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

Update.

Part ordered! should have it in a day or so.

Rusty Spanner
Subscriber

🙂

Not going down that particular avenue of pain, expense and misery.

It’d start with a £60 Mustang and end with a lifesize Short Sunderland exploding over Rooley Lake.

What is it with us chaps that once we start on a hobby we tend to go all in?

I was thinking more of a 20 meter crater on Rooley moor with Pete saying “I think the servos are still working” 😉

Anyone interested in this at £120 (plus post) it’s fully built, fully working and with 2 of the higher power batteries as per first post on page etc.

It’s got 2 motors, 1 standard and 1 stupid fast.

My lad seems to have peaked with it, so little point in keeping it as it’s just taking up space.

^What is it?

In other news, We’re getting through front shocks for fun on the Mad Bull. The Tamiya red ones are dirt cheap but we are snapping them at the lower eyelet. Trying to get hold of some upgraded ones but supply is non existent. Bloody middle aged men and their lockdown hobbies!

Grasshopper, new one, not a 1980s.

It’s the performance pack version from Jadlam Models.

Along with a 530 (or 540 is it ?) motor from someone on here.

Bodyowrk has some battlescars… But functionally it’s 100%

Watch out for those little RC planes. They are pretty limited in the wind speed that can fly in. I got my Mustang and it was a few weeks before we had a calm enough evening. They are addictive fun though.

re 75mm shock – i had a in-stock notice from modelsport on the 1st july but theyve all sold! none till sept!

there are some from hong kong on ebay but you wont get them till mid august.

I’ve been running my madbull with a 2s lipo – it nearly wheelies haha! the motor gets a bit hot after 10mins though – i’m running on grass and offroad.

really good and you can monster truck through the rough better and do some crawling type challenges better. straightline control flat out is questionable though…

I’ve a new controller where you can reduce hte power delivery percentage so im going to swap the electrics over from my other car and try and reduce the top end power to try and preserve teh motor and extend run times without having to let the bugger cool down.

re 75mm shock – i had a in-stock notice from modelsport on the 1st july but theyve all sold! none till sept!

Are you snapping them too?

Ordered some Chinese eBay jobbies. If they are bobbins it hasn’t exactly cost a fortune.

Could I ask a couple of questions please…

Me and the daughter have finished the Lunchbox and had rag around the block number 1 session with no body shell! Is there a really simple online guide for centrering the servo? Deff right hand bias at the moment!

We were lucky to find a simpleton’s guide for the transmitter set up – would still be scatching our heads with the instructions provided!!

Secondly, I’m sure paint has been mentioned but there’s SO many pages now!! Are there good, cheaper spray paints available other than the Tamiya ones, as they’re silly spendy?

Thanks

Is there a really simple online guide for centrering the servo? Deff right hand bias at the moment!

Is there a “trim” adjuster on your radio handset? Mine has “ST-TRIM <>”. I just press and hold for a couple of seconds until it beeps, the press < or > until it centres.

Are you snapping them too?

nope. i was just lookign to upgrade but i ended up having to buy a load of panels for my VW bay so RC car upgrades are paused for welding/chassis upgrades on a real vehicle!!

are you jumping yours alot? are your lower eyelet bolts really tight? my shocks have quite alot of play at the lower eyelet.

I`m wondering if its possible to get the rear suspension to work under throttle? the rear seems to bind up totally bouncing all over hte place. my ancient sonic fighter has independant rear suspension and it tracks much better.

regarding controllers both mine have manual trim adjusters adjest the steering to make it go in a straight line. you might need to just fiddle with the dials to see what each does though as my modern controller only had japanese instructions and has about a zillion buttons!

Depending on timings I could be tempted for the meetup, assuming I’m invited. I’d only be spectating though, I don’t think my stock 90s-era Madcap with original NiCads is going to cut the mustard in 2020.

are you jumping yours alot?

Ah-hem. Maybe. They are not done up tightly, but lack a bushing that the ones on order appear to have. Cheap innit. If I can get a set of 4 delivered for £11 then they will cost about 10p each to make.

Depending on timings I could be tempted for the meetup

Don’t see why not. It is only me, my lad and Pete Spanners so far I think.

