Jump to content
novicelad

Hello Tamiya Lunchbox

Recommended Posts

Hello all,

New to Tamiya but not RC I have had RC cars on and off for years, my last stint being Nitro about 8 years ago. I lost interest because I am a useless driver and kept breaking it!

Now here I am 3 kids later and impulse buy of a Lunchbox from face book for £40! All works and I love it, it has the Tamiya sport motor upgrade on it so pretty quick.

At this stage I have no plans to do anything with it other than play with it, but I have some questions.

  • What is the best battery and charger to get?
  • How water resistant are they? (is wet grass ok?)

 

I have attached pic for your viewing pleasure 

 

 

 

Lunchbox.jpg

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, novicelad said:

Hello all,

New to Tamiya but not RC I have had RC cars on and off for years, my last stint being Nitro about 8 years ago. I lost interest because I am a useless driver and kept breaking it!

Now here I am 3 kids later and impulse buy of a Lunchbox from face book for £40! All works and I love it, it has the Tamiya sport motor upgrade on it so pretty quick.

At this stage I have no plans to do anything with it other than play with it, but I have some questions.

  • What is the best battery and charger to get?
  • How water resistant are they? (is wet grass ok?)

 

I have attached pic for your viewing pleasure 

 

 

 

Lunchbox.jpg

Very nice Lunchbox you have there at a bargain price! I have just purchased one of the good old eBay, which should be here by the end of this week

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks OwainP

 

Does anyone have a list of spares that are good to buy, things that are prone to breaking? 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As standard only really the body mounts are suspect and break. There are aluminium upgrades available for a few pounds and they are worth fitting for a regular runner.

With upgrades I think the suspension at the rear is most likely to break (the tiny springs at the front of the gearbox fail) and the suspension being undamped make them a handful, but with only a sport tuned you'll probably be OK. I ran a pumpkin for ages in the 80's and 90's and the only thing to ever fail was the body mounts and the tyres needed gluing to the rims as they slipped. Apart from that it was bombproof.

Carl.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Welcome to the club,

The receiver will not be waterproof as it looks like this is XB kit radio gear. What type of speed controller is fitted? Is it a Tamiya one? There are a few guides available to waterproof existing equipment but there are waterproof electronics available now, Quicrun 1060 is a very good brushed speed controller and is very popular on here.

Other upgrades are replacing the shocks as they are a bit bouncy for some cva dampers, also maybe a fifth shock mod to remove the springs mentioned above. Battery wise have a read as to what you want, nimh or lipo then go from there. Other than that go out and use it, I have only broke a couple of bits on mine in 5 years of bashing👍

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I hate to say this as I love to mod my cars and having has quite a few cw01 (the chassis type you have) I would really suggest only a few to keep the fun factor. I hate to admit it but hold off on the shocks as most if not all oil shocks will stiffen the ride A LOT and that doesn't really work well on these guys.

the only mod I would really suggest is to forgo the 5th shock mod and simply buy the center brace piece from shapeways... ( https://www.shapeways.com/product/G72GAY3NL/w01002-01-tamiya-cw01-lunchbox-pumpkin-montero-uni?li=gmerchant&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIu9fstbbZ1QIVS41-Ch3vOwnDEAQYBCABEgIZT_D_BwE ) its 36347473727% better than the 5th shock mod. And as mentioned get the quikrun esc and just put in a sport tuned motor and call it a day. 

Only other thing I can think of when my lunchbox was my only car was the turnbuckles the dinky plastic ball cups would wear and pop off all the time.... 

thats all I got.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Bargain!! 👍

I'm a recent convert to the waterproof 1060 esc, great esc for running lipo, not sure if it's worth swapping if you don't plan on running lipo. (Couple of threads recently on lipo care)

The aluminium body posts work great, but no free lunch, the energy gets transmitted to the chassis instead, and a good whack breaks the mounting point. (But I'm real rough with them 😔) 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

To make it waterproof get the 1060 ESC as mentioned, and wrap your servo and receiver in self amalgamating tape.  I have had cars almost totally submerged in water with no ill effects.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So does the motor not get affected by water?

Also if I go for the 1060 esc will it work OK with standard batteries, whats the benefits of lipo? 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yep, brushed motors are fine getting wet.

The ESC will work with NiMH and lipo. Lipo will give around 10% - 15% more speed and more consistent voltage when the battery is running low. Bit more hassle though as you shouldn't leave them fully charged so can't just grab them and go.

I think those 1060s will handle 3s which will make it heaps faster...

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If you have a look on YouTube, there's plenty of people breaking in a new brushed motor by completely submerging them in a cup of water, so I'm guessing a bit of a slash won't do anything! 

Big power benefits from going to lipo, 7.2 nimh vs 7.4 lipo.

discharge.jpg

Lipo's draw backs are caring for them, need to be storage charged before storing , can't let the voltage drop too low,(1060 esc goes half speed when getting close (3.4v a cell (6.8v) and cuts off completely at 3v (6v) so as not to damage the lipo), not a good idea to leave them fully charged and really not a good idea to charge them unattended without being in an explosion sack.

If you think you want to go down that road, have a read through some guides on the threads on here.

I'd send you a nimh but I think I've given them all away (I'll have a look though, but you can get them new for a tenner) , I'd recommend getting a charger that will charge all the types of batteries (nicad/nimh ,balance charge and storage charge lipo etc).

*Just looked at the pic, you've a battery anyway, so bag yourself a good charger, run it and have fun! 👍😁

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I run the Quicrun 1060 with NiMh batteries in our Lunchbox. I got it because of the waterproofing and the option to move up to LiPo whenever I finally quit procrastinating about doing so.

I also have a 1060 in my CC01 and like the ability to change settings with the jumper pins. You can go from Forward/Brake/Reverse to Forward/Brake or Forward/Reverse with no brake by just moving or removing the jumper pin.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
7 minutes ago, Kingfisher said:

option to move up to LiPo whenever I finally quit procrastinating about doing so.

Once you goto lipo, you'll wonder why you didn't do it earlier! 

(Although it is a pain having to care for them like children! A 3s wakes stock stuff up like you wouldn't believe) 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I doubt I will go down the lipo route I like the pickup and play option of the old style batteries 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
18 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

Once you goto lipo, you'll wonder why you didn't do it earlier! 

 

That's my concern. I know how I can get. I'll make one car run on LiPo, love it, then immediately convert every other car to LiPo. My NiMh's would go to waste from not being used.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
10 minutes ago, Kingfisher said:

That's my concern. I know how I can get. I'll make one car run on LiPo, love it, 

Then want more lipo cells until you start melting stuff! 🙄😔

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...