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JWeston

58577 Nova Fox

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There are several things you can do to improve the steering, many of them depending on what kind of surface you're running the buggy on. The main thing is to keep those front wheels on the ground as much as possible, because less contact with the ground equals less steering. ;)

- Shocks: when running outdoors on an uneven surface, use thinner shock oil and install pistons with more holes in them because the suspension will have to work harder and faster to take care of all the small bumps on the track. When running indoors on carpet or some other even surface, you do the opposite because the suspension won't have to work that hard. You want the suspension to dampen your car without it bouncing around.

- Tires: choose apropriate tires for the surface. The original front tires are okay for very loose surfaces such as sand, but not much else IMO. Minipins work better on the front and on carpet Stagger Cut tires give lots of grip.

- Sway bar: the sway bar that comes with the Novafox is quite useless in my opinion. It might help a bit on surfaces with medium grip, but on high grip surfaces it doesn't do much of anything. I installed an original Tamiya vintage swaybar and that works wonders. Here again: on bumpy surfaces you're possibly better off without a sway bar (because it limits the suspension's ability to soak up bumps), on level surfaces you'll want to install it so you can steer sharper without traction rolling all the time.

- Weight: try adding some weight to the front of the car to put more pressure on the front tires, but make sure you keep the car balanced so it doesn't go into a nose dive after every jump ^_^

 

All this is just from my limited experience racing the Novafox, so I hope other can weigh in too and maybe even correct me if I'm wrong on some point(s).

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Thanks Werewolf, I think I need to look at the front shock. Standard 2 hole piston so I probably need to change that to 4 hole and the oil to 200 or something lower. Will give that a go in the next few days, visiting the LHS to buy paint so will get shock oil at the same time

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You're welcome! Be sure to ask you LHS for advise too. Going from 2 to 4 holes and at the same time going down from 500 weight to 200 weight oil might be overdoing it, though. My advice is to first just swap the pistons to 4 hole ones and try with the shock oil you're using now. See how that feels and maybe change to thinner oil then, maybe a 350 or 300 weight. Make sure never to make too many changes at once, because if it doesn't produce the desired result you won't know which of the changes helped and which ones made it worse...

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So I was planning to install the 4 hole piston today but when I looked at the shock I found I had built it incorrectly. The front was the first one that I did, which is my only excuse. I hadn't tightened the nut all the way to the end of the thread before screwing the end on that holds the spring in, so the shock was longer than it should have been. No surprises, that was throwing out the front end considerably. Unfortunately despite being the end of summer in New Zealand we have unprecedented rainfall, so no chance to test it again. It could be far worse, it isn't raining in Dunedin where New Zealand have just wasted one of their best starts in test cricket history to let South Africa back in the game to take honours for the first day. Wait rain would have been better there...

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A big improvement with the shock built correctly, but still work to do. But that doesn't matter now, it turns out the Novafox isn't as durable as a TT02B and my son has bent the steering rod after a few minutes play. Lesson learnt! Unfrotunately this is 'his' car (mine is the Boomerang) so will need to get him onside that its special and he should run his TT02B most of the time...

So once the fix is done then I can get to sorting the understeer

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I just ordered and received a NovaFox. Not cheap at $250 USD or $325 AUD delivered and NO ESC!! Really?? Is that how the kits come without an ESC. Rough justice if that's the case. Thanks in advane

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22 minutes ago, daverobbo5 said:

I just ordered and received a NovaFox. Not cheap at $250 USD or $325 AUD delivered and NO ESC!! Really?? Is that how the kits come without an ESC. Rough justice if that's the case. Thanks in advane

just to frame that question, did the original nova fox come with an ESC??  I've not bought a re-release without one. thanks

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1 hour ago, daverobbo5 said:

just to frame that question, did the original nova fox come with an ESC??  I've not bought a re-release without one. thanks

I think japanese bought kits (i mean direct from japan) don't come with ESC,mine didn't, my other 2 bought in HK did however.

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21 hours ago, daverobbo5 said:

did the original nova fox come with an ESC?? 

Mine did, its got orange ESC sticker on box lid. Think it came from HK, 2nd batch.

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My two Novafox kits came with an ESC. But as mentioned by others above, I think the kits don't come with one in Japan so if you got a kit directly from Japan you're out of an ESC... Not that it matters too much, cause if you want to run something faster than a silvercan you have to upgrade anyway ;)

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Some sellers outside of Japan are also known to offer cheaper (hopefully!) kits minus the ESC... just gotta watch what exactly you're paying for. Same seller might offer both.

