Midnight Pumpkin Metallic Re-release Upgrade Suggestions

[Chrizh 10]

Hey, new guy here! I've always had an interest in RC but never developed in to a hobby. Grew up in the 80s and 90s and loved the Tamiya RCs, especially Midnight Pumpkin. Neighbours brother had one and I always wanted one! I'm 37 now and just built my first one. I honestly can't put in to words how much I enjoyed putting it together. Tripping on nostalgia and a permanent grin on my face the whole time!

 

Anyhow, I wanted to ask what would be some must have upgrades? I'm looking at getting the CVA short shock set, sealed ball bearings and the Tamiya brush less motor. I'd like to increase its overall durability. What sort of parts should I be looking at replacing to achieve that? I assume some plastic parts can be swapped out for metal? 

 

I'm based in the UK. Is there a go to recommended website to order parts?

 

Thanks for your help

[Biz73 603]

I did the fx-10 mod and centered the servo, big improvement IMO. There is also an Ampro set that does the same thing as the fx-10 mod, it was made specifically for the Pumpkin/Lunchbox, so it probably doesn't require as much modifying. You will be able to reverse without the front end dropping to the tires. Centering the servo give you the same turning radius left and right, rather than a big wide circle one way, and a tight circle the other way. For me, those two things made a noticeable difference.  Also, glue the rear tires, they start to slip on the wheels and kills the wheelie fun!

This is a good place to start:

 

[Chrizh 10]

Thanks for the feedback. With regards centering the servo, do you have any links to information or guides? A lot of the items linked in the post you referenced are dead now.

 

Thanks again!

[topforcein 1764]

i would think twice on a brushless motor as this and the lunchbox are wheelie machines with the kit motor and if you want to preserve the shell a bit longer i would not put a brushless one in it.

you can do the same to the chassis as the lunchbox mod's.

you can chassis braise it a fifth shock mod swop the rear wheel adaptors for alloy.

if you type in tamiya midnight pumkin into ebay then a list will come up and it will have upgrades in the list 

[Chrizh 10]

6 minutes ago, topforcein said:

i would think twice on a brushless motor as this and the lunchbox are wheelie machines with the kit motor and if you want to preserve the shell a bit longer i would not put a brushless one in it.

you can do the same to the chassis as the lunchbox mod's.

you can chassis braise it a fifth shock mod swop the rear wheel adaptors for alloy.

if you type in tamiya midnight pumkin into ebay then a list will come up and it will have upgrades in the list 

Thanks. I was looking at the Ampro mod and read sticking with the stock silver motor is best so have decided against a brush less motor now

 

I've gone ahead and purchased some sealed bearings, alloy body mounts, alloy suspension pivots, spiked tyres, CVA short shocks and the Ampro mod.

[berman 5315]

A sport tuned motor #53098 is a nice upgrade for the CW-01 chassis.

[Chrizh 10]

15 hours ago, berman said:

A sport tuned motor #53098 is a nice upgrade for the CW-01 chassis.

Was one step ahead of ya! Fitted it a few days ago

 

Think I'm done with the mods I want to do now. Possibly adding firm oil shocks to the front and maybe a third rear shock.

Here's a video I made of my mods and some cool 960 FPS slow mo clips of it in action!

 

 

[ThunderDragonCy 7877]

12 hours ago, Chrizh said:

Was one step ahead of ya! Fitted it a few days ago

 

Think I'm done with the mods I want to do now. Possibly adding firm oil shocks to the front and maybe a third rear shock.

Here's a video I made of my mods and some cool 960 FPS slow mo clips of it in action!

 

 

That looks great! I wouldn't bother with the 5th shick mod. The AMPRO transmission brace mod is much cheaper and more effective. It is on his shapeways store. It is a little part that bolts to the tub and grabs the centre of the transmission pivot to stop the transmission slap. Also on the front instead of different shocks maybe try finding some stiffer springs? Or get some heavier oil to put in them. Shame to ditch those alloy shock bodies. 

[Chrizh 10]

2 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

That looks great! I wouldn't bother with the 5th shick mod. The AMPRO transmission brace mod is much cheaper and more effective. It is on his shapeways store. It is a little part that bolts to the tub and grabs the centre of the transmission pivot to stop the transmission slap. Also on the front instead of different shocks maybe try finding some stiffer springs? Or get some heavier oil to put in them. Shame to ditch those alloy shock bodies. 

Thanks mate! I've gone ahead and ordered that from Shapeways now 😉

[ThunderDragonCy 7877]

2 hours ago, Chrizh said:

Thanks mate! I've gone ahead and ordered that from Shapeways now 😉

No worries. I had one on my Lunchbox and also on my kids Rising Fighter. Works brilliantly.

