Mad Ax

I've just found a spare moment to catch up on this thread, really loving what's been done so far

The photos aren't clear - I'll try to get some better ones next time I work on this car. Basically there's a brass plate that screws into the rear shock tower, and another that the wing bolts onto. They are brazed onto brass rods which have been bent.

I weighed it on Saturday morning before I went off to a truck meet. With 3x 3s LiPos installed, it's 5.9Kg. Also, it's running a cheap 2 speed transmission, noisy-as-badword gear-reduction transfer case, and locked diffs, so there plenty of load in the drivetrain. Despite that, it will run the trails all night in high gear, on 3S, without the ancient Novak Fifty-Five crawler motor even getting warm. Top speed in high gear is faster than a walking pace, so I'm usually at part throttle. Even up hills and over grass it doesn't get warm. I previously had issues with overheating, which I had put down to gearing and weight, but in retrospect I think that's because I was running advanced-timed motors backwards. The old Novak is zero-timed, so it doesn't mind running backwards.

I've noticed a trend recently of people putting all their builds in 1 thread, which I have to confess, I really don't get. Threads don't cost anything, so I don't understand the need to economise. Maybe that's where they're all going? 6 builds in 1 thread x 6 users, you've got 6 "build" threads where you'd have had 36 shorter, more concise, focussed, info-rich build threads. The reason I love forums over Facebook is that stuff tends to stick around. If you saw a build thread 5 years ago, it will still be here when you come back. Try finding something posted in a Facebook group 5 years ago. Heck, I can't even find stuff in a Facebook group that I know for sure was posted 2 weeks ago, and it's important because it's got the time and location data on it for a meet-up. I know if I've seen a thread on a TA02T build on here, I'll be able to find it again. And it will still have all the relevant info, right where it's needed. OK, the photos may disappear over time, but the text is still there. All the important info on that one model, in one thread. Stick all your builds in one thread and it's a jumble. I might be really interested in seeing how that tricky problem was solved on a particular build, but on page 6 it changes to a totally different build, then a different one, then a different one, maybe the info I want is in there somewhere, or maybe that build never got finished? I don't know, I have to wade through page after page to find out. Searches are affected too since the thread title generally only has the name of the current or last-updated build. When I do google searches for a particular problem, I generally find more threads on TC from 10 or more years ago than I do from the last 10 years. I primarily do build threads here because I enjoy it, but it's also an information share. If someone else is having a problem with a model, maybe my thread will help them?

I have got an idea, I'm waiting on... Well, I'm not sure, really, but I need to get on and do the designs, as the top panel will be a printed banner that wraps over the roll cage (or maybe pops onto the box). I guess I need to figure that out before I order it, as it will dictate the size of the banner. Once I've got the banner, I can start matching up spray paints, although I am even considering having the entire design printed on vinyl, since the truck is square-sided so it should paste on without any creases or bubbles and will be harder wearing when it rolls over.

thanks @yogi-bear, I will read that through in more detail when I have more time but it is much appreciated

I personally didn't feel the latest thread criticizing Tamiya's choices as being a whinge, or a moan, or really, anything that negative. It came from someone who to me seems a genuine fan but is asking serious questions about why they don't improve their offerings for the worldwide market. And they're valid questions, even if we can take a guess at their answers. From time to time we do get someone come along who just seems to want to stir up trouble, and they soon disappear when they don't get the response they want, but I don't think that's happening now. I, personally, love quirky RC. OK, I don't love all quirks - I don't have a Kumamon car or a black metal dump truck - but I hang on every model show update to see what craziness is going to come from Tamiya this year. There's so much potential for modding and fun in whatever Tamiya kit you find, and the modular compatibility means kitbashing isn't hard and all sorts of inspiration can be found. The sort of perfection that the other big names (Losi, Associated) go for often lacks any kind of soul; the big bashers like Traxxas and Arrma just seemed to be aimed at some kind of faux-macho Bro market which is probably going to implode or feel very old-fashioned sometime, and while there are plenty of much cheaper and better-specced clone options from China, there's such terrible inconsistency in parts and quality that it's often a false economy buying cheap parts for a project only to find they don't fit, don't look anything like the photo, or are so badly machined they won't even turn properly.

