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Woohoo, Tamiya is re-issuing the Sand Scorcher. Going to be released next Feb. Got mine on preorder 
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Dec 11, 2009 12:40
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Let me introduce you to the wonders of http://www.hobbyking.com
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Dec 13, 2009 08:41
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Prescription Combs posted:Let me introduce you to the wonders of http://www.hobbyking.com The cheap batteries there are loving awesome. Also, I refuse to believe that the name brand batteries are any different. I'm sure it's like LCD panels, where there are only like 2 manufacturers out there, yet 15 brands slapping them into displays.
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Dec 13, 2009 09:57
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kuffs posted:The cheap batteries there are loving awesome. Also, I refuse to believe that the name brand batteries are any different. I'm sure it's like LCD panels, where there are only like 2 manufacturers out there, yet 15 brands slapping them into displays.
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Dec 13, 2009 12:11
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The cheapcheapcheap eBay ones from China (yeah everything's made in China) can be dodgy, but overall my understanding is that the LiPo cells are all very similar. Just don't trust all the 35-40-50C claims, is all I would say. It's like the days of claims horsepower claims with nitro engines, with everyone wanting the most voltage, period, you get companies wanting to provide the most and making crazy claims.
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Dec 13, 2009 23:12
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Used to be the same with the older batteries and their cell ratings.
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Dec 13, 2009 23:15
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Hypnolobster posted:I've been looking around, and I haven't found any regulators that have a low voltage cutoff (which is REALLY weird. sorta seems like a no-brainer feature). In the RC gliders that I fly I just use a 10 amp speed controller instead of a ubec. You don't see low voltage cut off protection because most people are willing to sacrifice a battery if they can keep the radio going long enough to land. This thing doesnt cut off at low voltages but it does sound a buzzer. http://hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=2160&Product_Name=4A_UBEC__w/_Low_Voltage_horn
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Dec 14, 2009 04:19
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I heavily revised my front suspension "design" from the last page for my Pro10 car. The idea I had was terrible. What I ended up doing was adapting a bunch of Associated parts into something that looks pretty cool - it ought to work, too. Associated TC3 modified pivot blocks and modified lower arms. Then T4/B4/SC10 (etc.) knuckles, caster blocks and axles, and trusty RC18 shocks. It was a little bit nerve wracking getting it all aligned, but it's together and works, at least in the bounce test. Just needs way heavier springs, which should be easy to come up with. It's surprising how little cutting and hacking I had to do, basically just a little work with clippers and drilling four holes.  Click here for the full 1024x768 image.  Click here for the full 1024x768 image. Seeing as I plan to run this with a Novak Ballistic 4.5T on a bumpy, temporary outdoor track, I think this was a wise conversion. Click-pen springs and a total loss damping system (apply oil to the kingpin every run) like on the stock front end seems like an inadequate system. The best thing about this is that if I want to race World GT or something, or it plain doesn't work, the stock suspension can be put back on in about 5 minutes.
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Dec 14, 2009 05:29
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compressioncut posted:
Jesus christ. I've had a 4.5 Novak in my buggy, and it's terrifyingly fast. I can't even imagine what it's like in a hard track car. e:VVV I've got a few of these http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10285 for my buggy and they've been awesome. Even more so in comparison to how much people spend on MaxAmps batteries and the like. Hypnolobster fucked around with this message at 08:28 on Dec 14, 2009 |
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Dec 14, 2009 08:17
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krushgroove posted:The cheapcheapcheap eBay ones from China (yeah everything's made in China) can be dodgy, but overall my understanding is that the LiPo cells are all very similar. Just don't trust all the 35-40-50C claims, is all I would say. It's like the days of claims horsepower claims with nitro engines, with everyone wanting the most voltage, period, you get companies wanting to provide the most and making crazy claims. The ones I bought only claim 20C, which is more than enough for what I need (10.5 in an SC10). The only notable 'issue' is that they arrived pretty far from balanced. There was seriously about a half a volt difference between the cells.
