WillyChang

Step back another 2 decades to the 1960s & see what our grandfathers bought at LHS So that’s £20-50 for a single plane kit.... a box of balsa sheets & sticks plus printed plans. (I don’t think the wood was die stamped into parts back then, that would be 1970s. Or laser cut parts like 2010.) Glow engine would be another £50 on top. But good news, you wouldn’t need to stump up for servos & RC gear - early 60s the IC transistor HADN'T BEEN INVENTED YET Basic wage Melbourne in early 60s would be around £1100pa or say £50/wk. https://www.smartcompany.com.au/finance/economy/how-everything-but-housing-has-become-more-affordable-in-the-last-50-years/#:~:text=For instance%2C 50 years ago,non-managerial) was %2449.40. So yeah you’d be spending a fortnights gross wage for a toy plane that you had to carve & glue together, then tissue & dope it, install power train etc then start it up & watch it “free flight” runaway into the far horizon. Of course the various professions would earn more than basic, a pilot/doctor/barrister would get 3-10X basic wage. Other life’s modcons back then, a re****erator cost £200 and a new Holden/Ford £1100. Groovy!

there’s 6 nicad cells (3x2) in that Tampack to give 7.2V The cells are “1/2 AA size” if memory serves. Nimh versions go to about 500mAh.

well you only need UV afaik, I’m told by hobby botanists there’s numerous alternative indoor artificial sources of UV & red/blue spectrum etc etc...

The retro computer folk swear by some cleaner called RetroBrite, soak the yellowed plastic in it & leave in bright sun - supposedly works wonders. Dunno if it’s anything like strong peroxide, others have used it also in sunlight.

would the modern TT02 Cover fit?

TT02 is far superior design TL01 philosophy lives on in the MF01X (& GF01 to an Extent) but it’s biggest liability is like the M03/FF02... a hard whack to the front end can rip an entire corner with arm off. Then you have to rebuild entire car with new chassis set.

Mid is easy - if the penguin undertray still fit over the CF chassis? (It should, unless chassis protrudes over the kit body’s perimeter)

MID body is such a PITB to trim out, heaps of repeated old skool trial chopping & trying to make it fit nice around the shock towers & gear cover. Used side cutters & pliers as much as scissors & knives, reamer helped heaps too. Don't send out untrimmed body without car to be painted (unless painter owns an identical Mid chassis also); it'll be impossible to nicely trim after paint.

Brushed motor timing... imho those slots would be +ve/0/-ve top to bottom in relation to motor running direction You would’ve reduced the motor timing (=performance) by zeroing the end bell.

Last time we needed to do a roadside tyre change, I had on hand a impact wrench with wheel nut socket. wheel Off & On again in under 5mins. Lithium battery tools are amazing these days. Lifesaver too as there was barely any emergency lane on that part of highway and trucks were whizzing past barely a foot away. Plus when it’s at home I periodically check the nuts ain’t seized to the studs, copper grease the treads then torque to spec with proper torque wrench.

meh... the rerere has kept coming back repeatedly like a reliable boomerang for so many years now unless you’re aiming for the first batch rere with its unique kit number then that’s long gone

haha yeah, I swear some are still using molds 50-60yrs old inherited from companies the parent company swallowed up in The Great Niche Modelkit Manufacturer Extinction last decade. That said, have handled more than fair share of rere & OG Frogs - can’t say T’s plastic moldings have degenerated to any noticeable extent. I still have a rere kit from first batch (2005?); LHSes just got restocked with Frogs again in oz so I assume the factory has pumped out a fresh lot recently.

always been wanting a Tamiya pin vice many years now ... decided to finally commit just few wks ago Found stock in LHS. But when looking at actual item... casting looks rough, nothing too special imho... reminds me of yumcha generic cheap tool. Ended going upmarket to GodHand instead oooh err now that GH brand sure is crazy premium priced but somehow for their quality feels worth it.

err yeah right... blatantly ignoring the FACT that mass produced items all carry the same SKU/barcode (no unique serial #s) - so just HOW would you differentiate between units in a pile of the same stock item that’s been restocked at different times/price?

Suppliers been raising prices every new shipment since lockdown = price tag stickers gone the way of the dodo. Stickers lately been rejigger to just SKU barcode, no more prices. Good LHS these days have price check stations to scan the barcode or I just have their webshop open on my phone

have had a clear blue one on my keyring for over a decade During Covid lockdown it’s proven handy as a door handle pusher when you don’t wanna touch it with your bare hands.

Pliers works fine, I never use crimpers for servo plugs. Just fold the tabs over the copper wire overlapping; quick flow of solder then fold the grip tabs over the wire insulation.

could be closer relative to baby brother 1040, although there’s so many clones of those it’s hard to keep track anymore

all my genuine HW branded 1060s that arrived in red white hobbywing box have a red heatsink; silicone cap over switch HW sells OE 1060s to other resellers eg Tamiya/Kyosho/private label which have black heatsink, no Hobbywing sticker. (Have also noticed missing silicone switch cap on OEs, so am a bit hesitant as to their waterproofness)

Avante Black isn’t PS2 either, isn’t it PS31 Smoke?

OP wanted sticks hence his search for 3GR. Downunder cheapest stick Futaba I’ve held is 4YWD for around A$240; 3PV is about A$230. Just noticed arrival of T6L in either Mode 1 or 2... priced at A$150ish. Could be decent entry level Futaba for anybody wanting sticks going forward. Flysky is like A$60ish for T4B or GT2B. KO is making some interesting gear lately, decently priced vs Sanwa/Futaba too... have you seen their MC8? A$150 for 6-channel!

SuperHornet runs 2.0” rear wheels, same molding as Fox/WildOne just in orange ABS. 2” rear tyres easily sourced from Hotshot oval blocks, Supershot pin spikes, rere WildOneOffroader & NovaFox. Latest fanciest 2.0” tyre supply would be off 2022 Kyosho Optima Mid; or maybe 2019’s Turbo Optima might’ve used the same rubber too. Schumacher still makes some 2.0s in their “C.A.T” range but I find it hard to differentiate which are 2.0/2.1/2.2”. My schuey-stockist LHS never have enough range in stock at any one time to let me properly compare.

Plastic when heated towards its plastic point (hehe) tends to shrink then droops as it melts. To have any control you need to lay it against some mold/form of intended final shape, then heat. Hot air of most sources whether rework station or “Real Man’s Hairdryer” aka heat gun are spotty heat, not great for heating large plastic areas evenly. To bend PLAsheet... I lay it on a corner of a wood beam or alu angle. Then heat the edge with laundry iron (dry, no steam). Hard to do organic curves in plastic by spot heating as reheating next area will shrink the previous area etc etc. Vac molding over former is easiest way to get what you intended to make. Different plastics different melt points. I think lexan needed to go 130-140degC before seeing any phase change. PET was like 80ish & I could even use hot kettle water. Styrene/ABS barely 70ish.

Avatar II is getting rereleased soon, so I hear off the interwebs. Hmmmm a lot of legacy rc forums getting sold off to rc-unrelated big holding companies ... they keep them alive even when traffic drops to tumbleweeds - but yeah “admin” often seems elusive. RCtech having huge issue atm past 2wks - VB error loading pages on non-desktops, nobody can access via handhelds of any flavor. Mods can’t get their admins to respond etc etc