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

Well it’s rather rapid! Pretty easy to wheelie it and it lives to slide around on the power. Doesn’t like lifting off mid corner though as it tends to want to roll, a reapplication of power sorts it out and then it drifts nicely. Much more fun on grass although the electronic brake is vicious so it tries to forward flip if you’re not careful. Completely different drive compared to a Tamiya, a decent purchase I’d say. Needs a decent field to play in though and let it stretch it’s legs.

Oh and don’t mess about with it in the kitchen while your stood close it hurts 😉

I now have a few dougnut marks to clear off the laminate… 😁

What were you saying about this thread costing us lots of money? Ooopps…

Timmys That is a very nice kit, from memory they are a fantastic build and super nice buggy to run.

My brother bought one of them (avanti) of his mates when we were at school (early 90’s). He never got it running – reasons i don’t remember. It sat on his shelf for many years.

So go on:-

When is that kit from (does it say 2011 on the box)?

How much?

Well it’s the 2011 re-release, but don’t know when it was bought as stock would have probably been around for a while.

I paid £500, but that included the extra hop-up steering parts. I had been tracking prices on eBay for a while and they had been going for nearer £700, so jumped on this Buy It Now. It turned out there was a reason the price had dropped suddenly…

…they are doing a re-release of the 2011 re-release later in the yeah :doh!:
https://www.modelsport.co.uk/tamiya-avante-2011/rc-car-products/38927

But the price I paid still looks fair based on that UK price – and I have it in my hands now 🙂

oh my! that avante looks ace

That’s lovely, but what is it with Tamiya and terribly lame slogans on the rear wing?

That’s lovely, but what is it with Tamiya and terribly lame slogans on the rear wing?

I’ve always assumed it’s just an Engrish thing.

Not Engrish as they’re a Japanese company so not bad translations, just some sort of weird fascination with english words that make them snappy – see all the weird Japanese import car names – Mazda Bongo and loads more here https://autowise.com/nissan-homy-super-long-and-12-other-weird-japanese-car-names/

As for that Avante up there – I just thought all these kits were just faster / slower / more detailed but (that’s my Mad Bull up there) it’s like Duplo vs Technic. That thing looks ace!!

However glad I bought the Mad Bull as the primary driver is 5 years old. Thank the lord amen for a huge redgra all weather pitch down the road…

However glad I bought the Mad Bull as the primary driver is 5 years old. Thank the lord amen for a huge redgra all weather pitch down the road…

I’m at the stage of judging when my almost 4 year old (well, me) can be justified in running a Mad Bull. When did they get the feel for it to make it worth it?

Tempted to stick a crawler motor in to begin with…

Can you use a paperclip through a small drilled hole in the controller throttle that stops it being pulled all the way back? Works well for Scalextric. Instant swap out when you want it to go faster.

Well, let my 3 year old had a go at the Unimog the other day who managed to roll it down a steep hill. Resulted in a snapped exhaust snorkel. Tried gluing it but glue doesn’t seem to want to stick to the rubber / plastic like material. Tried super glue / contact adhesive which did not work at all. Now have araldite which just about hold it on, but not well enough to withstand another crash. Only choice is to buy a spare.

It seems like it is really difficult to get hold of any Tamiya spares at the moment, suppliers are quoting 2-3 months lead time.

Well, when I bought it, I couldn’t decide if I wanted the 406:

or 425:

I ended up with a 425 and when I was searching, a 406 shell came up on ebay so I thought why not. It did come all the way from NI and my heart sunk when I saw the box:

Luckily turns out to be OK and now have my work cut out:

Not very good at doing shells but had some practice on a cheap Phatbody shell for my mini 8ight t and learnt a few lessons:

At the moment, quite tempted to sell the mini 8ight t. Although it is ridiculously fast and sunk a whole load of money to make it as reliable as it is now, it just doesn’t have the same sense of occasion as when I take out a Tamiya (where I started about 25 years ago). Saw reluntantjumper’s Lancia Delta and seriously considering buying one to replace the mini 8ight t.

Saw reluntantjumper’s Lancia Delta and seriously considering buying one

I’m doing my best to avoid his Lancia, I’d love one of those 🙂

Anyway, had a quick Google to see if Tamiya had been inspired by the real thing for their naff rear wing slogans, and came across this link with some great photos from the 70s:

https://www.taringa.net/+tautos/algunos-buggies-antiguos_raw5o

Enjoy!

I’m doing my best to avoid his Lancia, I’d love one of those 🙂

It’s difficult for me, I went into the local model shop the other day to get some paint for the new shell and they have one there. It’s a bit more expensive than online but reasonable enough for me to not worry about the difference.

Trying to avoid the shop now as I know I will probably have bought it the next time I go in. I have been reading up on the chassis as well. Knowing me, by the time I finish building it, it will be brushless, on Lipo and an upgraded drivetrain / suspension to suit.

