Mad Ax

This wouldn't be "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" (or MST3K) would it..? Me and an old school mate were massive fans of that, was a cult classic in the states before it finally got the 2am slot on C4... All together now... (lyrics off the top of my head, no Googling allowed...) In the not-too-distant future, Somewhere in time and space, Mike Nelson and his robot pals Are caught in endless chase By a woman whose name is Pearl An evil gal who wants to rule the world... Robot role-call! Cambot Gipsy Tom Servo Crooooooooow! []

I'm half-way through an M04L conversion for a Pumpkin shell - I think the pumpkin and lunchbox shells are the same length. I had to shorten the M04L using custom-made chassis rails, you can see my progress here: http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...8&sid=15729 Obviously, any good A-team conversion will need to use a rear-drive M04 or M02 chassis; BA Barracus wouldn't be seen dead in a front-drive...

Would be interesting to see how you get on - keep us informed []

I ain't gonna argue with that logic - except the Suzuki was marketed as a fashionable runabout, and wasn't taken seriously as an off-roader despite its ability. Plus, my old man never rolled our 110 County once []

Car or monster truck? Primarily depends in you have a centre diff - if yes, then you can run whatever diameters you like - although it will probably act wierd. Diff drag (or limited slip) centre diff might cause some wierd handling, and the diff will wear faster as it's always in use. If you don't have a centre diff (like most touring car chassis) then you must have the same diameter wheels, otherwise they'll be trying to run at different speeds - they'll lose traction and spin the car out at any opportunity. Best bet is to keep them the same diameter []

In the UK they were infamously known as the "rollover jeep" after a series of road accidents which found them spinning on their rooftops... Note that in the UK, they were usually owned and driven by hairdressers who bought them for their vogue factor, not for doing any kid of off-road driving. In many way it's probably why they never caught on in the UK as off-road cars - any serious off-road driver didn't want to be associated with the hairdresser brigade, and so bought a Land Rover...

I used to have a real cooper with a UJ on the roof [] (just thought I'd throw that in [] )

I think a Land Rover defender would be superb... Or a Discovery. Both current models, so it's feasible - especially given the market for Land Rover merchandise worldwide. Although I don't know what marketing contracts Land Rover already have in place (aren't they owned by Ford now..?) A Dodge Ram may be a possibility and would be cool, IMO. I doubt we'll see any old-style bodies - but then you can get a lexan shell for almost any old truck these days; if you really want it, you can build it []

I still like the idea of an action figure [] For people with totally lame coordination like me, it also saves on having to paint the damned things, too. You also have more choice of driver style - not just the typical Tamiya man-with-helmet or the eponymous All-American-hero (who remembers that handsome fellow from the Brat..?) - you can have a camo'd-up action man in your Wild Willy; a smart-suited Professor Xavier in your BMW touring car; a boy-band figure looking the way boy-band figures always look in your Bruiser; you can even get girl-band characters if you want to build an equal-opportunities RC fleet [] Of course, this may be completely abandoning the original point that RCs should be driven and not looked at []

It is a shame that some kits are going for stupid money, but OTOH many of the less popular kits are still reasonably cheap. I guess the King Cab has gained popularity as a classic because it's one of the few stadium trucks made in an era when monsters, not stadium trucks, were the norm. The King Cab was never a true monster IMO - it sat too low, the wheels were too wide and the tyres had the wrong tread and profile, but they're very similar to the stadium truck designs that we see today. A King Cab is on my list of "would love to own but can't afford it" models - mostly because I had one, many years ago, and I swapped it with a schoolmate for a CB radio. He stuck in a Parma motor and jumped it out of his bedroom window []

I love the 'hopper - I've got an original one in a sorry state of disrepair; I started to restore it, until I realised the cost of buying new parts to replace the broken ones is almost twice the cost of a re-re kit. Soon enough I will buy a cheap re-re kit and make myself a new 'hopper...

