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Panther

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Posts posted by Panther

    Grease/lubricant recommendations?

    in General discussions

    Posted

    A silicone based rubber grease from a motor factors is a good alternative to Tamiya grease. It won't attack rubber or plastic like a mineral oil based grease. I wouldn't use a lithium based grease either unless you know what's in it. 

    Those little packets of silicone grease you get in a Bigg Red brake seal kit have been keeping me going for ages. 

    • Like 2

    R/C Drifting

    in General discussions

    Posted

    I've found that it works better on smooth surfaces. Concrete is best but smooth tarmac will do just as well. If the road is quite rough there is just too little traction and the car might go in any direction if you hit a bump.

    It's quite good fun though when everything goes perfect and you get a good fast lap without touching the sides.

    I'm thinking of starting a sideline in RC

    in General discussions

    Posted

    The hobby shop local to my office sells a wide range of stuff, from Hornby model railways , through electric and nitro cars to planes and heli's. Bits n bobs of Scalextric and model kits too. Its a fairly big shop, ca 40ft of counter space, but its on an industrial park so their business rates will be a lot lower than a high street shop. However the main point is they probably only hold about 8 Tamiya RC kits, and a similar number of Traxxas/HPI/Associated (maybe making total of 20). They have a reasonable selection of spare parts but by no means extensive (mainly weels n tyres) - i've yet to find anything i've needed in stock, always they'll order for next day delivery. There probably isn't a lot of money in the actual RC kits, but they sell a lot of stuff - every time i visit they have a huge pile of boxes thats their mail for the day - boxes of paint, model kits, sares etc etc. I'm sure they get by from their large turnover of goods at small margins and not by making £120 on a Sand Scorcher kit. They probably make a lot more on 12 cans of spray paint than a low end Tamiya RC kit.

    This seems to be the impression I'm getting. The margins in spares, hop ups, paint etc.. are up to 50% where as the maximum you'll get on a kit will be around 35%. So the idea seems to be to sell the kit cheaply and rely on the repeat custom that the kit will generate. Margins on batterys and chargers are similar to the kits but you can make more on the transmitters and recievers and stuff.

    Another option may be to import goods yourself from retailers in HK - if you buy enough at a time then the shipping costs will be OK. You'll have to pay import duty and vat of course but may still work out better. When you see UK retailers selling EZ Run brushless systems for £90 that are £50 or less from Hong Kong you start to get an idea. You could buy a reasonable Hobbyking ESC and motor for £20, and probably retail it locally for £50 or more.

    This looks like a good option for some of the pricier stuff like high end transmitters and recievers and brushless systems, but I'm still researching. I'll have to wait until I have all the info in front of me and do some sums to work out if it's a goer or not.

    I'm thinking of starting a sideline in RC

    in General discussions

    Posted

    You might get a better deal from a manufacturer that is looking to secure a foothold in the industry. Someone like Ansmann or Carisma spring to mind. Just a thought.

    I'll try looking at them too. Carisma are sold by the distributer for axial, and I've just been on the phone to Ansmann who seem to give much more lucrative discounts, although he did say that the money was in the aftermarket sales of hop ups etc... The cars are practically given away.

    I'd think it would be more wise promoting more modern cars, such as the DT-02 based ones (Desert Gator, Sand Viper) than the really outdated Hornets and Grasshoppers

    I think you might be right. There's a new generation out there and the performance is much better than the classics. I just want some low cost products to get the kids hooked first before I start trying to get them to buy the fancy stuff.

    I'm thinking of starting a sideline in RC

    in General discussions

    Posted

    Speaking on the phone to HPI their discounts for retail are fairly slim. They operate a discount scheme for retailers that if you buy 5 models you get 5%, 10 models 10% and so on up to a maximum of 15%. Looking at the online retail prices of these things people must be making money on sheer turnover and aftersales. £25 back for almost £650 worth of models if you can get retail price for them doesn't sound too appealing. I'll wait and see what Tamiya and Axial etc. come back with.

    I'm thinking of starting a sideline in RC

    in General discussions

    Posted

    Excuse my ignorance 'cos i've never been to the Shetlands, but a few thoughts..

    1. will you have to pay additional shipping from UK import companies to get the goods to you ?

