I've been wanting to give you oval truck enthusiasts an update on the PROTOform Oval Racing Truck body for a couple weeks now - but I hate spreading "wishfull thinking" news instead of hard facts. My hunch that the ORT project might be slightly late due to decal printing delays unfortunately did come true.

However - GOOD NEWS! :woohoo: I recieved word late yesterday that the decals had just been run and on Sept 26th we (Proline) will be able to send out enough for those running the truck class at the opening BRL event at Tri-State Hobbies in Cincinnati OH. They will be sent to one of our "oval friendly" rc distributors. I realize that this doesn't give you truck racers much (if any) prep or test time - and I do apologize for that. I assure you, I did everything in my power to get this project done on time - without sacrificing quality.

The ORT will have an official release of Oct 15th at which time there will be photos posted on the Protoform web site.

I'm pretty excited about the way it turned out - if I can be so bold. I'd love to see the NASTRUCK class grow in the BRL as well as rc oval racing in general.
- The ORT is made to be run at a hight of 4.5 inch tall for foam racing and 4.75 wth capped tires.
- The rear spoiler is marked for the .75 inch BRL max. spoiler height rule but there is extra material there for other applications (and novice racers)
- The decal sheet includes 2 different sets of headlights and 2 different grills - just to break things up a bit in a spec. class
- The body mount length will vary only slightly between the left and right sides - but there definitely is a slight difference.

If you have any questions regarding the ORT body - fire away.

Thanks for your understanding and patience.

Dale Epp - Protoform Race Bodies

Dale YGM.............

What is the total length of the spoiler? Touring Oval and Spec Truck rules allow 2" max.

Tony;

The full spoiler length on the ORT is 1 5/16th inch. (approx. the same as what you used to win the Snowbirds Race)

Dale - Protoform

Tony;

The full spoiler length on the ORT is 1 5/16th inch. (approx. the same as what you used to win the Snowbirds Race)

Dale - Protoform

Thanks Dale. Can't wait to see one....................

The first 200 ORT bodies will be at MSA Distributors on Friday 9/28/07 and will start shipping that day. Everyone owes Dale Epp and Harmony @ Pro-line a big thumbs up, Dale is paying the 2nd day air charge to get them to us by friday so we can get them to you. Pro-line received the mold on Tuesday and the bodies are shipping today.

thanks
Barry Hill
Hyperdrive/MSA

Once again someone who cares comes threw. Thanks to Dale and to Barry for the work they do to get the racers what they need.

Any photos yet,Dale?

Thanks Dale!!

Thanks Dale. Your body's are second to none!! Keep up the GREAT work!!

Photo's, Photo's, Photo's. I would love to see how it turned out. :thumbsup:

John

AWSOME got mine today.....

Wolfman

Dale, Awesome job on this one it is so realistic and detailed, I know why I only run Protoform bodies, simply the best.


Jason Hack

Photo's, Photo's, Photo's. I would love to see how it turned out. :thumbsup:

John

Couple pics of a clear one on the Pro-Built thread! :thumbsup:

Body looks really good w/o paint....

This body should excite some people

Looks very SHARP!

One of those on a Nitro-Pan Chassis would be NEAT!!

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w13/wooduster/hobbyshop015.jpg

Here is a photo

Mark, looks nice. Looks like you have got the body mounted on a KSG? The rear body post on mine fall inbetween the back roll bars. Just wondering what you may have done to mount it.

Mark O'Brien;

Thanks for posting the photo. Nice paint! I still haven't recieved mine from my painter(s) yet - so it was real nice to see an ORT all painted up.

OVAL TRUCK RACERS ** PLEASE NOTE the following:
Rear Body Mounts - knowing exactly where to put the down-tubes in the rear bed area of the ORT was a bit of a crap shoot. The width spacing on the rear body posts on most pan cars tend to vary - so I had to find a happy medium. I'm guessing some of you guys will need to do a few mods to get the posts positioned just right. I moved the down-tubes inboard slightly from what's true-to-scale because I feel the posts are better on the outside of the molded in down-tubes. You oval racers are a clever bunch ;) - so I know you'll figure it out nicely.

