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Gebbly

Wild Willy 2 Advice Request

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Hi All,
Last time I built an RC car was an original hotshot about 35 years ago. I have toyed with getting back into the hobby for years and have finally decided to take the plunge but things have moved on a lot so I would be grateful for any and all advice. The Wild Willy 2 has really caught my eye. So far the purchase list I have put together is as follows (List updated as people make suggestions) :

Wild Willy 2 kit
Tamiya CVA Super Mini Shock Unit Set (HC-50746)
Savox SW0230MG Waterproof HV Digital Servo - 8kg / 0.13s
Tamiya Hi-Torque Servo Saver (HC-51000)
Bearings
Female Tamiya to Male Deans Adaptor Cable for the battery

[Additions]

Hobbywing Quicrun 1060 Brushed SBEC 60A ESC
Deans connector
18T Pinion - 48 D.P.

Core RC Round Case 4000mAh 7.4V 30C LiPo - dimensions 23.3 x 46 x 133.7mm (maybe this will fit?)

[Removals]

Voltz 5000mAh Hard Case LiPo - 7.4V 2S 50C - Deans (I'll get a Deans to Tamiya adapter) - Too square to fit in battery recess

Corally 50C Round Case LiPo Battery - 4500Mah - 7.4v - Deans - Too long to fit in the battery recess?

Does this look like a sensible parts list? Could anyone suggest whether these particular parts will all work together?
It looks like the Tamiya damper set is 2 dampers? So I would need to purchase 2 sets?

One concern is the use of the LiPo battery. Will the stock motor and ESC be happy running with my specced battery or if I go LiPo would I have to replace the ESC or motor?
Speaking of motors I remember when I put the hotshot together many years ago I put a little "balloon" around the motor to keep it water-proof, is this still a thing?

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Welcome back to RC...

Lipo will work fine with the motor, but the ESC included with the kit is unlikely to have a low-voltage cutoff for the LiPo.  You're likely better off swapping in a cheap LiPo-compatable ESC (Hobbywing 1060 for example), and soldering a Deans plug direct to it.

Wild Will 2 is a fun car, enjoy!

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Great parts list - the WW2 needs bearing and a steel pinion but not much else tbh as hop ups.

Posh shocks, wheelie bars etc are all worthy but not essential imo. 

It is one of the best chassis to have lots of fun with 👍

Welcome back and enjoy 💥

 

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Great advice thanks.

bRIBEGuy, I have added the Hobbywing 1060 and a Deans connector to my list.

Grumpy pants you say a steel pinion, I guess your talking about the pinion gear? Looking at pinion gears they seem to be their own little niche of complexity. I've downloaded the WW2 manual from Tamiya and I can see the pinion parts are 18T and 20T and searching the web I have found the 18T = part 50355 and 20T = part 50356. Further digging suggests part 50355 is 18T and "48 pitch". Am I correct in assuming "48 pitch" is the same as 48DP? Therefore I have added

18T Pinion - 48 D.P.

to my list, could you confirm that that is the correct part I need please?

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In case it helps anyone else I will update this thread with any other findings. I sent the same original parts list to the webstore I was looking to purchase from, WheelSpinModels.co.uk and they made some very useful suggestions.

1. They thought that the rectangular shape of the Voltz battery I had selected may not fit in the WW2 frame and have suggested Corally 50C Round Case LiPo Battery - 4500Mah - 7.4v - Deans which has rounded edges instead. This seems sensible to me.

2. They raise the same concern with the stock ESC as bRIBEGuy and suggest a change (I've gone with bRIBEGuys suggested Hobbywing 1060). They also suggest if changing the ESC it might be worth changing the motor at the same time. I think I will hold off changing the motor for the time being. If the motor dies then I will replace it when it happens. Does that seem sensible to people?

3. They suggest that with the increased power from the LiPo the WW2 could spend a lot of its time wheelying which could put strain on the plastic parts. An interesting point so I will investigate ways to perhaps reduce the likelihood of wheelies. I had already been thinking of trying to alter its weight distribution, maybe I could move the ESC further forwards as a start. If the wheely bar breaks I'll replace it with one of the 3rd party metal ones.

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1 hour ago, Gebbly said:

In case it helps anyone else I will update this thread with any other findings. I sent the same original parts list to the webstore I was looking to purchase from, WheelSpinModels.co.uk and they made some very useful suggestions.

