carparkthrasher

**** and blast! Diary clash so we are doing the Mothers Day bit on Sunday so sadly we wont be there. For long, drawn out and depressing reasons, I need to make a fuss of me Mum so not having her round is not an option! Doh! We were both fired up for it but foolishly had missed the exact date of mothers day of our radar for a while................... I hope all who attend have a great time, get lots of photos and video and keep us posted as to any future dates and plans. I shall settle for a bit of park action Sunday morning so will be with you in spirit! S

Hi all! Being a virgin to this bash can I get an idiots guide to the location? Being a slave to Tom Tom, a nearby post code with some directions would be grand! On a Mr Party Pooper note, the fact that this Sunday is Mothers Day does present me with a moral dilemma! If diaries work out then I will be along if not then I might have to miss out! Mind you, assuming a good chance of attendance and following on from posts above, I will be bringing - Clodbuster - twin batt, twin esc, much scratched. TXT-1 - 550 powered, barely broken in yet. Blackfoot Extreme - much driven and loved, currently in fit out to become camera car. Rally of Germany Scooby TB01 - first chance to really see it in action. Well, other than wadding it through far to deep puddles and over far to rough ground just to test it out............. XRay 1/18 MT - for the crack................ Simon 'Carparkthrasher' and Sarah 'Mrs Carparkthrasher'

Cheers for your thoughts! How long does that charger take to get two packs charged then? Assuming connection to a 12v dc source? Surprising there aren't mroe dual chargers out there seeing as how many people run twin batt set ups............probably not enough to make it commercially viable I suppose.

Thanks for that, real interesting. Like much of our hobby, the choice is almost too much! Anyone know about this - http://www.hotbodiesonline.com/escape_gt.html - chargers 2 at once apparently, would seem ideal for my twin batt trucks, combine it with a leisure battery and Bob's your uncle - or is it too good to be true?

Cheers for that Paul, what charger do you use to charge the packs from the leisure battery? I guess the leisure battery itself then gets charged when necessary?

Hi all! As someone who is looking to break his bash 'virginity' this year, I have got round to thinking about batteries and chargers. Now currently I have 2 Ansman ACX-1 chargers and half a dozen batts ranging from 1800 - 3500. A typical jaunt for me is in the park at a weekend so a couple get charged the night before with another set done the next morning before going out. Now, I have 2 trucks that are twin batt and 3 others that are single. Normally on my own I only take one car so battery supply is normally sufficient - especially when a bacon sarnie and a brew from the caf is calling! However, thinking about attending bashes has made me look into more charger solutions. The ACX-1 can charge from a cigarette lighter, sorry 'charge point' in my 1:1 car. I guess at most bashes people pop the hood and charge up from the main car battery. What are peoples charger of choice in that situation? Does anyone go for other DC supplies such as a stand alone 12v battery to run the charger? I have seen models out there but not sure what they are like in practise. Was thinking maybe along the lines of a car battery mounted in a box that will allow me to run a couple of chargers whilst thrashing about nearby - obviously I appreciate that spending the day before charging up loads of sticks would be better than heaving a car battery around - I just really want to find out what you folks do? Or any ideas on the ultimate solution? Cheers ears!

Hi there! I have just purchased an Oregon Scientific Action Cam - Google it and you will find them! If you check out my video http://www.tamiyaclub.com/moviecomment.asp...49&uid=3717 you will see it in action on my swimming High Lift! Pleased with the results.

Genius! Hot knife through butter I should think! Will be trying that, many thanks!

People of Tamiyaclub! This weekends driving exploits will not only be filmed by the good Mrs Carparkthrasher but will now also feature on board footage from an action cam mounted internally. The lens pokes out through the windscreen hole and gives a nice POV including some of the bonnet. However, this means taking the windscreen/windows component out revealing the less than glamourous interior of cables, cable ties and bright green balloon round my RX! I was thinking of getting a second wind screen and opening it up to allow just the lens through so that on the wide shot the truck will look complete. This will allow me to get two cameras in sync on the same shot for editing purposes. Yes I do need to get out more............... Any advice on cutting the windscreen material? I was thinking of using a body post hole remmer I have as that seems to go through anything. Any other thoughts folks? Ta as always!

90 minutes away? Put me down as very interested! Will PM you now!

Hi all! After having built my TXT-1, great fun BTW, I am looking into the next steps in terms of perfecting the truck. Now I know there is a wealth of upgrade parts out there but I was wondering what peoples thoughts were on what's essential as opposed to nice or perfect world type things! I also have some basic questions/musings as well! Truck already runs 550 motors and 14.4 volts. 1) Is a shock upgrade recommended early on? Yes she leans very easily but boy it does seem to soak everything up. Would slightly firmer springs help eliminate that twist yet still maintain good ability over the rough? Shock recommendations? 2) Skid plates. Again, I have looked into these and being in the UK it would seem the only place to source this the US. Any UK owners recommend a particular US supplier? Keen at least to get the center plate as she is quite exposed underneath, if you pardon the expression. 3) Slightly less amazing but anyone have suggestion for a decal set that will include lights that will suit the clear bodyshell provided? My paint scheme (as always) will be very simple yet I do like to have light decals applied. The ones on the pre painted shell are ideal but I don't think you can get them on their own? 4) Better steering arms/rods? Have yet to really pound her (yes I am going for forum quote of the week ) to find out the weaknesses? Again, is a US import my only hope? Cheers all in advance, the TXT is a great truck but as with so many things, upgrade parts seem o be in the States, just faniced peoples thoughts and experience and want to see if one supplier comes out on top! Please and thank you!

good man, thanks for this!

