racecar

Now this is why I post on here, cos from reading the responses I'm learning all the time.... brilliant! The discharger is a NosRam gravity stickpack model, bought from Modelsport UK and it didn't cost a great deal so if its a bit surplus to our current requirement then that's not a problem. we'll run them till they stop and then they can be recharged to go again. Thanks Andrew

Thanks mymonster. The ESC is the TEU-101BK from Tamiya, it's all stock at the moment, no upgrades whatsoever. The first battery pack took 19 hours and 20 minutes to discharge, the second one is now sat wheels off the ground on a simple workstation I've just made (cut out from some high density foam block) and the eldest is sat in the lounge watching scrapheap challenge running the battery down. So we'll see where that goes from there. Is there any guidelines to how long various battery capacity will run for, I know that there is no scientific guidelines as all chassis, drivetrains, tyres never mind how its driven will give a definitive guide, but just some approximates ones would be useful. Thanks again Andrew

Hopefully someone will have experienced this problem and can help put our minds at rest. Both cars are TT01 chassis, both were running charged 2300 NiCD batteries, both ran no problems for about 25 minutes around the local tennis court. Then within minutes of each other both stopped running smoothly and began stop start movement. We let them sit for a couple of minutes and then regained smooth running for a matter of a couple of minutes and then again ran stop start. I put this down to the batteries which were warm and so packed up and came home. As soon as we got back home one of the batteries went onto the Discharger and has been on that now for 19 hours with the LED still glowing strong. I would have thought that the battery would have discharged by now, so if they had a lot of charger left in the batteries (as would appear by the fact that the discharge light is still on) what is causing the cars to run in an pulse fashion. Is the heat build up too much for the batteries or the motor or are the batteries run flat but have a large amount of residual charge left over that is not capable of moving the cars. If it is heat build up and we are in very cold winter months, I presume that I need to install some heat sinks on the motor and maybe the battery clamp. What's the consensus out there? Thanks again Andrew

Thanks for that. Modelsport was where I bought it from, I was going to send it back to them if it was not suitable. Andrew

Having just received my latest purchases mail order and read the instructions that I don't think I saw on the on-line sales page. The charger is an Ansmann ACX-1 which states that it's for 7.2v 1400-3000 batteries both NiCD and NiMH. The two batteries I bought with the charger are rated as 3300 NiMH capacity. Simple question what will happen if I plug those two batteries onto the ACX-1 charger, will they only ever get to be 3000 capacity or worse still will they end up being useless as they aren't getting a full charge. Looking forward to your response. Andrew

Oh well spent some more money!.... The FFX was much quicker with the 2300 NiCD battery, but even though both 2300's had been charged to the correct timelength on the overnight charger they died pretty quickly, much quicker than I had imagined. So the latest acquisitions are 2 3300 NiMH batteries and a Ansmann ACX1 Peak detect charger (cos I read it in another thread!). So in the space of two weeks it's been two TT01 chassised kits, 1 complete servo/transmitter kit, 4 batteries, 2 chargers and 1 discharger, paint etc, repairing glue.... mind you if I spread it out over the 18 years that it has been since I bought the Wrangler then it's not to bad.... can you tell I'm an addict already who can't admit to my problem! Andrew

can you photograph both your receiver and your esc terminal... is it an Acomms receiver? Andrew

don't chop anything off. I haven't even touched the battery holder that was in the kit. Attached is a photo of how our ESC is connected, hopefully that will make sense. Andrew ps I should add that the BATTERY terminal indicated on the pic is from the ESC.

Oh well back to the shops, just goes to show that I'm still green about these things as the 2300 battery is one of two brand new batteries that I bought on New Year's eve, best wait till the eldest has saved some pocket money before we tell "mum" that we are buying some more batteries. Might save the 1400 for when the youngest is driving the cars then he can hopefully keep better control of it..... saying that he was doing reverse flick turns with the Impreza better than the eldest was doing! I'll have to set an Autotest circuit up for them next time we get to the tennis courts. Andrew

the diagram in the instruction leaflet confused me for a short while as there are two terminals that go into the receiver, what confused me was the three flex one that had a small tab on it that needed cutting off, this one went into the channel 2 slot, the red one does go into the battery slot but I found that it needed to be turn round from the way that it appears to go and it still leaves one terminal pin showing - it connects to the outer two pins. All that said, I'm presuming that you are talking about the TEU-101BK ESC. HTH Andrew

