Peter_B

Double post.

I think the last issue I received was the May one. That was after I'd received an email (or seen in FB) to say they couldn't get it printed but it would be made available digitally. I just had to email in and they replied with details of how to view it. I never got round to looking at it online, then a couple of weeks later a printed copy dropped through the door. Inside was a slip saying that because if COVID-19 they were suspending production for the time being and subscriptions would be extended by however long it was suspended for. Not heard any more so presume production is still suspended.

Big box from Time Tunnel Models with a pair of Mavericks inside. A Strada DT and a Strada XT for my lads plus a couple if Absima receivers so they can use their existing transmitters instead of the ones bundled in the boxes.

Because they don't like the colour. Especially of the Mountain Rider because it's not been painted yet!

Yesterday ordered a couple of "bashers" for my lads. Went for a Maverick Strada DT and an XT. First order from Time Tunnel Models. Went with them as they give you the option for them to remove the included (rubbish) battery and charger from the box in return for money off.

A big box from Tamico containing a Mountain Rider kit and a Terra Scorcher kit as parts backup for my other Terra Scorcher kit.

Just had a Robbe ro-safety XL lipo vault delivered. I've had a regular sized Bat-Safe for a while, that I kept my few lipos in. Now that I have more lipos (and will likely get more in the future), I'd outgrown the capacity of the Bat-Safe. Looking for a Bat-Safe XL they were either out of stock or discontinued, depending where you look. However I stumbled on the Robbe ro-safety which seems to be a rebadge of the Bat-Safe. A bit more poking and I found the XL version existed and found somewhere with it in stock. Should have plenty of lipo room now and I'll use the older Bat-Safe to charge in.

Took my Kraton for its maiden run. Only on 4S because I'm not a lunatic! Kraton ran fine, no issues other than lack of driving skills. But I didn't get to find out how long 2x 5000mah 2S packs would run for. My boys brought their cars along, Mad Bull and Super Hotshot. The Mad Bull did what a Mad Bull does - took everything thrown at it and kept on truckin'. The Super Hotshot didn't dare as well. Within 5 minutes 2 of the screws had fallen out of the bumper and vanished. We were in a grassy place with nothing much to hit so the bumper was removed completely. 10 minutes later and my lad is in floods. The bottom ball joint had ripped clean out of the front upright and both front driveshafts had disappeared. I think the SHS will have to be shelved and kept for the track. My other lad is also disappointed that the Mad Bull doesn't jump. So I'm on the lookout for a couple (boys are twins so I can't just get one) of relatively inexpensive RTR bashers. Of course both boys want a Kraton but that's not happening!! I've been looking at the FTX Carnage 2.0, although one boy quite likes the BSD Prime Assault and the other took a fancy to the Maverick Strada XT. I know nothing about any of those brands though so don't know how well they are put together.

This morning I fitted a couple if upgrade parts to my new Arrma Kraton. This afternoon visited my parents and my mum told me my dad had brought a load of stuff down from the loft. Hoping to find my original Blackfoot body I had a look through. Alas, no Blackfoot body but there was my vintage Millennium Falcon, X-Wing and Y-Wing. A load of He-Man figures with Castle Greyskull and Snake Mountain. Also tucked away in a box were these... Mini F1 Williams FW14 and Mini 4wd Avante 2001 and Black Special. Both Avantes have the one-way roller wheels with foam tyres.

Had one of these delivered today. Took almost 2 weeks from rcmart. Looks a nice piece. Not built the Terra Scorcher yet though so can't say any more than that.

Will add some pics when all my expected deliveries have arrived. But, so far today, DPD have delivered a Futaba 7PXR radio from MB Models and a SkyRC D260 charger. The charger I ordered from hobbyrc.co.uk yesterday. Hadn't used them before but quite impressed with the speed of service. Waiting for FedEx with a Kraton, Royal Mail for some odds and ends and Modelsport to actually ship some other bits, including batteries for the Kraton.

Had a bit of a windfall, which meant I had some extra cash I could spend. So I've gone a bit mad, and some of the things from the "would like to have" list made it to the "ordered and checking tracking every 15 minutes' list... Ordered a Mountain Rider from Tamico and a new radio set from MB Models. Messaged what seems like every model shop in the country to try and track down a blue Arrma Kraton 6S. Found 2 or 3 that had 1 in stock so ordered from Wireless Madness. From Modelsport I ordered a pair of 2S lipos for the Kraton (not mad enough to go straight to 6S), charge leads compatible with those, some servos for the Mountain Rider and a few other odds and ends. Will hopefully be an "interesting" week ahead!

Today the postman (well Hermes courier) delivered a box with a lot of bubble wrap in it. To be honest the box was a bit big for the amount of bubble wrap. Fortunately @jonboy1 had thought of that and, to prevent the bubble wrap being damaged, he had filled the extra space with this... Now, I just need to figure out where to put a receiver and how to get a battery in!

@FoxShot thanks for that. The bike is actually with the local bike shop now, they've had it for a few days so I'm hoping it will only be another day or so before it is done.

I'm also waiting for a parcel from Hermes, it too has been sitting still since Tuesday. The chap that actually does the deliveries at our end is really good. Shame the rest of their setup isn't as good.

