Ferruz

Super duper cool!!! I love it

Welcome back @Kol__, can't wait to see more about that custom TF Evo... It's a great moment when, after all the planning and thinking and hoarding of parts, you finally get to start the build! Cheers 🍻

Not much RC action for me lately. I've been working long days and some weekends too lately, but at least I managed to finish the art project I was so busy on well within the deadline, and with great results and praise. Now I feel professionally fulfilled which hey, it's something I certainly don't experience every day 😅 Now I'm already on another job in another city, so still no RC activity for the time being. At least I was able to order all the extra parts for my upcoming C11 build, and the kit is supposed to be already under the tree by now... excited. Just one big decision left to make now... the livery! There are so many options with that body... some limited by the polycarbonate paint availability. For now my top three options are (in no specific order): -Leyton House colours. Good option, but I fear Tamiya's Cobalt Green is too dark and too green for the job. -Silk Cut colors, the option with two purple tones and white lettering. Same question marks for the purples available. -Kenwood livery, in red and black colors. No issue here with the rattlecans, but the decals seem to be non existing in 1 10 scale. Certainly something that can be worked out, anyway. In the meantime, the silver box art itself is growing on me immensely. I used to find it somehow boring until recently, but no I like it 🤔 Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thank you @TurnipJF for the advice. I fully agree on the steering situation, I haven't done all the homework yet and didn't know about the Grasshopper-esque rods. How long should the 3mm rods -or turnbuckles- be? I have some Kyosho ones somewhere NIP that I'd be happy to use, or else I'll just get some more along with a HT servo saver. Good call on the pinion too, I always forget that part! Do you happen to remember how many teeth the stock one has? I'll get a steel one for sure, along with softer front springs. As for the experience I'm looking for, like I said it's my first solely-on-road car, so I'd be happy to start from an almost- stock situation and take it from there. Things like sloppy steering and cheesy pinion are better addressed right away, along with whatever other major kinks the car may have (which, judging by what you tell me, doesn't seem to be the case), but that's about it for now. I'll gladly take your advice on those parts, and see how it drives like that. Thank you. I am very curious about building an on road track chassis... and a Group C shell 😍 ...one which, I realize, is a sleek but neutral silhouette and therefore could look pretty in almost every livery I can think of. I am doing a lot of thinking in that department. As for today, lots of tinkering but no action: weather was horrible, and I was dead tired anyway. The day started with some unusual bench mates on the table together then I moved on to fight yet another battle in my lifelong war against slop on my Manta Ray. So much to do, I can't believe I drove her so hard for so long without proper maintenance on those parts 😅 This time I shimmed up both front and rear suspensions with washers and teflon tape, and went on to replace more ball ends and ball connectors. Feels much better now, slop is fully gone on the rear end and barely there on the front. An in-house livingroom/corridor test showed the car running straight as an arrow from a standstill (I have a long corridor and patient neighbors). I can't even remember the last time I saw the car running straight on full throttle from a standstill. Result! Once again, during the tinkering I was thinking how surprising it is -to me, al least- that plastic wins over metal when they rub together. Looking at my ball connectors, the plastic ends are barely slightly loose (and could be squeezed back in with a lighter and some pinching in case of emergency) but the ball ends are very much eroded! Ha. Live and learn 🤔

Love that photo @GToddC5 👌 As for me, I have been working like a dog on a big public art project whose deadline in next week 😬 can't wait for it to be done -as long as I do it perfectly, lol RC wise, my wife and I went to the local park to run the Mad Van on snow. It was way too splotchy and not cold enough for proper stunts, so it was all drifting and gliding around, trying to avoid shrieking kids and doggies running after the van it's fun in the snow, but I can't wait for real winter conditions to really send it flying! One last thing: it seems that Mrs. Ferruz is indeed conspiring with Santa to arrange for a certain C11 to be under the tree by Xmas day... that feels good, and it means it's time for me to start gathering parts. I have ordered ball bearings and a couple new receivers today, and will soon proceed with servo, ESC and lights. Paint and decals will wait, as I'm mot yet set on a livery. @TurnipJF , if I remember correctly you've recently completed a Mercedes C11 build: besides the above, do you have other suggestions? Is there anything else essential I should get before I start the build? This will be my first on road/ tarmac build (well I have a Lancia Delta, but that's really a rally car) so I'm happy to take it easy and start from stock, but if there's any major issue that needs to be worked out right away it'd be good to know. Thanks!

