Jet Hopper - England / Uk Version Box

[Live Steam Mad 17]

Hi, I just bought a Jet Hopper off Ebay, in excellent condition (new body, new front tyres, new rear tyres), but it's apparently the German version (importer Dickie 's version apparently, I don't know if their box is the same as the UK version ?).

[EDIT: later on I found out that the Dickie version of this item has a white box and has Dickie on the box and on the literature that comes with it, see picture on page 2]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=320336944945

I was wondering please what does the box of the UK version of this look like? Has anyone got a NIB or nice condition UK version with original box that they could take some nice quality high res. pictures of please?

I have good memories of being in Toy and Hobby in St.Helens, NW England with my friend Andrew in about 1987 or so, looking at these Jet Hoppers with great interest, I seem to remember asking Andy what is 27 Kmh in MPH as it said " 27 Km/h " on a sticker on the body as I remember (even on the UK version, where it seems no British person has a clue what Kilometres is or means LOL). I also seem to remember the push up and to the right function on it's transmitter (for the Turbo ) , but my pal H. in Australia seems to think it's only on MK2 Jet Hoppers (the ones with the 9.6V and flat profile rear tyres), and it may have been a Nikko car that I was remembering that function about, whereas this Jet Hopper Turbo is made by Taiyo of course ( Tyco in USA ).

I'll post some pictures here when I get it, and also some links to the 4 TV commercials for the Jet Hopper ( Turbo Hopper in USA ) series of buggies.

If H. gives me permission I will post his pictures of his own Turbo Hopper here. I'll have to go ask him.

In the meantime, help on the above box issue would be very welcome As is typical of my memory I cannot recall for the life of me what the UK box version looks like?

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[Live Steam Mad 17]

Here are some pic's of my newly arrived Jet Hopper Turbo ;-

Goodness it's CUTE!!!

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[Live Steam Mad 17]

More pics!

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Yet more pic's.

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Yet more...

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And more...

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And more.

Next : the box.

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Box insides ;-

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Controller.

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Body clip, and red light on body shell on left hand side which lights up to indicate power on, and a view of the underside of the car.

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Misc. parts which came in a little bag. Anyone know what these are?

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Box.

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Now for a few observations about this little buggy!

Firstly the thing is TINY! At least that was the overwhelming first impression when I opened the box. I couldn't help but just simply think "Is that IT?!" - I thought at first that I had been conned and it was a different version or toddler's toy version of the Jet Hopper! But it was the real thing! The problem is that when I was 15 or so I was small in relation to others and to my size now, and the car seemed to be nice and big. Funny how the child like mind can play tricks on you

After I got over the initial shock I then suddenly noticed the colour. THE CURSED THING IS ORANGE !!! I thought it was red. Again, my memory of the buggy was so old as to be a little unreliable. Another shock This was when viewing in the afternoon under daylight that was coming in through the windows.

[EDIT: later on I found out from others that the body is supposed to be only RED. Yet when I look at the decals and also the underneath of the body, I find no evidence for any over exposure of the body to sunlight. Weird. Unless I have a rare version which was orange from the factory!!! ]

Then I tried putting some alkaline cells into it and got my 3rd shock of the day. THE CAR WOULD HARDLY MOVE!! What the heck! Even on kitchen lino. the buggy would hardly crawl forwards even in low gear

So far it was NOT looking good.

Then I noticed that the body said 027 as in 27MHz , but the chassis was actually 49MHz! Then I looked in the shipping carton and there was the spare black body with 359 written on it! So this buggy was originally a 49MHz black one but someone has replaced the body, and replaced the front bumper, and replaced the front and rear tyres! OK I can live with that I think. The black body had 1 light broken off and was a bit used and scuffed. That'll be my runner.

I went and put NiMH cells into it and wow what a difference. Now the buggy would go forwards reasonably on thick carpet in high gear. Acceleration was quite brisk in low gear. Enough to look like it was wearing the spikes. So I stopped immediately and left running the car until I get a well used chassis. This chassis has a few scratches under the gearbox but nowhere else.

The reason for the better performance on NiMH even though the voltage is lower, is because of the very low internal resistance of NiMH cells compared to Alkaline cells, Alkaline AA cells struggle to give out more than about 0.5A without a very significant VOLT DROP due to their very high (comparatively) internal resistance.

Steering servo saver on this car is unbelievably weak. There is NO DIFFERENTIAL . Then I noticed that it does NOT steer when standing still. Only when moving. This immediately reminded me of my Corgi mini-METRO and then the penny dropped - TAIYO MADE THE MINI-METRO as well!!

