nowinaminute

Finally got to take my HBX T6 "out out" It's quite hefty and I don't drive, so I've been limited to just local places it could go under it's own power so I've only taken it out about 5 times until now. But thanks to a cheapo hiking backpack on ebay, I can now take it anywhere I want. Rear wheels poke out the top a little, but I'm not grumbling! Being able to take it places is amazing. Of course the first place I scurried off to was the beach 😁 https://youtu.be/cRLjn1qZKg8

Is that back with the 380 again? They do get super hot even with the low gearing. Grasshopper is the same with the 380 and small pinion, motor gets thermonuclear if you give it good thrashing on high drag surfaces.

That guy is great! Certainly not setup for high speed running but it terms of realism at scale speeds, his mods are second to none! You can get somewhere in the ballpark sometimes with softer springs etc but nothing quite matches the visual realism of piling the weight on. This was the first video of his that I saw. Simply mind blowing!

I'm on the fence with this. I agree in principle, for the most part, but on the other hand, I sometimes enjoy making stuff handle better. Ironically, my Lunchbox with DT-02 front suspension and 4-link rear is probably one of my favourite runners, in large part because the rear suspension doesn't lock up under throttle anymore. I find it incredibly satisfying to watch the rear end glide over bumps now. On the other hand, some vehicles I prefer to keep as they are. Sometimes it can be fun to try and keep inside the limitations of something's abilities.

Uneventful day, but I did pop this on youtube. This was the day sand ingestion wrecked the TD gearbox, so it was a bit of a fail lol. All patched up and better sealed, now, though, so there should be more soon!

I really like it! The mix of mono and colour reminds me of movies like Sin City, in a weird way. If we're going to have "lazy" redecos, it at least helps if the schemes are interesting, and this one is really left field. Kudos, Tamiya.

I can confirm no noticeable sand inside the gearbox casings! But there was a little alloy dust! That's how a Tamiya alloy pinion holds up to one spritied run on brushless! Now replaced with the RW hardened steel pinion which I wanted to out in to begin with but had to wait for a replacement as they sent the wrong one first time.

Good news, everyone! The silicone sealant appears to have done it's job! It doesn't look like any sand has made it's way through, here. And even the crummy 15T kit pinion I was forced to use because I was sent the wrong one has held up fine and I really gave the thing badword on the throttle. The only sand present is stuck to the outside of the silicone. I could have left it time to cure fully before driving but I figured it might make a better seal if I installed the motor mount when it wasn't completely dry and it seems to have paid off. It made a lovely "schluck" kind of sound when I removed the motor mount and required a little effort to pull away, too, so it seems like it made a really good seal. This would be a good time to stress the importance of using that little card gasket, too, even though it's a "sealed can" motor and even though it seems counter intuitive to not use the motor mount as an additional heat sink. This applies to many other models too and depends on how the motor mount area is designed. But as an example, on this gearbox, the "lip" that is designed to prevent sand ingress does not prevent sand and dirt from reaching the some of the unused motor holes on the motor which partially line up with unused holes on the motor mount. Without a cover in place, sand is free to get into the motor via the holes and on some models, it can even come back out of over holes and get into the gearbox. Another option could be to put grub screws into the unpopulated holes, that way you could still get the heatsink effect from the motor mount. Anyways, looks like it's a win! I'm going to strip it all again just to be thorough then apply a new bead of grease and silicone and then run it till something breaks.

OK...so I was kind of nervous to see what was going in in the gearbox, hoping my efforts had at least made some difference to the amount of sand getting in. I decided to be a wimp and take off the prop join cover first, just to get a sneak peek at what was going on. As you would have seen, that entire compartment was covered in a blend of sand and powered pinion and spur gear so anything in this little section would give a clue to what's happening in the main box. Well, I took the cover off, and was met with this scene! I think there's one grain of sand in there and I'm pretty sure that just fell off from the outside as I was taking the cover off. The gears were already looking roughed up like that because I resued the same ones. This is a very good start! I still need to take it all apart but that fact that this compartment is effectively spotless compared to the first time is very encouraging!

Took her for a spin, great fun as always. No idea how it went in terms of sand ingress. Not like I can go by ear, it made a right racket from the second I finished building it 😂 Will take a look inside tomorrow probably, when the 16T pinion turns up.

Lol that's literally all the stuff I get. Those Kodak Alkaline batteries are ace and I've used the primer loads of times. Now and then, if you're lucky, they'll get a job lot of brand name car paints in or various other brand name stuff for cheap, that's when I fill the backpack up lol So many things but hard to recall off the top of my head. Cable ties, mounting tape, little LED head torches refurbished as makeshift night time running lights, a couple of little selfie sticks I use for RC videos that are still holding up after years, microfiber clothes etc etc Clear nail varnish I use for retaining bearings on shafts and in seats, too, so they don't start slipping. (Thank god for self service lol)

By the way, in the process of mashing the gearbox the first time, I did get some nice video, at least. So I'll post it up when I finally get around to editing it.

Looks like I'll make it to the beach for a run today. Hopefully I won't be ordering another gear bag tonight!

Aww that's a shame. Despite half the stuff now being way more than £1, you could still find some useful stuff in there amongst the rubbish. Definitely picked up more than a couple of bits that have helped with RC stuff!