R/C cars: try not to say the words "scale speed"

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > R/C cars: try not to say the words "scale speed"

«‹›7 »

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

Finished my Tamiya Buggy Champ:

Click here for the full 1164x575 image.

Click here for the full 983x1163 image.

Click here for the full 1103x1012 image.

It runs nicely, only ran it on asphalt as the grass was too long and ground way too wet for it. Tons of oversteering, and hammers along nicely even with the shagged old battery I had for it.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2009 07:26

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 13, 2024 06:52

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

IOwnCalculus posted:

This reminds me of what so many R/C cars lost since the '80s - any semblance of realism to the full-scale version. Sure, they're much faster but they look so much cooler like that.

Yeah, the suspension setup is so similar to the VW Bug, which with the Sand Scorcher Baja Bug shell, it looks very much like a proper Baja Bug.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2009 14:13

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

drat the touring car chassis are getting so similar. I was about to say it was a Tamiya, but the blue anodizing on the aluminum parts were too dark. What's the TC5 like?

# ¿ Aug 12, 2009 23:56

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

Stregone posted:

Check this out. Rebuilding my almost 20 year old RC10...

Getting there...

Cool old beast there dude. How's the parts availability on it like?

# ¿ Aug 18, 2009 02:47

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

Asocb4 posted:

Well I was also thinking of getting a Tamiya TRF 415. I'm not too worried about parts availability, being you can get most stuff of the web. Just the huge change from shaft to belt. Been racing shaft since the TC3.

I have owned two 415s, but they are getting pretty old. Wouldn't it be better to look at a 416?

My experience with them is they can be a pig to setup, but once you have the setup you want, they absolutely fly. Their results in World Championships show it isn't a chassis that has average performance.

My current 415 is modded to the hilt. Replace most of the chassis with the limited edition Marc Rheinhard 415 stuff, added the Evo V steering and suspension arms, and aluminum front uprights.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2009 23:58

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

Tamiya suffers for really poo poo parts supply in Australia. The wholesaler/distributor in Australia is known for being gigantic cunts, and kept on cutting supply to Hobby Stores who were fed up with their slow service and high prices, and imported parts from Japan.

Soon enough, especially with the Internet, most Tamiya people in Australia were importing their own parts from Japan at half the price that stores in Australia will stock the parts for. So what does the Aussie distributor do? Do they drop their prices and speed up the parts availability time? Do they actually sell off their licence for selling Tamiya in Australia (which has been going on and off for years)? No, they dump their support for the TRF line.

# ¿ Aug 19, 2009 23:46

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

I have enough bits to build a second 415 and run spares for it as well

I lost the interest in on road one night, and never thought of doing it again. Sure I had that happen before, but always went back. But this time it is enough for me. However will keep my Mini and 415

# ¿ Aug 20, 2009 11:47

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

On the subject of my 415, finally rebuilt it. Looks good now, in a tidier shell.

# ¿ Aug 23, 2009 12:28

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

krushgroove posted:

I'm really dithering on getting a whole new radio setup, since the last set I got was a 40MHz KO one, like what Hara used to run...when I went to Holland to use it nothing worked and I haven't gotten it fixed, and then 2.4GHz got massive. So now I have to get it fixed before I can even sell it or think about getting the KO/Spectrum 2.4 module for it, which will cost as much as a whole new 'non-racing' 2.4 radio set :P All I'll be using it for is crawlers, F1 car and maybe a Cup Racer so I don't need all the computer stuff and super-fast connection.

What model of KO controller do you have? I have a Mars R, and you can fit a 2.4GHz module into that.

# ¿ Sep 30, 2009 23:46

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

krushgroove posted:

I think it's the Mars, I know KO and Spektrum make 2.4 modules for it, but from the prices I've seen it's cheaper to get the �115 DX3.0 deal with 2 receivers than to get the module with 2 receivers. Plus, I still have to pay to fix whatever's wrong. At this point I'd rather just fix it and sell it to finance a new radio system, I don't need all the computer radio stuff (I never did, really, even for racing).

Ah fair enough, I missed the bit where you said it was playing up.

kuffs posted:

Buying used rules

Very true, especially things like chargers or the occasional chassis.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2009 04:29

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

One of my friends had a 1/18 (I think it was an XRay) tourer with brushless, it was an insane little thing, he used to harass 1/10 tourers with it. I don't think he has it anymore.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2009 22:52

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

kuffs posted:

By the way, I picked up 3300mAh NiMh packs for like $30ea at Radio Shack. Seems pretty cheap compared to hobby store prices. I initially got them for my starter box, but we'll see how they do in this role.