Worryingly the car glitched by itself a couple of times when the TX was switched off. Good news is the TX runs on a 8.4V NiMH block well.

The buggy is 1/16th scale, and about 5/8 the length of a Grasshopper. It is a cross between the Grasshopper and the Hornet, just miniaturised. By that I mean it has not got the rolling (swivelling) rear axle of the Hornet, but has the same style rear tyres as The Hornet. The rear suspension and gearbox "hinge'ing" is just like the Grasshopper. The suspension has no oil dampers. The front suspensions has loads of travel, and bumpsteer. The rear suspension has not so much travel. The 280 (NOT 380) sized motor is a bit of a weed and I will eventually be upgrading a runner of this car with a 280 sized brushless with low turns and decent ESC and sub-C cells (?) and a powerful servo and servo saver! And proportional radio of course. The stock car's radio is non proportional. Which SUCKS.

This car has NO " Turbo " function that I can see. Maybe I am missing something?! Oh yeah, the MANUAL!! Can someone please scan the manual for me?!

The rear tyres are unbelievably cute, just like small Hornet tyres. Excellent. Front and rear tyres are semi-pneumatic (hollow). There is a red light shown above on the car that glows when it's powered on. The switch is on the right hand side under the cockpit. There is no driver figure (anyone care to suggest one that would fit? The space allowable for a driver is 45mm long x 62mm wide). Thinking about it the driver would have to be 1/16 scale to both fit and also to look correct. A future project!!

It was only when I started to take photo's of the body that I realised that in my PHOTO's it looks red, but in reality it is bright orange! Well OK maybe not orange but red-orange. Under artificial light (energy saver bulb) it looks more red which is more gratifying to me. I just hope that I haven't got a body from a bad batch (wrong colour)?!

I see that the box does not seem to have anything to do with Dickie whatsoever, unlike the seller claimed. No mention of any German importer or the word Dickie anywhere. In fact I just checked and the box has only English and French, and no German on it, even though it came from a seller in Germany. I can only assume that the UK version was actually in this box! Unless someone else can show me otherwise (I'd like to know please). The Taiyo logo is on the box and controller, product no. on the box is 8635-27 . Maybe this car was from before RIKO got in on the act and rebadged it and changed the box later on (JH2) ?

The box says 27MHz but the car on the box says 204 , compared with the USA version which says 027 on it like my own car. The " SAYS " decals on my car are black instead of red like the ones on the box and on the USA version. USA version says " Turbo Hopper ", mine says " Jet Hopper Turbo ". The side window netting is only on 1 side of the car (I panicked for a while before I realised that the other one had not snapped off, it just didn't exist )

Under the car it says " TAIYO " " RADIO CONTROL " and " Made in Singapore ". Also there is a twiddler (!!) to correct the tracking of the car (left or right).

The box is in quite good condition, as is the packaging. Shame that the manual / booklet / other sheets are missing. Oh well. High res. scans of them would be appreciated if anyone has them

All in all a very nice model.

I was tempted to run it outside in my garden on my self made Off Road track (small) but I'll wait for a well used one for that.

I can't stop staring at the little buggy though, it's an awesome "toy". Only waited 19 years 10 months for it! I'll be 35 in 2 months.

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[twisty 8]

Ha ha,brilliant Alistair,i think you need to change yer user name to Jet Hopper Mad lol

[TA-Mark 195]

They are so cute! Like a mini Hornet that drives like a stock Grasshopper.

The turbo function should happen when you press very hard on the throttle. The one my brother had broke the stick because you had to push so hard. The turbo function cuts out when you steer. Similar Nikko buggys would turbo and steer at the same time. The Nikkos also had a diff and not a solid axle like the Jet Hopper, made the Nikko far easier to drive and faster around a curcuit, Hopper was quicker in a straight line.

Castle sidewinder micro combo works great in these (lowest Kv), the motor takes a bit of mounting as the old fixings no longer work with the newer motor (I fitted an alloy plate to the inside of the gearbox half for the motor to mount to). Pinion that matches the motor shaft and tooth pitch of the spur can be difficult to find too (I raided a brass one from another broken toy). Micro-RS4 brushed motors are a good option if you want to stay brushed, the stock radio board will struggle to power it though. Fill the standard battery compartment with Ni-MH 2500mAh AA's and they offer heaps of power and 1hr runtimes on 1:18 radio gear. The original setup was not supplying the full 9.6v to the motor like the 1:18 set will, you will be shocked at the difference. Sub-C's would add unnecessary weight and be difficult to fit. It doesn't take much to remove the original steering 'servo' and mount a high torque 1:18 number. 1:18 ball ends and shafts take out most of the steering slop. You will never need to switch the gearbox to 'H' with 1:18 radio gear and motor, it's too fast on 'L'. I wouldn't change a shelf quality example of a Hopper to 1:18 radio gear, only to a used/abused one, they are getting rare in perfect condition.

