I have an old 1/9 scale Kyosho Toyota 4 Runner - gas powered, which has a CCVT gearbox (really is a continuously variable transmission with Neutral, Forward speeds and Reverse).
The transmission is mechanically shifted using a servo.
However, due to the material used for the case (hard clear-ish plastic):
1) It starts leaking at the feet (where it's attached to the chassis) because the screw holes crack
2) The top post where the shift linkage is mounted breaks because the post is plastic and it breaks over time.
I'm thinking of coming up with a replica using aluminum. It would be stronger and would look way cool (anodized black maybe)
Challenges are:
1) A clear plastic/acrylic window on the side would be nice or a dipstick to measure the oil capacity
2) The internal structure of the shell is pretty complicated
The seal between the shells does not have to be fancy, we could just use RTV gasket maker
Attached are some pictures, I will post more details later.
You can see that in this picture, the top post is already broken.
Please let me know what you think about this idea. I had taken a class in CAD design (using Pro E) so I could do some of the design if I can get my hands on a CAD software.