I’m at the stage of judging when my almost 4 year old (well, me) can be justified in running a Mad Bull. When did they get the feel for it to make it worth it?

Back in the day, I set my 4 year old brother up with some of my old kit, (and restricted the throttle.) We set up tracks in the back garden.

A 4 year olds small hand size makes control difficult with most transmitters. Some can be modified, e.g sticks shortened as I did. A neck strap is essential to avoid dropping the transmitter.

The other issue with 4 year olds and driving rc is they are too short. If you watch any rc race, the drivers stand on a tall rostrum because you need to be looking downwards on the car to judge its position. As your vision gets closer to parallel with the ground you lose perspective.

Smaller kids need boxes to stand on to compensate for their lack of height.

If there were no distractions and if he was heavily incentivised with “cow-sheep-pigs”, (Percy Pig sweets) my 4 year old brother after a few weeks of practice could drive a lap or 2 around our garden circuit at slow speed in a stop start fashion without crashing.

This was better than my middle aged parents could manage.

Unfortunately my brother thought that holding full throttle as much as possible and crashing almost every corner was much more fun than driving in accordance with his ability.

He viewed me as a hypocrite, because he regularly saw me racing, knew I drove fast, knew I sometimes crashed, and knew i sometimes broke things. He would stamp his feet and accuse me of being a “meanie” for telling him to slow down.

It is very difficult to get young children to appreciate the benefits of slowing down or braking. Excessive damage to the car is a given.

7 or 8 would be a better age to start driving rc.

9 or 10 will allow them to build a Tamiya kit with minimal assistance, and is probably the ideal age to start.

Well the new sensor cables arrived in the post today so plugged it into the Lancia and hoped that would solve the running issue. Nope, still refuses to get going unless I give it a push first. Have double-checked the connections, re-soldered the wires, reset the ESC and started fresh with the setup and it’s still the same. I’m thinking it’s either a duff position sensor or a compatibility issue between the motor and the ESC although over on the MSUK forum there’s people running the same setup with no issues so have asked over there if I’m missing a step.

Oh and seeing those Unimogs up there makes me want to buy a crawler too. No more purchases until I’ve got all 3 cars running again though!

Hmm.

Not an issue with the throttle EPA on the controller is it?
I think this is a ‘thing’ with brushless?

Can you reset the ESC to stock settings, make sure it’s in brushless mode and give it another go?

Stuff like this makes me annoyed that my local shop has closed it’s high street business and looks like it’s going online only. I could pop in for advice (and usually ended up buying something new anyway).

Been through all of that twice now and it made no difference at all. Will try again when I have time and patience to spare. Someone on the MSUK forum said that it can be hit-and-miss whether the combo works or not so it may be a case of getting a new ESC. Will have to ponder on it as it’s annoying that it runs fine when it gets going but won’t move off from rest unless it’s pushed!

Got fed up waiting for the new ESC for the Lancia to arrive so took the Bugsta out for a thrash round the local MX track hidden in some woods. So much fun sending it off all the little kickers! Only problem was I had to stop every minute or so and let the dust clear, no sodding wind to push it away. Still a totally different drive to the Tamiya stuff, much more of a hooligan. The downside is that the battery only lasts about 15 minutes, will have to order a spare or two.

Obligatory photo:

The Tamiya Ship must have finally arrived!

New body shell and driver have turned up for my Mad Bull, but I changed my mind about what I was going to do with them back in June.

Ho-Hum. Good to have spares though eh?

Does seem to suddenly be a load of Tamiya stuff available now, good for some!

Took the Bugsta out again this afternoon and it ran fine for a bit but then made that horrible sound of a stripped gear. Investigations found a stripped spur gear:

Photo doesn’t really show it that well but in the back of the chassis you can see the plastic remains of the tops of the teeth! Have ordered a metal set of spur and pinions for it as an upgrade.

Shouldn’t need a metal spur. Your Stripped gear has almost certainly been caused by the mesh between the pinion and spur being set too loose. You can see from the photo that only the tips of the gear teeth have gone.

When meshed correctly there should only be a very small amount of backlash between the gears.

The other possibility would be if you have changed the pinion and tried combining 48 dp (imperial pitch) gears as used by most rc manufacturers, with the similar but not quite identical 0.6 moduli (metric pitch) gears as used by Tamiya and a few other Asian manufacturers..

The motor mount looks quite rigid si you can probably rule out chassis flex as a cause.

Both pinion and spur gear are the originals and a known weak spot on the Bugsta when run brushless. It was a matter of when not if! Plus I want it to be reliable so anything that breaks gets upgraded, it’s a basher after all.

Well, unfortunately, when I opened the Unimog shell package, turn out there is a bit of damage:

Decided get it build up anyway. My thought being it is usable and a shame to put it in the bin. The Ebay seller is opening up a claim with Hermes, if I get a partial refund, great, if not, it’s just another first world problem that doesn’t really matter.