I have my brother's old Jet Hopper now but I think it's past the point where it can be rebuilt (anger management issues when the batteries went flat on him after 15min... and the old 'overnight to charge' before your next run). So I'm after a better one too. Black preferably. The red body does fade alot in sunlight, I have a busted red body and the wing had been away and the body was on display. The wing is dark red and the body almost burnt orange. Hard to believe they are from the same car.

I've already modded up my old Nikko with 1:18/1:10 gear and it's great fun to drive, way better than original form and well worth the effort. I have the Mini-JetHoppers too, areo and regular. The mini's have no front suspension and magnetic steering and are about 1:20 scale (these will get hobby class 1:18 radio gear one-day too).

49mhz? My black one is 40mhz. Crystal is soldered to the board.

Sadly the box from my brother's has long since been thrown out and the instructions I remember seeing (a bit torn and tatty) but can't recall in which box in my parents storage shed. I've seen perfect examples here in showrooms so someone here must have a good quality copy of the instructions.

They were an icon of many's 80's teen years, looked like a Tamiya but affordable.

Fingers crossed the one I'm trying to buy at the moment will end up on my workbench

Cheers n thanks for sharing, Mark

[Live Steam Mad 17]

@twisty, you're very right, should change my TC name. However I'm registered on a lot of other sites with the same name!

They are so cute! Like a mini Hornet that drives like a stock Grasshopper.

The turbo function should happen when you press very hard on the throttle. The one my brother had broke the stick because you had to push so hard. The turbo function cuts out when you steer. Similar Nikko buggys would turbo and steer at the same time. The Nikkos also had a diff and not a solid axle like the Jet Hopper, made the Nikko far easier to drive and faster around a curcuit, Hopper was quicker in a straight line.

Castle sidewinder micro combo works great in these (lowest Kv), the motor takes a bit of mounting as the old fixings no longer work with the newer motor (I fitted an alloy plate to the inside of the gearbox half for the motor to mount to). Pinion that matches the motor shaft and tooth pitch of the spur can be difficult to find too (I raided a brass one from another broken toy). Micro-RS4 brushed motors are a good option if you want to stay brushed, the stock radio board will struggle to power it though. Fill the standard battery compartment with Ni-MH 2500mAh AA's and they offer heaps of power and 1hr runtimes on 1:18 radio gear. The original setup was not supplying the full 9.6v to the motor like the 1:18 set will, you will be shocked at the difference. Sub-C's would add unnecessary weight and be difficult to fit. It doesn't take much to remove the original steering 'servo' and mount a high torque 1:18 number. 1:18 ball ends and shafts take out most of the steering slop. You will never need to switch the gearbox to 'H' with 1:18 radio gear and motor, it's too fast on 'L'. I wouldn't change a shelf quality example of a Hopper to 1:18 radio gear, only to a used/abused one, they are getting rare in perfect condition.

I have my brother's old Jet Hopper now but I think it's past the point where it can be rebuilt (anger management issues when the batteries went flat on him after 15min... and the old 'overnight to charge' before your next run). So I'm after a better one too. Black preferably. The red body does fade alot in sunlight, I have a busted red body and the wing had been away and the body was on display. The wing is dark red and the body almost burnt orange. Hard to believe they are from the same car.

I've already modded up my old Nikko with 1:18/1:10 gear and it's great fun to drive, way better than original form and well worth the effort. I have the Mini-JetHoppers too, areo and regular. The mini's have no front suspension and magnetic steering and are about 1:20 scale (these will get hobby class 1:18 radio gear one-day too).

49mhz? My black one is 40mhz. Crystal is soldered to the board.

Sadly the box from my brother's has long since been thrown out and the instructions I remember seeing (a bit torn and tatty) but can't recall in which box in my parents storage shed. I've seen perfect examples here in showrooms so someone here must have a good quality copy of the instructions.

They were an icon of many's 80's teen years, looked like a Tamiya but affordable.

Fingers crossed the one I'm trying to buy at the moment will end up on my workbench

Cheers n thanks for sharing, Mark

Well I'll be darned. You're right. I wasn't pushing hard enough on the spring loaded stick (fnarr). Now I've got the Turbo function! Yeah, now we're motorin'!

