jhellman(2)

Hi, I had exactly similar problems when I ballraced my hotshot. The diff felt so much tighter compared what it used to be. I reopened it several times, cleaned it all over and tried different mixtures of oil and grease (oil to make it smoother). Nothing seemed to help. I left it with mixture of 50% thin oil and 50% gear grease and closed it. After one drive, it was very smooth again. I hope it is just a case of gears getting into exactly right places. When putting it together they probably do not fall exactly where they need to be and that causes it to feel stiff when rotating with hand. Once driving a bit, the gears and planetary disks must fall into their exact places and it smoothens the diff back to normal. The other alternative is that first drive after reopening the gearbox wears out some edges from the gears which are in slighly different position and this wear makes it smoother. Not so good![:I] br, Juha

Hello, after a quick search I found following for sale today: M.sonik-3 Eco 27 4-8 20 turn motor Forwards/reverse Waterproof yes $US 47.50 M.sonik-3 Sport RV15 4-8 motor limit down to 15 turns Forwards/reverse Waterproof yes $US 67.50 M.sonik-3 Sport MAX 4-8 8 turn motor Forwards/reverse Waterproof yes $US 94.00 M´troniks M.sonik-3 Sport-RV Forward/reverse 82 € 16T M´troniks M.sonik-3 Sport-Plus 116 € 12T I don't know which are the latests ones, hopefully yours is one of those to respnd to the question.[] br, Juha

thanks for a comprehensive reply! I have one TA-03F already and if TA02 is not that good handling, I need to think about it.. If the price is good enough, I might buy it. best regards, Juha

Hello, anyone know what is the chassis on this one? Is it good to drive? What is OK price such in good condition? The cars section very poor on this car.[:0] best regards, Juha

Hello, I have two cars with M-04L chassis and one with TA03F. Most probably TA03F will take the win due to better handling in the corners (better speed in corners - achieves full speed faster on the straight). Especially with lower turn engines (like 17 or lower). M04L is not too bad either, it might be tight with standard motors. Just test it! I will try with similar motors next summer and clock it.[] best regards, Juha

Hi, Have you used calculation methods to determine best possible ratio for certain tracks? This of course means that one has to know the characteristics of the motor, at which RPM it gives the best power. I used to drive Formula Karts (known as Go-Karts in States) when I was younger and always when we went to a new circuit for a race, we were able to instantly gear pretty right (one or two tooth from optimal). The optimal ratio was pretty fast to find practicing against some others who were knew to be competitive and some locals if they were any good. Most often we tired a couple round the calculated and even came back to calculated ratio. Is there motor efficiency charts somewhere, from which one could take valuable information for this purpose. I haven't seen any of this information. For example LRP gives the recommended gear ratio for each motor. However, that is very misleading, since the size of the tyre determines what is the car travel per rotation of the engine. If the torgue of electric motor is pretty evenly distributed over all RPMs, then it probably is wise to gear the car according to fastest straight (full RPM at braking point). However, I'm a bit sceptical that this would be the case with electric motor. For nitro engines I suppose there are better specs available. What we used as calculation method was as follows: l=length of track in meters (along best driving line) t=target track time in seconds m=tyre circumference in meters, measured when hot=after driving rpm=rpm at which motor gives best torgue optimal ratio= (l*60 s) / (t*rpm*m) This should in principle work on all cars without gears. With cars with multiple gears, it's more complicated. Any experiences with such calculations. Have you found any sources about the electric motor effectiveness and best torque or best power at certain rpms? best regards, Juha

Hi, not that I would do it, but just to know: how can you convert a F into a R? I suppose the in the "R", the engine is in front of the rear tyres? I bet that requires the whole body to be changed? Or do you just change the front tires to "back" of the body and vice versa, resulting into a "R" in which the engine is behind the rear tyres? br, Juha

Hello, good point again! I will fully ballrace it during the winter. I bet there are standard plastic bearings inside that may be worn out. This may be the reason as well. Good tips, keep them coming.. -Juha