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Dec 14, 2009 08:20
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Hypnolobster posted:Jesus christ. I've had a 4.5 Novak in my buggy, and it's terrifyingly fast. I can't even imagine what it's like in a hard track car. Yeah it ought to get to around 60mph on a decent length straight. The club actually runs these with 10.5T motors, and they lap faster than the nitro sedans. More tire + a lot less weight. I'm going with a Ballistic so I can swap the 10.5T stator in instead of buying a new motor. I just want to try a pure Pro10 car, from like when corner marshals had to wear hockey gear. Been playing with a roll center and camber gain calculator, and I was pretty close with my eyeball setup. Just had to make the camber link longer, and attach it a bit higher on the chassis end.
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Dec 15, 2009 04:41
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Me again. Painted the body on my Pro10 - it's a Protoform Peugeot 905B. Kinda ripped off the paint design from the example on the Proline website - super easy and looks cool, all asymmetrical and poo poo. I spray bombed the black, which was a mistake as there was quite a bit of paint seepage under the tape. Ended up scraping the seepage off with a bamboo skewer (softer than the lexan so it doesn't scratch). I just didn't want to spend hours airbrushing a single color, as the body is pretty drat big.  Click here for the full 1024x768 image.  Click here for the full 1024x768 image.
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Dec 17, 2009 20:09
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It'a alive! Pretty serious changes to the front end, mostly because the previous pivot block setup was super sketchy. The shock angle was also pretty bad. Associated TC5 arms plus a B4 pivot block almost bolted straight on, making a lot better attachment and better shock angle. Novak Ballistic 4.5T brushless, Hobbywing XeRun 120A speedo.  Click here for the full 1024x768 image.  Click here for the full 1024x768 image.  Click here for the full 1024x768 image. edit - test runs done. My parking garage has a layer of dust on it, so it's completely useless for the car. The rooster tail of dust the body caused, even at slow speed, was kinda cool. I took it out on the street after saucing the rear tires for a while, and it was better. It has an outrageous amount of power, especially for an unprepared surface. Otherwise it seems pretty well behaved, and I didn't break anything. It's a really smooth motor, too, better than the Tekin I'm used to. compressioncut fucked around with this message at 06:20 on Dec 24, 2009 |
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Dec 24, 2009 01:22
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I don't really have anything to say, I just want to post so you don't have to quadruple post, and to add that I love pan cars. I still wish there was a viable local track for me to race them at.
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Dec 24, 2009 02:43
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Just got the voltage regulators and receiver packs that I ordered from China. We'll see how these work out.
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Dec 24, 2009 19:56
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Haha, the TX pack that I bought is hilariously small. Here it is pictured next to a normal NiCd pack.  Yeah, 600mAh vs 1450mAh wooooo. I'm working on putting one of the RX batteries I bought into my MGT. The size varies a bit on these things and one of them fits pretty well. Unfortunately, there isn't enough room in the battery box for the lipo regulator, they're a bit larger than I expected. I'm working on putting the regulator in with the receiver. We'll see if that causes any interference. Additionally, these regulators don't come with battery connectors. They show up with tinned leads.
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Dec 24, 2009 20:33
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Welp, one of the RX batteries I got is great, the other looks like it's no good. I slapped it on the charger and one of the cells is pretty much dead. I'd return it, but this place has a horrible return policy on batteries, and they make you pay return shipping. $12 to ship a $15 battery back? Eh, forget it. Maybe I can grab my buddy's charger and we can recover this thing. (My ICE charger has a low voltage halt, wonder about his Hyperion)
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Dec 25, 2009 00:13
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Well, shipping to Hong Kong was only $6.50, so I sent the battery back. Now we wait two weeks both ways... In other news, is anyone else stoked about this thing:  Woooo, 1/5th scale brushless offroad motorcycle! http://www.duratrax.com/cars/dtxd02-dx450/index.html It's got a gyro in the rear wheel to keep it stable through jumps and whatnot.
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Dec 29, 2009 22:55
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kuffs posted:Well, shipping to Hong Kong was only $6.50, so I sent the battery back. Now we wait two weeks both ways...
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Dec 30, 2009 02:03
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kuffs posted:Well, shipping to Hong Kong was only $6.50, so I sent the battery back. Now we wait two weeks both ways... That thing looks pretty cool - I saw some early development model videos, and it the way it drove looked kind of bizarre. Looks sweet now. I have my own Hong Kong problems. I bought a Team Wave speedo, which is pretty popular and successful in Australia and gaining traction in Europe. I wanted to use it in my new 12th scale car (Assoicated 12R5.1), so set it up and all that. Then, for no reason other than I wanted to see what it looked like, I made the physical connections for a firmware update, with no actual intention of updating as there's none available for that model yet. Well guess what? I corrupted the existing firmware somehow. I'm sending it back for service tomorrow - the company is pretty accomodating and in hindsight that was pretty stupid, but there is no warning about that happening. My speedo record in the past 12 months: Novak GTB - spontaneously combusted, no apparent reason (never run) Castle Sidewinder - reversed polarity battery input by mistake, released magic smoke (never run) Tekin FX - ran like a Swiss watch in my SC10 until I sold it Hobbywing XeRun 120A - working well despite lots of abuse, now pushing a 4.5T brushless motor Team Wave RB-S - unintentionally corrupted firmware, in for service (never run) Tekin RS - so far, so good. Which is to say, I broke down and finally bought a Tekin RS and Hotwire. I don't know why I waited so long. It was a straightforward install and setup, lots of options, and lots of development still going on. And it's got a tiny footprint and weighs next to nothing. Pretty excited about the new software on the 1st of Jan (Vegas v200 right now). Tekin has always been bulletproof for me. I ran a full pack through my Pro10 yesterday, in a huge empty parking lot. It was certainly at, near, or over 60mph. Completely insane. Nice handling once the tires scrubbed in a bit even on the unprepped surface.
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Dec 30, 2009 02:52
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I love my KO Propo brush motor speedy, one of the best ones you could get for a brushed motor setup. The KO Brushless ESC is supposed to be equally awesome, and hugely expensive as well.
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Dec 30, 2009 05:07
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You Am I posted:I love my KO Propo brush motor speedy, one of the best ones you could get for a brushed motor setup. The KO Brushless ESC is supposed to be equally awesome, and hugely expensive as well. Yeah the KO BMC was a contender, but it's overkill for 17.5 motors and it doesn't seem to be as well supported as the Tekin. The PC interface module is also really pricey + kind of hard to find. And, everybody at my track runs the RS so I finally decided to go with the crowd. It's extremely smooth, and the turbo feature is neat to see in action. Acts kind of like a real turbo, spooling up to some crazy RPMs.
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Dec 30, 2009 07:36
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Yeah, the Tekin electrics have always had a good name. One of my friends still runs a Tekin ESC that is at least 10 years old. Of course with brushless taking over most of the on road racing categories next year, the time is running out on their usefulness outside of vintage racing or bashing around the carpark.
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Dec 30, 2009 10:03
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I had some old Tekin in my RC10 gold pan after some douchebag stole my Cyclone. Worked like a champ until I decided to drive it in the rain  .Personally, I'm looking really hard at the Mamba Max Pro if I ever need a new ESC. My GTB will be fine for now, though.
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Dec 30, 2009 18:48
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kuffs posted:I had some old Tekin in my RC10 gold pan after some douchebag stole my Cyclone. Worked like a champ until I decided to drive it in the rain I looked at the MMP too, but first of all it's HUGE (because the cap is inside the case) and there seem to be more than an average amount of technical problems with them. The price is definitely right, though, and they perform well. I probably would have picked one up, but they are out of stock everywhere. The new Tekin software update should make it the superior performer again, introducing the dynamic motor timing function that the MMP has. It's out on New Year's day. Here's my new 12th scale car, an Associated 12R5.1. I was running an old CRC Carpet Knife 3.2R, which was not very good with brushless and lipo. The motor barely fit, was way off centerline, and the whole car was extremely heavy. 800 grams race ready, but the lipo weight limit is 730 grams.  Click here for the full 1024x768 image. The Asso car somehow weighs, with electronics but no battery, about the same as the CRC bare chassis! The only thing I don't like about it is that the servo mount only takes standard width servos, so my superfast JR Z3650 is too narrow. I'm using an older Airtronics digital piece. I took some time to tidy the wiring a little, so it looks less like an explosion in a wiring factory. The thing on top of the servo is a Novak Smart Boost, which pumps the 1s lipo voltage to 6v to feed the electronics.
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Dec 30, 2009 19:49
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Is this the thread to talk about helicopters, too? My girlfriend gave me a beginner helicopter for Christmas (Heli-max CX Micro) and I don't really know anything about this hobby yet. What's the best store in the bay area? I'm in SF. My problem right now is that the helicopter doesn't seem to get stable unless I give it a good amount of power, which means that my inevitable crashes are more likely to break things. If I try to get it hovering just a foot or so off the ground, it'll start spinning or traveling front/back side-to-side, and I have to cut power before it runs into something, so my flights are only a few seconds long, not long enough to learn anything. It doesn't really hover stably unless I launch it a few feet into the air on take-off, and my apartment doesn't really have enough room for me to do that and still make mistakes. I broke the upper rotor blades, super-glued it, and broke it again in the same place (when the rotors hit something hard and immovable like a speaker, while still spinning fast). From looking around online, people say this model is pretty hard to control in any amount of wind, so it seems like I either need a bigger indoor area to learn how to control it, or I need to make some sort of adjustment so it can be more stable at lower power? The trim tabs on the controller don't really seem to do much.
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Dec 30, 2009 22:36
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frunksock posted:What's the best store in the bay area? I'm in SF. My problem right now is that the helicopter doesn't seem to get stable unless I give it a good amount of power, which means that my inevitable crashes are more likely to break things. If I try to get it hovering just a foot or so off the ground, it'll start spinning or traveling front/back side-to-side, and I have to cut power before it runs into something, so my flights are only a few seconds long, not long enough to learn anything. It doesn't really hover stably unless I launch it a few feet into the air on take-off, and my apartment doesn't really have enough room for me to do that and still make mistakes. I broke the upper rotor blades, super-glued it, and broke it again in the same place (when the rotors hit something hard and immovable like a speaker, while still spinning fast). I just recently bought an E-Flight mCX to see how much I liked playing with helicopters. The drift seems to be caused by two things: 1) If you're close to an object (floor, wall) the turbulence will make things a bit weird. These coaxial helicopters are very sensitive to wind currents. Best to just take off from a coffee table and get about 1 to 2 feet away from things before you really try anything 2) Adjust the trim on your controller. Mine was a bit off from using a lesser battery pack (bought mine used). It's pretty much impossible to fly the thing with any sort of rudder drift. Get that sorted at the very least. You may need someone more experienced to show you. Also, if you super-glued the blades they're probably off-balance and that will make it fly like rear end. I've wrecked mine about a dozen times without breaking anything. I just make sure to cut the throttle as soon as anything gets iffy. It's light enough that it can handle a drop to the floor without much issue. My mCX has a dual-rate setting that is like a 'learning mode'. I slows down the response of the controls and can make things a little less twitchy if you're learning. See if yours has a similar feature. kuffs fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Dec 30, 2009 |
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Dec 30, 2009 23:07
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kuffs posted:I just recently bought an E-Flight mCX to see how much I liked playing with helicopters. No such learning mode on my model. I'll try what you said re: a coffee table when I finally get a replacement rotor -- I'd been taking off from the floor, previously, so maybe that was my problem. I'd assumed that the dynamics were just different at low power, but maybe it was turbulence from the floor. I'm having trouble finding a local store that stocks this rotor, so I'm thinking it'd be a good idea to just order a pile of parts so I have some on-hand -- other than the rotor blade, what are some other frequently broken parts?
