Panther, the building of a beast
 

My Axial Yeti, Snowman (the Abominable) has proven to be a beast in all respects, but is now in need of some company. Therefore, a Bomber shall be built and Panther will be its name. I intend for it to crawl, trail and race alongside my Yeti.

I've made the first subassembly and so far, the build is pretty much identical to bilinvic's RR10 Bomber, which has to be a good thing:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...050185af7a.jpg

Of course, a fair bit remains to be done. I am slowly procuring parts and will start the actual build in about two months, when we've moved to Australia. When I built my Yeti, I wanted it bullet proof from start, since delivery times to Sweden can be quite long and I wanted to spend time driving it, instead of waiting for parts. With this Bomber, thinking is about the same.

Motor and ESC, to be driven on 3S:
Holmes Hobbies Puller Pro BL540 3500kv (to be driven on 3S)
Castle Mamba X: I have it in my Yeti and love the aux-options, especially when coupled with a 2-speed transmission.
Axial 2-speed transmission
Savox SW-0231MG waterproof servo for shifting duties. Overkill, but it's already in my bits box.
Vanquish motor plate
Vanquish motor cam

Steering servo:
Savox SB-2290SG: if bilinvic is happy with this one, I will be too.
Vanquish 20mm servo horn
Castle 10A BEC: maybe not necessary, but it should give clean power to the servo when most needed.

Front axle:
Original AR60 axle: I was thinking about getting SSD axles, which I have on my Yeti, but can't really justify the cost. I'll run these until they break, then upgrade. I have a spare AR60 from my Yeti, so that can go in until upgrades arrive.
Boom Racing Kronik SS beef tubes, a lot cheaper than the original Beef Tubes, especially when living in Sweden. I couldn't justify the cost of the BTs.
Locked Up RC FI spool: this seems to be one of the best out there. I do like the one Holmes Hobbies makes, but it was out of stock.
SSD Pro C-hubs: gotta spread the dough, Vanquish can't have it all.
SSD HD D60 knuckles
Vanquish servo mount: some people have had problems with the stock plastic mount bending. This won't.
Vanquish servo clamps: some people have had problems with the stock plastic clamps breaking. These won't.

Rear axle:
Original AR60 axle
Boom Racing SS beef tubes
Locked Up RC FI spool
Vanquish clamping lockouts: together with the steel tubes, these should make the rear axle strong enough, right?

Links:
Incision stainless steel links, all way around. On my Yeti, I started out with SSD aluminum upper rear links, but have now changed to Incision, since I got tired of changing broken M3 rod ends.

Trailing arms:
Original, with aluminum side plates. I have spares from my Yeti kit, so should they break I will put in the spares while I wait for aluminum arms from SSD.

Tires and wheels:
ProLine Hyrax 2.2": these are doing great on my Yeti and, again, if bilinvic likes them, I probably will too. He has really built the reference-Bomber, hasn't he?
SSD Champion PL wheels: good looking indeed.
CI Double Deuce 5.5" Foams with comp cut, soft front and medium back.

Miscellaneous:
Team KNK stainless steel screws
Robinson Racing 1/8" to 5mm reducer sleeve
Expert electronics Y-harness with reverser: needed for the shifting servo
Traxxas shock rebuild kit, TRA2362, for less leakage from the shocks.

What do you think? Does it seem like a good start? Further upgrades, like drive shafts, will come along as things break. Lights and scale detailing when I find the funds for it. Paint scheme will be mainly black (of course, it's a panther) with some grey, blue and yellow detailing. Hence aluminum parts will mostly be black.

Panther, the building of a beast
 

It’s been nearly 40 minutes. Whachu got?

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...3b0b1c29e4.jpg

Re: Panther, the building of a beast
 

Definitely a great start!

Re: Panther, the building of a beast
 

Looks good. I don't think you need the Castle 10A BEC with the Mamba X, but if you feel you need it get the 2.0 as it comes waterproofed.

Re: Panther, the building of a beast
 

Great start, I think I would skip the BEC also, since the Castle Mamba X's built in one is quite capable, save some cash and rig space. I have one with a Savox SA-1283SG steering servo and it runs flawlessly on 2/3s

Re: Panther, the building of a beast
 

Thanks for the input. I have the old BEC lying around already, but if you think I'll do without it I won't bother, to save some space. It might come in handy once I get to installing lights, in six months or so...

Re: Panther, the building of a beast
 

I am about to start working on the graphics, but since I haven't bought the kit yet, I don't know the panel dimensions. Could someone please give me the basic measurements, length and width, of the roof, hood and side panels? That would be very much appreciated. I have looked around quite a lot, but can't find it anywhere.

Re: Panther, the building of a beast
 

Xtra speed tubes from RCmart are even cheaper and ship for free.

Re: Panther, the building of a beast
 

Roof-130mm x 130mm
Hood-180mm x 130mm
Side Panels-200mm x 70mm
approximately that is..

Re: Panther, the building of a beast
 

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d781e3d8da.jpg

One is a Wraith the left is he Bomber.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...664a8203a8.jpg

Re: Panther, the building of a beast
 

Thanks for the tip, unfortunately my Kronik tubes are on their way already.

Great! Thanks a lot to both of you!

Re: Panther, the building of a beast
 

Big things have small beginnings...
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ba60eee8b0.jpg

Skickat från min SM-G920F via Tapatalk

Re: Panther, the building of a beast
 

This picture didn't stick to the post above. Looks good, doesn't it?

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e9b1266cf6.jpg

Edit: can't upload pics via taptalk, don't know why. But believe me when I tell you that my Hyrax tires and SSD black champion wheels look awesome combined. The CI Double Deuces can't be seen, but they feel good!

Re: Panther, the building of a beast
 

I'm not seeing any pictures in the thread yet...

Sounds like a great build so far, many of the parts are ones I've gathered for mine.

Vanquish trusses would be one more thing to make your axles really stout:

http://cdn3.volusion.com/7z62e.xvk6w...jpg?1509388456

Re: Panther, the building of a beast
 

The build continues, albeit very, very slowly. But not as slow as Duroks build though... [emoji16] I actually don't even have the kit yet, but that didn't hinder me from assembling some of the front axle. It's all SSD or Vanquish so far, nice!

Picture quality sucks, I know.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b35c96825e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e3c6a99df1.jpg

Re: Panther, the building of a beast
 

What a servo....

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Re: Panther, the building of a beast
 

As far as I understand one of the very best for this application. I hate buying twice, so instead I aim to overshoot from the start. That's why I ditched the Kronik beef tubes (well, I first ordered them, but they never arrived) in favour of SSD Diamond axles. A centered Diamond will go on the rear. Maybe not entirely justified from a durability versus economy point of view, but in addition to their durability, the Diamond axles look good!

Re: Panther, the building of a beast
 

I agree,

I actually have one my self, but its sitting on my desk while I work out what to put it in....

the SSD diffs are rad!

Re: Panther, the building of a beast
 

Slow progress!

Re: Panther, the building of a beast
 

After having done a Durok, spending months planning and slowly accumulating parts but without actually getting anywhere, I have finally a Bomber kit on its way to me. For Christmas, my wife gave me permission to order one - which proves that she really loves me, since she thinks these toys are stupid - and I didn't rest on my laurels getting that order off.

So, finally, my Bomber build is actually going to happen! Exciting!