[GIF Gallery]

[GIF Gallery]

 

[GIF Gallery]

Great idea buddy! Especially in these times, we all can use some good Tamiya entertainment  

Here are some of my GIFs, I've just recently learned how to create some myself.

[So, What Have You Done Today?]

@Saito2 Thanks bud. The Big Boss is a lot of fun, indeed.

I know it is known for being a bit fragile and for not exactly being up to Kyosho's usual quality standards but, as much as I can vouch for the latter, I never had big reliability problems -and I certainly don't go easy on it. I jump and bash it all the time. I've also tweaked it up: for every major crash or break, I try to come up with solitions to make it better and stronger than before. By now it's almost bulletproof, if used with its original Le Mans motor. Btw I had a 13T motor from HPI on for some time, it was flying but the battery would only last about 5 mins like in the good ol'days  The Le Mans is just what I need, it packs enough of a punch for the way I drive it and the pack lasts for good 20-30 mins.

May I ask why you don't ever run yours? And would you post a pic, just for fun? The Big Boss has a special place in my heart and it does since I was 8, I can never see too much of it

[So, What Have You Done Today?]

Picture of the day (by my lady)

[Is anyone out running?]

I am lucky enough to spend these lockdown time in the countryside with plenty of woodland and trails just beside the house, so I am able to run and bash every single day. I really feel privileged, especially given the situation.

If I were in the city, I'd look for empty spaces as close as possible to where I live (public parks are now closed in my area, but parking lots, dead end roads or alleys may do for a quick run to at least scratch the itch!). The closer you are to your home, the more understandable and forgivable your 'exercise' would be, provided that you are still distancing the bypassers. It's the people that carelessly take unneeded trips all over the place and the ones gathering in group that are the most dangerous and rightly so more targeted by the police. If you are careful, use common sense and you don't venture too far off, I'm sure you can take some quick runs now and then. Though it might not feel as relaxing as before 

[So, What Have You Done Today?]

The tug of war between seasons goes on. As the ice gives way to grass the Boss is painstakingly patrolling the surroundings checking for floods, overflowing streams and road cracks (or should I say holes). It's quite an adventurous task 

 

 

Treacherous trails...

 

Well, looks like no more running on the lake.Don't wanna fall in there...

 

Whoops... Can't cross here anymore!

[RC10 Edinger stripdown and restoration to JPS livery]

Update. Rear shocks installed, but that was a bit tricky: the two ball bearings the rear axles now sit on (one on each side for each axle) have pushed them closer to the suspension arm to the point it almost touched it when the shock was fully relaxed. Some fine tuning and double checking the lenght of the tie rods solved the issue and I was able to position the shocks on the second hole from out, but the distance between the axle stub and rear arm is no more than a hair. Well that's all I needed!

 

Next I got around to doing the wheels and tires. Cleaned and soaked in soap&water overnight, it was a relief to find out that these rear CAT tires are indeed a perfect fit for my HPI wheels. Measurents were matching but you know how it is when it comes to tires, glad that problem is solved for good.

Here they are installed, I find they look quite gritty

Rims and tires will get some more attention later on in the build: I am planning some lettering on both, though I know it'll vanish in the first 5 minutes of action. But I want them to look as good as possible for the spot on pics when the build is finished.

Also I couldn't wait so I just had to slip the wheels on for a moment, just to see the stance of the car. I think it's starting to look yummy even if I'm still in an earlier stage of the build.

I really like the view from behind...

Next are motor, pinion and dust cover.

The car will be equipped with its original Associated Off-Road Stock motor for now, though that might change in the future depending on driving feel and performance.

The motor seems to be in a good shape but will need some cleaning and re-soldering.

I am currently working on trying to salvage the original dust cover. It's coming along for now, but I forgot to take a pic of the part before starting to fix it. Oh well.  More to come soon!

[RC10 Vintage Worlds Car Build.]

Looking good!! And I'm glad I contributed to inspire your resto project  it will be very interesting to check out each other's thread while in the process.

Good job also with sorting out the rare bits, like the wing mount. That's commitment, especially in these uncertain times. For now I think I'm going wingless -the easy solution as the car came without it- then once finished I'll see if I can get away with it depending on how it looks 

Enjoy your build!!

[RC10 Edinger stripdown and restoration to JPS livery]

Did a little progress with the build, front shocks and rear suspension arms and half shafts have been installed.

In the process I noticed something that escaped my attention before: when installed in the gears, the dogbones are supposed to be "cushioned" by the usual spring on the side of the stub axle and by a little 1/16" plastic spacer on the gearbox side. My car lacked the latter, I'm 100% sure there were no spacers when I took it apart.
So after some thinking I decided to recreate the spacers myself by butchering a nylon zip-tie. Right material, right thickness, I only needed to shape it right.
Here's the result, not exactly perfect but will totally do the job:

 

Besides, even the ones for sale on line seem to be quite far from perfect and almost look hand shaped:

 I'm happy with how these spacers came out. The dogbones seem to sit very well. I could have probably stayed without (who knows for how long the car was driven without those spacers anyway) but I am doing a restoration here, so I thought might as well go the extra mile.

