Juggular

Oh, I haven't thought of that. Is it like somebody asks Chat GTP and just copy and paste? Why? So he could jump in when he didn't have a good idea? What a time we live in. I wonder when I could ask a robot to paint the shells and put stickers on for me. (Come to think of it, that sounds less appealing than leaving the shells clear.)

Here is a random subjective review. I own none of these, so I cannot verify what he says. Having said that, it seems what he says is in line with what little I know. For new people to the hobby, even though he says things like radios "for nitro," or "racing," there is no reason why you cannot use them for electric bashers.

Oh, there is an honorable mention. Flysky G7P (about $70). In some tests, its latency is about 35-40ms. It's above the entry level stuff, but not quite at the racing level. Receivers are $20 each. It's a competitor to the Radiolink 6 channel.

OMG, that noise makes me wince. Thanks for taking one for the team, @Wooders28.

Are you in for a top rated driving experience? Or are you in for building experience? Which excite you more? If you are in for a top rated driving experience, I'd spend a chunk of money and get Futaba 4PM. I am more of a builder. I don't have a great desire to compete, nor do I want to go fast. Shave 1 second off of a lap might mean I'm improving, but that's far less important than figuring out which gear needs a shim. I build them, I see how they run. Seeing a flaw is disheartening, but exciting (so I could fix it). Most of my motors are Sport Tuned. But I ended up with some 40 cars. With this background, you could see why a $9 Flysky receiver was useful. The Fox is built like a chastity belt. It's hard to take apart. I don't mind putting in a $9 receiver and forgetting about it. The cheap FlySky GT3B was perfect (for posterity: GT3C is the same thing, it just requires less batteries). Enough bells and whistles for a basic unit, and equipping 39 additional cars meant spending only $351. (Technically it allows 10 models, but you can hack it to have 60). Radiolink would be in this inexpensive group (I never got Radiolink because I really wanted nothing from Radiolink, aside from gyros in their receivers). If I got a fancier radio like Futaba or Sanwa, each receiver could have cost anywhere from $50-$75. 40 cars could mean $2,000-$3,000. For that money, I'd rather buy 10 more cars. But that's my tinkerer's perspective. (It really is convenient to replace all these with just 1 radio.) If you race, however, it'd be very hard to win with Flysky GT3C. The latency is just not good. In my opinion, the price difference is mostly about the latency (tardiness in layman's term). $300 sets would have about 20 millisecond or less. Cheaper ones would be as slow as 60 millisecond. (1 millisecond is 1/1000th of a second. 60 millisecond is still faster than 1/16th of a second, where as 20 millisecond is 1/50th of a second. I'm comparing max latency.) Can you tell when you are just running a circle in your backyard? Not likely. Can you tell if you race? Oh, I think you'd notice it, definitely. But the law of diminishing return applies. (I don't know who tested and compiled the list below, it's been a few years. But the point of spending money is mostly to reduce latency. I'm guessing Trackstar TS4G is a 4 channel version of Radiolink? If 6GS is at the same level, the latency is between 10 to 40 millisecond, which is an improvement over Flysky GT3C. But not at the level of Futaba or Sanwa.) Obviously, you'd need a faster servo to make use of faster radio. Fast servos that are cheap (under $40) can do about 0.11 second which is 110 millisecond. From $60 and above, you could get 0.06 second servos, which is 60 millisecond. (For comparison, Futaba S3003 servo--which was the standard servo for many decades--, can do 0.19 sec, or 190 millisecond. So for those slow servos, a fast radio set wouldn't make too much of a difference, but it would still make some difference because you never use full 60 degrees of articulation at one time.) So the real question is, how responsive do you want your driving experience be? ==================BONUS ROUND Just for fun, you can ask somebody to dangle a hard plastic ruler and drop it at his or her count of 3. Your thumb and index should be comfortably close to 0cm but not pinching or touching. If you can grab it before it drops 5cm (2inch), your reflex is faster than 100 millisecond. Most people under 30 should be able to do that just fine. If you can grab it at 1 inch (2.5cm), it's not 50 millisecond, but more like 60, because the acceleration is slowest at the beginning. This is anticipated reaction time. If it's dropped without a warning, the reaction time is usually much longer. Since we are all getting older, I'm using this every other year to check out my reflexes. My father-in-law is almost 80 years old, but I have a suspicion that his reaction time is still about 8-10 inches (200-230 millisecond). If I can't grab until 6 foot goes by, I'm afraid a brisk walk every morning would improve my lap timing a lot better than a $800 radio set. (fortunately, I don't have a 6 foot ruler I can drop, so that's never going to happen).