The fluoro ESC sticker has removable adhesive so its not hard to peel it off without damage; once removed nobody's the wiser. Some collectors don't like leaving stickers on their box lids so its better peeled earlier than later.

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Neither my Boomerang or Novafox came with ESC so made for an expensive exercise, but a better result in the end as the ESC I ordered is better than the TBLE anyway.

Over here we get both, kits with and without ESC and that is for either rere or new kits. The ones without are cheaper but you couldn't buy a TBLE-02S with the saving.

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Reading the Novafox instructions, it recommends using Tamiya Instant Cement for the front rubber tyres (not the rears however). A couple of issues:

1. I can't seem to find the product pictured.

2. There are other Tamiya CA glues out there, but they don't look the same, so am not sure if it's the same product but packaged differently with different applicators.

3. Alternatives: when researching the internet I can't get a straight answer on suitable alternatives. Some threads seem to indicate that superglue is perfect for bonding the rubber tyre to the wheel. Others suggest using silicone sealant instead.

What's the best product / method? 

 

Thanks :)

 

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CA cyanoacrylate = superglue. You can buy it in thick gel or thin runny, if you're really pro you can add kickers or retarders... does a decent job of gluing rubber to plastic wheels. It sets hard & brittle though. Best to use fresh as possible; I store unopened tubes in the fridge.

Silicone sealant isn't very sticky, can be peeled off... best used if your wheels are spinning in your tyres, not necesarily to prevent them falling off.

That said... stock Super Grippers on my WildOne have never been glued and they've never once come close to falling off the wheels in 30+ years :P it's been ragged to the ends of the earth with childhood abandon, it's pulled wheelies with 550 Kyosho motors, it's been used to pull trailers etc etc

No need to bother gluing Fox kit tyres, unless you buy softer rubber.

 

 

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On 3/10/2017 at 6:33 PM, daverobbo5 said:

I just ordered and received a NovaFox. Not cheap at $250 USD or $325 AUD delivered and NO ESC!! Really?? Is that how the kits come without an ESC. Rough justice if that's the case. Thanks in advane

Thanks for info TC'ers. Traps for young players advice no. 1 always confirm presence of esc or other expected item.  bit of guilt coming through there with the suprise reaction. got a hobbywing 1060 on it's way. looking forward to build...thanks agian

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Just looking for one of the vintage swaybar kits that have been mentioned. Were they Tamiya parts, and if so does anyone know the part number? Or were they made by someone else, and if so does anyone recall who? Thanks!

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Yes, Tamiya did make a specific sway bar kit just for the Fox. I seem to recall the part number was something like 272.

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I have a pic which is the sway bar by Tamiya.
I recollect bought it via ebay last year.

 

novafox_st1b.jpg

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So am about to paint my Novafox body shell. Manual says to wash the lexan, then mask off most of the body to paint the rear part black, then remove the masking and paint the remainder of the body blue.

Does the masking tape create any issues for the blue paint? Residue, etc? Do I need to rewash the body? 

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Had an email from Modelsport UK yesterday, the Novafox release date has been put back from 2nd May to the 12th May.

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44 minutes ago, christam said:

Had an email from Modelsport UK yesterday, the Novafox release date has been put back from 2nd May to the 12th May.

May is going to be an expensive month:wacko:

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Just now, TeaMonster said:

May is going to be an expensive month:wacko:

Yep, Boomerang and Novafox both pre-ordered. No change on the Boomerang date though. Was kind of hoping they'll turn up together :D

Oh I forgot, car insurance due 24th May :rolleyes:

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I have the Schumacher cat masami and one other but still trying to decide. Boomerang or top force.......of course I am just kidding myself and it will eventually be both:lol:

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On 11/03/2017 at 6:29 AM, WillyChang said:

Some sellers outside of Japan are also known to offer cheaper (hopefully!) kits minus the ESC... just gotta watch what exactly you're paying for. Same seller might offer both.

The fluoro ESC sticker has removable adhesive so its not hard to peel it off without damage; once removed nobody's the wiser. Some collectors don't like leaving stickers on their box lids so its better peeled earlier than later.

In the UK some shops/sellers remove the ESC and sell the cars cheaper. No big deal as the standard TBLE-02 is about £16 here. Fine for standard motors. I'm thinking of getting an Absima brushless setup for my Boomerang.......

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