What do you wish you had known before you began this hobby

[Ronnyhotdog]

I'm about to start my first build, first of many I hope, but what is the one thing experience has taught you that you wish you had known at the start? Can be anything, big or small.

[loco_oso]

Beside the hobby being addictive, I wish I would have known to take my time during the build process. I find it more enjoyable to prolong a kit build, and you come out with a better car, even if it puts off running it sooner. 

[speedy_w_beans]

One of the great things about this community at Tamiyaclub is I continue to learn new things from people even after 7 years of being in the hobby.  There are lots of little tips and tricks I didn't know anything about as a newbie that are now a standard part of my routine.  Examples:

• Use flush cutters to snip parts from the sprues; they leave very little to no flash on the parts.  When I first started I was using standard diagonal cutters and cleaning up the flash with a knife and block of wood, and it was adding unproductive time to the build.
• Don't overtighten screws into plastic; this is especially true of self-tapping screws used with ABS plastic parts.  Get them snug, but don't torque them excessively.  I'm sure some of my dislike for self-tapping screws came from my own ignorance about this.
• Tamiya supplies JIS-head screws in their kits, not Philips-head screws.  Get a JIS screwdriver to guarantee a tight fit between the driver and the fastener.  If you don't have access to a JIS driver, then I've found DeWalt #2 bits fit snugly in the kit screws.  Test the fit and correct any issues so you don't round out any screw heads.
• Replace all aluminum pinion gears with steel pinions.  The aluminum kit pinions tend to wear down and destroy the mating spur gear along the way.
• Replace plastic bushings and bronze bushings with ball bearings in all drivetrain locations to reduce friction and maintain gear spacing over the long term.
• Anti-wear grease works better than molybdenum grease in ball diff thrust bearings.  Anti-wear also works better than ceramic grease in some gear diffs.
• Don't grease any diff outdrives, dogbones, or axle stubs.  The grease just attracts dirt and turns into an abrasive paste wearing out the parts faster.
• A cheap set of digital calipers works great for setting turnbuckle lengths instead of eyeballing them against the printed manual.  Calipers turn out to be very useful for measuring many things.
• When assembling oil dampers, coat the shaft with oil then slide the O-ring(s) up the shaft first and into the damper body second.  This reduces the chance you'll cut the O-ring and cause a leak.  Putting the O-ring(s) in the damper body first means they are compressed on the threaded part of the shaft if it is installed second; the threads are the hazard to minimize.
• Many Tamiya ESCs don't include an internal BEC and will overpower a radio receiver; this may not be the case with the newest kits.  Make sure your receiver voltage rating is compatible with the voltage the ESC supplies.  The same goes with whatever steering servo you select.  Also, 2.4 GHz radio gear works much better than older AM/FM gear.
• When trimming Lexan bodies, simple lines and arcs can be handled with body scissors, but if the body has any complex features or tight internal corners then using a knife to score and snap the Lexan can work better.  I started with scissors but like the score and snap method more now.
• Work from darkest colors to lightest colors when painting Lexan bodies so the darkest colors don't bleed through the lighter colors.  Also consider using a coat of silver in some cases as a blocking layer when you can't adhere to this general rule.  I had a few bodies that didn't turn out well at the beginning.

What kit are you building?  Many of the kits have idiosyncrasies and the community as a whole knows something about them.  You can get some specific advice just by asking.

Enjoy your first build!

[Blista]

Have a selection of the right tools.  Some decent JIS screwdrivers are at the top of the list.  Also get any glue, grease, thread-lock, and so on that you might need before you start building the chassis (reading the manual online before even buying the kit helps here).

[Juggular]

1) Developing a habit of jacking up the cars when not in use.  So tires won't go flat from sitting for too long.  

2) Rubbing some oil on springs and other metal parts on shelf queens so they won't rust.  

3) One more vote for JIS screwdrivers.  It's a little thing, but once you use JIS, going back to Phillips driver is annoying.  

4) When screwing back, back-thread first to seat the screw properly.  You don't want to re-thread and destroy the screw holes. 

5) Using Teflon grease designed for plastic gears of model trains.  It's very light and slick, even aluminum pinions last a long time. 

6) Using very little grease on dog bones. Gobs of grease don't help. --Speedy already touched on this--  However, instead of not using, I put a tiny dab of above-mentioned Teflon grease on my index finger.  Rub it between my thumb and index, and touch dog bones and drive cups with greasy fingers.  They don't look greased, but that's all you need for dozens of runs.  You can use dry chain wax for bicycles also. 