    I will probably get the products shipped through our local shipping agent who will ship a 40kg box from Glasgow for around £7

    I would imagine you would need several models to take it over the 40kg so the shipping shouldn't be too bad.

    2. how big is your local market (over counter sales and local mail order) ?

    This is one issue, I have to try and create a local market. Obviously the lower end buggies are just for fun and you'll get the odd sale, but you need a real enthusiast for any high end stuff. I think starting a local club would be a good first step to guage interest.

    3. if you sell mail order what are the postage rates to mainland UK (and times)

    I won't be selling to the mainland, this is just a local project for a bit of a sideline. Postage rates and times are the same as on the mainland anyway. If I sent something to you today it would arrive with you tomorrow. I sell hand tools to people on the mainland and it seems to work.

    4. for Tamiya you have some pretty established competition in Wonderland Models (Edinburgh?), Fusion Hobbies, Goldstar Stockists and Modelsport - all big dealers with good pricing and fast mail order delivery at reasonable/no cost

    I realise this, but I will be concentrating on over the counter sales. I all depends on the kind of discount I can secure from the Tamiya, Axial, and Aircraft distributers. I'm not going to embark on this if I can't make a profit. But people up here also put a bit of value on a local service and are quite supportive of local retailers.

    I'm not trying to put you off (competition is good for the consumer) but being out in a remote area might put you at a disadvantage, other than selling to the local folk.

    The popular 'entry' level Tamiyas are Holiday Buggy, Rising Storm, Rising Fighter, Lunchbox, Hornet and Grasshopper. You;ll need to drum up plenty of interest to get newbies up to the likes of the Hotshot, Durga, Sand Scorcher etc due to their higher costs.

    If you have access to machine tooling have you thought about selling powder coated parts such as chassis plates, bumpers etc ?

    You haven't put me off, if they get back to me with an offer of a piddling little discount that will be the end of it, it's just an idea for another little sideline with the advantage that I have an interest in it.

    Thanks for the pointers on the entery level Tamiyas. I haven't considered powder coating model parts, but without looking into it further I would imagine the margins would be quite low. Our main business is in archetectural powder coating, alloy wheels, motorbikes, agricultural and marine applications etc...

    It would take a lot of bumpers and chassis plates to fill our 7.5m oven.

    I'm thinking of starting a sideline in RC

    in General discussions

    Posted

    You could get any of the cheap low end cars such as the Grasshopper Hornet and Frog. Also you can look into getting things such as the Lunchbox. These are lower performance vehicles, but they are as cheap as they come RTR or kits

    I think the closest I've had to any of them has been my Blackfoot as it has a very similar looking chassis to the Frog. Are they all fast enough to be good fun? Are these kits aimed at kids who are starting out with RC?

    I'm thinking of starting a sideline in RC

    in General discussions

    Posted

    I have a small powder coating company in Shetland and was thinking of stocking some RC models as a little sideline as there is nobody else doing it up here. I want to include as wide a spectum as I can to guage the market.

    I'm looking at stocking some of the Axial rock crawlers and I'm going to do some research into RC planes as I know very little about them (if anyone knows a good forum let me know).

    My experience with Tamiya models when I was young was firstly the Blackfoot which I thought was great fun, a Manta Ray, and a Porsche 911. The building of the models was nearly as enjoyable as using the things and you learned about gears and differentials and suspension etc...

    I really want to start a local club and get people into this hobby, the easiest of which may be the rock crawling and the aeroplanes to start with as you don't need a track.

    As far as Tamiya goes I think the offroad market would be the biggest up here so we're talking buggies and trucks and perhaps the odd rally car. There is a carpet racing club, but they tend to buy different brands and are not really into scale realism so I'm going to ignore them. There may be a market for drift cars too.

    What models do you think would be good to make a start at the lower end of the budget spectrum?

    I'm really looking for Monster truck, 2WD and 4WD buggy, rally car, and drift car recommendations to start with.

    Drift tyres

    in General discussions

    Posted

    The drift tyres worked well but they were easier to cut once heated using the hair dryer.

    I just need a smoother surface to try them on now. The road outside our house is too rough and inconsistent and it makes the car unpredictable.

    Drift tyres

    in General discussions

    Posted

    Thanks for all the replies. I just made a set of tyres using a makeshift lathe and fitted them to my existng rims and it seems to be working fine. I seem to have a vehicle for most occasions now (Blackfoot, Manta Ray, and PIAA Porsche), I just want to get a rock crawler now to take down to the shore with me.