Doesn’t look too bad once painted:

Really taking my time with this one. Now that I am back at work full time and the work starting to snow ball. As I predicted, when I went back to the local hobby shop to get some more paint, I did buy the Lancia Delta. Well, I was going to buy to TT-02 one but they just sold it the day before. They then made me an offer that I can’t refuse on the XV-01 chassis one that they have in (very slightly cheaper than anywhere else online) and this is now in my house:

Not going to make a start till I finish the Unimog shell. Have the paint, already have the electrics ordered and have my mouse hovering over some essential hop-ups. Going at this rate, I don’t think it will be running till Christmas. Still quite excited though.

Yay! Another Lancia to compare to. The XV01 chassis is meant to be a fair bit better than the TT02 for a rally car, wasn’t available anywhere when I got mine. Now I’ve got the Bugsta for ragging around fields the Lancia will be turned into a tarmac spec car like I originally planned. Pity about the Unimog shell but then a Unimog without a dent or two is the same as a perfect Defender, doesn’t look right!

New gears have turned up for the Bugsta, fitting them in a bit once I’ve watched a video or two on how to do it and set up the slipper clutch.

Retrieved my Mardave Cobra from my mums house a couple of weeks ago. So far i have painted and fitted a new shell, changed the radio gear and servo to digital and bought a 3300mah battery for it.

It is running an old Mtronics ESC and 13 turn Team Orion Havoc motor.

LittleMissHall had a shot of driving it yesterday and she did no too bad at her first shot.

View post on imgur.com

Damn you Nicholas. For gods sake don’t post any pictures of that xv01. Been resisting one for months now, this might tip me over the edge.

Anyone wanting this Grasshopper with upgraded engine, 2 superior batteries, charger, digital controller, everything.
A few battle scars on the bodywork, but £100+post sees it as yours.

LittleMissHall had a shot of driving it yesterday and she did no too bad at her first shot.

I wish the 2 littleMissYius are as good as her. My 9 year old is OK driving the Unimog away but couldn’t get the idea of it coming back towards her. My 7 year old just driven it straight into the stream and didn’t seem too interested after that. I did have fun finding its way back up the bank under its own power though. My 3 year old son being too young just giving chase. All great fun.

I think I am another couple of weeks away from starting the XV01 build. Bought a cheap Hobbywing brushed ESC and plan to run the stock silver can on the 3S lipos that I have lying around. I heard it’s the cheapest way to get speed out of it and apparently they last OK as long as I am sensible. Aftering reading up on them, I think the only hop ups for now will be the metal suspension mounts, front CVD and the uprated drive belt.

I might want to increase the suspension travel at a later date but I think that will do for now as it is apparently not straight forward to do.

Fitted the new spur gear to the Bugsta and also found out why it had stripped: the slipper clutch was set way too strong! Have just spent a solid 2hrs adjusting the whole drivetrain and it now just about gets the front wheels airbourne on full throttle standing starts without spinning the wheels excessively, albeit on wet tarmac. Once it’s dry I’ll see how it is and can adjust it from there, gets full drive without slip after a metre or so which is what is meant to be right according to the online guides. Nothing in the manual about setting it up so will have a session experimenting.

Well the new ESC arrived for the Lancia, a Turnigy Trackstar Turbo that matches the motor. Took a bit of time to solder all the connections but it worked first time with no cogging, lovely and smooth. Seeing as it is running so well I decided to play around with the timing on the motor. On full advance it’s stupidly rapid!! Feels like twice the speed of the standard motor. The battery doesn’t last long though so will have to dial it back at some point. I’ve also got the tuning box for the ESC which can change the timing and various other stuff electronically so will play with that when I get the chance too. It’s got so much punch now I reckon it needs a bigger pinion to calm it down on acceleration and get more speed out of it too. Lots of fettling awaits!

Now that all the cars are running well again I’ve now got to resist getting a crawler…

… that’s going to be tough!

This thread has inspired me to dig out my old Tamiya Subaru  – the old 6 cell 7.2V NiCad battery pack is completely dead though.

I guess I need a new modern battery and a smart charger, but would I need a new speed controller too?

jeff – a new battery will be fine to get it up and running.

my 30yr old tamiya worked fine on the old mechanical speed controller. i did upgrade to a electronic speed controller but mainly to see if it improved battery life (it did a bit). i still run the old radio gear.

you can get a 7.2v nimh pack and charger pretty cheap now.

thanks for that – I’ll get one ordered!

