retroman

Sorry, all my money, overdraft, and remortgage on the house went into my two SRB's!! SRB Cult..... Great idea! Out of interest, would the highest amount of praise go to the deciple who sacrifices his SRB on dirt tracks, and get's it filthy dirty, or the high preist, who places his SRB on an altar or Shelf, and gently dusts it while drooling?? Only joking chaps :-) Always good to hear of a new club. If you're doing something for people who live in your area, then I say go for it.

Only just noticed this thread! I'd be willing to meet up one day. I'm only in Chesterfield, so not far away. My King Hauler isn't built yet, as i'm not allowed it until Christmas!

I have to admit, the third damper on the rear of the Hornet sounds like an excellent idea. I too have a re-re Hornet, and it's kit standard, apart from being fully ball raced. I flushed all the grease out the bearings first, then lightly oiled them with Trinity royal oil. It has managed to pull wheelies on a couple of occassions! I don't use it much though, as off road it bounces around like a space hopper!

Good points made chaps. I have to admit, I did have half a thought about keeping an eye out for second hand spares lots on ebay. But knowing me, I'll wind up with three Frogs! I suppose I could sit them all on the lilly pads on my pond, and they can sit there, and do the Frog chorus "Bud.....Weis.....Er!! LOL (if you remember the old TV ad). I suppose that due to the re-re's, there are quite a few out there now that are the original axe, just had three heads and four handles :-)

Cheers Dude, I know what you mean about first run blues with a Super Champ! Mine wouldn't turn at all, and when it did, it had a tendancy to try and flip, and on 2 ocassions it did!! After a bit of trial and error, I rebled the rear shock, increased the tension on the spring on the rear mono shock, and pulled up the bands a bit tighter that control how far the rear arms dropped. It did improve things quite a lot. When driving on tarmac or concrete, I use worn out rear tyres. New ones give way too much grip. It did behave better when I ran it on dirt, with Sand Scorcher Padlatrak rear tyres. To be honest, My Frog would run rings around either the Super Champ, or the Sand Scorcher. I think the massive weight of the SRB range doesn't help matters much, but the Champ does make me laugh! And I think that the SRB's make for excellent scale models. i'm definately going to carry on running the Super Champ, and the Sand Scorcher, as that's what they're made for. OK, some of the parts can be expensive, but most of them can be found on ebay. Tamiya Monkey put some ace pictures of my Super Champ in the gallery of the Clumber Meets website, under the Warsop meet. Took some cleaning up afterwards!

This project happened by accident, I bought a box of spare parts to help complete my Super Champ and there was nearly enough bits left over to build a Sand Scorcher chassis. Had a lucky find with a brand new rear cage, aerial and pin. For electronics, I've decided to go away from original and use the Tamiya ESC with the Futaba 40mhz FM receiver. I've given it a trial run round the back yard and it's quicker than the Super Champ!

Here's one of my SuperChamp recently pounding the dirt at a "Clumber Meet"

OK, i thought this might start a good thread. I've recently bought a Frog, at a bargain price, as spare parts for my re-re, as I tend to use it a lot. The problem is the Frog I have bought is an original 1980's Frog, and it's in quite decent condition! So rather than condemn it to the spare parts bin, i decided to tot up how much it would cost to rebuild it by using the "Buy It Now" option on ebay. It needs wheels and tyres, one diff gear is excessively worn, the drive shaft boots have gone hard with age, body and decal set, battery side holders are missing, one rear trailing arm is cracked where the rear shocker screws to it, and front bumper has a crack. Doesn't sound too much does it! Then I got the calculator out and done the maths. Guess what..... It's cheaper to buy a re-re from Hong Kong than to rebuild it!! It's now a case of my heart say's let the Frog hop again, but my head says it's too expensive. I guess this is another side to the re-re versus original argument. You buy a vintage car, you know that even if it's in good condition, it's going to need bits and bobs bought for it. I have been wanting a Hotshot for a while now, and last night I ordered the re-re. Looking at the above vintage versus re-re argument, it kinda makes sense, doesn't it??? What do you all think??