I use inkscape for all my graphic design. It's a bit quirky but there's loads of tutorials on how to do things, so if you get stuck, you can probably find the answer online. As for printers - do you want to print on white vinyl, or clear? White vinyl is definitely the easier option but you will either need a cutter such as a Cricut to neatly cut right up to the printed edge, or you will have to cut everything precisely yourself. Even then, you still have the issue of a white edge appearing around your decal, so if (for example) you put a blue Ford oval onto a black body, you'll always be able to see the white ring around the edge. Printing on clear is how Tamiya and others do they thang, but then you either need to only put your decals on light-coloured backgrounds, or you have to splash out on a much more expensive printer that can print white ink. I've looked at going this route several times but it's very big money and only worth it if you intend to sell decals in bulk. I doubt there's enough money in pure RC-related decals to make it worth it. I thought I'd lucked in a few years ago when I bought a colour Brother laser printer, but I only found out after it was unboxed and working that it wasn't compatible with vinyl sheet, and it doesn't really work that well on glossy paper either. I have used it with glossy paper sticker sheet but it doesn't cut well, it leaves fibres at the cut edges which look cheap, and the decals are ruined by water. I have tweaked the settings enough to print small designs on white vinyl but large colour panels look washed out and blotchy, and the toner flakes off pretty quick. The best results are black or dark colours on clear, which I then stick on silver, gold, camel yellow or white bodies. This means I tend to design my liveries with large panels in those colours for adding my own decals, then a contrasting colour onto which I can stick commercial decals. Here's some examples: Runeblade, isol-8, Scrapspeed logos are laser blank toner onto clear vinyl, Firestorm and Trail Blazer logos are from JConcepts decal sheet All the black decals in this are laser toner on clear, the bed decal is laser toner on sticky back paper - it had wrinkled and peeled in the workshop. White logos are JConcepts. I would be interested in more info from @yogi-bear on wide format printers - I've just done a super-quick Google search and most things are £500-upwards, some cheaper stuff is showing but I think it's Google missing the mark (wi-fi printer, not wide format printer). The alternative option - and one I use when I want to stick onto dark backgrounds - is do the designs yourself and use a 3rd party for printing. I use MCI Designs in Canada, great service and quick delivery and they have lots of generic sponsor sheets as well which are great for motorsport liveries. All the silver and blue graphics on Tanto are designed by me, printed by MCI. Sponsor logos are mostly from SRB repro decal sheets.

I feel your pain. I have done that before. Twice. Although it gives a huge great big warning, it's still easy to mistake the "delete album" button for the "delete photo" button. It's also a frustrating quirk of tcphotos that it gives each uploaded image a unique ID instead of using the image name, so even if you recreate the album and re-upload all the photos, you still have to go to every place you've ever linked that photo and change the link.

It's Fri... er, Thursday! A long Bank Holiday weekend here, which means the long run of sunny weather is going to end and we can look forward to 4 days of cold and rain. Should be a fun one here at Chez Ax, as we have various different fun activities planned. Thur - work from home until around 5:30, then straight into cooking dinner for the family. Quiet night in with the wife, catch up on some TV. Fri - spend the day with my daughter. Planning on visiting some family but waiting a response to see if they are home. Hopefully home in time to play video games before making dinner, and get the batteries charging for the big rigs. Sat - lazy start, then off to Swindon for an RC truck meet. I haven't been RC trucking in what feels like a lifetime, but a mate is going along so it's an excuse to get away for a while. Probably take the laptop so I can actually fine-tune all the gripes with the Beier in the Globe Liner while at the layout, instead of always writing out a gripe sheet and never getting it updated when I get home. I might take the hillwalking truck to display, and will probably stop for a long walk on the way home. Sun - Workshop Sunday. I've got a few short jobs to do on the scalers in prep for the Scaler Nationals in 2 weeks time, then I'll probably turn my attention to the F150 Baja and try to finish all the little bits ready for Club 380. There's still a very outside chance that I might ride to next week's Club 380 meet on the motorcycle, so this is possibly my last Workshop Sunday for a while. Mon - taking my daughter and dad to Castle Combe to watch the motor racing. Weather forecast isn't great but I don't know if it's still possible to park on the bank outside Tower, where we could sit comfortably in the van and watch the racing without getting wet. I might aim to arrive early just in case we can. I guess I have to buy an umbrella as a backup! Have a great weekend everyone

