So, What Have You Done Today?

[Mark_C]

12 hours ago, topforcein said:

why not try and use the stock manta-ray shock tower and cut it up to use as the spacer you need until you can source the one you want. that way you shoud get your "bushing" you need 

The manta ray mount would work as a spacer, but not as a bush because it uses these screws to mount the shock, the end of the shock sits on the shoulder of the screw, 

However, I did find a solution. On the top force J parts that I bought for the front shock mount I found four of these:

More or less they were long enough to be the spacer and bush. The hole through them is smaller than 3mm, so I was able to screw one on to a piece of 3mm threaded bar and secured the bar in the chuck of my pillar drill. Using a wood chisel as a cutting bit (held by hand) and a file I was able to create the "bush": Hardly precision engineering, but it worked.

And mounted, using rod and a nut either side just for the moment as I don't have any screws long enough.

[berman]

You could also do what I do and go to your local hobby shop/hardware store and pick up some hollow brass rod and make some spacers like the old ones that used to come with cars fitted with cva's (like the manta ray) and pogos in the late 80's early 90's 😊

[iluvmud]

You could also ask members who might have stashes of them lying around.....

[tamiya3speed]

Got the Fox and the Monster Beetle out with the kids.  Monster Beetle now has a clicking transmission and ripped off a drive axle hitting the mailbox (thanks son)!!  No worries, now I have a reason to build one of my MIP diff kits.  Fox made it through ok though!

[Mark_C]

5 hours ago, berman said:

You could also do what I do and go to your local hobby shop/hardware store and pick up some hollow brass rod and make some spacers like the old ones that used to come with cars fitted with cva's (like the manta ray) and pogos in the late 80's early 90's 😊

I tried that, alas all the little hardware stores locally have gone, all thats left is the big chain stores, only one of which sells brass/aluminium tube but sadly not the right size to fit in the CVAs. I may remake them at some point with tube if I get some online, 

5 hours ago, iluvmud said:

You could also ask members who might have stashes of them lying around.....

Far as I know its only the top force that had the part you see, even the evo model is different. So I guessed it'd be pretty unlikely anyone would have spares knocking about, especially in the UK as many here are US based.

[ThunderDragonCy]

39 minutes ago, Mark_C said:

I tried that, alas all the little hardware stores locally have gone, all thats left is the big chain stores, only one of which sells brass/aluminium tube but sadly not the right size to fit in the CVAs. I may remake them at some point with tube if I get some online, 

Far as I know its only the top force that had the part you see, even the evo model is different. So I guessed it'd be pretty unlikely anyone would have spares knocking about, especially in the UK as many here are US based.

Do those CVA take ball ends? If they do you could use the large internal spacers from the shock sprues to put a long screw and a ball nut on the end to mount the shock. I have done this on a few cars but only with CVA2 black body shocks. 

[Mark_C]

They'd take a ball end on the bottom, but not the top:

[Tamiyabigstuff]

10 hours ago, Mark_C said:

I tried that, alas all the little hardware stores locally have gone, all thats left is the big chain stores, only one of which sells brass/aluminium tube but sadly not the right size to fit in the CVAs. I may remake them at some point with tube if I get some online, 

Far as I know its only the top force that had the part you see, even the evo model is different. So I guessed it'd be pretty unlikely anyone would have spares knocking about, especially in the UK as many here are US based.

Is it part SC3 Damper mount you are looking for ? Ref from kit manual 58362

Might have some in my damper spares box.

[tamiya_1971]

Bought an old RC10T a couple months ago. The body was thrashed so I tossed it. Decided I was going to put it on eBay, so I spent yesterday scrubbing and cleaning and putting new oil in the shocks. After the cleaning, I don't think I can part with it yet. Shocks are so smooth and the stealth transmission is great.  So I'll be ordering a new RC10T body and throwing a spare brushless system in it. 

