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Grumpy pants

What are your RC plans for 2021?

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1. Drive the pants off my current collection ( do cars even have pants ) 

2. See if I can get involved in any club level stuff locally ( something I haven’t really done since I g back into the hobby )

3. Beef up and mod my mostly stock SMT10 . Either for sport mod local scale MT racing or convert it to a mud truck 

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Well, I don't need no crystal ball to expect a complicated year. Job problems, I'm doing more construction work to keep the bills paid, and this Covid thing has changed family life in such an unexpected way.

So far one of the most desolated feelings last year was being severed completely from the hobby. In my life I could hardly accept the fact of not being allowed to visit the States anymore (not that I ever wanted to stay for a living there), when all of a sudden RC, books & records trading became completely forbid. It's still something hard to swallow. I can't have any spares. Postal services abroad won't ship here. Whether it's a CD, a small gear, or a rubber belt replacement for my CD player I just have no way to have it. You guys in the richer side of the world would probably find the feeling hard to understand. Being severed from the world, or actually from the markets overseas.

So I have to keep all my RC projects on hold for "someday". :(

See, I have a Porsche 956 missing a small bushing that's in OH, a Super Champ missing decals, a Scorpion in need of a lil bit to be finally tested, and a full vintage blackfoot that only need a drivecup and a steering arm. And no money in the world can get me anything here to finish these projects.

Things have reached a point where I can't even accept free parts from local friends. A couple of months ago a guy I work with told me I could have a brand new Tamiya Wrangler body, complete with window and some bits if I wanted it for free. And, as much as I happen to love that model, I had to refuse the offer as I know I am not going to find a chassis or anything to put under it. Actually that was the reason why my buddy wanted me to have it. It's sad.

Now one thing that will be good for me is to work on some interesting cabinet that I come across at a local fleamarket last September. The thing has lots of potential, but was very dirty, stained, and required not only some glass shelves and front doors but also LOTS of work. It's 1.62mt tall, 1.30mt wide, and 40cms deep. When I saw it from afar I immediately knew it could solve the problem of keeping a good part of my RC car collection in a safe, dust-free place! I figured if I could fit two more shelves in it the thing could fit a lot of cars inside. So I had to sand it all over to remove the stains and also some small scrapes in the wood. Then I polished it with brown shoewax. I now need to raise some money and get me some quotations on glass prices. I hope I can get it ready before the end of this year.

Some pictures:

This is how it looked like when I brought it. I was told this thing spent two years outdoors receiving dust, some water, paint and my guess is a dog used it in some way...

3YeT4Zt.jpg

TbrMtwY.jpg

I've placed some random cars in it to help me see how many cars I could fit in it by moving shelves...

1fT6zDM.jpg

And here after sanding it completely:

nFOCFsu.jpg

To me it has potential. I just need to get the missing glass parts, and work a little more the wood to get it all good. If I get to finish the project this year I'm sure I'll be smiling satisfied.

That's pretty much my "RC related plan" for 2021. Other than that just surviving would be okay. I mean for the kind of times we are living in nowadays.

Y'all stay safe and have a good Friday! :)

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For me, I want to get back into RC again, having been away from it for around 5 years due to a change in circumstances. I still have my collection, I've added a few to it over the last month or so as well. I need to sort out my storage container so I can reinstate a 'man cave' and have somewhere to do all the things I used to do when I had my old man cave. 

I have a few restorations to do now, thanks to a good friend giving them to me for nowt! Not everyday you get gifted a 58001 Porsche (needs a lot of love and parts!), a 58018 Ralt RT2 Hart 420R (also needs attention, but mostly there!) and a 58043 Grasshopper! I also have the Audi V8 to build as well, along with a Honda City Turbo I bought from Simon (Grumpy pants) many years ago with some added goodies! 

So along with a lot of building, I have a lot of sorting to do too, so guess I'll be busy this year!

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On 1/1/2021 at 5:27 AM, Grumpy pants said:

I definitely want to run my Konghead more and test out my lipo batteries this for me is big progress.

I will buy a lot less RC stuff as it nearly always gets sold on which creates unnecessary time consumption, stress and usually a financial loss 🤦
 

I also plan to learn to solder and to try my hand with a lexan body shell as I have always avoided these. 

Running the 6x6 more is always a solid plan.

Learning t Solder and overcoming intimidation of lexan bodies is crucial. 
You will reap so many rewards of joy once you are comfortable with both. 
 

My Advice for punting lexan bodies . Clean out and cut of clear plastic bottles and jugs ( salad dressing, sauces , water, soft drinks etc) 

You will  get comfortable learning how pint lays on the inside of a sir face with no risk of destroying a $xx amount of money body shell.

