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

IIRC the Grasshopper only takes an 18t pinion. You’d need to use a different motor mount to fit a different pinion, and I am not sure what is available.

A larger pinion will mean a higher top speed. I think a Lunchbox pinion and a Lunchbox motor mount might work, but this is a lower tooth pinion.

Ok, fair enough. We’ll use it until it explodes into 1000 pieces.

He’s already has his moneys worth from it

Looks great so far….🙂

Most of my new bits turned up today. New tyres a lot softer and stickier than Tamiya kit ones. Went onto the new wheels a lot easier than the originals.
Had planned on removing original front ribs from black kit wheels, as new wheels are blue, but found I’d glued them on a bit too well. Try baking and boiling them to soften glue, but although this softened some bits other were still stuck fast. Gave up and just put new tyres on blue wheels. Guess I’ll be mismatched for a while. Given the state of the rear wing already from rolling, I’m not sure it’ll matter.
Still waiting on springs but will try test the two front tyres first to see if I notice a difference between them.

This is my runner. Brushless, Lipo loony machine, 40mph! The Tamiya’s I build are just for fun I’d never run them outside.

@weeksey I think your radio has EPA (end point adjustment) you should be able to use this to limit the top speed. It may also have expo (exponential) which would allow you to change the throttle curve to give 50% throttle over 75% of the sticks travel, this should allow easier low speed control.

Thanks demon. I’ll have a look. Great info. Cheers.

I’m think we’re a bit on the outside here as all we do is thrash it, crash it and charge it. I certainly never had or indeed wanted one when I was younger and I feel bad that we’re destroying someones pride and joy.

Can we fit big wheels on the front to give it some stability?

@weeksy yours is even more looney-tune than mine. We can’t pull a wheelie, but that is a good thing.

I wouldn’t worry about destroying it, they are pretty hardy … think of it as testing it’s limits!

If you want to run wider front tyres and stay with the same overall size you could grab a set of Brat wheels and tyres, I think wheels are around £12 and tyres around £13 so about £25 all in.

I’ve got an old 1/10th 4WD nitro model with an Impreza body (although the manual describes it as a touring car) It’s in a bit of a state but this thread makes me think of fixing it up! Are all 1/10th wheels the same fitting on the inside of the wheel though? Thinking of new wheels and tyres, strip and rebuild, ball race wheel bearings and a cut-out thingy for when the receiver batteries start to run down (I’ve had it run amok in the past!)
Any advice much appreciated.

weeksy Subscriber

…I’m think we’re a bit on the outside here as all we do is thrash it, crash it and charge it.

Nope, not at all. I believe the official term is ‘bashing’, as in take it for a bash down at the skate park. That’s all me and my boys do. I had a Turbo Hopper as a kid:

But that’s long gone (probably still in my folks’ loft, to be fair). For bashing I’m not a fan of vehicles with low ground clearance like most of what’s being talked about up there ^. Probably just a case of what sort of terrain is available I guess, I’ve got a garden full of gravel and plenty of rough ground, and there’s a big undeveloped gravel lot nearby with mounds of dirt which is great for bashing. Plenty of puddles too – all our cars are waterproof, great fun blasting through muddy puddles!

Last year my eldest saved up and bought aone of these from AliExpress:

Which is bloody quick and tough as hell – that space frame instead of a standard shell is almost indestructable. So I got myself one of these to keep him company:

Awesome car but parts are not readily available except online from China.

And then decided to go big, with a DHK Zombie 🙂

This thing is mental on 3S lipo, I’m not brave enough to try it on 4S. Easy to launch a couple of metres up from a skatepark ramp, and easy for a noob to control in flight via the throttle – also very tough, so handles the inevitable botched landings. Heaps of ground clearance and massive tyres for thrashing it over rough gound. Guaranteed grins 😁

that Zombie looks ace… but seems way out of any budget we may have, well, don’t have actualy… but could raise 🙂

Wouldn’t mind something that we could blat about with a bit more ruggedness than the Grasshopper though, taking on rougher terrain etc for example. But would ideally like availability of parts in the UK… and at a reasonable price… i know, moon on a stick content 🙂

The little FTX Colt fits the bill brilliantly apart from ruggedness, it just explodes parts and as none are available currently, it means it’s out of action for the forseeable future.

I really wanted a Traxxas E-revo 1/10, but they’re stupid money. Looked at the 1/16 version but they’re still pricey. The Zombie is a poor* man’s 1/10 E-revo.

I bought a couple of spares with it, based on reviews that identified ‘common’ breakages. Can’t remember what they are as I’ve never needed them. The only thing that’s broken is the shell, which cracked in a big smash when it landed on the front wing from height. Easily repaired using fibre tape (for plasterboard joints) and silicone sealant, even has one of the body posts drilled through the repair.

