So, What Have You Done Today?

[Badcrumble 4432]

I'm not sure about 'Pumpslash' @Busdriver, sounds like an over-the-counter aid for men of a certain age. As a cousin of the Traxxas, go for Slashkin!

As for me, I got to step 19 of the M-08R - gluing myself to carbon suspension mounts.

[Busdriver 6623]

1 hour ago, Badcrumble said:

I'm not sure about 'Pumpslash' @Busdriver, sounds like an over-the-counter aid for men of a certain age. As a cousin of the Traxxas, go for Slashkin!

As for me, I got to step 19 of the M-08R - gluing myself to carbon suspension mounts.

Well I am of a certain age though!!! But yes  I think Slashkin is probably safer

[Sogogi 3362]

This tire and wheel combo works well on cc-02…

[Willy iine 18842]

For me, ordered 2 new Mini-Z buggies (Inferno and another Optima to keep NIB) and will probably get another 4X4 soon.. not sure yet whether to get the Defender or the Jimny.

I then swapped the motor in my Mini-Z Optima and took it out for a quick test drive.  The brushed Kyosho X-Speed V motor is a mild increase in power from the stock motor and a perfect fit for me.  It's very compatible to going from a silver can to a SportTuned motor.  Noticeably faster, but not crazy fast like my Mini-Z EVO's.    Very cool.  Mini-Z's are a perfect size for my pylon test course so I will have dedicated setup for these cars and a concourse victory lap kind of slow course for my m-chassis and 1:10.  lol

[Nicadraus 6762]

40 minutes ago, Willy iine said:

For me, ordered 2 new Mini-Z buggies (Inferno and another Optima to keep NIB) and will probably get another 4X4 soon..

I knew it! 

40 minutes ago, Willy iine said:

not sure yet whether to get the Defender or the Jimny.

Definitely Jimny!

40 minutes ago, Willy iine said:

I then swapped the motor in my Mini-Z Optima and took it out for a quick test drive.  The brushed Kyosho X-Speed V motor is a mild increase in power from the stock motor and a perfect fit for me.  It's very compatible to going from a silver can to a SportTuned motor.  Noticeably faster, but not crazy fast like my Mini-Z EVO's.    Very cool.  Mini-Z's are a perfect size for my pylon test course so I will have dedicated setup for these cars and a concourse victory lap kind of slow course for my m-chassis and 1:10.  lol

Do you have videos of the minis? If not, please make some. Would love to see the Mini Optima in action.

[Willy iine 18842]

5 minutes ago, Nicadraus said:

I knew it! 

Definitely Jimny!

Do you have videos of the minis? If not, please make some. Would love to see the Mini Optima in action.

 haha!   Yeah, the Optima Mini-Z is just too good.  I want to ensure I keep one in prestine shape.  

I too was leaning towards the Jimny.     I will do that.

Once iPhone15 comes out I plan to get the pro version this time and use that for my reels.  I'm currently using an old iPhone12 and while it can take stills okay, video just looks like a mess.  I have a Lego train set I will be using to move the iPhone in parallel so that I can do rolling shots as well.. very short clips though, as I found Instagram viewers tend to lose attention in about 7-8 seconds. 

[Sogogi 3362]

King cab is fun! But I am in need of new set of tires.. haha original tires are hard which is wearing out much quicker… maybe beetle blitzer tire may be good

 

 

[Yoshimitsu 3482]

[Willy iine 18842]

While you folks were making serious cars, I got this today and immediately modified the steering to get more steering angle.   

i had to trim the rack's travel stops, trim the chassis a litttle bit to give the steering linkage about 0.5mm more room to swing, then raised the servo inside by 5mm to gain more travel on the steering rack.   The car uses a micro servo with a weird program where it shakes left/right after the servo horn moves.  I think it was programmed this way to recenter the steering rack. 

This also meant that I had to trim down ribs inside the body to clear the raised servo and it was quite a bit of a task overall... took me nearly 3 hours to complete, but got it to turn quite tightly and nicely.     

I was a bit surprised to see it has a suspension system that rivals a Grasshopper. LOL  actually better than a GH since it can raise one side of the rear like the Hornet.   The car came with a tiny but effective LiFe battery.. this is my first LiFe battery.   It came with a USB based charger too, and 2 AAA's. for the game controller style transmitter.  Pretty cool.  It has variable steering like a real RC car.

[Willy iine 18842]

I learned that LiFe batteries should be stored at full charge.. this might be my next battery chemistry because it’s more like handling NiMH.  

[Nicadraus 6762]

  

14 hours ago, Yoshimitsu said:

I'm waiting for my ST165 body to arrive. Such a beautiful car and sahpe.

Nicely done! 

12 hours ago, Willy iine said:

I learned that LiFe batteries should be stored at full charge.. this might be my next battery chemistry because it’s more like handling NiMH.  