It's actually a good question, and the answer can vary from "it depends" to "they both get stuck in the same place, but not at the same time." My replies are fairly generic since I've not actually driven a CC-02 or a CR-01, but I have a bit of experience trailing with scale trucks of various sizes. The main difference is ground clearance - the CR-02 has bigger wheels, so it will roll over more obstacles because the axles or underfloor get hung up. Consider a rock on the path that will run under the CR-02 axle but will catch on the CC-02 axle. But depending on the terrain, you can see the obstacles on the ground and drive around them - it's really just a simpler version of rock crawling, where you have to pick your lines and approaches carefully so your tyres maintain traction while your body and chassis stay clear. Even a fully-specced TRX-4 will get stuck on a trail if you ram it into a rock, and just about anything will get stuck if a big long stick pokes up through the suspension and gets tangled in the body. There's no real solution for sticks besides avoiding them, or pulling them out when they get stuck - but a taller truck will go over more sticks. On the other hand, a tall truck has a higher centre of gravity, so it will be more likely to tip over when tackling gradients, so it's always a compromise.

Yes. Some years back I was using an angle grinder underneath an old Mini. I was using safety goggles but the space was too tight to get my head in with them on, so I took them off. Next morning I had a sore eye, so went to the local minor injuries unit. Turns out I had 2 pieces of steel swarf that had melted themselves to my eye. 20 minutes lying on my back while a nurse removed them by scraping them with the tip of a needle. Not recommended. My drill press has a tendency to spit out large chunks of aluminium swarf, so I always wear goggles when using it.

Going anywhere at a slow pace is becoming a real big thing now. There's even an app for it - called Scaletra. I think what you're talking about is a "trail rig" - I have a few of these and there are various places to start, depending really on your trail. If you're mostly on footpaths then even a CC-01 will manage, perhaps with a locked rear diff, although it's a far from perfect chassis and will have its limitations. I would expect the CC-02 to be fine in most cases, but if you are leaving the footpaths and going over vegetation than, really, anything will struggle. Even dedicated crawlers struggle on plants that get wrapped around the wheels or twigs that poke up through the suspension. It really depends on how long your vegetation is, how many fallen twigs you get, and how many tree roots you need to get over. Typically I like my trail rigs to look like real vehicles, albeit ones that are modded for off-road driving, i.e. bigger tyres and lifted suspension. The CC-02 is a good starting point for that, although competitors like the TRX-4, Element Enduro, SCX-10 etc. are going to run rings around it in terms of traction, terrain handling etc. If you aren't brand loyal, I would say to at least give those options a look - and there are many more, from G-made, MST, Boom Racing, the list goes on, it's a huge market now. All of them are objectively better than Tamiya for this sort of thing, but that doesn't mean you can't have fun on the trails with the CC-02 or CR-01. In fact it's probably where they are at their best - as long as you don't go too far off the beaten track. Even a cheap FTX Outback RTR will perform well on the trails, although earlier models had weak axles. I think the Outback 3.0 and others based on that platform have stronger axles, and their bodies have got more realistic too. I'm in the process of converting a modified Outback 2.0 into a walking truck, with the intention of it being able to handle 10-mile walks on short grass, gravel and dirt footpaths, while towing a trailer with tools and spares in.