Ooh, while we're sharing links - I've not got any of my sets on-line (decks are in a different room to the recording studio and I don't have any long enough wires []) but I've got several hours worth of my own music on my website, just went on-line a few weeks ago: http://www.foxholemusic.co.uk

Not sure what driver would look good in a Pumpkin - you might be better off scouring the local toy store and action figures..? They would probably look better than a Tamiya one anyway... For the rear bed, do what I'm going to do - source some finely ribbed rubber mat and cut it to fit in the load bay - just like the non-slip mat that some trucks have. It will cover up the hole, and it won't have any ridges or cracks that will take ages to fill and sand. I'm going to do this on my lowrider pumpkin project, just as soon as I get around to it [] Ax

What sort of stuff do you DJ, Theo..? I'm just getting back into mixing after a few years off - was bangin' out an hour-long hard trance set to my entire bedroom on Saturday night. It was pumpin' []

Hi Joaquim, The throttle linkage is all set up correctly - I spent quite a while getting this right. I could open up the idle screw a little to get it to idle a little faster; that's something I'll worry about later. The carb won't turn past 100% throttle; the control from the Tx is pretty good. The engine is a Kyosho GT size 12 that came with the Sand Master kit back in 1998. I've not used it much, since I was never able to get it to run 100% even back then. Is there a "golden rule" to getting the mixture right, i.e. if it spits fluid it's too rich, if the smoke trail isn't visible it's too lean, or is it just a case of turning the needle until it runs best?

Anyone got any tips for getting the mixture set right on a nitro motor? I got my Kyosho Sandmaster running at the weekend, but still having trouble with it not running very smooth - seems to cough and miss when revving up, and doesn't always hold full throttle (just seems to die at what). It also cuts out when idling - it'll idle for half a minute then shut off, and also shuts off when I hit the brakes... TBH I only had a 10-minute play with it, and might get further if I've got time to take it somewhere distant tonight; maybe it just needs more running to get itself sorted out...

Coincidence - I also got my nitro Kyosho running this weekend, after 4 years in the shed [] If it's not been run for ages it will probably be all gummed up inside. Nitro fuel is famous for glueing carbs together as it goes very sticky when it dries. First of all, screw the mixture needle all the way in (clockwise) until it stops, making sure you count the number of full turns. Don't tighten it otherwise you could damage the jet. Note the number down, as it will be a reference for finding the right mixture later. Next, unscrew the needle fully and remove it. Get some carb cleaner from Halfords, and blast loads of it down into the hole. I recommend you wear eye protection when you do this, as carb cleaner is under high pressure and can have air bubbles that squirt back into your eye. Trust me, this stings - a lot. Pull the starter for several minutes. If you're new to nitro, remember not to pull the starter to its full extension - just a quick flick of the wrist is enough. Pulling the starter will suck the carb cleaner into the motor and wash all the gunk from inside the transfer ports. When you're done pulling through carb cleaner, pour a bit of fuel into the carb and do the same again - this will wash out the carb cleaner - it won't run very happily on carb cleaner [] Finally, give the mixture needle a good wipe and screw it back in fully (remember the rubber o-ring; don't overtighten) and then screw it back out by the number of full turns you noted previously. You should be about right to get started now. Prime the motor with fuel, attach the plug heater, and give it a few pulls - it should fire up pretty soon. As for getting the mixture adjustment spot on, I'm about to post a thread on this very subject - because I'm not sure myself []

dang, you had me all excited then [] My first NIB tamiya was a Mud Blaster, which I later fitted with smaller front wheels to improve handling... I would probably buy a re-re Brat if one was ever made...

Some people have lots of fun running their RCs on the beach - even classic Sand Scorchers, etc. Sand does have a habit of getting in the gearbox and causing wear, so if you're running on sand - only run RCs with sealed gearboxes, make sure you use the fibrous pad between the motor and gearbox (rotors can suck in sand and expell through the front vents into the 'box), and and give it a good thorough clean and re-greasing ever so often, you shouldn't have too many problems. FWIW I wouldn't run on sand without stripping my car down afterwards to clean everything up, and seeing as I don't like doing that - I won't run on Sand much IMO, anyway.

