WillyChang

I only bought 1 new Tamiya in the 1980s... and it was a SuperSabre kit which came with a Johnson 05 white endbell. We now have a "newbuilt" Hotshot from the 'states which came with a metal endbell RS540SH... which looks a little odd, as I'd think its too new for a Hotshot - but its impossible to tell on catalog pix as all the Hotshots have a rubberbag over motor. Maybe I should just swap in a blue-butt BlackMotor; or get me a rubberbag. Every WildOne kit I've seen has come with a black endbell 540. Mabuchi 540s are generally black plastic endbelled. Johnson 05s are generally white plastic endbelled. Yes the *early* 360 Mabuchis were white, but when the 380 came along new-in-kitbox all I've seen are black ones. Yes Tamiya today uses the metal-endbell Mabuchis (round sticker) and Johnsons (ink code printed) interchangeably in their kits. These usually have a Chromed can... but the pix of the TT01 (RTR "XB" TB01) is interesting - the can looks unchromed.

The yellowing of plastic is pretty normal with age... Wild Willy wheels are especially bad at this, turning a light brown. Like Theo says, yes - its usually on the surface only. Exposure to sunlight imho is the usual culprit, although these days UV from flourescents and lowvoltage halogens is pretty intense too. Contact with oils also seems to speed the yellowing up. The yellowed plastic does not change in properties, so its perfectly paintable as is (after usual paint prep). Sanding the yellow off is probably too much work. Using a coat of primer is ideal, otherwise just make sure if you're painting with light colours to check the paint's opacity. Eg Tamiya's TS Pearl White is pretty translucent and does a lousy job of covering-up; use TS Pure White to coat the plastic first.

There are other uses of tripods too... you can loosen all the pan/tilt/rotate knobs and just use it to stabilise the camera. There are some pro tripods too that have fluid damping for your motions - though they don't come cheap. Monopods (aka peglegs) are useful too, and give good flexibility. Modern cameras' "anti-shake" might offer to do the same thing, but sometimes gives funny effects eg. it'll try compensate for the start of your panning, then only realise what you're doing and jumps to movement. I'd usually turn this gadget off. But yes, definitely need another person to film. I remember seeing some mid-80s promo videos of how Tamiya made theirs. One had 2-3 guys lying on the back of a 1:1 Hilux and filming through the opened tailgate; truck drove along and the RC cars tagged the truck for that 'front-on' action shot. I think they were doing either the Hotshot or Fox at that time.

If you don't know where/who it came from originally, then the best thing is to completely dismantle - clean - rebuild. Degrease and relubricate everything, especially inside the gearboxes. Hopefully you'll have got the manuals with the cars so rebuilding shouldn't be too hard. Ideally these cars should be FULLY ballraced; ideal time to do it is when you're rebuilding (to save another complete teardown). BBs are so cheap these days its silly not to do it - you'll save a lot of wear and tear on gears & shafts in the long run. Kit's MSC can handle pretty hot motors... as long as you run in a BIG AREA and never use the low/medium speeds for any extended period. An 18T-quad isn't all that "hot" anyway - but open it up and check its condition too; worn motors draw more current than they need to. I'd wouldn't run this on 8.4V either, just stick to 7.2V.

One wonders if you've even got a day job, Chris...

hoo... wuttha... seems to have doubled up. Can we delete 1 pls, Chris?

Can anyone confirm for sure when Tamiya changed from:- 1) black endbell to white endbell? 2) white endbell to metal endbell?

ooooooh, just WHO told you about my $80 "VW buggy"...???!!

Thanks for the offer, Theo... but the logistics of transferring 60GB of data around the world is a little nightmarish. Especially for moi (a 56k luser)!! Am real tempted to go buy some big HDDs and revamp the home PC to suit... something like P4 2GHz with 512M would be nice. Unfortunately can't justify the spend just right yet. I'll try catchup with Mr Gizmo this week.

RC cars are wasted on kiddies, I wouldn't let anyone drive my cars unless they've got their driver's already. Then again, I don't know anyone < 20yo anyhow. Old fart...

quote:...1/12 hard shell Tamiya Toyota Celica LB Turbo Gr.5 id=quote>id=quote>Yup. Its for #9 (RA-1209 aka 5809 aka 58009) in the series, usually painted Rodenstock Blue. Shares a CS chassis with the Countach CS (RA-1208). Original bodysets are boxed; the reissues are bagged.

