So what have you RC FAILed on today? Any RC related faux pas, injuries, past disasters?

[Mad Ax 3429]

3 minutes ago, 87lc2 said:

Not laughing at you

Sometimes I feel my purpose in life is to be laughed at 

if my post is full of some daft stuff, it's not half as daft, clumsy or just plain idiotic as some of the non-RC things I've done, many of which would probably get a good giggle posted here and some of which most certainly wouldn't 

[tamiya_1971 346]

On my very first pistol transmitter, I didn’t realize the steering needed to be reversed. I drove for years with the steering incorrect.  Yes, I have it back to normal now. 😁

[dannymulder 616]

The most stupid thing I have done Is blew up  two esc on one day, one used on and a brand new one.

At first I blew the used one and thought is was just the esc that has gone bad, then I blew up the new one and then I noticed that I put the wires from the battery  in the wrong way.

 

[El Gecko 409]

I set up the rear suspension springs too hard in the Blackfoot because I was trying to keep it from bottoming out on larger jumps, but it caused 2 months of power gremlins!

The ESC was cutting out at full throttle, and the motor got hot and sounded like it was straining, trying too hard. So over that time I've switched motors, wheels, tires, batteries, rebuilt the gearbox twice, thought the ESC was junk, and had basically given up.

Until tonight. I just got a strange urge to try tweaking the suspension a little, and lo and behold, once I softened up those springs..... it was like a whole new car!!

I'm ok with not jumping as much if it means the car runs better in every other way. I just can't believe it took me this long to figure it out, and that I was the one who caused the whole thing in the first place [[facepalm]]

[BJoe76 169]

1 hour ago, El Gecko said:

I set up the rear suspension springs too hard in the Blackfoot because I was trying to keep it from bottoming out on larger jumps, but it caused 2 months of power gremlins!

The ESC was cutting out at full throttle, and the motor got hot and sounded like it was straining, trying too hard. So over that time I've switched motors, wheels, tires, batteries, rebuilt the gearbox twice, thought the ESC was junk, and had basically given up.

Until tonight. I just got a strange urge to try tweaking the suspension a little, and lo and behold, once I softened up those springs..... it was like a whole new car!!

I'm ok with not jumping as much if it means the car runs better in every other way. I just can't believe it took me this long to figure it out, and that I was the one who caused the whole thing in the first place [[facepalm]]

This reminds me of an Oops I had with my Stampede back in 1999, I had a Novak Rooster and stock Stinger 20t motor in it and took it to a local “skate park” (there are now 2 much better better ones near where I now work) and launched it off a ramp and when it landed...........nothing, not every steering?! I went to go and look at it and there was no response, turns out I put the on/off switch in a way that you slid it down to turn it off, then when it landed, the was enough momentum in that switch that it slid into the off position when it bottomed out🤦🏻
 

Later that day, I took it out to near where those skate parks now are and tried to drive it over a parking block and as I was tried to bump the rear end over that block, I saw something Black get flung about 6’ in the air and the truck suddenly stopped, though it still had power?!  Walked over and found that it popped the outter right driveshaft  off the u-joint ball and launched it straight up like I saw..........still kinda proud of that one🤣

[Mad Ax 3429]

8 hours ago, BJoe76 said:

I put the on/off switch in a way that you slid it down to turn it off, then when it landed, the was enough momentum in that switch that it slid into the off position when it bottomed out🤦🏻

This is a little thing I learned with my RCs way back in the early 90s.  Always fit the switch with the lug so that "on" is whatever direction "backwards" is - that way if a stone flips up off the tyre or the chassis drags on the road or it rolls over some foliage, it will push the switch towards the "on" position (and hopefully do nothing).

Back in the days of MSCs, the switch would turn off the radio but it wouldn't disconnect the battery from the motor.  So, if you rolled over something on full throttle and the switch went off you'd lose power to the receiver and the servos, but the MSC servo would stop where it was, the wiper would be jammed open and the car would shoot off in whatever direction it felt like.

[El Gecko 409]

3 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

This is a little thing I learned with my RCs way back in the early 90s.  Always fit the switch with the lug so that "on" is whatever direction "backwards" is - that way if a stone flips up off the tyre or the chassis drags on the road or it rolls over some foliage, it will push the switch towards the "on" position (and hopefully do nothing).

Back in the days of MSCs, the switch would turn off the radio but it wouldn't disconnect the battery from the motor.  So, if you rolled over something on full throttle and the switch went off you'd lose power to the receiver and the servos, but the MSC servo would stop where it was, the wiper would be jammed open and the car would shoot off in whatever direction it felt like.

I always set it up with Off toward the front of the car, so I could grab the front bumper and hit the switch almost in the same motion.