    PS. Static Age, how did you get on with your Axial prop shafts on the Scout?

    Drift tyres

    in General discussions

    Posted

    I'm afraid I butchered the tyres trying to make them fit, but it didn't really work. I don't think the LM's are the look I'm going for with the old porker. It was a PIAA 911 GT2 but I have it covered in a Taisan body shell at the moment and I've swapped the drive shafts so that I can fit staggered wheels without the rears sticking out too far. I have a cheap set of disc wheels that I use for indoor racing incase I bash them, but I wanted the car to look a bit cooler for drifting.

    I'll stick with my current plan and see how it pans out.

    Drift tyres

    in General discussions

    Posted

    Thanks for the replies guys,

    I'm going to try the makeshift lathe method for making two 16mm halves and sticking them together. It should be fairly easy to do. I got 4 cheap 26mm drift tyres off ebay for under £10 including postage so I'll see how I get on.

    I initially got the 32mm HPI tyres thinking they would fit my rims, but they are for a larger diameter wheel and have a lower profile.

    Drift tyres

    in General discussions

    Posted

    Thanks for the reply,

    I've got the genuine rubbery tyres from Tamiya, but I think I might go with my original plan of taking two 26mm drift tyres and butchering one of them to make a 6mm wide tyre and putting both pieces on to make it up to 32mm.

    The tyre is so hard that I don't thiink it will want to come off when I'm using the car. I'll see how it works. I don't want to glue pipe on as the wheels will most likely be destroyed if I ever want to get the pipe off again.

    Drift tyres

    in General discussions

    Posted

    I thought I'd have a go at drifting with my old Tamiya Porsche 911 but the rear wheels are 32mm wide and the HPI drift tyres I got seem to be for a larger diameter of wheel. The front and rear wheels on the car are the same diameter. The fronts are just 26mm wide and the drift tyres fitted straight on. Would my only option be to get 26mm wide drift tyres and put them on along with an extra 6mm strip of tyre to take up the rest of the wheel?

    I had a good look around the on google but I couldn't find anything.

    Budget Rock Crawler

    in Monster Trucks, 4x4, Wheelie Rigs and Crawlers

    Posted

    It looks like the knuckle plate boss is there on the maverick, so it may be the same axle as the AX10. I wonder how many common components they share?

    In any case, the saddle pack looks easy enough if you ever wanted to go that route. My concern with the stick pack mounted between the servo and the chassis would be getting it to be flexible enough so it didn't hamper the articulation at the same time as getting it secure enough so that it won't fall off.

    Budget Rock Crawler

    in Monster Trucks, 4x4, Wheelie Rigs and Crawlers

    Posted

    I've just been looking around on google and it looks very easy to convert an ordinary 6cell 7.2v stick pack into a saddle pack so that you can place 3 cells on either end of the front axle. All you need is some old bits of wire and a soldering iron and if you want to be swish, you could use some shrink wrap to hold the cells together.

    It would certainly lower your C of G.

    Budget Rock Crawler

    in Monster Trucks, 4x4, Wheelie Rigs and Crawlers

    Posted

    Thanks for that, I was just looking around to see what was available and I liked the idea of having a low centre of gravity with the motors mounted in the axles. I did notice in some of the videos that it looked like the back wheels were stopping on steep slopes but the front ones were still scrabbling away. It looks like there's just no getting away from the Maverick Scout in terms of value for money, plus the fact there are so many hop ups for it via the AX10 compatability.

    Budget Rock Crawler

    in Monster Trucks, 4x4, Wheelie Rigs and Crawlers

    Posted

    The Maverick Scout looks quite good as a base for some modifications. I saw one that had Axial AX10 axle link bars fitted (the bent ones) and the mountings had been moved to the inside of the chassis so that the wheels could turn further. They had also moved the electronics round a little bit to give it a lower centre of gravity. The other modification was to weight the wheels a bit so that it was more stable.

    The video I saw of it in action made it look quite capable, although the guy said that the tyres let it down a bit and would be the next upgrade. He did say that it was quite good out of the box and very similar to the AX10 in terms of design to the point where a lot of the parts were interchangable.

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