pedromondo

For about £50 you can get an EZrun 9t brushless combo delivered from Hong Kong. Check out Ebay. With the combo you get a 9t brushless motor, fan-cooled ESC with on-off switch and a plug in programme card for easy set up. You just need to solder on your battery connectors (I'd recommend Deans or some other high current connector). I have one in my TA05 (see pics in my showroom) which I race indoors on carpet and it is AWESOME (woah there, no need to shout - but it is). I've run it for ages with no problems. No worries about skimming comms or replacing brushes. Just charge up your batteries and watch it fly. Ace value for the price. Bargain. I drift ocassionally with it too so I'm sure it'd be good for bashing and general speed runs on tarmac. There is a thread on this site about the EZrun so search and check that out. They get a generally favourable review wherever they are mentioned. Can't be touched for the price. You can't even get a decent brushed ESC for the price of the complete EZrun combo. And just to say that no, I am not related to Mr Hobbywing or EZrun etc etc etc ;-) Pete

I used to subscribe to all those magazines. However I never bothered renewing my subs to any of the UK mags as they are mostly rubbish (and I'm English and live in England !). Theyre command of the Inglish langwidge, speling and grammer is apaling!!! They run reports of races that are half a year out of date sometimes. They also run too many race reports and not enough reviews, tips and general articles for my liking. The US mags are much better. Better writing, better photography, more up to date, better value for money. The UK ones seem to be in the pockets of the major manufacturers / distributors and wouldn't say anything bad about a model / part for fear of not being sent other freebies to review. Maxbashing is the exception to this as they do say what they think. It is less 'corporate' and written with bashing rather than racing in mind. But it's still not as good as RC Driver, Radio Control Car Action or RC Car Magazine from the US in my view. US mags all the way for me. But then I am pedantic old git ;-) Pete

Hi, No they aren't beadlocks but they are alloy. As you can see from my showroom I'm running the Tamiya F-150 tyres on mine which are the same as the standard pajero tyre only with the BF Goodrich logo on the sidewall. Hi-Lift tyres also fit on these wheels so I would assume if it's a 1.9 tyre it should fit ok. Pete

These Topcad 1.9 wheels on sale on Ebay from Dinball in Hong Kong are nice and work out at about 25 delivered. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TOPCAD-TMPT0101GN-Al...1713.m153.l1262 They also come with different offsets to suit your preferred look. I've got a set on my Pajero and I've seen them on other Pajeros (in fact I nicked the idea from SRCARS) and they look nice. They come in a number of different spoke styles and colours too. Check out my showroom for pics. Dinball also provides a pretty quick and good service to the UK. Pete

The other good stuff for locking diff is polymorph. You get it in bags off ebay for a few quid. Little white polymer balls which, when put in hot water go soft and pliable and can be moulded in to shape to fit. You just squeeze a few together then push them into the diff gears. The good thing is that when cool, it goes hard again meaning that it is non-permanent and easy to take out of a diff if you want to unlock it. But it gets into all the nooks and crannies before it cools to do a good job of locking it too. And it's reusable. Just stick it bacfk into hot water and it goes all pliable again. Good choice on the Pajero Benji for a scale vehicle. But I tell you, that losi mini crawler is brill. I'll try to bring them both down on Monday. I've also just uploaded a couple of pics of my hol last week in France with the Pajero and LMC. Pete

Hi Benji, I've a Tamiya Pajero and a Losi Mini Crawler but can't help you on the Yokomo I'm afraid (though I did buy an SD12-TR which has somewhat tainted my view of Yokomo). Anyhow, check out the ukrcrc forum for details of the runs with a couple of Pajeros down at St Catherine's Hill in Bournemouth. Mine was bog standard other than both diffs locked and it performed excellently getting up and down some mighty slopes. I wasn't expecting much after I'd built it but it performs really well even with a standard Tamiya Silver can motor and teu101bk esc. I now have funky alloy wheels and a 55t motor (still running fine with the old faithful TEU101BK). I have to say the Pajero is a pretty good intro to scale crawling / trail running. Especially if you lock both diffs. I also have a hi-lift which I've hardly run as the Pajero is much more fun (stands back and waits for the criticism - I guess I just can't get on with sticks and 3 speeds when a simple steerwheel control and 1 gear is just as capable) On to the Losi Mini Crawler and all I can say is awesome. I had mine in France last week in the snow and ice and it far outperformed what I was expecting. It was unbelievable what it got up and over. Mine is standard other than running big 2.2 junfac beadlock wheels with HPI geolander tyres (and a bright yellow truck body so I could see it in the snow!! - stock is really thin 1.9 tyres though they are quite grippy). The snow and ice mounds that crawler got up was awesome. I would get up early at 7am when it was minus 7 or 8 outside just to get a bit of runtime with the mini crawler and I could have stayed out crawling snow and ice all day (but my wife wouldn't have let me obviously ;-). General reviews of the truck are good. I toyed with the losi and an Axial AX10. But I already have a Gmade Spider 1/8th scale monster crawler (also awesome but totally unaffordable now given the exchange rate) so wanted something small I could pack in a small rucksack. The Losi mini crawler packs a lot of capability into a small package. If you're interested let me know and I can bring both the Pajero and Losi down to Bransgore next week (or when you're next down) and you can see what you think. There are some pics of both trucks in my showroom. I'll be posting some snowy ones when I get a mo in the next few days. With the Pajero obviously you get the kit but have to supply the RC gear (rx/tx/servo/lighting system). WIth the Losi, it's more 170 than 150 but you do get an full RTR (completely RTR, all the batteries and all) and a 2.4ghz Spektrum radio system included. I've had a losi MLST in the past which have been a pain and a mini baja which was not much better. But I can't praise the losi mini crawler highly enough by comparison. And you get about 30-40 minutes runtime out of one small battery which is included in the package. It dunt get much better than that (though you do get an equally long run time out of the Pajero and most crawlers compared to normal rc cars). Hope that helps a bit. Pete

