Produced by Traxxas during 1989, the Radicator was the successor of the Bullet. Many parts were news. The chassis, some minors modification on the drive train and transmission.
Compare to the Traxxas Bullet, the internal tranmission gear was in 48dp with a strong planetary differential.
The T6 Alluminium chassis and FRP plate was replaced by ABS plastic to saved weigh. Moreover this new designed chassis enable the lengthwise battery position to improved handling. But during this evolution, the Radicator lost the gold alluminum dampers and the bell crank steering.
The body impressed by the lack of similarity with the previous body. It was very angular and included an adjustable rear wing. One piece rims and a largest bumper renforced the “bullet proof” design
If you keept in mind the price, this Traxxas entry-level buggy, with many impressive performance feature, was very competitive to other manufacturers. It forged a piece of experience for lot of RC beginner.
Traxxas offered many parts to improved the buggy with TRX Racing Accessories. That was the beginning of this project.
Préviously, I intended to find the TRX parts trought Ebay, local auction, forum etc…
And start to build this Ultimate Radicator.
First I made a wing nerf in Kydex. This material is very easy to cut and shape.
The body mount are present to fix properly the body.
In this case, Kydex is also cut for front and rear bumper.
As you can see, Aluminum T6 dampers, Graphite front and rear tower, chassis complete the buggy. RPM white ball cup for better looking. A repro body from “Team Blue Groove” and a decals sheet from “MCI decals” laters and that is the time for me to test this Ultimate Radicator on the track.
On the track this buggy looks amazing with all his colors. The white parts always “do the job”.
First drive is outstanding, the buggy is very well balanced during jump. The TRX ball differential is efficient and smooth. But the transmission is still noisy with the external 32dp gear.
Even though I will one day find the 48 Pitch gears TRX, that are extremely rare nowadays.
I lowered the buggy as best as possible. Dampering is pretty good but hard to setup. The pistons shocks have big holes and need thick silicone shock fluid like 70w.
To sum up, compare to a modern electronics, the Futaba MC210 ESC and the Futaba Attack Radio are not pretty progressive and the buggy is nervous during turns and acceleration. But this behavior contributes to the pleasure of driving cause it perform well on the track.
David from RC4ON
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