James_0555

Couple of F201's I've had around for ages, it pains me to part with them but I'm experience a little cash shortage at the moment... Without further ado: Built chassis (never run) NIB

I'll be there too! Charging sticks and camera batteries as I type... Incidentally... I'm a bit limited on my band (basically I only have 4 and 5 I think) I presume we take steps to make sure we don't end up driving the wrong cars?! See y'all there!

Awesome, I'll be there. I'll see how my lot are looking, all being well I'll have the Mad Fighter/Bull, Rising Storm and Baja Champ up and running.

Hi all. I'm off work on the 14th... Where is this place? Would be great to give the buggies a run out, and I might be able to round up 1 or 2 others to make the trip with. I'm coming from Walsall (which is in the general vicinity of Birmingham for those who don't know...) but I'm quite good with a map. Just a place name and postcode I can shove into Multimap would be fine! Many thanks and a happy new year to all!

Various stuff I'm getting rid of... having a bit of a clearout. There's also one of the twin MSCs on there for the Twin Detonator etc cars. I've got lots of TL-01 and TB-02 chassis parts still on the sprues that I'll get around to listing, too. Soon. Ish. [EDIT] Post the link, moron... http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZjames_0555QQhtZ-1

Uhm. Yeah, title does what it says on the tin. The bodies also come with decals, wing, mirrors, wheels and tyres (ie everything you need). Here's a link, anyway. http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZjames_0555QQhtZ-1 ...or at least there will be one when the items start showing in searches.

Is it possible you've disabled the reverse? I know on some some ESCs the reverse function can be turned off for use in competitions where you're not allowed to go backwards...

on a Japanese race car?? That's Blasphemy!! Well, until a decent XK8 shell turns up...

British Racing Green!

Not sure. I think I ended up using this to sign up for eBay after all my attempts at something I wanted failed. Now I use it for pretty much everything I have to sign up for!

Well your vids like what I'm aiming at so that's great, how long does it usually take you...?

There's some really nicely done videos from some of you... I'm wondering what software you use to convert the raw footage into something better and with added music? I can't afford anything hugely fancy and expensive, just something to cut bits, add transitions and suchlike, and put some good tunes in there. Thanks in advance! James.

Personally, I think they should ditch all these walking wounded players (which at the moment is half the squad) and take some young talent to Germany. It worked pretty well for the cricket team.

Just my £0.02 on this subject. Fascinating topic, too. Apologies in advance if I waffle a bit, just got back from work... I work in a toystore, part of a small chain that has 12 'high street' stores and two large (10,000sq ft) superstores on retail parks. you'll find me in one of the superstores... Anyway, when I joined the company, we carried a large selection of model kits (Airfix, Revell, Italeri, Academy, Tamiya); diecast (Corgi, Revell, Minichamps, RC2), Hornby/Scalextric, and Tamiya R/C cars, both kits and RTR. We also had the basic batteries, radio gear. We even had a couple of the tanks and truck/trailers, and some glow-engined models. Staff were sent to do training sessions at Tamiya HQ (which was awesome!) and we had some success, sold most of our stock, and were able to deal with the first-timer issues that any shop owner or regular will know about. Recently the decision was made to axe the 'serious' R/C stuff and stick to the 'toy' (ie Nikko) type. Why was this done? I see two main reasons. Firstly, the retail industry is extremely competitive. Toy retailing is particualrly tough (enter Tesco, Asda/Wal-Mart et al) and any lines that don't give good margins and sales figures for a particular store/company are liable to be axed. Radio control is, let's face it, a niche market. Two years ago, we had a vision to essentially turn a part of two of the superstores into a 'proper' model and hobby shop. But the investment required to build up a good stock level, and the time for a hobby store to become 'established' eventually made the company, for want of a better term, 'bottle it'. Secondly, the nature of R/C means that a lot of spares/hop-ups/accessories and suchlike are needed. The initial investment to set up a new R/C store (or kits/diecast store) is a lot, as the items are mostly high-value, low-ish margin stock. As we attempted to enter the R/C market, the Powers that Be were not willing to shell out on the whole kaboodle, just some kits and RTRs to 'test the waters'. To build up your customer base, you need to support their initial purchase with these add-ons, spares, etc. As we didn't carry these, we tended to end up sending people to our LHS! So, where am I going with this? As things stand, I think the best R/C stores will have grown up over time, perhaps evolving from a kit store, and almost invariably owned by an enthusiast. The market has a greater bias towards customer service and support than most, and a lot of this will rely on the owner/manager and staff understanding their products. And, well, managing directors and buyers/product sourcers in most companies don't understand R/C. There's a whole tangent to go off on relating to the internet, and how stuff is available there too, how the best R/C shops have an excellent and established web-presence, too. As a final conclusion, the reason you don't get the mixed stores is probably because retailer will stick to what they're good at, keep away from things they don't understand, and leave the complex stuff to those who are qualified to sell it.