Hello, thanks for responses, they are very useful. I think it is just fine, since it doesn't do it too often. I didn't know that it is harmless if it jumps a teeth occasionally. However, I'll give it a throughout checkup during the winter anyhow, I will check and change the belt and pulleys as well if needed. The motor is just 17 turns, shouldn't be too hot. There is no ball diffs as far as I know (I bought this as used and looks pretty standard to me). Thanks for tips, Juha

Hello, how tight should the drive belt be? I have one TA-03F and it makes somehow funny sound every now and then, just like the drive belt would jump a tooth. The drive belt is on moderate tight, it moves about 7-9 mm when pressed with thumb in the middle (it is quite a long belt anyhow). Is that too loose? When does too tight drive belt cause friction? I bet there is some kind of optimal found where the tightness of belt doesn't suck too much power and on the other hand it is tight enough to not jump any teeth on either front or back. Any advice of experienced belt drive pilots is appreciated. best regards, Juha

Hello, is technigold really 21T, I thought it was 23T! Not a big difference but just out of curiosity interested.. br, Juha

Hello, since Technigold has only 23 turns, you have a wide selection of ESCs of which to select. Most probably you are not looking for too advanced features like "ABS" or "traction control", thus basic ESCs will do fine. LRP produces good ones, just a basic controller like one below will be fine (I hope you read some German): LRP-Regler Runner Plus Reverse Digital Fahrtregler mit vorwärts, rückwärts und EMK Bremse, für Motoren ab 18 Windungen (Dauerbelastung 20 A) Artikel-Nr. 33-8305 49,00 Euro Or a cheaper alternative: 33-11541 Carson-Regler Speed 15-T 45,00 Euro die neue Carson-Serie von Mtroniks - 100 % wasserdicht - Motorlimit: 15 turns - 1 Touch Digital-Set-Up Mtronics obviously is of slightly lower quality, but I have a two of their ESCs and they are pretty OK (good quality/price ratio!), not as good quality as the one LRP (IPC Sport Digital) I have. There are plenty of web shops, and probably you can even find better prices somewhere, I copied the information from: http://www.modellbau-roehrmann.de This certainly is not the cheapest, but has large selection of Tamiya, decent prices, accepts credit cards and delivers within a week if you live in Europe. Good enough for me. Best regards, Juha

Hello, a pretty good and lot used way to make spikes is to screw normal screws on cheap tires (preferably off road tires with large "knobs" on the tyre). When the screw is tightly inside the rubber, cut the screw with side cutters to suitable length. This way you'll get a very good sharp edge on the spike. This is closest you can get to making spiked tyres that real rally cars use. This is a lot used method in snowy Finland - trust me, we as a nation know rallying on ice & snow! Have a great winter rally event! best regards, Juha

Hi, just to report: I've set-up a couple cars and electronics with velcro and it is incredible good - it sticks properly and certainly will save money when electrics are easy to swap. Thanks a lot for the tip! -Juha

Hi, thanks for the tip on velcro tape - I'll use that! Sorry for messing up the discussion on static versus runner. Personally I do not understand using RC cars as static models. Why are "RC" if they are not used for that purpose. There are plenty of good static models, why "waste" good driveable RC cars. This includes also the true vintage cars - I only have one car that can be classified as true vintage - Rough Rider, it is in very good original shape but I have no hesitation to drive it round. Br, Juha

Hi, does anyone have a good solution for "portable receiver + ESC". What I mean with this is to have for example one easy to attach plate having radio receiver + ESC mounted on the plate. This plate would have clip-ons or something with which it would attach to a "base". Having this kind of "bases" on your cars, you could easily have just a couple radios + receivers + ESC and maintain a instantly driveable car pool (even very large ciollection). Of course all these would have steering servos mounted on. I have a few cars (5 to be exact) and I want to have them all in "just plug the battery on and drive" condition. It's getting expensive to buy a bunch of similar receivers and ESCs. Have you ever run into something that would solve this minor "issue". cheers, Juha

Hi, has anyone found an original looking replacement rear wing for Hot Shot I. Mine is missing one and haven't found an original so far (if you have hints of either original or similar looking replacement parts, please let me know..) best regards, Juha

