MadInventor

Got sent this pic by a friend today, said it was a prototype tamiya. Looks very bling, expensive, and tamiya-esque.

Anyone know anything about it ?, is it a tamiya ?

Thought I would pass on a side effect with paypal I've noticed whilst using ebay (ebay.co.uk, not ebay.com). After buying something, I've clicked the pay now button ad then paid with paypal, and my internet explorer has then returned me to ebay. Transaction goes through no problem and everything seems lickety split.

However ....

If I then go to the paypal website I found that the ebay transfer to the paypal site has left me logged into my paypal account. I noticed the same effect on a few different computers with different OS and internet explorer. This is obviously a massive security risk if you're ebaying on a shared computer or in a library / uni computer room etc, as you can leave the computer without realising your paypal accout is still open.

I get around it by always logging back into paypal and then explicitly signing out from the site.

Just thought I would make people aware of this, and see if anyone else has noticed this effect.

I was having a close at a txt-1 shell recently, thinking about how the pre-painted shell paint job is created. It definetly looks at though is printed on, rather than painted on, as the black fade at the back is pixellated. I got to thinking how does this get applied to the shell, and this is what I think:

1. Take a blank, flat sheet of lexan and print on the paint scheme with some sort of computer controlled printing device.
2. Put the painted blank through a press to cut off the excess lexan, but don't punch the body holes.
3. Put the blank in a vacuum machine, and suck to shape, then punch the body mount holes.

The shells look to me to be too well finished / cut to have been cut by hand, and cutting by hand would make producing them very expensive.

If anyone has any knowledge of how this is actually done it would be quite interesting to know.

Also, have tamiya used this type of pre-produced lexan shell on any other car, where multiple colours have been applied to the shell.

I think they could do some very nice factory produced shells using this technology, and reduce the need for applying large decals for coluorful paint schemes. As a couple of examples, a pre printed hotshot shell could have the white decals used under the numbers pre printed onto the shell, and the gold highlight stripes that go on the sides of the shell. This would mean the white and would not be prone to chips from gravel on the sides. Perhaps it is possible to only partially print the paint scheme, so that the builder only has to add the final colour over the top of the detail painting, and the sponsor stickers on the outside.
I am sure I am not the only one who has applied the orange and yellow stripes to a hornet shell to find them lifting at the edges after some use, and not lining up perfectly, etc. If these could be pre-printed on, leaving the rest of the shell clear, it would make it very easy to produce a very professional looking shell, and of course the details painted on the inside are less prone to rollover damage.

Thoughts ?

Here's a quick of my lunch box 4x4x4 running. You can see the extremely tight turning circle the 4ws and short wheelbase give it. It doesn't come out in the video, but the transmission is so quiet yuo can now hear the road noise from the tyres.



There's also a bit on the end of my metaltop pajero with a 27T racing motor in it. Thought I would try going faster rather slower with it, like most people do for trail running.

What's a good peak charger and where can I get one ????

I need:

Discharge / charge capability.
Display of capacity charged / discharged
NiCad / NiMh / LiPo Capable.
Peak detect.

I have been using an ansmann xbase 2.0, which has all the functionality I require, but it refuses to put anywhere near full capacity into the batteries. I've tried upping the delta peak value for the NimH to 10mV, but it still refuses to charge properly. E.g. puts 700mAh into a 3300 battery. It quite often will discharge more voltage from the charger than it puts in if you try to charge it more than once. I've tried both manual and auto modes for current limitting and am charging at 1c


I've tried the batteries on a PAG charger I've borrowed and that puts in full capacity no problem, but I'm not spending £600 on a PAG.

Can anyone suggest a decent charger similar to the xbase 2.0, but that does what it says on the tin ???

TIA