Yeah, but investing in boring stuff is, well, boring Although, I agree, lending Bill Gates $1000 in exchange for 1% of all MS' future profits would probably have been a wise move. Another good point about current collectors. Thinking about it, now everything is so mass-produced that it's pretty unlikely for this kind of thing to happen again anyway.

Idle musing here. I wish we could tell in advance which cars are going to be the Sand Scorchers of the 2050's. Then we wouldn't need to bother with pension schemes and suchlike! Grats on the new job, and good luck!

Hey all, Picked up a TB-02 kit a while back, I've since sold the body, and borrowed various screws, bearings, clips and suchlike from it - essentially used it for spares for myself and a couple of my friends. However, all the black plastic chassis parts are still in the bags, along with the vast majority of the metal parts. Just want to sell it off, really, as I've gone the buggy route and have a TT-01 (until I sell that...) in case I decide to go back on-road. So, anyone needing bits let me know what you want. I'll let the parts go for £5 per A,B,C etc frame (inc UK P&P), similar amount for metal bits. Alternatively if anyone wants the lot - remember most of it is still there.. I'll send it for £40 (also inc UK P&P). I've got PayPal International postage will be a bit more, but I'm basically looking to just get rid of this and make a bit of my money back...

Hi there, once again sunny days and long evenings are upon us... I'm looking for either a local club that runs off-roaders, or just to meet some people that know good spot(s) to go bashing! I go with friends from time to time but I still feel like I spend more time looking at my cars than actually driving them! I live in the Walsall area, and the best local place I've found to go is the Bescot Stadium car parks (obviously on non-match days!). If anyone knows of a place to go, a club to join, or wants to meet up and go racing/bashing, let me know... (feel free to send me a message over TC). Cheers all James. Edit: I should note that I'm only interested in Electric/Nitro off-roaders...

Well, thanks, that seems to have fixed it! I've also paid my £15 (yay) so you can see what I did, too.

Not 100% on the precise electronic theory here but here goes: ESCs give the option of braking. They do it by disconnecting the power from the motor and shorting it. This effectively turns the motor into a generator, with the electricity generating flowing in the opposite 'direction' to the way it's going. The net effect is that, the faster the motor is turning, the more power it generates to make itself turn the other way. Being connected to the entire transmission, this makes the car slow down and stop.

Thanks for that... the ESC was right next to the receiver. After an hour and a bit, I've now got the ESC sitting behind the steering servo, with the wires to the motor running along the outside of the chassis. Receiver is right at the back. I'll try it out later today. Should have thought of that, really. Lots of current + proximity to receiver = interference. While on the subject of noob questions... you mentioned putting capacitors on the motor 'just in case'... just in case of what....?

West Midlands, England

Bit of a problem here. Running a Baja Champ, near enough out-of-the-box spec apart from full ball bearings and a Super Stock Type S motor. Radio gear is an Acoms AP-202 and there's a Tamiya TEU-302 ESC in there. It all works fine. Until it gets about 15-20 metres away, then the control seems to almost completely go, and the car starts doing it's own thing. I know I should probably put a failsafe in there, but to lose control at that distance doesn't seem right. I've tried: - Tested the transmitter with another car and it was fine - Swapping the receiver, no improvement - Moving the receiver further from the motor, no improvement Anyone got any ideas, or had a similar problem? Most confusedly... James.