7) Threadlocking everything.  Murphy's law is strong in RC.  What could fly off, will fly off.  

8) Pre-testing everything.  Suspension articulations, dog-bone rattle angle of steering, etc.  Once I had a dog bone bent.  The A-arms hung low from longer shocks and Mad Bison just bent it.  

9) Not buying replacements I "might" need.  Uncommon sized bearings for cars I might have someday, or parts I think I might break?  For the price of getting hundreds of those, I could have gotten a few more kits.  (On the other hand, I have enough "extra" parts to build one whole FAV + one more FAV, if I get 3 more parts.)

 

 

[Jonathon Gillham]

I wish I had known about the variety of stuff available and done more research before jumping in. Specifically batteries, radio gear and charger. I overpayed for stuff initially as I didn't know about Hobbyking, RcMart etc, and then wasted money on bits that are ok but have since been upgraded.

Buy decent radio gear as you can use it for lots of models and the better gear is so much nicer

[ALEXKYRIAK]

Juggular, regarding your item 1, tell us a bit more about this? If the wheels are rotated periodically does this help or is it simply the weight of the car on the tyre over time? 

 

[Nobbi1977]

I wish I had know Banzai we’re going to stop stocking Tamiya parts. They got me addicted to hopups and now I cannot afford to add everything to everything anymore.

Fast motors do not always make for the most fun

Plus almost everything everyone above has said.

[TwistedxSlayer]

Bigger isnt always better.

Drive slow.

Learn Fast.

[Jason1145]

RC Videos are not real life! They show all the good and none of the bad and what looks good in Slow mo happens in the blink of an eye lol.

Oh, and make sure you make body post holes before you paint a lexan Bodyshell so you can still see through it.

[MadInventor]

Well I started off when you could buy a sand rover in your local hobby store and the hotshot had never been heard of, so I'd have told myself 'Don't sell your cars, especially not the hotshot, and keep all the boxes cos they'll be worth something in 20 years dummy!'

[Juggular]

10 hours ago, ALEXKYRIAK said:

Juggular, regarding your item 1, tell us a bit more about this? If the wheels are rotated periodically does this help or is it simply the weight of the car on the tyre over time? 

 

My wife will tell you that gravity isn't doing wonders to her face (so could my belly).  Tires are the same.  

Tamiya designs tires so that they can withstand gravity for some time.  That's why they don't have ultra-soft compound tires (or they have relatively hard foams inside).  Even so, they all sink down in a few months.  The older they are the harder it is for them to bounce back to the shape before.  

Blocks of styrofoam, old phone boxes or wooden blocks cans could be used as pedestals to prop up the models.  Life may give you skiing trips, expensive girlfriends, cello lessons or even babies.  If you kept your tires up in the air, they will be just the same as you left them. Even if you get back into the hobby after one winter or many years.  If you have a dozen models, running all of them will be hard too.  Come December 31st (today!), and you'd think, "oh jeez, I didn't run Wild Willy at all this year!"  At least, the tires haven't gone flat...

[Gruntfuggly]

I wish I'd have known not to sell my Sand Scorcher to the kid up the road for peanuts 30 years ago.

[Ronnyhotdog]

18 hours ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

 

Buy decent radio gear as you can use it for lots of models and the better gear is so much nicer

Does this involve simply taking the receiver from one vehicle and placing it another?

 

Thank you for all the replies. I shall bookmark and return to keep reminding myself of this good advice.

[Jonathon Gillham]

2 minutes ago, Ronnyhotdog said:

Does this involve simply taking the receiver from one vehicle and placing it another?

 

Thank you for all the replies. I shall bookmark and return to keep reminding myself of this good advice.

No you buy a receiver for each model and then can switch between them easily. The feature is really common, even a cheap flysky set can do it, but there are better sets out there so when you spread the cost of a mid level set over a number of models its worth paying for somethihg decent. Watch what a receiver costs though, a cheap set of gear can be had for about NZD$35 delivered but some receivers cost 3 times that.  You can find a good balance though, especialky if you can find secondhand receivers

[TurnipJF]

On 31/12/2017 at 9:24 AM, Jonathon Gillham said:

Buy decent radio gear as you can use it for lots of models and the better gear is so much nicer

+1 to this! I spent ages researching my first model, but didn't spend anywhere near enough effort researching the radio gear to go with it, wasting my money on a quite frankly terrible Carson set that was bundled with the model. I didn't think much of the Carson to begin with, but it is only now that I am using Spektrum gear that I realise quite what an awful buy the Carson was!

