The Tamiya F1 Thread

[TurnipJF 9192]

13 hours ago, djmcnz said:

So is the go-to a TRF103 or a F104 Pro II (assuming either is available)? Or something else? I do prefer TRF goodness, can I Hop-Up a standard to TRF spec?

Any new releases on the horizon that I should be aware of?

Noob 🙄 

You can hop up a F104 II Pro to TRF101 spec, and it is a brilliant car in every way. The F104 Pro II uses an entirely different chassis despite the virtually identical name, and while hop-ups won't get you to TRF level, it is a fine club racer out of the box. The latest and greatest is the TRF103, but to be honest, even the venerable F103 is still a contender. The chassis are all very sensitive to driver input, probably more so than any other class, so a good driver can be competitive even with an old box-stock car, and even the latest car with all the latest bells and whistles won't get a poor driver onto the podium. 

[Pylon80 2631]

28 minutes ago, TurnipJF said:

You can hop up a F104 II Pro to TRF101 spec, and it is a brilliant car in every way. The F104 Pro II uses an entirely different chassis despite the virtually identical name, and while hop-ups won't get you to TRF level, it is a fine club racer out of the box. The latest and greatest is the TRF103, but to be honest, even the venerable F103 is still a contender. The chassis are all very sensitive to driver input, probably more so than any other class, so a good driver can be competitive even with an old box-stock car, and even the latest car with all the latest bells and whistles won't get a poor driver onto the podium. 

Turnip I think you meant the version 2 pro, not the Pro II, right? The Pro 2 is the old F104 pro with a new body and rubber tires I believe. Or am I confused?

[TurnipJF 9192]

6 hours ago, Pylon80 said:

Turnip I think you meant the version 2 pro, not the Pro II, right? The Pro 2 is the old F104 pro with a new body and rubber tires I believe. Or am I confused?

It is easy to get confused, but no, having built both cars, I am confident that I am correct on this one.

The version II Pro has a carbon chassis and PBLR arrangement at the rear, and enough carbon and alloy hop-ups available to take it to TRF101 level. 

The Pro II is not just a re-bodied Pro - it has other updates too, most notably a more robust motor pod integral with the T-bar which addresses the most common point of breakage on the original Pro (and standard F104s), but it remains a fibreglass chassis T-bar car which will never be TRF spec unless you replace the whole chassis and pod, at which point I would argue that it is no longer a Pro II. 

[djmcnz 754]

🤯 I'm beginning to feel sorry I asked! 😂

[Beetlemankurt 676]

@djmcnz, are you intending to race at a track or be a carpark racer like me? I guess that will have some bearing on which one you end up up choosing....along with your taste for bling :).....either way, I'm sure you will stoked. They are heaps of fun. 

I decided to grab a Ferrari F60 after finding out from the NZ Tamiya importer that Tamiya no longer have the license from Ferrari. Wanted to grab this car and a spare body set before the prices potentially go skyward. Not happening yet but we all know how these things go once they become not so common.....anyway, lots of other choices out there also....Mercedes etc.

There still seem to be quite a few popping up on the Bay etc. too. If you're not too fussed about getting a licensed body the, new kit with the generic 2017 body is a great choice. Nice looking car I reckon and can quite easily be adapted to whatever livery you like. Saw quite a nice Red Bull Ricciardo example online last week. I look forward to your update:)...

Question for anyone else out there that's painted a Ferrari F1 shell before, what the heck did you do to manage to get a good consistent coat of paint inside the 'spine' down the rear of the body?  It's such a tight area to get into particular with Tamiya spray paint and important to get a consistent coat with metallic paint...I heated the can up and did (mostly) light coats and am happy with the result, but there must be an easier way surely....the things we do for scale accuracy eh! Just wondering what tips are out there to make the next body easier.

Cheers all.

Kurt

[djmcnz 754]

Thanks @Beetlemankurt - I'm a total tragic so I'd probably need 1 x full TRF bling and then another, potentially lesser model, to throw around a carpark. Having said that I've been known to build both then never run either! smh.