In 1985, I had a Grasshopper. I hated 2WD. I wanted 4WD!! Then I was disappointed by Double Dare (Kyosho) and HotShot. Wild Dagger was alright. 2WD Wild Willy 2 was fun (2000), FAV was funner (I know... I just wanted to say funner). Since then I'm back to being a 2WD guy (by choice, this time). As mentioned, it requires a bit different driving technique. 2WDs don't like too much power too quick. (That's why my M-06 stays stock). They don't like losing too much power too quick, either. Like we say here in Tamiya Club... when in doubt, get more and test out. I would not go for Hot Shot, though unless you are into nostalgia. I love my vintage Hot Shot. It's historic. But it drives like a 1930's truck driving on a rough cobbled street, carrying a thousand loose spoons and forks on its bed. Low ground-clearance coupled with heavy weight isn't the best combination either. Modern 2WD BBX might do better on rough surfaces. Manta Ray is a good little buggy, so Top Force Evo should do better (I only have Manta).

Yep, I too broke the diff bolt on Tamiya TLT-1 crawler (twice). Usually, where the bare part of the bolt meets the threaded part pops off. Tamiya's ball diffs come with watery diff grease that was designed for on-road cars. You have to tighten a lot to get it stiff. Tamiya needs stickier diff grease for off-roaders. I use plumber's faucet grease ($4.50). These are designed not to get washed out in hot water. Because faucets have o-rings, these are plastic safe also. They are perfect for off-road diffs (or at least, a lot better than the watery stuff Tamiya gives you). The ball diff would have a slightly greater range of adjustment. The differential action starts to work about a quarter turn sooner because of the stickiness. It won't lock, but since it slips less, you can get it to tighten slightly more than you could with the watery stuff. That doesn't mean that it's impossible to break the bolt. It just means that this will allow you to make the diff stiff without so much stress on the bolt.

Yes, that too. RC guide books had some of the same photos.

Oh, that's from a Tamiya catalogue. Every year, they put one out for $10 -12. If you want an old one, ebay would have one for sale. I think those pages are from 1987 catalogue.

Flysky GT3C (Don't get GT3B model) is a good digital transmitter. You can add 9 more cars just by buying receivers. You won't need to get a transmitter for a long while (or short while, if you go fast and furious into this hobby). USD 44 including 1 receiver and a transmitter battery, + free shipping is still a good deal. https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832613430791.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.111.3b935e6f7TGHmL&algo_pvid=5e34fb4d-7712-4d8c-a283-49c2c6544307&algo_exp_id=5e34fb4d-7712-4d8c-a283-49c2c6544307-55&pdp_npi=4%40dis!USD!47.99!38.39!!!47.99!!%40210321c317035536847358482e6d4b!10000015440049682!sea!US!2630314545!&curPageLogUid=0rBDaq2D17AT If you want to spend a bit more, Radiolink is relatively inexpensive. It comes with a gyro receiver. But learning curve could be a bit steep. https://www.amazon.com/Radiolink-2-4GHz-Transmitter-Receiver-Controller/dp/B07DPMVVKN/ref=pd_bxgy_d_sccl_2/138-5349163-8514007?pd_rd_w=Q5TAc&content-id=amzn1.sym.839d7715-b862-4989-8f65-c6f9502d15f9&pf_rd_p=839d7715-b862-4989-8f65-c6f9502d15f9&pf_rd_r=DQ9PBX3N0NTG645BZ9HS&pd_rd_wg=TFAJQ&pd_rd_r=c749e84e-3f96-431a-a89d-3366deef2067&pd_rd_i=B07DPMVVKN&psc=1 Does your kit come with bearings? If not, you might want some 1150 bearings. https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256801821911839.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.103.7e5c1802bhdpk6&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