Woah the acceleration is much better now in high gear on carpet. I didn't try the Turbo in low gear for fear of wearing the spikes. Like I say I need a runner chassis for that (I'm casually on the look out for one LOL). I can see how someone could break the stick, you have to press quite aggressively on it (for a TX, that is). Yes the Turbo cut out when I steered, you're right.

I was looking at the motor and ESC you suggested at ;-

http://www.castlecreations.com/products/si...nder_micro.html

Is the ESC a " double tap " type, i.e. where you pull back for brakes, and you can hold the stick there and the car just slows down briskly and then stops and just sits there, then you put the stick back to neutral, and pull back a second time and only then does it reverse ? (Like the Tamiya TEU-302BK ESC and the Futaba MC330CR ESC).

If so I would be interested in it. Let me know.

What brand and exact model of steering servo did you fit, and which brand / part number / buggy model for the ball ends? What modifications were needed to be able to fit the steering servo in and fix it down properly to stop it moving?

Don't worry I won't be altering this 'Hopper, only a well used one.

BTW under my blue coloured bulb (" daylight " bulb) in my bedroom, my 'Hopper looked distinctly orange-red. I looked underneath the shell and it's exactly the same shade of colour there as well. I don't think it was put in the Sun? Decals look non faded? But it's hard to tell for sure?

How kids ever used these with alkaline cells is beyond me!

Yes, mine is indeed 49MHz. Which is legal in UK for low powered equipment <10mW as I recall ;-

http://www.fai.org/aeromodelling/system/fi...uencies_GBR.pdf

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[TA-Mark 195]

Well I'll be darned. You're right. I wasn't pushing hard enough on the spring loaded stick (fnarr). Now I've got the Turbo function! Yeah, now we're motorin'!

Woah the acceleration is much better now in high gear on carpet. I didn't try the Turbo in low gear for fear of wearing the spikes. Like I say I need a runner chassis for that (I'm casually on the look out for one LOL). I can see how someone could break the stick, you have to press quite aggressively on it (for a TX, that is). Yes the Turbo cut out when I steered, you're right.

I was looking at the motor and ESC you suggested at ;-

http://www.castlecreations.com/products/si...nder_micro.html

Is the ESC a " double tap " type, i.e. where you pull back for brakes, and you can hold the stick there and the car just slows down briskly and then stops and just sits there, then you put the stick back to neutral, and pull back a second time and only then does it reverse ? (Like the Tamiya TEU-302BK ESC and the Futaba MC330CR ESC).

If so I would be interested in it. Let me know.

The ESC is fully programmable on the PC (Sidewinder needs a Castle PC Link set), you can set it to be either the way you want (default, how all car esc's should be, neutral for a second before reverse will engage) or you can set it to boat (forward <-> reverse). You can also tame it down some if you think it's being a bit harsh on the 'toy' gearbox. I run mine on about 7/8 power, still silly fast for pogo stick dampers. Taming it makes the runtime even longer. You can adjust the braking power, light cars don't need the same brakes as a heavy car, same with 2WD vs 4WD. 2WD will lock the rear wheels if you can't adjust the braking power. You can also adjust how much thump the motor will have when you slam the throttle on hard.

What brand and exact model of steering servo did you fit, and which brand / part number / buggy model for the ball ends? What modifications were needed to be able to fit the steering servo in and fix it down properly to stop it moving?

I used a normal Futaba S3003 in the Nikko, it's huge in a 1:16! Better would be the likes of a Hi-Tec HS-81 (What I've been using in my 1:12 boats and 1:16/1:18 cars lately) Go for the metal gear version. I have been using balls and ball ends from HPI Micro-RS4, these are getting hard to find though. 4mm balls are the size. Most hobby shops that sell plane gear will have a selection of balls/ball ends and threaded rods. Servo saver I'm also using the Micro-RS4 hopup ones. AE RC18B/T would have useful parts, maybe even raid parts from tamtech buggy hopups. Grasshopper uses 4mm balls too I think.

Mounting the servo can be fun. On the Nikko I cut very neatly so the chassis actually clamps it in place and there is nothing else holding it there. You could make a plastic or alloy bracket to screw to the tub for the servo to screw to. Old toys are very useful to cut sections of plastic from to make new parts. The bracket that holds that spare tyre on my Grasshopper was once part of a talking doll. Bit of a hack and chop with the dremel and you'd never know where the part came from.

BTW under my blue coloured bulb (" daylight " bulb) in my bedroom, my 'Hopper looked distinctly orange-red. I looked underneath the shell and it's exactly the same shade of colour there as well. I don't think it was put in the Sun? Decals look non faded? But it's hard to tell for sure?

The one I had on display was never left in direct sunlight (running only), not even what you would call a bright room. In direct sunlight it would take a week to fade to red-orange here.

How kids ever used these with alkaline cells is beyond me!

650mAh AA Ni-CDs were just as bad... LOL And the charger took 14 hours.

Yes, mine is indeed 49MHz. Which is legal in UK for low powered equipment <10mW as I recall ;-

A first for me, never seen anything RC on 49mhz before.

Shows the neat cut for the servo.

Cheers, Mark

[Live Steam Mad 17]

The ESC is fully programmable on the PC (Sidewinder needs a Castle PC Link set), you can set it to be either the way you want (default, how all car esc's should be, neutral for a second before reverse will engage) or you can set it to boat (forward <-> reverse).

Sorry but I didn't quite understand. Are you saying it can do the " double tap " type of control as I described above? From your description it seems like it can only do the " reverse delay " type of control i.e. where you pull back for brakes, and you can hold the stick there and the car slows down briskly and then stops or almost stops, and waits for 1 second, and then goes straight into reverse ?

If it only does the reverse delay control then this is like a racing speed controller (like my Novak Rooster etc.) and is not what I wanted, I wanted the double tap type (wish there was a name for it in the industry).

You can also tame it down some if you think it's being a bit harsh on the 'toy' gearbox. I run mine on about 7/8 power, still silly fast for pogo stick dampers. Taming it makes the runtime even longer. You can adjust the braking power, light cars don't need the same brakes as a heavy car, same with 2WD vs 4WD. 2WD will lock the rear wheels if you can't adjust the braking power.

So are you saying that the brakes are really powerful on this ESC when used with a 'Hopper? i.e. have you used one of these motors and ESC's in a 'Hopper yet? If so that's great, I find that my TEU-302BK ESC has noticeably better brakes than my Futaba MC330CR, they are quite acceptable for the average 1/10 car. Tamiya's TEU-101BK ESC and my Carson ECO27 have terrible brakes even on my Grasshopper!

You can also adjust how much thump the motor will have when you slam the throttle on hard.

I used a normal Futaba S3003 in the Nikko, it's huge in a 1:16!

Erm did you modify a 'Hopper yet? I ask as you replied here regarding the Nikko and I was asking about the 'Hopper as that's what I plan to modify. If so, which brand and exact model of servo did you put into the Turbo Hopper?

I was looking into this and it would seem that the Hitec HS65MG servo is a good choice. A 1/10 scale servo is 1.59" x 0.77" x 1.44" (40.4 x 19.6 x 36.6mm), and a 1/18 scale servo like the HS65MG seems to be around 0.92" x 0.45" x 0.94" (23.4 x 11.4 x 23.9mm). HS65MG has 1.8Kgcm/2.2kgcm (25/31oz.in.)(4.8/6V) output (compared to 3/3.7Kgcm(42/51oz.in)(4.8/6V) for a normal 1/10 servo, 7.7/9.6kgcm(107/133oz.in.)(4.8/6V) for a high torque 1/10 servo). HS65MG has metal gears, ball raced output, and 0.11/0.14sec./60deg.(4.8/6V) speed compared to 0.15/0.19sec./60deg.(4.8/6V) for a standard 1/10 servo. HS65MG costs about 19 GBP.

With the choice of motor that you mentioned (Castle Creations Micro), can you confirm for me that the car can wheelspin a lot in the dirt under acceleration, when used in your Jet / Turbo Hopper? I want plenty power!

>I have been using balls and ball ends from HPI Micro-RS4, these are getting hard to find though. 4mm balls are the size. Most hobby shops that sell plane gear will have a selection of balls/ball ends and threaded rods. Servo saver I'm also using the Micro-RS4 hopup ones. AE RC18B/T would have useful parts, maybe even raid parts from tamtech buggy hopups. Grasshopper uses 4mm balls too I think.

I think 4mm ball ends would look overscale?

>Mounting the servo can be fun. On the Nikko I cut very neatly so the chassis actually clamps it in place and there is nothing else holding it there. You could make a plastic or alloy bracket to screw to the tub for the servo to screw to. Old toys are very useful to cut sections of plastic from to make new parts. The bracket that holds that spare tyre on my Grasshopper was once part of a talking doll. Bit of a hack and chop with the dremel and you'd never know where the part came from.

Did you put a servo in the 'Hopper yet? If so, what modifications were needed? Got any pic's?

A TC member did " Project Speed Hopper " here, a great effort, and I hope to do something similar ;-

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...7&cid=64650

I have e-mailed the guy for more info. and I'll post here anything that may be useful to budding 'Hopper Hop-uppers .