This the important point here. It was written here back when I first joined (around 15 years ago) that Tamiya is first and foremost a plastic model company - RC is a tiny subsidiary. It's more like a vanity project for them, and they don't really seem to care what happens in the rest of the world as long as the domestic market is happy. That said - I agree with pretty much everything the OP says. I'm a die-hard Tamiya fan, around 80% of my collection is Tamiya, and any time I want a new kit, I always look first at Tamiya. That said, I'm left cold by the majority of their current line-up. TT02 - it's OK I guess, but has no soul. You can get a near-identical chassis from any number of no-name Chinese manufacturers or other companies with more western presence (Maverick, FTX etc), you will pay less and get a better product, but mostly you will get an ugly preprinted or badly-decalled prepainted job on a boring body, and you'll have to spend extra on Tamiya or another brand to get anything that's different to what anyone else has. The sell-a-basic-chassis-and-endless-hopups is a classic sales tactic and one of the big appeals for a lot of people. Look at the build threads on here and see how many people start with photos of the car kit plus all the hop-ups they bought for it before they even built it. Yes, you could just buy the hopped-up SRX-S+T-v1AlphaTurbo version, or even go with a proper club racer spec chassis from a competitor, but people don't. It's not because they don't know any better, it's because that's what they want. And if you actually look at the price jump between a TT02 Type SRX and a proper race car, like a Schumacher Mi-9 or Xray X4F 25 - and then consider that you can run the TT02 in a car park but the Schuey or Xray is going to need a dedicated tarmac circuit or carpet track plus several hundred pounds worth of setup equipment if you want to get even half its potential, and suddenly the SRX doesn't look so bad if all you want to do is run around a car park or do some entry-level club racing. In fact my team-mate in the BRCA Sportscar Endurance championship is currently campaigning a TT02 against some very expensive dedicated race hardware at our local club, and is winning, because a) he can drive very well and 2) he knows how to get the best from the hop-ups. And he enjoys that much more than constantly de-tweaking an Xray. The comment about who wants a Plasma Edge re-re in 20 years is valid too, but I don't think that's because the Plasma Edge is a bad car (OK, it is a bad car, but that's not the reason) - it's because the kids of the Plasma Edge era weren't drooling over the Tamiya catalog like us middle-aged people were in the 80s. They weren't even drooling over Traxxas or any other RC catalog. RC has been pretty much dead among the younger generations since the late 90s. The 1st gen PlayStation changed the world, it has never been the same since and I doubt it ever will be. When I was a child, a car (a full-size car and by extension a model car) was an object of desire, an attainable dream and a ticket to freedom on the 17th birthday. Today's youngsters are even questioning the concept of a 1:1 car, and if there's no desire for a full-size car, who cares about a toy one? The homogenisation of full-size cars represents their transition from freedom and status to a means to an end, a tool to make a chore easier and more comfortable. But I don't care about any of that. I care that I can still buy a Clod Buster and turn it into something special, either with aftermarket hopups or with some aluminium and a hacksaw. I care that I can still buy a comical buggy that has more character than a Traxxas or an FTX. I care that I can still buy a G6-01, because who else makes that? And I care that I can still get the spares for all of these, so after I've spent 12 weeks sawing and drilling and gluing, then I break my custom creation on the 1st run, I can still get spares for it.