Thanks for the tip. I always wondered why my LiFe batt in one of my TX didn't last and died just a few months after purchase, while all my LiPo batts are still doing fine. Including my 9 year-old 3s batteries of my helis.

[JimBear 1298]

Started digging into the Mini Cooper (M-03 chassis) - hooked some new electronics up to see what's what. Servo all fine, but the motor went haywire, couldn't turn it off. Afterwards, I just took it out to see if worked, but dead and gone. Seems to be a silver can (no markings) with a 20T pinion. I had the feeling it was running pretty hot and it smells like my old slot cars (burnt). For some reason a lot of grease around the motor (uh-oh ...) so I'll have to explore the gearbox insides. EDIT: found a name - it's a Johnson (standard fare, then).

Need to get another silvercan, and downgrade the pinion to a 16T. Perhaps some new tires/rims. And then we're hopefully off to the Grandpa Sunday Front Yard Racing.

[Kowalski86 4751]

5 hours ago, JimBear said:

Need to get another silvercan, and downgrade the pinion to a 16T. Perhaps some new tires/rims. And then we're hopefully off to the Grandpa Sunday Front Yard Racing.

I think you'll find yourself eating front tires more often with a 16T, that's a good time to install bearings though!

In other news...well, I'm about to add more bushings to my collection. Should I mail them to Mr. Tamiya as a Christmas present?

[JimBear 1298]

6 minutes ago, Kowalski86 said:

I think you'll find yourself eating front tires more often with a 16T, that's a good time to install bearings though!

Is then the 20T (what I have on hand) better to keep the car "slower" - that is less bald tires?

[Kowalski86 4751]

3 minutes ago, JimBear said:

Is then the 20T (what I have on hand) better to keep the car "slower" - that is less bald tires?

More so, a 20T will help you to manage your wheelspin on acceleration. FWDs like to peel out if you accelerate too fast, and that's what leads to bald tires.

I do reccomend a steel or hardened aluminum pinion for long term use, they're 0.6 mod sized.

[Yoshimitsu 3482]

Finally finished this.

[Kowalski86 4751]

After some o-ring magic this things been pretty robust...other than weird one-off incidents like this.

[IoMTom 149]

Not technically today, but I built this for my daughter, she liked the custom stickers and the wheelies!

[Sogogi 3362]

Just sold kyosho rampage….. because I won brandnew f150 kit from japanese auction.

Now I am back to all tamiya kits except mini z

[Kowalski86 4751]

34 minutes ago, Sogogi said:

Just sold kyosho rampage

I wish I had known that you were selling it, I would've considered buying it!

[Nikko85 4160]

I have not done much of late, following a desire to cut down my collection a little but I got some done this evening.

With a new CR12 4x4 monster truck I felt I didn't really need the GF01 Jeep as another 4x4 MT so I have turned it into a crawler. It still got a torque tuned so will wheelie like anything but it's just a little more scale, it's a stunt crawler perhaps?

I lowered the servo and lowered the body as much as I could. 1.9 crawler beadlocks at around 96mm give a nice ground clearance. 

Here it is with my trail truck MF01x LD90 both around 1/12. I don't think I have the patience for a full crawler as they go too slow, but these are both great for a little off road action and also driving indoors. Obviously on the technical stuff they would be terrible, but they can also do wheelies which are cool.

[Willy iine 18842]

For me, got a new little Sony BT speaker for the pretend pylon test course so paired that to my iPad, got new walking shoes for the garage which is completely unrelated to RC, new red/white RC barrier wall to replace my orange ones, and besides a few meetings WFH, played with my Mini-Z buggies and 4x4 crawler throughout the day.  Was a good indoor RC day as it's like over 90F outside and humid.  I don't do humid..  

I'm going to ask my wife if she still has a stash of disposable chopsticks and see if I can make a rough bridge for my Kyosho Mini-Z 4x4 terrain (it's like a huge egg carton).  I also need to figure out a way to  keep the 5 terrain tiles together as they tend to slide when I drive my crawler over the tile gaps.   I want to be able to stow them away in my cabinet after use, so it can't be a permanent mounting solution.. hummm..

 

[Baja500 94]

Spending too much $$ on hop-ups and spares for my re-re kyosho kits, guess I'm working overtime again 😂

[Nicadraus 6762]

Time to upgrade the FF-03RR's servo.

From SPT4412LV...

to PowerHD R12.

Nice thing about PowerHD low profile servo is that the wires are factory shortened. No need to cut and resolder. I only had to wrap it in braided sleeve.

Speed and response difference.

 

[ChrisRx718 4727]

How do you find running with no servo saver? I see it all the time on YouTube etc. and racers seem to run with a fixed servo horn, but what happens in a crash? Or are you just that good?