[berman 5315]

Man, you are playing with fire with all those posts, you know rc cars and wooden posts are magnetic right?

[Chrizh 10]

8 minutes ago, berman said:

Man, you are playing with fire with all those posts, you know rc cars and wooden posts are magnetic right?

😂 so true! Was like the cars were drawn to them! I did bust my Ampro arm 😔 Was my own fault. Got carried away with having fun and it had a nasty impact. New one on order!

[Jakob TK 17]

I have a brushless 17 turn motor on my Lunch box and that runs great. Top speed is around 35 km/h and it wheelies a bit more freely than yours I'd say without being unmanageable. And a nice sensored brushless set is a joy to run at low speeds too. I got mine cheap from hobbyking so I don't know how the brushless Tamiya set runs.

also I would consider running a brace across between the two front shocks top mounts. It is easy to make and stiffens the front end.

[Munchbox 100]

With a 2400kv brushless motor and the tble02s esc you'll be neck and neck with a sport tuned motor except your esc will run cooler and your batteries will last much longer. I was getting over an hour runtime on a 3000mah nimh.

Then when that gets old and you want to really go fast you can swap out the stock pinion for a Hornet pinion. This will put your top speed around 28mph and you'll still have pretty good runtimes. (45mins on a 3000mah)

[nowinaminute 2815]

On 22/04/2018 at 8:27 AM, ThunderDragonCy said:

That looks great! I wouldn't bother with the 5th shick mod. The AMPRO transmission brace mod is much cheaper and more effective. It is on his shapeways store. It is a little part that bolts to the tub and grabs the centre of the transmission pivot to stop the transmission slap. Also on the front instead of different shocks maybe try finding some stiffer springs? Or get some heavier oil to put in them. Shame to ditch those alloy shock bodies. 

I agree, the extra shock looks cool but really it's a lot of work to only dampen/reduce the slap whereas the ampro part is simple and pretty much eleminates the problem. The fishing string mod is a good option too for a quick fix and also effective. 

[Chrizh 10]

Cheers for all the responses guys 😉 I installed the AMPro transmission mod. Such a simple but effective bit of kit.

On 11/05/2018 at 8:53 AM, Jakob TK said:

I have a brushless 17 turn motor on my Lunch box and that runs great. Top speed is around 35 km/h and it wheelies a bit more freely than yours I'd say without being unmanageable. And a nice sensored brushless set is a joy to run at low speeds too. I got mine cheap from hobbyking so I don't know how the brushless Tamiya set runs.

also I would consider running a brace across between the two front shocks top mounts. It is easy to make and stiffens the front end.

So you'd recommend a brushless? I'm tempted again... 😁

 

I saw a video with a pumpkin with those shock braces. I think I'll give that a go. 

On 12/05/2018 at 4:56 AM, Munchbox said:

With a 2400kv brushless motor and the tble02s esc you'll be neck and neck with a sport tuned motor except your esc will run cooler and your batteries will last much longer. I was getting over an hour runtime on a 3000mah nimh.

Then when that gets old and you want to really go fast you can swap out the stock pinion for a Hornet pinion. This will put your top speed around 28mph and you'll still have pretty good runtimes. (45mins on a 3000mah)

That's crazy. But I like it lol 😂

Any motor recommendations? Thanks. 

On 12/05/2018 at 5:31 PM, nowinaminute said:

I agree, the extra shock looks cool but really it's a lot of work to only dampen/reduce the slap whereas the ampro part is simple and pretty much eleminates the problem. The fishing string mod is a good option too for a quick fix and also effective. 

The AMPro is great. Dead easy fix. 

[Jakob TK 17]

I like Hobbykings motors and ESC. They are dirt cheap and often run good. My favorite is this combo:

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbykingr-tm-x-car-60a-brushless-car-esc-sensored-sensorless.html?wrh_pdp=7

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-trackstar-13-5t-sensored-brushless-motor-3040kv-roar-approved.html?wrh_pdp=7

That is a 13,5T and will be fast but you can always run it on NIMH batteries if you want to limit speed and switch th LIPO when you're up for it. They have a USB adapter for the ESC that is essential if you have PC flair as you can update firmware and the ESC runs better on one of their firmware updates (they may be Hobbywing firmwares which is a good thing in terms of driving goodness).

There is this set too, I haven't tried the ESC:

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/trackstar-roar-approved-1-10th-stock-class-brushless-esc-and-motor-combo-17-5t.html?wrh_pdp=3

 

Beware that these items may not be in store nationally (UK store). I don't know if you can buy them from the global store or if customs are added in the UK.

Nice to hear about the AMpro part I have to take a look at that.