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[TA-Mark 195]

Sorry but I didn't quite understand. Are you saying it can do the " double tap " type of control as I described above? From your description it seems like it can only do the " reverse delay " type of control i.e. where you pull back for brakes, and you can hold the stick there and the car slows down briskly and then stops or almost stops, and waits for 1 second, and then goes straight into reverse ?

If it only does the reverse delay control then this is like a racing speed controller (like my Novak Rooster etc.) and is not what I wanted, I wanted the double tap type (wish there was a name for it in the industry).

So are you saying that the brakes are really powerful on this ESC when used with a 'Hopper? i.e. have you used one of these motors and ESC's in a 'Hopper yet? If so that's great, I find that my TEU-302BK ESC has noticeably better brakes than my Futaba MC330CR, they are quite acceptable for the average 1/10 car. Tamiya's TEU-101BK ESC and my Carson ECO27 have terrible brakes even on my Grasshopper!

Ewww!! Glad I've never wasted my money on a Novak then... I would have been very annoyed with a reverse like that. I almost bought a Super Rooster when I bought my PC No-Limit many years ago.

When you hold brakes on hard on the transmitter with any of the Castle car ESCs the brakes are locked on solid even after the car has come to a complete stop. Keeping it held will keep the brakes on until the pack goes flat. You must relax the brake back to neutral, leave it in neutral for a second then try for reverse. Better than the TEU-101BK which will sometimes go straight from forward to reverse on me if I wasn't braking very hard. If you 'double tap' on this it will still be brakes, it must pause in the neutral trigger position with the car not moving before it will engage reverse. Safest reverse lock out I've encountered (And it needs to be with the power it can generate).

Racing is meant to be reverse disabled. (Which the Castle car ESCs also do).

The brakes can be very powerful or they can be soft. You have 1% increments you can adjust it in from 1% to 100%. 100% will lock the wheels very easily. Better brakes than any other ESC I've used when turned right up.

There is also a drag brake setting so the brushless that has no magnetic 'lop' will simulate a brushed motor's magnetic drag. Adjustable in 1% increments from 0% to 100% (I leave this off as I like the roll on effect which is more like a nitro clutch).

Reverse power is also adjustable in 1% increments from 1% to 100%, I usually set this to about 65% to save gearboxes with brushless motors (If I plugged a tuned brushed I would turn it up as the motor is weaker in reverse).

Punch control is adjustable in 1% increments from 0% to 100%. With 100% of the punch leached away it is more gentle on a gearbox than a silvercan is, turned off and it's as violent as the cells can supply Amps (Break dogbones and crack gearboxes amounts of punch).

Every setting you can think of they have covered in these ESCs. And so easy to set with the PC software. It will also power brushed motors (Tie the white wire out of the way leaving the red/black and set it to brushed mode in the software). All the settings in the 1:18 Micro systems are the same as the MambaMax 1:10 systems and MMM 1:8 systems.

Erm did you modify a 'Hopper yet? I ask as you replied here regarding the Nikko and I was asking about the 'Hopper as that's what I plan to modify. If so, which brand and exact model of servo did you put into the Turbo Hopper?

I did say the one I have is past it. The one I'm trying to buy the seller has not returned my email. There is little difference between the 2 cars, gearbox layout and steering layout is the same, battery layout is the same. Only real difference is trailing arm vs wishbone front suspension and a bevel gear diff centre in the rear of the Nikko (It's still a solid axle shaft between the 2 rear wheels) and both are the same width and wheelbase. I have done other 'toy RCs' with 1:18 radio gear. All are the same mods too. I've even done these mods to a Scalextric slotcar and made it RC, which is a little more involving as you need to make front suspension and steering from nothing as well. RC 'Slotcar' Video.

I was looking into this and it would seem that the Hitec HS65MG servo is a good choice. A 1/10 scale servo is 1.59" x 0.77" x 1.44" (40.4 x 19.6 x 36.6mm), and a 1/18 scale servo like the HS65MG seems to be around 0.92" x 0.45" x 0.94" (23.4 x 11.4 x 23.9mm). HS65MG has 1.8Kgcm/2.2kgcm (25/31oz.in.)(4.8/6V) output (compared to 3/3.7Kgcm(42/51oz.in)(4.8/6V) for a normal 1/10 servo, 7.7/9.6kgcm(107/133oz.in.)(4.8/6V) for a high torque 1/10 servo). HS65MG has metal gears, ball raced output, and 0.11/0.14sec./60deg.(4.8/6V) speed compared to 0.15/0.19sec./60deg.(4.8/6V) for a standard 1/10 servo. HS65MG costs about 19 GBP.

