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

@mrl we have been running ours pretty much exclusively on grass so far and it’s been fine. Not sure I what you would class as long grass but this has been normal sort of park length type, so a fair way up the 75mm tall wheels but not to the point that they start to disappear.

That sounds good, should be perfect for what I need! Just need to convince myself I don’t need a 1/10!

I have a CC01 Landfreeder, with a few mods, but I am getting a twitchy finger about buying an SCX10 clone for a bit more trail/crawl action.

Bought a couple of FTX Outlaws for some lockdown entertainment for myself and my daughter. But now I have an urge for a touring/rally car, probably just for carpark use.

Is the Tamiya TT02 the go to car for this, any others to look at?

Feeling flush?

Vintage tamia

Boat update! Managed to get a bigger battery from the bay of E.

The teeny tiny black one is the old one, the blue is the new and improved 1300mah version. Although physically bigger it fits fine in the boat (Volantex SR48 brushed). When I ordered it I’d thought that the plugs might have been compatible – they weren’t. Bought a couple of robust looking connectors with trailing cables off of eBay and cut the existing connectors off and soldered / heatshrinked it all up. All tested and working fine. I then cut the connector off the old battery and soldered a new one in so we’ve got double the run time by swapping the battries. Happy days.

Don’t know if we’ll be able to do a water test at the weekend as it’s frozen solid up here in the North East but will post a vid when we do 🙂

https://www.amazon.co.uk/photos/share/TeGtTnoHzQN0Ypfig6kWzAOH6qRIWOXAs4Aa1LOBtS0/gallery/rM3DuhO2TH-PuEifiUdntQ

Feeling flush?

Vintage tamia

It went for £909!!

I had an original Rough Rider way back in the day, which I think I gave to my neighbour (also way back in the day) when I snapped the chassis.

Fast forward to about 6 years ago when I bought the re-released version. All of the bushes are now cartridge bearings and the servo operated speed controller is no more. The steering is still a bit iffy as it has the “Servo Saver.”

Very nearly as uncontrollable as the original (high centre of gravity, rear wheel drive, all of the weight at the back) but just as much fun as I remember from my childhood.

My WPL C14 kit arrived this morning so I’m looking forward to starting the build over the weekend.

For those interested I ordered it directly from WPL on 1st Feb and it was delivered via Royal Mail today. No additional fees so far so hopefully there won’t be any. It was well packaged too so I’d happily order from them again.

pah! not going well. the wheel fell off my absima amt at the skatepark yesterday (iffy jumping technique) snapped the wheel axle!

now i’ve just driven my classic sonic fighter flat out into the post for the swings in the garden – arrrgh. managed to rip out a bumper screw and cracked one site of teh chassis (its gone before so its the old 20yr repair that failed). I’m not how i’m gonnx fix the bumper mount that robustly! maybe i’ll fibreglass on the broken bit and a metal plate screwed over.

more bits arriving for teh Absima (loads available online at the moment luckily) and more fibreglass fixing for the sonic fighter!

that said – half teh fun is in the tinkering anyway! also glad it was me and not the kids that broke it haha!

Wow the pic of that Rough Rider brings back memories. I didn’t have one, but my pal Paul did. His Dad had built it up for him and we had brilliant 10 min dollops of fun back in 1980.

@VanHalen – yes, you’re right there’s lots of fun in the tinkering – or at least there has been for me. Got the Unimog batteries on charge ready for some more destruction testing in some icy and snowy conditions on this purpose built Unimog park. Assuming we can get there when there’s no scooters / bmxs / etc on it. Hopefully the -4 temps overnight keeps it clear of folk!

haha! posh cv driveshafts for teh absima have just turned up. along with some ball bearings for the wheels.

hopefully the posh driveshafts/wheel axle A)fit!! and B) will be stronger than the cheap dogbone cast wheel axle. they certainly feel heavier! less play too!

so friday eve will be spent tinkering (with a couple of beers on the side) rather than talking to teh wife – win win!

Some photos from RC adventures in the snow…

FTX Mini Outback 3.0 ordered, with what I hope to be the correct spare battery. Will I be hooked? Will I get bored? Will I spend all my money on RC now I have no more room for bikes??? Come on delivery service!!!

