Exvee-Ohwan

Not enough to justify the cost or wasted time of moving over to a new chassis. I've not timed it (though maybe one day I should), but I've done laps with my mosly stock TT-02 and my son's Type-S on a concrete skate park and I was hard pressed to say if one was quicker. The differences become more apparent on a carpet race track with race tires and tire prep, but equally a lot of clubs segregate the S variant cars anyway to keep the racing fair. The real advantage is being able to go out and just drive the badword out of the stock TT02, safe in the knowledge that in the unlikely event you break something it will be cheap and easy to replace. I've had hours of fun and practice time out of mine without worrying about driving it in horrible conditions or hitting anything hard. Conversely I'll be building up my own Type-SR kit over Easter with host of hop-ups. That car will never drive on anything but a prepared track as I'll be too scared to wreck it and it's going to get limited in class eligibility anyway. It will be interesting to see how much (if at all...) faster I am on track with that car and it will just be nice to have a high spec car, but arguably I don't need it.

Nope, new shoes and it’s good to go.

Yep - me too! I think I've put more packs through this car than anything else I've owned since building it. In value for money terms it's the best RC I've ever bought.

I did wonder if the stock TT02's limited steering angle would be an issue for me (I was toying with the idea of deleting the D15 steering-limiter from the build, but in the end kept it), especially as my local race track is quite tight and ultimately caters to MTCs and GT12 cars, but can happily say I have zero issues getting round the track. If I pick a bad line I might lose some time around a very tight corner and it can help at times to provoke some oversteer, but this is all just race craft and not TT02 specific. Out in a car park or anywhere with open space it's a complete non-issue altogether. I'd definitely say run it stock and see how you get on.

Thanks all, I will stick to tools for now.

Quoting my own post... I took a punt in the end and put in an order that came to around £160ish, so well over the threshold. PJ charged me tax at the point of order so I braced myself to get double charged by HMRC. According to the tracking info the parcel got checked by customs, but went through without any additional levy, so presumable the online declaration that PJ filled out was all in order. Sample size of one and all that, so caveat emptor.

I think I clipped a kerb on this occasion. In general this car has been pretty good in terms of retaining dogbones, think I can count on one hand the amount of times I've lost one.

Went out for my semi-regular lunch time hot-lapping session and dropped a dogbone within 5 mins. Typically today I didn't bring any tools, ordinarily I'd undo the upper arm so I can slot it back in. I've heard of people popping the dogbone back in without taking anything apart, presumably flexing the plastic by force to get it in, which makes sense in principal since that must be the means by which it fell out. But I faffed around for a good 5 mins or so and couldn't work out how to get it back in without exerting what seemed like mechanically unsympathetic amounts of force. Is there a trick I'm missing?

When you fitted the pinion to the motor shaft, did you align the grub screw with the flat side of the shaft? When you apply throttle, check in order: * Does the motor turn * Does the pinion turn * Does the pinion mesh with the spur * Does the centre shaft rotate * Do the drive shafts rotate * Are the pins secured in the axles and wheel hexes

There is still some play once the wheels are on. Everything feels smooth when spun by hand so I don't think there is any binding.

