So, What Have You Done Today?

[pininfarina 1009]

Just finished priming and masking ... only to discover Ran out of Paint...

sigh...

 

 My riders decided to form a biker band instead, while waiting for their bikes!

. 

[User4 13]

On 7/13/2018 at 10:04 AM, Grotty Otty said:

Started the Monster Beetle. Just the chassis and electrics at the moment, hard to believe it's a 30 year old design. Going to get some tyre foams I think as the tyres feel very soft as is on the rims. No pics as I've hit my limit. 

I had the original Monster Beetle when I was younger, great fun model, I loved it but it loved to eat gearboxes. 

I'm tempted for another but I do wonder if Tamiya improved the gearbox for the re-release. Maybe I was just a bad driver in my younger years... 

[Fabia130vRS 2098]

@User4, any input is valuable, you never know what somebody is aware of and others are not.

@TurnipJF, thank you for letting me know that, I was googling it, but havent found anything.

 

today I have solderd the T plugs and cut the lenght of wires for my brushless ESC and LiPo battery. Waiting on next week for the black motor wires to arrive from rcmart. And ready to run it will be.

 

 

[Grotty Otty 868]

1 hour ago, User4 said:

I had the original Monster Beetle when I was younger, great fun model, I loved it but it loved to eat gearboxes. 

I'm tempted for another but I do wonder if Tamiya improved the gearbox for the re-release. Maybe I was just a bad driver in my younger years... 

I've assembled mine with the MIP diff that was recommended when I asked for inspiration for a new kit. The diff is very expensive (£50) but really well made a massive improvement on the original. I'll update once I've run it 😁

[ThunderDragonCy 7886]

Today I have been mostly running all my cars at a track. Tamiya Junkies summer meet at Robin Hood Raceway. Nationals track, blazing sunshine, happy days. No action shots as everyone was too busy running or keeping cool, but got one of each of mine

The DN01 and DB01R are just a dream to run on the track. So controlled and responsive. If I can get the DB01R to a point where I am not constantly either terrified of melting the drivetrain or faffing with the slipper if might be my new favourite. Thunder Dragon was a handful as usual but less so than last time and I love running it. DT03 is just lots of fun on the truck wheels and I have it handling pretty sweet at the moment. Just needed Lipo and 17t pinion for enough punch to pop the jumps now it's back on 13.5t and a tamiya ESC. The star of the day though, was poor neglected Ultra G. Not used it for ages with getting the DN01 then the DB01R. Popped some mini spikes on the back and a Lipo and it was brilliant fun! Tidy, but involving to drive, just quick enough without being silly, just about enough punch to pop the double jump. Just ace. To think it's just a mash up of vintage parts I cooked up I am very proud of it!

Hope you all had a good day doing something fun too.

[Jonathon Gillham 4607]

1 hour ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Today I have been mostly running all my cars at a track. Tamiya Junkies summer meet at Robin Hood Raceway. Nationals track, blazing sunshine, happy days. No action shots as everyone was too busy running or keeping cool, but got one of each of mine

The DN01 and DB01R are just a dream to run on the track. So controlled and responsive. If I can get the DB01R to a point where I am not constantly either terrified of melting the drivetrain or faffing with the slipper if might be my new favourite. Thunder Dragon was a handful as usual but less so than last time and I love running it. DT03 is just lots of fun on the truck wheels and I have it handling pretty sweet at the moment. Just needed Lipo and 17t pinion for enough punch to pop the jumps now it's back on 13.5t and a tamiya ESC. The star of the day though, was poor neglected Ultra G. Not used it for ages with getting the DN01 then the DB01R. Popped some mini spikes on the back and a Lipo and it was brilliant fun! Tidy, but involving to drive, just quick enough without being silly, just about enough punch to pop the double jump. Just ace. To think it's just a mash up of vintage parts I cooked up I am very proud of it!

Hope you all had a good day doing something fun too.

Looks like a great day out. Do they have any organised races or the timing system available or is it just a chance to run the buggies at the track?

No racing for me today, a storm has hit so both meets have been cancelled. Maybe I should have stuck with indoor racing...

[ThunderDragonCy 7886]

8 minutes ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

Looks like a great day out. Do they have any organised races or the timing system available or is it just a chance to run the buggies at the track?

No timing or anything, just running. Got the whole place to ourselves all day long, so plenty of time to fettle cars and run lots of different things. No pressure at all. I really like it for practising my driving and getting the handling of my cars a bit more sorted. 

Shame your racing got cancelled, but I would run outside given the choice too so hang in there. It'll be more fun.

[Gasquatch 20]

Glued up some new tires and wheels!

These for my Blitzer Beetle project..

Pro-Line Trencher 2.2 on some JConcepts Tense wheels. These took a lot of fussing to get seated and glued right. I think the wheel may be designed for JConcepts own line of tires, they had a very shallow inner bead rib the Trenchers didn't like.

 

And these for the RC-10T3 I'm fiddling with...

Pro-Line Gladiator on HPI Split-Five wheels. These went together very easily. 

