Ticks a lot of boxes for me:

- It's a kit
- A 4wd that takes stick packs
- Clever motor mount
- Compatible with a lot of the D4 drivetrain.

A few negatives:

- No slipper
- Rear wheels use regular dogbones

First impressions are the plastic parts are of excellent quality. The chassis is well moulded, very flat with no extreme flashing.

Can't really comment on how well it goes just yet. Need to build it first.

In regards to cost, once you add a set of rear CVD's, slipper, titanium turnbuckles and metal shocks, it's about the same cost as a B44.

In regards to building CVD's are there any tricks to stop the pins from falling out? The manual suggests using rubber cement. Any other solutions that have proven to work?

DAY 1

Up to page 17 now. Only one real surprise so far - no bearings were included for the diffs, only bushings.

Also lost an e-clip while working on the front gearbox. Would've been nice to have a spare or two.

Wondering whether I should apply diff lube to all the dogbones as per the manual. In my experience, this just gathers dirt and causes more damage.

Found a few good ideas on CVD's. Best solution I like so far is adding a few layers of heatshrink over the CVDs. Thinking of doing this in addition to threadlocking the pins in place.

DAY 2

Now up to page 21/34. Just finished building my first set of CVD's. Fiddly little things.

The buggy now has an enclosed spur gear cover, top deck, shock towers and steering rack. Unlike the D4, there are no ball bearings in the steering rack. Plastic spacers are used instead.

Also did a test fit of a D4 WCE slipper. Happy to confirm it is a drop in replacement. Looks like the D4 aluminium CVD central drive shafts from the D4 will also fit if you change the ends of the gearbox.

When building new CVD's, is it normal for them to 'catch' while rotating by hand? Do they go through a break in period and eventually smooth out?

DAY 3

Midnight and my hands are raw from attaching turnbuckles to ball cups.

The turnbuckles themselves are the same thickness as their D4 counterpart, 3mm, but made of steel as opposed to titanium. They are tastefully black in colour, much like the rest of the chassis.

A nice bonus was the inclusion of 1 degree rear hubs and 13 degree front hubs. These are in addition to the 0 degree rear and 10 degree front hubs which the manual suggests to use.

Hub pins are captured with a small screw on either side of the arm with the top of the screw partially blocking the hole. Personally, I'd feel more comfortable with a washer in there but it seems to do the job.

Would have been nice if the front bumper were slightly taller, similar to the D4 WCE (which is not a direct fit to the Cyber 10b). There are two points on the gearbox it could push against which I think would better distribute the force of an impact a little better.

Tomorrow should be a productive day being the start of the weekend. High on the agenda is to hunt down 'rubber cement'. I'm getting paranoid of pins flying in all directions. If I can find some CVD rebuild kits locally, might also have a stab at installing the D4 central drive shafts along with the WCE slipper.

DAY 4

Completed the chassis this afternoon. I did cheat and used some metal shocks from the D4. The Cyber shocks are indeed plastic replicas, right down to the eyelets. The only noticeable different is the use of e-clips to hold the piston as opposed to a small screw.

While I can understand the use of plastic shocks in an entry-level kit, using plastic nuts to hold the shocks to the tower is disappointing. They take the brunt of the impact when you land the car upside down and I can imagine them quickly grinding away.

Now it's time for some upgrades. I dremelled a small pit in the CVD pins as per the instructions here in a bid to stop the pins from flying out. Also swapped the stock rear dogbones for some D4 CVDs.

I intend to race in 4wd stock so changed the spur to 80t. Powering the car is a Losi Xcelorin 17.5 which I have been very happy with in 2wd stock. I also added in a D4 WCE slipper which is an easy drop in replacement. After much though, I removed the enclosed gear cover and opted to leave everything exposed for easier inspection. I found the inspection hatch to difficult to open and close. Since the car will only be used on the track, I figured debris would not be a large issue for me.

Finally added 4x ball bearings to the steering rack, replacing the stock plastic bushings. To be honest, it doesn't feel any different. I think everything is still a little stiff because it's new.

The motor mount mechanism is simply brilliant. The motor sits inside a bracket which swivels to adjust the distance between the pinion and the spur. All you need to do is loosen a screw to get very fine and accurate motor distance adjustment. Once you're happy, simply tighten the screw. No need to remove battery posts or poke a long hex driver from the back of the car.

Next step is to cut out the body and plan the electronics layout.

I must admit I might be wrong about the shock nuts. At the club day yesterday, I noticed all the FT B44's used plastic nuts. The theory goes that if the shock tower breaks, the nuts strip right off, minimising damage to the shocks.

DAY 5

Cut out of the body and wing on Sunday night while watching Eurovision. HPI must have intentionally designed the body to be easy and straight forward for a beginner to cut out. Lots of straight lines with all corners long and smooth. There are no tricky tight corners at all to worry about.

With the body now fitted, I've started planning the layout of the electronics. Compared to the D4, the chassis is roomy which is not surprising. The cyber 10b chassis is wider and requires less space for the battery because most of it is under the shaft. I think fitting a motor heatsink is going to be a challenge. The body kind of wraps around the motor leaving little room.

My receiver is too tall to fit in front of the motor (it interferes with the steering rack) so it looks like it'll be position either behind the servo or behind the lipo.

I have always liked to have a completely detachable motor and traditionall used deans plugs. Trying something different this time round and soldering 3.5mm bullet connectors directly to the motor's solder tabs.

DAY 6

It's alive

Electronics are now in place. Kitted out with a Hobbywing Xerun v2.0, JR RS-310 receiver, KO-Propo digital FET servo, Intellect IP3800 25C lipo, MRT transponder and Losi Xcelorin 17.5t motor.

Chassis is indeed very roomy. Spent most of the evening trying out different ways to route the cables and position the components. Decided on bringing the ESC up front directly behind the servo to balance out the weight of the motor.

I did try to position the receiver in front of the motor (B44 style) but it interfered with the steering rack.

Now comes the fun part - designing a new paint scheme. Meanwhile, I'm going driving.

DAY 7

Just some minor stuff today. Applied some JConcept chassis protector (it's actually just 2 sheets of 3M PFTE adhesive plastic). Never used the the stuff before, not sure if it's worth the effort to protect a plastic chassis.

Also had to push the battery forward to stop it from touching the rear gearbox shaft outdrive. I used some furniture adhesive feet to fill the space. This in turn caused the battery holder to interfere with the battery terminals. Only solution was to shave a bit off. End result is the battery clears the outdrive by around 1-2mm.

Also managed to put the car on the kitchen scales. 1680g all up, including Intellect 3800 lipo.

DAYS 8 & 9

Attached tyres and spent the weekend painting.

DAY 10

Attached a few stickers and peeled off the paint mask.

That's about it. All in all a very satisfying experience. Only thing left is to take it to the track and see how it runs. Have to wait for the weather to clear up a bit before that happens.

My Cyber-10B finally had its maiden run today and subsequently doesn't look as shiny as it used to.

Verdict? Easier to drive than a 2wd being my first 4wd, I don't have a lot to compare it with. The shock towers are tougher than I previously gave credit for. The car landed on it's lid plenty enough times to prove that.

The antenna has a rather large kink in it now, I imagine it'll snap after a couple more upside down landings.

After chatting with some of the more experienced stock drivers, think I might go back to the non-slipper arrangement. Save a bit of weight and reduce the rotational mass.