PandaBear

Stripped by cap screws laughing, fellas... don't snap a conrod now.

quote:...old rusty wheels on it... id=quote>id=quote>Hey Mike, forgot to leave you a tip. Unfortunately don't have any closeup pix of the wheels only about a month ago... but just with a couple of hours spent with masking tape and a can of spraypaint - voila!! There was even enough silver leftover to coat 2 Mounties!

Sigh... one needs to earn a Licence to drive, yet no one needs any qualifications to be a parent... take good care of the little one, Mike. Haha, white thing "looks good" in the pix because it was done up just for that!! A major rush-job DIY refurbishment last month, just so that it looked acceptable through the lens... but nowhere near 'concours' by far - it has never been off the road in its life. But it is a runner too & earns its keep; nothing gets a free home at the Bear palace. Australia is very kind to old machinery, very lucky in that respect. No salty roads, low humidity and a huge MG fan base + spares backup. Bs here are too cheap and plentiful, huge choice. They built them here too (CKDs) so there are a few detail differences... eg our cars usually don't have heaterboxes. Over the years Oz has also imported a lot of UK & US cars, so there's heaps available. Am starting to study Bs now myself, hmm, interesting evolution... [;-)] And heh heh... the wheels aren't interchangeable. The TD/TF uses 15", Bs run 14", right? Someone tried to flog a TF recently with a B's 14s, it just doesn't look right. PRO:- this thing gets more passerby stares than a Ferrari, 911 or NSX. CON:- can never find a NIB one of these, d'oh!

A surfboard (Barbie's?) and whitewall tyres, that's what he needs!!

Color (# bits?), greyscale or B&W, Chris? imho the later cars eg TL01 can easily be done in greyscale or even hires B&W. There's no colour printing in them now.

Haha, I don't think there's much copyright over that name. Isn't there some Clint Eastwood movie with the same name too...? Silly memorabilia things from there keep cluttering up by eBay searches whatta waste of good bandwidth.

quote: Like your mini's, they look cool, the bumpers look a bit funny though, but atleast it protects your shell's. Maybe if i had a bumper / bull bar my cadburies boost shell would still be with us today! id=quote>id=quote> That's why I take pix *before* I run the cars... they sure don't look that new & shiny now. I had to have 2, to allow back-to-back testing. How else would you know which options work, and which don't? Club rules also used to say "Tamiya parts only". Welll... those bumpers are genuine 100% Tamiya!!

Ya, but its such a pity most of the old cars won't go back into the box once built. No way you'd fit the Bruiser/Mounty back in! I think Tamiya's best innovation for the 1990s was to make kit boxes in a handy size that fits the finished article (eg TA03 kits). I'd even give this preference over the well-displayed parts bubble packaging of old - sure it looks good at the shop, but not very practical postsale.

quote:Your statement about its handling was rather moderate LOL id=quote>id=quote>Heh heh heh... but I have driven worse. One that springs to mind is the Holden Torana Sunbird (Oz local, by GM). On this one, Holden advertises it as having "suspension tuning"... just by ADDING RADIAL TYRES??!? The famous "RTS" (Radial Tuned Suspension) handling option, oh boy.

Strictly TWO seats only on this one too; the BGT has a rear seat perfect for a baby capsule (and that's about it, what else'll fit?).

quote: Pinion gears, my mini accepts 16, 18 and 20, when I've been reading about motors a lot of them say you need to drop by 2 or 4 teeth when lowering the amount of turns. With my sport-tuned motor I am running a 18t gear. id=quote>id=quote> Pete:- the SportTuned is still only a hotter 540, so it will tolerate sky-high gearing. Don't worry too much about overgearing it. SportTuned in M03 is how we run Mini-class here in Oz. Ppl run 20T pinions as we race on a huge/long track; if your local track is small and tight, the lower gearing of an 18T may give you more acceleration put of corners and improve your laptimes - Try it & see. SportTuned + 20T on M03 gives us about 9-10mins run time on a 1500 pack, so battery life is not an issue as we race 5mins. Heck, we still use 1200s sometimes... and the ******s running 2/3000s don't even bother recharging between heats. Top speed is "pretty decent" and Mini Racing is all about good drivers duelling in equal cars anyway. Set it up well and your M03 will turn on a dime without tipping over. imho the SportTuned works better in M03 than that green "Mini" motor Tamiya used to sell; cheaper too. Any hotter mods is just a waste, all the power disappears in wheelspin. And for all who haven't seen them before, here's ours:-