Oooh Hats off Sir, yet another gorgeous fantastic beauty coming out of Re-Bugged Factory I was looking forward to seeing it completed. Man, just looking at it brings me to rally nirvana. Bravo 👏👏👏👍

The first, second, third and on exclamations of amazement that came to mind would have been mercilessly censored by the forum system, so... I'll just stick to a huge WOW... which just doesn't cut it. Out. Of. Control congrats !!!

Same here...

I took out the Manta Ray as planned today, but lo! It's that time of the year again, heavy snowfall, so I went to a spot where I could do some drifting and snowblasting. Car drives great, too bad the battered NiMhs I had on me were no match for the power hungry bluebottle. After 5 minutes or so they get some very noticeable power loss at full speed. Fortunately it doesn't happen with my other cars, as their system is not as draining on the batts. It's always fun the first time of the year driving on snow ☺🤪

Good choice @Willy iine 👌 just can't go wrong with it, you're going to love it! I find the brushed version plenty fast. The brushless one must be extra giggles for sure, but that also means more danger for that gorgeous shell which trust me, you will not ever want to scratch so brushed is probably the sweet spot if you care about preserving it. About the color, I admit that at first I was more drawn towards the brown one, but my wife commanded the purple one since it's hee favourite color. Since then it has grown on me so much, I would never ever swap it for a brown one. She was right! That being said, I think the red one like @Re-Bugged's one is also gorgeous, and I've seen some pics of the lime green body online and that also is simply As for me, I pulled the trigger on an earlier xmas gift for my wife. We are having a bit of a hard time lately going through some life stuff, and she's been feeling the blow for sure. She's been wanting a new Xbox entertaining system for a long time, basically since I met her. There's always plenty of reasons to hold back on the purchase, but I decided they didn't hold water anymore. What's a few hundred dollars after all, if it makes one feel happy, relaxed and entertained for such a long time? Go to the grocery store twice and I'll end up having spent more than that (ok, on essentials that is 😅, but you know my point). So long story short, I brought her to the store and bought the new console and the game she wanted. Super happy to see her happy. But why am I mentioning this here? Because I realized that, due to the butterfly effect, this could result in a C11 under the xmas tree So off on a tangent I go..how does Leyton House livery sound? 🤔😉

Woah, looking sharp!! 🤙

Been very busy with work because of an upcoming deadline lately, all good on that side but not much time left for running RC, especially with the weather working against it. But today I had some relaxed tinkering time. I tackled the steering system on the Manta Ray, trying to get rid of some slop. I've noticed an uncanny amount of play between the bearings/bushings and the metal parts they are nestled in. Not sure whether it's been like that from the get go or if it increased in time with use. I tried teflon tape - the one used for plumming- to address the issue, and it seems to have helped a lot. The bearings were hard to squeeze back in, and now stay firmly into place. Next thing was harder to accept, but had to be done: got rid of some bling (the ball heads) in favour of tougher components The re-assembled steering now feels sturdier and more up to par Since I was in that area, I took that chance to open up the front bulkhead and take a peek at the gears, just because I haven't done it in ages. All seemed well, still I cleaned off the old grease and smeared some new grease on. Plans were to go run it right away, but rain and dusk made the outing far from appealing so I rescheduled it for tomorrow morning. At which point I did one more thing, and swapped back to the pepperpot wheels for some offroading. Feels good to see the buggy in her true identity, I really can't stand the look of the postal racing wheels for too long 😬😅 A good aesthetic facelift is due soon, but next thing is running and she looks decent enuff for that.

Looks interesting @Kowalski86. Ps I am buried in work these days, projects to complete and deadlines to meet, I'll gladly leave the choice of our next destination to somebody else.

Looks goegeous

Nice one. Crowded and varied podium indeed, if it were a physical one it would probably collapse under the weight of 3 people and 5 cars! congrats everybody, this was fun as always.

@chris.alex nice, I too find tire lettering meditative and very rewarding overall, at one condition: lighting has to be optimal! Possibly broad natural daylight. I tried once with poor lighting, never again! @Tamiyastef congratulations on your first cockpit, turned out just fine, very lively with these colors 🙂👍 This photo is just 👌 @Willy iine As for me, today I dug out the Manta Ray. She's been waiting for maintenance for a while now. Installed a Tamiya HT servo saver along with a new cheapo servo I had kicking around (not sure I'll keep this one installed, but it's worth a try). The car needs more love, for instance I have to intervene on that steering set whose performance is duller than its bling... sloppy! Especially after years of severe use but that was it for today, as I just wanted to power it up and go for a drive. Haven't seen this guy in a while I grabbed battery and remote and went down to a trusty spot around the corner, just to test the car and stretch its legs after months of zero activity. Within 5 minutes, a door opened and a security guy from a theater or whatever that is surfaced, asking me what I was up to, and that "he had been told to ask me to leave". Dude... I was indeed representing such a danger 🙄 so off I went, so much for that. But good news for him: I'll be happy to swing by whenever I'm in the area and feeling like running RC, that'll give him some good distraction and something to do in an otherwise likely boring day 😚

Way to go, Nikko! Interesting story @Andreas W , I think your Dictator well deserves the cleanup and new bearings.

