R/C Cars

[serotta1972]

I've dusted off my R/C cars and was able to sell 2 of out 3 - a Tamiya Pajero and Mini Cooper.  What I have left is a Kyosho Ultima Type R buggy also from the late 90's.  I've been getting inquiries but no sale.  I was asked for a video to make sure it ran but at the moment it wasn't set up with the electronics.  This afternoon, I installed the electronics and gave it a quick run and decided to keep it.  I've actually been on the fence about keeping it but having to actually work on it and running it swayed me to keeping it. :)

 

 

 

[cteno4]

LOL! dangerous getting all the features together that end up selling yourself, let alone playing with it yourself!

 

enjoy, ok to keep one to have fun with!

 

jeff

[Davo Dentetsu]

Wish I got around to keeping my cars.  TT01s and a cheap and cheerful Quakewave.

Oh well, guess the Scanias will do for now...

[serotta1972]

Yeah, the Tamiya's went really quick.  The guy who bought them is a Tamiya collector and likes to tinker with older Tamiya's.  Mines were in really good shape and he got a great deal for 2 cars.  He said he had a Mini Cooper but sold it and regretted it, so now he's got another one.  When my train buying slows down, I will be looking into RC Semis. 

[tossedman]

Noah and I play with toy trucks in the summer. We've got some crawlers and a couple of go fast 4X4 trucks. Lots of fun. There's an RC park 10 minutes away with tracks and a scale crawler course.

[cteno4]

i must admit i still have my big 4x4 rc truck from grad school... friend bought it for me the first year of grad school and it became a hit toy in the lab when folks got bored! i use to make little nitrocellulose rockets (common lab material thats very flammable) that would shoot about 20 feet and made a 6 barrel launcher for the truck and made gun cotton fuse (hey just cotton string and a few simple chemicals...), light the fuse and drive it into a lab to attack someone. then became the requested fireworks for all lab event parties in the department. even had a nobel laureate (invited speaker by the grad student) drive it all over a table full of our finished dirty dishes after a grad student seminar dinner after he had a few too many glasses of wine. spinning out in melting ice cream had him rolling on the floor like a 10 year old! 

 

jeff

[tossedman]

Hope you had a fire extinguisher handy. Booze, flammable material and rockets. Sounds like fun!

[cteno4]

Ya know in 5 years of figuring out ways of blowing things up, shooting them off or burning stuff up (you should see the flash fire ball a 15' x 1' hunk of nitrocellulose makes when taped up floor to ceiling!) in grad school we never once had to break out a fire extinguisher! Guess I grew up with that little elf on my shoulder that usually whispered in my ear time to stop before things went really south. I had a lot of friends growing up that were a bit wild and got in trouble a lot and I tended to always know when it was time to exit stage left as things escalated and 10 min later some authority was coming in!

 

Our most wild was blowing up latex gloves to 5' dia with natural gas. They float well! Then a bit of fun cotton string fuse and nitrocellulose primer and you've got a great exploding barrage ballon at 500' up! Bout a 20' big poof fireball! Once had UFO reports after we set a few off late one night over the berkeley campus.

 

Late nights getting bored waiting for a gel to finish running and too many creative brains spells trouble. Luckily it was the 80s and pre 911, kids these days can't do what we use to do and get away with. When I talk withnthe grad students of my old grad schoo friends now profs, they are dumbfounded by these kinds of antics with all the security and video surveillance!

 

Jeff

[kvp]

I don't know if wired cars count but i had a wire operated 1:12 landrover when i was a kid. It was kind of slow, so deemed safe to use indoors and had lots of details, down to the netted down equipment on the roof, a front winch and working lights.

[serotta1972]

Got my Toyato painted by Kiha 66 and of course in my favorite color orange.  Toyato is not a typo, hehe.

 

 

[Kiha66]

Looks great Jr, let me know if you need anything else painted.

[nscalestation]

On 6/26/2017 at 8:19 PM, cteno4 said:

Ya know in 5 years of figuring out ways of blowing things up, shooting them off or burning stuff up (you should see the flash fire ball a 15' x 1' hunk of nitrocellulose makes when taped up floor to ceiling!) in grad school we never once had to break out a fire extinguisher! Guess I grew up with that little elf on my shoulder that usually whispered in my ear time to stop before things went really south. I had a lot of friends growing up that were a bit wild and got in trouble a lot and I tended to always know when it was time to exit stage left as things escalated and 10 min later some authority was coming in!

 

Our most wild was blowing up latex gloves to 5' dia with natural gas. They float well! Then a bit of fun cotton string fuse and nitrocellulose primer and you've got a great exploding barrage ballon at 500' up! Bout a 20' big poof fireball! Once had UFO reports after we set a few off late one night over the berkeley campus.

 

Late nights getting bored waiting for a gel to finish running and too many creative brains spells trouble. Luckily it was the 80s and pre 911, kids these days can't do what we use to do and get away with. When I talk withnthe grad students of my old grad schoo friends now profs, they are dumbfounded by these kinds of antics with all the security and video surveillance!

 

Jeff

 

Similar experiences.  One time with sending up rockets from Los Angeles river bed got LA Sheriff's helo flying around.  Growing up in an urban area even back then you could get into trouble if it made to much noise, or flew too high.

[serotta1972]

This is what 's been taking up my hobby time and train funds lately.  Building an RC car from youth, something I couldn't afford back in the 80's.  The Tamiya Sand Scorcher was re-released a couple of years ago targeting my age demographics.  80's technology but it sure does look cool and it's mostly metal construction.

 

[serotta1972]

@tossedman love your bug crawler! going to get another body and do a weathered beat up version and maybe even get the engine too.

[tossedman]

Go for it man! Love to see more Bugs. Please post pics. 

 

Cheers eh,

 

Todd

[Kamome]

@serotta1972that sand scorcher brings back a lot of memories and certainly not one I could afford back in the day. This was may old 2WD Saint Dragon from about 1993. Part of the Tamiya 100 which I dreamed of owning everything. 

 

It’s recently been re-released with a 4WD chassis but doesn’t quite have the same impact IMO.

 

I have been building my basic Tamiya TT-02 WRC Yaris. I was surprised how much plastic is being used for meshing and drivetrain parts these days. Obviously it was 30 years ago since my last RC outing but figured not much could’ve changed. I now see how many of these kit are low cost, but I guess a good way to introduce the hobby, and allows for upgrading at a later date. I have subsequently upgraded a good portion of the parts over the last few weeks including, prop shaft, dampers, drive shafts and steering mechanism to metal. Apparently making a rally RC from a TT-02 chassis is not the best way, although I think it should perform a lot better with the Hop Up parts added.  

 

This image illustrates how bulky the stock plastic parts are compared to the Universal shaft replacement. 

Anyway, has anyone had any experience with water slide decal printer paper or vinyl sticker printer paper? I bought a driver interior and no additional decals are included in the kit for drivers, as they appear to be in some (Lancia Delta)

I want to add some advertising decals to the drivers racing suits as they look a bit dull otherwise. I can overlook the retro 70s style helmets although I did find some 3D printing options for more modern looking ones. 

 

I’d also like to add some manufacturer decals to the tyres as I have a tarmac and gravel set of wheels. 

 

 

I’ve created a sheet of logos and printed on draft paper so  I could check sizing.

Edited March 7, 2023 by Kamome

[Sascha]

Didn't knew we had this topic. Just got me one this month. Its my first RC  car ever. Already got a light kit coming and new wheels. Its so much fun.

[serotta1972]

@Kamome good job on the interior painting, looks awesome! Yeah, detail like sponsor decals would definitely be a great addition.  I wished I would've stuck with just the vintage and or Tamiya stuff - there are so much RC offerings today.  @Sascha Drift cars are about the only thing I haven't touched.  There's actually 2 drift tracks within an hour me here in SF Bay Area.  Love watching those guys navigate the track and especially when they start doing it in tandem.  

 

Just got my little workstation set up mainly for tinkering with my RC cars and occasional train repair or adding on details.

[Kamome]

Thanks for the comments @serotta1972 The chrome on that truck looks great.

 

It’s a fun modelling distraction although it’s been a bit of a learning curve. I’ve kept with Tamiya initially as it’s readily available here in Japan plus the parts list of what fits what is well documented. I have found however, as Hop Up parts have been added, it has created other issues requiring further customisation. The TT-02 chassis has a number of settings for regular or shorter wheelbase as well as ride height. In the higher clearance setting, the steering mechanism doesn’t seem to work correctly and I have had to shave plastic off a number of pieces. There are some good tutorials on Youtube that have helped greatly so slightly annoying that a number of rally cars are shipping with this chassis rather than their purposed XV-01 or XV-02

 

As for drift, this seems to be where the hobby has gained popularity. I found a great shop called Super Rajikon near Fukuoka airport which had a very comprehensive range of product. Fukuoka is not a huge store but they also have stores in Akihabara, Omiya and Osaka Nihonbashi.  The latter appear to have a couple of circuits including a pretty well detailed drift course. 

 

 

A big percentage of their stock was customising parts for drift racers, mostly cosmetic but all looked very cool and certainly something I’d like to look into. 

They also stock a small selection of railway stuff but it didn’t look like a lot. Again looks like the Osaka shop may have a rental layout or at least a nice display as this seems to be the only other of their 4 shops to carry railway items. 

Edited March 13, 2023 by Kamome

[Sascha]

Got lights installed.

[Kamome]

I’ve been really interested to either adding, or create a second body with some night stage lighting. ABC hobby produce some polycarbonate kits for the added light housings. They look a little involved but i guess if you’re used to cutting and painting RC bodies, it should be steady going. 

 

http://www.abchobby.com/JP/page/acs/acsline.html

 

I’ve now added the homemade decals to the drivers and wheels. For the tyres, I painted some Microscale Micro Gloss to give the transfers a smooth base. Once decals added, I gave another couple of coats to seal them on. 
 

The gravel tyres look a little shiny, but hopefully after some dirt, they’ll tone down a bit. Not sure how durable these transfers will be long term but they certainly look the part. 

 

The transfer paper was easy to use but the printer didn’t like it in a few spots, even setting up to print on shiny photo paper etc.. it still gave a few duds. Thankfully I made way too many to have plenty of spares. There are a few spots where the white transfer paper wouldn’t sit down on an uneven surface. Even after a few coats of Micro-sol, there are a few rough edges when you look really close up. I guess the result really depends on the printer. The one I used, an 6 colour Epson, didn’t reproduce the blue of the Michelin logo brilliantly well. 

 

Just waiting for a dry day to spray the body now. Think we have rain for the next 6 days. 

 

I now have a dust cover for the chassis to reduce on maintenance but not 100% sure if this will fit without modification with the drivers in. Tamiya sort of over engineered the top to create a sort of asymmetrical buggy design body shell. 

 

Edited May 10, 2023 by Kamome

[Kamome]

Well I got the Yaris finished.

 

Had a real issue with one can of Tamiya Polycarbonate paint. Searching online it seems that anything involving its proper mixing (shaking the can effectively ) application (not too thick)  and ability to off gas properly can really affect your ability to get a good finish. The first 2 coats went on nice and smooth but the final coat created some issues as i tried to go over some areas difficult to get paint into. Perhaps it was going on too thick, perhaps it was too humid, perhaps a dodgy can, or a combination.

 

 

This was definitely always intended as a runner rather than a shelf queen so the majority of paint issues are now covered with stickers. 

Talking of stickers, although 150 of them, they actually went on very well. My only gripe is those around the door sills, made up of 4 on each side. With all those gaps to line up and so close to the ground, I predict they’ll be the first to lift. 

I gave it some testing on the tarmac and it performed very well. I unfortunately lost one of the tyre decals as predicted, through the tyres deforming and gripping on the turns. It’s not the end of the world and maybe something to add just for a show piece. 

 

I then gave it some testing on the dirt and gravel.

 

This was awesome fun but lead to a total strip down, clean and reassembly. I don’t think the TT-02 is really geared for the dirt. 

 

The dust cover was also reasonably useless.

 

So i will need to keep this chassis as a road runner I think. Might consider an XV-01 or XV-02 in the distant future as I really enjoyed the running. Just took a lot to get it maintained and one of the diff bearings was full of grit. 

 

[Kamome]

My next rally project has arrived courtesy of Super Rajikon. Came next day via Kuroneko Yamato so might order some train stuff from them in future as their prices also competitive. This was cheaper than other stores and Amazon although you pay relevant shipping for the size. Seems only their Osaka and Hakata stores carry railway product, although their railway offering was very limited and only N scale. Osaka looks to have a much bigger selection including HO scale as well as a rental layout.  

 

Thought I’d travel back to 1983 and build the Lancia Rally or more recently known as the 037 from Group B cars. This is the car that went up against the mighty Audi Quattro. Watched an interesting documentary on this and the, then driver Walter Röhrl, wasn’t interested in winning the championship as he didn’t want any fame.

 

Definitely designated as a road car, or possible “shelf queen” depending on how well it turns out. I intended to buy a lighting kit and extra LEDs to add to those big night stage lights. Looks like all lighting have proper light buckets rather than sticker details. 

 

Anyway lots of unique ideas from Lancia, tyre changes mid stage , buying rock salt for the icy stages in Monte Carlo and even not showing up for the Sweden rally as they knew their car wasn’t good on snow and ice compared to the 4WD of the quattro. 

 

Definitely an iconic car before the terror and tragedy of the Delta S4 and the eventual end of group B. 

 

The kit looks awesome.

 

-Iconic Martini livery

-Hard body

-Interior driver and co-driver with included sponsor stickers

-Tyre foam inserts. 

-Short wheel base TA-02 chassis. 

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by Kamome

[Kamome]

Had this spare Lancer Evo 7 body and finally got around to painting it. The body is from a 2001 kit on a TB-01 chassis but a local shop were keen to get rid of it and as I mentioned I was into rally cars, it took an embarrassingly small amount of persuasion for me to buy this body set. 
 

It’s certainly not the most detailed by todays standards so while I was being forced to go shopping near Fukuoka airport, there was opportunity to pop into Super Rajikon and find some appropriate, although not correct wheels as well as an ABC hobby drift car upgrade set with mufflers and wipers. 
 

I also managed to find another driver interior so that’s the next job. The body fits on the TT-02 chassis although I am now think getting a street type chassis as the TT-02 has been raised up for dirt and having something for set up for tarmac might be better for this. 

Edited May 6, 2023 by Kamome

[katoftw]

I love that 90s ralli-art look.

 

One lazy weekend car I could have in my garage is a Evo 6.5 Tommy Mac edition.