markbt73

Same here. It's really hard to beat the basic S128/148/3003 Futaba servos for typical Tamiya cars. Ten or twelve bucks, fast enough, strong enough, and tough as nails. Just get real Futaba ones, and not the knockoffs.

Sure can! The only difficulty with converting it to a Javelin is that the rear wing mount is part of the gearbox, so adding it in after the fact requires a lot of disassembly. And you need the Javelin's aluminum rollbar to make it work. I can't remember if that comes with the cage or not...

The Turbo Optima is a delight. It's a good, complex, challenging build (not difficult, there's just a lot to it), and the finished product is stunning. And a great car to drive. I think it would make a nice change from your Tamiya models.

Practice. Practice, practice, practice, and then practice some more. This applies to any vehicle. 2WD vehicles require a lighter touch, typically, and some changes in driving style. For one, go easy on the brakes, and brake in a straight line, before you get to the turn. Then slowly increase the power throughout the turn, and once it's pointed straight in the new direction, give it the beans. You'll get around turns a lot quicker that way. And yes, you'll spin out learning it. That's part of the process. Start out slow, and gradually get faster until you spin out, then back off. Eventually you'll get faster. 4WD, as you have discovered, is a bit more "point and shoot," and you need to brake later, partway into the turn, to let the front tires grab so it doesn't understeer. But you can't get back on the throttle as quickly, or you'll just plow straight ahead out of your line. Much of the same applies to FWD, by the way, in cas you're curious. There is no magic bullet, I'm afraid. No adjustments, no settings, just learning a different driving style, and practicing. And maybe you're right; maybe it isn't for you. I've tried drifting a few times, and I don't think it's really for me. I don't want to slide around all the time. But do try going slower, and practicing. You might surprise yourself.

(Quite a few languages don't make a distinction between engine and motor, just fyi...) The Sport Tuned should be a good upgrade. Any 540- size 20 turn motor would work well, also. You don't need a lot of torque for an M-chassis, so the GT tuned is probably overkill.

Psst, Thundershot tires fit nicely on these too, if you want spikes. I'll see if I can get a photo up tomorrow.

Well, I've now dismantled all five chassis. In total, there's one Grasshopper, one Hornet, one Grasshopper II, and two Lunchboxes. Ever wondered what five Grasshopper/Hornet gearsets in a plastic tub looks like? Something like that. Only usually not so goopy. Whoever built these was, let's say, a little heavy-handed with the grease. This is the worst one, but not by much. And for some reason, every single gearbox is missing that left-side axle spacer that keeps the bevel gear from hitting the spur. How did someone lose all five of them? Got me. But I'm not buying five screw bags just to get those. I'll find suitable substitutes somewhere. Luckily, all of them had at least some bearings, mostly new rubber-sealed ones. And under all the glop (and layers of paint), most of the plastic parts seem OK. There were more than a few wood screws used to hold things in place, but not much is actually broken. I did already toss one Hornet chassis tub that was just too far gone, and one of the Lunchbox chassis might be beyond saving as well. But we'll see. I'd like to re-use as much as I can.

What's the collective noun for Grasshoppers? A plague? Yeah, we'll go with that. A plague of Grasshoppers. I won't really have time to dive into these until this weekend, but on first glance... I have my work cut out for me. These things are rough.

So I'm starting to formulate a plan for this thing. It's going to be a Blackfoot, more or less, with period-correct hopups to go with the Thorp diff. Some CRP nylon bits, maybe JG shock towers if I can find some, stuff like that. Body will be Lexan, either a Parma Blackfoot or one of the old Bolink truck bodies, Chevy S-10 or Datsun or something. I'll audition wheels and tires and see what looks right. I'd love to find a set of old-school knobbies for it, Pro-Line Trac-Ta-Gators or something. Power will come from a Speedworks Monster Mash motor that I have in my stash, it's either a 17 or 19 turn single wind, I forget which. It will have a nice modern ESC and radio for worry-free running.

First lot has arrived! And it's exactly what I thought it was from the photos: a complete mongrel ORV monster truck chassis in pieces. And note the star of the show, front and center: a complete Thorp "Dirt Burners" gearbox - ball diff, dogbone axles, brass counter gear, everything. Missing the clamp-on drive adapters, though, but I think someone still makes those. Everything's filthy, bearings are all crunchy, and it's going to be a ton of work to put this all together. Can't wait to get started.

Yep, big fan of the new battery tech. A silver-can 540 on 2S lipo is my favorite power combo: punchy, but not crazy. Though I do live in fear of the dreaded over-discharge... I always make sure I run an ESC with a cutoff, but I also stop well before it ever kicks in. The variations in size/form factor for use in different models is a great feature, too. It eliminates the need to design around a gigantic stick-pack for scratchbuilt models.