You can only speak as you find but I am so enjoying building the Delta (and it’s gonna take me aaaages yet), I’m already pondering what to get next.

Did I see someone mention buying a second-hand Schumacher Cat or similar cheap off of Ebay? Tempted by a restoration job…. 🙂

First hiccup – turnbuckles. 🙁 Both cup ends fit fine on one end, but neither fit well on the other, it’s like one end’s just slightly bigger than the other, but too big for the cup ends to comfortably fit. I’ve used oil and a cutting tap, but I’m not confident it’s up to spec, manual specifies a 24.5mm gap on the shaft between cup ends but mine are both around 25mm and turning them further doesn’t seem to be moving them on any further so, super-tight as they are, I think the threads are fubar’d. 🙁

So – any links to decent upgrade turnbuckles and cup ends for XV-01? 🙂

That £3 on stainless cap head screws was well spent (plus another £4.50 on a Wera 2mm hex driver). Looks much tidier than the Tamiya crosshead ones. On to bag o’ bits B tomorrow.

Wow the pic of that Rough Rider brings back memories. I didn’t have one, but my pal Paul did. His Dad had built it up for him and we had brilliant 10 min dollops of fun back in 1980.

The advances in battery technology over the last 40 years means that it will for half an hour per charge!

DSC_0105 by Chrispoffer Lawrence[/url], on Flickr
DSC_0040 by Chrispoffer Lawrence[/url], on Flickr

A Unimog enjoying life in the snow yesterday. The scoot park was predictably still covered in the thick white stuff so we had great fun in a car park – some deep snow and some compacted. Some ice too. It coped pretty well and the wheel problems are now a thing of the past now I’ve sorted out the hubs. Went through 2 batteries which is a record for us – usually something wheel related breaks!

Holiday Buggy got a run in the last of the slush today..

@Merak

ace 🙂

Merak, outstanding as usual. 🙂

Been working, so everything is in bits at the moment……

The 2CV bodies aren’t finished, but it’s now got a Hi-Torque servo saver, as has the Lunchie and TT02B.
If anyone knows the best way to fit a set of Tamiya 5400 shocks to the MO5, I’d love to know…..they’re built, but fit very poorly using the standard step screws. Ball ends? Eyelets? No idea which ones fit.

The Arrma was taken home in a bucket after an experiment with 3S, a parked car and a wet road…fixed now at a cost of less than a fiver, but will be saving the 3S experiments for better weather.

I got the LiPo fear and bought one of these…..

……probably overkill but better safe than sorry. Very impressed, seems like a quality bit of kit.

My mate has bought an Axial SCX10.II kit.
Damn, it’s ace. Spendy though.
Soooo, if anyone has an SCX10.II or TRX4 they fancy getting rid of, let me know, eh? 🙃

That Escort looks awesome. I’m sure if I tried to build one it would look rubbish, bodies are definitely not my forte.

Having said that, the 2CV Rally arrives on the 11th March, really looking forward to building it.

I also got the fear about LiPo, the son’s boat has 2 lithium batteries and the charging leads look shonky to say the least. I bought the bag below from Amazon look OK

@RustySpanner
There are SCX10 ii clone kits out there for a little over £200, RTR.

Thank you, I’ll have a look!

But is a clone kit easily replaceable or upgradeable?

I spent more than I’d planned to on my SCX10.2, and to be honest haven’t used it in a while, but that’s largely as I’ve been too busy. When I sort out my house move I’m back on it!

Never had the axial clones myself but supposedly they’re pretty much dimensionally interchangable with the real parts. TBH my RGT Outback was about 50% SCX10 by the time I replaced it so interchangability doesn’t require perfect equivalence, the things basically hang together by a few bolts and the suspension linkages.

It seems to be that just about anything that will fit an SCX10 will fit a clone, and vice versa. There are 100s of reviews on Youtube and head to head comparisons. Loads of aftermarket parts too – usually aimed at the SCX – but these will fit the clones too. A search for “SCX10” on Ebay returns over 34000 results.

Some of the clones seem to come from the same production lines as the Axials, according to Youtube/Forum reviews.