Just to prove that I am blond! We have two TT01 chassised cars (the Impreza and the Ferrari FFX!), now I am clever enough to work out that the bodyshell will not affect performance running around a tennis court. However we've just come back from the local park and we all noticed that the Impreza bodied chassis was quicker than the FFX bodied one. Both chassis have been built in the last week, both are standard (no upgrades!). The FFX runs slicks and a wide rear track, the Impreza runs treaded tyres. Now I know on my full size race car that wide slicks can actually slow a car down on the straights when compared to narrow treaded tyres, but I can't imagine that it would have the same effect on these little cars. So I can only presume that with the Impreza chassis having a 2300 battery and the FFX one a 1400 that is where the difference is, we got kicked off the tennis courts before I could swap batteries about to see if there was a switch in performance... Any comments appreciated! Andrew

Well I'd love to have a model of the race Midget if I could, but as I also have a rare BGT that one would also be good to have. Willy, whereabouts in Victoria are you, we looked at emigrating a while ago and I had a look at a business in Blackburn, Melbourne, unfortunately it wasn't to be, however whilst I was there I met up with the MG Car Club Victoria Region and had a day out at Phillip Island at one of their race meetings. It made a change from racing in the rain as we get over here! Btw, the FFX shell is mended now, some adhesive fabric tape (for my exhibition work kit of bits), some clear modelling glue and one very happy young one later, the car is ready to use again tomorrow. I can think of another thing I need to buy now, a fast charger! :-).... I hope that once we are set up then the money spent will slow down (okay I know I'm kidding myself there, but I have to keep saying that out aloud cos the good lady will have a fit if she thinks that I've got yet another hobby that absorbs money!). Andrew

Thanks WRC, the car will be primarily mine to run with the eldest when he takes his to the Tennis Courts, so we'll see how it goes, I've some similar foam that I think I'll be able to use to add to the foam that's already there so hopefully that will take care of the front somewhat better. I'll just have to "assist" the youngest until he can cope a little better. He was actually trying to copy my doughnuts that I'd shown off doing, so that was a bit of my fault for letting him have a go. Addicted already. Andrew

Thanks everyone. I'll take a look at the website and have a look for some local clubs there. Meanwhile we had a trip out to Modelsport in Otley and guess what... spent some Money and bought a Ferrari FFX on another TT01 chassis. This one of for me to run along side the eldest's Subaru, however the youngest decided that he wanted the Ferrari body shell, I'd have preferred an Integrale shell. But we did a deal, he could run the Ferrari and buy me a new shell if and when he cracked the shell. We finished the car this morning, he ran it and drove it flat out into the wall on our drive and cracked the shell. So I'm looking forward to getting my Integrale shell soon, however in the meantime and to stop his tears, what's the best way to fix the shell so that is doesn't crack any further? As for SU's on the scale 1:1 race car... nope it's on Weber's and it's **** thirsty too (about 8.5 mpg at full chat!). Still it looks as though it could remain cheaper racing the big cars than these little ones! :-) Actually, does anyone now of MG bodyshells for the little cars? Happy New Year to all Andrew

Just a short post by way of an introduction, I first got a Tamiya kit nearly 20 years ago - A Jeep Wrangler as we had a scale 1:1 Wrangler, after wanting a rc car for more years than I can remember as a child I finally convinced my girlfriend that our house really needed a model of our car.... don't ask me how I convinced her but I did and she's now my wife even! I built the Wrangler over that Christmas period but never actually got to finish it, it suffered from being too quick and had an inherent desire to park itself on it's roof all the time. Fast forward to this Christmas and our eldest son had been making noises about having a rc car for himself, he had found the Wrangler and run it a couple of times (still unfinished) and managed to park it on it's roof.... so this Christmas he got a Tamiya Impreza. After a couple of hours on Christmas Day and the same again on Boxing Day the car was finished (I'd previously painted it and graphic'd it up - I'm a designer by trade and couldn't bear the thought of lopsided decals etc!). So here we are awaiting some decent rain free weather and we can take his car to the park to drive it. Since the rain has been coming down over the last two days, we've actually finished the Jeep Wrangler, but since reading the other threads on here about their relative rareness and potential value, it looks as though the Wrangler will become (a new term that I have learnt off this forum) a shelf queen! I daren't run it now! But we've enjoyed building the kits so much that I think I'll be getting my own Impreza or something similar to go playing in the park.... it looks like the full size MG's that are in restoration will be taking a back burner for a while! Btw, does anyone know of any clubs that are local to Holmfirth West Yorkshire, I'd be interested in taking my son along. regards Andrew