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1fT6zDM.jpg

And here after sanding it completely:
 

 

While very bummed hearing your circumstances the last year, I hope moving forward you can find joy.

That being said, the Kyosho Corvette you have looks Exactly how I had mine set up and painted in my youth. 
( As I tribute I have painted my vintage/ modern daily runner Traxxas Stanpede metallic purple as. A tribute ) 

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13 hours ago, mongoose1983 said:a Super Champ missing decals

I’ve got an order in for some decals at mci, I would be more than happy to throw in some super champ decals as well and pop them in the mail to you when they arrive. 
 

+ I’m really sorry to hear about your situation! Hopefully things will get better sooner rather than later. 

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Same as every year. Try and organize my RC life. Sort my work place out, sort all my parts etc out so I can find stuff easily. And most of all, use some of this down time to actually work on the dozens of different projects I have in varying states of completion instead of just continually acquiring bargain projects all the time. 

Unfortunately, my current apathy/lack of motivation/laziness or whatever you want to call it has extended to the hobby so I seem to be squandering my time sat around watching youtube/Netflix etc instead of working on stuff. I'm great at seeing projects on ebay, buying suitable parts here and there that will suit said projects and mapping stuff out in my mind but then when the time comes to actually get cracking, the apathy seems to set in.

Hopefully this will be the year I force myself to have better habits lol.

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I think my goal moving forward is going to focusing on body paint. Ive always loved a solid paintjob or livery car. I can sorta pull off a PS spray body and from a distance it looks pretty good. But perhaps its time to work on liquid mask and an airbrush, Focusing on masking, clean lines, eliminating bleed and being able to really be happy with a shell. I dont usually do alot of box art, just the kits that i really think the boxart is unimprovable ie the m05 rally citroen. Ive always liked the trf buggy art and i think i would enjoy focusing time to learn more about body finishing.

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10 hours ago, Dakratfink said:

1fT6zDM.jpg

While very bummed hearing your circumstances the last year, I hope moving forward you can find joy.

That being said, the Kyosho Corvette you have looks Exactly how I had mine set up and painted in my youth.

(As I tribute I have painted my vintage/ modern daily runner Traxxas Stanpede metallic purple as. A tribute ) 

I bought the body used just to have the chance to get the original dummy engine. If memory doesn't fail I got it from someone in Switzerland. And he had it fitted to a Tamiya Thunder Shot-if anybody can understand that. At first I could not stand the met.purple, but as I cleaned the engine and added a couple of decals I ended up finding it very, very nice :) Here's a couple of pics:

2xyKo7v.jpeg

UaHRj8A.jpeg

9 hours ago, Robert5000 said:

I’ve got an order in for some decals at mci, I would be more than happy to throw in some super champ decals as well and pop them in the mail to you when they arrive. 
+ I’m really sorry to hear about your situation! Hopefully things will get better sooner rather than later. 

Thank you so much Robert!

I already happened to get the Super Champ & Avante decals from MCI, but they're at a friend's place in Canada waiting for things to change. And even if I didn't got them before, I doubt the postoffice in Norge would be willing to ship anything to my country.

I really appreciate you offering me some help with this. I hope you'll have a great weekend Robert.

Y'all stay safe and enjoy the weekend :)

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On 1/8/2021 at 7:42 PM, nowinaminute said:

Hopefully this will be the year I force myself to have better habits lol.

You might find it's really worth doing :) 

Before 2020 I was the same - always spending my money on new projects instead of finishing what I had.  Because I always bought new things, I had no money to finish old things.  But buying something new is always more exciting than buying parts for something old.  It's almost like, once I've mapped out the project in my head, the journey is already done and I don't have any urge to do it for real.*

As well as motivation, I blame lack of time - every weekend I was either away at some RC meet or getting my stuff ready for some RC meet, or looking after the toddler because the wife was away doing her thing.  2020 put a stop to all that, so it was the year I dragged down all these unfinished projects and started making progress.  Having that one day a week to break the monotony of home working and educating a toddler probably saved my life last year** and as this year hasn't exactly gone swimmingly so far it's really good to start the lockdown with a sustainable plan that is still working to keep me from going stir crazy.

Speaking of which, it's my workshop day now so I've got to go light the fire and figure out what I'm going to work on :)

 

*I read in some psychology / life coaching tweet or post somewhere that telling people about your goals releases the same chemicals as actually achieving them - therefore if you really want to be motivated to reach your goals, don't talk about them.  I'm not sure how true this is or if like a lot of life-coaching tweets or positivity mantras it's taken some spurious research and twisted it to meet its own ends, but maybe the same applies to planning out a project?

