Lunchbox Or Midnight Pumpkin

[Zak001]

Hi, I know this has been covered alot and I have done a search on the forum but Im no further forward??? , maybe Im blind

Ok so tomorrow Im going to buy either a lunchbox or pumpkin, now the only way I have managed this is to tell the wife that I am stopping smoking (which I am at least going to try to do)....so with the money I will be saving Im buying a new kit and plus I need to keep my mind occupied and keep out of her hair.......this is what I told her anyway to justify another kit

So I need abit of help...

I am used to my mamba max setups....so the 540 silvercan I wont even run, now I dont want to go over the top like I usually do so Im thinking of a mm4600kv or even a cheap 8.5t ezrun .....did I just say that , I know alot of you are running ezrun's in them, can you tell me about your setups and gearing you are using?

I also need some help with what mods need doing, I know the cva oil shocks are a must but can anybody give me some info on the 3rd shock mod please, like how to do it ect.... that would be great. Also is the re re pumpkin 1/12 scale...wasn't the original 1/8 ??, does this mean the lunchbox is bigger??, Im lost.

Thanks in advance, I don't want to buy the wrong one....can you guys help me or I will have to come back with both and I really could do without the greif .......and the flowers.........and meal out ect ect

Zak.

[HunterZero]

Lunchbox and Pumpkin are identical, only difference is the body. I'd say the Pumpkin is 1/12 only because the body was scaled down a little more onto the chassis. The scale of these is an approximation, anyway.

IMHO, if you're hopping up a Lunchie/Pumpkin, you're sort of missing the point of them.

Just get ball bearings and be done with it.

I wouldn't bother with oil dampers. Part of the character of these cars is the way they bounce about the place.

Brushless is way overkill for these, you will have a hard time keeping it off its roof.

They are fine with the standard 540, or if you want a bit more speed/wheelie on command, just get a mildy tuned motor, eg Sport Tuned, GT Tuned or 23T brushed.

- James

[Henk4Focus]

Sport tuned Pumpkin all the way!!!!!

Henk

[Zak001]

Yeah Ive always been abit mad with power LOL, doesn't the re re come with metal bearings as standard??.........I thought they would have?

[HunterZero]

Yeah Ive always been abit mad with power LOL, doesn't the re re come with metal bearings as standard??.........I thought they would have?

Nope, comes with plastic bushings. I think the chassis is very similar to a Hornet... Very simple, doesn't need many bearings, only needs 9x 1150 and 1x 850.

- James

[tamiya monkey]

ok with an ezrun it would be fun fun fun, i think you could even go for the 35amp with say a 9t or 13t motor, gearing wise you only have stock gearing, i must confess ive fitted cva shocks all round and 5th shock mod at the rear along with a strut brace at the front, if you go for the lunchbox be sure to get some metal body mounts for it as the stock plastic ones will not last to many runs. info on shock mod can be found here or here or even here, hope these help, let us know how you get on.

[Zak001]

ok with an ezrun it would be fun fun fun, i think you could even go for the 35amp with say a 9t or 13t motor, gearing wise you only have stock gearing, i must confess ive fitted cva shocks all round and 5th shock mod at the rear along with a strut brace at the front, if you go for the lunchbox be sure to get some metal body mounts for it as the stock plastic ones will not last to many runs. info on shock mod can be found here or here or even here, hope these help, let us know how you get on.

Thanks for the links, looks pretty easy to do, thats one thing sorted

[Blacque Jacque]

Your gearing options are.....well........er........none .

There is no adjustment without hacking it around, so just stick with the stock gearing, it will be fine, even for silly Mamba power.

[Zak001]

Well Ive gone for a pumpkin, so I went to my shop and they have sold out , I will be picking one up one Wednesday so that gives me abit more time to do more research, what oil shocks fit this??, got my bearings on order.

[Henk4Focus]

I'm using the Tamiya CVA's and find them to be great. I've lost a few screws but they do make ET's handling a lot better. I have seen a lot members using other shocks too but for their price the Tamiya ones are hard to beat.

Henk

[Zak001]

I'm using the Tamiya CVA's and find them to be great. I've lost a few screws but they do make ET's handling a lot better. I have seen a lot members using other shocks too but for their price the Tamiya ones are hard to beat.

Henk

Is it the the cva short shocks needed for both front and back??

Thanks Zak

[Blacque Jacque]

Yup, CVA Short Shock II's as they are now.

Once you get your kit, there should be details in the manual around page 17 showing the CVA's & their fitting.

[skip665]

Your gearing options are.....well........er........none .

There is no adjustment without hacking it around, so just stick with the stock gearing, it will be fine, even for silly Mamba power.

Not strictly true - you can massively over-gear it by removing the black spacer and fitting a Hornet pinion - I did that to mine and it was stoooopidly fast top-end and had no torque to wheelie!

[Blacque Jacque]

Not strictly true - you can massively over-gear it by removing the black spacer and fitting a Hornet pinion - I did that to mine and it was stoooopidly fast top-end and had no torque to wheelie!

Ah yeah, I forgot about that, but if the OP is going brushless it's highly impractical.

[skip665]

Ah yeah, I forgot about that, but if the OP is going brushless it's highly impractical.

I tried it with a Sport Tuned and it was daft so I would say to anyone reading - dont bother - just buy a faster motor!

(I did it about 17 years ago as a cheap way to go fast in my Lunchie - £4 for a pinion was a lot cheaper than a hot motor for my precious pocket money and to be fair its ok with a silver can)

[Zak001]

AAARRRGHHH, Ive been looking at the lunch box now and the body just makes me smile more, Im back to the starting block

[Brooklyn Nights]

AAARRRGHHH, Ive been looking at the lunch box now and the body just makes me smile more, Im back to the starting block

Well its a personal choice but.... I LOVE THE LUNCHIE! Just looks way better IMHO

Cheers

Rich

[Zak001]

Well its a personal choice but.... I LOVE THE LUNCHIE! Just looks way better IMHO

Cheers

Rich

Yeah I hear you...I think whats changed my mind is the youtube vids of the lunchie , if those vids made me smile what will driving it be like......ok Im going with the lunch box........yellow of course, never done a yellow paint job so may as well be the lunchie ay !

Any more info on it that you think I should know??. Thanks again to everyone, you have been a real help.

Ill post pics anyway, Ive heard the Ford Signal Yellow is a good paint to use.

Darn Ill have to borrow a camera my kid dropped mine in the pool.

[TA-Mark]

I love this chassis!! I have a 5700Kv MambaMax in mine. Full bearings and every mod that I can think to do and it's still barrels of fun and nigh on impossible to keep rubber side down (how they should be - fun!!). Wheelies at 40km/h with a tickle of the throttle, or a standing backflip if you thump it from nothing.

When modding this chassis you need to increase the power accordingly to keep the fun. My modded truck with a silvercan is very tame as it handles far too good for the amount of power the silvercan offers, but bolt in the 5700Kv and it's unstable like the standard truck to drive again... just a whole lot faster!

I would get a lexan body for the runner body and keep the hard body nicely painted up for the shelf. These trucks spend so much time upside down that breaking the PS body is inevitable. 200mm to 210mm bodies (M-chassis) look great on the chassis. Someone makes a lexan Lunchbox body (I forget who), or there's Kamtec V12 bodies, or ABC have some nice bodies too (Datsun pick-up would look good). I have a Kamtec Escort panelvan in the works for my Lunchbox seeing I shattered the toy 1:12 pick-up body I had on it (used the PS Lunchbox body for a M-Chassis project).

The standard long brass pinion is perfect for brushless, it's also the best pinion to use when fitting brushless (4600Kv/5700Kv) to a Hornet or Grasshopper (Same gearbox).

If you do fit brushless, use some foam tyre inserts and wrap some gaffa tape to the inside of the tyre to help with the ballooning. Be sure to glue ALL 4 tyres on very well too!

[Zak001]

I love this chassis!! I have a 5700Kv MambaMax in mine. Full bearings and every mod that I can think to do and it's still barrels of fun and nigh on impossible to keep rubber side down (how they should be - fun!!). Wheelies at 40km/h with a tickle of the throttle, or a standing backflip if you thump it from nothing.

When modding this chassis you need to increase the power accordingly to keep the fun. My modded truck with a silvercan is very tame as it handles far too good for the amount of power the silvercan offers, but bolt in the 5700Kv and it's unstable like the standard truck to drive again... just a whole lot faster!

I would get a lexan body for the runner body and keep the hard body nicely painted up for the shelf. These trucks spend so much time upside down that breaking the PS body is inevitable. 200mm to 210mm bodies (M-chassis) look great on the chassis. Someone makes a lexan Lunchbox body (I forget who), or there's Kamtec V12 bodies, or ABC have some nice bodies too (Datsun pick-up would look good). I have a Kamtec Escort panelvan in the works for my Lunchbox seeing I shattered the toy 1:12 pick-up body I had on it (used the PS Lunchbox body for a M-Chassis project).

The standard long brass pinion is perfect for brushless, it's also the best pinion to use when fitting brushless (4600Kv/5700Kv) to a Hornet or Grasshopper (Same gearbox).

If you do fit brushless, use some foam tyre inserts and wrap some gaffa tape to the inside of the tyre to help with the ballooning. Be sure to glue ALL 4 tyres on very well too!

Cheers for that, a mamba 5700kv must be crazy, I thought a 4600kv would be bad enough , but I guess Im talking to another mamba fan so why not, hey Id put a mamba in a grasshopper lol.

Yes I was going to get a lexan body, Parma makes one. Have you done the 5th shock mod (im sure you have), does it work well, foam inserts sound like a very good idea that makes perfect sense, I thik pro-line do them dont they?

Just getting metal bearings and a lexan shell first and run the silvercan with my young kids but Im sure I will be like you and do alot of mods, I just cant help myself.

Lunchie with a mm 5700kv, how cool is that

So the brass pinion is hard enough to take the power and the gear ratio is ok for the kv motor?, if thats the case Ill just have to put one in, I dont own a rc kit that doesn't have one. Next thing your going to tell me is you run 3s lipo too

[TA-Mark]

Yes, I'm sure it was Pro-line that made the tyre inserts. They don't fit neatly to the wheel but they do fit nicely inside the tyre and help to keep it's shape at high rpm. The tape gives the soft tyres some needed support so they don't balloon quite as much. Also stops a little of the bounce of the balloon wheels.

I've done the 5th damper mod, used 5x yellow short CVA (from a DF01 kit). Use a medium weight setup on the front and as light as possible on the rear (all the rear chassis weight is unsprung in the gearbox). Adding some lead weights at the back of the tub, low in the chassis, will help the rear suspension work better. I've fitted chassis braces, centred the servo, high torque servo and servo-saver, CRP FX-10 double wishbone front suspension, turnbuckle steering links and upper links (needs 2 sets of DT02 turnbuckles for the mod).

I'm still on my first set of gears with very little wear in the Lunchbox and it's seen much use (probably my 2nd most driven car). Motor temps with the 5700Kv are warmish after a hard run but nothing extreme and much less than the same motor/esc in a 4WD buggy. ESC stays cool. I'm running 2s Li-Po 4000mAh 25C IP4000 packs. Not quite crazy eough to put a 3s in it. Pictures are in my showroom, Mamba King Crunch.

If you haven't seen the thread about the pivot block springs breaking, be careful how tight you do the screw up that holds these springs. Overtighten the screw and it will pinch the spring and they will snap very quickly. I fitted a small piece of brass tube to mine so that the screw cannot be overtightened.

I do have a 4600Kv MM in my Grasshopper. ...and a Lunchbox wheelie bar fitted to the gearbox (it needs it!).

[Zak001]

I do have a 4600Kv MM in my Grasshopper. ...and a Lunchbox wheelie bar fitted to the gearbox (it needs it!).

I almost fell of my chair when I saw that another mamba nut

Your lunchie is just way cool, very nice.

I cant seem to find the yellow cva's anywhere, I can only find the cva short II which are in black, I want to go box art and the yellow dampers would look better, is there a part number I can search, do they even still make the yellow ones.

Mamba Max grasshopper - Fantastic, Im glad Im not the only one with the mamba bug

EDIT I had a closer look in your showroom, some really nice cars you have there, then I neally fell of my chair again when I saw the Mamba Max Rookie Rabbit (mad bull chassis isn't it?)

[TA-Mark]

I almost fell of my chair when I saw that another mamba nut

Your lunchie is just way cool, very nice.

I cant seem to find the yellow cva's anywhere, I can only find the cva short II which are in black, I want to go box art and the yellow dampers would look better, is there a part number I can search, do they even still make the yellow ones.

Mamba Max grasshopper - Fantastic, Im glad Im not the only one with the mamba bug

The yellow CVAs are discontinued and replaced with the black II's. There were some ebay some time ago. I raided mine from Blazing Star DF01 kits after I fitted alloy DF03 rear dampers all round on the DF01s.

I have Mambas in nearly every car, even my vintage Fox (4600Kv) and vintage Super Champ SRB (4600Kv). The castle products are great!

Mamba 4600Kv Grasshopper in action

**EDIT: Yes the Rookie Rabbit is almost identical to a RX Fighter Buggy, and same chassis as the Mad Bull (DT01). The 'Rabid' Rabbit is running a 4600Kv, with lots of homemade mods. Double wishbone front suspension, rear swaybar, reworked steering geometry (no bumpsteer), added weights at the rear (the unsprung gearbox again). It still needs some paint, currently sitting there in white primer.

[Zak001]

Very nice Mark, I found this thread that helped alot, so thanks for that too and everyone that was involed in that thread, very useful and interesting.

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=50292#

Zak.

[Zak001]

would it be a good idea to put the CVA Mini Shock Unit II on the front and the short on the back? Would that bring the wheels flatter on the floor.

EDIT.. Scrap that I dont thnk the mini's will fit on the front.