Lunchbox Blog

[skip665]

Make sure you check the plugs in the receiver - the black wire should be nearest the edge of the receiver. Otherwise just carefully follow the TEU-101BK intructions - took me a couple of goes when I first plugged one in but you will get it with some patience

[Jonny Retro]

OK, a little bit of help needed. I tried to set up the ESC but have failed miserably.

Initially I turned on the transmitter and then the receiver & LED flashed once as it should. I pushed set button when in neutral. LED flashed a few times. Tried to set up throttle = nothing. Assumed everything must be ok and connected the motor, nothing although I can hear the power is there.

So I tried again. This time I turned transmitter on then the receiver = nothing, no flashing LED. Nothing except sound of the power being there. Tried pressing the set button, nothing again. Connected the motor. Again nothing, not even the alarm going off and definitely no movement from the motor. However the steering servo works.

Any ideas as to how I can set it again or hints on what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks.

I've never seen anyone have so much trouble with so basic a kit - did you need help to find out which end of a screwdriver to hold before you started?

Ok , mocking over - if your steering servo is working correctly, you must be nearly there....

From an earlier photo it looks like you may have the ESC plugged into the reciever the wrong way round (although it's a bit hard to tell from the resolution). The servo plug is the right way round if the yellow wire is facing in towards the label. If it's not in the Channel 1 slot, it ought to be.

The plug from the ESC needs to be oriented in the Channel 2 slot in the reciever with the white wire facing inwards - if you haven't already taken off the extra pip on the side of the grey plug, you'll probably need to whip it off with a sharp craft knife to get it to fit.

The 2 wire ESC to receiver power wire is notched/handed, so I'm pretty sure you'll have got that right.

Unplug the Motor - there are those that say you can set the ESC up with the motor connected, but I never have.

If your transmitter has servo reverse switches, make sure the throttle switch is set to normal, and that the trim setting is right in the middle.

Plug in your battery & turn on the transmitter, then the chassis, if the steering servo works correctly then eberything is right so far ....

Without touching the throttle stick, press the set button on the ESC - not just a quick tap, it needs holding in for at least 1/2 a second ... the LED should start going flash ... flash ... flash etc

Push the transmitter throttle stick to full forward power - and HOLD IT THERE

Press the set button on the ESC (the LED should start going flashflash ... flashflash ... flashflash), and let go of the throttle

Move the transmitter throttle stick to full reverse, and hold it there

Press the set button on the ESC again (the LED should go out), and let go of the throttle

That should do it - plug in the motor & see what happens

[vtgrrrs]

OK I'm an idiot. Realised last night that I may have used the wrong battery (i.e not a charged one) mistakenly. However, how it had enough charge to start it originally I'm not sure. Anyway, short story; I switched the battery and got the ESC set up and now the motor works and is obviously correctly lined up as it's working as it should. Phew.

I guess the reason I'm asking so many questions is with it being the first kit I've done and I want to make sure I get it done properly the first time. Also didn't help that some of my parts had been put in the wrong bags/labelled incorrectly by Tamiya. lol

[bigoggy]

we all had to start somewhere. the lunchbox may be an easy kit to us with lots of experiance, but i think you are doing well for a kit virgin . when you have built two or three kits you will be building a lot quicker. hope you have more luck than me with your lunchy, i got a second lunchy for xmas, built it on xmas day. took it out yesterday and bust my steering servo on its first run

[vtgrrrs]

Ouch! That's bad luck. Hope you get it sorted soon mate.

Yeah, I didn't think I was doing too badly so far as at the minute I'm only getting 1-2 hours an evening to work on it including packing away time etc.

Anyway I managed to get the rear suspension attached, the battery tray and the front steering arms. Cheers for all the help and advice so far. I think it's coming along nicely.

Update pic for tonight:

[vtgrrrs]

Well it's finished! Last night I got everything sorted (chassis, front suspension etc) and today I got the body detailed and attached. Took it out for a run today which was great fun. Couple of (very) minor issues. First up the car pulls slightly off to the side although I've adjusted the steering arms as well as I can. I've adjusted the transmitter set by moving the bias slightly to one side (only a couple of notches) and this seems to have solved it. In fact I think that it may have been the fact that there is a bit of slack on where the steering arm attaches on the ball joint nearest to the wheel. I'm guessing that this kind of thing is quite normal?

Finally, the ball joint and screw that attach to the steering servo seemed to be working slightly loose so I've added a little glue (this only keeps them together and doesn't restrict any 'moving' parts).

Really enjoyed using it! Can't wait to get it out again tomorrow. My 3 year old son thought it was the best thing since sliced bread.

Final pic:

Overall I've really enjoyed building it and despite a couple of minor issues and worries it went pretty smoothly. I'd certainly feel more confident next time. Looking forward to getting my next buggy.

[kaiser]

nice work! congrats. it feels good to build something that works correctly doesn't it.

now, time for a new kit!

i seem to have more fun building kits than running them. lol

[bigoggy]

nice one mate . hope you and your son have loads of fun with it

[Leethal Driver]

Mine's been sat under the tree since christmas day cos I'm waiting for some new hop ups but I'm getting itchy so might have to have a little time with it (rims into tyres can't hurt).

Have you got the servo trued up fully? If it's a notch out that could be why it pulls to one side when you've got the transmitter bias set to neutral, might be worth having a quick check again - this was one of things that baffled me when I first got into RC last yr.