It's Friday at last! I say at last - I've only done 1.5 days at work this week. 2 days off on Mon and Tues, we went to Instow in Devon to celebrate our 10 year anniversary, had glorious weather and finally felt warm for the first time since October. I worked at the office on Weds and Thurs, so had a night to myself in a hotel, but was feeling very ill on Weds so I wasn't able to enjoy it. Turns out I have an infection in my gum, so I'm on antibiotics now and starting to feel better. I booked today and Monday off work so I can look after our daughter during the Easter holidays, but as my wife is not currently working she will be free to spend time with us also. So... Friday - going to do an Easter Egg hunt at a National Trust house today. This is the same place where we got married 10 years ago so it feels appropriate. Back home for the afternoon, probably relax and watch a movie or play video games with my daughter until bedtime. Also a few chores and packing for tomorrow. Saturday - a lazy morning at home, then set off for Stafford for the first round of the BRCA Sportscar Endurance championship. We have open practice all day, so we need to learn the track, tune the car setup, and maybe practice some long runs to learn how our tyres will wear. Stafford can be heavy on tyres if you go off life. Evening - antibiotics prevent alcohol consumption, so I'll have some no-beer beers while we all chill out and pass the time at the track. Would be nice if we get a good sunset. Sunday - 90 minutes open practice, then a 1 hour qualifying session (each driver gets a 5 minute staggered start quali run) and then a 4 hour race. We haven't worked out our pit stop strategy yet, but all drivers need to do approximately the same drivetime, so 3 x 20 minute stints each probably makes the most sense. Although that makes 11 pit stops, and if other teams can run longer and do less stops, they will lose less time. 2.5 hour drive home in the evening for some beer-free-beers and a pizza. Monday - another day off work for childcare, hopefully my daughter will be looking forward to a nice relaxing day on the sofa because I'll be exhausted. Maybe raining here so probably not do anything outdoors. Take daughter to grandparents on Monday eve, then back home for a quiet night in with the wife. Back to work on Tuesday - 2 days in the office again so it's another night away in a hotel. Have a great weekend everyone

The Bear and the Beard have the right of it. The MSC might not even be stuck, it could just be that the throttle servo isn't centred or isn't connected properly. It might be worth unplugging one of the wires that goes from the MSC to the motor (there are usually bullet plugs for this, depending on the age of the car) - that way you can confirm the radio is working properly and that the steering works and the throttle wiper moves correctly on the MSC and centres properly when at idle, without the car racing off on its own.

I've been wondering for a few days how I should answer this. The more I play with RC, the less I like things that "aren't scale correct" - but only to an extent. I find myself going off of independently-sprung monster trucks, even though they're great fun to drive, because they just don't match the real world. I rarely run my E-maxx or even my modded Wild Dagger because they just aren't built like the real thing. I always gravitate to the MTX-1 or the LMT, and since I've had either of those, I've rarely driven the Clods. But it's all a compromise. The LMT doesn't have the motor installed the right way around. The M04 has the motor in the middle, not in the front. The TA02T has independent suspension all round. Sometimes you just have to roll with it. The Scania has a V8 sticker on it but it doesn't really have a V8 in it. So, sometimes, it's about "I'm trying to replicate a real-world vehicle, within reason, using what's available." Scale crawlers, M-chassis race cars, solid axle monster trucks, etc. Sometimes, it's "I want something that drives well, is robust, and heaps of fun" - E-maxx Sometimes "I'm trying to make the best of Tamiya's original design philosophy" - Wild Dagger, TA02T Often "I want to enter a race class and be competitive" - Top Force Evo, Schumacher Mi-8, Schumacher Cougar I some cases "I want to remain true to the 1:1 design philosophy, while building something that works and performs well in a specific environment" - big rigs, Scania hillwalking truck I don't really go in for super-scale stuff, even on the big rigs. 2 weeks ago I was at a crawler meet and some guys turned up with truescale Land Rovers and similar. I mean, they really did look good. They looked more realistic than most 1:1 Land Rovers, such was the effort to weather the paint and put the right cargo in the back. But they had to skip a lot of parts of the crawler course because mostly-stock 1:1 vehicles would never encounter that terrain. In fact the kind of stuff we're trying to get over in our Class 2 Cherokees and Power Wagons would normally be attempted only by dedicated rock buggies in the 1:1 world. And no, it isn't really scale when you're grinding your Cherokee along on its doors to get through a narrow gap between two boulders, but it's a compromise. Some scale drivers really do stop every time a truck it about to go over and use a winch block to secure it while they back it out and try again, but for most of us, that would hold up the line on the course too much. Having a buddy to tow you over is a bonus, but even that requires bending over in the dirt to hook up mud-covered lines to shackles that are blocked with gravel using fingers that are numb with cold, since 1:10 scale RC driver figures who can get out and do it for us aren't a thing yet. So, yeah, sometimes a little toe-assist (administered via the walking boot) is what it gets.

