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HonkSolo

Newbie needs advice for GF01 and nice remote control

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Hi all,

to introduce myself - I'm just an old guy wanting badly a Tamiya in my youth and now that I have a great daughter I use her as an excuse to get into RC. I'm an engineer so I'm looking forward to build one myself.

I'm looking for a 4WD vehicle to drive off-road in my small garden (grassy, steep hillsides), but I also have some (small) flat ground to do tricks like wheelies, front flips. (I can't do yet any of this, but sounds fun).

Basically I found the GF01 based Toyota Land cruiser and it appears this thing should fit nicely (I also like its looks and price).

Also in terms of budget I want to keep expenses low but I do not want to sacrifice on quality.

Do you think the GF01 is a good choice? I have the impression spare parts are not so well available for the GF01, is it being deprecated? Also the Land cruiser is offered only at a few shops, which makes me think the GF01 could be an old platform with poor parts availability? Do all GF01 body shells fit (like the Monster Beetle trail)?

Further I would greatly appreciate recommendations for a decent remote control and servo, say for a budget of ca. 100 Euros? From a video I got a recommendation for a FlySky FS-GT3C - is that really a good one and worth the effort to do an additional order at a different shop to get this one?

NiMH battery or go for LiPo?

I have zero experience with today's stuff and I want equipment that is fun and lasts. And can be repaired if necessary.

Looking forward to your recommendations,

Many thanks,

Hannes

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1 hour ago, HonkSolo said:

Hi all,

to introduce myself - I'm just an old guy wanting badly a Tamiya in my youth and now that I have a great daughter I use her as an excuse to get into RC. I'm an engineer so I'm looking forward to build one myself.

I'm looking for a 4WD vehicle to drive off-road in my small garden (grassy, steep hillsides), but I also have some (small) flat ground to do tricks like wheelies, front flips. (I can't do yet any of this, but sounds fun).

Basically I found the GF01 based Toyota Land cruiser and it appears this thing should fit nicely (I also like its looks and price).

Also in terms of budget I want to keep expenses low but I do not want to sacrifice on quality.

Do you think the GF01 is a good choice? I have the impression spare parts are not so well available for the GF01, is it being deprecated? Also the Land cruiser is offered only at a few shops, which makes me think the GF01 could be an old platform with poor parts availability? Do all GF01 body shells fit (like the Monster Beetle trail)?

Further I would greatly appreciate recommendations for a decent remote control and servo, say for a budget of ca. 100 Euros? From a video I got a recommendation for a FlySky FS-GT3C - is that really a good one and worth the effort to do an additional order at a different shop to get this one?

NiMH battery or go for LiPo?

I have zero experience with today's stuff and I want equipment that is fun and lasts. And can be repaired if necessary.

Looking forward to your recommendations,

Many thanks,

Hannes

Hi Hannes,

I think the GF01 is a great choice. With 4WD and large wheels they can go over lots of rough terrain, but are also small, so can be driven in a small space and have a fantastic turning circle! Wheelies and stoppies are also fun.

I have two GF01 trucks.

Lots of spares are available. They also share many parts with many other Tamiya so don't worry on that part, I don't see parts being an issue. away. The GF01 trucks also have the same chassis as the GF01CB (comicals) so again, I think you are safe for spares.

In terms of being available, I think it's global stock levels being generally poor, lots of Tamiya are out of stock ATM.

 The GF01 heavy Dump is also the same chassis.

https://www.google.com/shopping/product/4442428652967089111?q=tamiya+gf01+land+cruiser&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB919GB920&biw=1280&bih=609&dpr=1.5&prds=eto:14768002633246810802_0,pid:13836243438396310688,rsk:PC_13584116939424420903&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi57fujteX8AhUYiFwKHUqDDHsQ8gIIxAwoAA

Personally I'd got for an NiMH battery and use the electronics given. With a Lipo you would need new speed controller. Due to the short wheelbase of the GF01 it feels quite lively, so too much power and you'll just be wheelieing all the time. NiMH is perhaps a little safer too.

The Flysky is nice. I like the Etronix water proof servos, which means I worry less about driving in the rain and wet.

https://wheelspinmodels.co.uk/i/329914/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9ZD4g7fl_AIViu_tCh0n-gQzEAQYBiABEgIyv_D_BwE

oh, and do get bearings for it. lots of 11 x 5 ones!