I'm converting both trucks to 12mm hex front axles

[LeftyAl 164]

Took my Savage XS out for a run after replacing all the bearings, and cleaning/re-greasing the diffs (very little wear after 3 yrs of neglect and abuse). All was going well for 3 mins, then lost all drive. Motor would spin, but no go.

It had to be either a loose pinion, loose slipper or I have dropped a bearing. Figured it was the pinion, so pulled the motor and gear out only to realise the slipper clutch nut back had backed right out. I could have adjusted the clutch without pulling the gearbox out.....  

Managed to win a bunch of Street Rover front wheels off ebay. Turns out they are the perfect front wheels to use on my sprint car buggies. Now to find some tyres for them,

[moffman 5752]

15 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Today I have been mostly running all my cars at a track. Tamiya Junkies summer meet at Robin Hood Raceway. Nationals track, blazing sunshine, happy days. No action shots as everyone was too busy running or keeping cool, but got one of each of mine

The DN01 and DB01R are just a dream to run on the track. So controlled and responsive. If I can get the DB01R to a point where I am not constantly either terrified of melting the drivetrain or faffing with the slipper if might be my new favourite. Thunder Dragon was a handful as usual but less so than last time and I love running it. DT03 is just lots of fun on the truck wheels and I have it handling pretty sweet at the moment. Just needed Lipo and 17t pinion for enough punch to pop the jumps now it's back on 13.5t and a tamiya ESC. The star of the day though, was poor neglected Ultra G. Not used it for ages with getting the DN01 then the DB01R. Popped some mini spikes on the back and a Lipo and it was brilliant fun! Tidy, but involving to drive, just quick enough without being silly, just about enough punch to pop the double jump. Just ace. To think it's just a mash up of vintage parts I cooked up I am very proud of it!

Hope you all had a good day doing something fun too.

That track looks amazing never knew the robin hood raceway was that good😍 ya buggies are looking sweet too😗

[ALEXKYRIAK 1046]

16 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Today I have been mostly running all my cars at a track. Tamiya Junkies summer meet at Robin Hood Raceway. Nationals track, blazing sunshine, happy days. No action shots as everyone was too busy running or keeping cool, but got one of each of mine

The DN01 and DB01R are just a dream to run on the track. So controlled and responsive. If I can get the DB01R to a point where I am not constantly either terrified of melting the drivetrain or faffing with the slipper if might be my new favourite. Thunder Dragon was a handful as usual but less so than last time and I love running it. DT03 is just lots of fun on the truck wheels and I have it handling pretty sweet at the moment. Just needed Lipo and 17t pinion for enough punch to pop the jumps now it's back on 13.5t and a tamiya ESC. The star of the day though, was poor neglected Ultra G. Not used it for ages with getting the DN01 then the DB01R. Popped some mini spikes on the back and a Lipo and it was brilliant fun! Tidy, but involving to drive, just quick enough without being silly, just about enough punch to pop the double jump. Just ace. To think it's just a mash up of vintage parts I cooked up I am very proud of it!

Hope you all had a good day doing something fun too.

Awesome Mr.Thunderdragon! Great post, thanks. Very jealous. Looks like an interesting place, I wish I lived closer (3hrs drive...) and your range of cars are very impressive - especially that you take them all out for a run. Good work. It’s an interesting mix of vehicles and range of capabilities / characteristics that you have built and developed. 

[Effigy3 1267]

Took my boy racing yesterday.  He asked to run the TRF 211 instead of his usual TLR 10SCT.  He ran it quite well.  Better than I do TBH.  One of the other racers drover over top him (Beginner is a mixed class and he was the only buggy.) and crushed him into the pipe/wall.  The lower shock mount and both front suspension arms took the brunt of the hit(s).  He was able to limp across the finish line avoiding a DNF that qualifier.  He earned TQ and won his main. Comparing his lap times to the 17.5T B-main, he would have been in a tight battle with the bottom two racers so we're going to move him up from beginner class to 17.5 proper.  Not half bad for just turned 11, eh?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ThunderDragonCy 7886]

3 hours ago, moffman said:

That track looks amazing never knew the robin hood raceway was that good😍 ya buggies are looking sweet too😗

It's a great track. They have a little indoor track too for bad weather running.

[ThunderDragonCy 7886]

2 hours ago, ALEXKYRIAK said:

Awesome Mr.Thunderdragon! Great post, thanks. Very jealous. Looks like an interesting place, I wish I lived closer (3hrs drive...) and your range of cars are very impressive - especially that you take them all out for a run. Good work. It’s an interesting mix of vehicles and range of capabilities / characteristics that you have built and developed. 

Thanks. Last couple of additions have been somewhat unplanned but it's lovely having them. And I love running them all. Can't be doing with shelf queens 😉 Definitely need to spend some time with the Thunder Dragon now to get a good astro set up for it. Would be great to have it ripping around like the others.

[Grotty Otty 868]

Finished the Monster Beetle chassis... One run, then straight in and all the shocks taken back off. All oil down to 20w and the rear springs swapped to a softer pair off a DT-03. Also removed the washer that sits above the trailing arm supporting the front wishbone as it was clicking with every compression. Replaced with one of the black o rings left over from the unused drive shafts, totally silent now. Also swapped out the laughable servo saver for a much stronger kimborough one I had spare. Much better now. I can believe its a thirty year old design now! Gotta do the body justice now... 

