Taiyo Jet Hopper Turbo - Project Speed Hopper
Status: Runner
Date: 1-Aug-2007
Comments: 5
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I found this little car (about 1:16 to 1:18 ) on ebay, it was sold without any RC and it was cheap. At this time I just got into small scale racing with my Mini-T and thought it could be fun to have a small buggy besides it and bought it.
When it arrived I removed the electronics (although the seller said without RC it still had electronics in it) and started to transform it into a driveable buggy. I mounted a standard servo for the steering (perfect fit, no dremeling necessary) and CPR-Unit from a ThunderTiger ZK-2. Racing against the Mini-T I realized that the small buggy was fast, on the straights it could even outrun my stock Mini-T with 6 cells.
So I started to tune the small buggy and started the project Speed Hopper. Now the Speed Hopper has a small but powerful Speed Attack 380 ESC from Reely and an old, but reliable HiTec Challenger 2000 receiver on 27 MHz. It is powered by a Graupner Speed 300 6V (imho the best silver can motor for 1:16/1:18 ) running on a 6 cell NiMH batterypack (homemade with A-sized Sanyo 2700 mAh cells, nearly endless power). To make it last I upgraded the steering linkage with ball studs and a servo saver from Tamiya and exchanged the broken front bumper with the bumper from my death Grasshopper II, which has been cut a little to make it look more scale.
Just for info: I measured the Speed Hopper with a Hot Wheels Speed Gun and it goes around 28 km/h (on 6 cells). Not bad for a toy, and faster than it's opponent, the Jet Hopper Turbo Mk.II, which reached 27 km/h with the stick on the transmitter in 'Turbo' position (on 8 cells).
Update: I exchanged the Speed Attack 380 ESC with a Speed Attack 540. Both have the same technical data, the 540 has bigger wires and feels more direct than the 380. Attention, this are ESCs, not motors, the numbers only indicate what size of motor they are designed for. But with a 540 type motor the 540 ESC seems a little clumsy, like the 380 controlling a 380 type motor. But as the price is the same, that doesn't matter, I just use these for my small toys and they proved to be perfect for that.
Looking like a small Hornet.
Inside, battery pack removed (sits on top of rx).
RX and ESC (partly hidden in the shadows).
Steering.
You don't see the power, but it's there.
If you liked those pictures, you should see these...
Taiyo Toyota HiLux Monster Truck with winch
Comments
supergreg
it's a Jethopper!!! my first R/C vehicle ever!! ain't it cuuuute?
masterbsax
Oh yes, it is cute. If you want one, they are being sold on ebay germany sometimes. But only the red ones, the black one is somewhat rare, I think because it was the 40 MHz type, red was 27 MHz, which was and is more common in Germany.
stmachreth
my brothers and i had one of those nearly 20 years ago!!
Live Steam Mad
Hi, when you said you used a standard servo, do you mean 1/10 scale sized or 1/18 scale sized servo? 1/10 is 1.59' x 0.77' x 1.44' (40.4 x 19.6 x 36.6mm), 1/18 seems to be 0.92' x 0.45' x 0.94' (23.4 x 11.4 x 23.9mm). Hitec make the 1/18 sized HS65MG which has 1.8Kgcm/2.2kgcm (25/31oz.in.)(4.8/6V) output (compared to 3/3.7Kgcm(42/51oz.in)(4.8/6V) for a normal 1/10 servo, 7.7/9.6kgcm(107/133oz.in.)(4.8/6V) for a high torque 1/10 servo). HS65MG has metal gears, ball raced output, and 0.11/0.14sec./60deg.(4.8/6V) speed compared to 0.15/0.19sec./60deg.(4.8/6V) for a standard 1/10 servo. HS65MG costs about 19 GBP. Which brand and exact model of servo did you use on your 'Hopper? That would be very helpful. With your Speed 300 motor, does the car wheelspin in the dirt under acceleration? I was thinking of fitting a brushless for reliability? Cheers, Alistair G. (Live_Steam_Mad on TC)
masterbsax
Standard Servo means the plain standard 1/10 scale servo that fits every Tamiya car. Smaller servos should work as well, it maybe even easier to mount them (I screwed the servo into the chassis directly, with smaller servos you can use servo mounting posts). Exact Brand, err, don't know exactly, I think its a HiTec Clone, named Modelcraft S-21, sold by Conrad Electronic in Germany. This car was a fun project, so I did not care too much for high grade components.
Oh yes, the wheels do spin under acceleration, not only in the dirt. I don't think brushless would be a good idea because of the high power output, don't know if the gears will stand this. But it could be worth a try, if you have a brushless system with very low cogging and good control.
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