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Kpowell911

Choosing 90’s period electronics….

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Hi, Ive managed to get a very very very good condition Tamiya Escort Cosworth Repsol #58176. This is on a TA02 chassis. This means a lot to me, as although I didnt have one as a kid, my friend did, and I was so jealous of this. Now I have one. It currently has an Acoms radio, an MSC and silver can motor. It works fine….. However…..

So my question is, lets suppose I was lucky enough to own this on its release in 1996. Id have been 8 years old, but lets suppose I had some very rich grand parents. How would I upgrade this TA02? What period ESC/Motor would I go for? 
 

Thanks!

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Easy, CPR 160F

Still available from select shops.

Bit bulky but look good if you are near with the wiring .

Motor,  my choice would be a Acto tuned touring 👍🏻

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19 minutes ago, Twinfan said:

 

And it would have had an MSC.

Why's that?

The kit came with a MSC but the ESC option for the TA02 was the CPR 160

The Acto touring motor is compatible with the CPR unit

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You'd likely have a Novak ESC with Dean's connectors, an open can brushed motor, and some flavor of Futaba servo/transmitter/receiver with a large antenna sticking out of it.

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The radio would be a JR Propo R1 with a FM SPCM receiver.   That is what I used on my TC3 when I raced at the local hobby shop every weekend in Socal.  Basically error free for its time.. unless some bozo intercepted my frequency.. :lol:

Cyclone TC was my ESC, Chrome mod motors, and I can't remember the servo I used at the time.. and 2000mAh matched NiCd.  

 

..or just get modern electronics and drive 10x better and much longer..

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5 hours ago, Kowalski86 said:

You'd likely have a Novak ESC with Dean's connectors, an open can brushed motor, and some flavor of Futaba servo/transmitter/receiver with a large antenna sticking out of it.

I have to agree with @Kowalski86  here - I ran a Novak 410 M5 in my TA02 Calsonic in the 90's - I still have that ESC and it works too! I also have the original box, manuals, warranty card and tuning stick :wub:

I stuck with the Torque Tuned motor that came with the kit even though I had a Dynatech 02H left over from my earlier Madcap days. The Torque Tuned motor was plenty quick for street racing and gave a good run time off the gold 1400SCR NiCad pack.

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My first proper array was in 1999 in a TL01. That eventually had a Novak ESC and a Trinity modified motor. Also I remeber having a Trinity P2K Stock motor, wonder what year they came out!

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My first hobby-grade RC was a TA02 that I bought in 1996-97. I upgraded it with a Futaba MC310CB ESC l, this is perfect for Tamiyas since it comes with the bullet motor wires which makes it plug and play with Tamiya motors. I later changed to a Novak Racer EX because I upgraded the motor to a Trinity 11T triple. I still have the Futaba ESC, wish I didn’t sell the Novak back then (broke college kid problems)

spacer.png

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18 hours ago, svenb said:

Why's that?

The kit came with a MSC but the ESC option for the TA02 was the CPR 160

The Acto touring motor is compatible with the CPR unit

Sorry, I thought the Tamiya ESCs came much later than they did!

You're right, of course  :)

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The typical "budget" ESCs in '96 were mostly forward/brake only - I had a Tekin 408S that saw duty in many cars. Novak and Duratrax had similar bargain ESCs. No one-touch setup; you have to adjust the pots with the included tiny screwdriver.

But... If you walked into a hobby shop and asked for a radio and ESC for a new kit, they would likely have wanted to sell you a Futaba Magnum Sport radio, with one S148 servo and one MC210CB ESC included. This one has reverse, and is instantly recognizable by the giant 30 amp automotive fuse on one side of the case.

As for motors, you'd have to keep it fairly mild with those ESCs. Stock-class racing motors like the Trinity Green Machine or Midnight were popular, but you could also look for a milder machine-wound modified motor, somewhere in the 19-22 turn range. There were lots of options: Trinity had the Speed Gems series, Speedworks had a budget series, so did Reedy.

Tamiya had their own motors and ESCs, as mentioned, but absolutely nobody (in the US at least, not sure about UK/Europe) bought them. Too expensive, too hard to find.

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The actual motor I ran in my Cosworth in the nineties is on eBay at the moment (maybe *the* actual one). It wasn’t very sensible but daftly fast. I think I paired it with a Mtroniks esc. 

IMG_4503.jpeg

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all i remember was the novak rooster ESC was the thing to get where i lived, and I drooled over the Futaba 3pk super...   don't remember which motor was the hot ticket at that time.

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Acoms had pretty much lost all ground to Futaba by the mid 90s for RC

And Tamiya had developed their own - with Futaba’s help …

The period correct rig here is as @svenb suggests - a Tamiya AdSpec Plus set 45014 with CPR 160F 

Or a late Futaba Magnum with a Novak ESC and Tekin motor 👍 

 

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9 hours ago, Jaffo said:

2000mAh ? WTHHHHHHHHHH

The first NiCd pack I ever had was a 1200 and it was awesome at the time. 

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On 6/1/2023 at 6:46 PM, Kowalski86 said:

You'd likely have a Novak ESC with Dean's connectors, an open can brushed motor, and some flavor of Futaba servo/transmitter/receiver with a large antenna sticking out of it.

x2

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