Yellow Ochre might be something you are looking for? It's basically light brown. All these are ochre. (I play with colors when I'm restless to sleep. In my opinion, yellow is basically really light brown.) I don't own oil paint. If you spray-painted the body with yellow lacquer, you could just get a bottle of acrylic brown. Thin it with water and paint. There are XF-10 brown, XF64 red brown, XF68 NATO brown, XF72 JSDF brown. XF-10 is sitting next to me right now, it looks rusty red. I might have used XF-10 to weather drivers' faces. Reddish brown works fine on skin tones. But on a yellow body, something a bit less red, like NATO brown or JSDF brown might work better. (I don't have those colors, so I can't see what they really look like in person). Color selection is important, but diluting might be just as important. Very diluted on cheeks, bit less diluted around the nose, more brown to draw eyelids, almost undiluted for eyebrows. The same could be done on a resin body, though I have not wanted to make it intentionally weathered. (if I ever do it, I'll do it so subtly that most people wouldn't recognize it.) If you start with a lot of water, you could weather gradually. If you overdid it, wash it with water. Or wipe it with alcohol.

You are right, especially on the MID. The Yen has been suffering for a couple of years now.

Japanese yen dropped quite a bit. (Perhaps due to their habit of saving up when times get tough. The less money spent, the smaller the economy becomes, etc, etc.) 3 years ago, you could get little over 100 Yen for 1 USD. Now you get 40 yen more (145 Yen for 1 USD). The Japanese Yen is weak against Euro and Sterling too. That could account for falling prices on Japanese goods, especially if you order directly from Japan.

I had used a soldering iron to build several battery packs back in the day (with a 30w iron, which was NOT easy). But you heat up the battery inevitably. If your iron is over 60w, the cell would only be warm to the touch after you are done (I used a regular tip, that looked like a not-very-sharp pencil tip). If it's a lot of packs, I'd get a spot welding kit. But if it's just one pack, it's certainly doable with a soldering iron. My current 60w iron ($17) is a whole lot better than the old iron. And most of those cheap irons do come with several different kinds of tips.

taste the rainbow...

For those, 60W should be plenty. I bought one in 2017 for $14. It burnt out in 2020. Bought another 60W one, it's working fine. I soldered brushless motor wires, replaced dozens of Tamiya plugs with XT-60 plugs. I once had a 30w one before, that was horrible. These 60w ones gave me the illusion of me being good at soldering, even though I've only done maybe 4-5 dozen times in my life. (Professionals probably go through that in an hour) Even if the current $14 iron burns out, I think I'll just get another cheap 60W iron. (I'm recycling some old photos. Since it heats up fast, you can get it done before the wire gets warm at the halfway point. I do hold it up for a few minutes until it gets hot enough to work with.)

That sounds interesting. I wanted a front motor with RWD too like Alpha Romeo Giulia. Vaguely, I thought of leaving the dog bones out in the front of XV-01 (Jiulia shell is too small anyway). But not having the weight of the motor on the rear wheels was problematic, so I haven't seen any RWD XV-01. Obviously, that was before XV-02 got released. Since XV-02 has a midship motor, it might work. I'd say the shifting the motor's location to the center is a necessary compromise. There are so many front motor RWD cars out there in 1:1, but none in RC world. I am looking forward to hearing about RWD XV-02. MB-01 is midship. But it could mount a motor right behind the front wheels. It's an M-chassis, so the wheel base is shorter than XVs.