**I've suffered mental health problems in the past and my recovery strategy has been to travel and get away from home.  When the first lockdown hit, I genuinely believed that I would become one of the pandemic's fatalities without ever contracting the virus

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On 1/8/2021 at 7:42 PM, nowinaminute said:

Same as every year. Try and organize my RC life. Sort my work place out, sort all my parts etc out so I can find stuff easily. And most of all, use some of this down time to actually work on the dozens of different projects I have in varying states of completion instead of just continually acquiring bargain projects all the time. 

Unfortunately, my current apathy/lack of motivation/laziness or whatever you want to call it has extended to the hobby so I seem to be squandering my time sat around watching youtube/Netflix etc instead of working on stuff. I'm great at seeing projects on ebay, buying suitable parts here and there that will suit said projects and mapping stuff out in my mind but then when the time comes to actually get cracking, the apathy seems to set in.

Hopefully this will be the year I force myself to have better habits lol.

I suspect your post resonates with a few of us with hobbies.

The excitement of of the search, purchase and delivery releases endorphins and brings out the hunter gatherer and it’s very easy to do, on the train, bus, etc.

You then post your haul, gets lots of likes and feedback-job done!

However then the reality of getting motivated to sit and patiently turn out a creation that match’s your minds eye comes home.

Being an obsessive and with a touch of OCD 😉 myself makes all of the above a RC car crash, boxes and boxes of models and parts with no hope of ever finding the time or drive to do anything with them, worse still the more I had the more counter productive it became to getting anything done, it actually put me off. 

So long story short, lots and lots sold, kits, cars and parts etc, also helped enormously by 2 TC pals who took models and restored them, now I work keeping my model numbers very low.

I have 1 model to work on @ a time, I buy very little by restricting the amount I spend each month and I check eBay much less for stuff I really don’t need. 
 

My plan this year is to focus on making more of what I have by trying my hand at detailing and adding a few hop ups. 
 

Also too run my KH more, learn to solder and get to grips with LiPo and lexan 😳

That lot will keep me busy, expand my knowledge and skills and I’ll be using kit I already have. 
 

That’s the plan anyway 😂

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On 1/1/2021 at 11:27 AM, Grumpy pants said:

I’d be interested to read what your RC plans are for 2021, big, small, modest or ambitious!

2020 gave even me a window of opportunity to have a little Tamiya time, short lived but none the less sweet 💥

For me 2021 RC time and funds will be very limited, a big family, a house move with a loft conversion and a demanding self employed job means in reality I will be short of cash, time and energy.

However I will finish my Honda City Turbo and then my Wild One with a view to probably selling them, maybe to buy a WW2 and a Blitzer Beetle.

I definitely want to run my Konghead more and test out my lipo batteries this for me is big progress.

I will buy a lot less RC stuff as it nearly always gets sold on which creates unnecessary time consumption, stress and usually a financial loss 🤦
 

I also plan to learn to solder and to try my hand with a lexan body shell as I have always avoided these. 

My RC models currently sit @ 10, 5 vintage and 5 modern- all Tamiya however the draw of the Kyosho Beetle is strong 😉

Other than that enjoy what I have and be grateful for my health and family.
 
 

 

So mid Jan update-

The Honda is as about finished as I want it to be, but if it stays in my procession then I will fit some mesh to the many front bumper and bonnet apertures and some leds front and rear, I might even try my hand at painting the drivers face as it is severely lacking right now.
 

But next time eBay has a £1 selling fee offer then this little gem will go up for sale.

The Wild One and my spares have now just been sold, so that puts some cash and time back in the hobby kitty, which is a nice place to be and edges my model count down to 9 for now.

Now I’m thinking more about the things I have that I want to learn about, lexan, soldering and lipos. 
 

 

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As it turns out, I actually do have one RC-related plan starting to take shape for this year. Last year, my wife and I started to work in earnest on the yard and landscaping around our house. It has been a challenge, because the house is perched on top of a ridge of land, so both the front and back yards slope away from the house, and also the street is a steep uphill, so one side of the lot is higher than the other. Add to this a steep driveway that's at a funny angle (to make it the shallowest slope possible, though it's still really steep) and we end up with these little "islands" of grass interrupted by paved areas or steep hillsides with big trees. It's all very pretty, but very hard to landscape.

Last year, we took on two big projects: paving the side yard for extra parking and maneuvering space...

IMG_20201025_171924257.thumb.jpg.67f40c5a3649aec1c442f27c2f28845a.jpg

...and building an ornamental and herb garden (shown here unfinished) on an awkward blob of land in front of there that we call "the peninsula."

