Hop-Up OCD

[Plopes 140]

Hi Everyone,

I would like to admit that I have a serious OCD problem with Hop-Ups.

I cant just buy a kit and leave it as is, I have to get every Hop-Up Tamiya makes.

I will also get non Tamiya parts as long as the quality is top grade.

I dont have many cars because of the cost of the Hop-Ups, Usually two to three times the cost of the initial kit.

Not to mention all the spare parts that that will never get used, as most of my cars will only end up on a display stand.

Tamiya must LOVE guys like me...

Case in point, I have just ordered a 2013 Egress from RC Mart.

But Then I had to add the following:

1) Yeah F & R alloy knuckles

2) 7 Lunsford titanium turnbuckles

3) High torque servo saver

4) Robinson racing pinion

5) Pargu alloy front brace

6) Alloy servo stay

7) Ceramic diff balls

8) Blue 6mm adjusters

9) Where is the titanium screw kit Tamiya?

This is the least amount of Hop-Ups of any car I have ever bought & probably totally unnecessary.

Even the TRF cars get a ton of Hop-Ups...

The question is, Am I the only nut that thinks like this???

And more importantly, I THERE A CURE?

[chriss76 91]

I'm prob not as OCD as you but I also love to get as many hop ups as possible for each kit I buy, I also have to have at least one spare body kit and an original decal set.

My main problem is all mine are nib!

Chris

[Shaggy39 43]

Same with me, I am hop up crazy although got better in recent years. I remember when I raced rallycross I had to have the torsion diffs, alloy chassis braces, Lunsford titanium turnbuckles, £100 ko servos, alloy knuckles/uprights etc etc all fitted to a £600 kyosho 777 or xray xb8.

Then some cocky young upstart would turn up with a £299 rtr hyper 7 and wipe the floor with all of us

The only hop ups now tend to be for durability or performance eg bearings, drivetrain, shock towers etc. oh and of course mostly brushless unless stock silver or tuned is the most it can handle

[Psylence 25]

Yea, you are not alone my friend. I've got the same bug although to a bit lesser degree. I can never leave well enough alone, theres always BETTER!

And if you aren't doing full bearings in everything, well.. you just don't love your models

[kontemax 1794]

OCD???

Max

[Plopes 140]

For me the big thing is the visual look, that's the most important.

Maybe its also because when I was young, My parents could not afford any Hop-Ups at all.

I was grateful just to have a Midnight Pumpkin.

I used to look through the Tamiya rc guide books and imagine choosing my Hop-Ups and high end Tamiya's

I am blessed to have managed to get most of the cars I dreamed about, and some modern TRF stuff.

[taliesin 260]

OCD???

Max

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

(He just can't help himself - meaning he sees a hop up and must have it)

[JeepnMike 150]

I definitely always buy an extra body / shell. I never plan to sell any of mine, but if I do, I always want to make sure I have a fresh new body. Nobody wants to buy a car without a body or nothing brings down the appearance and value of your car than a beat up body.

I do love to buy hop-ups too Moreso on my track cars, but it is pretty addicting.

[THE SMOOTHEE 56]

I like hop ups too. It's cool to see a build where the owner has put his/her flavour on it with a few select extras.

My OCD was realised as a kid at around 12 years old. I remember my brother asking me what I was doing. I had my throttle and steering servos stripped down and was resoldering the wires back on after a custom shortening job. The old tight wrap around a screwdriver shaft to pigtail it was just not good enough for me. I was also hardwiring my motors to my mechanical speed controls because the connectors were just plain untidy, and I started making my own batteries too.

These days almost thirty years on I'm making sure the slot heads in my screws are all parallel with the chassis on my builds, vacume bleeding shocks and checking the unsprung rebound is equal, trimming plastics off the sprue with a scalpel, assembling wheels and tyres so that one of the spokes is pointing at a particular mark on the tyre then matching the other three. And the list goes on.

One hot tip I got for ya if you've got hopupitis.....Do not, I repeat do not buy a TA05 VDF

[ChrisRx718 4727]

Absolutely have this affliction.

It's worse if the car is older. If the car is new then it's just an expensive exercise, but if it's old and discontinued then the hop-up hunt is twice or 3 times the RRP.

Try finding some TA03 fluorescent stabiliser bars.

Or the lightweight universal driveshafts.

It is an expensive and ultimately futile pursuit of 'having something shiny' that 9 times out of 10 will make no realistic difference to your chassis!

[IBIFTKH 1374]

Hop-up = High-price Option Part, Usually Pointless

I'm not quite as bad as some, but all my cars have full bearings, stainless steel hardware and usually a good selection of pretty alloy parts.

Am I a good enough driver to tell the difference? No

Do I drive my cars so hard that I need high strength alloy parts? No

Do I care? Um, no!

