So, What Have You Done Today?

[Re-Bugged 11926]

5 hours ago, mtbkym01 said:

Made an order direct from TTP for the first time. Have used his ebay store before, but this is the first direct purchase. Not sure how his freight to Aus is so much cheaper than anyone else’s?

My last order a few months ago was direct as well. SS body and some others bits and pieces to fill the box. I know what you mean about freight as I was expecting a ‘Sorry we’ve made a mistake, it’s actually going to cost xxx’ but no. All arrived safely, I don’t know how he does it but just very grateful he does 👍🏻

[Pylon80 4226]

1 hour ago, Ferruz said:

Bud this sounds like RC heaven 👍🙂

It kind of is 😳 I don't think I ever had this much fun with an RC car before. Driving fast by yourself is awesome but racing others is just next level.

[Ferruz 13530]

A bunch of unrelated errands brought me close to a hobby shop today, so I popped in to get supplies of my favourite 6mm masking tape. While at it, it was my own wife to suggest I'd stock up on some PS paint as well, since they are illegal in Canada now and for the foreseeable future. Very good thinking dear wife, you are a keeper 😅

There wasn't much left in terms of exciting colors, plus I don't really have any future plans painting wise at the moment, so it wasn't easy to make a random choice. I ended up getting a can of fluorescent green and one of cobalt green. Very excited about the latter and I guess, nothing wrong with hoarding a few extras since it doesn't look like the situation will get better anytime soon. The hobby shop guy, which I believe is a full time static model painter, thinks it will take about two years for Tamiya to figure out a new racipe to get the same quality while abiding the new laws. We shall see, but from the painting point of view I am glad that both my NIB kits waiting for building come with hard shells.

[OnTheTrail 1405]

This project was long in the making but finally finished it up recently.   I got some rewards points from a work related award and used the points to purchase this through Walmart of all places well over a year ago.   I really wanted to do a really blacked out buggy and planned to have the parts that would see the most abuse Cerakoted.   I found a guy about 40 minutes away that was just getting started with Cerakoting to do custom car/truck wheels and so I took bag of parts to him.   Ended up he ran into issues with business permits, electrical code issues and he never got the business started for months.   I felt bad for the young man as he quit his fulltime job to do this, plus spent all of his savings on equipment and ovens.   Eventually after all the delays I just met him and picked up my Tomahawk part (he told me he had to go back to working another job).   

I eventually found a gunsmith to do the same Cerakote job and got them back in a few weeks.   To get a decent price I told him to wait till he had time.   By the time I got everything back, it was no longer RC build season. 

Anyhow, building season is back in swing so I got this done......finally.   While it will get a little easy driveway action, this one will be a shelf queen for the most part.  I have a box art Scorpion to run hard when needed.   

Overall, I'm thrilled with the way it turned out.   A lot of work to keep it low gloss and the carbon fiber accents.   I even sprayed the window netting/surrounds with flat clear to tame down the gloss.   

I'm calling it the Blackhawk CF!  

Here are some other photos:

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/99109-rc-gallery-absolutely-no-words-pics-only/&do=findComment&comment=1028596

 

 

[Nikko85 4174]

More lunch box shenanigans!

[gogsyfinnie 713]

Started my TD2 Astute build by getting the shell done.  Happy with this dark metallic blue finish, all set to start the chassis build this weekend

[urban warrior 858]

I haven't done any modelling for weeks. One of the reasons, I had so little time for my hobby in the last weeks, was (beside an awful lot of work, which reached somekind of a horrible climax this week - year end sale & close out and inventory) creating another photo book for the best woman of them all ... and my soon to be wife. But at least I have finished work on it and the order has been placed last Sunday:

Its front and back cover.

The only wish she has for Christmas is the book she gets from me every year. It's a photografic collection and somekind of a synopis of our Summer holidays. Through the years I created ten books for her, this is number eleven. All the books grew in their number of pages from year to year. The actual book is 94 pages strong. And every year it's the same. I am not done with it more than a few days before the entering deadline to get photo books before Christmas. I really don't know what it is. We have our holidays in June. But I don't get started with the work before the end of November, which brings me in some kind of pressure every time. Maybe I can work best with some thrust. To be honest, I tried some times to work on it earlier, but I am "strolling" through the photos and got no clue how to start. But now it's done and I am "free" to do some more modelling in the coming weeks.

You know: "Happy wife, happy life!"

[magnumcyclonex 130]

Today, made a small iterative update: Painted all the hard plastic parts (bumpers, lights, mirror) in silver. Used masking tape and/or screws to secure the inner pieces such as the light buckets and bumper fasteners to the body. The option to use LED lights is there with these light buckets, which were also painted in silver.

[guggles 340]

Started on the finishing touches on this model!

Wish you guys could see it in person!

Also a preview of the next one in the pipeline

 

[BuggyDad 6501]

In a loosely RC related activity I have nearly finished my new workshop section, which is mainly for hobby stuff.

It'll be a new workbench area for CNC, laptop and its associated gubbins and a load of shelving. Had to insulate, damp proof and ply line an old stone wall first, which took much longer than the bits you can see. It's particularly satisfying because the floor beneath the shelves is at about a 15° angle rising up to the back wall, so the area was only ever used for just piling junk in. My favoured approach with DIY is to look for the worst bits of the place and turn them into something really good. I tend to leave the half decent bits alone. 