IMG_20201108_164012961.thumb.jpg.99d14250ecc3e05bcb8c4cce62f0f027.jpg

This left a funny triangle of land between the asphalt and the steps leading to the garden. It's a weird spot that gets runoff from the neighbor's driveway, so the ground is always soggy, so it grows more moss and mushrooms than it does grass. And it's sloped, in two directions, so it's hard to mow.

IMG_20210113_123659538.thumb.jpg.e8a51a2c235ea77c6e4f4bf2ac5ac274.jpg

(All the tree boughs came from a big storm we had a few days ago. I have since cleared them away...)

So here's where the RC part comes in... we were planning on tearing out that triangle of grass and doing... something else over there. Some kind of rock garden/rain garden, to try to give it some proper drainage. While thinking about this, it occurred to me that if I planned it right, it could be an obstacle course for crawlers/scalers, while still looking like a rock garden. Srategically placed rocks and steps, a little wooden bridge maybe,  a nice gravel path, and it would make a great playground for little trucks, while still looking like ornamental landscaping.

I'm still in the planning stage, but I have drawn the whole area out to scale, and even made tiny paper representations of a couple of my trucks, to make sure I get the path width right.

IMG_20210118_083948396.thumb.jpg.1dbc2f2b1da047367956719b4d8070b4.jpg

Hopefully this will keep me busy enough that I won't feel the need to shop for more kits. The idea is to not buy anything else this year, other than parts needed to complete projects I already have going. And at least landscape materials are cheap.

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My plans are to shrink my collection and parts even more. But right now Covid being the worse in California. I can’t sell my stuff and keep running to the post office. Even a friend who works at the post office told my wife to tell me not to go there. So I hope situation improves so I can start selling and able to buy another TRX-6 as a runner It’s just such a fun platform that is if Tamiya doesn’t come out with somethings that will blow my socks off. The TRX-6 I have now I got way too much money poured in, it will be my ultimate scale shelf queen.

2nd plan is maybe down the road, I will try to acquire a mint vintage Kyosho Porsche GT2 SuperTen as a shelf queen. I regretted I did not buy the one I saw NIB in a hobby shop while vacationing in Asia over a decade ago and last year I let a mint one at very reasonable price slip away as I under bid by less than $20 :-(
i had the Toyota Supra SuperTen back in college lots of good memories.

those are my plans if not, then there is plenty of stuff to tinkering with TRX6 that will keep me busy and running my TT-01 in between :-)

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Really haven`t got a clue. Would like another euro truck, possibly one of the Volvo 6x4`s but rather than have it as a runner basher as the Volvo has turned out, take the time with it and do a fully loaded version then some kind of trailer, also the fully loaded version. And if chance to grab an nib one occurs a Pajero MTW to add to the CC-01 collection. As always thought it`s all dependent on time and finances

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Learn how to solder, like properly, not having it look like an epileptic had a fit with the iron. 

Buy a boatload of the upcoming Avante 2001 re release. (no it isn''t announced, I'm just practising the power of if I wish it hard enough it will come true.) 

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2 hours ago, Robert5000 said:

Buy a boatload of the upcoming Avante 2001 re release. (no it isn''t announced, I'm just practising the power of if I wish it hard enough it will come true.)

Well, I did just buy most of what I needed to convert my Egress into a pseudo-Avante 2001 (aside from the unobtanium white cam-locks) so I imagine Tamiya will make the announcement any day if my usual luck holds ;).

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On 1/1/2021 at 10:50 AM, El Gecko said:

This will be my first full year back into the hobby, and there's lots of things to do on my trio of trios (maybe more than 1 years worth!)

- The first trio of Grasshopper, Grasshornet "Link", and Hornet are all up and running again except a steering servo on the Hornet. So I would just like to get those all working and runnable, and I would also like to repaint the GH body this year but I'm still planning out the livery.

- the ORV trio of bRat, Blackfoot, and Frog need a lot of work. Just recently blew up a driveshaft in the bRat, so I'm stealing the BF shafts for it, which means the BF needs a new rear end setup. But at least while the bRat chassis is down, I will have some time to do the long-awaited repairs on its body. Neither the BF or Frog have bodies, so that's something I'd like to remedy eventually as well. The Frog is mostly built but needs quite a bit still.

- I didn't think it would happen, seeing as I've stolen nearly all the bolts from them to build the Tamiyas (and considering their cutthroat business practices), but I got the itch to build up my old Traxxas junk again the other night too. The first thing I want to do is to turn the Sledgehammer into a snowplow/snowblower and then use leftover bits from the Tamiyas to cobble the two Hawks together for some fun, guilt-free bashers.