For a long time I didn't have a pit mat. If I wanted a soft surface I'd use an old bath mat, but it tends to pick up swarf and other nasties from the workshop and scratches bodies worse than the hard worktop surface. A while ago I placed an order with Asiatees and qualified for a Free Gift, so I chose a pit mat. I loved it and used it a lot. It's a rubber-backed mat with a fabric top - looks nice but it stains with shock oils etc and also picks up swarf if I don't roll it away before I cut aluminium. Back in January I won a full-size HPI pit mat in a raffle. It's fully rubber all over, so it's become my new always-on Workshop Pit Mat. It's very easy to clean and all the little recesses are very good at preventing screws from rolling away, so I don't have to use my little Ikea organiser pots as much. That's great because I tend to knock them and catapult the screws into the next county. That means my Asiatees pit mat is now my always-in-the-pit-hauler mat, so I always have a mat when I go racing. Mats are a requirement for some clubs. I call them both Matthew. Asian Matthew and Rubber Matthew.

In the end I used Gorilla Glue, because I had some and it was convenient. Most of my other glues had dried out. Hopefully Gorilla Glue will have enough flexibility to deal with the shell flexing while in use, after all it is flexible enough to stick the world's largest primate to things so it must be pretty good..?

I gave it a very brief test run, but had to stop because my unpatented invisible body mount solution kept coming loose. Oh, and also the sump guard is too big and the tyres catch it on full lock. I was just about realising it was time to give up with invisible body mounts and go back to a proper solution with posts, when I noticed the rear mount had snapped. That's been there for a very, very long time, so it's not really surprising it's had enough. I'll come up with something before the Club 380 meet.

Sunshine grass pics. Looks like it's sitting in the paddock waiting for the race to be called.

There! OK - I know, I get it, the sump guard is way too big. Yes, I know. I'm going to make it smaller, just not today, because I don't have time.

I glued it with Gorilla Glue. This stuff is great - not only can it be used to stick large apes to things, it can also be used to join plastic. Time was running out, as I had to pack for a short trip away with the wife tomorrow, but I really, really wanted to get the new sump guard finished too - or at least, get it a little further along. I started with some L-section to make the upper mount.

Today was Workshop Sunday, and after getting a few other jobs out of the way for the UK Scale Nationals in a month, I was able to turn my attention back to this truck. First thing I'd noticed during a test-run in the week was that the servo saver gets stuck. This is a common problem with Tamiya servo savers on modern servos, where the torque required to stop the horn coming loose will flatten the plastic and jam both halves together, preventing them from springing back to centre after a knock. I didn't get any detailed photos (I probably should have) but a 0.5mm shim under the large plastic washer was perfect to add some gap between the halves and keep the servo saver doing its thing. Then I tied up the wiring a little. I have opted not to go the full gold-plated bullet route on this truck, since it doesn't really warrant it, but I still wanted it tidy. After that, it was time to look at the battery tray. I had deliberately left this outer rib in place, not just for extra sensation, but also so I had something to put my closing panel against. This is an offcut of styrene sheet. Made a brace Cut it to shape

I gave it a quick test-run around the garden, and found the 380 motor gets really quite hot. I think I'll have to order a heatsink and fan before the race meet. There's a remote possibility (depending on wife's new shifts) that I might go to the first round in April, so I'll have to see if I can afford a heatsink before then.