El Gecko
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Posts posted by El Gecko
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@Snakehands Are you breaking your vintage cars every 10 minutes so you have to stop and check them? Literally the only benefit to your battery suggestion is less weight. Any car, especially a vintage car, is plenty fast enough on a stock silvercan with NiMH battery, even a heavy one. You say that weight is the biggest performance killer but you're still running vintage cars with tiny 2s batteries, so you can't be that concerned with performance? Oh wait, there's a second benefit--it's not just the weight--Lipo 2s is 7.4V and NiMH 6 cell is 7.2V--OF COURSE lipo will be faster! The voltage is higher!
I'm with mud4fun on this. I need a balance. I don't care how heavy it is, or that it has 0.2V more than NiMH, I don't want to be changing batteries every 5 or 10 minutes (the reason I don't use my old NiCds anymore either). Unless I'm doing something stupid, my vintage cars can run through multiple high capacity NiMH packs per day without breaking. That reliability and runtime, to me, is worth any tradeoff in weight or performance. There are plenty of other areas on the car that can be upgraded for better performance. In my opinion, "runtime" is part of the overall "performance" umbrella anyway.
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Yes Traxxas has re-released many of their kits multiple times since the early 90s. I'm not sure on the dates, but the Sledgehammer was released in at least 3 distinct versions over the years--all directly compatible with each other, just different color/types of plastic and anodizing on the aluminum.
I got my trucks from my older cousin when they were already over 5 years old, but parts do seem to be fairly available for the old kits nowadays. I recently got some half shafts and stub axles from Amazon, for example.
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1 hour ago, Wooders28 said:
It brings the most people, which equals money to pay the bills.
We have and will ,run open track days and even training days ,where I've bought a load of small football training cones, and marked lines, braking points and had experienced guys on hand to help with set ups and lend tyres etc, but we'd get more than double the people if it was a 'race night' . When the venue costs £80 a week , and 6 turn up for a open/training night and you're charging £7, the maths don't work, and you need the volume of the race nights, to pay for the open track / training nights, unless we doubled the entry fee....
Kind of the reason for the thread, we / I want to make it accessible and, more importantly , enjoyable to more people, if we can get it right.
Yep, when there are bills involved, somebody has to pay them. Unless you've got enough people showing up every week or every day, it's just not going to add up, and someone is going to be spending a lot to keep things going for everyone else.
When land is only valued for the money it can generate for its owner, everything that happens on that land has to have a price. Thus the racetrack. Or backyard tracks that are free to their owners and certain others, but are otherwise closed off to outsiders. It causes lines to be drawn.
The solution, obviously, is publicly available, rent-free land. But where? And how? Probably not anywhere close to a group of people that want to get together and RWYB. Or maybe closer than we think? Bicycle groups are able to lobby for development grants to get pump tracks built in public parks--if you could make a case for the "good of the village" or some such, perhaps they might also think about building an RC
trackcourse? Same kind of rules as the pumptracks too (and other forms of public recreation equipment): run what you brung, and drive at your own risk. No insurance or cost needed other than you and your equipment. Maybe a pipe dream but it's not impossible! -
11 minutes ago, mud4fun said:
Hehe, when you put it like that then yes it does sound about right....
However, if it was a socialist/communist club it would be the exact same result:
The club committee would dictate that every member must pay an environmental tax for use of the track, each car would be taxed an entry tax, the wealthiest drivers would pay a higher entry tax, the winner would pay a tax on the value of the NIB kit he got for winning the race and all the money would go to the committee who would sit in a royal box watching the event while sipping the most expensive Champagne and charging it back to club expenses that would then need higher entry taxes to cover.......
That is said in jest by the way, I don't wish to fall out with you again (or at least not so soon after the last one)
Good sir, I have no intention of having a falling out with you
I believe we're having a nice discussion so far?
I hadn't intended to get into a capitalist/communist argument--only to show that a substantial amount of decision-making is based on money, even when we think (or say) it isn't.
And not just for 1:1 4WD clubs, for any clubs/hobbies/sports/activities/whatever in the world. The "top dogs" in their particular arena are typically the ones with the biggest financial backing.
Which doesn't make it very accessible for anyone else.