I have not yet submitted any orders this year, no. But I have packages arriving tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday, and Monday that were bought last week.

Hair dryer, on low heat. No water spots, no lint.

A little update on this thing, now that it's here... It's practically new-built. If it was ever run, it was maybe once or twice. No scratches underneath, and no dirt in any crevices. It's actually a nice chassis design, two-belt 4WD, with nice long arms and what feels like good geometry. It has bevel-gear diffs supported by bearings, and bronze bushings (5x10mm) in the hubs and on the top shaft. Those giant tires are the star of the show, and they're in beautiful shape, nice and soft, with no cracks. Shame you can't find any tires like this anymore; I'd probably put them on everything. It is missing a few things, namely the original 20-turn silver-can motor and mechanical speed control, which I don't really care about, and the spur gear, which is kind of important. And of course, it's a special design, with an 8mm hex hole in the middle to fit on the top shaft. There's no slipper, by the way; that spring just holds the spur gear against the pulley. No idea why they did it that way, unless another version of this chassis has a slipper. Believe it or not, I actually found a spur gear for it on eBay, from a seller in Kansas. It'll be here next week. I do plan to run it at least once, just to see what it's like. Obviously, with most of it being made from pure unobtainium, I won't give it too hard of a time. As for that wild paint job, well... it is what it is. It's not something I would have chosen, but it's well-done, and it's definitely of an era. I may be wrong, but I don't think this is MRC's own body design; I think it's from Parma. If that's the case, I stand a chance of finding another one that I can paint more to my own liking. Until then, purple with cobwebs it is, I guess.

Great buggy. Personally I prefer the Fast Attack-style side guards and hood, but with the Wild One shocks and wheels (as per Willy's example above, though I prefer civilian paint jobs). Solid, fun to build, great to look at, and a surprisingly good runner for being how old of a design it is. I've never had a single diff problem with my re-re FAV, but then, it has never had anything but the kit-supplied 540 in it. Power corrupts, as they say, and that seems to go double for Tamiya differentials.

That's... not what I meant at all. I have cars that I love to run, and cars that I haven't run at all yet, and cars that I ran once just to see in motion. Finished projects and not-yet-started projects and plenty that are somewhere in between. I've got shelves and shelves of models, and drawers and boxes and little plastic organizers full of parts. The contents of this room are always changing or moving around, and yet, to an outsider, it always looks exactly the same: jam-packed full of stuff, verging on cluttered, but with an undertone of organization that shows that the curator of this mess actually cares about all this stuff. Some of it, taken individually, doesn't make me happy at all. I've got plenty of failed projects, mistakes that I wish I hadn't made, "lesser" examples of models that are replacements for a "better" one I wish I hadn't sold, and stuff that's finished to the best of my abilities, but not up to the standard that I want to hit someday. And some stuff that sits unfinished because I'm afraid I'll mess it up. But I've also got a few absolute triumphs that I'm really proud of, and plenty of beat-half-to-death cars that earned every crack and scrape and replaced part. But none of that matters, because when I walk into this room and close the door to keep the cats out, I can look around and feel at peace. I can sit down for a marathon work session on something, or just squish suspensions up and down, or impatiently sit waiting for a battery to charge so I can go drive the car sitting on the bench with its body off, and it all makes me happy. It's the one place where I don't have to care what anybody else thinks; I do all of this for myself. I'm never satisfied, I'm never finished, but I'm always at peace here. And so any new addition, to answer the original question more thoroughly, must add to, never detract from, that sense of peace and happiness.

I want to walk into my workshop, look around at the shelves, and feel happy. That's all.

Not sure why I always seem to go on an RC buying spree right around Xmas and my birthday (next Sunday the 7th). Maybe it's because as a grownup, nobody else buys us toys, so we have to buy our own. Anyway, this time, instead of looking for a new model, or something complete that I thought was cool, I went searching for parts lots or basket cases. And I found them. This $70 lot of ORV parts that could more or less make a gray-chassis Blackfoot/Monster Beetle should be here by the 2nd. I'm pretty sure I see a complete Thorp rear end in there, if so, score. I have everything else I need to build this out as a complete chassis, and I'll decide on a body later. And after hemming and hawing around for a day, I just now hit "Buy It Now" on this big lot of Grasshopper and Lunchbox chassis and parts. Not sure what's up with the painted parts, but it looks like there are at least 3, possibly 4, complete good chassis in there. And maybe a 5th good gearbox. I'd better log out of eBay before I do any more damage...

