Tamiya and other R/C vehicles (not just for Christmas)

Todays the day… The Grasshopper arrives :)

Hopefully the bearings will too.

Mrs Weeksy will be on stickering duty… My boy will be on construction with me.

Tamiya builds are usually pretty easy – the instructions are very clear, just take your time and make sure any pieces you have to cut off sprues are clean.

Have fun Weeksy. Soon you’ll be on asking about Lipo and Brushless…

In a Grasshopper???

Have fun Weeksy. Soon you’ll be on asking about Lipo and Brushles

LOL i ain’t going racing it… This is for my lad to have some fun in the garden/close.

Well, why not….

2020-04-14_12-16-54 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

2020-04-14_12-20-33 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Oh my… that’s a LOT of pieces !!!!

Fewer than that M Falcon though. Good luck!

Just bought a 540 motor for mine, oh and the Terra Scorcher, that @barney recommended, arrives in the next few days.

Weeksy – just be careful with the screwdriver for the Tamiya screws – I don’t think it’s stated anywhere, but I think they are JIS heads.

I found I had one screwdriver that worked perfectly with them & a few others that would refuse to stay put.

Fewer than that M Falcon though. Good luck!

I didn’t build the Falcon, Mrs Weeksy and the boy did.

Just bought a 540 motor for mine, oh and the Terra Scorcher, that @barney recommended, arrives in the next few days.

NICE. I’m soooo tempted myself! The one upgrade I’d heartily recommend getting out of the gate is one of these –

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MB-Steel-Support-for-Part-A5-A-Parts-for-the-Tamiya-Thunder-Shot-Fire-Dragon/371928172427?hash=item5698a5878b:g:bgUAAMXQbXtRD-WF

It’s an ace buggy (at least, the vintage one is – I’m sure this’ll be the same – enjoy!

Oh my… that’s a LOT of pieces !!!!

It really isn’t, it’s probably at most a couple of afternoons’ worth. Enjoy, feeling very envious now :)

confused…. where does this go ?

2020-04-14_02-40-20 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

2020-04-14_02-40-15 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

I’ve been into RC card for about 5 years now, always had them but since I’ve got into Lipo I’ve become somewhat obsessed. Having had the basher type stuff I’ve got quite in to crawling, starting with an FTX Kanyon

These for the money are excellent – plenty of torque out the motor and bar the chassis having a couple of weak points they’re pretty strong.

Then I bought a carisma rtr Range Rover which is…ok. Not great and better now I’ve stuck some bigger tyres on, but it’s just a poor mans TRX really

Then decided to build a drift car, bought a kit and spec’d it up to run an Absima esc motor combo on 2s. Recently bought an e30 touring shell that still needs to be painted up

And finally a G-made BOM running the gear out the Kanyon. This is a lovely kit to build, I’ve upgraded the wheels/tyres and about to fit an LED light bar. Proper crawler and much fun to build

I’m about to start on a scratch built trophy truck, 1/10 scale running the 4s gear out of one of my older bashers. I’m going to build a proper metal space frame chassis/cage and am using some fancy axles and shocks from the US.

I actually get more fun out of building them than driving them!

Weeksy, that is an unused part. Don’t panic.

Thanks mate :)

I took the gearbox apart twice to find it again…

2020-04-14_02-08-40 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

2020-04-14_03-03-54 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

2020-04-14_03-56-02 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

SO we’ve got the engine, the steering rack/kit, we’ve got the shocks on the back end…

I must admit i never thought for a second when i bought it it would be this complex or time consuming !!!!

2020-04-14_04-08-28 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

So, looking at positioning the electrics, this seems about the best layout.

According to the box i should have the wires in this config, but what’s the 3rd yellow wire for ?

I assume the electrics just loop out of the extension in the bodywork ?

2020-04-14_04-32-42 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Getting your money’s worth then?

Ignore that one and just tuck it away. It’s for a brushless motor.

The ESC does both brushed and brushless.

Wiring according to this fella is completely different.

Getting your money’s worth then?

Errrrrm if I don’t lose my mind.

we have power !!! Forwards, backwards, left and right

Front chasis arms

2020-04-14_06-17-30 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

2020-04-14_06-17-39 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Front end with shocks installed.

I’m off cycling now while my boy builds the wheels

🙂

2020-04-14_08-06-00[/url] by Steve Weeks[/url] – Flickr2BBcode
H8216, undefined@4.4 mm, f2.0, 1/16s, ISO250

It lives!!! But left is right and right is left

Sorted

Excellent work, hours of fun will follow.

Nice one.

You are now officially the best dad ever….🙂

What are you getting next?!

It finished. Lol. That’s first.

It’s still not running quite straight. So need to sort wheel alignment out. I’m assuming it’s just trial and error mostly.

Throttle response going forward isn’t as crisp as reverse, I assume that’s trimming, so will fix

The battery needs some velcro as is clunks about a bit. Then lastly it needs the electrics tidying and the bodywork and decals sorting tomorrow.

We’ll then see how he gets on with it and whether it has a lifespan.

I’m sure there’s things that needs fixing, sorting and repair quite often.

Are these things just nuts, screws, bolts and the like or do you have to solder stuff as well? I had one as a kid but my dad put it together, it always turned left much faster than it did right…

Looks suoerb.

What kit did you get weeksy and from where??

As a kit they are nuts, bolts, screws and clips. No soldering required until you start upgrading.

weeksy

It finished. Lol. That’s first.

It’s still not running quite straight. So need to sort wheel alignment out. I’m assuming it’s just trial and error mostly.

Check the steering arms are the same length – you have to thread the ends on & measure the length of them, I think.
It could also be that the servo saver (white bit on the steering servo) isn’t in a neutral position when the servo is.
If it’s only slight, you can trim it out with the radio – there’s normally a little adjuster by the steering stick.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tamiya-RC-Assembly-Kit-Bundles-Includes-Everything-Kit-Radio-Battery-Charger/392715674115?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=661622771877&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

Great job @weeksy
My kit arrives tomorrow, but with work and a 13 month old, not sure when I’ll get started. If I do it after we put him to bed, I could get engrossed and be up til the early hours. May have to do it in half hour stints when I can grab a bit of quiet.
Still apprehensive about the painting, but gone for a single colour for the body and contrasting one for the wing. Should save a bit of masking.

Needs stickers etc, along with wiring tidying up. But wanted to give my lad 10 mins with it this morning

2020-04-15_07-05-33 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

This thread brings back memories from my teens.

Bought a Tamiya Mudblaster truck which I regularly broke the steering bit on the front hubs for. Great fun but a bit fragile.

Somehow got into racing cars at the local RC club in Bristol. Led to many purchases – mainly a Losi JRX2 then a Losi XX – at the time a 13×2 motor was the boy to have but you needed amazing batteries to run it for the full race duration. Eventually mountain biking and playing hockey took over.

Mid 20’s I got the urge for another car and bought an HPI stadium truck that run off nitro fuel. That was crazy fun – rear wheel drive only and did massive drifts and jumps. Would love one of those again but the wife would go mad – and I wouldn’t really have the time to use it 😞

Seem to remember the front bumpers on the Grasshopper were fairly expendable, otherwise it was quite a tough thing.