1. They thought that the rectangular shape of the Voltz battery I had selected may not fit in the WW2 frame and have suggested Corally 50C Round Case LiPo Battery - 4500Mah - 7.4v - Deans which has rounded edges instead. This seems sensible to me.

2. They raise the same concern with the stock ESC as bRIBEGuy and suggest a change (I've gone with bRIBEGuys suggested Hobbywing 1060). They also suggest if changing the ESC it might be worth changing the motor at the same time. I think I will hold off changing the motor for the time being. If the motor dies then I will replace it when it happens. Does that seem sensible to people?

3. They suggest that with the increased power from the LiPo the WW2 could spend a lot of its time wheelying which could put strain on the plastic parts. An interesting point so I will investigate ways to perhaps reduce the likelihood of wheelies. I had already been thinking of trying to alter its weight distribution, maybe I could move the ESC further forwards as a start. If the wheely bar breaks I'll replace it with one of the 3rd party metal ones.

You may find the Corally battery is a bit too long. I have one and while it fits hotshot/fox style buggies, it won’t fit in wild one/grasshopper 2 types battery fitments. It’s literally 1 or 2 mm too long!

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1 hour ago, IoMTom said:

Corally battery is a bit too long.

Oh darn. Thanks for the warning. I'll have another look at batteries.

...After some digging the WW2 manual shows a Tamiya Ni-Cd 7.2v RC 1700 SP battery pack so if I can find out what the measurements of that battery are I can use that as a guide.

Anyone know the precise dimensions of an old Tamiya RC 1700 SP battery?

Alternatively could anyone advise what LiPo batteries they are successfully using in a WW2?

Or can anyone with a WW2 tell me the exact dimensions of the battery slot?

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On 5/25/2022 at 11:57 PM, Gebbly said:

Great advice thanks.

bRIBEGuy, I have added the Hobbywing 1060 and a Deans connector to my list.

Grumpy pants you say a steel pinion, I guess your talking about the pinion gear? Looking at pinion gears they seem to be their own little niche of complexity. I've downloaded the WW2 manual from Tamiya and I can see the pinion parts are 18T and 20T and searching the web I have found the 18T = part 50355 and 20T = part 50356. Further digging suggests part 50355 is 18T and "48 pitch". Am I correct in assuming "48 pitch" is the same as 48DP? Therefore I have added

18T Pinion - 48 D.P.

to my list, could you confirm that that is the correct part I need please?

I think you need a mod 0.6 pinion. 20T for slightly more speed, 18T just as an upgrade.

DP is different scale, like inches and cm.

Looks like a great chassis, I run a couple of GF01s which are essentially the 4WD versions. Super fun.

 

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Thanks for the help Nikko. That prevented me getting the wrong thing. After a bunch of reading I decided I liked the idea of a 4x4 Willy so I have put an order in for a Toyota Land Cruiser 40 with the GF-01 chassis as my starting point. When it arrives I can measure things like the battery recess to make sure i get a battery that fits.

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In case anyone stumbles across this thread I'll try and keep the info accurate. I ended up buying the GF-01 Toyota Land Cruiser to turn into a 4x4 Wild Willy 2. In answer to a couple of the questions I raised :

Measuring the battery compartment of the GF-01 it is rectangular in shape with right angled edges and measures 47mm x 141mm x 25mm as far as I can tell.

Regarding the pinion gear @Nikko85 is spot on with his advice(thanks Nikko85). The instructions dont detail the spec of the 18T pinion gear supplied but they do say it can be replaced with a "50356 20T, 21T AV Pinion Gear Set" and over here @94eg! explains that the AV means "0.6module alloy 16T and larger"

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@Gebbly I have a couple of the Core RC Lipos you mentioned. They first fine in the GF01 battery slot. They are tight on some of Tamiya buggies but do fit with a little sanding of the ribs on the underside.

More broadly regarding the Wild Willy on a GF01... it's a pretty easy fit but @simensayshas designed a number of 3d Printable parts for the Wild Willy. One such item is an adapter to slightly shift the body position of the WW on the GF01 chassis. Not required but does make a real difference visually.

There is also great work from @nicherotors   including a custom GF01 chassis for the Wild Willy. Some amazing work from both of them.