Basically just trying to get everything running, then making them mechanically sound. I really like the "driving" part of RC, which I never got to do much of in my younger years, so that's my priority. And along the way, I'm also thinking about how to make them look better. I still don't have much extra money for RC, so I'm sure I'll still tinker and fabricate and do my bush repairs the same as I've always done. This is the first year I've actually had more than one car running at a time, so I'm really excited for what the future holds!

Half-year update: Everything runs! I don't know how it has all worked out, but my feeble bush mechanics has resulted in all 9 chassis up and running, ready to go with a charged battery. There's still a lot of tuning and tweaking (and bodywork), but this was a huge milestone that I didn't expect to reach so soon! Thanks to many on TC (and many other places on the internet) for all the ideas and help along the way :D

(special shout-out to @Unknown Driver for the huge hook up on all the Traxxas junk--it was instrumental in this!)

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At first I thought I was getting called out for bashing Traxxas on the forums. Must be a sign of a guilty  conscience. LOL

Always happy to put parts to work instead of having them sit! :)

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On 1/1/2021 at 8:34 PM, Badcrumble said:

Having run the Dual Hunter and the Hornet today in my muddy back garden both need a strip down, clean and rebuild.

We lost a kingpin at one point, I raided one of the 'spare' DHs that is in bits to keep it going!

Rebuilding the spare DHs as loaners would be good to do in time for the summer, Mrs BC has already promised one of El Kid's mates a go so I'd better finish them. 

I really want to finish off my trail truck too but it is too cold to work in my garage just now.

The garage is full of projects but I'll leave it there for now.

We'll reminded @El Gecko. We'll, both the DH and Hornet have seen more running without being stripped down, we lost more king pins and I replaced the steering hubs on the DH.

The AmPro upper arm mount on the Hornet needs replacing. Too much contact with objects has weakened it.

I have one Dual Hunter completely in bits and another 90% rebuilt as well as the aforementioned runner. And now have some more parts to upgrade / convert to WT01.

The trail truck saw progress to the point where it ran in the garden but then got shelved as I know in my heart I need to switch to LiPo and I'd rather spend the money on car parts than new batteries and a charger. Need to suck it up and get on with it...

And we managed an on-road session with an M03, M04 and M05-RA on Father's Day which was great fun!

Roll on the remainder of 2021...

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Completely stalled after selling 2 earlier in the year and buying 2 more. 

Got royally messed about with the sale of my Lunchbox and most of my kit is now in storage for the foreseeable future.

Look @ TC twice a day and that’s a bit it for now.

Will sell some more and come back leaner when time allows for it 👍

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Plans, I love a good plan... 

1. Find/source a TRF201 - have just restored an RC10B4 but would like the Tamiya equivalent. If I can find a NIB DN01 I'd be happy with that as already have a few of the parts to convert to 201... This would be a runner for me. 

2. Now I've finally got my hands on some stabilizer bars - build a new XV01 LDS, have been gradually gathering parts for this build for 6 months but have been waiting for those anti roll bars as I know it's going to need them! Still need a body and wheels though... 

3. Get a new 4WD TC for club racing, now Covid restrictions are lifting and events are back on I've realised I can't bring myself to run either of my current vintage TC's after all the effort that went into restoring them (Xray T1, HPI RS4 Pro 2). I've ordered a TA08 from Tamico and hopefully it will arrive in the next couple of days - need to pick a BRCA legal touring body and aquire suitable radio gear for this. 

4. Radio gear - I desperately want a stick transmitter like my old KO Propo Esprit II Vantage. I'm using a steerwheel Spektrum Dx5c at the moment, and its fine for bashing but I really want a top spec stick transmitter again. So project to either convert my old transmitter to 2.4ghz - or to source a "proper" radio (might go Sanwa..) 

 

I would imagine I will get some of this stuff done... But new baby arrives in 3 weeks if all goes to plan - so a lot of this might go out of the window! :D

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To get Manta, Lunch box and TD built and not buy another kit after that to keep me at 5 kits only. Most importantly is to not look at any other new kit or get any interesting ideas for custom paint job on the body shell. I hope that I don't look at a comical hornet for the next 20 yrs BC it looks rad even when comical. I will need to find time this year to finish my tt02 body splurge. I got R33 with kit, got an old BMW M2 as beater body and bought FD3S and Initial D Sileighty body for it. The last 2 I haven't yet trimmed or painted. Too many hobbies and a tad bit lazy to start the process.

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