I bought one and put it together at the same time I was building my hi-lift. I wasn't that confident that the Pajero would be any good. But then I went and ran it - bog stock other than bearings and locked diffs and it was awesome. I went out with a bunch of scale crawler guys and my Pajero coped with the steep and sticky stuff (no that's not a euphemism !) as well as any. I love it now. Much better than my hilift which I've never run since (too many toys). Yes the steering is a bit poxy but as long as you keep it clean or do the mod it's fine. I would recomend them very highly. I've since put a 55t motor in it (which the standard esc seems to run fine) and some funky alu beadlocks and f-150 tyres on it and it's even better. Great truck

We race 'em at our club at Bransgore in the New Forest indoors on carpet (Monday nights 7 for 7.30 at the village hall if anyone's interested). Bog stock, all variations in body and chassis style, silver can motors and rubber tyres. Ace fun. Silver can makes everyone equal and it comes down to driving style and skill (and a bit of luck staying out of peoples' way). Bashing round your local tennis court is fine but as an introduction to racing they are the dogs doo-dahs. Cheap, strong as anything, reliable and great fun. Go on, you know you want to ........ ;-) Pete

Or if you're not quite so Dorset based and a bit more Hampshire based or can't make Fridays then come on down to Bransgore Village Hall on Monday nights for more of the same with the New Forest Radio Car Club. It's almost Dorset ! Tamiya Minis are our thing but we also race touring cars and 12th scale. Electric only. Indoor carpet. 7pm booking in for a 7.30 start. Usually finished by 10. We are BRCA afffiliated but are a pretty relaxed, informal and friendly club. Email pete.errington@btinternet.com for further info as our website is currently being upgraded. Pete - NFRCC Club Secretary Who's next ? South Hants ? Southampton ? ;-)

There's a big show at the Hop Farm in Kent towards the end of summer (September time). Mainly flying but there is all sorts there. Search on the hop farm website for further info. I think the RCExtreme boys were there with their cars. I went up from Southampton last year and it was well worth the trip. There are loads of others across the south but they tend to be mostly flying based with cars as a minority interest. Pete

Bransgore Village Hall in the New Forest. Monday nights 7 for 7.30 start. Main class is stock Tamiya M03 minis (stock teu101bk escs and silver can motors). Top laugh. We are BRCA affiliated but we just have a laugh really. We're not anal about it and not that serious compared to some clubs. We do race touring cars and 12ths and we used to race 18th scale RC18s but it's mainly Tamiya minis. Come on down if you can make it sometime. Tomorrow (17th Nov) is a fun night which we have between even 10 week cycle of racing so we're even trying a bit of drifting as quite a few of the guys have drift cars. I'll be trying to drift my TA05 with the Ezrun in it !! Pete

Put my 9t in my TA05 in place of the 19t integy matrix motor I had previously. Chuffin' awesome. Monster fast. And that's just with 7.2v nimh. I race on a small indoor track on carpet. It makes me laugh out loud to myself every time I run it. Awesome. Top value for money. Best 38 I ever spent (well almost, but that's a whole 'n'other story ;-) Pete

I endorse all the comments above. Bought loads from them. Quick service - 10 days or so to UK and never paid any customs duty yet. Excellent service. Buying from their shop direct is also cheaper than buying from their Ebay auctions or shop. You should be able to work out shipping if you just go through the checkout process with the item you want to buy in your basket. It will give you shipping costs and options before you have to confirm the deal. Pete

Hey Ryan, Just one word - brushless. It doesn't matter what you get. buggy, truck, stadium truck, CORR, rally car. Put brushless in it and Robert's your mother's brother. I've got an e-savage with a feigao set up, a traxxas rustler with a mamba max set up. I've even got an RC18R/T combo set up as a rally car and an Xray M18MT/T both with Mamba 25 set ups. All awesome fun and fast as you like. So, think less of the type of truck and more of the type of power. All mine run on NIMHS - albeit 7 cells. They are as well rapid. If you start talking LIPOs then you're talking supersonic. So, get whatever. Just put brushless in whatever you decide and you will be in bash heaven - and buying loads of spares on Ebay .... lol Pete

I've got 2 factory painted Tamiya bodies - a M03M Super Swift and TA05 Honda NSX. Both are pretty good for the money. You can pick them up for not much more than the cost of a plain shell via certain well know online retailers and auction sites if you look around. When you work out the cost of your own time and paint to do your own shell they can be pretty good value. I'd agree with the other replies that, once you've done a few yourself (and I've painted loads now with varying results), if you take your time you can better the factory bodies - particularly with the application of decals. But, if you're not that anal about things and the shell doesn't have to be top-notch concourse winning then I'd recommend them. Pete