 

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btw, these are my GF01, a heavy dump (which was modified to have a working tipper) and black chassis:

tfQxfjv.jpg

And this one

tuvz8sS.jpg

Which is a heavy dump with this shell:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/385064287888?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338364432&toolid=11000&_ul=UK&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1a6K3UtwFSUCQp01F_vcIxQ33&customid=EAIaIQobChMIs8GK6Lzl_AIVyZTVCh3Qhg2FEAkYAyABEgK13PD_BwE&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIs8GK6Lzl_AIVyZTVCh3Qhg2FEAkYAyABEgK13PD_BwE

Which could be a good option if you can't get the Toyota you want!

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100% agree with @Nikko85. The GF01 is a great fit for your needs. I run Lipo but it’s overkill especially if you’re running in small spaces. I use flysky radio gear and it’s great value for the price.

Be careful though. They are addictive ;) 

IMG_5965

 

GF01 track

 

Jimny 0

 

52025078323_1b0e5cac62_b.jpg

 

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I don't have  GF01 so can't comment on that

The Flysky GT3C is a decent entry level radio. It has all the functions you'll need and also includes a battery for a good price. Its far better than the GT2 models as it has multiple model memory, and better than the GT3B because of the battery. I can't fault it.

Except, if you try a Sanwa or Futaba radio then they are better, but just because of abstract things thing how it feels in the hand

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I was in a similar position to you @HonkSolo small back garden plus a bit of driveway. I went with the GF-01 and its brilliant! No problems with my lumpy back garden. As @Nikko85 says it is such a universal chassis that there are huge numbers of spares (known as "hop-ups" in Tamiya speak) and you can also use a lot of parts from other cars. For example I swapped out the arms for some from a completely different car to widen the stance and make it even more stable.

There are fans of many of the models on this forum but you will find many love the GF-01 and some have many in their collection.

Regarding the bearings mentioned by @Nikko85 you will find everyone has their own opinion on just which hop-ups are good or even essential for each car but a pretty much universal opinion seems to be it is almost always worth replacing the bearings that come in car kit with a set of hop-up metal bearings. You can get these from many places but it is worth noting that the GF-01 actually uses 2 sizes of bearing, the 24 "1150"s but also 2 "850"s. Some bearing sets will include all the bearings you need but some will only have the "1150"s.

The instruction manual is excellent and from what I remember there are even sections where it says something like "For this step you need part X or you can use hop-up Y in its place".

Regarding batteries I had the same dilemma. To sum up my findings to their simplest form. The LiPo batteries can make the car a bit faster but require a lot more care and maintenance for safety reasons (look up LiPo batteries and fire on youtube) when compared to NiMH. I went for the easier maintenance of NiMH and the car is still plenty fast enough for whizzing around my garden. Remember that whichever battery you choose can effect some of the other electrical components you can choose.

And lastly, I found everyone on this forum is friendly and always happy to help. Stick a posting up whenever you have any questions or even want to show off what your building. We all love to watch works in progress too :)

 

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This is awesome!!

Many thanks for your great replies!!

Great to hear the GF01 is a nice choice and I will follow all your recommendation!

Waterproof servo is really neat and I'm going for the Flysky! Tuning is certainly fun too so I'll see that I stock some bearings ;-)

Regarding Lipo-batteries - I guess I was wrong as I assumed that Lipo refers to LiFePo4, which is what I use in my motorcycle. LiFePo4 is reliable technology, just much more powerful and much lighter than a standard acid battery. I guess Lipo for RC is something else ;-) No problem NiMH will be just fine for me!

Really nice to get so much friendly advice!!!

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Oh! Something I want to add as your new to the building as I was a little while back. When building the kit check every single metal part very carefully for any imperfections, burs, moulding flash etc and carefully cut or file it off.

I had assumed when building my GF-01 that the metal parts were good to go and it wasn't until I had almost completed the build that I found the wheel rotation was slightly "notchy". After a complete tear down I found tiny bits of flash from the moulding process on some of the differential gears that needed filing off. Once I had cleaned several of the metal gears of imperfections and a complete rebuild later it was running great.

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On 1/26/2023 at 12:46 PM, HonkSolo said:

Basically I found the GF01 based Toyota Land cruiser and it appears this thing should fit nicely (I also like its looks and price).

Something you may want to bear in mind is that unless the model is destined to sit on the shelf as a display piece, the bodyshell is best treated as a consumable item. A stunt vehicle like this one will look a bit worn after its first enthusiastic run, and the shell will likely become unusable long before any other component has suffered any noticeable wear. 

So I would say don't put to much time, effort or expense into finishing the shell, at least not the one that you will use for running. If you want it to look nice when not in use, I'd recommend a second shell for display. This you can finish to a high standard, knowing that your work won't be spoiled within 5 minutes of use. 

