[thefro526]

I saw a demo base built using the 446 a few months ago and I was definitely impressed with how well packaged everything seemed to be. Personally, my favorite feature is direct drive from the transmission to the center wheel couple, it really helps to make the drive essentially bullet proof. Otherwise, I the module lends itself to lower CG designs than a traditional 'transmission on top of rail' setup since the guts of the transmission can be moved down relative to the floor by about 2-3".

I did notice that the drive was a bit on the heavy side, but all things considered, it's not a bad place to hide some weight since it's down low. If you're really concerned about pulling a few pounds out, it's easy enough to swap out a few of the larger gears for their aluminum equivalents. Just swapping out the 2 56T Wheel and the 2 50T Idler Gears to Aluminum would net you a savings of 1.3lbs per module, or 2.6lbs per drive train. If you really wanted to keep pushing the weight down, it's possible to drop even another pound by replacing the shifting gears and initial cluster gears, but I don't think the expense is needed.

One minor tweak I would make if I were going to use this is to swap out all of the connections that hold the two module sides together from through bolts and spacers to a female x female standoff and a short bolt on either side. Same thing with the axles. I think this would make servicing the drive a bit easier, but that's just me...