The days of MSCs aren't over yet, I just had that happen a few weeks ago! Stupid 4AA battery box came unplugged from my wonky wiring setup, so I'm sure I looked like a crazy person chasing the old Grasshopper around in circles in the street in front of my house 

Managed to grab it pretty quickly, but as I did, the front bumper finally gave out (luckily I flung the car toward the yard so it landed in the grass). At first I was sad, because it's the original bumper, but I went to see my friends Dremel and Drill down in The Basement, and I'm happy to say we've given it new life. Sure, it's 1/2" shorter and missing the side bars in front of the wheels, but I think I actually like it better this way!

[Mrowka 226]

A helicopter attacked my hand last night and caused significant injuries. Ouch.

[Mechanic AH 446]

On 1/7/2021 at 8:06 PM, Mrowka said:

A helicopter attacked my hand last night and caused significant injuries. Ouch.

Yikes! What happened? 

[Mrowka 226]

Testing a fairly powerful helicopter with a brushless motor, had a weird accident on takeoff, hit my left hand, tore my hand up pretty good and didn't do the helicopter any favors either.

Oh, well, back to the old drawing board.

[Mechanic AH 446]

12 hours ago, Mrowka said:

Testing a fairly powerful helicopter with a brushless motor, had a weird accident on takeoff, hit my left hand, tore my hand up pretty good and didn't do the helicopter any favors either.

Oh, well, back to the old drawing board.

Ouch! I hope it didn't require stitches. Thought about those RC/helicopter injuries on Youtube

[Mrowka 226]

Well, I didn't get stitches, LOL.

[nowinaminute 2113]

My most annoying one of recent times was my lockdown 2cv rally kit.

Building the kit: easy!

The body shell is always the tricky part, we all know that.

Determined to start off right I decided to trace around all the cut lines with a sharp knife rather than use scissors. It was nerve wracking to say the least but it worked out really well in the end, cleanest cut I've ever done and hardly any sanding or tidying needed afterwards:

Next part was the masking. Again, I was determined to do a good job so I even got some of that special masking tape for curves. I probably spent about 2 hours masking and I was very pleased with the results:

But inevitably, despite going over the tape edge dozens of times, this turned out to be the first kit that gave me multiple pait bleeds in numerous places. Not just the large bleeds but the lines in general somehow ended up all wavy and imprecise despite being dictated by the edge of the tape.  🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

And I also noticed the masking tape had left a load of residue behind too:

Not to be deterred, I cleaned up the lines as best I could and removed the tape residue and applied the main colour.

Oh look! Despite putting the masking tape on so tightly that it left residue behind, random clouds of black paint managed to get on the shell in random places, great!

It was at this point that I realised the window masks had all bled in multiple places too. Great!

I was also frustrated by how difficult the ps-24 orange paint was to apply. Terrible coverage and near impossible to get good coverage in all the nooks and crannies like the light clusters etc.

After emptying the can I just left it alone for months until I recently got another can for cheap thanks to an ebay discount.

I was still getting annoyed by the poor coverage and after emptying another can on the thing, I still had almost transparent areas when holding the shell up to the light 🤦‍♂️ there was no way I was spending out on another can, especially considering about 70% of it just ended up in my lungs anyway 🤣 so I just decided to back it over with white and hope for the best.

Turns out it doesn't look to shabby now all things considered. Just need to pain the roof now and the window stickers will hide most of the window mask issues.

It remains a strong fail for me though simply because it's the most effort I've put into a shell by far and it went worse than a lot of shells I rushed.

[nel33 128]

i wouldnt call this a fail but it was annoying enough, when i was cutting the window masking for my GTR shell i partially cut into the window sticker cutout 2 times. i used another scrap piece of film paper to patch it up. still a D'OH moment for me but i never (atleast till this point) cut a corner off the window masking stickers. i did have some masking tape fails making for 2-4 areas where its a bit sloppy/uneven coverage due to body geometry and where i wanted different colors to go on.

[El Gecko 409]

I should have known better, but I just had to experience it for myself. Unfortunately a steering knuckle had to die while satisfying my curiosity

I think I'll stick with normal size wheels from now on...

[BJoe76 169]

Speaking of bigger tires, I ordered a set of Proline Hyrax for one of my Losi Crawlers last week, went to a local hobby shop and found a set on the pegs.....and found that the foam is extra stiff, maybe more than my liking, so I picked up some 2 stage foams for once the tires arrive.  I think they may end up on the AX10 Scorpion that I may be rebuilding by pulling the original drivetrain and suspension back out of my SCX10 conversion and getting an aftermarket transmission and the SCX10.2 axle conversion kit for the SCX10.3 trucks under that.mutations same shop also had some Hot Bodies Rovers in the white compound on hand too.....so those may end up on the Losi’s.

[BJoe76 169]

You guys ever seen lexan melted and deformed by lexan paint before?!

[Ryz82 78]

23 hours ago, BJoe76 said:

You guys ever seen lexan melted and deformed by lexan paint before?!