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On 1/26/2023 at 7:46 AM, HonkSolo said:

I'm just an old guy wanting badly a Tamiya in my youth

My goodness... I am starting to think I should refer myself as an "old guy" too. When I joined Tamiya Club I wasn't an old guy. But that was 19 years ago!  

As for GF01, I second everything everybody else said.  But it's a bit unstable platform (which is why it wheelies).  If you go up a bit of an incline, it will roll back. I don't mean sliding back down gently, I mean summersaulting backwards.  4x4 isn't going to help too much when the front wheels are designed to be lifted.  If you want reliable off-road action, you'd need another vehicle (I mean in addition to GF-01. It's always in addition to. (That's an unspoken rule in Tamiya club.)

You can put in a bit of "differential clay" in the diffs and turn them into limited slip differentials.  It's useful when the chassis is on a bear-standing pose and only one wheel is touching the ground.  Reverse, it will be on all fours again easily.  

Many parts are interchangeable with many other chassis like 6x6 Konghead, etc.  

Bearings you can go with the engineering standard of inner diameter x outer diameter x thickness.  I am guessing that it uses 5x11x4mm the most--Tamiya calls it "1150."  Buying "5x11x4mm bearings" is often cheaper than a packaged set made for GF-01, especially if you need a lot of bearings like GF01.  I use rubber shielded bearings for outside, metal shielded ones on the inside. But these days rubber shielded ones don't add much extra resistance, so they are fine all around.  JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) screwdriver could be useful.  

I have a Flysky GT3B (8 batteries are a hassle... I'd go with GT3C. It does the same exact thing with 4 AA batteries).  It's a decent radio, has a whole lot more functions than basic old Futabas from the 80s and 90s. You could hack it to have 70 vehicle-memory, and extra receivers are cheap.  Of course, modern Futabas are better. But to do better than GT3C, you may have to spend over 200 USD.  On my Flysky, I put in a ball bearing on the steering wheel, and a better voltage-controller-thingy (even though I have 2000mAh Lipo replacing 8AAs). I like to tinker with stuff.  If I were to get a second set (I still would have Flysky GT3C as my first set), I might go with gyros.  Radiolink RC6GS has a receiver that has a gyro. But to get a digital set with a gyro from the start might suck the fun out of it.  

For stunt vehicles, having a strong servo (as @Nikko85 said) would be a better use of money than going for slight reduction in latency on the radio set.  Most people can't tell the difference between 60ms and 70ms unless they race. (And the fast response time is no good if the servo moves slow.)

NiMH is a good starting point. LiPo could give you bit of a punch... but for GF-01, you can't have much more power anyway. If you had a stronger motor with a LiPo, it will just do backflips all day long. It would get old quickly.  

Welcome to the hobby! 

 

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1 hour ago, Juggular said:

If you want reliable off-road action, you'd need another vehicle (I mean in addition to GF-01. It's always in addition to. (That's an unspoken rule in Tamiya club.)

 

In the cycling world we call this the n+1 rule.

N+1 is the perfect number of bikes to own, where n=the number of bikes you currently own.

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Another vote for the GF-01 here.

It's a fun little chassis (kind of feels like a modern 4WD Lunchbox) that there's loads of little Hop-Ups you can do.

It's a wheelie machine, but you can adjust it a little out of the box to make it a little less mad.

If I was buying another, I'd probably go dump-truck, upgrade the shocks (friction to oil), and widen the track (see below).

You can get the comical arms (from GF-01CB), and then the TG10 axles (Tamiya 50823) to pull the wheels out a little further.

There are also plenty of official Hop-Ups too so there's plenty to tinker with later.

Also consider the G6-01, it's pretty much the same but six wheels, and the option of making the rear ones steer. Many parts are shared across both.

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Oh yeah - the n+1 rule. I know that quite well - it exists in so many areas ;-)

Thanks also for the tip to upgrade to oil dampers (I think they're called CVA Minis, right?)! I guess that makes a lot of sense too!!

Worse yet, I really like the GF01TR (Monster Beetle Trail).

Sure, it gets apparently little love here (as the center of gravity is even higher due to the portal axis, so it should wheelie even more), but I sort of like it as it so neatly crazy.

If I see that correctly the GF01TR is slower than a GF01 (due to the gear reduction from the portals) - so the idea to consider a brushless motor as option arises. Even if that is ridicolously overpowered, I should still be able to limit maximum acceleration on the remote, no? The brushless motors have higher efficiency, which gives longer battery life (if power is limited).