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1 hour ago, mud4fun said:
@El Gecko in my case, the club (All Wheel Drive Club, AWDC) started out small, way back in the 70's. When I joined in the early 80's it was still mostly friendly folk. We would drive to work or go shopping in our Land Rovers during the week then at weekends stuff on a set of mud tyres and compete. That worked well for years.
sadly in the 90's the entrants started to include alot more people turning up in purpose built machines that were not road legal or at the very least not really practical use on public roads. Those purpose built machines initially were just stripped down old Defenders. Then the spaceframes started creeping in, suspension travel started to be measured in feet and speeds got dangerously fast. The club was loving it because their events got televised which raked in money. That then led to businesses such as Simmonites (A Land Rover repair and parts business,) building dedicated race machines. The two Simmonite twins, highly skilled girls, then had the financial backup of a business to support them. They could push the boundaries because if the car broke their Worksop fixed it for them. In my case if I broke my vehicle I couldn,'t get to work the following week!
so in the space of a decade the events went from some blokes turning up (and driving to the event) in their old stock Land Rovers to giant American motorhomes and HGV's pulling trailers with £50-100K purpose built race machines and a dedicated pit crew! The club caved all too easily. Rules were changed to suit the wealthy teams, tracks were changed to suit the wealthy teams etc etc.
I see a lot of decisions in that story based on money.
90s entrants building machines specifically designed to win, which as you said led to a business (that makes money)
which led to more dedicated race machines (sold to other racers for most likely top dollar with high margins)
which led to financial backing of their business (self-sponsorship, essentially) for when they themselves would race
which led to everyone else doing the same thing because they weren't competitive otherwise--some starting their own businesses to be able to afford just to compete
but because ONLY SOME people had financial backing, it left others out completely and left others struggling
leaving only the people with the most money to make all the (wrong) decisions (based on money)
causing attrition and eventually killing the whole club, or turning it into basically a corporate race program -- again, to make money for the corporation that sponsors it
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9 minutes ago, cowboyjon said:
Make a Hornet or even a Racing Fighter stock cup and job done.
Exactly my thoughts!
Unfortunately it doesn't take care of the "run what you brung" aspect and it still involves racing.
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Currently "restoring" my 30 year old Traxxas trucks so I guess it's happening already
(but they'll be bashers, semi-shelfers at the most)
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32 minutes ago, mud4fun said:
I quit that club in the end because the events (probably in an attempt to get rid of us boring old farts) were getting silly, bigger and steeper climbs, ever deeper mud holes, deeper water or higher speeds etc and it became a competition of who could spend the most money on outlandish suspension lifts or pro race spec engines. Driver skill seemed irrelevant towards the end as only the 50K purpose built race or trials machine could win.
I've noticed this across the board over the years (maybe a result of living in a capitalist civilization?):
When winning becomes the goal, in whatever hobby/venture/etc. the money comes in and ruins it.
The hard part is figuring out how to keep it fun and accessible to all without allowing it to devolve into an arms race.
In HO slot cars, for example, there's "spec racing" where the chassis is intentionally kept simple and cheap, so anyone can rock up and have a go.
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Well despite everyone's rave reviews of the 1060, it looks like I've fallen victim to the "bad batch of capacitors" mentioned above, twice now. The first ESC I got has been doing it for awhile, and the new one in a different car does exactly the same thing. Whenever I'm at full throttle for "too long" it goes into half throttle/limp mode on both ESCs. I thought it was the batteries, the weather, random other stuff on the car, but no. It's been the ESC the whole time.
So now I've got 2 1060s to fix. Going big on the caps. 1000uf should handle it just fine I think? Maybe 3300s would be better, or should I just go for the 4700?
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Sounds like a short INSIDE the motor. Maybe the armature threw a winding or some debris got caught in a brush or something.
Could be that one of the wires shorted on the can as well. I'd inspect that motor very closely.
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21 minutes ago, mud4fun said:
Yes, there is one and you are already a member of it - TamiyaClub!
This is a very good point. We have a whole subforum devoted to meetings and events, which we could definitely take better advantage of once COVID restrictions are lifted (if ever) for more impromptu TC meetups. This forum is worldwide, so there's the potential to bring groups together in any city or region.
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23 hours ago, Ministrone said:
I’m counting my laps on my iPad placed instead of the right cone. I’ve had a few near misses but so far I’ve managed not to knock it around too much.😉
I was getting multiple readings with it pointing "north" as shown, so I turned it 90 degrees to the East (away from the WHOLE rest of the track) and had no problems after that.
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On 1/24/2021 at 3:25 AM, mud4fun said:
Congrats, that is a cool looking buggy!
Thanks! It's a bit of a Mad Max job... a body from a Tootsietoy children's sandbox toy plonked on top of a stadium truck chassis
On 1/24/2021 at 3:25 AM, mud4fun said:PS. What are your markers made from? They look like metal gazebo frame bases? We just use flat rubber markers now, a lot less troublesome when misjudging a turn
They're actually plastic wall mounting brackets for some old security cameras--round and shaped like cones, and they have screw holes so I can put a bicycle spoke through the base as an anchoring stake (on the grass at least--duct tape squares under the cones if I run on tarmac). They're easy to see (unfortunately also easy to hit) and the best part is that because they're camera mounts, each one can be a tripod for the phone/laptimer.
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I'm holding out hope that those gold Fighter Buggy RX wheels will be available as spare parts, but I will most likely be disappointed.