Also check out the JLB Cheetah and VKAR Bison, very similar trucks and occasionally at lower prices on they likes of Banggood or AliExpress.

*Relatively 😳.

Anyone got a Mad Bull? What’s it like?

Asking for a friend.

I got a 1/5 baja I mess around with alongside a associated SC10B with a 3S batt,

Just cartwheeled it across the pub car park and done some fairly horrible damage to the rear bodywork. The “El Crazy Bastard“™ motor is coming out while we are limited to using it on hard surfaces. When we are allowed to take it to a freshly mown park I’ll put it back in.

It is bloody good fun though 😉

Lightfighter762 what Baja have you got?

Harry_the_Spider
Subscriber

Anyone got a Mad Bull? What’s it like?

Asking for a friend.

I’ve got one, it’s… well, it’s a pretty normal basic tamiya with ridiculous tyres. Standard, it steers pretty badly but is still great fun, good for thrashing in gravel, works on some surfaces that the skinnier ones don’t (like, frinstance, snow).

So I got a cheap brushless motor from China and a lipo pack and slapped those in and it became a totally brilliant disaster, so much power it doesn’t know what to do so instead of really accellerating it does massive burnouts and slides crazily in corners. (and the wheel speed is enough to make the tyres stretch out like a top fuel dragster). And now it is a bit broken, but only because i’ve not fixed it yet.

I really like it. It’s probably not as good as others in the range, though. It’s the fatbike of RC cars, in just about every way, including the fact that I like it most when it’s being rubbish

diz
Subscriber
Lightfighter762 what Baja have you got?

5Sc on rpm arms and some chassis braces. Also track pipe. It jumps high and takes a beating. Kept the motor stock. Do no use it much. Running the onboard batt on 5x charge/discharge cycle atm.

Bugger. Mad Bulls are out of stock for a couple of weeks, which gives me a cooling off period as blowing the best part of £400 on toy cars this month is a little hard to justify.

However should the itch still need scratching when they are available again what would you use to paint the body shell as I’d want it in black rather than white?
Is the Tamiya polycarbonate paint the right stuff for an ABS shell?
Does it need priming?

New tamiya 370 sport motor in the colt as the old motor was toast.
Will try it out later, but why do ftx have the bloody wire colours the wrong way round, went black too black and red to red with the wires and it was backwards. Annoying but easy to fix.

Harry, it’s TS coded paint for the hard plastic bodies and PS for the soft,clear flexi polycarbonate shells.

I used a painting guide from this site:
https://tamiyabase.com

I usually use a primer, a base colour and a final colour, followed by a laquer. I’ll stick some pics up later.

This is a brilliant site too:
https://www.tamiyaclub.com
You may spot a certain orange 2CV in the builds section!

This site is ace for new releases:
https://tamiyablog.com

And I waste too much time watching Matteo’s channel:
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC73asjLqe86O2rDsW-9LGMQ

Happy son no.3 after a near month wait.

🙂

So.
Much.
Fun.

I’ve about 20 model gliders in my shed. Not flown them for a few years. And a couple of toy electric planes for flying over the field by the house. Which also haven’t been used for ages.

Which means I have a decent 2.4ghz transmitter. Can I use that with one of my spare receivers on something like that lunch box? I’ve also got loads of spare chargers, batteries and servos but would need to check compatibility.

Or am I better just ponying up the £65 quid-is to get a kit with everything in it? Like: https://howesmodels.co.uk/product/tamiya-lunch-box-kit-ready-to-go-bundle-fast-charger/?gclid=CjwKCAjwqdn1BRBREiwAEbZcR5SEw0-nUuRA9tzK7TfZhlbw9ep3lIoo_AKcE-OAQdNijNh18dI9FRoC6FIQAvD_BwE

We do have quite a big garden and a field down the road with a concrete path where we walk the dogs. And one offspring who has declared an interest. So I can sort of justify one..

Think you’d probably be ok with what you’ve got. Only issue might be the connector on the battery. Needs a Tamiya connector for the esc. Can always get connector leads or solder on a connector to match your battery.
No point buying chargers/ handsets if you’ve got them anyway.

Harry_the_Spider
Subscriber

However should the itch still need scratching when they are available again what would you use to paint the body shell as I’d want it in black rather than white?
Is the Tamiya polycarbonate paint the right stuff for an ABS shell?

Just regular car-type paints. You can use the Tamiya but it’s expensive. I used my normal Hycote tins and it came out like this. Nothing fancy, I just wanted it to hurt people’s eyes

Can always get connector leads or solder on a connector to match your battery.

