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lsear2905

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Everything posted by lsear2905

  1. Really? RCDriver reviews always sound like 'The Lego Movie' - everything is awesome! I cannot remember him ever being negative about a product.... in his latest video he's even flogging gaming desks... Matteo seems to have gone very quiet on YouTube (he's still active on Instagram) but I certainly prefer his genuine reviews and the detail he goes into. I think being a "content creator" would be a very demanding job - regardless of whether or not you agree with their business model, there is a *lot* of work that goes into it for most of them.
  2. I've been re-jigging the rumpus room for the kids, so not as much RC time as I'd have liked, but I did get the sailboat out on Sunday morning, and took a photo with my new (to me) camera!
  3. I think that there's a bit of confusion here - I'm fairly sure that this is just a CW-01 Lunchbox chassis, with different body mounts, wheels and tires, and CVA shocks. A re-re of an old hard body is nice, but the wheel and tire combo looks horrendous. I want to know if they have any plans to release another body on the SW-01 chassis, after the Madmud travesty!!
  4. Honestly, for inside you're much better off getting a SW-01, or T3-01. I use them both for running on long, dark winter evenings...
  5. I haven't done much RC lately (a little bit of boating on Sunday, a little bit of micro crawling yesterday), but last week, after my wife and I recovered from the dreaded 'rona we finally got to enjoy our night away to Lorne on Victoria's (aptly named) Great Ocean Road. I took the MX5 and it proceeded to rain (almost) the whole way there, and all night, and then in the morning, until there was a 2-3 hour window where it only rained a bit! I got out the Bronco, and drove it around for a bit (beachside rocks are great for crawling), and then moved on to the next spot, and then got out the Jimny to have a go of that, only to realise I'd grabbed the wrong remote! Whoops! At least I was able to enjoy the Bronco :-)
  6. deleted.. tried posting from my phone and got the dreaded double post.
  7. So after finally getting the dreaded 'rona, I cracked on with a couple of projects. First up, replace the standard chassis in the SW01 with the clear version with yellow gears. Next up was one I bought specifically for this possibility: the GF01. I got to the painting stage, but missed out on suitable weather so it will just have to stay at this stage until some nicer weather coincides with a day off. Then I pulled the Baja apart after procrastinating for nearly a year... it just needed a new spur gear! That's been ordered so now I just have to get the blasted thing running again. Next stop was the box of original Wild Willy bits I was given a year ago and realised that it just was too much for me to attempt, so that's being forwarded to someone who will do it justice. With that decision made I've decided to move on the BNIB Wild Willy 2 kit I bought last year. That about sums up my isolation RC activities.
  8. So I woke up this morning, and after avoiding my wife all week (she tested positive on Monday) I've now got the 'rona. Lucky I have a few projects lined up, ready to keep myself busy - but that's only if I feel up to it. Meanwhile, I mounted my new doorbell, something @Willy iine and @Sogogi will definitely appreciate!
  9. I love the attention to detail! @Sogogi - Once you do the bearings, then you start looking at the gearing, and where should the brass go, and maybe some stickier tires... it's a slippery slope! (but if you do it right, your TRX4M will go back up that slippery slope )
  10. My issue is not the re-releases - they are Tamiya's equivalent of the Porsche Cayenne. If you don't know what I mean: https://www.hotcars.com/how-cayenne-saved-porsche-from-bankruptcy/ TL:DR; the Cayenne, an ugly, overpriced (did I mention ugly?) off-roader sacrilegious to the Porsche ethos is a gigantic cash-cow that allows Porsche to develop the cars young men dream of. I just think that Tamiya's biggest misstep over the last few years has been rock-crawling. The CC02 is a joke, the CR01 is prehistoric, and the F350 'High Lift' is overpriced and historic. This niche has seen the biggest explosion in popularity, and it absolutely plays to Tamiya's strengths - detailed bodies, kits and slow speeds! They could play in the 1:10 space with the Axial SCX10 or the Traxxas TRX4, or go to a smaller scale where Kyosho have killed it with the Mini Z 4x4, Axial's SCX24 is ubiquitous and the TRX4M is the hottest item on sale at the moment. They have missed their opportunity to innovate, but they could at least try to play catch up!
