Stampede Ram Air Buggy Body (Mili-Pede Body Part 2)

Stampede Ram Air Buggy Body (Mili-Pede Body Part 2)

Again using my trusty and super durable black ABS plastic, the idea this time was to shrink and trim the body down even more and go to a one piece design toward the 1930 no-nonsense design like a old Maserati Tipo track race car. The old race cars looked like streamlined buggy bodies with all the suspension exposed. Another design point to overcome was that I liked the spoiler on the Mili-Pede, but it lacked serious durability. I have done a couple of quick and dirty ram-air ducts for the ESC (before the XL-1 upgrade), however wanted a driver's cockpit look and basic air circulation rather than creating a ram-air concept. On a side note - Ram air is only effective at speed, ESCs only really heat up when you are going slow, the whole idea is logically counterproductive but it looks cool. My horribly destructive driving style also dictated some rear
motor and roll over protection. A huge Ram air duct/cockpit and sturdy spoiler would provide that "weeble wobble" level of protection the shock towers and ESC would need. One of the things that drives me nuts is that I have to use 4 body clips to hold on a standard body - Why? So the body I made uses one body clip at the rear and dual zip ties at the front a hinged pivot point - simple and very strong.

I formed the body as one piece and the ram-air and spoiler out of another and secured them together with Chicago screws. The ram-air duct/cockpit turned out to be a perfect carry handle and happens to be just about center of mass. Although not a surprise the ram-air duct did keep the ESC cooler during my bashing sessions. Because I removed the stock brace/body posts, I also made a shock tower support/brace out of ABS to strengthen the shock tower up.
The body needed some stickers, but I was all out of anything really cool, so found some Traxxas stickers to use temporarily.

What about water on the ESC? - I found that by soaking down the ESC with White Lightening (and let it dry completely overnight) it provides protection to the degree that I have never really worried about shorting the ESC. Also the ram-air/cockpit provides a very surprising amount of all weather shielding to the ESC.