 

[InsaneJim69]

Yesterday I managed to give my 1998 Laguna a run at the park across the road, it has a concrete basketball court. Took it easy though as I could hear the front splitter chirping away a few times. Will post the super short video up soon, it's not great, but I am pleased that it runs well. Surprising how fast the torque tuned motor is that's in it !! 

James.

[Wooders28]

A bit of quiet time in work, so managed to butcher the dark impact chassis a bit, adding a bit of an scoop while i was at it, try not to fry another esc! 🙄

 

 

[Truck Norris]

Made a splitter for a 190E AMG:

[Mark_C]

2 hours ago, Tamiyabigstuff said:

Is it part SC3 Damper mount you are looking for ? Ref from kit manual 58362

Might have some in my damper spares box.

Thats right, SC3, it is in the ball connector bag 9405709. If you have any that'd be great!

 

Homemade spacers and all, I had the car running today:

Will eventually find a new wing as the original is pretty beaten up. Need a few more stickers too.

Tonight I've been giving myself a crash course in sketchup - the racecraft chassis uses two plastic posts to provide a way to mount the steering gear to the chassis, I found one has a stripped thread that I've managed to repair, its fine now but I can't ever undo it again! So I drew it in sketchup, exported as an STl file and have sent for review and hopefully printing, so I have some spares. I put a bit more detail in the thread for the car. (link below)

 

 

 

[78Triumph]

Finished up my M-05 Mk1 VW GTi.  Just have to trim the body posts and paint the wheel nuts.  I'm going to run it a little bit before cutting the posts incase I need to make adjustments, but for the most part it's done.

Untitled by Joe, on Flickr

Untitled by Joe, on Flickr

[yogi-bear]

On 5/28/2018 at 6:46 AM, MadInventor said:

I think an hour is ambitious unless you are going to use coolant. I find the aluminium gets too hot after a while and I have to let it cool down or risk the aluminium sticking to the cutters (I Blew apart 2 parting off tools doing exactly this).

I've been hand spraying coolant as I work and intend on rigging something a bit more permanent. I also need to do the same to my cnc machine, but at least that now has a air blower and mister setup on it. I have lots of rims I'd like to try, so I'm keen to work out an efficient process. 

 

On 5/28/2018 at 6:46 AM, MadInventor said:

A 25mm drill bit might just be too much of a cut in one go from the previous size, maybe slightly blunt or too high a speed maybe.

I'm using new drill bits, so I think I was just being too ambitious with what I was cutting off in one go.

 

On 5/28/2018 at 6:46 AM, MadInventor said:

At 20 mm, I'm using a 4 flute milling cutter running at 250rpm held in a collet chuck. I think I used increments of 1 to 1.5mm with mine for the boring bar cuts. What you might be able to do is partially complete a wheel, leave it in the lathe to cool down, then move to your mill to drill holes in the next one in the production line while the one in the lathe cools down, then carry on with the wheel in the lathe.

I've just been using drill bits, I've yet to try cutters etc in the lathe, so now might be the time, and its probably time to invest in collets too. They will be better anyway as they aren't tapered like drill bits. Before I bought my lathe, I'd heard I could end up spending more on tooling than the lathe itself, and thats starting to come true 

The idea of switching between machines is worth trying too.

 

On 5/28/2018 at 6:46 AM, MadInventor said:

Look on the bright side, I had to make 28 wheels for the War Rig, this lot was just for the trailers, and the whole lot took 3 months including making the hubs the mount them on:

That war rig is an impressive build! and I've been following your progress. Its amazing how much work goes into even simple looking pieces.

[DrewZ]

We made some progress on our backyard track. It's pretty small but fun nevertheless. I think a modern car would be too fast for it. It's just right for the early Tamiya stuff! Anybody else have a track they're working on?