  11. I think I've finally got my TRX4M sorted - new servo (the third one) has finally arrived. I actually crawl rocks with mine, so I'm interested to see how long @Sogogi can make his last. Also, I think someone's got the scale factor 10/10 on this G601 kit...
  12. I hate to say it, but after fluffing around to fit an interior into the TRX4M I don't think I could do a scale car without an interior (or at least a driver) now! It just makes such a massive difference when you can see someone behind a steering wheel, seats etc. My bearings have arrived for the aforementioned TRX4M, as well as all the new gearing, so I'll start on that tonight. No rush, as it is still without a servo.
  13. I did the maths (there was a spreadsheet involved) for all the Kyosho Mini Z 4x4 parts I've bought - the hop-ups alone are the price of each vehicle. Having said that, buy a set of tires for an X-Maxx, or a UDR, etc, and the Mini Z looks like a bargain!!
  14. Personally, I'd keep the electric one (because it won't go bad sitting on a shelf) and move the nitro ones on... they need constant attention. I recommend taking the wheels off the E-Revo though if you're not running it regularly, otherwise you'll get flat spots (and it's easier to store without the tires on). Our local Traxxas supplier is doing the right thing and replacing the servo on the TRX-4M (again) but I'll keep my fingers crossed that the new metal gear one I ordered lasts longer! The weather for later this week is looking nicer, so if the ground dries out enough I'm aiming to get the Konghead out on the weekend.
  15. Well yesterday (Sunday) was eventful. I finally got to go boating (as @geewings mentioned the weather in our neck of the woods has been miserable) but ran into a few problems: The second pair of 3S batteries I run in the Sonicwake hit LVD after 10 seconds - not sure why, but I'll rebalance them and try again next time, The ESC in the M41 unsoldered itself - hard to be mad, the boat still has all its stock electrics after 2+ years of regular running (on 4S), The Recoil 2 hit a buoy, which left a tiny chip in the hull - entirely my fault, and It was so blustery and cold I packed up the sailboat and went home! Once I got home I checked on the MX5, which I'd parked outside to test how waterproof it currently was - and I've found (possibly) another point of entry for the water. So that's now drying out in the garage, and I'll look at that in the next few days. Then, later in the day when it wasn't raining, I decided I'd run the TRX4M. 15 minutes later the replacement servo Traxxas sent me died - exactly the same issue as last time. I went home, pulled the servo out and it's a stripped plastic gear, so I've emailed the hobby shop to see what they can do. At this point I decided I'd had enough RC'ing for the day. This morning I ordered a replacement (metal geared) servo for the TRX4M, because even if Traxxas do replace the servo again, the odds of it lasting seem extraordinarily low.
  16. So my weekend didn't go as planned. I got home a little bit early on Saturday night, so got a bit of driving in with the TRX4M as the sun went down. At 8.30pm, a customer of mine finally got back to me (I had been chasing them since Thursday afternoon) so any plans of boating on Sunday morning were cancelled, as I had to drive 40kms into the country at 7.15 on Sunday morning! I woke up, the air was crisp (~2°C), the sky was blue so I rugged up and took the MX5 out, roof down and heater blasting... by the time I'd made it out to the Yarra Valley the blue sky was gone, visibility was minimal and there was a pea-soup fog. I regretted taking the MX5, and not the Mini with heated seats, but I made the most of it and as I approached home the sun was out again, and all was good with the world. Or at least I thought it was. When I pulled up at home I noticed the floor mat in the passenger footwell was wet, so pulled it up and there was almost half an inch of water under the seat, the mat etc. This put a dampener (pun intended) on my day, as I spent hours trying to remove as much moisture as possible with a wet vac. I took it to work this morning, all drain holes and guttering checked, all piping checked, removed the seat, and then the seatbelt, and then the carpet to find even more water and the underlay is stuffed. Still no idea where the water came from, either, which is a bit scary. So, did I RC? Well, yes, I took out the Mini Z 4x4 Jimny and re-arranged some rocks at my favourite little spot (some construction workers recently made a mess of a portion of it while replacing some nearby footpath). Then I thought I'd run the TRX4M on the new obstacles that I'd arranged, only to have the front driveshaft fall off when I picked it up off its stand! I looked, and a tiny pin, which is only retained by a rubber o-ring, had gone missing. I had no intention of sitting around, so I found a body pin of the correct thickness, cut it down to the correct length, installed it and I was back in action. Not quite @Ferruz level of ghetto repair, but I was glad to be able to use my car. All in all a frustrating day, but at least I got some wheeling in.