I wonder if Tamiya will shortly release a body based on the FIA 20212 "example" chassis which I think looks pretty smart, probably no license fees involved either. Would need the equivalent 18" rims of course.

I'm sure there will be some silent hate for this but I'm an Alonso fan so an 05/06 livery would be on the cards.

 

[Beetlemankurt 676]

That actually looks pretty cool I reckon, when I first saw the 2022 concept car I wasn't a fan but...I must say it's grown on me. I like the curvy look. I'm sure Mr T will come out with a version for sure at some point. 

It's always interesting to see just how much the cars F1 change over years. 

Cheers

Kurt

[Pylon80 2631]

Question for F104 owners (this is more of a build tip but it is so specific to the F104 that I figured I would ask here, please move if inappropriate):

I placed the ESC to the left and the receiver and ESC switch to the right. I want to leave the center of the chassis free to experiment with battery forward, center or aft (it is a shorty lipo pack). That forces the ESC and ESC switch wires to cross over. Which one of the following would be best:

- have the wires cross under the battery so they are mostly hidden. Then I have to extend the stand offs because the upper deck no longer clears the battery etc.

- have the wires cross over the battery. Now it looks like a jumbled mess of wires.

Thoughts?

[Jonathon Gillham 4607]

1 hour ago, Pylon80 said:

Question for F104 owners (this is more of a build tip but it is so specific to the F104 that I figured I would ask here, please move if inappropriate):

I placed the ESC to the left and the receiver and ESC switch to the right. I want to leave the center of the chassis free to experiment with battery forward, center or aft (it is a shorty lipo pack). That forces the ESC and ESC switch wires to cross over. Which one of the following would be best:

- have the wires cross under the battery so they are mostly hidden. Then I have to extend the stand offs because the upper deck no longer clears the battery etc.

- have the wires cross over the battery. Now it looks like a jumbled mess of wires.

Thoughts?

If you have to raise the battery to fit the wires under it then it will adversely affect handling. F1 cars are so light, moving the heaviest (maybe 2nd heaviest after the motor) component higher will raise the COG a lot. 

Run the wires over for testing and then once you have the right spot for the battery find a permanent neat solution. I run the TRF102 and it uses a shorty. Not sure what battery you use, but a 5000mah shorty comes off at 8.15v (ish) after a 5min race and a min or so warmup in 21.5T, so you could get a lightweight low profile shorty and still get 20min runtime comfortably.

 

[Pylon80 2631]

4 hours ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

If you have to raise the battery to fit the wires under it then it will adversely affect handling.

Thanks for the input, I think I'll follow your advice and run the wires on top. I can certainly use double sided tape for testing but eventually I'll need a nicer way of keeping the battery from moving and especially shafing at the lower deck. Not sure yet how I'll do it.

[Jonathon Gillham 4607]

2 hours ago, Pylon80 said:

Thanks for the input, I think I'll follow your advice and run the wires on top. I can certainly use double sided tape for testing but eventually I'll need a nicer way of keeping the battery from moving and especially shafing at the lower deck. Not sure yet how I'll do it.

Its a longitudinal battery right? And designed for a stick pack? When i ran a shorty in my TA07 I used some dense foam that came as packaging for something and used velcro to hold the foam in. It allowed me to shift the battery back and forward to get the balance right (TA07 allows you to move the motor too so weight movement is a useful tuning tool).

I would buy some alloy posts (search drone standoff, look for servo stays or something similar) and then drill holes in the chassis as the permanent battery holder

[kwkride 41]

We've got another TCS race scheduled in Omaha for the weekend of Sep 11-12

TCS Race #269 - HobbyTown HobbyPlex - Nebraska (tamiyaamerica.com)

 

[smaerivo 5]

Hi all,

sharing my 'ancient' F102 car. I got this one in 1995 (originally from 1992), based on the F102 chassis. At the time, it was equipped with a TK-S03 steering servo,  Acoms AT-5 ESC, and powered by those 7.2 V NiCd packs. Communication went via the 40 MHz band. In the years following, I added an aluminium front body mount, larger snap pins, an aluminium differential joint set for the steel rear axle, a hi-torque servo saver, and rear aluminium motor mount, ball-bearings on all axles.

