I’m going to be so nervous doing the decals
I naively thought they’d be die cut. How I cried when I opened my first build.
You utter, utter bastards!
I've got it all spec'ed up now and in various on line baskets.
Will have to empty them all before I do something daft and it is 6 months until Christmas and my birthday. M** F***.
What paint do you use for the inside of a polycarbonate shell? Does it have to be Tamiya? Asking for a friend.
I’m going to be so nervous doing the decals, don’t want to mess it up!!
Scalpel with a new blade will cost you about a fiver from your local model shop. As easy as using a pencil, but a gazillion times sharper. Do it on a cheapo chopping board, or you can get a model maker's cutting mat for not very much and they look cool.
Yep, dangerous thread.
I've had to stop going to the Modelsport website after I got an email saying Bigwigs were in stock. I'm somewhat shocked they are only £199 - I thought back in the day they insanely expensive, but that's the same price as a Hotshot and less than a Supershot. I need to stop looking...
Seen a Lancia for £105. Have buried my wallet in the garden.
how good is a 4wd RC rally car on grass... ?
asking for a friend of course!
I had a set of MIP hex speed bits arrive today, what lovely bits of kit they are
I don't always buy expensive, depends what it is and how I'm going to use it
For tiny little hex bolts good quality bits make a huge difference. And these bits also mean I can use them in a ratchet screwdriver or an electric one. The 4 hex bolts on the waterproof RX box on my crawler would near give you RSI if you had to open and close it with a normal hex key
Hoping to get started on my Blitzer Beetle this weekend 🙂
Had lots of fun with my Grasshopper which now has working spot lamps & tail lights 🙂
What paint do you use for the inside of a polycarbonate shell? Does it have to be Tamiya? Asking for a friend.
It does not need to be tamiya, plenty of other brands exist they are all pretty similar and most model shops have a selection. just make sure the paint is intended for polycarbonate. (It needs to be a specific type of acrylic paint that will flex with the shell, enamel will flake off.)
Main things to watch are:
Wash the shell first to remove the release agent from the mold.
Get the right sort of masking tape from a model shop. The stuff you buy for house painting has too thick an adhesive layer and will allow paint to get underneath
(Most shells come with pre cut window masks these days, so you may not need masking tape at all if your design is 1 colour )
how good is a 4wd RC rally car on grass… ?
Assuming it's 10th scale the answer will be that it's rubbish. The wheels are too small and they also grip roll a lot as the width is narrow to match the real car. Better off with a truck or a buggy if that's what you want to do.
Well I started building the Lancia last night. One thing that stumped me was the motor wasn't engaging with the main gear when installed. Checked instructions on the holes to use and it still was missing my a millimetre. Took me nearly an hour to realise that the instructions said the supplied pinion gear was 19t not the 22t the instructions said was supplied as standard! Not bothered as I can play with gearing when it's up and running but a little bit annoying.
It was 3am by the time I sorted that out and did a few more stages. I wasn't rushing, definitely taking my time with plenty of tea breaks etc but a bit worrying that 4 hours can fly past like that!
Think I'm addicted to the building stage.
Think I’m addicted to the building stage.
Yeah me too. I love faffing about and changing bits.
Got my eye on a Renault 5 turbo, Beetle rally and a GMade crawler.
Had word from nursery that they are restarting in a few weeks, so might mean I’ll be the only person in the house two days a week soon. The bliss of a perfectly quiet house and new kit(s) to build in solitude.
OK, I'm sold on the Lunchbox. To save me from 1200 posts and to learn from others that have already indulged...
Do I just buy the 'kit' from Howes models with the fast charger, plus the upgraded bearings? Or should I also get a second battery?
Any 'consumables' that I should get ahead of time with a view to inevitable crash damage?
For a Lunchbox. You will wreck the shell quickly. First you'll scratch it when it flips or rolls, then you'll crack, then smash the windows, then the bodymounts will fail. If you want a photo of it looking nice, take it before the first outing.
Depends on how long you want to play with it at a time. Mine runs for a good 30 minutes on a 3000mAh battery but the last 5 minutes or so it's getting a bit sluggish.
Got my original Optima up and running. New ESC, radio gear, motor and lipo. Needed new wheels & tyres as the original sand supers were totally knackered.
It's pretty rapid and great fun to rag around.
uhhmmm been recommended the Rising Fighter rather than the Lunchbox - any thoughts?
Both...?
rising fighter is very different ot the lunchbox - where are you looking to take them.
the lunchbox is primarily a wheelie machine but you can adapt it a bit.
he rising fighter just is a normal buggy.
in terms of fun and offroading the lunchbox offers a wider range of terrain just because of the monster truck wheels.
Got my original Optima up and running.
That's a lovely looking thing.
Current obsession is looking at silly-priced Tamiya Avante's on eBay.
Nearly hit the phone! (reverse comes in handy as well) This thing is such a blast to run, more than enough on 2S so far and good run time.
uhhmmm been recommended the Rising Fighter rather than the Lunchbox – any thoughts?
Both…?
Both, obviously. 😉
I've got a Grasshopper (with a 540 motor as in the Rising Fighter) and Mad Bull. The Grasshopper is similar to the Rising Fighter and the Mad Bull leans more towards the Lunch Box, but without the ability to pull wheelies.
if i had to pick one it would be the Mad Bull as has better off road capabilities. On road they are evenly matched for pace.
One is a laugh, the other is an absolute hoot.
I need to stop looking at this thread. I have no time to build or drive an RC car, I'm supposed to be saving for a new house and I'll probably end up getting divorced if I spend a load of money on one.
But it's payday...
New house = new garden = new play area!
