So, What Have You Done Today?

[nel33]

got in touch with the print company regarding custom stickers and also mocked up sticker locations for the Manta. dont mind the measure tape, the print company is used to doing normal sized stickers.

[Badcrumble]

Did a bit of a stock take on what I need to get all of my three Dual Hunters up and running for summer.

We have one current runner (red), one mid-rebuild (pink) and the third totally disassembled (blue).

A full set of TL01B arms have been ordered for Blue as well as metal clamping hexes for all three.

I priced up Tamiya oil dampers as well as a load of replacement screws, wheels and tyres. This gets pricey pretty quickly!

In the meantime, I have made my first RC order from the US of A! I've heard good things about AMain hobbies so have some hardware and tools for my SCX10.3 (I might build it one day) as well as a cosmetic engine cover (for the half that Axial randomly decided not to cover) and a metal panhard mount brace.

[Willy iine]

Continuation of my 1:18 project, I found that I no longer have the rear body mounts for hatchback bodies so improvised.. got the position pretty good, I think.

Will sand, mask, and paint tomorrow.. 

[toyolien]

1 hour ago, Badcrumble said:

Did a bit of a stock take on what I need to get all of my three Dual Hunters up and running for summer.

We have one current runner (red), one mid-rebuild (pink) and the third totally disassembled (blue).

A full set of TL01B arms have been ordered for Blue as well as metal clamping hexes for all three.

I priced up Tamiya oil dampers as well as a load of replacement screws, wheels and tyres. This gets pricey pretty quickly!

In the meantime, I have made my first RC order from the US of A! I've heard good things about AMain hobbies so have some hardware and tools for my SCX10.3 (I might build it one day) as well as a cosmetic engine cover (for the half that Axial randomly decided not to cover) and a metal panhard mount brace.

Amain are great. Used them several times for Crawler parts. However, been stung for duty on every single occasion 😬

[Willy iine]

I second toyolien.  I've had good experience with AMain.  That and TowerHobbies are my usual go to stores for current stuff, the do the rest on Amazon and eBay.  

[Robert5000]

After I found out all I needed to sort out the 4WS was a Y lead with servo reverse bufferer or something to that effect I couldn't hold it in and had to give it a quick spin. Three important findings: 

• It can actually work to use it as a crawler of sorts in the yard. Happy dance! 
• The 15 kg servos aren't powerful enough. It wasn't able to turn the wheels fully when on the rocks and in tight positions. No idea how powerful they have to be, but I'm currently looking at 30 kg. Hopefully that'll be enough. 
• Regular silver cans are more than fast enough for this use. 

Now I just need to finish the body and cut the body posts at appropriate length. 

[Badcrumble]

1 hour ago, toyolien said:

Amain are great. Used them several times for Crawler parts. However, been stung for duty on every single occasion 😬

Ooh, we'll see what happens.

I'm under the £135 threshold but of course VAT wasn't added so it will be a game of customs roulette.

Ah well, a couple of the parts you can't get over here so it is worth a punt.

[BJoe76]

1 hour ago, Robert5000 said:

After I found out all I needed to sort out the 4WS was a Y lead with servo reverse bufferer or something to that effect I couldn't hold it in and had to give it a quick spin. Three important findings: 

• It can actually work to use it as a crawler of sorts in the yard. Happy dance! 
• The 15 kg servos aren't powerful enough. It wasn't able to turn the wheels fully when on the rocks and in tight positions. No idea how powerful they have to be, but I'm currently looking at 30 kg. Hopefully that'll be enough. 
• Regular silver cans are more than fast enough for this use. 

Now I just need to finish the body and cut the body posts at appropriate length. 

I thought the front posts were exhaust stacks!

[Badcrumble]

2 hours ago, Robert5000 said:

 

That's looking really good, glad you are pleased with it.

I should start mine, really. Instead of buying parts for other cars.

Argh! Option paralysis is setting in!