I was going to pre-order it a few weeks ago (even put a post up here about it) but unfortunately had a problem with the rent, now I can't even afford to put diesel in my car to get to work [] Here's hoping September will be a better month financially [8-|]

Hmm, what I learned from my first Tamiya - a 2nd hand and very well used King Cab... 1) One battery is never enough 2) Batteries cost 10 weeks pocket money when you're 12 3) Spare parts are only available mail-order and take 14 days to arrive (circa 1992) 4) An important part will always break or wear out on the first day of any vacation in an area that has a perfect place for using RCs, leaving you bored witless for two weeks as you gaze forlornly at your broken car (case in point: King Cab rear hex drives, splines wore out on the first day of my holiday to a caravan park that had miles of twisting, turning, narrow tarmac lanes, and we couldn't find a hobby shop in the area) 5) Before packing the RC away into the back of the car for an hour-long journey to a good off-roading area, make sure the receiver is switched off - or the batteries will be flat before you get there [] 6) Just because a model is newer and NIB, doesn't mean it's better that the 4-year old one you've got. Sold my King Cab and bought an NIB Mud Blaster - the King Cab was a far better car; the Mud Blaster was sadly lacking in those places where the King Cab excelled...

I can just hope it will keep more of us pipe-and-slippers [] scale modellers interested in the hobby without having the expense and time of scratch-building or part-cobbling good scale RCs like over at scale4x4rc. I think there will definately be a market for wheels, tyres and transmission components from the kit as people scratch-build their own 4x4 models choosing the most scale-looking parts. However I doubt it will be immediately profitable for ebay sellers to do this, at least not until box prices have dropped and there's a solid steady supply to keep up demand. Those that break up boxes to sell of trannies and axles to modders will have an abundance of shells and cosmetic parts for Hi-Lift owners to repair their crash damage. OTOH, I do expect sales to drop once the initial rush is over - as has been said before, the market is for nitro stadium trucks, not scale models - at that point, the box-breakers will become those keeping up the demand at keeping it in production, not the kit buyers themselves...

Cool vid - don't think mine accelerates quite like that tho... My chassis it totally stock, with stock silvercan - I guess I could see what happens with a bigger motor. I'm assuming that I wouldn't need to adjust the pinion with a bigger motor, since the whole train isn't under much stress anyway..? I might invest in some adjustable upper arms, although I was hoping to enter in the stock class at the local race circuit with the same chassis and not sure if I could be bothered with changing the upper arms as well as the motor and wheels every other weekend [] and I can't really afford another chassis at the moment, especially if I'm going to go ahead with a hi-lift in Sept...

I suppose this is true of the truck genre in particular, but doesn't explain why there hasn't been a good scale truck on the market for some time - Tamiya make very good big rigs, but like all the other mfrs the only trucks they make are monsters and stadium trucks. In the racing buggy world, you can't buy a buggy that looks anything like what you'd find in a real baja race these days (with the possible exception of the Baja Champ-type shells). Things like the Dark Impact, Gravel Hound, Top Force etc are supposedly 1:10 - but compared to a touring car, they're huge. In this respect, a Sand Scorcher re-re or redisigned Baja bug would be significantly smaller than a racing buggy in order to remain in scale, and therefore wouldn't be competitive. But I think there would still be a market for those after scale realism rather than outright racing ability. I guess you have a point that off-road beetles are no longer relevant in todays world. If you see something with off-road ability, chances are it's a truck. I just think it's a shame that if you want to buy a buggy, you're restricted to something that looks like it fell out of a sci-fi movie!

Just thought I'd open up the ABS drift tyre thing again, since it hasn't been mentioned for, ooh, at least a week [] I finally got my TT-01 equiped with HPI vintage wheels with the 6mm offset for extra width. I used some ABS drainpipe - had to go for grey, because they had no black in the right size. In fact I had to use the drainpipe female-female connectors as the 50mm pipe itself was too small, the connectors fitted on easily. There's just enough material in 1 connector to make 2 tyres - so cost about £3 to make all 4 tyres. Bargain. Anyway, it had its first run last night - but it took me ages to find a car park with no gravel in. Sadly the low-profile "tyres" reduce the ground clearance, meaning the car gets stuck on the tiniest bit of gravel. I haven't played with the shocks yet, but moving the shock mounts or lengthening the stock shocks is probably the next choice. The second big problem was a complete lack of grip. OK, it was wet, but even so I found it took a huge long straight to coax the car gently up to enough speed to get some good drifts (rather than just donuts). I didn't bring any electrical tape with me, but I might give it a try next time I'm out to see if it will increase grip slightly, just enough to get it moving. Has anyone experimented with adding any other material around the tyre to increase traction just a little? I think the front-end could use just a bit more to help it get moving, and to influence its direction.... Ideas? Comments? Complaints? []