This sounds really strange. I've had several Clods and driven them hard, and never once had a motor mount screw loosen. That is what you mean, right? The two long screws that go through the gearbox halves into the motor? The only thing I can think of that might cause them to work loose is if you neglected to install the two long tubes that the screws pass through (BM5 in the manual). If you leave them out, then the screws are just tightening against plastic, and could work loose, I suppose. Double-check your assembly, is the first thing I can suggest.

The only reason I bring it up is that it's getting to be a theme around here: someone new shows up asking for advice, and 20 people tell them that they "need" to spend a bunch of money on X, Y, and Z "just in case" they want it in the future. The sticker shock alone is enough to scare some folks off, I bet. A box-stock TT02 and the basic "completion kit" offered by a lot of websites will be a fine way to start for 99% of people. So I just try to reinforce that point whenever it comes up.

At last count I have 39 drivable cars. 5 of them have their own dedicated radio. The rest share. I get the convenience, but I'm just saying it isn't absolutely necessary, and to me, it isn't a selling point. But then, neither are exponential curves or telemetry or any of that other stuff. If it makes the car go, stop, and turn, and doesn't feel like cheap junk, that's good enough for me. I'll fiddle with a couple of dials to save probably hundreds in radio gear.

Kind of an aside, but is model memory really that big of a deal to most people? I use basic but good-quality radios (Spektrum, Tactic, low-end Futaba) and none of them have model memory. I put velcro on the receivers and swap them from car to car. At most, when switching from one car to the other, it's a flip of a reversing switch, or a click or two one way or the other on the steering trim. Would it be nice to have that all at the touch of a button? Sure, I guess. Is it worth buying a much more expensive transmitter and a bunch of extra receivers just for that? Not to me...

See, and I'm just the opposite when it comes to the old hopups or the home-brewed stuff. I love the hand-made look of it. All the modern 3D printed or machined or laser-cut stuff just leaves me cold. I think your Clod looks fantastic, and very much like the ones we built back in the '90s when I briefly raced them. Why spend $200 on an ESP Clodzilla kit when you can do the same thing for $20 with a drill and a hacksaw? You're just a cool paint job away from glory on that one, I think. Does anybody local to you paint RC bodies? Maybe offer them the Wild Dagger chassis in trade for a custom '80s style paint job. For the others, as I'm understanding it, you already have a good runner Blackfoot and a good runner Big Boss? Then why not just disassemble these for spare parts? Stuff is bound to break or wear out eventually, and if you know you like running those two chassis, then just ensure a supply of components for them for future use. Or just set them aside for a while until you feel inspired again. Not everything needs to be completed, or even have a plan, right this second. And I struggle with that myself, believe me. Most of my unfinished builds are a result of me changing my mind about something - usually right after making the one cut/modification that can't be undone. When that happens, I panic, and feel like I have to replace the "ruined" part right away. But I don't. Some other idea will come along, and it will be better than my original plan, and the cut-up part will work after all. I also have a few cars that have entered sort of a "permanent project" status, where I just allow myself to mess around with them, with no intent of ever really finishing anything, or even any concept of what "finished" looks like for them. It's liberating, allowing myself to not have a plan for some stuff. It helps me focus on the ones I really do want to finish in a certain way. It all just takes longer.

That combo you linked to looks like a good place to start. The only thing I don't see included is an electronic speed control. Tamiya car kits sometimes include one and sometimes don't. If one isn't included, a basic Hobbywing 1060 is a good place to start. Just search for "1060 ESC" and you should be able to get one from anywhere. But if there's one in the box (it will be in a plastic bag all on its own, little black box with a bunch of wires connected to it), then you're golden. You didn't mention which exact car kit you got, so it's hard to tell you what else to look for. Tamiya kits come standard with plastic and/or bronze bushings for the axles and gears; most of us replace them with ball bearings, but it isn't absolutely necessary. Your car kit, plus the set you linked to above, plus a speed control if the kit didn't include one, will get you started just fine. Above all, please don't feel overwhelmed, or get discouraged when members on here bombard you with "helpful" suggestions of thing they think you "need" to get started, becaise they will. They mean well, but a lot of folks here forget what it was like to be a beginner. The truth is, we all started out with one kit, built it straight out of the box exactly according to the instructions, and had a blast with it as-is, before spending a bunch of money on anything else. Do the same, and you won't go too far astray.

When I lived in an apartment complex, I found the tennis courts (never used because there was no net) a perfect surface for pan cars and F1 cars. Never had an F201, but had one or two F102/103s. It's a good driving challenge, great for gaining finesse and precision, but if you try to fling it around like a touring car, you'll just spin out.