Who wants predictability? I call rolling over 'giving it a used feel'!

The swines! That solves that mystery! I have heard others mention the Kimbrough so I shall investigate, cheers!

Hi there MMBIB! Just left a reply to your movie comment. Re the steering, I have stopped tinkering now as some boring type stuff needs to be done. However, with regrad to other comments above, the Hi Tec 635HB servo only takes the adapter for Tamiya/Futaba and what I was finding was the servo and the saver just disagreeing! Seemed as if the servo had more travel in it than the full stretch of the steering arms and servos saver. For testing I swapped out that HT servo for a regular Acoms AS-17 and with the same servo saver have no problem whatsoever and even better response at slow speeds. Is it possible the hi torque servo was too much for the saver? Would you reommend running it with the HT servos and no savers? BTW - 4WS, I take it requires a delicate touch to not roll the thing if turning at high speed? This might not suit my 'drive like you nicked it' style! Video of it in action to come next weekend, todays test was just out in the street and the local kids werer there so best not to wave a camcorder around kids these days! Interestingly tho, one of them mentioned a nearby BMX track I had no diea about so will be looking into that. Had the usual questions tho, is it petrol, how fast, can I have a go etc etc!

Re the size of the thing, yes it is big, feels huge actualy when testing it in the garden! I will take some comparison shots today for the geek factor! In action, oh yes but first I have to crack one niggle.Just like the clod, when stationary or running slowly the steering servo can barely move the wheels, kind of understandable but the steering servo seems to be making matters worse but not behaving properly and worst still, allowing the cog of the servo to move round inside the saver/horn assembly resulting in the steerign neutral point being out of whack. I am now trying to figure out whether the servo saver is just pants or whether the servo is too strong or not strong enough or whether a non tamiya servo saver is best. Any thoughts folks? Other than that it goes like poo off a shovel, scarily so..............................

Hi all! TXT built - video posted a few minutes ago. Will follow it up with one of the car in action soon!

I am good but not that good! This weekend will be the big build as the wife has a dollshouse project on the go as well so the hobby room/study/office will be very busy! Photos will come along with(fingers crossed) a timelapse video of the build! That said, I did open the box last night again and check all the components were there, I thought it was bad having to drive back to Time Tunnel in Stevenage when a kit was missing a part tree, let alone dealing with Hong Kong! Thankfully all there and yes, I couldn't help myself from squeezing the tyres once again.......

Hi all! Just have to share the trauma of having a freshly delivered, BNIB TXT 1 sat on my desk at work and I wont be able to really touch it until tonight! Naturally I have opened the box, inhaled and then felt the tyres, doesn't everybody? I can't wait to start the build. I have a pair of HPI 550's, Kyosho twin motor ESC and even have the paint in stock to bring the clear shell into the family colour scheme. Well, by that I mean French Blue all over but at least it is some kind of team colours! I will build it and run it hard and fast. Watch this space!

Thank Suzy for the welcome and I especially like your comment about terminal crashes! AKA, a chance to rebuild and make better! Warm clothes and lots of batteries, check. Excuse for a McDonalds, CHECK! Carparkthrasher = Simon (+Sarah)

Scratch that, we could do either 8th or 22nd March! Hope to see you there! Simon

After admiring the photos of many bash's of the last few years, I have decided that 2009 is going to be my year for getting out there and driving my cars! Like most of us, I needed permission from the head of events booking she is more than happy - alternative would be ironing! I am not exactly local, about 2 hours away but heh, it's only petrol! Also gives me a chance to do some charging, car has 2 charging points so happy with that! On the subject of charging, being a bit green to drving anywhere other than the local park or the back garden, what do most people do for power on a bash such as this? I guess a lot of bonnets get opened and the cro clips come out? Anyone gone down the stand alone car battery route? I am thinking of building a case or trolley of some sort that would allow me to charge up out in the field when am away from 1:1 car! Something that can house a car battery and 2 chargers - have 2 twin battery trucks! Any thoughts/tips? Having said that, the only date I could make would be the 22nd March so hope this ok!

Some great shots there folks! Took the Clodbuster out yesterday and it just flew around on the snow, seemingly much lighter than it actually is. I guess the huge surface area of the tyres helps with that! No pictures sadly and after the drip dry method (twin waterproof esc's and PVC taped servo and RX) the only thing I have to how for it is the truck being minus the headlamps from the roll over bar. After putting the brakes on a bit hard the best flipped itself over on to the nose,past a point of return and snap. Mind you, it is what the truck is for,to be driven. Looked pretty cool to, well in my mind anyway!

'Creative dremeling' - has a really nice ring to it! Hi, I'm Bud Fudlacker, head of Creative Dremeling. Seriously though, I am surprised Tamiya haven't done a deal with someone like Dremmel, the amount that tool gets used!

Hi all! Thanks to a couple of different suppliers delivering very speedily, I was able to comlpete my Clodbuster upgrade today. So, she now runs as a twin ESC single or twin battery beast, also thanks to a couple of leads and a lot of pvc tape! 2 x Mtroniks RV15 2 x Venom Fireball 21d servo y lead Battery y lead (as seen in Tanks with 2 units etc) - to allow both single and dual battery running. Blasting it around the garden all seems well after some fine tuning - you know the kind, spend ages using servo tape to stick the reciever down, lots of PVC to help keep it dry before realising that where you have put it fouls the body when you put it back on! Still, keeps it all fun! Man that servo tape (proper Tamiya stuff from the Bay) sticks ruddy well!