The HS65MG sounds like a good servo too, The HS81's (1:18) I've been using have been upto the task, there's not much weight in the front end of these 1:16 buggys. 1:10 servos are far too big and you need to remove their 'ears' to fit and they are excessively heavy for a 1:16.

With the choice of motor that you mentioned (Castle Creations Micro), can you confirm for me that the car can wheelspin a lot in the dirt under acceleration, when used in your Jet / Turbo Hopper? I want plenty power!

You will get sick of trying to find replacement tyres they will spin so much. Is why I tune mine down some. Forget dirt... It will light them up on tarmac without a problem tearing the knobs off, wheelstand on carpet where it can get traction. Think 3 times the speed it is now and 5 times the power or more. You will quickly learn to not pull full throttle like you are used to with brushed motors, instead easing the power in still with masses of wheelspin... or tame the ESC with the PC software to sensible levels to match the chassis.

I've seen these micro combos fitted to 1:10 TT01s and it's faster than a silvercan with more acceleration. (There's a video of it on youtube too).

I think 4mm ball ends would look overscale?

They do a little. There's not many alternatives smaller and it's better than the piece of wire they have bent around with the plastic clip.

Did you put a servo in the 'Hopper yet? If so, what modifications were needed? Got any pic's?

Not to a Jet Hopper. Mine is beyond considering doing. Done many others similar. Again, it's the same mod on each.

A TC member did " Project Speed Hopper " here, a great effort, and I hope to do something similar ;-

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...7&cid=64650

I have e-mailed the guy for more info. and I'll post here anything that may be useful to budding 'Hopper Hop-uppers .

Not much different there to what I've done to the Nikko and others. And he's only gone 6 cell AA. The original radio board only uses 5 of the cells to power the motor (6.0v) (follow the wiring). The 3 remaining cells would always be 1/2 discharged when the 5 main ones were total exhausted. When you rewire the battery box into the ESC it uses all 9.6v for the motor, this is a huge difference in power and speed alone.

Wish this guy would email me back so I can do it specificly to a Hopper and show you, and film it running. I might do the mods to the 'good bits' I have so that when I do get a decent one it's only a matter of attaching my modded parts and rewiring the battery holder. My brother didn't leave much of his Hopper with his anger problems. So I'll have to see what is usable.

Cheers, Mark

[Live Steam Mad 17]

Before I forget here are the TV commercials for the Tyco Turbo Hoppers ;-

http://www.x-entertainment.com/thanksgivin...7/commercials1/

I have 4 of them ;-

1) Original Turbo Hopper

2) 9.6V rechargeable Turbo Hopper (flat profile rear tyres)

3) Aero Turbo Hopper

4) Racing Hopper

I'll YouTube up these into my account when I get a minute.

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[Rayman011 0]

I love the Metro offerings too. Check out my showroom for Jet Hoppers, Bullets, Aero Phantoms etc. http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom.asp?id=15762

[Live Steam Mad 17]

Ewww!! Glad I've never wasted my money on a Novak then... I would have been very annoyed with a reverse like that. I almost bought a Super Rooster when I bought my PC No-Limit many years ago.

When you hold brakes on hard on the transmitter with any of the Castle car ESCs the brakes are locked on solid even after the car has come to a complete stop. Keeping it held will keep the brakes on until the pack goes flat. You must relax the brake back to neutral, leave it in neutral for a second then try for reverse. Better than the TEU-101BK which will sometimes go straight from forward to reverse on me if I wasn't braking very hard. If you 'double tap' on this it will still be brakes, it must pause in the neutral trigger position with the car not moving before it will engage reverse. Safest reverse lock out I've encountered (And it needs to be with the power it can generate).

Racing is meant to be reverse disabled. (Which the Castle car ESCs also do).

Now that sounds really excellent, good to hear that it is how I would like it to be.

The brakes can be very powerful or they can be soft. You have 1% increments you can adjust it in from 1% to 100%. 100% will lock the wheels very easily. Better brakes than any other ESC I've used when turned right up.

Excellent, exactly what I want, very good brakes, sounds wonderful.

>There is also a drag brake setting so the brushless that has no magnetic 'lop' will simulate a brushed motor's magnetic drag. Adjustable in 1% increments from 0% to 100% (I leave this off as I like the roll on effect which is more like a nitro clutch).

Reverse power is also adjustable in 1% increments from 1% to 100%, I usually set this to about 65% to save gearboxes with brushless motors (If I plugged a tuned brushed I would turn it up as the motor is weaker in reverse).