[Rinskie 1283]

Nothing too exciting but I did take the plastic wrapping off my Racing Fighter kit and fingered through the parts. I also ordered some stainless M3 hardware along with bearings and steering servo. I was going to wait till spring to build it but I think I will crank it out after Christmas. 

[BuggyDad 6501]

Cracked on and pretty much finished my little workshop enhancement. 

 

There are a few little bits to do around the worktop area and I'll get a sparky to add some more sockets.

Also had a chance to try out the little table saw on a sheet of GRP. It worked well. Dust extraction attached but I would regard a mask as necessary too. The fly in the ointment is it's an old blade size. 1/2" bore, 4" OD. I am looking into whether I can use an adapter to fit a similar OD blade but with a larger bore. It wouldn't be at all sensible to cut GRP or CF without a supply of replacement blades. 

[Kowalski86 4758]

I took the old-school Stampede body out for its initial "break in", and drove the Slash around too. Now I get to clean mud off of everything!

[MadAnt 755]

It snowed, so I had to plow it.

[OnTheTrail 1405]

3 hours ago, BuggyDad said:

Cracked on and pretty much finished my little workshop enhancement. 

 

 

Very organized.  Looks great.   However....you spelled "Tires" wrong.  

[BuggyDad 6501]

4 hours ago, OnTheTrail said:

Very organized.  Looks great.   However....you spelled "Tires" wrong.  

You wait for phase 2 of the modelling organisation programme. I'll be cataloguing and labelling my favourites by colour in the centre. 

[No Slack 594]

Last evening I tried to understand all features of my new Flysky G7P transmitter. A lot of features for a mid class device. It dazzles me.

[Hypoxic 789]

Rebuilt my busted Lunchbox servo saver and pulled the trigger on this. I have ideas for it. He, he…

 

[magnumcyclonex 130]

FINALLY!!! The body is 100% done! I wanted to give this VW Van a similar vibe to that now discontinued special edition M-05 Groovy VW Van (you know, the blue one with the hippie flowers decals all over it). Since I'm also a big fan of Peeps, I had my girlfriend and I put stickers all over the body. It was a fun exercise to do together. The last thing I did was for the photo op, installed some basic LED lights to give the van some good rays!

Also took some video, but have not posted them online yet (Are we allowed to post links to our Youtube channel here?)

[Re-Bugged 11926]

There is a dedicated YouTube thread on here @magnumcyclonex, 

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/67148-youtubed/

Just copy & paste link of clips into the comment box 👍🏻

[GToddC5 2585]

A few weeks back I scored a used Neo Top Force, missing a Tx, Rx and some of the stickers. So today I brought together the missing items and have a nice survivor runner to display and run. There's more details to the story and pics in my Showroom if interested:

 

 

 

 

 

Then I slapped on a more roadworthy wheel/tire set for a great test run on the driveway:

 

 

 

[Kowalski86 4758]

I drove both the Traxxas Rally and LT10SW around at the park, all of these recent drives have been a part of a shakedown to see what will stay in my fleet after the holidays, and what will go:

LT10SW: Keeper for sure, it's a good truck that's let down by lousy marketing and confusing pricing.

Slash 2WD: Fun and challenging on dirt and gravel, terrible on asphalt with a HCG chassis (as you'd expect). Weirdly enough I prefer these close to stock, vs brushless/LCG.

Stampede 2wd: Mostly stock, I have 4 body shells for it including the expensive Bigfoot shell and a custom shell. Only thing is these are a dime a dozen, I could sell it and keep a body or two on hand.

Rally/Slash 4x4 LCG: Still undecided, it's easily the most capable "rally car" that I've owned. It's also the biggest, and needs the most space to run and store.

Tamiya MF01X Escort (in transit): Why did I buy one of these despite so many threads bemoaning how "awful" this chassis is? It was cheap, it looks neat, and it's a Tamiya, so I can run it on NiMH and cheap brushed cans for an eternity.

Tamiya TT02: Bought this cheap and in a bundle, it'll be cleaned and sold. See all 200 threads about the TT02s "necessary" hop ups.

[Killajb 1685]

Doing some more work on Mrs. Killajb's DT-02.  The Pine Beach Raceway 380 motor arrived and I did a thorough break-in with while discharging 4 half-worn AA batteries destined for the bin anyway.  While I wait for the motor adaptor to arrive, I'll source some yellow CVA's and swap the rear tires for something more suitable for the local areas we normally roam.  Various shim sets also arrived so I can spend what little holiday time we have here getting rid of the excess play in the usual suspect areas.   

 

[Elbowloh 1485]

Still waiting for hop ups for my TD2 build from Japan. They shipped on the 14th Dec but have been sitting in the Osaka postal hub until this morning. Very frustrating.

[Digitaldave 66]

I replaced the kit screws on my TT02 with a set of Yeah Racing titanium ones. Not for the weight saving, but because they are hex head and my other car (Schumacher MI8) is also completely hex screws so common tools for both cars. The only ones that aren’t included are the small ones holding the diffs together, and the screw pins holding the rear suspension arms on. I’ll leave the diff screws alone but I’ll get a set of hex head replacements for the screw pins - Xtra Speed do some but not in stock at my local store.