That's already earmarked for a mini ramp / boulder wall / Wendy House 😉
I'm just training mini Monkey so when she's a bit older she'll want one for Christmas.
Quick chat with offspring - Lunchbox, barings, spare battery and stick controller (I iz old skool) on the way. Guy in shop said that he'd sold over 600 lunchbox kits during lock down!! Probably 300 via here!
£70k+ turnover on one model alone, not to mention all of the ancillaries!
A question, and I'm probably teetering on the edge of an expensive rabbit hole with this but I'll say it anyway...
Has anyone got a radio controlled tank?
Harry_the_Spider
SubscriberA question, and I’m probably teetering on the edge of an expensive rabbit hole with this but I’ll say it anyway…
Has anyone got a radio controlled tank?
Oh I was so close to one of these Leopard 2
But then I realised how big it was!
So I got a FTX Kanyon instead.
Great fun building courses in the garden and be able to drive it out of the house and into the garden while sat indoors having a beer. Legal drink driving 😉
It is however bloody massive.
Never mind eh?
Finished trimming and prepping the Lancia shell this afternoon:
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Looks amazing even without paint! Can't wait to get cracking on it but that will be saved for when I've got plenty of time to get the window masks correct and 2-3 hours to apply a few layers of paint. Then it's on to the 120+ stickers I've got to cut out and apply!!
Don't mention things like tanks. I'm struggling enough to not get one of the big rigs and a trailer and oaint it in Team Lancia colours. My mind says it would be awesome to drive the Delta out of it at the local park but I know it would look properly awful.
Buggy or stadium truck is next I think.
A question, and I’m probably teetering on the edge of an expensive rabbit hole with this but I’ll say it anyway…
Has anyone got a radio controlled tank?
No, but I came so very close to buying the Kyosho Blizzard several years ago.
Smoke and working BB gun! Neighbourhood cats better watch out.
Seriously thinking of getting a Sherman and a Tiger so that me and The Boy can have battles in the woods behind the house, but they are bloody enormous.
If I had a garage to keep them in they would be in the post right now!
RC Tank you say.
I've had a hankering for one of these for some time:
The only working King Tiger tank in the world is on display at the Saumur Tank Museum in France. Since the Tiger I used basically the same type of Maybach power plant, some Tamiya staff members made their way to France to investigate. They recorded all the sounds of the real tank including; battery start-up, crank start-up, flywheel sound, etc. All the sounds of the enormous V-12 700hp engine have been clearly recorded and are waiting for you in Tamiya's 1/16 RC Tiger I kit.
Sounds marvellous.
Sussed out how to post a video of my Rival MT10
Could anybody that has built a Lunchbox please assist?
Just started building this with the offspring today and only just got to the body mounts. There's only three chrome ones on the plastic sheet holder thing - it looks like one's missing!
Can anybody confirm this please or will there be another one in another colour to be found somewhere? We think we've checked everywhere!!
It was in a sealed plastic wrapper as well so no way its been lost by us. Howes Models very helpfully wouldn't answer the phones and have now switched on the answer machine...
Some great Rooster tails there Bullet 🙂
All the body mounts were silver on mine, can't remember if they were all on the same mould or not. Does sound like one of yours is missing. You can carry on with the build without one though, the body will still stay on correctly.
Been making good progress with the Lancia over the last few evenings. Got the shell painted and the windows tinted:
While that was drying I started work on the grille and front lights. Just a bit of matte paint and a really intricate sticker!
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Really pleased with how that turned out! The red piping is made up of 4 separate stickers all no more than 3/4mm wide, incredibly hard to line up correctly. Most ones I've seen online didn't bother with it but I like a challenge! Looks the dogs when on the shell IMO:
Have had one issue though. My technique for applying the stickers over multiple curves is a very rusty!
Tried the old technique of using heat to stretch and shrink the stickers but they just went back to their original shape. Only done one side so far so if anyone has any tips on how to get it right I'm all ears for the other side. I can always buy a new sticker set and redo it or just remove them and run it as an unsponsored car instead. It's a runner not a show shell so might just use it as-is and let it get some character to it.
Mad Bull owners.. is anyone else having issues going through rear wheels?
We've cracked 3 at the hex hub/nut.
Have you lost and replaced the standard kit wheel nuts?
The standard tamiya nuts are flanged nuts so have an inbuilt washer.
If you use normal nyloc nuts instead, Ttey work fine but need to be used with a seperate washer to avoid cracking.
I apply them wet (washing up liquid and water in a spray gun) then use a heat gun to stick them down.
No shrinkage or creases.
haha - have just got a 7.4v 2s lipo for the Mad bull - holy crap! that's definitely more fun! haha!
wonder how long the motor/gearbox will last!
@Merak - I'll try the other side wet, went dry first time as I used to get neater results that way. I've also picked up a cheap new heat gun as mine's very old and doesn't seem to be very hot.
If I get it right I'll get another shell and sticker set, redo the left side and build the other shell up as a privateer car. (I think you can say the bug has bitten again).
cb, if you can, try and get some ally body mounts.
The plastic ones are a terrible design and break very easily.
If you can't, drop me a line, I've a full set of the plastic ones you can have.
Nearly finished the 2CV chassis.
Had nothing to make the holes in the body and needed some paint and masking tape.
£70 later and a care package should arrive this week!
Thinking box art for the Charleston and bright orange for the rally car.
Bring it on!
Merak, could I ask which paint you used for the roof and wheels/front bumper of your 2CV build?
As above, probably Tamiya bright orange for the shell, reminds me of a stock 2CV colour, but all the black roofs I seen so far look too shiny.
I've ordered some basic white too as a second option, lets see how it goes.........🙂