[Fabia130vRS 2098]

Today I have put in work to my DF02, for a little bit of searching, I found iut my china esc in the df02 supports lipo.

 

and I have a saddle pack with no use for it, and I have a M03M on its way, and it needs a battery.

 

sine the m03m can handle only nimh shaped batterys, and the df02 has one.. it is getting the saddle pack.

 

also a cheap heat sink with fan arrived for 2$. But when the fan was close to the motor, it stopped turning, motor magnets too strong. So the fan went on the china esc, and the motor just got a heat sink without fan.

 

pictures below.

 

 

 

 

 

After, the fitting of a hard case in this chassis needed also some drilling.

 

 

Aftewards, this seddle packs need some wires, so solderd a bit, cut the correct lenght... still waiting for 2s balance connectors.

 

 

[topforcein 1764]

took a trip to the hospital for a heart monitor to be fitted for 24hrs but ended up with it for a week instead.

then on the way back popped into a electrical shop to price up some speakers subs tweeters and mids for a pair of speaker box's i brought yesterday for a song

[Fabia130vRS 2098]

Brushless fitted, solderd the wires that way so the exotek heat sink could fit.

[Peter_B 997]

Hospital trip this morning, pre-op assessment before I go in to have my knackered tonsils out next week.

This afternoon I did some body trimming, washing and painting.

I also finally got round to removing the window masks and making post holes in the Kamtec Scorcher shell that I painted a few weeks ago. The intention is for that to be the runner shell.

[Jason1145 3986]

Thanks to @Effigy3 from across the pond for sending me these cool dish SC wheels, finishes off my Trophy Rat perfectly... must remember to glue them before the first run though.

[Fabia130vRS 2098]

On 7/9/2018 at 12:08 PM, Fabia130vRS said:

 

 

After all the work done. 

 

I searched for protections for the chassis. Mostly over priced. Thought why not use stickers of a local rent a car my friend. also man cave rc enthusiast is the owner of. He stacks thousend of these stickers. Much more value for no money. 😂😄.

 

there you go

 

And we call it day.

[Jonathon Gillham 4607]

Nothing on the cars today but did just place my biggest ever order for RC stuff.  I mentioned previously that I was looking at a secondhand 8th nitro buggy for a big meet in December...my budget build turned into an expensive one.  I ended up buying a new HB D817 v2 Worlds kit because the supplier did a promotion where they will do a build day with a few experienced racers showing people like me how to build and tune them properly.  The guy running it travels all over the world for race meets and is the current NZ champ.  He's also a HB Racing team driver (somehow, I'm not entirely sure what level of sponsorship he has since he also runs an RC business).  So that, 2 servos which I got lucky and he had 2 secondhand Futaba 9373S servos which have seen about 6 months of use, then a few bits like springs, servo horn and swaybar set.  Its costing me about $500 more than I would have spent getting a secondhand roller but I really wanted to do the build day. 

He's now on the look out for a secondhand engine for me too.

Luckily there isn't too much more that I need to switch to nitro, just a rx battery, 3mm hex driver new rx and the starter thing (you can see why I need to do the build day) and of course learn how these noisy smelly things work.

So this will be my 3rd different class of racing since 8th offroad run on different days to 10th.  I wonder if that will mean I can have 3 cancelled meets in the same weekend?  One bonus is there is an 8th track about 10mins from me, so I can get there a few times a week easily enough.  All the other tracks are at least 30min away and it just seems really hard to get there.

 

[Effigy3 1267]

12 hours ago, topforcein said:

took a trip to the hospital for a heart monitor to be fitted for 24hrs but ended up with it for a week instead.

 

Good luck with your surveillance.

[Jason1145 3986]

2 hours ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

 

Luckily there isn't too much more that I need to switch to nitro, just a rx battery, 3mm hex driver new rx and the starter thing 

 

Lol I like the 3mm hex driver... like the cost of that part is totally extravagant in the scheme of things.. sounds like you are just trying to justify the expense to the Chancellor... look honey I only need a 3mm driver... don’t look at the rest of the stuff!

Good luck with the 8th smelly boy.

[Jonathon Gillham 4607]

25 minutes ago, Jason1145 said:

Lol I like the 3mm hex driver... like the cost of that part is totally extravagant in the scheme of things.. sounds like you are just trying to justify the expense to the Chancellor... look honey I only need a 3mm driver... don’t look at the rest of the stuff!

Good luck with the 8th smelly boy.

Its all part of the plan, if I've costed it down to an $11 tool then surely I've been thorough right? When really I have no idea about what the others will cost like the starter box and I hear people talk about glow plugs or something

Actually this was a surprise, I came back from the committee meeting and talked about the event and the chancellor said it sounded cool and i should do it. Then this week I reminded her about it and talked about servos and do I go cheap or expensive etc, and then ordered it all today at $500 more than original "discussion" about it. Something is up...