Hmm, 100% certain it was polycarbonate paint ? I mean heck, even Tamiya TS paint is fine, it just flakes off ... My mate uses normal spray paint occasionally from hardware store on some of this shells (Scalextric, though still lexan/polycarbonate) and have never seen this.

Is it eating away from inside or outside ?

You didn't run through anything that may have splashed up into the body ? or maybe had something on your hands/gloves when working on this one ?

EDIT.

Just noticed the masks, was this a fresh paint ? very well could be contamination, so either shell wasn't completely clean/washed before painting, or unfortunately you may have contaminated it while masking. (most commonly oils from hand/gloves)

You could try cleaning/removing the paint in that area - I've used Tamiya Polycarbonate Body Cleaner in the past, that not only cleans, but strips the paint. Then once done, give it another shot of paint.

[BJoe76 169]

5 hours ago, Ryz82 said:

Hmm, 100% certain it was polycarbonate paint ? I mean heck, even Tamiya TS paint is fine, it just flakes off ... My mate uses normal spray paint occasionally from hardware store on some of this shells (Scalextric, though still lexan/polycarbonate) and have never seen this.

Is it eating away from inside or outside ?

You didn't run through anything that may have splashed up into the body ? or maybe had something on your hands/gloves when working on this one ?

EDIT.

Just noticed the masks, was this a fresh paint ? very well could be contamination, so either shell wasn't completely clean/washed before painting, or unfortunately you may have contaminated it while masking. (most commonly oils from hand/gloves)

You could try cleaning/removing the paint in that area - I've used Tamiya Polycarbonate Body Cleaner in the past, that not only cleans, but strips the paint. Then once done, give it another shot of paint.

Yes, it was all Duratrax brand lexan paint, though the first chemical listed on the label is Toluene, along with a few other chemicals I know to be plastic solvents........and aromatics used in reduced emissions from gasoline blends in the US. The black bled under the masking tape and sat while it was gassing out, being winter here in Chicago, that took a long time to happen, which is why I think this was able to happen. I remaster it after this and put down some more silver as well as applied silver to the second body for my LNC, which bled as well, but just doesn’t appear to have attacked the plastic.  I’ve yet to see this with Pactra R/C paints as well as Model Master’s 2 stage automotive lacquers, or even when I’ve used spray touch up paints directly from Mopar for the Jeep I used to own and the last 2 minivans Dad has owned.  This will probably be the last time I use the Duratrax paints, since I’ve not been happy with other paint jobs I’ve used them on. Does Tamiya sell metallic black, metallic red, and a candy/clear red as part of their polycarbonate paint line? I think Rustolium is killing the Pactra line as well as some of the Model Master 2 Stage Lacquers and the other option I have besides those and Tamiya is Spaz Stix at this point.

[Ryz82 78]

@BJoe76 does seem most odd.

Tamiya has a Metallic Red and plain Transparent Red in their PS line - candy effects you'll have to try and produce with different colors and layers for backing.

They only have Metallic Black in their TS (hard plastic) line. Though I've heard if you use their matte clear PS as first coat, you can get the TS to better adhere with less chance of flaking.

Here where i am in AUS, locally its really only Tamiya for polycarbonate paints, unless airbrushing; so i've no experience with others.

[BJoe76 169]

10 minutes ago, Ryz82 said:

@BJoe76 does seem most odd.

Tamiya has a Metallic Red and plain Transparent Red in their PS line - candy effects you'll have to try and produce with different colors and layers for backing.

They only have Metallic Black in their TS (hard plastic) line. Though I've heard if you use their matte clear PS as first coat, you can get the TS to better adhere with less chance of flaking.

Here where i am in AUS, locally its really only Tamiya for polycarbonate paints, unless airbrushing; so i've no experience with others.

Thanks, I’ve used Pactra’s Candy Red backed by their Pearl White, then backed by their Metallic Black before, which gives a neat effect when done right (the black here is Duplicolor’s bed liner, which needs their adhesion promoter to stick to lexan)

 

 

as well as the metallic black as a main color in conjunction with the Candy Red/Pearl White/Metallic Black 3 Stage paint job. 

 

The Candy Red on the windows is meant to look like the colored window tint used on 1:1 drag cars like “Gassers” back in the 60’s😎

[LeftyAl 163]

TA02 was my first on road build. Wanted it to be bright yellow. Got the yellow down then decided to black out the windows. Stupidly used black paint that spoiled the yellow paint job.

Repaired the front diff in a 4WD stadium truck. Went to test it and had a head scratching moment where the wheels moved but the car didn't.

I had put the diff in backwards, so the front wheels went backwards and the rear wheels went forwards.

Over the years I made plenty of mistakes in builds, repairs upgrades. In those moments I recite the mantra......."Can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs"

[Ray_ve 394]

My only fail over the past months is not taking any time for RC due to work and house DIY . Hopefully this weekend, as my street is being re-done and full of sand, and basher-Bear only requires a full lipo.