  17. I haven't driven a RC in 3 weeks, so I'm looking forward to a hopefully dry Sunday - boating, crawling and then watching my 15yo's basketball game later in the day. In the meantime I gave up waiting for Traxxas to finally have the (plastic) low range gears for the TRX-4M, so I ordered the Injora (metal) ones, as well as 9% overdrive for the front, and 17% underdrive for the rear. It should make a substantial difference (and slightly more noise I suspect). I'll find out in a few weeks when the parts arrive!
  18. Nice! I took the HPI Q32 to Singapore a few years ago, and had the same idea... Now I can't wait to catch up on 3 weeks of posts, but I thought a couple of members here might be happy to know I took advantage of my time in Japan... I managed to control myself and just buy a few bits for my Mini Z 4x4, but I could've gone crazy in there! I hope everyone's doing well, I'll catch up over the next few days.
  19. I would agree with the CW-01 - but one thing I always do when buying used is look at what power system is in it. Stock, lower power, electrics are a sign that the car's internals haven't had a hard life, but a lack of any modifications/hop-ups indicate that the owner lost interest, and the vehicle is unlikely to have been serviced, or even maintained... That said, when buying anything second hand I just assume I'll need to spend another 30-50% to get it right, which is why lately I've been tending to buy new more often than not.
  20. Oh come on! My wallet doesn't stand a chance!! 45 hours and counting....
  21. I'll be in Osaka later this week, and Tokyo late next week. So to you I say dōmo arigatōgozaimasu, and my wallet says onegai tasukete!! Jokes aside, it looks amazing but having already bought just about every hop-up for both my Mini Z 4x4s, I might just buy a spare 4Runner body and some R31 House wheels for my GF01 build. I mean it would be rude to buy nothing... Right now I am just counting down the hours (89 at this stage) until my flight leaves!!
  22. @GeeWings I'm sorry to hear about your wife's illness - I hope she is getting excellent treatment and someone is supporting you, too, I can't imagine what you're going through. @Ferruz Our hobby gives us these moments of joy - I'm glad you appreciate them even during tough times. You'll all be happy to know I actually squeezed some Tamiya time into my RC'ing this weekend - Saturday night I ran the Lunchbox and the DT02 Kumamon Buggy, and yesterday I put 2 batteries through the Konghead, too. I also ran boats and crawlers, of course, but I did enjoy my Tamiyas, I promise! I have the same front wheels as @Nick-W on the DT02 and find they're great on it, they're actually designed for running on sand (which I've done) but I also run on cricket/football fields and they work well there, too.
  23. So between the first and second image there was a substantial amount of hop-ups added. Kyosho body lift (4mm), 4 new wheels and tires (designed for the 4Runner, slightly taller), and a heap of aluminium and brass down low to keep the CoG as low as possible. @Yoshimitsu the notes for the co-driver... just WOW. I love that detail!
  24. So, having sold the UL19 and the spare Jimny - where have those funds gone? First up, my beautiful little Micro Magic yacht - I'm particularly happy with this, because I got it from a member of the local boat club, who bought it from the former head of the club (a man that hates me, because I run speed boats). This is a boat that has every carbon f iber upgrade, 3 sets of custom made competition sails and has won state comps, and I bought it for $100 (plus a receiver) because it fits in my boot! Next up, my TRX4M Bronco - you've seen the interior, now look at the stickiest of sticky licenced Mickey Thompson tires on some eBay wheels. I just need some brass hubs (on order) and the lower gear set (on backorder) and this thing is fantastic. Finally, my Kyosho Jimny 4x4 - this car now has hop-ups worth more than the original purchase price, and other than the underwhelming stock servo I am now much happier with its performance. It won't out-perform either the Bronco or my Kyosho 4Runner, but it's no longer infuriating to use due to a lack of performance.
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