Ball bearings for the rear axles:

Here's how it looks now

[Anybody painted a Hornet with PS-22 or PS-9?]

Here's my two colour job. 

[So, What Have You Done Today?]

2 hours ago, Saito2 said:

The Super Sabre came out perfect and finally completes my early 4wd buggy set

Any pictures? Always had a soft spot for the Super Sabre

[RC10 Edinger stripdown and restoration to JPS livery]

I got started on the actual re-build yesterday, here's some documentation of the progress.

Got the front suspension arms and strut installed, along with the new alloy steering link. That is indeed a good piece to add if you ask me: simple, tidy, well designed, ball raced (two bearings per link!) and properly anodized in copper.

Here's the VariLok diff: stripped down, thoroughly cleaned, greased and reassembled.

I expected it to be smoother than it feels when I turn the gears, though based on what I've learned so far, it seems that realistically speaking you want it to be quite tight on this car. So I'll try it out like this for now, I can always do some tuning later on.

Here it is with the rest of the 6-gear transmission, installed in the gearbox. Everything is now ball raced, it felt like the right thing to do.

I also refurbished the shocks: took them apart, cleaned, flushed and refilled them with Associated Factory Team silicone fluid (538 cSt). Incredibly, all the O rings were fine, no leakage so far. Actually, the shocks were still half filled with who knows how old oil... I was tempted to keep it as vintage used shock oil

So far, so good. Can't wait to keep going.

[So, What Have You Done Today?]

Been taking daily runs with the Boss through the tug of war between Winter and Spring.

The day before yesterday:

Yesterday:

It's just a big slushland right now:

...and on another RC note, today I'll finally have a few hours to work on my RC10 restoration, been looking forward to it. Really can't complain about the self isolation so far

[So, What Have You Done Today?]

Today I realized that some of my RC tools are also my shaving tools  that got me wondering... does my facial hair really need to share scissors with my tamiya builds? Is the situation that dire already?  Nah I think this one is on me

[RC10 Edinger stripdown and restoration to JPS livery]

I didn't have much time to keep going with the restoration lately with what's going on in the world at the moment, but still I have a few small updates.
Most important, the tires have been sorted out,  and at a burgain price on top of it! Thanks @mtbkym01 for the indirect information

Brand new Schumacher Cat 2"" rears with foam insert, here they are with the other goodies that arrived in the meantime: gold alloy steering cranks and sealed ball bearings.

I have almost finished the stripdown, only the front arms and the shocks are left. I found every component in surprisingly good shape so far, regardless of the obvious extended use of the car, which I guess testifies in favour of the toughness of this vehicle.
 The only question mark left is about the state of the "O" rings in the shocks, but I'll find out today what the situation is. I cross my fingers that they are somehow still good to gi as from now on, with more and more businesses and provinces in lockdown, I wouldn't count on a timely delivery.
 Other than that, the John Player Special decal sheet from MCI is the last thing left, it's on its way and should be at my door anyday.

All has been smooth and absolutely pleasurable so far (once again: I love every single thing about the instruction manual) BUT one thing: the micro Allen screws that hold the bushing in the gears (four each) require a micro Allen key, that I assume was included in the kit but didn't make it to these days. I could not find one so small in my household, I have several sets in both inch and mm but none of them had one small enough.
Venturing out to hardware stores for such reason in this crazy times just didn't seem the right thing to do either.
After some thinking and rummaging, "Ghetto Solutions Inc." came once again to the rescue: I grabbed the smallest key I could find, which was just a hair too big to fit, and cut its tip on a 45° angle somehow hoping that the tip, sharpened by the angled cut, would fit in enough to grab into the screw. Well, it worked! Definitely not the kindest way to drive such tiny screws, almost sure they they sprained a little (the hole, not the thread!) but I figured might as well, as after fitting the ball bearings I'll screw them back on and there they'll stay for 35 more years.

I can't wait to have a few good hours in a row to dedicate to this project, I'm sure I will in the next few days.

[So, What Have You Done Today?]

It's my lady's birthday today, and when she turned on her screen she got this e-card (the odd word for birthday being  pun between us, involving part of her name). Pretty proud of it and she loved it 

[So, What Have You Done Today?]

@Aerobert Thank you. Running rc cars is one of the best things you can do with all this snow, unless you are skiing or snowboarding (but having grown up near in the Alps I tend to be a bit snobby of these tiny hills with overpriced ski stations that we have here and rather hike).

I lived most of my life in Europe so I know what you mean: where there used to be a little snow, now there's none  global warming IS happening, if you ask me.

@Superluminal true, but this year Spring is already on it's way! The snow is melting big time and the groundhogs came out early, and they don't lie along with the farmers almanac  so maybe for once we'll get a couple months of pleasant weather before the summer, when usually the moment you thaw you are already roasting at +30°C.

32 minutes ago, Superluminal said:

By the time we are finished paying our way out of the corona shambles money wont have any value and we will be driving around the desert in spike covered cars and trucks and gyro copters fighting for fuel. 

