BOWIETJE 0 Posted September 27, 2009 My Wild Willy has stand on a shelf for allmost 2 years. Today, sunday 27 september, I had decided to go driving with it. After a nice ride through sand the white resistors began to smoke and there was a burning smell. I took all electrical (accu, batteries) out inmediatly. After a cool down I hooked it all back up again and all was well. Is this normal??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
terry.sc 16 Posted September 27, 2009 It's not normal and is caused by running it on slow speeds. When it isn't running at top speed the power not used goes through the resistor and turned into heat. When you use it at full speed most of the time the power doesn't go through the resistors, so they don't get hot. If you are using full throttle most of the time and the resistors still get hot then the reason then speed control isn't moving all the way to full speed and it needs adjusting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WW-nut 0 Posted September 28, 2009 And if it gets hot again, whip the body off as the resistors may start to melt it....... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
berman 5315 Posted September 28, 2009 And if it gets hot again, whip the body off as the resistors may start to melt it....... I try to avoid threads on the topic of this car for fear of it getting taken out of context and ending up in the quotes thread.... But here goes, comedy gold: I dont have a willy, but if the body is close to the resistor, it may be a wise investment to buy some metal tape or double sided heat resistant tape and adhere it to the underside of the shell to prevent the body getting hot and potentially melting, nobody likes a burnt willy. Like Terry said, try to avoid prolonged driving at low speeds (MSC's 1st and 2nd speed's) especially on rough terrain that puts a lot of load on the vehicle. The battery gives the mechanical speed control full power all the time, any unused power (for example when you are driving in the 1st and 2nd speeds) gets sent to the resistor and turned into heat to dissipate into the air. So it is good to give you willy a thrashing now and again. #1, so the resistor get's a break, and #2, because of the wind cools down the resistor. Everybody needs to air their willy. These points are written into pretty much every Tamiya R/C instruction manual that has a MSC. It's in the back just after the last section in completing (stickering) the model. Failure to adhere to these points will result in the resistor smoking, cracking, melted wire's, and in worse case senario, fire. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tamiya monkey 243 Posted September 28, 2009 why not invest in a esc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tamiya1/10 382 Posted September 28, 2009 why not invest in a esc. I notice with 1:1 scale car, the tran is to keep everything original and stock no upgrades or after market stuff. The more the original, even the mfg stickers in the right places are important, the higher the value and the same for old collectible RC? Unless the old willy is to be runner than ESC is a good money to shall out but keep the old resistor. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WillyChang 1812 Posted September 28, 2009 modern ESCs are so tiny you could fit like 4 into the space taken by the 4x AA batteries... which you won't need anymore when running an ESC just leave the throttle servo & MSC onboard; if you remove them you'll have an issue mounting the steering servo many vintage/classic 1:1s are now running electronic ignition & electric pumps... except they build them into the old or identical looking housings. The authentic-looking electronic SU fuel pumps even make the tictictic sound that their contact-pointed forefathers did. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites