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Raman36

Kyosho Sand Master

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The fog light set EZW-001 is now available:

http://www.rcdriver.com/rcd/index.php/kyosho-led-fog-light-set-for-the-sand-master/

It comes with 3 functional LEDs and plugs into any free receiver socket. Suggested retail price in Germany is 34,90 €. Have to get these! :)

Other than that, there are now anodized bead locks, red and white coloured rollcages, oil dampers (EZW-004 & -005) and some more accessories, too.

(...) What I found surprising was that the springs that were included with these shocks are medium firmness and are too firm for the front but too soft for the rear! :lol: So I have some hard and soft springs on order. (...)The rear sits lower now than when I had the Prolines on but that will change when I get the new firmer springs installed. The front to rear weight bias on this car is crazy.

So, do you think it could be a benefit for weight balance and furthermore overall handling, if weight is added at the front in combination with medium front springs?

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And I don't say any of this as an "investor" (which I am not), but value does relate to aspiration and collect-ability. And nobody likes spending money collecting collectible things, only to have their collect-ability die off shortly thereafter.

This part doesn't make any sense to me. Unless the monetary value is of importance to you, it doesn't matter if the collect-ability dies off. Either you want it because you like it, or you want it because it's totally super rare and worth a mint and you can impress your friends. The latter is pretty close to the "investor" mindset.

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This part doesn't make any sense to me. Unless the monetary value is of importance to you, it doesn't matter if the collect-ability dies off. Either you want it because you like it, or you want it because it's totally super rare and worth a mint and you can impress your friends. The latter is pretty close to the "investor" mindset.

Wikipedia: "An investor is someone who allocates capital with the expectation of a financial return."

I don't "allocate capital", I spend based on human intangibles like nostalgia and emotion.

I don't "expect a financial return", a) because I just don't expect it, and B) because I do not plan to sell.

And I was referring to collect-ability, not value. Investment -> relates purely to monetary value. My opinion -> relates to collect-ability, of which monetary value is just one aspect. Other aspects include nostalgia/desirability and rarity.

It's not that hard to understand. Like you, I have many, many toy grade R/C cars as well. Most of which are worth between $1 and $100. But would I want Tyco or Nikko to re-release all of those, so that toy shops everywhere were flooded with cars I spent years trying to track down? No, and I'd feel exactly the same way as I now do about Tamiya's endless conveyor belt of re-releases.Anyway, I don't want to distract this thread again, so feel free to write me off-forum if you're still interested :) H.

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The fog light set EZW-001 is now available:

http://www.rcdriver....he-sand-master/

It comes with 3 functional LEDs and plugs into any free receiver socket. Suggested retail price in Germany is 34,90 €. Have to get these! :)

I've just ordered the light set. And now I think I could add one or two red LEDs at the rear (like those rear lights on the Fast Attack Vehicle). Let's see if I can get some nice looking offroad light cases somewhere, or if I have to make my own. Are the FAV rear lights capable for retrofitting LEDs?

Any suggestions?

This is madness! :D

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£30 for three LED lights on a buugy kit that costs £70 - Hmmm :wacko:

much as i like them I can't help but feel Kyosho have got it wrong when there there are similar light sets available from neighbouring HK for a third of the peice,

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I've just ordered the light set. And now I think I could add one or two red LEDs at the rear (like those rear lights on the Fast Attack Vehicle). Let's see if I can get some nice looking offroad light cases somewhere, or if I have to make my own. Are the FAV rear lights capable for retrofitting LEDs?

Any suggestions?

This is madness! :D

Greg take a look at Gmade R1 lighting . They do a 2 light bar that is easy to mount between the rear cage . Change the led's from white to red and its job done . I did the same thing on my Funco .

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@Percymon: Yes, they're pretty expensive. But at least the set does not only include the light spots, but also LEDs, cables & plugs, resistors (or whatever circuit for making them work at 6V) and an adjustable mounting bar.

I found some rear lights:

Absima #2320039 & #2320035 (although I don't think the chrome #2320035 will match the look of my Sandmaster)

They had also been sold by Ansmann (#201000234).

EDIT:

@bromvw:

Thank, I'll look out for them.

Do you know an easy way to get shiny, but cheap-looking chrome off from plastic parts, just in any case?

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@Percymon: Yes, they're pretty expensive. But at least the set does not only include the light spots, but also LEDs, cables & plugs, resistors (or whatever circuit for making them work at 6V) and an adjustable mounting bar.

I found some rear lights:

Absima #2320039 & #2320053 (although I don't think the chrome #2320053 will match the look of my Sandmaster)

They had also been sold by Ansmann (#201000234).

EDIT:

@bromvw:

Thank, I'll look out for them.

Do you know an easy way to get shiny, but cheap-looking chrome off from plastic parts, just in any case?

Try putting the chrome items in a dish washer - usually works .

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Great! :) I'll get my hands on that chromed plastic light bar Absima #2320035 (it's the only item available at the local Conrad hobby shop). The chrome from the light bucket backside will be removed, while it may stay on the front mesh to match the Kyosho lightbar look.

Two of these lights will then be screwed on a bent alu-sheet which itself will be fixed with screws inbetween the rear rollcage structure. This way, I even may cover of that open space in the Sandmaster's rear end.

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The Absima light bar #2320035 has turned out to be of bad quality. The 4 lights are molded into the bar, and it's a tricky job to seperate the mesh from the bucket. Luckily it was very cheap (3,95 €), so you get what you pay for.

I've sawn the lights off from the bar, retaining a small portion of the bar at the light bucket base for a tapping screw hole. The bucket will be sanded on the outside and painted flat black or semi-gloss black. It is designed for 5mm sized LEDs, which itself are fitting tight enough in the pre-drilled hole, so there's no need to glue them.

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So, do you think it could be a benefit for weight balance and furthermore overall handling, if weight is added at the front in combination with medium front springs?

To be honest I'm not 100% sure but I guess the overall benefit would be similar ie light frontend + soft springs ~ heavier frontend + medium springs however since the weight distribution would be different, the rear tires may lose some grip while the front gains some. Lost rear grip of course could be offset with softer rear springs, but that would result in an even lower rear ground clearance. Then there is the heavier overall weight of the car which has it's own set of dynamics with regards to braking, acceleration and cornering.

Anyway for now I think I'll try softer springs with the stock frontend weight which brings up a very interesting find I made only a few minutes ago. Don't know why I didn't try this before but the stock springs on the plastic Kyosho kit shocks fit the piggybacks perfectly! Who would've thought? :lol: It's shorter but the inner/outer diameter is pretty much exactly the same. I could even use the bottom spring perches from the kit shocks which I may be doing since they have a nice taper allowing more clearance from the arms. I'm going to use the soft front kit springs with the front piggybacks.

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I've decided to not use the tapered spring perches from the kit shocks with the piggybacks because it actually decreases shock stroke by a few millimeters compared to the perches included with the piggybacks. I want as much shock travel as I could get before they bottom out.

Anyway just finished installing the soft front kit springs and they have the perfect amount of sag under the car's own weight...only a few millimeters. If I need it stiffer there's still lots of thread left for screwing down the spring collars.

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I know a few asked for some photos of mine now it's decalled. I'm not happy with the Relentless theme, the decals looked bronze on the eBay listing but are in fact a light gold. I applied them purely because I'd had this sat around waiting for a few months without an identity ! Decals will be coming off soon and another theme applied. So here it is as it stands today..

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I still like it, the decals give your Sandmaster a nice touch. Good job on the driver, too. Where did you get the window nets from?

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Decided to use all 4 of the Duratrax drive cup springs as it works much better than o-rings in keeping the dog bones centered between the wheel/gearbox cups . This helps prevent binding on both ends and it works pretty well but I still get a tiny bit of binding on the left wheel cup end. I think this is somewhat of a design flaw on Kyosho's part as they should've used a slightly smaller dog bone shaft diameter to completely prevent any possible binding.

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Other than that I finally was able to temporarily install the electronics into the car and did some preliminary testing of suspension and handling. I still haven't received the stiffer rear springs yet but was able to reconfirm that the medium rear springs are just too soft. There is just too much rear squat for my liking under acceleration. The rear also bottoms out very easily over small jumps. The car does handle very well with controllable fishtailing but is a little bit more difficult to control with the brushless power. Under full throttle it is very fast but of course this could easily be dialed down on the transmitter if I want to use full trigger pulls with moderate speed.

In terms of handling the apparent play in the steering mechanism didn't really have any negative effect as I was able to steer the car where I wanted it without any drama. Traction was good as well as acceleration without easily spinning out. There wasn't much tendency for oversteer that I had feared compared to my M04L on dirt. With that said, once I receive the stiffer rear springs and install them I will attach the body panels and post a short video of it running.