Wow - been a while since I updated this thread. A busy work month has meant I've not had the mental capacity to translate anything into meaningful into a post. Since my last post the budget TT-02 has had a total of one race outing. Yep, one solitary day comprised of 4 x 5 min heats, which was its first time ever on track. A combination of other commitments or the track being fully booked has meant I've not been able to get back since, though I'm booked in for tomorrow. For its first time on track it did okay, no breakages and was consistent yet very tail happy, to the extent that one of the race directors said 'you need to tame that back end mate' post race. On power its pretty composed, it tracks nicely and doesn't wander down the back straight at speed (not sure if the reversed arms caster-mod is helping there) but the lift-off oversteer is at early 90s hot-hatch levels. A lot of fun but not the best for lap times. On the subject of lap times, I checked some of my previous race times when I've been borrowing my son's Type-S and there is only a marginal difference between that and my TT02. Some of that will be down to my lack of experience and track layout I expect. Anecdotally I'll say the Type-S feels more planted and has a more progressive transition between the extremes of it's handling. After that first race I set about tweaking my setup to tame the extremes of its handling. I splashed out on some harder springs for the front, some shims and a tie-rod upgrade for the steering. The springs really weren't my first choice, but they were very cheap. As well as shimming the arms I also added some onto the shafts to get rid of the huge side to side play on each wheel. In retrospect I wonder if I should have added them from the other side (pushing the shaft onto the dogbone rather than pulling it out to the wheel if that makes sense): The lack of track time hasn't resulted in a lack of driving time however. Whenever I can I get out during a lunch break to do some laps at a local park, so I've put a good dozen or so packs through it by now I think. Concrete blocks and steel railings make for unforgiving crashes, but despite that the only breakage has been a stripped thread on one of the front uprights. I'm not reckless with this car, but equally it gets driven pretty hard and I'm impressed by how much it soaks up. Needs a bit of a clean and the diffs are a bit noisy so will be stripping it down today for a clean-up and inspection.

No experience running a channel, so these tips are skimming the surface... YouTube applies a sub-par compression codec to uploaded content below 1440p. If your cameras are native 1080p output you will want to consider upscaling your exported file to 1440p or higher to get YouTube to apply their superior codec to the video. Davinci Resolve is a studio quality editor with a free version, the output is limited to 4k60 but that should be ample. If you're doing any recording of CAD or PC apps for videos on design, OBS Studio is the goto - also free. You can clap to sync the audio from your offboard lav mics with your video. Patreon is an online funding platform making it safe and easy for fans of your channel to, essentially give you money. You'll get a range of views on this I expect, on the one hand it's a straight up way of asking people to fund your endeavour. Some people might be happy with that if the content is good. Others might see this as the cynical begging of strangers who owe you nothing to pay for your hobby. I have no real bias either way, but I've never donated to anyone's Patreon and I very much doubt I ever will! Getting the tone right is essential I expect so that you don't alienate any viewers.

I reckon you'll have a great time doing it. I'm very much a beginner, but I've already established that I like a car that is lively and engaging to drive vs shaving every last second from my lap time.

I very nearly couldn't resist, but perhaps fortunately for my wallet they have sold out this morning. I'd have loved one, but I just have no use for it. There are no classes I can race it in near me and I already have an XV-01 waiting to be built. Nonetheless, that didn't stop me hovering over the Complete Checkout button thinking 'buy it and figure out what to do with it later, you know you want to...'

Sorry, yes I see you'd made that clear in your other posts and I just hadn't read them properly! My son runs a TT02S and his is really planted. I don't think he's ever had his traction roll, where-as my stock TT02 does on occasion. Setup wise I think his is built up as per the manual but I'll double check. We both use the same tyres (Contact A30s).

Do you mean you are traction rolling on high speed corners (the car ends up on it's roof)? Or just that you have a lot of body roll that you want to dial out? If it's the former, a trick is to apply a thin bead of superglue to the tire sidewall. This allows the tire to slip as the edge starts to bite into the carpet at an angle (this being the point at which the car will normally traction roll). With the super glue the tire will now just slide and the car will drop back down onto all four wheels. This isn't really a replacement for good setup mind, but if you've reached the limits of suspension tuning it will help.

Minor update. Picked up some Super Mini CVAs as the AliExpress shocks were comically bad after a quick carpark session. Also needed to bulk out another order for free shipping so picked up some cheap universals and spare wheelnuts. First track outing tomorrow so will see how it fairs against my son's Type-S.

Exactly this. The second you drive it on anything other than a carpet track or freshly surfaced concrete it's going to get covered in road rash and battle scars. If it makes you feel better, here is mine after it's first run in a smooth (by UK standards - sigh) car park. Tire popped off the rim and ground down the steering link: Shock eyelets and kingpins are bottoming out on gradient changes at high speed, surprising given the heavy springs and ride height I've currently got: My son's car looks even worse as it's older, but it still drives fine and we had a great time racing them round doing drag races and sketchy close passes on an improvised track. Build it, drive it like you stole it, fix it and repeat.