I am umming and ahhing regarding a purchase of a £200ish SCX clone.

Well in fairness, I did buy a cheap plastic interior from China and it fitted my SCX10 pretty well with a big of tinkering

I’ve been REALLY impressed at the stuff it will do. I’m sure a clone will be similar. The comparative torque/power to weight vs a full size crawler is unbelievable.

I was planning to enter a scale trailing comp but haven’t got around to it, plus Covid has impacted a lot of that

And tinkering is partly why you bought it in the first place…

@RustySpanner I replaced the step screws on my DT03 with ball ends and they fit much better. Step screws were really sloppy even when shimmed. No idea if it makes a practical difference on a cheap buggy, but may well do on a road car.

Just bought a bag of ball ends on eBay. Measure your step screws and order appropriate size.

THere’s a few things that you can’t really shortcut on- UJs for the steering, good metal gears in the gearbox, that have to be not just solid but well made. I went through a load of steering axles before just getting axial’s own UJs and haven’t broken one since.

But, you don’t even get those in all the axial kits so they’re sometimes an upgrade part even if you got the real thing. So I guess the question is how much do you like tinkering and how much do you hate breakages? My scaler usually only gets taken out for long drives so it’s got to be reliable which in the end mostly means sticking to mainstream parts and avoiding any unknown quantities. If I was doing short runs or tearing round the garden, I don’t mind breakages so much (That’s what my big ax10’s for)

Thanks folks!

Bit of a rethink on the scaler…..

Went out today with my mate Al, his SCX10.II and my Maverick Scout.
Swings and roundabouts, tbh. The Axial has more torque, a better turning circle, a higher speed and obviously looks better.
However, the Maverick was more capable on the seriously nadgy stuff, has more articulation and doesn’t get hung up – better clearance, longer shocks.

The Maverick should in theory have more torque with a 55t, as opposed to his 35t, but it didn’t work out like that.
He’s using a £35 Absima motor/ESC combo which is bob on. Low speed control and top speed about 8mph.
My stock Maverick has very little torque and tops out about 3mph.

Soooo, I’m going to get the Absima motor/esc, lower the battery tray and find a nicer body.
And save about £500 in the process. 🙂

So much fun this afternoon – really impressed by the Scout and the SCX10.II.

Love to all.

Pretty cool r/c rescue https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2746893135572083&id=146505212039213

I finished this tonight.

It’s a fantastic kit, I really enjoyed it.

Can anyone recommend a mini crawler?

I’ve no idea about them just want something for messing around with.😁

That escorts looks stunning, makes me want to get one. Would it be possible to fit Led’s in the front lights?

That Escort looks amazing! Far too nice to use.

I’ve decided that our local scoot park (pic further up the thread) is the perfect home for the Unimog. It’s all tarmac and the jumps aren’t too huge. Great fun.

Unimog pretending to be a spring lamb –

Uni by Chrispoffer Lawrence[/url], on Flickr

We also had my son’s Xmas boat out at the local pond again. It was about £50 to buy in December and it’s really quick – 30kmh according to the specs. It came with a diddy 850mah lipo battery which gives around 6 mins of flat out fun. I got a slightly bigger battery from eBay (1300mah) which gives it around 11 mins. We were slightly worried that the battery could die while it was in the middle of the pond with no way to retrieve it – but it actually has a ‘limp home’ mode as soon as the power drops so we didn’t need to roll up our trouser legs.

Boaty McBoatface –

Boat1 by Chrispoffer Lawrence[/url], on Flickr

@Merak the Axial SCX24 seems a very capable and fun mini-crawler, we’ve been having a good time indoors and out with ours. There’s a few different Youtube vids out there comparing it with the cheaper ones, several of which also look pretty good.

Having been frustrated by the much cheaper RC offroad toys I got my kid I decided to just get the safest bet I could afford this time and went with the Axial.

@milko9000

Thanks, that’s the clarification I was after.

I have seen a few reviews that endorse your findings. I agree that you get what you pay for. It seems the Axial is the winner.

@chrispoffer

Loving the Unimog, I’m going to have a go at one of these. The boat looks excellent!😁👌