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@mud4fun Inspired by your Schumacher and Youngest Mudlet's Aqroshot, I've resurrected my old Hawk to see if it would work on the racetrack... and all I can say is WOW! I actually got almost 2 runs with it on the grass before I got tangled up with a cone and broke a spring eyelet
but holy cow. Obviously still dialing it in, but already it's night and day better than the Blackfoot/ORV and Grasshopper/Hornets... it's just so nice to NOT have to fight the car around every corner, or be driving on eggshells trying not to spin it out!!
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It's the wrong "T" brand, but I just took this junker out for the first drive in 20 years
Thanks to @Frog Jumper for the wheels and motor! (And thanks to Amazon for all the rest of the missing bits)
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I'm truly jealous of all the practice you guys have been able to get. Between work, family things, and now some seasonally appropriate winter weather, I haven't even gotten to try my own course yet!
Also @mud4fun and @Carmine A -- another model railroader over here
I don't have much but I have fun!
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Been using my wonky old Blackfoot for snow driving lately. Never had a body for it but that never stopped me running it before. I typically run it in a drift config with Pro-Line Strikers up front, but I swapped to these Nikko Big Bubba tires for more bite, and it's done the trick fairly well. The steering servo and Rx are inside a little ziplock bag and the ESC is waterproof with a brushed motor so no worries there. Added an LED lightbar so I could drive in the dark too. Like @Ferruz said, the snow has to be in the right condition for driving, but when it's good, it's tons of fun! Since the Blackfoot gearing is essentially unchangeable, I'm starting to build up my old Traxxas Hawk junker for some winter bashing, because I can gear it as low as I want to.
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2 hours ago, ddaenen1 said:
There used to be a hopup for that from You-G. I have it on mine.
AHA!! I just knew I couldn't have been the first to think of it! Got any closeup pics of that center attachment on the gearbox? I'm curious how You-G solved that problem.
Looks like that one works more as an actual anti-roll bar with the extension to the axle ends, while mine just turns the gearbox nub into a pivot point with very little stabilizing action.
Pretty cool, thanks for posting
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27 minutes ago, nowinaminute said:
I had a go at making a glitch buster but it didn't seem to make much difference tbh.
I tried fitting a beefier servo to my Lunchbox and it draws enough current to make the lights dim when you first move the steering. It just seems to be the fleeting current burst when the servo motor first moves from stationary because the lights go straight back to normal again and even when you hold the wheels locked and apply full steering and put the servo under strain, the lights return to full brightness.
The ESC I have only has a fairly weedy 2 amp BEC so I was going to just put the previous servo back in but then I decided that as it's only a split second issue when you first start steering, a glitch buster might do the trick!
Well it made absolutely no difference at all. I tried a 1200uf capacitor first with no joy so I tried a 3300 too but no cigar.
Maybe it would work to fix other problems but not this one. I think I wired it correctly but maybe I goofed up somewhere? Seems pretty simple though, just two wires. I tried the 3rd channel and the power port but got the same result with both. Maybe the wires could have been shorter but I would have thought there would be some semblance of a difference even if that was the case.
Oh well! The truck drives fine still and like I say, it only seems to be a that initial transition of the servo motor going from still to moving, you can load it up and the lights still dim and come straight back up. I would leave but it's just a bit irritating visually lol.
I'm just going to put the original servo back in as it was perfectly adequate.
Seems like for an issue like this, there's no substitute for an external BEC or an ESC with a better BEC!
Perhaps maybe even larger? I've heard 4700 being tossed around, and even higher with the newer high torque digital servos.
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Instead of buying something from China, a brake from an old pair of inline skates has been given new life as the shock mounts for the Blackfoot.
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10 minutes ago, mud4fun said:
You can't apply modern standards and morals to the past.
People say this a lot but what "modern standards and morals" are you cherry picking here? Because I can find many historical examples of better moral standards than what I see nowadays. So is the past "more moral" or is the present? You can't have it both ways.
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4 hours ago, mud4fun said:
I'd even have the rebel flag on the roof to put two fingers up to the woke brigade.....
NOPE. It's a symbol of hate and doesn't belong anywhere near a hobby that's supposed to be inclusive and fun. Or anywhere else for that matter, except museums, so we can remember how NOT to conduct ourselves.
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Modern Classics - your thoughts
in General discussions
Posted
FWIW my 3 Traxxas trucks originally came as kits--indeed, I have the assembly manual for one of them. In the mid 90s, I was given a junk lot by my older cousin, which included those 3 Traxxas and 3 Tamiya, which were all in pieces. So I have nostalgia for them all the same, but not really for anything newer. In my eyes the old Traxxas stuff is just as cool and worthy of restoration as anything else, regardless of whether it came RTR or not. The white plastic and gold anodized aluminum on the old chassis gives them an RC10 vibe.