Well, Tamiya's giant monsters are still roughly only the same size as a 1/10 T-Maxx... somehow that Hummer shell pix doesn't look big enough to even cover a TGX. Will have to wait for it in real life.

quote:PS. does anyone know how to lock up the rear diffs?? id=quote>id=quote>Some people fill it with epoxy glue... but that's impossible to undo afterwards.

Trail Master This baby rocks from the box. Introducing the first monster truck of the QD series, the Trail Master. Riding on 120mm big diameter tires and packing plenty of power, the body is lifted over a space frame with 4-link type suspension. Speed and steering control are sharp and precise, adding agility to power! 1/14 QD Series No.20 (46020) Overall length: 370mm, Overall width: 270mm, Overall henight: 220mm Window box type packaging lets you check out the product before purchase. Comes pre-assembled. All-new wheel trigger type transmitter. Comes with 9.6V battery and battery charger. 6 Trail Masters can run at once.

I think Tamiya has finally made the Raybrig Blue PS can a catalog item; was previously a "limited run" item. Chart no is PS31.

quote: Now that we mentioned it, I remember that there existed a video of someones visit to the museum, Willy was going to rip it on CDs, what happened??? id=quote>id=quote> I hear you!! Still in progress. Its in the queue EVEN AHEAD of (1) my engagement video and (2) my wedding videos... but am relying on a friend who's too busy at the moment pushing out 'deliveries'. I gotta get on the blower again... He's a videogame freak and he's got a job managing a team developing videogames - can one call him a workaholic if he loves it so much??! If only I was so lucky!!

Have temperature-stability of silicon oils improved much these days? When they first came out, it used to be very variable on the temp. I didn't race much down here, but outdoor temps can range from 5C (in the morning) to 35-40C (early afternoon) to 20C (evening) all in the one day. You had racers changing oils for every heat... or the smarter ones kept 2-3 different sets of shocks.

quote:...to remove as much of the air (bubbles) as possible from the oil. id=quote>id=quote>*ALL* is good. To maximise Grip - Use the softest possible oil that gives just enough damping. Stiffer oils reduce grip as the suspension is less efficient in keeping the tyres on the ground.

quote:Saw the fake ones but thought why bother not much cheaper and you get what you pay for in the end. id=quote>id=quote>Spot on; only kiddies and newbies get smitten on the fake-Os. quote:Do they work really well? id=quote>id=quote>Pretty darned good! Bit slow the b1.0 but nothing a new hopup motor can't fix. Do they go in a straight line when going forwards or is the tracking usually off? Can they be adjusted? Cars have trim adjustment underneath which seems to do *something*, but with a 1" wheelbase you really can't expect too much. All my Tomy cars have all come with the adjustment lever in different positions and they drive pretty straight out of the box, which suggests there's some poor ****** in China who's job is to test & adjust each little car before it ships.

quote: The new Wild Commando may be a hard body? It ss big (1:8 scale), but may fit for 3 speed chassis? id=quote>id=quote> Isn't that just a recycled Hummer?

In the 1980s racers often used motor oil - widely available in different grades, pretty temperature/viscosity stable. And cheap...

quote:i think the only solution is a tripod for the vidcam set up in the right spot. The only problem then is if your mate isn't holding the camera he's out with his car and Will probably knock the camera over. id=quote>id=quote>oh Yes... I can guarantee that, even if you choose the biggest ever field empty of everything and have just 1 tripod standing there, the car invariably WILL HIT IT. Its just Law (Newton's vs Murphy's?). Best pix come from actually sitting/lying down on the grass same level as the car. Aids camera stability too... but think human tripod (target).

quote:I've added the 'last 10 reviews added' section to the home page now - only to find not a single review id=quote>id=quote>Calm down Chris... its only been 16 1/2 hrs!! And its the weekend too, like some of us "Have A Life". Ya, I'm sure we all gotta go take the RC family out for exercise...