Ah, I’m not coming then. (-:

Yell when you’ve got a date / time fixed.

Gotta love a trier.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tamiya-Madcap-1989-Complete-With-Period-Radio-Gear-and-Spares-Supurb/114298876107

That looks mint! Not sure I’d want to spend a quarter of a thousand pounds on 31 year old plastic though.

This is a whole other level of skill!

So this is mine:

Tamiya Madcap (1989)

I also seemingly have a hitherto forgotten Super Sabre chassis. Pretty much identical to this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tamiya-super-sabre/333658290319

I’ve half a memory that it’s a 4×4 but only working as 2WD because the rear-to-front driveshaft is missing. (A ‘friend’ front-ended it hard enough to bend the shaft. But he’s dead now so that’ll learn him.)

Wow Cougar, killing him was a bit extreme, I’m pretty sure that could have been repaired, you should lay low, the Police may well be looking for you.

Supersabre driveshaft should be readily available – it’s the same as the Boomerang, which was rereleased in 2017. The hotshot one might also fit, tho you may need different outdrives. Nice Madcap! You can also get some spares for that should you need them, as Astute parts also fit…

You still can’t have it. (-:

Of course you’re invited. 🙂

This Sunday, I think?
Let us know where and what time Harry.

I think I’ll have two working cars, possibly three and maybe even four.

New car!😁

Is that cake?

Just finished a bit of a session sorting out the Lancia as it has taken a beating recently!

First task was to hoover out all the crap that had collected in the chassis and stick the ESC and receiver back down. They both had come loose during a skate park bash, that 3M tape isn’t unstickable!

With that done it was time to sort out the body wobble at the rear. Thought about using some alloy braces but that costs money so dug out some old craft wire and cross-braced the mounts:

The top wire is just to replace using two clips to locate the shell as they were rubbing through the paint.

Next job was to make something to stop the gravel and dirt flinging off the front wheels and collecting around the steering arms, stopping them moving. Seen a few people online putting foam in the traps but thought I’d try a different tactic: internal mudguards:

Hard to see as I used some thin clear plastic sheet but it should stop the vast majority of the dirt flinging off the front wheels from entering the steering arm area. Did the same to the rear too:

Won’t be as effective due to having to leave space to change the battery but should stop some dirt flinging in.

Talking of the battery, it rattles while in rough ground so I decided to pad out the chassis and the retaining arm with some purple foam sheet I had lying around:

Rather fetching I think!

Too late now to take it for a test spin so that will have to wait.

Got some oil damped shocks on the way too so that should help the handling. Then it’s decision time on the motor. The stock 520 is fine but a bit slow so considering options. Do I just fit a Sport Tuned one and maybe up the pinion size or go for something brushless? Don’t want to touch lipo batteries as I’m not happy with the fire risk if they’re stored or charged incorrectly. Thoughts?

And yes, I am aware the table is filthy, a lot of dust, gravel and leaves came out of the thing as I took it apart!

Well the mods work really well. Body doesn’t wobble and no more grit getting stuck in the steering arms!

Trouble is I have killed the motor. It was fine but then stated to slow down like the battery was running low then as it started to cut out on full throttle it jammed up. Thought it might be a stone stuck against the prop shaft but couldn’t see anything obvious. Got it home and removed the motor to find it jammed, ended up pulling out this:
upload photo to internet[/url]

The motor now runs but very lumpily, either it was going to die anyway or I overheated it doing dougnuts and the plastic bits compromising cooling. Will cut the plastic back a bit and buy a new motor.

Question is do I go for another standard 540 at £17, a Sport Tuned Tamiya at £28 or something else? Anyone have any recommendations?

3pm Sunday afternoon, weather permitting, for our Razz in The Park?

Philips Park Whitefield. Meet in the car park then head off down the hill?

Sounds good. 🙂

Car park over the motorway bridge?

@reluctantjumper , I’d go for a Sport Tuned. Not sure where you’re looking at prices but you can pick them up on eBay for £20. I’ve a Torque tuned which is nice but not too fast. They can be had for £12 ish. Both work with standard Tamiya ESC. Other cheap low turn motors available, but you’d need a different ESC.
I went brushless in my Racing Fighter but it couldn’t handle it so I swapped back. Thinking of maybe changing to Sport Tuned but not sure how much of a difference it would be.

The prices for a Sport Tuned are from from sellers I trust on eBay and Amazon, plenty of places that will take my cash and then put on back order though for less. I want to get it up and running quickly so don’t mind spending a few quid more to get one from a reputable seller who has one.

I’ve got the Tamiya TBLE-02 ESC so can fit most sensored brushless motors that are between 10.5 and 16.5T. It limits me to 25T or more for brushed. The chassis can easily handle a lot more power, especially once I’ve go some damped shocks on there, so just looking to not waste money putting a brushed motor on there only to jump up to brushless quickly afterwards. I wouldn’t think of brushless for your Racing Fighter or any other 2WD car as that would be a lot of power to control through them (but fun while trying!). From watching a few videos on the differences while mulling it over I think a sensored brushless would be the way to go as they seem to have good control at lower speeds plus a good top end. Plenty to think about so if anyone else has experience of something it would be appreciated.

I can see me making this Lancia into a should-have-been Group B power machine…

Philips Park Whitefield. Meet in the car park then head off down the hill?

I know precisely one landmark in Whitefield and it’s the Metrolink car park round the corner from Morrisons. Is it anywhere near there?

Google suggests Phillips Park Prestwich, is that the same thing? Where’s the car park of which you speak?

It’s too far for me to travel from Berks. Please post some pics.

TBH the tamiya motors are decent quality but nothing special, all the “tuned” stuff really just denotes the winds.

Happy memories of different windings/gauges of wire on slot car motors from over 40 years ago. Seem to recall Mura motors were good in those days. Raced on a 6 lane 150 foot wooden routed track at what was Reeds Paper Mills model engineering club.

After reading some of this thread it makes me want to get my little maverick ion working again after water messed up the electrics. The obvious thing to do would just get another cheap ready to run set but that seems wastefull as I already bought a new flysky gt2 transmitter with reciever and the car is basically quite new. Could someone who knows about rc cars perhaps talk me through what new parts to get to make it go again? What should I buy to make it all new motor and esc to run on 2 or 3s lipo?
For example would this

https://www.banggood.com/Racerstar-2435-Waterproof-Brushless-Sensorless-Motor-45004800KV-25A-ESC-For-116-118-RC-Car-p-1069989.html?rmmds=search&ID=518004&cur_warehouse=CN

fit in without access to special tools and knowledge and would I also need to buy some new motor output cog? Would the original servo plug in to the flysky reciever or would it need replacing too?

@reluctantjumper

I think I have a spare motor. Just standard mind but will get you going.

If it suits, PM me your address and I’ll send it off to you.👌

I realise this is a n00b question, and I could probably find the answer with a bit of digging on tamiyaclub or some other Googling, but if my ESC is overheating when powering a brushed motor, is that likely to be because the pinion is too small – or too big?

(this is on the Mad Bull mongrel with, AFAIK, an unknown upgraded motor)

I’m confused because I’m guessing the ESC is overheating because a high current is passing through it, but I don’t know whether the motor spinning up faster (with a small pinion i.e. a lower gear) would draw more current, or the motor having to work harder with a larger pinion and higher gear would draw more current. As a relative newbie to RC electronics I’d appreciate any advice you have.

FWIW I’m running the transmitter with the settings at 75% max power, which seems enough to keep the thing just about controllable – it will roll when turning hard at higher settings, but that may be because the shocks are pants. The main problem at the moment is that we can’t run it continuously for more than about 4 minutes at a time because the ESC shuts down. Of course, maybe I just need a cooling fan…

Google suggests Phillips Park Prestwich, is that the same thing? Where’s the car park of which you speak?

Park is in Prestwich, south of the motorway. Entrance is in Whitefield, north of the motorway.

Google Sedgley Park Rugby Club (M45 7DZ) and carry on for a further 100m. The park gates will be right in front of you. Follow the road over the bridge. The carpark is on the right as you go up the hill.

Car park over the motorway bridge?

Yis.

I’ll bring two cars, a spare battery and a hairy 12 year old.