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It's been raining here in southern California so no video yet...but I just wanted to post a quick update on some changes I made that may be of interest for anyone who is thinking of doing the same mods I've done so far. The first thing is I've gone back to my original goal of using the smaller 3900Kv shorty can motor instead of the 4300Kv that I had installed. The little shorty motor is surprisingly powerful for its size and gives the SM very balanced power to the ground. I can still do donuts at will and top speed is still fast but is more manageable.

I've found the benefits are many when using this little motor. The first is that it's lighter by about 35g which means less weight in the rear which means less rear squat and less work for the suspension to do. It also means it's less prone to bottoming out. The lighter weight does not affect grip in any perceptibly negative way which is good. Grip is still there and with the more usable power is put to the ground very well. In fact since there is less weight in the rear, fishtailing is slightly minimize allowing for better control. The other benefit of using this smaller motor is that the shorter can allows the weight to be closer to the car's center line which slightly reduces body roll. Yet another benefit is there's less stress put on the drivetrain due to less torque from the motor.

Keep in mind the motor is paired with the 35A ESC and I don't plan on changing that. Now with that said, I've decided that I will only use these "shorty" motors in my medium weight 1/10 cars from now on...yes they're that good. For heavier cars I'll still use the 4300Kv motor.

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The other change I'd made were to the shocks. I received the stiffer damper springs from Junfac and installed them on the rear. During this time I noticed that I had forgotten to screw the captured ball ends onto the shock shaft all the way as there were a couple of threads exposed. Now I know why I measured 89mm even though they're rated 85mm. :lol: Needless to say this means the piggy backs are exactly the same length eye to eye as the kit shocks which is good because now that slight bind I had on the left wheel side cup/dog bone should be gone...yay. So with the stiffer springs on the rear and a smaller lighter weight motor, the suspension is finally where I want it.

Some other small changes I made were to the pinion and gear cover. I changed out the hard anodized aluminum Robinson Racing pinion with a hard coated 7075 aluminum 3Racing one. The latter has beveled corners very similar to Tamiya's hard coated aluminum pinions which I've used in my brushless M04 Miata with great success and no wear. These are not to be mistaken with Tamiya AV pinions which are junk. One other difference with the 3Racing pinion compared to the Robinson Racing one was the fact it had to be installed reversed in order to get the gear mesh on center.

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As for the gear cover, notice in the last picture the tips of the bottom two retainer tabs had been broken off...that was intentional as I'd found that it was a PITA to remove the gear cover due to those two tabs. The top tab is still intact and holds the gear cover on fairly well but I plan on lining the inside edge of the cover with a fairly thick layer of silicone adhesive to give it an almost airtight press fit seal. The reason for this is I had found during my testing that a very small rock about 0.5mm in size had found its way and wedged itself in between the pinion and spur which I initially thought was a broken gear tooth because there was a clicking sound made when drivin in reverse. All in all the drivetrain seems to handle the brushless power just fine so I'm not worried about stripping gears etc. but as a precaution I did set the punch setting to minimum and initial brake force to 25%. Even when run dry the spur still looks fine so it doesn't need replacing often..then again it's a $3 wear item so not a big deal.

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I found the gear cover very difficult to remove after the first install - a flanged cover with retaining screws would have been better.

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Yeah it's a very poor design both in terms of maintenance and preventing dirt from getting inside. Easy to put on but a pain to remove. A flanged cover would be much better and still simple and cheap to manufacture. Also I think using a thin strip of double sided tape to line the inside edge of the cover would be a good fast solution for preventing dirt from getting in.

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Just as I mentioned before, foam tape or any other kind of insulation is a must on the gear cover to protect the spur gear and pinion. When you have managed to remove the cover a second time, it won't be hard to attach and disattach it further on.

The fog light set has been arrived, so it's time to mount a switch and finish the assembly of the rear lights. I'll keep you updated.

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I have a 4700kv coming for mine, so we will see how it goes.

What brand motor/ESC combo are you going to run? It's definitely going to be very fast...and at full throttle it's going to be mostly limited to straight line runs and donuts. My guess is that you'll have to be careful with the trigger..hehe. Also let us know how the gearbox handles that level of power as I'm interested in knowing the long term durability of it.

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That's basically what I had in mine...9T 4300Kv..should be fine. Those Leopard systems seem to be rebadged and detuned Hobbywing EZRUN systems.

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