Holy poo poo that is expensive for those cells. No one has competitively used those cells for at least 4 years.

Lipos are easily the battery type to go for these days. They don't have the reliability issues that NiCAD and NiMH cells have.

# ¿ Oct 24, 2009 06:14

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

Ran my Tamiya 415 on the weekend to test a new 5000 milliamp Lipo pack. The car was slow as poo poo, which had me puzzled. Wondering if the Lipo pack had an issue with my speedy, I grabbed my other Lipo pack, but still with the same slow results.

Took the car home and put the motor on the dyno. It is one of the silver can cheapie motors that you can not change the brushes on. Previous times when I ran the motor, it always hit around 19500 rpm, which is pretty good for a silver can.

However now it only wanted to run at 17k rpm. After giving it a spray out with motor spray and giving the comm a quick clean, it dropped down to 16k.

In the bin it went.

# ¿ Oct 26, 2009 01:59

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

krushgroove posted:

it would make a good slave motor for breaking in or truing other brushed motors, assuming you have any of those...otherwise, yeah, chuck it

Got a motor dyno and a charger that breaks in motors, so got that covered

# ¿ Oct 26, 2009 02:34

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

Ran my Tamiya 415 for the first time in anger for well over a year. Got one 4th place and three 2nd places. All I did was put a new battery in it

Going to be doing an electric vintage off road enduro next month. All cars have to be made before 1990, or if it is a reissue, it has to be close to the original specifications. Can't wait.

# ¿ Oct 29, 2009 22:33

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

Somewhat Heroic posted:

There is a contributing writer for R/C Car Magazine that always has some awesome vintage articles. Where are you located in Australia again? I have forgotten.

Melbourne

# ¿ Oct 30, 2009 06:51

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

Woohoo, Tamiya is re-issuing the Sand Scorcher. Going to be released next Feb. Got mine on preorder

# ¿ Dec 11, 2009 12:40

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

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.

Back in the NiMH battery days I was fussy about brands. But since the Lipos have come in, there is bugger all difference. I love the level playing field Lipos have brought to onroad electric racing.

# ¿ Dec 13, 2009 12:11

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

Used to be the same with the older batteries and their cell ratings.

# ¿ Dec 13, 2009 23:15

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

kuffs posted:

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.

It looks a lot better than some other brand (I think Kyosho) RC motorbike which spent most of its time on its side.

# ¿ Dec 30, 2009 02:03

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

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.

# ¿ Dec 30, 2009 05:07

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

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.

# ¿ Dec 30, 2009 10:03

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

kuffs posted:

This is the RC equivalent of souping up your Civic

http://www.rctech.net/forum/r-c-items-sale-trade/357256-brand-new-tamiya-durga-db-01-a.html

Nah, the worst are the RC Drifters who spend at least double the chassis' original cost on a Tamiya TT-01. The TT-01 is one of the most basic and well, crap, on road chassis out there, but has tons of love from the drifter community, and the hop up companies make a ton of parts for it. However you still end up with a crap chassis with restricted gear ratio range and able to handle a motor better than a 27T.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2010 09:15

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

One of my friends works at a large hobby store, and loves morons like the E-Maxx or TT-01 drifter guys. They'd blow up speedies and brushless motors, and come back the next week and buy more. Some of the drifters would have the cheek to ask for sponsorship

# ¿ Jan 13, 2010 12:00

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

kuffs posted:

CellPro Multi4 just arrived. Mini-review after I build a new power supply. The converted ATX supply I was using went dead at the track the other night.

I know a lot of tracks in Australia outright ban those types of power supplies. Sometimes modding an old notebook power adapter can work if all you need to run is a charger.

Of course being an electric dude, I have a totally pro Much More 24A power supply. Nice tiny switching power supply in a cool blue anodised blue aluminium case, goes well with my Tamiya gear :smug:

# ¿ Jan 18, 2010 22:24

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

krushgroove posted:

Oh you're one of THOSE guys all matching everything. Have you gone so far as to paint an Ott-Lite or transmitter with your race paint job?

Nah, but I try and make sure my tools and accessories are either blue, or close to.

# ¿ Jan 19, 2010 00:57

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

rctech.net I think has a good aircraft subforum.