Had a play with the tuning box on the Lancia this morning, made so much of a difference it’s unreal! Wound the timing back to 0 on the motor endcap and slowly moved it forward electronically instead, now runs much smoother, cooler and I now can basically ‘map’ the throttle response. It has two ways of advancing the timing: boost and turbo. Both have ways of controlling how quickly they ramp up and by how much, they also interact with each other slightly. You can run boost on full or turn it down and use turbo to increase the top-end, I’ve gone for using the boost settings to manage traction and soften the acceleration slightly with turbo taking over after about 3/4 full speed. Still a bit of playing to do to make it more linear (you can control how quickly each mode ramps up) and it’ll definitely need a bigger pinion at some point. The added bonus is the battery lasts nearly as long as it did with the standard silver can motor, considering the increase in power and speed that’s surprised me. The weak link now is the tyres, they blow off the rims every now and again, plus the steering arms are a bit stiff to turn so don’t always return to dead centre immediately. Some tarmac tyres are first on the list though!

Had a play with the tuning box on the Lancia this morning, made so much of a difference it’s unreal!

I have a Hobbywing / Turnigy sensorless setup in the mini 8ight-t. It’s certainly quick once it gets up to speed but it is horrible at low speed. Doesn’t seem to have any torque at all. Changing settings in the tuning box doesn’t seem to affect that. It’s pretty good once it gets going which is why it’s still in there. Maybe it’s time for me to try a sensored setup.

For the XV01 Lancia build, I think I’m going to start with standard silver can on 7.2 NiMH and see how that goes. Once I get used to it, probably put in a 2S and if that’s not enough, 3S. Brushless does sound more fun but I want to see what I can get out of a silver can first.

Well, the Unimog shell is done. The dent really didn’t matter afterall. In original 425 form (didn’t do a very good job at all back then):

In 406 form, it’s better than when I did the 425 but I didn’t put enough coats of base colour (I thought 4 would be enough) before putting the backing silver. Can see the silver coming through in a few areas but I think it’s OK:

I am now ready to start the XV01 build but only the servo and ESC has turned up:

Everything else is coming from Hong Kong so might be a while before they turn up. The only thing that would stop it from running is the RX. I suppose I can borrow the one from the Unimog to start off with though.

Went for a run with the local RC club, mainly speed runs but a bit of bashing towards the end too.

The Lancia is definitely quick for a TT02 on brushless, not the fastest but it does shift. The motor sounds like a supercharger at full speed too! Played with the tuning on it and I can now time the motor forward for speed runs and put back to 0 for gravel and normal running, the electronics taking care of the power curve. Did have one or two crashes with other cars that were out at the same time meaning it now has a few extra battle scars namely a slight crack below the rear spoiler and a chip out of one of the wheel rims. Being run over by a 1/8th trophy truck at 40-odd mph isn’t the best idea strangely! Need to get some tarmac/rallycross tyres for it and glue them on, it’s definitely best suited to harder surfaces and fine gravel rather than the rougher stuff.

Took the Bugsta too but that was no faster than the Lancia strangely, it’s also proving to be unreliable. The servo saver post lost it’s E pin at some point so the steering is a bit slack as the spring is now soft, easily modded so not a big deal. It also stripped another spur gear, that’s 3 in the 5 times I’ve run it. 2 original plastic one and one hardened one from RC Racing (thought that one was metal but it was just a stronger plastic). The unreliability is really taking away from the fun of using it sadly, will have to find a solution otherwise I’ll sell it and get something else.

ReluctantJumper.

As I said in my post a week ago. Your mesh looks wrong.

( Or there is something else wrong which is causing the mesh to change, e.g.excessive play in the layshaft bearing assembly or the motor moving due to missing washers or loose screws.)

The difference between cheap and expensive spur gears is that the cheap ones are always moulded whereas expensive ones may be machined. The cheap ones are less round. When you check the mesh you need to rotate the spur gear and check the backlash at both the tightest and loosest points. You should aim for the minimum backlash possible without the spur jamming at the tightest point.

Spur gear failures when the mesh is set correctly are an extremely rare occurance. In 10 years of racing most weekends I don’t remember ever stripping a spur gear.*

* Rc10gt spur gears don’t count as the chassis had a major design flaw.

When you check the mesh you need to rotate the spur gear and check the backlash at both the tightest and loosest points.

Did that every time, still stripped. There was an identical Bugsta at the local meet too and they have been having the same issues. I’ve checked and double-checked the alignment, checked for chassis flex and turned down the initial acceleration in the ESC software plus being soft on the throttle. Still strips the spur gear too easily. I’ve ordered a fresh clutch/spur assembly plus a few extra spare spur gears and clutch pads, one of the lads at the meet has also offered to help me set it up and be a second pair of eyes for anything wrong. If that doesn’t solve it I’ll probably use the last spares to rebuild it then move it on. Or strip it for parts and build a drag car.

I keep coming across this thread and mean to get photos of my old Kyosho Optima and two Tamiya Vehicles.

I don’t know what to do with them as they’re sitting gathering dust.