To be honest I could have probably done the job with my standard soldering iron. I'd have had to change the tip for a smaller one and it would have been a bit unwieldy, but it would have done it. I'd been intending to get a soldering station for a while. Now that I have a decent work area I can have it set up, ready to go. I looked for an fx888 but there aren't many readily available here and they cost about twice what I paid for the one I got. So far I'm happy with it, but I don't normally do any PCB work. It'll be when I get round to doing the XT60's that I'll be able to compare it to my other iron.

Not done anything directly RC related. But I did use my new soldering station so that counts. With this lockdown business meaning working from home, I'd been hooking my laptop up to the 22 inch Samsung monitor that I've had for years. A few weeks ago that monitor started playing up - flickering on power up and taking longer and longer to stabilise. Eventually it stopped stabilising completely. I bought a replacement so that I could keep working but, having googled the fault, I found out it was likely caused by some bad capacitors. Thinking that the fix didn't sound too difficult, I put it away with the intention of trying to fix it one day - as much as a learning exercise than anything else. Fast forward a few weeks and last weekend I found a video on how to strip it down. Followed that and soon was able to spot 5 faulty capacitors. The info I'd found recommended changing those 5 and another one (which looked ok in my case). So I ordered some caps from RS Components (including a replacement for the "other" one). The caps turned up yesterday and today I set about removing the old ones and fitting the new ones in their place. It was the first soldering job I've done since my new WEP soldering station arrived the other day. Happily it all went well, all parties involved survived and the monitor now powers on like a champ I'm encouraged to try and fix other things that might have similar faults now. First up will likely be a subwoofer that developed a buzz even with nothing connected. On a more RC related note, I also have some battery and ESC connectors to swap for XT60's now that I know the soldering station works.

I've opened the unpaid item dispute now. I don't hold out much hope of this chap paying, even if I waited a week. I also get the feeling he might be "trouble" - one of those who receives a perfectly good item but finds something to moan about to try and get money back.

I've sold a few bits and bobs on eBay this week. One auction finished yesterday afternoon. 24 hours had gone by with no payment received so I used the eBay "send payment reminder" feature to give the buyer a little nudge. After I do that I get a reply asking if I can wait a week for payment. My reply is roughly "I don't want to and not sure that I can as I think eBay cancels unpaid sales after 48 hours. Besides which, when bidding, you knew when the auction ended and payment would be required". His reply to that is "ok if eBay don't cancel then I will pay in a week". To be honest that made me a bit cross so my reply was "no, I don't want to wait a week. If payment isn't received and eBay don't cancel the sale then I will. I will also report it as being unpaid" Awaiting a response to that. Now I have to admit, I'm not sure what the deal is with what eBay does if someone doesn't pay after 48 hours. I need to go and try to find out. The annoying thing is that, before the auction ended, the guy messaged me to ask a question. He could have also asked then if I'd wait a week for payment if he won the auction. Am I being out of order anywhere here? Anybody else had a similar thing happen? Or know what the eBay process is?

I've found a cycle shop that is only about 10 miles away. Didn't know it existed before now. Their full service price is bang in the range @Howards suggested at £110. I sent a message through their website and the chap responded already and reckons it might be able to be sorted on one of their lower priced service packages. So I might well get them to look at it. By the time I've messed about getting parts etc it probably wouldn't be far off their price. Plus they know what they're doing!

Thanks. Unfortunately I don't know of a good bike shop near me. The ones there were closed a few years ago. Just Halfords left as far as I'm aware. Certainly on the brakes, the adjusters at the lever end are fully wound in. The front cable needs loosening as those brakes are binding. Rear brakes seem ok but perhaps should be loosened at the brake end so I can have some adjustment at the lever. Part of me wishes I could find a modern equivalent of the Raleigh Montage I had as a kid

@Grastens thanks for the info. I hadn't thought about new cables. I kind of thought that as they hadn't had much actual use they'd be ok. Probably does make sense to replace them though. Do you know if these will do the job? Brakes - https://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-road-and-mtb-brake-cable-set/ Gears - https://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-mtb-gear-cable-set-with-stainless-steel-wire/

During my recent lockdown clear out I "excavated" my old bike from the junk in the garage. The bike is a GT Aggressor 2006 model. Nothing flash, was cheap at the time. I used it a few times shortly after I got it (in 2007). Since then it's been stored either in my parents garage or my garage. It's in quite decent condition considering it has been neglected. It needs a clean and some oil etc. The tyres are probably shot so I've got some new ones on order. But that's as far as my bike expertise goes. The gears seem to need adjusting, as do the brakes, but I haven't a clue where to start. Also one of the rubber caps/covers on the front suspension fork has perished and I don't know whether that is something crucial. I'm just thinking of getting it usable again so I can use it for a bit of exercise. So, anybody who knows about these things, have you got any advice or guidance for me?

They are mostly the same. Body mounts are different, wheels and tyres are different. In the original releases Blackfoot had friction shocks and Monster Beetle oil filled. The re-releases both have oil filled, although the plastics are different colours - yellow for the MB and black for the BF.

Nothing Tamiya related, unless you count listing a few things on eBay to make space in my newly organised hobby room. Did think about selling the set of Juggernaut wheels and tyres that I have for my TXT-2, but I can't decide whether to or not.