I'd definately give truck racing a try!! It would have to be with a truck off ebay at a bargain price though. I wouldn't want to build my king Hauler over christmas, then have a racing incident!! How cool would it be to have racing trucks with smoke generators rigged up to the exhaust stacks. Nail the throttle, and thick black smoke comes pouring out of them!! LOL

Just been reading this thread as I'm thinking of getting a re release Hotshot!! With regards to charging your batteries, a lot of budget chargers aimed at beginners work on timers. As a general rule of thumb these types of charger will take about half an hour to charge a pack that is flat. The way to tell when the batteries are fully charged with this type of charger is the pack will start to get warm. Don't leeave them on until they are red hot though!! You're probably looking at around half an hour for a 1500 pack, around 40 minutes for a 1900 pack, and maybe an hour or more for 3300 and over. Just start with the pack cold, and check the tempurature of the pack every five or ten minutes. Hope this helps :-)

I have a local car park which I use, and you only occassionally get kids, or adults with kids, or dog walkers. Kids on their own, I generally pull the car up by my feet, and pretend to be adjusting something...... I'm not very trusting!! First comment I usually get is "Is it nitro"? My usual reply is "No, it's faster"!! LOL!! I usually get this comment with my Yokomo SSG SD, and it has been known to give cheap nitro cars a real kicking!! Dad's/ Families with kids generally tend to stand behind me and watch, which is cool :-) The dad's are generally quite interested, and I've had many a good chat with someone I've never met before. I've had some that have recognised my "Frog" from when they were younger, and I'm generally happy to explain to them how they work, what the different types of cars are, etc. The F201, and the vintage buggies seem to get the most interest. I've had the odd comment from friends, in jest, along the lines of "your sad playing with toy cars". But I just laugh..... As Swarm said "I could be at the pub every night", but that just seems like a total waste of money to me. I would rather do something constructive with my time and money :-) Truth of the matter is, I'm quite happy in my own little world, and don't really care what other people think. after all, I'm the 6 foot 2" guy, with a big grin on my face!!

I'm really looking forward to building my king hauler, and pole trailer. looking forward to venturing into the world of three speeds as well! I've never done the scale driving thing before, and am really looking forward to the challenge. Speed isn't everything!! I've done the whole racing thing, and have to admit, I'm really enjoying having a laugh with vintage stuff. My Frog always puts a big grin on my face, even though it's only running a sport tuned motor, My Super Champ is heavier than a brick, handles terrible, but makes me laugh, and I finally got my Sand Scorcher to move under it's own power tonight, and it's just as bad, and equally as funny!! Racers, Bashers, Truckers?? We all have the same hobby, just enjoy it in different ways. Nows here's a thought.........Truck racing!! I bet that could be a good laugh :-)

I've got a King Hauler, and pole trailer, but the Mrs says that I am not allowed them until Christmas Day!! She won't even let me have a peak in the boxes :-( The temptation has nearly got the better of me a couple of times though! I've got plenty of projects to keep me going until Christmas though :-)

Yeah, the tarmac on the carpark is actually really nice. done recently?? If it was cleared of all the stones, it would be excellent for running touring cars on, etc. Wouldn't take too long to clear if everyone bought a sweeping brush along :-)

It was good so many people turned up dude, here's a few thoughts I have; Might be an idea to have a white/chalk board on the wall, so everyone can list what frequency they're using, to save on interference. I think a few people were using the same colour on 27MHZ, and I had a couple of glitches on 40MHZ FM. Could also possibly make better use of the carpark area. maybe mark a track out that half uses the tarmac area, and half uses the gravel area that extends beyond it. Could make for an interesting course for buggies! The large grass area to the rear of the hall looks quite promising as well. would probably be good when the good weather arrives again. The hall was perhaps a little too small for running cars in, but the overall package could be really good with a little work. Like I said, just a few thoughts. I'd definately be willing to turn up again :-)

I'm not a million miles away, so might pop over for a look spring time. Looking forward to some good weaather!