quote: Pandabear as for batteries not making a difference to speed and only runtimes, HUH~! Mine seem too., i have found that my 1200, 1400, 1500, 1700's all have no where near the punch i get out of my 2400's and even 2000's on a run, or go as fast, But Your saying this doesn't make a difference though? I'm intrigued.id=quote>id=quote> "Punch" isn't recordable on any scientific statistical device, sorry! Seriously speaking, imho its just all driver's feeling. Its a lot like nitro racing... sometimes my old Serpent could get t-boned and part of the muffler might fall off, I'd have a lot less 'punch' thereafter with a detuned pipe - yet my laptimes often improve! But yeah, admit there are "HV" batteries now available... sure, an extra 0.05V per cell would give you 0.3V extra so the car would theoretically go marginally faster. quote: Although the longer the runtime the more you can upgear , which does end up giving you more speed . So they do , don't they? id=quote>id=quote> Ya, but its back to the "all other things remaining the same" rule. If you've also changed the gearing, you cannot directly attribute the speed/laptime improvement to your *battery*. quote: Maybe it's just my other batteries are sh**. id=quote>id=quote> Heh heh... we're still using blackpack 1200s even...

As far as I can tell, Tamiya never shrinkwrapped RC kits at the factory. It was usually the importers that did it upon arrival; sometimes they had to have MSC+sticker etc added to the box too. The Oz distributor also makes their own "package deal" packs... by including a charger & 7.2V into the kit box, and shrinkwrapping a Futaba radioset on the outside. Ya, when are they auctioning that F40???

quote:If it offends your 'collectable sensitivities', then tell yourself that the original body must have been damaged in the roof area and saved. You'll feel better. id=quote>id=quote>Haha, nah nothing like that... you should see what we've done to "salvage" a Mounty gearbox & chassis at this end. Have built many a 1/24 'convertible' out of duress before (oh, so THAT's why you can't use heatguns to dry paint ) including a tasteful silver 959, so that's not it either. Its just that Bruiser is so, err, "American" in its chop. Reminds me of all those chopped DIY Beetles... sad.

Tamiya's SportTuned is a good 'original' choice to replace the silver 540... if you want any hope of the Hornet steering. Modern rebuildable stocks are nice and cheap too.

Oh sorry... one slight drawback re HPIs. We're finding it very difficult to find them in Oz last few months now. My usual sources overseas also reports no-stock; some even say HPI has stopped making them. (Besides, HPI has stopped making all mini-sized kits anyway.)

I think they grip even better when they're bald and all the thread's gone... trash 'em until the cloth shows!! Then when you've done that to the fronts, swap them to the rear (M03) where they do nothing but just go along for the ride... and they still work good there!

eBay should just let ppl name a closing time & date, like some other auction sites. Having it close only & exactly 3/5/7/10 days from listing is a little inflexible.

Shodog was last heard from scrabbling through hobby shops' New-Old-Stock in the hawaiian islands, on holiday.

err... need a bit more specifics, Chris. Unfortunately US mags usually would appear if today on the newshelf with current month being labelled "November". Takes approx 3-4 wks to airfreight it to rest of the world, thus on our shelf November = November. If surface freighted its 2-3 mths so November = Jan/Feb 03. UK mags usually come out 'same' month...? *Still* waiting for August 01 edition of UK "Radio Race Car" for Blazer's Brat article.

quote: Still gets too hot though - I suspect this has something to do with being inside the TB01 dust cover, as it's OK if I run without the cover fitted. I think I may have to modify either the cover or the chassis to try to get some air to its fins, then all shoud be OK. I like the cover though, as the floor we run on is very dusty, so it helps keep the muck out of the car. id=quote>id=quote> What motor are you running? Just the stock 540? Junk the TB01's sponges too, they don't do much but they cause some drivetrain friction.

quote:Had a tip off that I should be using Brake CLEANER on my lexan shells - anyone have experience of this? id=quote>id=quote>Chris: brake cleaner usually comes in an aerosol can and is pretty much the same as motor spray. Some brands contain solvents (acetone?) that will dissolve Tamiya ABS plastic, so beware. The ones that don't are usually safe on lexan, but not sure if they will remove your paint.

TB01s have their driver duo mounted on top of the chassis cover. It does not attach to the bodyshell.

quote: willy 2nd serie wheels/tires front body mount/plate front bumper rollbar comes with body(not the re-released) wheeler has only 1 rear spring for wheelie, id=quote>id=quote> Wheeler uses the Audi Quattro idler gear & gearbox backplate. Re-released body also doesn't have the metal rear roof spoiler.

quote: ...i have been very happy with the HPI belted X-pattern tires for my M-03. They have slightly more grip than the stock M-03 tires, but wear much, much, longer. id=quote>id=quote> I second that, but must add that they grip a LOT better than kit's stock hoops. Possibly even better than the Type-A Tamiyas, and HPIs last longer too. Give them a good set of molded inserts.