Samix TRF418 Chassis Kit
Around one month ago news of a new conversion kit for the TRF418 were pubished, by the relatively new and unknown company Samix. A prototype of the conversion kit had earlier been used by Nicholas Lee to get a very good result at the TITC in Thailand.
Well, one month has passed and the kit is now available, and since I found it interesting and good looking, I now have it here. So let's take a closer look!
The kit includes what you see in the below picture. What's missing from the picture is the basic steel hardware included. So in short you get a new lower deck, upper deck, alu adjustable battery holders, a steering brace and post and finally the motor mount and centre shaft + bearings. The motor mount is obviously at the heart of this conversion as it completely changes the way it's mounted to the lower deck with a central mounting very similar to the latest edition of the Yokomo BD7, no doubt that's where the inspiration has come from.
Here you have the included lower deck with a shape fairly similar to the original 418 item, but there are many differences when you look closer. The thickness of the material is the same at 2.25mm, but the material itself is different with a dull or matte final layer finish. The lower deck is also very narrow at 82mm, some 5 mm narrower than the original 418 lower deck. As you can see the lower deck still has mounting holes for the original motor mount as well. The Samix lower deck is slightly softer as well.
The upper deck obviously has the same matte finish, with the material 2.0mm thick just as the standard part. I found the upper deck to be slightly too long, so I removed some material from the front and rear edges to make sure it drops in without tweaking the car, just like you would do on the original Tamiya parts.
Next up the motor mount, which as I mentioned must be considered the central part of this conversion. Here I have already fitted the central mount at the front part which connects to the upper deck, as well as the center shaft. All these parts are quite beautifully finished with nice edges and machining work. Not quite TRF level but very close. The anodizing is slightly off but still the right kind of light blue. The difference likely comes from the material used. No issues with fitment on any of these parts and the motor mount only touches the lower deck around the front and rear mounting holes.
As you can see just by looking at it, this is a light part. The center shaft has a larger diameter compared to the stock 418 shaft, and that's the reason you get 2 bearings included as the original ones would not fit. Again good fitment and a solid construction here.
The Samix motor mount has locating tabs as well that goes into coresponding holes in the lower deck to minimise movement in crashes or during racing.
Fitted to the lower deck you can see how it mounts.
This is what it looks all mounted on the TRF418. Even like this with the central screws both front (steering) and rear (motor mount), the chassis feels softer than the original 418. WIth the possibility to remove these screws/front steering brace you can of course alter flex according to the consitions as well. Overall it feels very good once assembled but of course track testing will be the judge.
A closer look at the steering brace and post mounted to the upper deck.
As you can see here the forward leg of the motor mount now doubles as a nice battery locator making sure the battery won't move in towards the belt, so no need for anything else.
So that's it for a first look at the Samix TRF418 kit. As you can see I chose not to fit the adjustable battery holders.
Once the weather warms up a bit more and tracks get ready I will make some back-to-back comparisons on track with the original configuration and return with my results.
Samix TRF418 Chassis Kit Test
After the build review of the Samix TRF418 kit, which I posted when the kit became available late April, I have been waiting for a chance to test it. Due to the weather, track availability and other more urgent matters this test has been delayed more than I wanted, but I finally got a chance to do a proper test last week. And while I have now back-to-backed it with the original 418 configuration, I will continue this and possibly post more findings later.
Anyway, back to last weeks test and first impressions. The way I tested it was that I bolted it on one piece at a time to see the effect of each one of them. Meaning that I started off with a standard 418, then exchanged the lower deck followed by the top deck and finally the motor mount, allowing a couple of packs running between each step to form a good idea of everything.
The results were all positive with each step improving the car, which obviously is a very good thing and left me very positive by the last run of the day. It was clear already after just changing the lower deck to the narrower and crucially softer, Samix spec chassis, that this improved the grip in the car. The car however really came together late in the day with the motor mount added. The 418 also felt even more responsive to change in this configuration, usually a good sign of a chassis working well. The final configuration I run the car in was as mentioned with the Yokomo style motor mount, with all screws in the upper deck. I did not run the steering brace and post connecting to the upper deck at the front though, but did run the screw in the center post in front of the motor mount (I found this was significantly better in this configuration).
So following the positive first impression and build of the Samix conversion, the same trend definitely continued on track. Look forward to more running with it.