[Tamiya1/10 384]

This is like if one has $80,000.00 to spend on a car, don't buy a Civic and spend $60,000.00 on up grades because in the end is still a civic, maybe the best civic around. Instead, use the $80,000. towards a porsche or a vette. My most recent buy was 3racing F113 vs Tamiya F1, which Tamiya was cheaper but after bearings, shocks, carbon deck, diff. etc will cost a lot more, so why borther. The only advantage if going with Tamiya is the body and decals. I ended up spending $20 on Tamiya decals on a non existing F1 body. I painted it red and no one will know is a none F1 body.

Now i prefer buying better brand kits than spending a ton on money on up grades.

[Plopes 140]

I am not so sure about other brands being better, The TRF stuff is right up there with the best.

I am yet to have another brand give me the excitement that a Tamiya gives me. (Re-release or modern TRF)

Probably just nostalgia...

[AndyjcClod 389]

You are so not alone, I am the same. I find I get hopup after hopup until I can find no more and then I start making my adjustments and modifications.

Its one of the reasons I love the CC-01 there is so many hopups.

Two of my cars for sure I know the hopups on them are worth more than the entire original model!

[speedy_w_beans 4286]

This is like if one has $80,000.00 to spend on a car, don't buy a Civic and spend $60,000.00 on up grades because in the end is still a civic, maybe the best civic around. Instead, use the $80,000. towards a porsche or a vette. My most recent buy was 3racing F113 vs Tamiya F1, which Tamiya was cheaper but after bearings, shocks, carbon deck, diff. etc will cost a lot more, so why borther. The only advantage if going with Tamiya is the body and decals. I ended up spending $20 on Tamiya decals on a non existing F1 body. I painted it red and no one will know is a none F1 body.

Now i prefer buying better brand kits than spending a ton on money on up grades.

I think one of the reasons people go for the Tamiya F1 cars is they are race legal. If I remember correctly, the 3Racing F113 is 200mm wide which is not legal. It looks great on the shelf and is probably fun to drive in the street, but I don't think you can run it at the track. Therefore, Tamiya F104V2 PRO, Exotek F1R2 conversion, CRC WTF1 (in development), or maybe one or two others are contenders for "looks good, runs good, legal." 3Racing never released the narrow track conversion as far as I know.

[dutch_rc 71]

Only two ways to go - SOB or utterly hopped up.

Wouldn't consider it OCD, just a regular occupational hazard.

[Shodog 1845]

I'm in the same boat. I like to hop up my rides. Especially to the point where they barely have any stock parts. On my RC10 '91 worlds I think the only associated parts are the motor plate, front bulkhead, a few misc screws and the front axles.

[WillyChang 1818]

One hot tip I got for ya if you've got hopupitis.....Do not, I repeat do not buy a TA05 VDF

why not?

open the slimline kitbox, take out CF plates & blue alloy motor cave... replace everything else with hopups!

[Plopes 140]

WOW... I am not alone.

[dutch_rc 71]

OCD???

Max

I am quite sure this was ironic (so +1).

[ChrisRx718 4727]

The reality is that the advantages all of those TA05 upgrades will make very little difference to the performance of the car! And the lack of flex from the aluminium parts will make it very fragile in the event of a collision.

Then some young whipper-snapper comes along with a box-standard TA05 and wipes the floor with you!

[Fruitfly01 596]

I love buying hop ups. I don't always like opening the packets though!

[Gruntfuggly 581]

@Shodog - man you have some nice cars. Wish you still had a showroom...

[Shodog 1845]

@Shodog - man you have some nice cars. Wish you still had a showroom...

Ya I deleted it 6 years ago in haste. Wish now I had not. The pics were no big deal. It was the descriptions I miss

[Tamiya1/10 384]

I think one of the reasons people go for the Tamiya F1 cars is they are race legal. If I remember correctly, the 3Racing F113 is 200mm wide which is not legal. It looks great on the shelf and is probably fun to drive in the street, but I don't think you can run it at the track. Therefore, Tamiya F104V2 PRO, Exotek F1R2 conversion, CRC WTF1 (in development), or maybe one or two others are contenders for "looks good, runs good, legal." 3Racing never released the narrow track conversion as far as I know.

Yeah there are race rules as to what can or cannot be done. The F113 is purly for me to boot around and I am just not good enough to qualify for any race. You can likely beat me while i am driving the F113 and you on 1/16 tank.

As for hop ups, is just mostly eye candies and once add up all the available hop ups the total will cost much more than the original kit. In the end, it does look very nice but the logic side tells me is not worth it. I will change to bearings and shocks, which is about it for me.

I don't have a problem of other for swapping out all existing parts with hop ups, the question is what do you do with all the orginal parts? Save them is the answer but trust me, over time and many kits later, you will have a lot on your hand, unless one keep selling their collection.