I wonder if this stuff could work as well? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VSATBI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 They advertise it as tire protectant for aircraft tires, but I suppose it's all the same. If it's good for car tires, why not for aircrafts? I use it to prolong the life of 1:1 tires. On our old tires, tread remained, but after 8 years, tires cracked. We only drive 3 miles a day. The low mileage didn't help. The dried rubber didn't grip well. The driver side saw more sun, and that side was worse. After replacing them 21 months ago, I use this stuff on the new tires 4 times a year. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VSATBI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 It's milky. The shine disappears after a couple of days. No smell. Would it extend the life? So far it doesn't look bad after 21 months. IF it's similar to Tamiya coating fluid, you get 50 times more for twice the money. I've only used on bicycle tires and automobile tires for a year, and it seems good. Since I haven't used it on my RC tires, I don't know if it could have prevented this. They were always indoors, no sun for the past 20 years. (Granted, 20 years is a long time.) My RC room is a bit on the humid side (about 50% relative humidity). It might be the indoor ozone. Or the oil or plasticizer that just broke down after decades. Replenishing with tire-care products might help. (Or just wrap tires with plastic bags, with weight off). Some years ago, I've tried tire sauces, but I wasn't impressed by them (I think it was too stinky for indoor use.) Several years ago, I soaked some vintage tires on WD40, and they didn't crack (40 year old Fast Attack rear tires).

There are cheaper ratchet drivers. In this economy, it's always good to know cheaper alternatives. I got this JIS ratchet driver 2 years ago, for $13. I see that it's still $13. Vessel is a Japanese company, made in Thailand or the Philippines (just like Tamiya). Quality stuff. For the most part, I prefer to use the smaller non-ratcheting one that can do M2 and M3. It's easier to crack parts with beefier drivers like this. But certainly, this is a good ratcheting JIS driver. (I think "J" at the end means JIS) https://www.amazon.com/Vessel-2200-Ball-Grip-Ratchet-Screwdriver-2x100/dp/B019C821PC/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2AYFK3X8T19GB&keywords=vessel%2Bball%2Bgrip&qid=1699470840&sprefix=vessel%2Bball%2Bgrip%2Caps%2C136&sr=8-3&th=1 The rear end comes off, but the stubby mode isn't too comfortable to hold. It should come off at the neck, like the Tamiya driver. But $48 for a ratcheting screwdriver is way above my price range. Vessel has a $27 version with a socket so you can use different bits. https://www.amazon.com/VESSEL-Ratchet-Interchangeable-Screwdriver-2200MBH120/dp/B0BZ2QLSK4/ref=pd_bxgy_sccl_2/136-2074183-2122165?pd_rd_w=bqjcF&content-id=amzn1.sym.7746dde5-5539-43d2-b75f-28935d70f100&pf_rd_p=7746dde5-5539-43d2-b75f-28935d70f100&pf_rd_r=EVAMHPAGENSHFKERQ5YZ&pd_rd_wg=htH6q&pd_rd_r=b6dfd74e-6a67-4a03-85ad-87e759253431&pd_rd_i=B0BZ2QLSK4&psc=1

Does yours wobble a bit also? Wouldn't extending make it a bit more wobblier? Is that how you use? Could I see a picture? (Again, I do appreciate guiding me in good direction. I like it. Thank you.)

