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That could be a fallback plan, come spring. I'll have to check my batteries are consistent enough as I only have NiMH. I'll have to get some sort of tachometer device. All the motors were around 250 bucks, and I can use them in cars, so no biggie. A dyno is around 600 bucks and will be used very little once the tests are completed. So far, my best idea for a home dyno is to get a steel disc machined and balanced, fix the motor to a bench, connect the motor via pulley to an axle holding the disc, fix the motor to a stable 7.2V power supply, then flip the on switch and record its sound with a smartphone rpm tachometer app from standstill to max rpm. Process the rpm along with the disc's rotational inertia to compute the rpm vs. torque curve of each motor. Managing the risk of having a steel disc rotating at 20,000+ rpm is part of the cost.

One of my frustrated projects was to build performance curves for all Tamiya motors currently available. Went as far as getting the motors. My jaw dropped when checking how much a small motor dyno costs... I've been on & off brainstorming how to do a home-made dyno since then, but any solution is probably even costlier than getting a dyno.

That's a great thought. Did a quick search and found this: RC Wiki | Fandom Seems mostly empty through

Wow, thanks for all the comments. @toyolien thanks for sharing some pictures! The nicer part of me thinks that perhaps the author is a hobbyist trying to help RC new commers and perhaps get some income. However, the realistic part of me thinks it's hard to justify the prices of the book given their print quality, terrible pictures and indeed what appears to be worthless generic writing. I fully agree that much better information & content can be found online and here in TamiyaClub. Still, being able to have good information on a physical format has its charms . Makes me wonder if a more serious hobbyist with better writing skills (one of us?) could author a better manual, with relevant information, building, running and modding tips. Nice color pictures too! I would love to give it a shot, but as always, too many things to do!

Body: Tamiya made an excellent job with this body set and included full array of light buckets, rear wing & mirrors. Stickers were sourced from MCI racing. Their quality is ok, a far cry from Tamiya quality, but still acceptable. They are a bit translucent, fragile and the ink can be rubbed off when heated. The worst part is that their white ink backing does not fully align with other colors, creating white seams at edges. Luckily most of the stickers are white. Time will tell if they are durable. Painting was very easy as the whole car was blue: PS-30 Brilliant Blue, backed with PS-01 White, backed with PS-05 Black. The wing and mirrors were sprayed with TS-44 Brilliant Blue and they ended just a tad darker/saturated compared to the body. Photo Shoot: Time to hit the road

@WhteRbt It's ok if they don't fit in the front since paddles perform their function best on tractive wheels. On the Blitzer, putting them on the front might actually make it understeer since its RWD.

Indeed, the Sand Scorcher paddle tires (and therefore I guess, also the spiked versions) fit into M-sized wheels as @Nikko85 points out. They fit quite naturally on the center slot, which some wheels have ribs that need to be trimmed. I think paddles are among the best looking tires Tamiya has released. @WhteRbt although the Blitzer does have 12mm hexes, you might want to check if the upright hubs interfere with a M-size wheel given they have a much smaller diameter than the Blitzer's 2.2 inch.

Just found online this publisher with a good amount of RC books & guides. They have books on both vintage and current Tamiya, among others. They look to be aimed at beginners. I wonder if any of you folks has any experience with their work. Books on legendary Tamiyas Books on modern Tamiyas Thanks for sharing any info

Chassis: A very straightforward build with a few enhancements on top of the stock Type-S specs: Foam dust covers for adjusters Steel washer protection on front shocks lower connector Foam cradle on battery compartment Rubber tube raisers on rear body posts Shimmed suspension LED lights: Buying ready-built LED sets can be quite expensive for what you get. For the same price you can buy 100s of LEDs, resistors & cables to make your own, plus get the benefit of tinkering . To eliminate the need of welding, I used self-adhesive shrink tube to lock twisted wires. Wires were scavenged from and old ethernet cable. The whole array was then connected to a standard servo type-J connector (built from those pairing connectors you get with Flysky receivers) and plugged directly to the 6V supply of the receiver. Front Lights: x4 white 5mm LEDs Each LED wired with a 200 ohm resistor (for 15mA current on each LED) Rear Lights: x4 red 5mm LEDs Each LED wired with a 270 ohm resistor (for a 16mA current on each LED) Cockpit: Tamiya makes wonderful cockpit sets, and I can't build a car without one. Right hand drive fitting the R32 racing in the All-Japan Championship with Kazuyoshi Hoshino behind the wheel. Detailing was done with Vallejo acrylics. (Helmet on the right is a teaser for a future post )