Nice result though for your first RC, satisfying eh!

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken]

LOL adjusting the steerings trim leaver is about as normal as putting milk on your cornflakes

Glad to see you've got it finished.

[vtgrrrs]

That's good news. It's running pretty straight now after a little bit more fiddling, well almost. I'm really chuffed with it and have already had it out a few times, only problem is it wasn't quite so slippy this morning and it flipped on to it's roof whilst doing a fastish turn so I've scratched the body/paint a bit. Boo Hoo! Still at least it's proof it's getting used and I've managed to touch it up slightly.

I've definitely caught the RC 'bug'

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement!

[Live Steam Mad]

[] only problem is it wasn't quite so slippy this morning and it flipped on to it's roof whilst doing a fastish turn so I've scratched the body/paint a bit. Boo Hoo! []

I've definitely caught the RC 'bug'

It's just gone from Shelf Queen -> Runner. Now you know what we mean ... LOL.

Seriously now you have a runner so enjoy those jumps, wheelie the nuts off it, get a motor with 5 x more power and watch it accelerate like a rocket (but it'll wheelie like crazy unless you weight it down at the nose) and bring it to the Tamiya Club meeting and have a Fun race with it. Very enjoyable!

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[HereBeMonsters]

My runners all go on the shelf anyway - battle damage is something to be proud of!

[Olly_Lunchbox]

The first scratch is kinda vital anyway, once you have it out of the way you can go full throttle without worrying about damaging the paint work.

It's like when you first learn to ride a bike, you're frightened of falling off but when you do you realise it's nothing to worry about!

[Guest Scorcherman87]

Ohh, memories!

I had one of these as a kid, and it was great fun! Glad you can enjoy Tamiya like the rest of us!! Happy 2009!

[vtgrrrs]

OK, quick update. I've used the Lunchbox everyday at least once and it's had i'ts fair share of crashes/scrapes due to me learning to drive it and the large amount of concrete terrain where I've driven it. Looks like this now:

Still looks fine unless you begin to get a bit closer.

First up the fiddly rear axle springs/stabilisers snapped, so until I do the 3rd shock mod I used some rubber tubing left from the original suspension. Already this has helped stabilise the handling! Pic below. The top arrow shows the tube and the bottom one shows the location of where the other one is (although not visible). Not totally clear I know.

One of the panels got scraped but has been touched up and with the little help of a small 'Lunchbox' sticker you can't tell. However, whilst doing that repair I got some paint on the already scraped clear window. I painted these black but they look slightly crazed although you can't really tell until you are really close. the window frame on both sides has been slightly knocked too.

Also, the rear bumber has been scraped and lost some chrome but nothing major.

Obviously I'm enjoying it and looking forward to my next model. Quite fancy another starter model, this time a buggy - the Rising Fighter - to cut my teeth on.

[twisty]

You did great with the build on the lunchy,don`t be afraid of scratching it,these things are built to be used and abused

I would recomend more of a challenge than the rising fighter though,how about something retro like a frog? or a 4x4 buggy?

Or if you are going to beat it,they don`t come much tougher than a Hornet although very similar build to the lunchy as is the Rising Fighter.

[vtgrrrs]

Another (minor) update. I was fed up with scratching and damaging my origignal shell and still wanted it 'new' looking, so I've decided to get a new shell solely for display purposes. Got it all painted and detailed today.

The original shell I will of course use for bashing. Unless it breaks completelyr I doubt the other one will get used (in which case I'll buy another spare).

Also, I still haven't got round to using a '3rd shock' as i'm quite happy with the rubber inserts I've used. Just need to decide which buggy to get next.

Pics

1. New shiny shell

2. New shiny shell (again)

3, New with old. (old one can also be seen in previous posts)

[spencertrax]

Nice truck, I love mine as well. Can you provide anymore info on your rubber suspension mod. I'm in the same boat wanting to make a third shock mod to mine when I locate one.

[vtgrrrs]

Hi, yeah the info is just in the posts above. I've circled the areas where I've put it. You know the rubber bits you put on the original suspension? Well I had enough length to cut up and secure in the cavity on either side where those fiddly springs go. It's not perfect but for the purposes of bashing it's fine and in my opinion has definitely improved the handling over standard.

[VinceVegaUK]

Glad your having fun, nice job on the build.

i love mine too, check it out here!

CLICK HERE

A future tip for some cool touches to your paint job is after a few coats of undercoat brush in the shut lines and bonnet vents with black enamel, then sand off the splurges around the edges so you have clean lines then when you spray over it in yellow subtle darker shut lines show through giving you some nice detail. I also used coach line tabe about 15mm wide to create the window frame details.

Here it is doing some super slow mo jumps.

CLICK HERE

Dont worry about it getting bashed you can always buy cheap spares and thrashing it about is all the fun not just half . You will pull wheelies, scratch ya rear bumper, flip it on its roof, roll it on its side, bounce it off its wheels and bend an arm, fill it up with sand then rebuild it and clean it out, im tempted to put my 9t brushless in it

Deffo do the 3rd/5th shock mod my pin springs snapped in about 5 seconds

CLICK HERE

Happy bashing and admire that baby on your shelf when your back in from a blast in the wet and cold .

Later

VV