After collecting dust for nearly two decades, I took it from the shelf and drastically updated the car:

• Increasing the height of the central upper deck to accommodate larger batteries (I went with NiMH... didn't feel to secure about LiPo).
• A Reflex Stick Pro 3.1 LCD 2.4 GHz FHSS 4-channel transmitter and receiver (supporting ABS, EPA, DR, and EXP).
• A new Mtroniks tio Storm 14 electronic speed controller.
• The default 540 motor (27T, brushed, 14000 RPM) can now be swapped for:
  Mabuchi Sport Tuned RS-540 motor (silver can, 23T, brushed, 18300 RPM)
  Super Stock RZ motor (23T, brushed, 27500 RPM)
  Lightly-Tuned motor (28T, brushed, 16300 RPM)
  CR-Tuned motor (35T, brushed, 12000 RPM)
  See here for an explanation of the motor codes. All motors can be fitted with an extra heat sink, and also with an optional 5 V fan connected to the receiver. The rear axle was replaced with a carbon axle.
• The steering servo was replaced with a high voltage splash-proof brushless digital HRC Racing HV titanium gear 44 kg torque servo, and the fixed steering rods were replaced with adjustable blue anodised aluminium turnbuckles of 32 mm and 50 mm and accompanying reinforced adjusters (short and long). The servo is mounted using aluminium servo stays which stay in place using Loctite Threadlocker Blue (Medium) 242.
• The central damper system was replaced with a TRF special aluminium tension-adjustable damper, filled with medium damper oil, in addition to new front springs.
• A SkyRC GSM-015 GNSS speed and GPS positioning sensor was installed that allows full trajectory sampling up to 10 Hz (their newer version is compacter, but does not store the trajectory).
• In addition, a SkyRC GC-401 gyroscope was initially mounted near the middle of the vehicle for additional steering assistance. It was then replaced with a Yokomo DP-302 V4 (manual) aluminium drift steering gyroscope (with assist mode) and moved to the centre of the vehicle on top of the bridge. The car now easily takes high-speed corners without drifting out of control.
• Those pesky and painful-to-the-fingers Tamiya-style battery connectors were also replaced with IC3 ones. They have been treated with silicone for smoother (dis)connecting
• The cockpit has been equipped with white LED lights and a rear red LED light.
• To capture on-board video footage, both the car's Lexan body as well as its frame can be equipped with a Vizu Extreme X8S actioncam.
• Strips of custom-cut aluminium were glued to the car's underside to prevent bottoming out of the chassis plate.

I also spent some time on figuring out which other tyres it can be fit (taken from the F103 chassis): front soft, front hard, rear soft, rear hard, wheels, and bearings to accommodate the different front axle diameters. It now weighs approximately 1.4 kg. Depending on the gearing, tyres, motor, and weight of the car, it can currently achieve about 80 km/h (~ 48 mph). In order to stabilise the car's behaviour and steering at such high speed, the use of a gyroscope is necessary as it was not out-of-the-box designed for these conditions.

For more descriptions, photos, and movies, please see: https://www.maerivoet.org/index.php?page=links-tamiya-mclaren-rc-car
I hereby also post a selection of some photos.

[Pylon80 2631]

Spur gear question.

I would like to replace the Tamiya spur gears on my F104 version II with a standard Kimbrough 64p gear. I already have the little adapter ring  However I do not know which diameter balls I need for the Kimbrough spur (their website is totally mute on the subject as well). Is it 3mm like Tamiya or 1/8"? Any idea anyone?