I really love to have options ;-)

Thank you!!

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TR is cool.. lots of small bearings you need to get for the reduction gear set.  :D 

IMG_Aug112021at30831PM.jpg.c8c2cadeabb0498f1811e2a86586c45f.jpg

IMG_Oct62021at60547PM.thumb.jpg.291faea88901f9e0176696a23b487194.jpg

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On 1/27/2023 at 12:20 PM, Juggular said:

...I mean in addition to GF-01. It's always in addition to. (That's an unspoken rule in Tamiya club.)...

 

 

 

Hmmm..... I wasn't aware of that.  :rolleyes:

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16 hours ago, HonkSolo said:

Worse yet, I really like the GF01TR (Monster Beetle Trail).

Personally I don't think the GF01TR is worth it and the wheelbase is off to me.

Lowering the torque to offset the portal axles somewhat defeats the purpose, the other benefit of portals being ground clearance, but with 115 mm wheels that is not what's holding the GF01TR back; it's the high COG against the small wheelbase which is only made worse with the portals axles. On the Dynahead the second pair of back wheels really help keep it stable, so portals make total sense, but not so sure about the TR TR myself. 

However if it does it for you then I am sure it's still a great truck. It's good people like different things. If you mainly liked the Beetle for the body you could look at the QD series to pull a body from, or see if you could get separately? 

 

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To me GF01TR’s are cool.   It’s just a different variation (as with tracks) and it’s just a matter of personal preference which setup one wants.  

GF01 is more a sports truck in speed in comparison to the TR.. but not everyone wants to go fast all the time.. I have two TR’s and they are cool for driving over mild terrain… like a comical mild crawler with ample ground clearance vs the standard GF01.  :D  The rest are all GF01 and @nicherotors awesome 3D printed GF based chassis.   

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Great - many thanks for your comments!

I'm still a bit torn between the two (stock GF01 vs. TR), but I guess tinkering and studying options is a big part of the hobby too ;-)
 

Regarding bearings - I don't really understand that yet. The kit comes with journal bearings I guess? They can be replaced with roller bearings for better efficiency, I assume? Or are really no bearings included?

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Plastic bushings are included, most people replace them all with bearings given that they're very reasonably priced now - although the GF01 needs a LOT of bearings!

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On 1/28/2023 at 4:20 AM, Juggular said:

Bearings you can go with the engineering standard of inner diameter x outer diameter x thickness.  I am guessing that it uses 5x11x4mm the most--Tamiya calls it "1150."  Buying "5x11x4mm bearings" is often cheaper than a packaged set made for GF-01, especially if you need a lot of bearings like GF01.  I use rubber shielded bearings for outside, metal shielded ones on the inside. But these days rubber shielded ones don't add much extra resistance, so they are fine all around.  JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) screwdriver could be useful.  

I just thought it was really important to highlight these 2 excellent pieces of advice from @Juggular - before building any Tamiya kit buy a set of JIS screwdrivers - the screws may look like Phillips head, but they're slightly different and will round out. Bearings are a *lot* cheaper if you buy them from eBay without the Tamiya naming, but I understand it's nice to buy a set ready to go, too.

I have the Dump-Truck, I love it, and my electronics never vary in this style of vehicle - Traxxas XL5 ESC, Traxxas Titan 12T 550 brushed motor and a 2S LiPo (this combination works in my WR02, GF01, G601, CW01, DT02, and a bunch of Traxxas vehicles, too).

Buy the car that makes you smile - if that's a GF01TR, then buy that. Worst case scenario? You don't love it and I'll buy the portal axles from you ;)

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This is such a lovely community here! Many thanks for your kind advice!! Greatly appreciated!!

I guess why I was so keen for the GF01TR is the beetle body, which represents Tamiya and the 90ies for me ;-)

I actually like the stock GF01 with its Land Cruiser body also a lot (if not even more) and I also like the car to be a bit fast, so I think it will be the stock GF01 for me!

I checked and apparently the GF01 uses 24pcs 1150 bearings - I'll order them as a 25pcs package (with rubber seals) from Amazon. When it comes to plastics I'll always remember the words of a nice colleague that said "people that are experts for plastics prefer steel" (he was an expert for polymers) - plastics has its applications, but please not as bushings.

 

Maybe another question regarding the remote - I also want that my small daughter (6 yrs) can drive the car. It would be useful to limit the throttle for her. How is that done? I expect remotes can do that? I'm currently favoring the Flysky GT3C and the Futaba T3PV, can both do that?

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