Front Air Dam Area - as you can see I molded in a slight yet visible impression of the 3 aluminum "splitter supports" that are now standard issue on the Craftsman trucks and COT cars. Do yourself a little favour: when the ORT body is all painted and trimmed - put a bead of ShoeGoo behind these 3 little verticle details. This should prevent any folding or splitting (of the lexan) from happening the first time your body takes a hit :drunk: against one of those 3 areas.

Molded Roll Cage Downtubes - there's 4 separate pieces of mask mat'l on the window mask sheets specifically for this area. The real Craftsman trucks have a sturdy lexan "filler panel" that fills that triangle between the downtube and the box. (for aero stability) If you use these masks it'll make your truck look more like the real racetruck. (I hope you'll take the few minutes extra to use them)

Rear Spoiler - there's a slight "web" marked in the lexan as part of the trimline - at each end of the rear spoiler. This will give the spoiler some extra support. However - if you want to adjust the spoiler angle to find a good handling balance - just cut it off and use your God-given "metal brake" device(your index finger'n'thumb) to carefully change the spoiler angle either up or down, to change the downforce on the rear.

That's about all I can think of right now. Thanks for all your nice comments btw.

Dale Epp - Protoform

Mark, looks nice. Looks like you have got the body mounted on a KSG? The rear body post on mine fall inbetween the back roll bars. Just wondering what you may have done to mount it.

I put the newer body mount base piece (technical term I know)"KSG1441" on. Which has 3 different offsets. Its not centered, but I think it should work. Can't wait to run in the olde dude class this year.

Thanks Dale for putting out a nice body. I used the mask for the roll cage down tubes. I should have put a side pic up as well, it does make it look NICE !.

Het Mike,

Post more pics! lol A side shot would be nice.

Oh....and as a side note, detailed window outlines should be available from Killer Koncepts on Monday!

Must say, I couldn't be more pleased with the first reports regarding the performance of the new PROTOform ORT body. If any of you are wondering about how it works - about all I can do is quote the 13.5 Masters Class Top Qualifier and A-Mail winner of the opening round of the BRL tour. (hope he doesn't mind)

Dusty Kemp quote: "Great work...she's a winner right out of the gate! I can't tell you how cool it is that I was the inaugural winner of the ProtoForm Masters truck class.
There was a lot of talk about the trucks being cheesy, lesser than , etc...but before the weekend was done, my truck was faster than every single 13.5 entry, car or truck other than one other...Jamie Hanson in 13.5 with a Toyota. My buddies were asking for an age limit reduction so they could play too! I love it.....and wanted to thank you for the effort you provided to make it happen."

SnowBirds Oval Truck Champ Tony Moffre quote after the first weekend of ORT testing:
Spec Truck
Feedback has been very positive. With the addition of a 7.5" x 2" rear spoiler, guys have said the truck turns in better and is more stable off the corner. Basically going from the Brand X body to the ORT the truck is more stable but turns better.

Touring Oval
The fastest lap time I have ever run with 13.5 TC in Darlington (380' dog-leg oval) was a 6.5 and many 6.6's earlier in the summer. Saturday I ran one 6.3, a few 6.4's, and a ton of 6.5's. I had a 7"x2" rear blade, body mounted up against the bumper, trimmed on the 4.5" line on the front and 1/4" below the 4.5 line in the rear (1/4" rake). Man does this sucker turn, but it has stability off the corners. Compared to the Brand X body I had to drop the front posts one set of holes and the rears stayed the same.
Most of the time the trucks are lazy on entry and feel good coming off (2" rear blade). The ORT turns down in awesome but has that planted feel as well.

CONGRADULATIONS Dusty! Thanks for the detailed feedback Tony.

Dale - PROTOform Race Bodies

Dale,

I see that the 190mm Truck body 1478-00 is discontinued... :( Several guys have been using that as their HS Body on the Velodrome and are sad to see it disappear.

...anyone know of a shop that still has these in stock? (They are the Chevy Silverado for TC's...the 190mm not the 200's)

Big thanks to Jody Miller for the Killer Koncepts splash and to Dale Epp for the awesome new truck body.

Thanks for all of your hard work guys.

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/6852/ortsidexi7.jpg

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9555/ortgrillta4.jpg

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/8790/orttopqw7.jpg