 

Regarding weight distribution; the Gf01 will wheelie easily with fast acceleration. I'm not sure shifting the ESC forward will make much difference. Perhaps you could add other weight at the front. But, if you are using the torque tuned motor that comes with the Gf01 and dial down the punch a little on the ESC you should be fine. You can also buy variations of the standard wheelie bar, including this over the top bit of kit from YeahRacing! which allows you to wheelie almost forever!

Jimny 0

 

One last thing; I would choose the Hobbywing 1080 ESC over the 1060. It seems more reliable in my limited experience and it comes with a program card which is super easy to use and allows you to really tune the car a lot.

 

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Brilliant tips thanks GeeWings. I'll read through those threads thoroughly. The 3d work looks really impressive. I'll search for the ww2 body adapter especially as 4x4 WildWilly2 is my main goal. I have a very particular look I would like to achieve with this build and some 3d parts and other additions may well be necessary.

Regarding weight I have seen some builds on youtube in which people have even stuck small metal squares on the underside of the chassis to try and adjust the weight distribution. I guess I'll spend some time test driving first and then decide if its needed as a retrofit.

56 minutes ago, GeeWings said:

dial down the punch a little on the ESC

I hadnt realised the ESCs were actually programmable! I need to do some ESC learning. The gadget geek in me loves the idea of the program card for the ESC so I shall read up on the 1080 and differences with 1060.

Thats a great car youve got there. Is that a Jimny body? I love the extra details like those cannisters hanging from the rear rollbar. How do you attach things like that to the car without them flying off when its driven. Are they glued in place?

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ESC Connectors :

Something I learnt last night when searching for good parts prices (Which a lot of people probably already knew), it is sometimes possible to get multiple versions of the same ESC with different connectors. The battery I had chosen had a Deans connector but the Hobbywing 1060 had a Tamiya connector so I was either going to get an adapter or cut the Tamiya connector off the ESC and solder on a Deans connector. Then I came across a webstore selling the same ESC but it already had a Deans connector attached.

[Note] After the helpful advice from GeeWings I will be changing to a 1080. Hopefully it is possible to get one of those with a Deans connector too.

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@Gebbly the 1060 has minor programmable features (you do it via the button on the ESC) but the card that comes with the 1080 is great and full of features. It’s also fun to play around with and see how the changes impact the car. The 1080 is listed as a crawler ESC but it’s suitable for your purposes too. 

Depending where you are buying from you can usually get a choice of connectors for your ESC. Sometimes it comes with no connector at all.

Re-soldering connectors is pretty easy (even I did it without having soldered anything for over 30 years!) or you can buy adapters.

Im looking forward to seeing your WW build! Enjoy!

P.S. yes, it’s a Jimny body. I accessorised a bit to make it more individual. The canisters are secured via small cable ties. I’ve hardly run the chassis with this body on though to be honest, I purchased it to be a runner but then spent so long in it I didn’t want to break it so I  run the LandCruiser shell on the rare occasion I get to drive it.

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@Gebbly If you’re not already doing so, it might be a good opportunity to learn how to solder if you haven’t don’t it before.   I was 11? 12? when I first learned using a RadioShack 25W soldering iron. :lol:

I change connectors, motor wire leads, all the time.   I use a Weller(?) 40-50W soldering iron and as long as the tip is 4-5mm wide and flat like a regular screw driver it has enough power to solder SubC cells to make battery packs even. 

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I did some basic soldering many many years ago in college. As I recall it wasnt a pretty sight. Big blobs of solder. I got a lot of use out of a thing I think they called a solder-sucker :) I think your right that this sort of hobby lends itself to teaching skills like soldering. I wonder if that is how people here managed to get such neat wiring in their cars, do you trim down the wires to reduce the amount of spare flex you have to tuck into the cars?

Its a good suggestion thanks Willy iine.

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1 hour ago, Gebbly said:

I did some basic soldering many many years ago in college. As I recall it wasnt a pretty sight. Big blobs of solder. I got a lot of use out of a thing I think they called a solder-sucker :) I think your right that this sort of hobby lends itself to teaching skills like soldering. I wonder if that is how people here managed to get such neat wiring in their cars, do you trim down the wires to reduce the amount of spare flex you have to tuck into the cars?

Its a good suggestion thanks Willy iine.

Yeah, no problem.  And yes, especially with brushless setups with triple wires to the motors, soldering leads to match the different bend radius and lengths for the wires do make for a cleaner install.   

 

 

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