I like it! I'm assuming it's 1.5N, whatever that means. (I could never get a tangible feeling out of Newtons. I guess 1.5N is about 1pound per feet). My smallest cordless driver I had until now was Ryobi 4v. This thing (I don't know the name of it. Is 093020x a name?) is much smaller. The length is about 8 inches (20cm). At 153g, it's 3 times lighter than 502g Ryobi. Heavier than manual screw drivers. The big blue Vessel #2 weighs 91g. But it's 9g lighter than 2 full acrylic paint bottles. When you don't press the button, it's somewhat locked, so you can use it manually to apply more force. When it rotates, the center of the tip wobbles about 2mm side to side. For RC use, it should be alright. I just undid tiny screws on a 1"x1" circuit board without any problem. The rotation speed is like 2-3 turns per second. Not too fast, not too slow. Surprisingly it fits M2 perfectly. But it's a bit loose on M3, but not as much as Tamiya #1. Tamiya #1 is made for M2. It could drive M3, but only into cheese. This isn't that bad. Wiha #1 can fit M2 and M3 perfectly. But the handle is so skinny, you can't really turn an M3. Shaving a hair off of the tip of this cheap cordless might be a good idea. (Yep, I just did it. A couple of passes with a diamond file made it fit snuggly on M2 and M3. The below photo was taken even before that.) The case looks identical all around. I had to turn it around to see where the switch is. So I dented it with a tip of a drill bit, and painted a dot. More importantly, I did the same on the opposite side, but I put a red dot on this backside. If it gives me a stinky eye, I can turn it around to avoid it. And voila! I'm at the switch. It's not heavy-duty. I don't think 1.5N is strong enough to put a M3 machine screw in a tight carbon-reinforced chassis. That's a good thing for RC. It's light, it's not too big. As @alvinlwh said, it's slippery enough that it you can let the handle rotate before you strip anything. (Thank you, Alvin!) You can back-thread (a bit awkwardly because the handle is fat), turn it on most of the way, and do the final turn manually. Of course, unscrewing is easy. The only screw driver that could do M2 and M3 with confidence was $6 Vessel JIS 220 ball grip (non-ratchet. Ratchet driver is too fat, it won't go into holes of ORV chassis). So, if you want to spend the absolute minimum for the maximum usage, Vessel JIS 220 ball grip (75mm) might be it. https://www.amazon.com/Vessel-Ball-Grip-Screwdriver-220-1-75/dp/B000TGF4K6/ref=sr_1_2?crid=5N6EVDVHM6B1&keywords=vessel+220&qid=1699431584&sprefix=vessel+220%2Caps%2C135&sr=8-2#customerReviews It's a bit small, but I've easily cracked a Black Foot chassis using the bigger blue Vessel #2. Since then I prefer the smaller one. Tamiya kits are not furniture, you shouldn't need that much force anyway. And I suspect that the ball's girth is larger than the driver in the Tamiya RC tool kit. But if you want a cheap cordless one, I'd give 8.5 points for this nameless one (Greener? Gren Pro? 093020x? What I got had no Alphabet on it, which I don't mind). Under 16 USD. I haven't built anything with it yet, so my opinion may change. So far, it looks good. https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803798982393.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.58.3dee1802EexDvX&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

It could be just us getting old. I got lazy lately. I think I have 4 kits I haven't built. In my earlier days, I could rattle off half the names of some 50 paint bottles. Now, my brain doesn't want to bother... Since I like to tinker, it's been a bit of a shocker that I have more than 1 kit TBB (to be built). If I was younger, I'd have jumped on the 3D printing bandwagon already too. Now I barely started to mess with 3D modelling. I paid for Resident Evil 2 about a week ago, but haven't even installed it. (I am into AI image generation, though.) Also, I'm tired at the moment. I was on my feet 10 hours without eating anything on Saturday. Rotten eaves over the side door had to be replaced. Most of the work was done by the hired help, but it's me whose forehead is hot with some temperature. And our 37 year old furnace (from 1986, the year of Monster Beetle) works without interruption now. I had to call a furnace guy. He (rather, his company) wanted to sell a new one for $8,000. He admitted the new one won't last 15 years. Why would I want to get a new 80% furnace for $8,000, when the old one is running at 92% efficiency for free? It turned out to be an overheating issue. (In RC-lingo, "thermal shut-off.") The heat exchanger is fine. All I had to do was keep the vents open in all rooms, so the oversized furnace can get enough air. The guy himself was a very pleasant guy. But I just don't like dealing with people... How life gets in the way of RC stuff. Now that I'm running low on energy, it's a perfect time to think of what's my "comfort RC." Surprisingly, it's ORV. I don't think it would have come up as my favorite chassis. But somehow I have 4 ORVs. Right now, I'd rather mess with ORVs than to build CC-02 or Dynahead. That probably means ORV is my comfort RC.

Sadly, no. I have a few kits piled up, like CC-2, XV-01, Dnyahead, etc. That backlog put a major damper on my spirit of purchase. Now that Tamiya put out the BBX, I have a feeling that I'll be getting that before any Kyosho.

Sounds about right. That line of thought always makes me think of Jaws 19.

lol... you don't have to hold your breath. I have a feeling Mr. Tamiya would want to sell it to you sooner than me.