Ray_ve

Indeed if no ultrasonic is available, the toothbrush is still the perfect tool. But for the price of an ultrasonic cleaner, you can't beat it in terms of comfort and cleaning result. I'm very happy with the one I bought., only 20 something euros for a slightly used unit. Throw a handfull of parts into its and in minutes time the parts are done, it will save you hours of scrubbing with the toothbrush. And with a better result too! Presently cleaning the mugen seiki parts in it, and the years of grime are peeling away with no effort at all...

In my experiance, brushless is much more quiet compared to brushed. At full rpm and no load, a brushed motor makes a lot of noise from the brushes/rotor crossing. A brushless does not have this, I'm always checking if they are actually turning at high rpm no load, because I 'miss' the high pitch noise.

Some transmitters had some jumper wires on the circuit board that one could re-solder in a different position for servo reversal. I believe I also reversed it once by swapping the 2 outer wires of the potentiometer of the steering-stick. Some transmitters of that era also could have had the reserve switches under the battery tray lid. Or on the narrow bottom side (the one furtest away from the antenna). Even without software-setting, many variants exist to get a servo reversed. One could even go as far as opening the servo, swapping the 2 outer wires of the axle feedback potentiometer, and swap the motor wires.

Ordered the materials I need for the mugen Seiki. Now to clean the parts, they have old Nitro fuel resedu on them. Hopefully the ultrasonic cleaner can get it clean with soap, otherwise I need to find some kind of solvent..

Stripped my old Mugen Seiki Prime 12 nitro chassis down. I think its easily 20 years old, and has a lot of miles on it. But the parts still look great! The plan is to clean up everything, get new bearings and some shims to set the differentials dead center in the housings as there is some play on them to the incoming shaft/gear. And then start the brushless conversion. A 3900KV coupled with a 3S should be sweet! And I also have a NOS body for it, painted with Calvin and Hobbs, it only needs the final coat and decals.

One truck has a silvercan or something equivalent but not the original black 480, the other no motor and missing the plastic end-cap that should be on the motor. However, I still have those parts so no problem. The set was cheap enough and these cars are rarely complete at this age. And a silvercan motor is cheap and fine for these cars. Gears are missing, no suprise there. But I have not opened the gearboxes yet, maybe there is a suprise somewhere.....

Drove the Dual Hunter! With dual silver can, it is not the fastest thing around, but still a nice recreational drive with good traction on dirt and grass. And a somewhat different drive from usual with its dual motor setup. The front wheels can spin high rpm loose with the rear having 100% traction. Until my kid slammed it into the garden furnature and a front shock broke.... So... back to the parts bin to find a replacement shock eye. To be continued! I'm sure I have something left over somewhere.... Overall, much happier with this car now then when I got it. The new servo mount and metal steering horn can take the abuse and the new motors run well. Anybody know if 3S lipo's are available as a stickpack-shape??

Modeled and 3D printed a new servo mount for the Dual Hunter, this mount attaches to the chassis with 4 self-tappers into the 4 original servo mounting points, and sits snug between the two halves of the chassis. Feels much stronger and tighter compared to the original! The chassis is now completely build with new silver cans replacing the damaged motors. Ty-rap the wiring down, charge the new stickpack lipo, and I can test-drive this weekend.

This is an interesting one! Love it!

The 2S 'stickpack' Lipo! So hopefully the bearings for the M-05 will arrive soon, and I can start assembly...

I already have a stripped-cleaned-build with ESC and ballbearings chassis ready and waiting from another Bear that I bought as a bare chassis. It is waiting for me to finish the body, and clean/assemble a wheel set. But this tire set and bodies are in better shape! Take apart, spray the rims silver, and good to go! And I also have a box full of Bear spares. Wheels and tires in various states, a gear set, and hopefully a bumper. So by combining everything, 2 original bears is now an option, maybe 3....?

Been to a zoo all Day, wife and kid are tired and early to bed. So if anybody needs me, I'm best the ultrasonic cleaner with the M-05 chassis parts.

The twins arrived! Left bear has a very good chassis and plastics. Bodyshell is ok. Right bear has a great and complete bodyshell. Chassis is bad. The extra tire set is very good for its age. Not too dry, no cracks or damage. These will go onto the bear I'm restoring to original. So, overall a great haul for parts and the potential for a 2nd original bear. I still have a used gear set somewhere! And other spares...

Ordered a 'stickpack' hardcase lipo to use in the M-05 chassis. Hopefully, I have some time this weekend to start cleaning all the parts because I am expecting the bearings to come in next week.

Since I had enough cars...., I bought 2 Marui Big Bears. I really must do something about my impulsive-behaivoure control......

Today, I laughed at this silly video: But that also got me thinking.... Gut out a Roomba, add 3S Lipo, V-tail mixer to mix steering and speed in a tank-track similar setup, and 2 ESCs on the two motors. And go for the: Tamiya Club Official Top 10 Fastest RC'ers List For the category 2WD/Midwheel drive, brands other then Tamiya. A 50kph RC Roomba should be quite a sight!

Haha that is a cool module, it sounds great! Another item for the wish-list.

The mini Cooper 58211! Oh wait..... I actually had that one real sized.

Wife, kid and I are at a holiday park, which as it turns out has a rough sand-water area right in the backyard of our little house! Big regrets on not bringing basher bear with me, that would have been great!

Must resist...... temptation! I'll give it some thought......

Best places to start in my view would be budget and your personal skills. If you are into electronics and hardware tinkering, any self-build model that you can modify, adjust and refine would be a good start. Kits start at a few 100 euros. But expect an investment in time, grey hares and ugly words before it will give nice results. I have a heavily modified Velleman K8200, that prints well but can still be a handfull if it has a clogged head or strange error that needs troubleshooting. If you want it to be more 'plug and play', get a complete product from a decent manufacturer. At a local hobby show I saw a Dremel 3D printer in action, making custom bodies for matchbox-size cars. It looked really impressive, with very fine details on the bodies and low noise while printing. These are about 1300,- euros new but used prices are much lower.

Ordered a spare rear gearbox and diff for Basherbear. The diff housing plastics have some stripped threads, and the diff itself has a bad shaft that holds the satellite gears. No problems with is so far and it has always ran great, but figured a spare would be nice to have if it ever goes south.

Not much time for the cars as DIY house stuff gets in the way. Ordered bearings for the M-05 chassis, and extra 5x8mm bearings for its steering rack (probably not much added value, but I thought why not...). Hopefully I have some time this week to start cleaning the parts with the ultrasonic cleaner. The ESC's fan blade for Basherbear kept popping out. It was missing its retaining washer. So made one from a small scrap of plastic 0.3mm thick. 1.5mm hole, 3mm diameter. Fiddly but it sits in place! Still on the wish-list. Stick-pack lipo...

Stripped the M-05 chassis down. It had no bearings so need to order those, as well as a servo saver and maybe oil shocks. Good news is that it has not been run much. So start the ultrasonic cleaner, to have it ready for assembly when parts come in.

Picked up the M-05 chassis. Combined with a mini shell and wheels, and a small 4300KV brushless I still have somewhere, this should be a lot of fun!