Lonestar

Protoform is your friend

Two cars I drive like if there was no tomorrow: 1- my VLB... which is modded with 5 oil shocks, reinforcement bars on the chassis, modded steering, 23T motor, and metal body posts! The latter one was the key enabler to make it a "no holds barred" car otherwise the chrome parts bill just goes thru the roof. Now I can barrel-roll it 10 times in a row and nothing breaks anymore, so I drive it brainlessly!!! 2- my rally Integrale TT01, jacked up with oil shocks, and using TL01 external transmission parts, alloy center shaft and motor mount, and a brushless Speed Passion Exige combo... with 3S lipo cells. Fast as ****, although absolutely undriveable due to the power and the positive camber thanks to the higher ground clearance (remember the TT01 is designed as an onroad car) , but fun as badword and cheap to replace too, shall it have to go to the bin (which shouldn't take long given the level of silliness I drive it with haha) In the past I had an LXT I used to take to BMX tracks... it would break rear a-arms mounts on a weekly basis, and the car's been fully restored now, so no more running Likewise, my Schumacher Storm went to quite a few BMX tracks too with a 15x2 and 7 cells, and I have stopped counting the number of times I bended the pan-fry chassis back in place against my knee by weighing on it... these were the days when I didn't care much for symmetry, droop, and masss balance... ha, the good ole days, really Paul

1959 Vette - two tone, yell- ow/cream is the most beautiful convertible ever. Ferrari 250 GTO - red suits it so well Ferrari Testarossa - but a proper one, not the ugly one kyosho did a few years back. Every 80's teenager's wet dream Porsche 917 - oh omg would look soooo fantastic in gulf livery GT40 - ditto on the blue/orange color scheme and again the kyosho ones are too hard to get now... Paul

Hi - after years of not using clearcoat, I've started experimenting with it a few months back in order to get the perfect "mirror" finish... which is just not attainable with the base TS cans... I have to say the learning curve's been pretty steep, but with the help of some experienced members of the board, the results are there, and they're outstanding. Clearcoat DOES add this shine and depth to an ABS painted body, but it takes some work, time, patience and a couple of TS13 cans to get there. Additionally, it seems that clearcoat protects the paint itself by adding an extra layer of thickness that can be scratched and scrapped when you flip the car over... which means the clearcoat suffers instead of the paint, ie less visible, white "Scratches" on the car. My advice is as follows: - if your brat is a basher and you like to run it like it was 1985, then who cares, really... just mash the throttle, and enjoy the loopings. When it's dead, throw it away, buy another one (thanks Tamiya for re-re's ) - if you feel like doing a work of art and you like experimenting with painting techniques, then prime the ABS body, polish it, paint it, polish it again, and clearcoat and polish some more. Then you won't want to run it anymore but you'll be proud of what you've achieved and you'll have learnt some cool tricks on the way. And Have fun! Paul

and you'd better, haha! I have to agree that Jason Reid sure has an interesting ebay choice to pick from, and ultra rare and desirable stuff... and yes he ships fast, which is the least you could expect given the shipping fees he bills you. But then again, for the non-exceptional stuff (ie the tamiya parts still in prod) you can find the same products for lower prices if you search a bit on the bay, or ask some of TC's sponsors. I have always been disappointed by the lack of communication from this seller, but then again everyone seems to forgive him as he does offer extremely rare products too... I absolutely love the analogy of the Dream RC shop assortment, with tons of pricey items to look at and purchase, but with no one to answer your questions shall you have any - I think this is bang on. Now, up to everyone to assess whether they think it's a great place to do shopping at... Paul

yesterday I deleted 2 unread messages... boom, minus 2 messages now. Paul

Hi All I think you're preaching to the converted - this is why we all came to TC in the first place. I recently bought a few collections of old RC Car magazines... I have no interest for the post 1993/4 stuff as all cars look the same from then on, to now. A Kyosho Burns isn't that much different from a MBX5, or a Losi XX from a AE B4 or a a XXX-cr. But when you compare an Optima to a TRF501, both belt (or chain, same thing) driven, wow, what a difference! This is what I love in the old stuff, the way the car design changed from when I got involved in RC (1984-5) when the 6-gear RC10 and the serpent sprint ruled to when the designs all starting looking the same. Reading articles on how the mid-mounted Schum 4WD could whip the rear-mounted car's butts is what's interesting, this shows how technical progress changed the rules. Innovation had its advantages, the were were getting faster and faster, but on the other hand if you had a car from 1987 and you ran it against the 1988 cars, everything else being equal, you would struggle, badly. The reason why modern RC racers (me included) spend that much time and money running after a couple of tenths is not because we're dumb, but rather because all modern racecars are as good as one another, as they've all converged to similar architectures and suspension geometries. When you were racing 20yrs ago, the cars were so crude and ill-handling that the progression margin was HUGE, and drivers skills / reflexes / hand-eye coordination / setup knowledge could make a real difference. Today, all cars are almost optimal out of the box, every one with the same skill level can drive them to 98%, but the challenge is to find that last 2% actually. It means a lot of practice and 100%-perfect gear, and yes, some cash to catch that last 2%. Today, you can still run an XRAY t1, or an AE TC3 in DTM EP and still be competitive and run with the pack. Ditto for offroad, today, a first gen XXX (1999) will be just as fast around the track as a B4 (or very close) in club racing. A car from 1985 would struggle to run with cars from 1988 (think hotshot vs. Optima Mid, or frog vs. Ultima, or Schum SPC vs. Corally for instance) even at the poorest club racing level. My point is, it takes a lot more effort/money to run faster than the pack in 2008 than it took it 1998, and that's when the car designs' evolution was fascinating to look at, and why we look at the 80's design with so much fondness. But on the other hand, and that's the good part, it takes much less effort/money to run WITH the pack in 2008 than in 1998. All because progress has slowed down since the early/mid 90's. Paul

