someguynamedross.com
Various ramblings - Electronics, radio, old computers, cars & other junk...
Remote Control Cars
A relatively new hobby for me, though I did have "toy shop" R/C cars as a kid.
Tamiya 1/10th Scale M03 chasis
Tamiya 1/10th scale, 13.5 turn "EZ-RUN" brushless, M03 chassis
I couldn't help myself, when I saw the price for one of these kits I had to have one.
I've always had a soft spot for old minis, and the 1/10 versions look awesome.
This one has been hopped up a bit (thanks eBay!!), alloy knuckles on all corners and ball bearings all round.
Also got some oil shocks for it (to replace the friction dampers the model came with) and some wanky carbon fibre shock mount strengtheners that stiffen up the flimsy shock towers.
Painting this shell was annoying as no mask is provided to cover the roof and guards, but i'm happy with the way it turned out.
I left the lights clear in case I want to put LED's in it in the future.
I didn't take any pics while putting this one together, but here are some pictures of the finished car.
Swing Arm Slop Fix show/hide
Not sure if it's designed this way to make up for flashing or bad moulds, but the tolerences on the Tamiya cars (especially in the suspension and steering areas) are quite poor.
With this kit, I could wiggle the front wheels around a good 3mm from all the slop.
Most of that is caused by the loose fitting pins that tie the swings arms to the chasis.
I fixed this by putting some thin washers in between the various pivot points.
On the M03 the swing arms screw together, if you back those screws out a fraction, you can slide a washer between the chasis and the arm.
Tighten the swign arm screws back up untill the arms bind, then back them out slightly so they swing without interference.
Makes a big difference to the slop.
I've read in many places that the slop doesn't do any harm, but it couldn't hurt to minimise it where possible.
Universal Fix show/hide
While driving the car around, it stopped dead in its tracks and would only spin on the spot.
At first I thought I had somehow wrecked the differential or gotten a stone stuck somwhere, but while looking for an obstruction I noticed that the small pin that the universal pivots on had slipped out of place and wedged itself into the knuckle (luckily not flung out never to be seen again).
The pin is secured by a grub screw, but over time it seems to have backed out.
While trying to think of a way to retain the pin if the screw did back out again, my Dad sugested I put a small band of heatshrink around the universal.
Perfect! I just have to make sure I check the universal for slop, and ill know it's time to tighten the grub screw again.
Tamiya 1/10th Scale Electric R/C
Tamiya 1/10th scale, 540 "Sport Tuned" motor, TT-01D chassis
My first electric car. Compared to the nitro car, it's not as powerful, but it so much easier to run.
No tuning engines and no trouble starting thanks to bad glow plugs or flat glow drivers.
They are also much cleaner, nitro cars get covered in castor oil from the exhaust, dust and dirt sticks to it and makes a greasy sludge.
Of course, half the fun of nitro engines is the smoke and sound made when driving them, but for the moment I think i'll stick with electric cars.
This car was also built from a kit, and like the Kyosho you still need to supply radio gear, a servo for steering and a battery.
You also need to paint the shell and apply stickers as part of the build prcoess.
The "drift spec" TT-01D cars don't differ much from the standard touring models, but they do have ball bearings instead of plastc bushes, slightly lower suspension with oil filled dampers and hard rubber "drift" tyres.
It's great fun to (try...) drift the car, and unlike the real thing you can shrug it off when you slam the thing into the gutter.
New whees/tyres show/hide
These harder tyres make it much easier to drift (plastic instead of hard rubber). One side effect is it slows the car down in a straight line, but it is a good trade off and very helpful when learning how to drift.
Kyosho 1/10th Scale Nitro R/C
Kyosho 1/10th scale, 2.5cc nitro engine - First Nitro R/C car
My first "real" R/C car, this thing is crazy quick! It has a centrigal gearbox with 2 gears, fast and faster, and it is more than capable of hitting 40-50km/hr...
Nitro cars are a bit more expensive than electrics, but they are also a bit more fun to drive.
Nitro cars are the winner as far as bang for your buck, making an electric car go as quick as a stock nitro can be expensive.
However if you plough these things into a wall/parked car/gutter, nitro and electric alike, your wallet is in for a world of hurt.
The companies that make these things must live off the spare part sales...
This model is powered by a 2.5cc (.15 cubic inch) nitro engine, which runs on a blend of nitro methylene, metholated spirits and castor oil (a bit like 2 stroke engines)
Nothing quite like hearing a tiny car screaming torwards you making as much noise as this thing does, engine spinning at 20-30,000 RPM.
It sounds like the love child of a modern Formula one and a motorbike. Crying. Very loudly...
Luckily it is 4WD, otherwise it would impossible to drive without oversteering, but even with 4wd it still manages to do doughnuts and spin the wheels into corners.
It weighs about 2KG's, and the engine puts out somwhere around 400-500watts of power (over half of one horsepower).
Quite an impressive power to weight ratio...
Stripped first gear show/hide
These cars tend to rattle them selves to bits. In this case the engine mount screws backed out a bit, allowing it to move around. This caused the gears not to mesh properly, and consequently grind most of the teeth off first gear. It made a lovely whizzing noise for a few seconds, and then the car wouldn't move. Took the hobby shop 2 weeks to get the part in, and I had to buy it in an expensive pack along with various other parts as the gear is not sold seperately...