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Dec 30, 2009 23:59
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I bought mine from a dude that is rather into helis. He says that the main shaft and blades are the most prone to breakage.
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Dec 31, 2009 04:58
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kuffs posted:I just recently bought an E-Flight mCX to see how much I liked playing with helicopters. I've got a mCX as well (I got a Spektrum DX7 because I fly planes, but since you can't exactly fly every day around here, the mcx was to keep me amused inside). I've had it for about a year, crashed it probably nearing 30 or 40 times and never broken a single part. This is including crashes from the ceiling to the floor, which always look horrible. The brushed motors die after a few months of very regular use, but that's pretty understandable, especially considering how reliable it's been.
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Dec 31, 2009 05:16
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compressioncut posted:
frunksock posted:What's the best store in the bay area? I'm in SF. There are a few hobby stores in the area that would be worth going to, I would recommend Jakes Performance Hobbies in ROHNERT PARK, which I think is a little ways north of the bay area. They have a dedicated heli guy. The other store I would check out is Hobbytown USA in Concord. The phone number @ Jakes is (707) 586-3375, and Hobbytown is (925) 685-3802. I have the Blade MCX bound to a DX7 as well, I have a couple of Helicopters. I have a TREX 450SE v2 and a TREX 500 CF, which is about at the level of the ESP kit, except for the torque tube assembly (which I honestly don't care for). If I remember to, I will post some pictures of them when I get home. Nothing gets you going like a whole lot of carbon fiber and machined aluminum sex flying around in the air. Haven't posted much in a while because I haven't been doing a whole lot of RC. I raced the State Champs back in October, and did alright. I ended up leaving early because I didn't want to be at the races until 4AM. Snow has dropped, so my blitz is staying inside, sold the wife's Slash and got her a Blitz. I have a new body to get painted for my Blitz, and the VW Baja bug body for my Baja 5T. I will be spending some time over the holiday weekend updating/working on my 5T, so expect some pictures to come soon.
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Dec 31, 2009 17:54
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frunksock posted:Is this the thread to talk about helicopters, too? My girlfriend gave me a beginner helicopter for Christmas (Heli-max CX Micro) and I don't really know anything about this hobby yet. Your best bet for a good hobby store in the city is Franciscan Hobbies down on Ocean Blvd. They have a huge selection of micro heli parts and the staff is really knowledgeable and can answer all your questions. Also, if you ever get the bug to go bashing with some RC cars send me a P.M..
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Jan 3, 2010 06:43
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A.C.A.M. posted:Is there a trick to getting it back to a state where it can charge? A replacement battery is a lot less than I expected but free would be even better. Here is something I found: quote:If you have a constant current charger, set it for about 100 milliampers and connect it to the battery. Monitor it continiously with a voltmeter. If any cell exceeds 4 volts, stop the charge. If the lowest cell rises above 3 volts, stop the charge and connect it to your LiPo charger set to 1C or lower. Still continue to monitor the voltage of each cell and make sure that no cell exceeds 4.2 volts, if it does stop the charge. If the cells are not all at the same voltage, you need to balance the cells by discharging the highest voltage ones down to what the lowest voltage one is. If you now put it back on regular charge, the cells should all come up to equal voltage, if the do not, the pack is probably beyond salvaging. http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15746 Be careful with Lipo packs, they can explode which isn't good. You should do this outdoors if you are going to attempt anything.
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Jan 3, 2010 07:22
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ha, helicopters...I've had a couple of co-ax helis (stacked blades, no tail rotor) with crap servos/radio requiring constant trim, but they worked well for learning indoors. Just before Christmas I got a larger co-ax in the company raffle, took it up to my girlfriend's to show the family on Christmas in the snow, but didn't read the manual and the servo reverses were all wrong and I ended up cutting the poo poo out of my thumb, scaring the poo poo out of my GF and breaking the poo poo out of 2 swashplates, meaning I'd charged up all my stuff just to break super important, tiny little parts in her dad's kitchen, and no one could see the drat thing fly. Ho hum. Serves me right, I should have just spent more time getting the scale crawler running properly, but I couldn't find a servo horn so I couldn't drive it in the snow. Did anyone get any cool RC stuff for Christmas, then?
