sanding was needed but servo horn and gearbox fit perfectly.

Loving the build so far!