I agree, that's pretty much the scenario I imagine, except we'll all find enough scrap material so that those spike covered cars will  be nothing less than a 1:1 scale version of our favourite Tamiyas, ghetto-built one by one by the owner (it will take more than a few PSpaint cans for the shells). That way, us tamiyaclub fanatics will have a head start in the post-coronapocalyptic world.

[So, What Have You Done Today?]

Drove my wife down to her office so she could pick up what needed to set up smart-working from home.

While waiting, I figured out how to create gif images on my phone, these are my first results

 

[So, What Have You Done Today?]

Took the Boss for a roll in the grimy part of town... again.

 

[Apocalypse preparation]

.

[Apocalypse preparation]

15 minutes ago, Saito2 said:

I still love the smell of tires from a freshly opened kit

So true. The smell of new RC tires (especially Tamiya) is one of those little pleasures of life.

Also, it lasts a long time. This is why I open the cabinet where some shelf queens are exposed almost everyday: to lean over and smell the tires. My wife must think I'm absolutely nuts. Sometimes I force her to smell them too  so she politely fakes interest.

I would rank new tire smell along with other lil' pleasures that make life fun, such as:

-popping ALL the air balls in the pluriball wrapping plastic (the one dor packaging materials, you know what I mean)

-biting off the crunchy extremities of a freshly baked baguette

-the feeling of wearing brand new socks

-breaking the crust of a créme brulée

-opening a new Tamiya kit (well that's more than a little pleasure)

The list could go on! Sorry for the digression, guess this thread could use a little comic relief anyway

[Apocalypse preparation]

.

[Apocalypse preparation]

At my company they are just starting to grasp the gravity of the situation and are waiting for signs from the government if to shut down and about possible unemployment, in the meantime a coworker showed up sick today, just like that, after a couple days at home with a cold. Unbelievable.

So we are still open and fully functioning for now but to be fair today they also said we could decide for ourselves wheather to keep coming in or stay home. I decided that starting tomorrow I won't go in to work until further notice, unemployment or not. My bosses seemed to have respected my decision with no hard feelings.

What I told them is the same I'm saying here: far from wanting to cause any further alarm, I just think that by now we should be objectively past any point of denial and therefore try to focus on what we can do to help the situation, which for most of us common people consists is staying put. My decision to stop going to work doesn't come from sheer fear or panic, but rather from calm and rational pondering. I don't deem a few more days of pay worth exposing myself, high risk or not, and even though, like for most, a lack of income would soon have very bad consequences, if it comes to such priorities I'd rather be broke and healthier than at risk -to say the least- with a few more bucks (because all of us, bosses included are by now pretty sure we'll have to shut down anyday soon). Forthermore, my absence won't really inconvenience anybody at this time, as the amount of work left is limited and can be totally covered by who's in more need than me of those few more bucks and therefore is willing to stay despite the risk. I totally understand their point of view as they understand mine but as for me, being able to afford staying at home while this work situation is figured out, I decided to do so in order to simply limit the risks towards each other at least in that department. I think that all non essentials businesses should and will be forced to do so sooner than later. Mine is in public/private art and high end construction so it's far from crucial to society right now.

As for my wife, also in her case she has to go to the office -now almost deserted- two days a week to do some stuff only she can do, but besides that she'll also stay home.

I'm not gonna stop living at once, I will still go to remote places to run my cars and we will still have to get groceries sometimes (didn't stalk up for more than 10 days or so) and go out to get some fresh air, we'll use all the precautions like anybody else and after that we'll see.

There's only so much we all can do, and constant worrying wears you down fast: better use logic instead and try to stay calm, objective and proactive (or... non active, in this case). Ethically speaking too: it's a good idea not to binge buy leaving nothing for the others and not going in to work if you are sick.

It's crazy times indeed, but hopefully with a calm approach and some positivity we'll get over this thing, as humanity altogether.

As for what to do during these times of seclusion, besides the usual things around the house and the compulsive cleaning habits we'll be soon developing,  I have a few personal projects going (pleasant side jobs and my own stuff) and RCwise I'll jump on the restoration of a gold pan RC10 that I just started not long ago. I'm waiting for the last two parts to show up in the mailbox and I'll have all I need to complete the project. I can't wait as that sure does boost my mood.

Anyway, like others already said I think this thead really turned into something good.  It's so interesting to see the genuine opinions, points of view and current situations of TC members from all over the place. I hope members from all latitudes will contribute as, to be honest, I value this thread and its direct information much more than many of the news that the media force-feed us every day.

All the best to you all, and hopefully our hobby will help lift up the spirits in this tough times.

[So, What Have You Done Today?]

Close call for me today.
The weather got colder and stopped the already compacted snow from melting, thus allowing great conditions for some RC fun.
So off I went, I was hopping the Manta back and forth on the ridge by the lake, when it got stuck on the lake side. After calculating (...or not?) the risks, I decided to venture in and rescue the car, which I managed to. On the way back though, just when I thought I was safe, my right leg suddenly sank in the snow all the way to the groin and my boot totally dipped in the water!

I barely felt the chill on my foot at first, as spooked out as I got, but then I got into driving again and by the end it felt so cold I feared frostbite.
That was silly but well worth it! though next time I might wanna bring a lazo or whatever helps retrieving the car without risking my guts