# ¿ Jan 27, 2010 22:47

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

Cool Frog. I should be getting the Sand Scorcher reissue sometime this month.

# ¿ Feb 2, 2010 23:17

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

IOwnCalculus posted:

Regarding cold temps: I live in AZ. Cold is not an issue, since the coldest I would ever probably be running these would be around 55 degrees.

Does balancing take longer or something?

Balancing Lipos does take longer. You don't have to balance, but if you want longevity, I always balance

# ¿ Feb 20, 2010 06:04

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

I love my KO Mars. It isn't huge like a 3PK, and can take (and has) a Spektrum module.

Plus I won it at a club raffle, so free is always the best

# ¿ Feb 21, 2010 12:13

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

kuffs posted:

Tekin's not dead. In fact, they still make some of the best electronics around. They're one of the two ESCs out right now that can do software timing advance with rpm ranges.

I have heard that Tekin are almost at the top for awesome brushless speedies. Their brushed stuff is legendary.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2010 02:38

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

Yeah, I have been looking at the Tekin brushless ESC to finally replace my old KO Propo VFS-1 when the category I sometimes race in moves to brushless

# ¿ Feb 24, 2010 07:57

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

The reissue Tamiya Sand Scorcher should be hitting my place early next week

# ¿ Feb 27, 2010 23:41

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

Lookie what came in the mail for me today

Tamiya Sand Scorcher 2010 - the reissue of the 1979 model. I have an original Sand Scorcher, so will be interesting to compare the two once I have built the new one.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2010 10:42

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

krushgroove posted:

That is very cool Tamiya had a full-size replica (the original? I have no idea) on their stand at the Nurnberg Toy Fair

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/02/lifesize-sand-scorcher/

That is freaking awesome

# ¿ Mar 2, 2010 11:49

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

Somewhat Heroic posted:

Be still my beating heart. We got our first batch of them a few weeks ago and it has taken all of my will power to NOT buy one. I see that yours says it came with a commemorative shirt, did it include the bag as well? The ones that came to the states came with a first batch limited "Bag", similar to what grocery stores sell as those reusable "go green" bags. They are just so drat awesome I want one so bad.

No, mine only came with the t-shirt. Ah well, got the Rough Rider reissue t-shirt and a t-shirt for this one. Too bad they are only in large.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2010 00:15

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

Tamiya plugs usually melt under race conditions, due to the heat build up from high resistance they have. Whereas Deans plugs and Corolly plugs are low resistance, and don't have the heat build up

# ¿ Mar 3, 2010 08:25

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

Idiot race posted:

I'm in the UK if that makes any difference. You know I never realised how complicated these things were and most RC forums seem to be geared towards pros. Are there any good references for novices? Because apart from my current car (TA-05IFS) my only experience with RC's was building a manta ray with my brother more than 15 years ago.

I do have a friend whos pretty into RC but most of his collection consist of half built petrol buggys

RCTech in their onroad electric forum usually has a huuuuuuge TA05 thread. There might be a TA05 IFS thread as well.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2010 23:07

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

IOwnCalculus posted:

Just posting a shoutout for kuffs, got the 3PM today and it looks even better than the photos he sent over. Haven't had a chance to charge up some batteries for it yet but it looks great, thanks again!

The antenna on these new receivers is so drat short

Spektrum/2.4GHz is awesome, and makes the cars more life like without the tall antenna sticking out

# ¿ Mar 16, 2010 12:04

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 13, 2024 06:52

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

Took my Tamiya TRF 415 MSXMREDMc Edition touring car out for a run at the local track last night, since it was competition night. I have not done any maintenance (other than changing a motor) on it since early 2008.

Got two firsts, a second and a third. Nothing broken on the car at all. Felt nicely smug after that effort.

thorsilver posted:

So what're the most popular racing classes in the UK or Denmark these days? What I'd most like to try is 1/10 touring cars (nitro would be cool, nitro seems so fun) but I dunno how popular that is. Any tips?

Electric onroad is far more popular in Europe than nitro. America is pretty well the only place where nitro is still hugely popular.

RCTech have International forums, and there is a UK one in there:

http://www.rctech.net/forum/#international-forums

They might be able to point you in the right direction for racing in UK and Europe.

You Am I fucked around with this message at 00:21 on Mar 25, 2010

# ¿ Mar 25, 2010 00:18

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > R/C cars: try not to say the words "scale speed"

«‹›7 »