FR-D Vs MR-DRB-REW Scale Projects

When you are chasing scale, I guess at some point you have to try Front Motor / Rear Drive.

When I was living in Japan, I saw and drove over 50 different conversions in the development of CS 4WD Chassis.

But Why so many?

Front, Mid, left, right, central and Rear Motor;
Centre and rear Battery ;
inline, lateral , split pack Battery ;
Rigid, Flexible and Weighted Alloy Chassis ;

But Why?

Well, individuality is something that the Japanese do very very well.You could say the manufacturers were chasing performance, but ultimately they were chasing the niche market.

With so many different products on sale in a flooded market, How do you make yourself stand out?
 
In 2013 RWD really kicked off with the Wrap Up Next FR-D developed to take the 4WD Drift Package and turn it into something completely new. It came from a very solid perspective.

Realism. Not performance, Not Competition, but Realism.

In a way it was nice to see the likes of D-Like build their RE-R Hybrid because those guys embraced the weight shift mantra of making the chassis visually as dynamic as real cars as well.

The FR-D V3 incorporates a focus on weight shift so it's a natural for a scale looking machine.
My .RSG. DRB-REW performs very well and strikes that balance like the D-like RER.

So I'm in the process of preparing both. FR-D and another DRB-REW.

Big lock these days is easy to achieve. Wrap Up Next really have simple and flexible components.

Mimicking the real car look of D1 and even grass roots machines at big angle is awesome. 

High Battery or High Mount Engines are also common place conversions. The DRB-Layout is low enough for belt drive lovers to get the weight shift look.

This DRB is getting the Full Ninja Black on Black treatment, so parts were sent off to the anodisers today.

Should return like this... waiting makes time for more de-construction

Now is 2016 Mid Year...

It was really great to see the latest RWD competition at Pro Shop Shift based on Drift Trains and community rather than one out single winners.

It's something that we tried to build at GCRC and continue at GCRCD with Twin and Triple comps, Battle Train comps and other stuff.  The D1 Style Comp doesn't promote the same effect.

It takes away the need for outright speed and builds in the KDF Keep Drifting Fun mentality. Not everyone needs a million dollar chassis even if it's cool. You can still take the prize.  

Now that RWD Competitions are in place. We respect the people out there who only want one thing, and that is going flat out on huge open asphalt surfaces like Yokomo's Yatabe Arena. This is where YD-2 was developed. Have RWD cars become faster... Yes. Can they exceed the 4WD in many situations YES.

We know this because 2WD PAN car and 2WD Buggy are premier competition classes.

I haven't seen too many YD-4 sold so we can take it as progression that CS is definitely evolving into the RWD competition machine. And this is where Yokomo YD-2 has forgotten about scale and gone chasing speed and "RC" trophies.

That's not really my style.

I am more the scale modeller so I don't want to chose a single body shell only because it handles well.

THE Yokomo GP Sports S15 is THE one for that, but I will choose a Drift Body because it resembles a real car that I have owned or want to own.

So I am putting an FR-D into the RE-Xtreme stable with this V3 Weight Shift design and I'll be putting that front motor on show. 

FR-D = Front Motor, Rear Drive - Drift.

The FR-D is however a maintenance nightmare. Superfluous gears, hard to mount components.

Motor goes here,  first take everything apart!!!

   
Want to change ratio?  First take even more than everything apart!!!

A bit like working on a real car for an engine swap ... devote a day to any major change. 

But it all starts with a motor...

Should it behave like a Torquey V8 21.5T or Revving Torque-less Rotary 8.5T, I usually tend towards the free revving option.

So a nice lightweight Active Hobby shaft installed also.

Wrap Up Next steering already showing capable ackerman action.

The rear end will get some more upgrades or side-grades for looks rather than performance.

New rear end is good for maintenance.

It will take more than a few weeks for both these projects to be tuned for action.

Target body is PAB-120 Trueno