Hello, try using the brush that is in the type writer corrector bottle in the following way; hold it sideways against the tyre marks and paint with the side of the brush. This way you can easily paint the edges of the letters. If you want to use "flood effect" and paint the insides of the tyre letters too, then the using the tip of the brush is ok. best regards, Juha

Hello, I haven't tried whether the type writer corrector comes off when dry. Most probably it will come easily off with a thinner, however I haven't tried it. If you make mistake when applying it, no thinner is needed, just a moist toilet paper or similar. Once you've tried, tell what do you think about it! Best regards, Juha

Yeps, I came up with the idea when visiting the office supplies room at the office a couple months ago. If you apply just a thin layer of it, it is pretty flexible and stays on pretty OK. Personally I think thin layer on edges looks pretty realistic. If you apply a thick layer, it is not that flexible and may crack off when tyre is twisted hard. I suppose thick layer looks great on cars like formula 1 etc.. (too bad tamiya has no drag racers, they have very massive white letters on tyres as well). Give it a try - it is by far easiest way to color the letters I've found. Another good side is that if you make an error, you can wipe the excess "whitener" with a moist cloth before it dries up. Plain white paint is not always that easy to wipe off. br, Juha

Hi, I use "Pritt correct-it" to paint the tyres. This is one of the brands of white corrective paints that used to be used with old typewriters - comes with a handy brush that is excellent to paint RC tyre letters, it is even possible to just paint the uplifted edges of for example RR tyres.[] Using this, you can paint one tyre in 5-10 minutes depending of your skill and how difficult the tyre marks are. Painted letters sure look good on the shelf, but they wear out very fast when driving in the gravel or sand. Thus, it is pretty much wasted time for a runner.[V] Unless someone has found a way to protect the painting (some kind of lacquer on top? generally they do not work on tyre compound..). Br, Juha

Hi, I think best angle to shoot a car driving is to place the camera as low as you can (lying on the ground). I have a Sony PC-1 which has a small display that can be twisted to any angle you wish - basically you can focus and zoom holding the camera very low without lying on the ground. With that it is fairly easy to get good long action shoots (using zoom wisely). Using a tripod is not too nice. The movies are boring since there you only get 1-2 seconds action movies (after that car is gone out of the picture). If you focus on a wide area, the car is just a tiny bug in the picture and you cannot really see how gravel is in the air or how is slides on the tarmac. It certainly needs team work - one guy who nees how to drive and an other who can shoot excellently + understand what is good driving and in what things to focus when shooting. I think the baseball bat is not the optimal "wife educator" in this sense. Probably it is easier to spend some hours and teach her to shoot properly. Is there any way to place movies here? Best regards, Juha

Hi, I have the same trouble as Willy (driving and shooting digital video is not possible at same time). I haven't yet decided which one is easier to do; -teach my wife how to drive well and do nice looking stunts ;-) -teach her to shoot proper video shots I think the latter might be easier?! Any hints on wife education anyone? -Juha

Hello, The Hotshot (1) manual tells that W1 and W2 plastic bearing can be replaced by ball bearings. Fine, no news so far. However, then the manual lists all the following; no. 5036 Ball Bearing Set (2 pcs) no. 5073 Ball Bearing Set (4 pcs) no. 5241 Hotshot Ball Bearing Set no. 5242 850 Ball Bearing Set (2 pcs) This is a bit confusing. As I understand, the 5241 HotShot Ball bearing set had 13 pcs of 1150 ball bearing and 5 pcs of 850. By the way, are those correct sizes? That set should be enough to replace all the W1 and W2 plastic bearings. What are the other sets used for? Does anyone know what is the size of the Ball bearings used in 4 gear box joints (of course I can open it, but if someone knows it, it saves some time)? How about those 5 mm metal rings (Blister pack A). Can they be replaced with some size ball bearings? Best regards, Juha

Hello, Does anyone know, what is the product number of the hot shot wheel axels or matching replacements? They look pretty much similar like some newer ones, are they some kind of "general tamiya wheel axels"? Just trying to figure out where to get new ones.. The Hot Shot manual is not too helpful either in this question. Best regards, Juha