[GooneyBird]

+1 for everyone suggesting JIS screwdrivers vs regular Philipsheaded ones. And not just for working on Tamiya models (I used to have an Mazda MX5 for which I regularly used the Tamiya screwdrivers. It just worked better)

[novicelad]

That I was going to be addicted as soon as I brought that cheap used lb back in September! 

I now have to drag myself away from just taking the cars apart just to rebuild them, this is the bit I enjoy the most! 

I find myself looking at pointless things on the fleabay that will be of no actual use to me but will give me something to do with my cars! 

Things that have suffered since I got back into this hobby

• Wallet
• Decorating
• TV watching (this is not a bad thing)
• Wife time (she doesn't seem to mind)

Things that have improved

• Actually finding something I truly enjoy doing
• Time with my kids
• Wife time (she has a midnight pumpkin)
• My knowledge of electronics
• Finger dexterity
• Patience 

[ALEXKYRIAK]

Things I’ve learned since picking this hobby up 1 year ago... much of this was imparted to me in one way or another along the journey by the good folks of this here forum

 

1. Patience: be patient, don’t hurry an assembly, don’t get flustered by it if it ain’t going right....! Over time, you’ll get much better, faster, and more efficient  once you have a few kits under your belt. 

 

2. Observation: pay very close attention to the assembly procedure and instructions. 

Sometimes I’ve ended up assembling things very slightly incorrectly, you won’t notice until perhaps half an hour later in a subsequent step of the build when something else doesn’t fit... 

 

3.  screwing things: it’s been said many times here already but there’s alot to know about screwing. 

Tapping screws into softer abs plastic shouldn’t be overtightened (they should be ‘snug’ as someone said to me). 

When removing the screw, do so slowly and carefully. When reinserting the screw, as Juggular has written, find the thread the screw made as it went into the plastic the first time, and slot the screw into this thread before screwing it back in. That way you don’t damage the original thread already grooved into the plastic. 

Harder, high durability plastics take machine screws which have finer threads. 

As written many a time: get proper JIS screwdrivers, they are night and day better than a standard Philips. I have the Tamiya craft tools set. Well worth the dosh. 

 

4. Beer: don’t assemble a kit with more than 1 beer in you... You’ll assemble things incorrectly, miss small detail of alignments and components. You’ll pick it up the next day and wonder ‘who the heck built this!’

 

5. Be organised in your work space. I found it helps to have things laid out the same way for each build. 

Certain tools for each type of work go in specific places around the build area. Cutting things in one area, drivers in another, parts trays in another. Be diligent in returning a tool back to the area after each individual use; in time you’ll reach instinctively for the right bits of equipment without spending time hunting around for it.

Screw / parts trays are for me an essential piece of kit to help the build. You can buy fancy ones from RC companies such as Avid RC, Core, etc, or just make your own out of an Illy Espresso tin lid.

Fancy ones come in formed aluminium and will have radiused internal corners to allow easy retrieval of a small component  

Keep the screws you need to hand for the particular step you’re working on in the trays.

I also keep the parts bags A to E in corresponding small food storage tubs marked A to E. Much easier than trying to pull a small piece out of a plastic bag, and great for when a kit is built over a period of days.

Pincers / tweezers are useful in picking out a specific bit.

 

6. Tools: you’ll quickly learn that you can spend a bomb on tools, and there are many that you’ll need to be able to do all the different jobs on a build project. 

But you don’t need too many of each. It’s better to invest in a few high quality tools than many cheaper ones.

 I also store my tools by ‘type’ - all hex wrench type tools go in one compartment, all cutting and gripping tools in another, etc. I invested in a largish tool box from the local hardware shop and it’s done me really well.

 

7. Hop ups: It’s easy to go mad on hop ups and realise you’ve spent way more than you can realistically afford. Research which ones you think you’ll really need and which ones you just like the look of. Then be honest with yourself and proceed if you must.

EBay and beer in the evenings are not a good mix: only make purchases in the morning! (Unless you drink beer in the mornings in which case I can’t help you; and may I politely suggest that perhaps you’re in the wrong forum...) 

Always keep the hop up packets after the build: I put them in the box the kit came in. 

For me I need to remember which hop up goes with which kit so I place them in the kit box prior to a build. 

Pay attention when buying the hop up: I have a few TT02 pieces when I really needed a TT02B piece..!

 

8. Work mats: a good A3 or A2 sized cutting mat is a great work surface to use to assemble the build.

Alternatively you can get rubber build mats from all of the main RC manufacturers which do a good job also. Mine is from HB Racing and I therefore have an A5 cutting mat next to it to do any scalpel/exacto-knife work. 

 

9. Sprues: get a good set of sprue cutters, they’re the best for cleanly removing components and saves time in the long run- no need to revisit a component with a scalpel to finish the trimming  

 

10. IPad/tablet: download the manual to an iPad and have it next to you. It really useful, even if you also have the main paper manual laid out with bits of the build or tools on it. (You then can also read manuals on the way to work or at boring functions to plan your next bit of build....) .

I also keep all my manuals together in an A4 folder rather than in the various kit boxes  

 

11. Lexan Bodies and Painting lexan: I found the scoring and scalpel technique the best to cut the body, I also use the curved scissors to trim any rough bits and fine tune. There are many YouTube videos on these techniques. Some people also sand the edges.  

When spray painting, other than ensuring a dry spray space, and a warm one, patience in the spraying technique is a must: I’m always eager to see the final result and have to slow down to allow the 4-5 fine coats to have enough time to settle 5-10 mins between coats. Again, lots of good vids on YouTube

I have a shed I can use to do the spraying. An old opened out cardboard box makes a great (and cheap) spray booth  

I also like to spray a few coats of PS-58 clear pearlescent on the body prior to spraying the actual colour. This gives a really nice, but very subtle, slightly metallic effect to the body colour. Sometimes I spray some specific areas with out it, so as to have a mat/pearlescent distinction  

 

12. Reverse tweezers: these are like tweezer or pincers that permanently grip or hold a component until you squeeze them to release. Very, very useful. Some have hook noses, some are straight. Get both.

 

13. Servo tester and AA battery pack: cheap as chips, allows you to centre the servo when fitting the servo horn and servo saver, without having to hook up the main RC battery, ESC and transmitter. An amazing utility for small outlay.

EDIT: this is the product I have.  Got it on the rainforest :

XCSOURCE HJ Digital Servo Tester / ESC Consistency Tester Multifunctional Meter for RC Helicopter Airplane Car 4.8-6V RC188

With this battery holder to power it:

C1203-2 RC Battery Holder Case Box Pack 4 AAA JR 3 Pin Black Plastic

 

14. Shock shaft pliers: dedicated tool to grip shock shafts when assembling your shocks. Really useful, I use them with a small bit of kitchen paper to grip the shafts.

 

EDIT: this is the product I have, got it from modelsport:

Core RC Shock Shaft Pliers - Black CR101

 

15. Small component boxes: keeps all the tiny screw and components such as O rings, E rings, grub screws, etc in one place. RC suppliers sell them, they’re like pull boxes. Some are dirt cheap, and they’re super useful. 

 

16. Storage boxes with multiple compartments: great for keeping similar components in one place. For example I have a ‘shocks’ box for all shock, springs and asssociated components. Another for sealants, greases, glues, etc. Another for wheels, tyres, etc. Makes having to hunt for specific bits easy and more importantly, organised. 

 

17. Masking: Fasmask is an amazing product when producing custom masks for lexan bodies.  You paint it on, let it dry out, then you cut the pattern with a knife and spray your paint on.

Paper mask sheets can also be bought to produce your own masking stickers. Tamiya make them, or some stationary shops will sell it.  

 

18. Measuring: digital measuring callipers are a must. Perfect for precise measurements and nailing the perfect turnbuckle dimension for example. 

EDIT: This is the product I have, got it from the rainforest, delivers very quickly: 

Silverline 380244 Digital Vernier Caliper 150 mm

 

 

19. Power driver / power drill: these can be really useful. Saves time on some screwing operations, but requires caution: a) get one with a torque limiter and b ) a variable manual speed (ie a trigger operated one).

Screw the screw in gently at slow speed and stop when the torque limiter activated. Then hand tighten the final bit of the screwing in procedure. 

A power drill with interchangeable heads can obviously allow you to use hex bits for your Philips/JIS/hex head bits, and also be used with actual drill bits to create the holes in lexan bodies as and when required. 

 

20. Ball races: you should ball race every kit to reduce friction and ensure the smoothest operation, but you should be selective: generally use rubber sealed ones where liquid and moisture will come into contact , and normal ones everywhere else. 

You don’t need to buy them from established online model shops either, as they’ll be marked up in price; you can get them quite a bit cheaper from specialist ball race sellers online. 

 

21. Flat pliers: great for gripping things without damaging them with the grooves of normal pliers. Ie, plastic ball cups to the ends of turnbuckles  

 

22. Ask people! Alot of the above has been learned by asking people here, even if I was afraid of asking a stupid noob question. It was all daunting at the beginning.

 

[Gruntfuggly]

One thing I haven't learned is not to dismantle stuff where the floor has gaps between the floorboards, i.e. my living room and the garden deck... 

[racer1]

The one thing I wish someone had told me before I got started was how much room this hobby would eventually consume.

Right now I have an entire basement plus one hobby room dedicated to cars alone.

 

[Juggular]

On 1/5/2018 at 9:48 AM, ALEXKYRIAK said:

Things I’ve learned since picking this hobby up 1 year ago... much of this was imparted to me in one way or another along the journey by the good folks of this here forum

 

 

Well said, Alex.  Your list should be a must-read for first timers.  Even after a dozen builds, I've learned things from you. 

A]  I use magnets to magnetize screwdriver and hex driver tips.  It makes things easier to pick up things too.  

B]  I think high quality tools should include a very sharp art knife.  Dull X-Acto won't do.  A Japanese brand, OLFA, is a good brand.  Don't use scissors for cutting decals.  One side of the blade sticks to the decals. It's like you've attached the edges of stickers to the scissors once, your fingers twice, and put on your model for the 3rd time.  

C] Tamiya parts bags are named A, B, C, in the order of assembly.  I don't open bags B, C, D..., until needed.  Or keep them in separate trays like Alex. 

D] If you get hop-ups before building the kit, open hop ups and read instructions to see where it goes.  I started a kit and then realized that I had to reopen the whole gearbox to install a longer spur gear shaft (for a slipper clutch).  

E]  A coat of clear pearlescent is a good idea!  Don't mind if I use it.  Fasmask also.

F] I'm going to order a servo tester.  It wouldn't be necessary for somebody who will only have one DT-03 in his life.  For repeat customers of RC, it'd be very useful.  And it's cheap!    

G] For power driver, cautions, cautions, and more cautions.  We are dealing with plastic that could strip or crack.  I use only when unscrewing.  

H] Spare tires in a box is a good idea.  Ozone is everywhere, and they shrink and crack tires (after a long time).  

I]  I found calipers too cumbersome to use.  I use a simple school ruler so I could see what mm screws I'm supposed to use.  Don't guess the length of screws or pins.  One convenient thing is that Tamiya paper instruction shows screws in 1:1 scale on the left side.  If you don't have a caliper or a ruler, just put the screw on top of the picture.  If the size matches, it's the right screw.  Of course, if you are seeing the instruction in PDF format like I do, that won't be accurate, and you'll need a caliper or a ruler.  

[Jonathon Gillham]

4 hours ago, Juggular said:

 

F] I'm going to order a servo tester.  It wouldn't be necessary for somebody who will only have one DT-03 in his life.  For repeat customers of RC, it'd be very useful.  And it's cheap!    

 

I]  I found calipers too cumbersome to use.  I use a simple school ruler so I could see what mm screws I'm supposed to use.  Don't guess the length of screws or pins.  One convenient thing is that Tamiya paper instruction shows screws in 1:1 scale on the left side.  If you don't have a caliper or a ruler, just put the screw on top of the picture.  If the size matches, it's the right screw.  Of course, if you are seeing the instruction in PDF format like I do, that won't be accurate, and you'll need a caliper or a ruler.  

I think your F is misleading, it implies its possible to stop at 1 kit.😉

Interesting you don't like calipers, I was going to order some as my race kits require things to be as close to perfect as possible, bashers not so much. What dont you like about them?

Thats also useful pointing out that the screws, turnbuckles etc are shown 1:1 so you can lay the screw over the picture. I worked that out on my second build and had to go and fix some things on the first...

[Juggular]

A cheap plastic caliper I have is easy to use, but the accuracy is worse than a ruler.  

The other one is a bit fancier.  Precisely built with stainless steel.  It's got a digital display. It's in a box. I'm sure the battery is dead by now.  I looked for it just now, but Peter and Wendy must have carried it to Neverland because two adults couldn't find it. (Why would they need a caliper, anyway?)  That's problem #1.  

If I was as organized as Alex, I probably would use calipers.  Regrettably, I'm incapable of being neat.  My RC storage is called "Peter-Pandemoniroom" for a reason. 

Finding the caliper, taking it out of the box, putting in the battery, assigning a space for it so it won't fall off my desk and get bent out of shape... turning it on every time, taking out the battery when I'm done, putting it back into the box, all that is more trouble than its worth.  That's reason #2.  So I keep that thin ruler under my mouse pad.  I always know where it is.  But I cannot possibly hide a caliper under the mouse pad. 

As it is, my wife comes to my room and uses my computer instead of turning on her laptop. Because mine is always in sleep mode.  She wears that fluffy hoodie gown with some unknown animal's face with ears on the hood.  Forgive a non-RC photo, but I declare that deceptively silly face represents the nemesis of RC...

Every time she's been in my room, I find several screws on the floor swept down by her fluffy sleeves.  Zahhak uses countersunk screws, and I cannot easily replace them!  [I wish I had known that my wife's sleeves can carry away bolts before I started this hobby]

A stainless steel caliper fallen on the back of her foot would confound me to equal measure.  For some reason I'm at her mercy when it comes to my allowance. I don't want to hurt the foot (I mean woman) that feeds my hobby.  Worse, she could drop it on the chair.  What if she sits on it and hurts my caliper?  A bum may heal, but a caliper does not heal itself.  That's reason #3.  

Reason #4 is that I have no racers.  All are either bashers or vintage stuff.  I could run any one of mine with one front wheel missing and nobody will care but squirrels.  A simple ruler works fine for my purpose.  But now that I listed all the reasons why I don't use it, I want to find it and use it... curious how that works...  

 

[Jonathon Gillham]

55 minutes ago, Juggular said:

A cheap plastic caliper I have is easy to use, but the accuracy is worse than a ruler.  

The other one is a bit fancier.  Precisely built with stainless steel.  It's got a digital display. It's in a box. I'm sure the battery is dead by now.  I looked for it just now, but Peter and Wendy must have carried it to Neverland because two adults couldn't find it. (Why would they need a caliper, anyway?)  That's problem #1.  

If I was as organized as Alex, I probably would use calipers.  Regrettably, I'm incapable of being neat.  My RC storage is called "Peter-Pandemoniroom" for a reason. 

Finding the caliper, taking it out of the box, putting in the battery, assigning a space for it so it won't fall off my desk and get bent out of shape... turning it on every time, taking out the battery when I'm done, putting it back into the box, all that is more trouble than its worth.  That's reason #2.  So I keep that thin ruler under my mouse pad.  I always know where it is.  But I cannot possibly hide a caliper under the mouse pad. 

As it is, my wife comes to my room and uses my computer instead of turning on her laptop. Because mine is always in sleep mode.  She wears that fluffy hoodie gown with some unknown animal's face with ears on the hood.  Forgive a non-RC photo, but I declare that deceptively silly face represents the nemesis of RC...

Every time she's been in my room, I find several screws on the floor swept down by her fluffy sleeves.  Zahhak uses countersunk screws, and I cannot easily replace them!  [I wish I had known that my wife's sleeves can carry away bolts before I started this hobby]

A stainless steel caliper fallen on the back of her foot would confound me to equal measure.  For some reason I'm at her mercy when it comes to my allowance. I don't want to hurt the foot (I mean woman) that feeds my hobby.  Worse, she could drop it on the chair.  What if she sits on it and hurts my caliper?  A bum may heal, but a caliper does not heal itself.  That's reason #3.  

Reason #4 is that I have no racers.  All are either bashers or vintage stuff.  I could run any one of mine with one front wheel missing and nobody will care but squirrels.  A simple ruler works fine for my purpose.  But now that I listed all the reasons why I don't use it, I want to find it and use it... curious how that works...  

 

Brilliant, arguably off topic but brilliant nonetheless, I'm glad I asked

So off to order a caliper then, my wife doesn't have one of those anti-RC suits