Losi and Associated both use imperial sized fixings and bearings, so I would guess that they won't fit anything Tamiya/ Kyosho/ Yokomo/ HPI/ Schumacer, etc, which are all metric The wheels on my Associated B4 buggy are imperial bearings in the wheels, then onto imperial stub axles on the front, where as the rear wheels fit onto imperial stub axles again, but rather than having a wheel hex, the wheel fits directly onto the cross pin in the rear axle. Hope this helps :-)

The only paint that I use and trust on Lexan is the Tamiya stuff. i've tried most of the other makes, and they seem to flake off, no matter what you do to prepare the lexan first. I always clean the inside of the shell first with car body pre clean ( as used in car accident repair centres ), then apply window masks, then key the shell with a scotch brite ( or the back of a washing up sponge/scourer ), pre clean again, then spray using medium coats of paint. Use one clean cloth to apply the pre clean, and another clean cloth to take it straight off. Hot soapy water works well, just make sure to rinse in clean water, then dry with paper towel, to leave the shell free from any streaking I've used this method for a few years now, and have never had paint flaking off after a crash. Should work just the same on the outside of a shell :-)

I'm still using my GP3300 matched packs, and some of them are years old. I converted a couple of packs from saddle packs (used to be run in my old X-Ray FK04) to straight forward in line packs. Cycled them once after they had cooled from soldering, then allowed them to cool, and charged them last night, ready for a basher event I've been to today First run wih them in my Associated B4, they were good, and the buggy went reasonably well. but on the second charge of the day, they were a lot better, had loads more punch :-) I think that the truth of the matter is a racer will happily spend 60 GBP on a really good matched pack, and will look after their investment, from both the cost, and maintaining performance points of view. A basher will probably pay around 10 to 30GBP max for a cell pack/ stick pack, because it's not about maximum performance, it's about having great fun. Racers and bashers both have RC as a hobby, and both enjoy their own aspect of the hobby greatly. but i guess while a racer is busy cycling packs, rebuilding motors, checking shocks, set up, tweek, gearing, etc, his basher counterpart will be busy hooning around in a local car park, or country park, having a laugh. I guess my point is that bashers shouldn't worry too much about buying expensive gear to carry out cell maintainance, just look after them the best you can with what you've got, and try not to run them until the car stops!

Cheers for a good day dude, hope to do it again sometime :-)

I got my Frog re-re from Hong Kong, on Ebay, with no problems. I think it turned up in around 10 days. I thought about doing the same with my King Hauler, and Pole Trailer, but I thought i would have a word with my local hobbie store keeper. It only worked out about 15 GBP to order it off him.There would have been nearly 90 quid postage for the truck and trailer from Hong Kong! not forgetting if customs got hold of it, and sent me a bill.......... Just remember, when you go to your local model shop, the price on the box doesn't have to be the price you pay. By supporting my local shops, i find that I can get a good discount. besides, they seem to have noticed that when I walk in, they're going to do well!!

I've had quite an eventfull day today! Super Champ suffered brief radio glitch, and launched itself into a (luckily shallow) puddle, then luckily stopped (no damage, but I was sweating!!) The Frog suffered the same problem, but launched itself into a deep puddle (only the roof spoiler was showing!) and now doesn't work. Associated B4 suffered a high speed collision, and smashed the front bulkhead. And my F201 just decided that it didn't want to go at all! (probably went on strike at the sight of the other cars) My old Yokomo SSG SD was faultless though. Good old warhorse!!

Yeah, I've probably got around 100 slot cars. Favourties are the 1970's, and early 80's stuff like the BMW CSL's, Mk1 Escorts, Datsun 240Z, stuff like that. I also have a lot of the Scalextric American classic stuff, like the Camaro's, Mustang's, Ford Grand Torino... I've got a couple of Fly CSL's as well, but not totally impressed with those. The propshaft needs gluing in to stop it flying out (happened on both cars), and one of them the chassis started to melt from the heat of the motor!! I had only run it about three minutes.............

Classic cars especially Fords?? No problem, I have 2 mk2 Escorts :-) Also got a Rover P6 with the V8 in it. Other hobbies include slot cars, probably got around 100 in total, and playing bass guitar, and sometimes guitar.

Looking forward to it!! Was hoping that "Project Scorcher" might be a runner, but sadly the last few bits are still in the post. Kev and me should be there for just after 10am. See you all tommorow!