Too many cars! Not enough time!!!

[Willy iine]

Painted the FiestaST body using PS2 red I had from 4 yrs ago.   I was a bit worried of the precut mask as the adhesive was pretty weak probably due to age.. so went very light the first 2 coats.  No bleeding.   

 I shall do the decals maybe tomorrow..

[Willy iine]

So I was about to remove the mask when I noticed I am an idiot..I always check before removing the mask, but what I should have done was recheck BEFORE I sprayed.. 

I did not realize how small the rear window was and aligned it to the left.. oops..

Estimating the amount of distortion the window  decal trim could handle, I cut the mask while on the body and moved the protruding end towards the middle..

Then resprayed.. It is still towards the left, but I will cut the decal window trim so that it hides my mistake..

Going to go get me some coffee and chocolate chip cookies my wife made to wake myself up..  

[topforcein]

swoped out the stock steering arm for a cranked one on my grand hauler also added a hop-up alloy air tank i brought last year. it's not where i wanted to put it but i aint taking it apart to put it half way up the chassis so its on the rear part know.

[Cynan]

Tool the rear gearbox out with as little work as possible and fitted the ball diff.

My first ball diff build!
 

Built the second diff up ready but not taken the front gearbox out yet. Apologise for lack of photos !

[Willy iine]

Did not want to work on this car any more so finished it today.  

The rear window is fine now.  

Couple more shots..

[gregdogghurst]

Finally received the last chassis parts and found the time to move the DB02 build further on. REALLY loving building this car

 

[Juhunio]

You do all the cutting, the measuring, the adjusting,  the trimming, the painting, layering, the stickering... and then it turns that when you finally attach the rear section, there’s no room for a TT-02 rear bumper 🙄 Do all HPI chassis not have rear bumpers? Or just the one their Ford GT shell sits on?
 

[svenb]

Added this to my showroom after getting the CR tuned in the post today 👍 

[Willy iine]

3 hours ago, Juhunio said:

You do all the cutting, the measuring, the adjusting,  the trimming, the painting, layering, the stickering... and then it turns that when you finally attach the rear section, there’s no room for a TT-02 rear bumper 🙄 Do all HPI chassis not have rear bumpers? Or just the one their Ford GT shell sits on?

Are you going to cut that chassis piece off?  I can't remember which chassis it was and which HPI body, but I had to do the same a while back because the rear just looked weird with the chassis sticking out.   Regardless your body turned out real nice.  I like that you take decal alignment very seriously (ex: stripes).  

My FiestaST body is an embarrassment..  The decals were pre-cut and I put in some effort to cut out the windows from the window trim, but I just can't stand the polycarb mold distortion on 1:18 bodies.  Looks okay on 1:10 scale, but 1:18 it's just too big.  In addition to my Sharpie parting lines that appear too big (and sloppiness augmented) due to scale.   I just wanted to finish it and display it as it's a good conversation piece.  I know the designer and use to hang out with him long time ago.

@svenb - Wow!  Quite a collection you got there.  Time for a display case?  Can you fit them in diecast model car cases?

[Ferruz]

I've taken apart the front and rear shocks on my RC10 and rebuilt them with new O rings and slightly harder oil for the fronts. I've also ordered a couple of Associated 0 ring sets just to be sure since the ones I've just replaced are slightly bigger, although since I had zero leaks it seems to work so far.

Then I've installed a Sport Tuned motor I had kicking around, an old black can one which is perfect with the black/gold livery of the car. NOW this buggy has really come to life! The acceleration especially has increased quite a lot, very pleased with that. Handling got better as well with the shocks adjustment.

I'm still getting used to the car. It's a pleasant journey, and once again I feel very lucky for having scored one of these.