TT-02S Calsonic Nissan Skyline GT-R R32 Extremely successful in 1990-1994, the Calsonic Skyline R32 was piloted by Kazuyoshi Hoshino a.k.a. "the fastest man in Japan". This car took a long time to build as it was planned from left-over spares accumulated over the years, plus a few bits and pieces gathered over a few months. This was back when Plaza Japan had very economical shipping and low prices, otherwise it would not make sense to build a kit from spare parts. All hardware used was leftovers from other kits. My aim was to create a very soft suspension TT-02S and see how it would compare to my earlier XV-02RS Skyline R33, which was very plushy with outstanding handling. Parts Used: TT-02 Basic Parts 51226 Urethane Bumper L 51527 A Parts (Upright) 51528 B Parts (Suspension Arms) 51530 D Parts (Motor Mount) 51531 G Parts (Gear) Type-S Parts 51293 TA05-IFS F Parts (Hub Carrier 4deg) 51297 TA05-IFS D Parts (Suspension Arm) 51352 TB-03 C Parts (Front Upright) 51354 TB-03 E Parts (Rear Upright) 53825 TB Evolution IV 2.6mm Shaft Set 54075 TB-03 Fluorine Coated Ball Head King Pin 54632 Type-S Carbon Damper Stay Front 54633 Type-S Carbon Damper Stay Rear 54634 Type-S Steel Suspension Mount Set 54965 Type-S Aluminum Steering Set (Long Tie-Rod) Drivetrain 42356 42mm Swing Shafts Hard x2 51444 TRF417 Cross Joint Set x2 51445 TRF417 Wheel Axle x2 TT-02 Hop-Up 54500 High Speed Gear Set 54501 Aluminum Propeller Shaft 54502 Aluminum Propeller Joint 54571 Aluminum Motor Heatsink 54926 Lower Deck Hard Black TT02-013BU Yeah Racing Adjustable Motor Mount Misc 50875 5mm Ball Connector x2 51000 Hi-Torque Servo Saver Black 53068 Sport Tuned Motor 23T 540 53155 Low Friction Aluminum Damper Set x2 53585 3mm Shim Set 53587 5mm Shim Set 53823 Clamp Type Aluminum Wheel Hub 5mm 53980 Dust Cover for Adjuster 54228 FF03 Fluorine Coated Pinion 26T/27T 06Mod 54249 3x32mm Aluminum Turnbuckle Shaft x3 54250 3x42mm Aluminum Turnbuckle Shaft Body 51365 Nissan Skyline GT-R R32 Body Set 54157 Cockpit Set Right Hand Drive 53471 24mm 5-Spoke Wheels x2 51049 24mm Racing Slicks x2 Electronics ESC-1X Yeah Racing Tritronic 1X Waterproof ESC PDI-5508MG JX Metal Gear Servo 8Kg FS-GR3E 3 Channel Receiver FS-GT3B 3 Channel Transmitter 40mm High-Speed Fan 30mm High-Speed Fan Hand-built LED lights

Not sure that part 51332 you are using is officially supported by Tamiya as Type-S compatible. Never seen aluminum parts are available, but Tamiya offers most TT-02 Type-S suspension parts in either regular or carbon-reinforced versions. C Parts Front Uprights: 51352 or 54568 (carbon reinforced) F Parts Hub Carriers: 51293 or 54580 (carbon reinforced) For CVD's I would recommend building from these parts (not sure they are available as a set): 51445 TRF417 Wheel Axles 42356 42mm Swing Shaft Hard (which have their dog pin at 90deg which is great) 51444 TRF417 Cross Joint Set The above CVD assembly would need a full foam spacer on each diff cup. If you can't find 51445, you can use 54623 instead, which will need only half a foam spacer on each diff cup. *EDIT: 54515 has the full CVD set (42mm shafts)

I had a cordless garden trimmer that became unusable, got it open and it had a compact 7.2V pack but it was NiCad unfortunately. Nice idea though, other cordless stuff in the house might have NiMH that I can use once they get damaged beyond repair.

True, buying a new battery of smaller or different size is always an option, but where is the fun in that?

That's a very good point, thanks for the heads-up. The foam I put at the battery cable's end prevents the cables from getting squashed, but it might not be enough in the long run. I'll add more foam on the other side of the cables, towards inside the "nose" of the box. Your Sand Scocher battery solution looks ace .

@Gebbly Slow speed crawl/trail cars indeed benefit enormously from weighted wheels. My MF-01TR uses a set of weighted beadlocks with great effect, offering the capability to run on steep inclines without rolling. All this is for low-speed crawling/trailing. Preventing rolling at higher speed is a different matter though. While adding weight to lower the CoG will help, the increased inertia at speed will greatly add to stress in the drivetrain and chassis in general. Dissipated kinetic energy of a heavier moving mass has to go somewhere. Crashes would tend to break things easier, dog-bones would pop more often, gears can wear quicker. Similarly, building kinetic energy would mean batteries will drain faster, motor will get hotter, car will accelerate slower. Adding mass to the chassis is not too bad, but adding mass to rotating elements (wheels) greatly exacerbates stresses on the drive train and require more energy thus making the car sluggish. Not to say adding mass is a bad idea, just be mindful that it will be a tradeoff and there will be implications in case you consider dealing with wear & tear a big issue. As you mentioned, it's a balancing act .