Thanks. I’ve done that few time when I converted stuff to Deans connectors. Also I like my transmitter and I’d rather use that. Right then into the shed, and let’s see what we’ve got.

A related question from us.

We had planned to use the receiver from son’s busted FTX surge. However the Rx is built into the FTX ESC and fittings are not compatible with Tamiya.

What cheap receiver that will work with our FTX transmitter or eldest sons 2.4 drone transmitter?

For a Tamiya Lunch Box.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3425446609

Time to clean it up as it is looking a right state.

View post on imgur.com

View post on imgur.com

Just ordered a Rally 2CV, bearings, spare Charleston body (Sue likes the paintscheme) and a Sport Tuned motor……

I’ll need a servo and a transmitter, probably pick those up from Rossmod when they reopen….

….along with a Monster Beetle…..damn.

@RustySpanner 😂

Look forward to seeing them built up.

🙂
I do have a decent body for the Lunchie, I’ll post it (and the crawler) later.

The buggy is Tamiya metallic purple over (under?) silver, the Lunchie is metallic lime green over gold over primer. It looked lovely for at least five minutes.

2 bodies for the 2CV – a box art Charleston and something a bit like yours for the rally body – I’ll have to do some research. 😀

Do fancy a Monster or Blitzer Beetle at somepoint, although I might just go all in and buy a Sand Scorcher. That was the one that i nearly wet myself over in Beatties BITD.

@RustySpanner

Have been watching a husband and wife team on YouTube called RC kicks.

They’ve just done a Herbie monster beetle and a more traditional version. They’re stuff is great, good content too.

Look forward to your builds.👍

Thanks fella.

And also to everyone who’s contributed so far.
I’ve had loads of fun over the last couple of years. Onwards and Upwards, eh?

I love my Maverick Scout, but the nostalgia factor of Tamiya keeps drawing me back.
They really are lovely things to build and own.

Been down the golf again today, this time on one of the fairway green approaches. My word that’s a lovely driving surface.
Added a bit of toe out to help turn in. Didn’t want to go too far as apparently that hampers stability, but adjusted steering arms from 50mm to 48.5mm and it’s done the trick. Also fitted the Schumacher Cut Stagger in yellow compound. Had wanted the green but shop with all my other parts in stock only had the yellow and wasn’t paying twice for postage.
Changes have made a big improvement to initial turn in. Even on my drive the front is gripping a lot better under power. Still understeers slightly on full power but much better. On the short grass it was amazing. Still to see how they perform on dirt or gravel.

Change to 19t pinion has stopped excessive wheelspin or wheelies (depending on surface) without noticeably affecting acceleration as it’s easier to modulate. Extra top speed nice as well. 🙂

Stiffer spring kit arrived while we were out, but haven’t had a chance to drive it yet as rain came on. Fitted soft front and medium rear with no preload. Tabletop test feels like the car is definitely returning faster when compressed, hoping this helps the bounce on rough terrain. Not changed rear shock oil until I see how it runs.

I’ve been avoiding this thread as I thought it would end up being expensive! However a couple of friends and I have just purchased some buggys to mess about with. I’ve a Neo Fighter landing on Monday. I’m so looking forward to building it and ragging it about!

I’ve read that the springs are too weak in the rear shocks, so I’ve picked up a stronger set. I’ve also got a steel 17t pinion. It sounds like new front tyres might be needed?

Any tips you guys can offer on the build / painting and running?

Cheers

@clubby – nice!

I found the same thing with the toe out and think my numbers were the same as yours. I read it could affect straight line stability but it seems no different.

Might have to get some of those cut stagger tyres ordered – was gonna go for blue but should perhaps get something a bit softer.

I’m tempted to get the spring kit, some oil and re-build my shocks. I’m not sure I filled them that well and I fancy taking the damper rods out and giving them a polish; apparently the standard black coating is quite draggy and polishing them improves them a lot.

@neb

Build:
Get some JIS screwdrivers if you don’t have any or you’ll find the screws a pain to drive in.
Take your time building the shocks and have something ready to stand them up in while filling them.
I’ve found (and it sounds like clubby has too) that a bit of toe out helps the front turn in. Different tyres will also help. I’m yet to buy some.
I take it you got some bearings? If not, order some before you start the build rather than using the plastic bushes.

Painting.

Wash the body thoroughly before painting.
I used decorators frog tape to mask it.
Great the paint in a bowl of warm/hot water before spraying.
I made a ‘spray booth from some cut up cardboard boxes. Much better to do multiple thin costs than get too keen an stick on some runny thick layers.
If doing multiple colours, do the dark colours first and get lighter.

Running. Try not to smash it into immovable objects.