Punch control is adjustable in 1% increments from 0% to 100%. With 100% of the punch leached away it is more gentle on a gearbox than a silvercan is, turned off and it's as violent as the cells can supply Amps (Break dogbones and crack gearboxes amounts of punch).

Sounds great!

>Every setting you can think of they have covered in these ESCs. And so easy to set with the PC software. It will also power brushed motors (Tie the white wire out of the way leaving the red/black and set it to brushed mode in the software). All the settings in the 1:18 Micro systems are the same as the MambaMax 1:10 systems and MMM 1:8 systems.

Nice!

>I did say the one I have is past it. The one I'm trying to buy the seller has not returned my email.

Ahh, I hear you.

> There is little difference between the 2 cars, gearbox layout and steering layout is the same, battery layout is the same. Only real difference is trailing arm vs wishbone front suspension and a bevel gear diff centre in the rear of the Nikko (It's still a solid axle shaft between the 2 rear wheels) and both are the same width and wheelbase. I have done other 'toy RCs' with 1:18 radio gear. All are the same mods too. I've even done these mods to a Scalextric slotcar and made it RC, which is a little more involving as you need to make front suspension and steering from nothing as well. RC 'Slotcar' Video.

The HS65MG sounds like a good servo too, The HS81's (1:18) I've been using have been upto the task, there's not much weight in the front end of these 1:16 buggys. 1:10 servos are far too big and you need to remove their 'ears' to fit and they are excessively heavy for a 1:16.

Good point.

>You will get sick of trying to find replacement tyres they will spin so much. Is why I tune mine down some. Forget dirt... It will light them up on tarmac without a problem tearing the knobs off, wheelstand on carpet where it can get traction. Think 3 times the speed it is now and 5 times the power or more. You will quickly learn to not pull full throttle like you are used to with brushed motors, instead easing the power in still with masses of wheelspin... or tame the ESC with the PC software to sensible levels to match the chassis.

Great!

>I've seen these micro combos fitted to 1:10 TT01s and it's faster than a silvercan with more acceleration. (There's a video of it on youtube too).

>They do a little. There's not many alternatives smaller and it's better than the piece of wire they have bent around with the plastic clip.

>Not to a Jet Hopper. Mine is beyond considering doing.

I see.

> Done many others similar. Again, it's the same mod on each.

>Not much different there to what I've done to the Nikko and others. And he's only gone 6 cell AA. The original radio board only uses 5 of the cells to power the motor (6.0v) (follow the wiring). The 3 remaining cells would always be 1/2 discharged when the 5 main ones were total exhausted. When you rewire the battery box into the ESC it uses all 9.6v for the motor, this is a huge difference in power and speed alone.

Interesting!

>Wish this guy would email me back so I can do it specificly to a Hopper and show you, and film it running.

COOL , Yes please! Would love to see this!

> I might do the mods to the 'good bits' I have so that when I do get a decent one it's only a matter of attaching my modded parts and rewiring the battery holder. My brother didn't leave much of his Hopper with his anger problems. So I'll have to see what is usable.

Thanks for all the great, useful information Mark! It is appreciated.

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[Live Steam Mad 17]

I've even done these mods to a Scalextric slotcar and made it RC, which is a little more involving as you need to make front suspension and steering from nothing as well. RC 'Slotcar' Video.

Cheers, Mark

I had a look at that video Mark. Most impressive.

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[Live Steam Mad 17]

Right, that's the first (i.e. the Original ) Jet Hopper ( Turbo Hopper ) TV advert / commercial / promotional video uploaded. I had to boost the gamma.

Tip: If you want to download these, first make sure they are in HQ (unfortunately some could not be HQ'ed as the source was under 640 x 480 ) , then use Firefox 3 and Download Helper (a free add-on) and download the MP4 and then convert it in AVIDEMUX (also free), to DVD-R. Use MPEG-PS (program stream) A+V, video : DVD (Lavc), resize 720 x 480, bicubic resize if possible (add a filter to do this, easy, they are all internal and installed ready to use). Sound : AC3, 2 channels, 48KHz (384Kbps). Then load into Nero Vision Express and the Nero smart encoder will pick it up without recompression and burn it straight onto NTSC DVD (29.97 FPS). Some however are at 30.00 FPS and are a complete nightmare to deal with.

I'll upload the others as I get a mo. to convert them.

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[Live Steam Mad 17]

That's all the Jet Hopper TV commercials uploaded. Some have had quite a lot of video processing applied to optimize them as the source quality was less than I would have liked. These are the best versions that I have of them.

If anyone has any better versions, please let me know .

Cheers,

Alistair G.