Nice! I think those fronties have at least another full Round or two ahead of them until you can see the sidewall line coming through, you are good! Nice bringing in the Nikko Diktator @Andreas W! And @Re-Bugged, the idea of getting Lunch Boxes for the 80 people invited is awesome 🤣 ...maybe you can get a bulk buy deal with Tamiya? Speaking of Terra Scorcher, mine got to see more action since it didn't snow. I had a couple more stints both yesterday and the day before, matched the personal best almost every time but never beat it 😬 Also, there was a little accident: there is a significant bump on my playground right by marker 1, which makes for a dramatic view as the cars goes on two wheels during the turn. One time I hit it with too much of an angle, and the car ended upside down 😐 no marks on the roof fortunately, but the impact made the paint detach from the shell (it was pretty cold, so I'mnot surprised). It's still on and didn't chip yet, but I'll have to touch it up sooner than later along with the wing, also sporting a few chips and battle scars.

@ImALlama looking sharp 👍 I like the color. Today I participated in the Racing by Post again. Last time I did that was June, so I can say I was a bit... rusty this didn't spoil the fun at all, just the performance, lol. It felt good to do our very own race thing again, I missed it. I think that the Terra Scorcher is a very versatile car: I went from Postal Racing to free run bashing within the same battery pack 😅👍 can't really ask more from an old design Tamiya, right? So far, a nice relaxing RC Sunday afternoon. Just finished cleaning up the Scorchy. Now off for a little break, then I think I'll jump on the Manta Ray, which I left unattended for a while now. New servo and HT servo saver are ready to be installed. Battery on the TS lasted long, courtesy of the Mad Van which was glad to lend his newer power pack to increase her running time 🔋🔌⚡

Today I finally managed to participate! It was supposed to snow but it didn't (or let's say, not as much) and the temp was above zero, so I just had to do it... From now on it'll be snow and ice for months, so this was going to be my last possible attempt at a decent lap count. It's been so long, I reckon last time I raced was last June, and in fact I felt very rusty 😅 took me almost half a battery pack just to practice the track, before I could feel confident enough to give it a real try. My usual cracked tarmac patch was wet and covered in leaves/dirt/gravel, but an hour work with the trusty leaf blower turned the situation around. By the time the track was laid out, the tarmac was as clean as it could get and just, say, very moist, so not downright wet anymore. This made for acceptable racing conditions. My Terra Scorcher was the weapon of choice, as usual. The Manta has been on the bench since last June awaiting for some TLC, and the Mid is currently in offroad mode. If on one hand the Scorchy suffered a bit from the balding front tires (again!), on the other hand I enjoyed a nice sharp steering thanks to the newly mounted high torque servo saver (in place of the destroyed stock one), so I'm happy with how it drove. Not as happy with my own driving performance but it's ok, it's been a while so I'll cut myself some slack 😁 I did five attempts in total. Got them all in today, as it's supposed to snow heavily any minute now. The first one got me acquainted with the track, and set the lap count to beat. The second saw me finding a very good flow, but it was ruined by the battery dying on me towards the end of the stint. During the third and fourth attempt I concentrated on different takes on the track: what is more effective, fast and sweeping (hence drifting around and covering more surface) or slower and more precise, trying to stick to the markers (hence covering less distance)? Once again i seems that the second option is better in terms of results, as it's almost always the case unless it's offroad rallying... Less dramatic and maybe boring to behold, but it works best. The last attempt was the one that yielded the best lap count, though I feel it won't be very competitive. During the runs, the weather ranged from light snowfall to sunshine back to light snowfall, very windy all the time (my faced caked in tears while trying to keep my eyes peeled, lol) and cold enough to keep the car cool without being unbearable for my fingers. All in all, a good Postal Racing afternoon, I had a lot of fun as always and really enjoyed this track. Feels good to be back on the starting grid! 🏁

As @Willy iine said, a foldable table sounds like the way to go, at least for now. Functional, compact and likely inexpensive compared to other solutions.

I went ice spinning with the by now Loony Van Also, it had its first taste of snow ❄