Dances With Cages

This was pretty much my next project before the diff blew in my 1:1 Lada 2104(wagon) a couple of months ago, depleting any hobby spending for a while. CC01 even mimicks the Niva suspension, with wishbones at the front and 4 link rear axle, and I don't have a strong desire for a real Niva. A Landfreeder can donate its body to restore my Bush Devil, and the running gear under a Niva shell. I'd love to get the VFTS body from Retro RC Bodies in Hungary, but they don't offer postage to New Zealand, or respond to emails. http://retrorcbody.syl.hu/products/lada-vfts

I've found the best things I did for my TB02 diffs was to replace the plastic diff halves with Yeah Racing TB Evo III aluminium parts, and replace the screw with the HPI one of the same length. The HPI screw is much stronger, so they can be tightened without fear of breaking, and the alloy diff halves are bombproof. I'd guess the TB02 was a bit of a rushed job with it's flakey standard diffs and the previously mentioned short shaft, but a few well chosen upgrades improve reliability hugely. Adding an alloy motor mount, universals, and shimming the diffs correctly in the housing is the icing on the cake.

I have 2 of the older GT3s and I'm pretty happy with them after a couple of years use for bashing and .They have memories for 8 models, but need a complete reprogram of models 2-8 initially. This is easy enough to do as almost all settings are adjustable and the functions of all the switches can be programmed as you see fit. I have turned off access to things like sub-trims, ABS, etc so they don't get bumped on or off, and they can all be adjusted from the menu anyway. I can't recall having any interference problems or lost signal unless a receiver was physically damaged. Any crash bad enough to damage a receiver meant the car wasn't going far anyway. The quality and fit/finish of the radios are OK, but certainly not up to the same level as top branded gear. I've had one wheel centering mechanism break, and one throttle trigger crack it's mount on the pot, but both were easily fixed. Both have been running on 3s lipo for a while without issue as I got sick of replacing batteries. One feature I found by playing around is that the reading from both throttle and wheel pots can be 'sort of' reset by holding down both the UP and DOWN buttons when switching the transmitter on. This brings up a screen showing the digital value of their current position (0000-03FFF). Neither radio used the full range so that may be an issue for those who want full 1024 bit resolution. For anyone who has one of these and wants to play with this feature, simply turn off the radio afterwards, DO NOT press the chromed rotary button as this will reset all your model memories to factory settings, requiring a reprogram of models 2-8 again. All said and done, I'm very happy with these radios as they work well for me. They're no match for a top of the range Known Brandname, but they do work well, and I'd happily recommend them. Hope that helps, Justin.

The short ones are also the same dimensions as the short shock shaft ends and make a handy replacement if you need one.

You might want to have a look at HPI part #6115, they are a set of bearing adaptors for the Monster SS front wheels, but form memory work with several truck sized fronts.

That looks like one of the bodies made by Frewer in New Zealand many years back, not sure of the name though. I won a couple in a local auction. Started painting one and have one un-touched.

There is a great thread about these radios over at the rctech.net forums. Members there have figured out how to reprogram the firmware to extend its capability and correct some flaws in the original set-up. I have one of the earlier GT3 radios, but will probably get one of these in the near future and give it a whirl.

Hi Kalsh. There are a couple of threads on RC Tech about these conversions. Here and here. They seem to cover a lot of the ground you may need. Hope that helps, Justin.

Hi Berman. I've done that recently with half a dozen old batteries, ended up with 4 decent ones and 2 "bunny" packs made up from the left overs. Well worth doing if you have the tools and don't mind putting in the time. Will send you a PM. Cheers, Justin.

My most regular runner is my Blackfoot Extreme. I can just grab it and run almost anywhere without worrying I'll break something. I'm not the most graceful of drivers, and it doesn't have great steering precision so it ends up hitting trees, the fence, or anything else that is around, but just keeps on running without breaking. With a cheap 17X2 motor it's ample fun for running without being too fast, and I don't need to be too fussy where I run it.

I never realised how much I used mine until I lost them. Suddenly it was almost impossible to undo the nuts on many 3mm bolts. Luckily I picked one up from our local LHS today along with some spares for my DT-02. Adding it to my keyring sounds like a great idea, always handy.

If you bring up the programming menu by pushing down the wheel button you can scroll to the 'PROG KEY' option and change it from there. Work you way through the option with the UP and Down keys and when you get to the one with 'ABS KEY' option scroll the wheel until you get the 'NULL' option. Press the ENTER key then hold down the wheel to close the menu. Or you can assign the ABS function to a switch of your choice (SWF1 maybe) then you will be able to enable/disable it at will. Hope that helps, Justin.

First to the tyres. Yes, almost all touring car tyres are the same sizes. If you stick to Tamiya ones and avoid anything that says narrow or wide you should be fine to start with. Many hobby shops also sell them pre mounted on rims to make it easier, but they are often not glued, and gluing them stops them coming off the rims. With the bearings your first step should be the front and rear axles. I'm not familiar with the FF-01 chassis but if you disconnect the upper arms front and rear, remove the wheels, hex hubs and pins, the axles will come out easily. Inside the axle holders you'll probably find white plastic or brass metal bushings. Remove these and replace with the same size bearings. When you've done all 4 wheels it's time to do the gearbox. Much the same story again. Remove, open up, replace bushings and re-assemble. You should notice that everything moves much easier afterwards, your run time is longer, and generally the car works much smoother. If you're working on a kitchen table, lay down some newspaper and lay parts out in defined groups Left front, right front etc. Hope that helps.

Hi there. I've been using a large Traxxas servo saver in my BFX and it's been great. A lot stronger than standard and long enough to work well. If you compare the standard one to many others it's rather long so many replacements won't allow you enough steering throw. Regards, Justin.

I don't have an avatar pic yet, but my nickname is about riding motorcycles. I make a living playing in traffic to deliver mail and also ride for leisure. If anyone here has followed the newsgroup rec.motorcycles they may also spot another reference. I also use RevDWC in other forums. This alludes to my ordainment in the Church of the SubGenius.