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Jan 4, 2010 02:11
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I would like to spend about $50 on something I could tinker with and do equipment "upgrades". Is there anything that meets both criteria? I was kinda looking at zipzaps and xmods stuff, is that a good place to start, say some xmods starter kit?
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Jan 7, 2010 09:50
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Kaptainballistik posted:I used to fix the RC cars for Cash Converters Blacktown when I was working there. I was paid to get those damm petrol cars running! Man I haven't messed with R/C in years. I still have my Fox around here somewhere. I also had the 4WD Tamiya Boomerang. Fun car, but the front control arms broke way too much. We were always buying that one parts sheet that had the front arms. Very brittle plastic, so we got out some steel and re-made the plate under the front end and modified the bumper to combat that issue. You could take a person down with that thing if you hit 'em in the ankle. My brother had an R/C10 from around the mid 90s. I got him a 67 Impala body and painted it up for him. It was a metallic cherry red with white glow in the dark SS stripes. Looked awesome on the car. I've been looking at the rock crawling stuff. It's really expensive, although what in R/C isn't when you are not just buying base model stuff. http://www.youtube.com/user/gravypig#p/f/26/hV31VXYWKic I guess I like the slowness and the challenge of trying to get over stuff. The Toyota kits remind me of my brother's real rig. I'm more of a Jeep guy but the Yotas kinda give me a woody. http://www.youtube.com/user/gravypig#p/f/7/E3xBVQSbUdE I probably won't ever get back into it since I never seem to have disposable income and I have too many actual project cars.(hint: the "M" in MR2 stands for moneypit)
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Jan 7, 2010 15:29
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Crawlers are very cool, although I thought I'd get into competitive stuff at first but have focussed exclusively on scale crawlers. Since I got into RC cars from slot & static model cars I've always been more interested in scale than all-out performance, even when I was a hardcore racer. At the moment I have an HPI Defender 90 body (blue with white roof) on an Axial scale chassis with scale skinny off-road tires and it looks totally cool - the tires are from a company in the US that makes scale replicas of real-world tires and I could get a set of replica Land Rover wheels in steel (apparently some guys nick them up and let them rust for the full effect). I haven't driven it in the snow yet, but plan to with my set of Yokohama Geolandars, nice and wide, perfect for the powder. You can get RTR crawler kits with mostly-scale bodies and tires for pretty cheap, or scour eBay for them.
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Jan 7, 2010 15:37
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welp, I went ahead and bought a xmods starter kit, they are 50% off at radioshack right now, so I got the 370z kit. I'm going to keep it stock for now so I can learn how to drive it (never had a RC car when I was younger, so I'm starting from scratch) and teach my dog that it is not a chase-and-kill toy. I imagine the first real tinkering I will do will probably be some sort of battery upgrade. I also hate the red body, will repaint it flat black or something, if I can't find a 240z body instead.
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Jan 7, 2010 21:21
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There are (or were) a few Xmods-related forums out there, with people repainting them and doing DIY hop-ups for them. I don't know if they are still going or if the brand has dried up but if Radio Shack is still selling them there must still be some interest in them. As a first-time RC car they're alright though, you certainly can't beat the price!
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Jan 8, 2010 10:48
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I'm going to buy a helicopter soon - 85% possibility it will be a Blade 400, if only because the parts support is great at the LHS. Got Realflight last night, and thank christ I did. I would have shelled out near the price of the heli learning to fly it. Progressed pretty quick with the sim: I can hover, do coordinated turns and circuits, and flare to a hover with the TRex 500. I suspect it's pretty similar to a toned-down-for-a-novice Blade.
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Jan 9, 2010 00:52
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