With the current springs that are fitted I don't think these will be hitting full compression unless I drive my 1:1 car over them. I've never used Asiatees before but have heard about them. Cheers for the tip, I'll have a browse.

That's brilliant, thanks. I also have an XV-01 kit that I have yet to build, ironically it was the first Tamiya kit I bought but our start in TT-02 racing has gotten in the way. I'm saving this one and plan to take my time over it as (unless my local clubs start 1/10 rally events) it will only get used occasionally.

Nope, front and rear are level, however it is riding high (for a touring car anyway) at the moment due to the shock length and spring stiffness.

What thickness shims did you use? Did you get any binding after shimming. I still need to do mine but was unsure whether to order 0.5mm or 0.3mm shims. Thanks for this, good tip. Pretty sure the SR kit uses the same screw kit so I'll keep an eye out for this during the build and sub in some M3x8s instead.

Yep, I've no doubt they list the same shocks for other cars as well, they just tack on the model designation to the description and hope it fits! I cracked them open last night to top up the oil, here is what is inside from the factory (basically nothing), I suspect they do this to minimise the chance of leakage. The shock piston has no holes so just relies on fluid flow around the sides to act as damping. I tried to get a good bleed on them but try as I might air keeps getting in, but they are better now they at least have oil in them. Despite their flaws, they are still leagues better than the friction dampers from the kit. Good tip, thanks! I hadn't thought of that but it seems obvious now you mention it. I'm going to have a dig through my spares as they really could do with a few mm off their length. Like the idea of the DIY links too, definitely fits with this build. These shocks come with captive balls in the shock eyelets, but yes it's a good idea so I'm going to pick up a pack of ball connectors anyway as it will make future upgrades easier. Hmm, depends - CVAs are about £20 over here which, at well over 20% of the car's base cost is not fitting in with my ill-defined and largely arbitrary budget. I am deliberately (and artificially) constraining my spend on this car just for the fun of seeing what I can do with as little as possible. I really enjoy tinkering with the cheap obscure off-brand parts just to see what I can make work. China RC parts can be a bit of a lottery, but the SPT4412 servos (about £8) and Ysido brushed ESCs (about £6) have been brilliant and cost peanuts. My upcoming TT-02SR build is going to get dragged through the Tamiya hop-up catalog and probably go together in the space of an evening or two without much drama. Will be a great car, but I probably won't get as much fun out of building it as I have from this little underdog.

That is a genius idea, but alas I've already chucked in in the bin. Will remember for next time though.

Yesterday saw the arrival of my AliEpxress order and a spare shell for another build, which means I could fit my budget oil shocks and never think about the Tamiya friction parts ever again. The no-brand shocks are a little longer than the standard Tamiya parts and come with quite a stiff spring. I did swap the Tamiya spring onto the shock body, but it is a slightly smaller diameter than the black spring so doesn't seat properly. In the end I settled for the included black springs and will see how I get on with them. They will need to come off again as they only come with a token about of oil in them and I need to remove the preload collar to reduce the ride-height a bit, but for now I just want to get them test fitted and the car on it's wheels. I spent the evening applying (some of the) decals, which is my least favourite part of the build so far. I did an okay job, but it is far from ideal. Tip for future me is use the wet method to apply the trickier one's and have a hair dryer on hand to form them round irregular shapes. I won't be going full race livery as A: I'm not all that keen on it and B: I cannot be bothered. Here's where it stands now, overall I'm pretty pleased with how it looks and I can understand the shelf-queen thing a bit more now. Having poured a good number of hours into this shell it's going to be tough seeing it undergoing the abuse of racing. These wheels are for show only, they have too much offset for this body so rub furiously, but static they look great. No mirrors as they won't last anyway.