 

Despite being a low rider, this thing can jump elegantly and efficiently 

 

FUN FACT:

I don't know if it's just this one, or maybe it's just me blowing yet one more gasket since the pandemic started, but... this motor smells absolutely definitely positively like an old train!! Old european train to be specific, anyway it has exactly the same smell!! Metal parts moving + some particular oils, maybe??  No idea, but it's worth the risk of being laughed at just to see if anybody else has experienced that with this old timer 

[Killajb]

Finished with a new coat and some shoes to look preppy on the shelf

 

 

[nel33]

im looking for some sort of shelving unit or stands to put the RC cars on. currently considering Ikea shelving units. putting 2 RC cars on a desktop where i got other stuff is fine but there isnt much shelving for more RCs to be stored...

[Juhunio]

8 hours ago, Willy iine said:

Are you going to cut that chassis piece off?  I can't remember which chassis it was and which HPI body, but I had to do the same a while back because the rear just looked weird with the chassis sticking out.  

It wasn't just a case of the bumper sticking out, the shell wouldn't sit flat on the chassis at all with the bumper in place, that rear fender wouldn't go over the bumper, it just sat upon it

I've  just unscrewed the bumper and the body sits fine. If I do ever run it (unlikely) I'll have to be uber careful not to do any backwards crashing 

8 hours ago, Willy iine said:

Regardless your body turned out real nice.  I like that you take decal alignment very seriously (ex: stripes).  

My FiestaST body is an embarrassment..  The decals were pre-cut and I put in some effort to cut out the windows from the window trim, but I just can't stand the polycarb mold distortion on 1:18 bodies.

Thanks, and I think you're being hard on yourself. Sometimes these things just work out better than others, despite all the best efforts

The HPI stickers were pre-cut too, and I have to say they were pretty good apart from the ones that needed to go around multiple contours (light buckets, air intakes on the bonnet), which I couldn't get absolutely spot on.

Overall, I would rate the HPI shell 7.5/10 (on the basis that Tamiyas are 10/10, and everything else is a comparison / compromise). The detail is pretty good, but the lexan is a little thin in places, particularly the lower sides. The two-part rear end is a nonsense, it's really hard to get it bob on and looks a bit scruffy. The stickers were pre-cut, good weight and went on well. Being 200mm wide rather than 190 limits the chassis you can sit them on. But a TT02 isn't ideal either due to that rear bumper, which I had to remove to get it to sit down properly

But all things considered, it turned out pretty well. I'll get it outside in the sunshine later and take some better pics

[Willy iine]

Juhunio - Good to hear it was just a matter of unscrewing the bumper off the chassis to make the body fit. 

Beautiful job on the body! 

[Dakratfink]

I don’t have photos to share ( but I guess most on here can picture the part I’m describing )

I fixed a non Tamiya car with a genuine Tamiya part.

Last night I drove my HPI Wheely/ Crawler King ( WK Monster tires and a 20T Brushed motor, stretched to crawler king wheelbase ) a little too close to the cchain link fence. 
The stock Servo saver did its job and sheared saving the servo. 
I was about to order up a Kimborough servo saver when upon inspection I discovered the Stock HPI saver is constructed like a Tamiya one with a C shaped bit sandwiched between two plastic halves that slot in.

I checked a parts tree I had from repairing  a broken rear C Hub on a WR02 which I bought with a broken hub. 
the Servo saver but was on this part tree and it was an exact fit to the HPI saver. 
5 minutes later I was able to run the rest of that battery pack down to storage voltage . 

[Fabia130vRS]

 

Not tamiya but a new offroad basher arrived. This is the picture how it arrived. 
 

not sure how long it will last, but ready to take it out for a spin this afternoon.

installed a 10T carson brushless sistem and 28T pinion from standard 16T for brushed. I guess it is going to fly.

just charged the 5500mAh 2s 120C battery.

I did not ask the previous owner about handling, it looked new to me on pictures. But actually the fron shock tower was bend. He probably wasnt even aware of that. I didnt notice at first but the body mounts seemed off center. It was a quick fix with a hammer.