SNAKEBITE

Does anyone get stung for import tax when they order from overseas?

I did think that the price of Tamiya spares was a bit high, but assumed it was because most of the ones I looked at were for old/discontinued models. When looking for replacement shocks at the time I bought my son's rising fighter I was told the ally shocks would be about £9 a pair.

I was lucky, we have a downdraft bench in the workshop at work so no fumes. Then it's on the top of the oven where the heat is enough to dry it properly without cooking it. Shame I'm not a very good sprayer!

Not an expert but I would guess at seeing what you can get in the way of spares first, then go for that. Possibly a newer chassis so the parts are more readily available?

I wouldn't have thought it would be much of an issue, I'd be more concerned about overspray than the paint drying! Just spray in the kitchen and then move the body to your spare room if you are concerned. I have been painting bits over the last couple of weeks in my flat, and that's fairly cold, with no issues at all.

Has anyone got any suggestions on how I can weather/dirt proof my sons Rising Fighter? He has a habit of driving it through puddles and other muck and I wanted to try and protect it as much as possible! Many Thanks I know I need to tidy up the wires as well!

I suppose I've heard too many horror stores whilst not really knowing too much about what really happens!

Turn it upside down? Sorry, that's probably not much help is it?

I'm not keen on the idea of Lipo's. If you are confident enough then great, but I just don't think I could risk it!

About 25 seconds in, a bit more graphic!!

About 3:30 in!!

Something else I just suddenly remembered was the fact the plastic aerial stalk used to break every time it rolled over, it used to be about 3 inches long and you'd have to replace it!

How did they make something so exciting sound so miserable!

Thanks for the replies, I wasn't too sure I explained myself properly, but it seems you have understood exactly what I was trying to say! I can't believe how much fun it is again now, and sharing it with my son is all the better!

I took my lad out on Saturday and Sunday for a blast with the cars.Sunday was a better day as I had mine running a bit better (steering servo **** up!) and we were running around the car park of the company I work for. Having built a small ramp we were going over it when my boy said his car looked better than mine over the ramp! Looking again I saw what he meant. His friction damped Rising Fighter was bobbing round like a pogo stick, looking like it was doing something, where as my oil damped Neo fighter just stayed smooth on the ground. Watching his car run up and down it was obvious the handling was not as good, but it just looked a lot busier, and he was enjoying it more because of it. When I got mine I chose a bit more carefully because I wanted the oil dampers etc, and I was going to upgrade my son's at some point as well. But after seeing him on Sunday I'm not sure he's going to want me to. In short, I think that as an adult I was getting too fixated on the performance of the car as opposed to a nine year olds view of just wanting it to look good!

Thank you. I did struggle a bit finding one that (nearly?) fitted! I've had a look online and I'll get something sorted.

Thanks for the info, great help. I am familiar with the wax lubricant from cycling. On a bike chain the wax flakes off when contaminated (allegedly). It is in a solvent carrier that evaporates off leaving the PTFE base on the chain. I use this as a base layer before using conventional oil as a corrosion barrier on the outside of the chain. The wax lubricant is no help with anti corrosion, but that may not be an issue here.

I learnt a lot from building this. Firstly read the blooming instructions properly but also: Buy some additional grease for assembly. Use a decent craft knife for removing parts from the flash. Use a decent screwdriver, you'll only need it in your toolkit anyway

The last of the schoolboy errors was not assembling the servo assembly correctly. Missing out the small washer under the head of the arm meant that the horn popped off everytime it went over a bump. It was back to the workshop before it had even been run in!

A bit of a rough edge on the wing. You don't notice it at all, but it was hard getting it right, even with a sanding down! Sticker didn't go on 100%, again you hardly notice it but it's there.

Now for the mistakes......... Firstly I put the switch on the wrong way, not an issue I thought, until I had the wing on!

Finished article!

It was the first time I had sprayed a shell, the old Falcon one I had was hand painted. To be honest the yellow was not as vibrant as I had hoped, not bad but not perfect. The inside however always looks worse! I'm not too good at the whole sticker thing to be honest.

Rear shocks on Wheels on

Rear assembly in place Front shocks on