Hi again, after the PM's we've sent each other back and forth, maybe you want to specify you're lookinf for forward and reverse ESC's? Paul

Nothing looks better than a box art VLB Problem is when there's 10 guys (me included) racing 10 yellow Bedfords haha! Nice job no matter what Paul

Hi guys, bought two Fire Dragons - and I only need one, really. The second one is up for grabs, I will ship it to the UK GBP89. Please note this is a japanese spec Fire Dragon, so no 101BK in there. The rest of the world will need to pay a bit more depending on where the package goes to... http://img388.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0009dj3.jpg http://img401.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0010mv1.jpg (the instructions and decals aren't on the pix but are of course included ) Thanks for the interest, Paul

Welcome to the group, Ax. the good news is, you're not alone. The bad one is that none of us is any less mental than you Paul

Corally makes them for their 12-scalers. Paul

ooooh I like that a lot... especially as this looks reasonably easy to do for a pushrod mechanism. thanks for sharing terry! Paul

Hi Luke been thinking about it for a while myself after doing it for my VLB, but I was wondering where to hook that up reliably. sounds like big metal bracket is the only way to go! Thanks for sharing, Paul

May I also suggest you tick the "completed items" to see only the deals that happened... there are a few speculators who do post extremely desirable NiB kits at ridiculous prices, hoping that some day they will sell at the asking price, but most of the time the market still decides that such ripoffs shouldn't happen. The market value is the buying value, not the "desired" one from the seller. Cool find on your side anyway! Regards, Paul

Thanks for your answer. I'm actually a bit surprised as I thought that buffing was not about sandpapers but rather about using some kind of polishing cloth, either manually or via some kind of rotating tool??? thanks, Paul

Lunchbox - at least it's fun to run and has a character of its own even if it's relatively similar to your WWII, whereas the hotshot is a boring, heavy, slow, and obsolete piece of engineering that already drove poorly in the 80's (gonna make myself a few friends with that one) and that basically does the same thing conceptually as any more recent 4WD design, except it does it poorly... the VLB has soul! Seriously - get both and tell us which one you like best Paul

Guys, in my quest to learn all the pro ABS painting techniques at once to have the coolest restored Monster Beetle around, I came across the term "buffing" several times. I think I understand it's some kind of polishing with a soft material, but that's pretty much all I understood. Can the experts please tell me more, ie what it really is, how one does it, when, with what, what it does to a paint job, if it's worth it, and the likes? Thanks much! Regards, Paul

PM were sent - can you please answer them? Paul

PM sent - I have what you're asking for, ie new-not-even-completely-built-but-complete-nonetheless fireblade Evo... Please let me know if interested before I post it in this section publicly Thanks! Paul

Oh yeah... I sold my first love, my trusty Monster Beetle that i bought in 1987... I needed the cash to "upgrade" to a Mid Custom But then again, I now have two new built MB's and a fully decked-out runner, so I'm forgiven From then on I kept all my cars barring a few completely uninteresting or completely worn-out ones (Yokomo YR4-M2-USA, HPI Pro2, ...). And I will keep doing so! Paul

I hereby officially testify Great race-report! Brings good memories back to the surface too. And it's a pleasure to have you running with us See you Saturday! Paul

Hi most "unpredictable" handling cars are typically related to two issues 1- bent/binding/assymetric suspension - disassemble, check, and rebuild. A binding suspension can come in from overly worn out diff outdrives and wheel axles, where the dogbones lock in under load and prevent effective suspension movement. People often overlook that one. 2- tires that come unglued. Do not underestimate the effect on handling created by the tire ungluing itself just on, say, 10% of the rim. For 10% of the time you car will get loose due to the tire folding under load, and then it will take it the 90% remaining time to regain some grip, just to loose it again a split second later. When racing, one should check for 100% gluing perfection at every run. There is no point changing springs, camber, oil, castor, transmission scheme, you name it, until you tires are 100% perfect. A TA03F should not spin out unless you "rape" it. It is designed front-heavy, hence it is an understeerer by nature. If it oversteers, then there is a structural problem to it Last but not least, I've always wanted a TA03FDJ, if you don't want it I'll happily pick it up from you. I do have a NiB 58220 kit, TA03R, that we could use as a basis for negociation Paul

Frankly I've searched a couple of hardware stores (I usually grab the opportunity when I go buy some real hardware the fix the house) lately and the cheapo ones really look ****... the seemingly good quality ones (no slop, sharp blade, rubber handles, good finish) do sell for about $20/$30. When I got my first set of good tools a few years back (Hudy allen wrenches and screwdrivers in 1998) it was a revelation. Yes, you can survive with cheapo ones and still build and wrench on kits with the supplied allen keys, but once you've had good ones you never look back given the amount of time and frustration it saves. Oh and my Hudy tools still look and perform like new 10 years after. I expect the Tamiya cutters to do the same and will report back to you in 2018 Thanks all for the advice - 74045 it is Paul

It doesnt HAVE to say Tamiya on it, but I know if Tamiya selected it to sell it under its name it cannot be bad... please send me a "Buy it Now" link Paul