[MadInventor]

6 hours ago, yogi-bear said:

I've just been using drill bits, I've yet to try cutters etc in the lathe, so now might be the time, and its probably time to invest in collets too. They will be better anyway as they aren't tapered like drill bits. Before I bought my lathe, I'd heard I could end up spending more on tooling than the lathe itself, and thats starting to come true 

I spent over £500 on a DRO for my mill, when the mill was only £500 second hand Worth every penny though. I've been fortunate to have friends in engineering who have donated a lot of stuff to me, so my tooling costs have not been too exorbitant.

[MadInventor]

6 hours ago, DrewZ said:

We made some progress on our backyard track. It's pretty small but fun nevertheless. I think a modern car would be too fast for it. It's just right for the early Tamiya stuff! Anybody else have a track they're working on?

I think that's just right for a 7.2 and a silver can, and what a great thing for your kids to be able to play on with their cars.

[ThunderDragonCy]

Ran the DN01 again. badword it's a lovely thing to drive. So responsive, steering particularly. Playing with the setup a bit - springs and dampers. Got a bit of cash for an ealy birthday present so just made a fairly chunky rcmart order to get some TRF201 parts on it. Next Tamiya Junkies meet I can make isn't until July, but I can't wait to run it on a track. 

[mongoose1983]

Still waiting for my parts to arrive so I can finally get my hands on some interesting project  Dang, I am eager to work on something new.

In the meantime I am loving these pictures of the real vehicles that probably inspired the release of the Midnight Pumpkin back in the 80's. My 1st ever radiocontrolled Tamiya!

                

[pininfarina]

raining season ... 

didn't run any RC... sad :-(

but painted Kevin Schwartz Pepsi Bike and rider.

need more time to do touch up and... the rest of the parts..

 

need patience just to wait for the decals to wrap to the surface...

 

kevin on his bike

 

mark softer. sometime it will break.. but no matter, just use paint to touch up!

 

this is addictive as the driller is true and electric powered :-) sure beats hand bit

[Supercoolnothing]

I've managed to hurt my back so I'm off work for a week or so so seeing how nice a day it is I decided to take the technigold powered grasshopper 2 out for a wee run around the big grass area in front of my house. I've discovered a few things 

1.) It's mental and will happily stand on its back wheels if you're a bit ham fisted with the throttle. 

2.)The handling is still terrible even with oil shocks and weight in the front end. 

3.) Three colour ww2 German camouflage might look cool on the shelf but it makes the model incredibly difficult to see at any distance when driving on grass. 

4.)Anytime you throw a car down in a vaguely public area children will magically appear to pester you. 

5.)One of the aforementioned children will always have a brother who has a much better petrol powered car. 

5.(addendum)When asked "oh what has he got?" the answer will almost always be a sneered "it's a subaru!" 

6.)When you get the inevitable "can I have a go?" question which the correct response is always "No" you usually get questions about your parentage and sexuality in return (not sure if this is just a West of Scotland thing or not) 

7.) There's no point in lying to yourself and saying that you'll just run for five minutes and then stop so you don't need to bother with sunscreen, two 5200mah lipo packs later my arms, face and neck area rather fetching shade of red. 

[Biz73]

Bought a cheap low profile servo and Kimbrough servo saver for my GrassHornet. Now the battery wires on the nimh's won't kink while installed.

Also ordered an Associated spur gear and slipper pads to convert my ECX Torment from 48P to 32P.

[Re-Bugged]

Hid the new fresh multipack of AA batteries in the bookcase for my transmitters so they don't get wasted on TV remotes, Xbox controllers etc.

[78Triumph]

Started changing my backyyard "track" layout a bit.  Decided to make some more turns and used the grass I dug out of one section to begin building up a small berm to level the area out in the turns under the trees. The grass under the trees is very thin with lots of moss, and if I mow it super short I can leave it without digging it all up, so there's sections of the track that are full on dirt, and then it transitions to grass. As soon as you run some 4wd buggies on it for a bit it tends to wear in a nice groove.   I have a lot of fun doing this, almost as much enjoyment building and changing up the track as driving the cars on it.

Untitled by Joe, on Flickr

Untitled by Joe, on Flickr

Untitled by Joe, on Flickr