Doctor, Doctor, I Overheated An LRP X11
I took the end off of the X11 that’s been getting a bit hot lately.
All the solder has fallen off the bottom plate stator winding joints!
And, the rotor understandably has not much magneticism left either.
I’ve knackered that then.
Written by simon.
Power Tools For RC Use
I recently bought a Power Tool for working on RC cars, cos I was getting a bit tired of undoing a million and one screws all the time.
Black & Decker AS36LN
I bought a Black & Decker 3.6V Lithium-Ion Cordless Screwdriver
The features I looked for was small, pistol grip, and torque adjustment. I especially needed to get it to low torque so as to not strip out plastic parts. The B&D even has a natty little light.
(You can even use it for putting flat pack wardrobes together… and bookshelves. But, remember to charge it before you take it racing…)
The tools I bought to use with it were the EDS Power Tool Tips Set, with the 2.0mm, 2.5mm hex drivers, and a couple of Philips drivers that I’ll use on all those Tamiya cross head screws.
I got them from MK Racing, but EDS are imported via Schumacher (part no ED500901) so your LHS should be able to get them.
Also, HUDY do a Set of Power Tool Tips, part no 190070.
Or, you can buy tools in singles rather than a set from either EDS or HUDY.
So if you are feeling lazy, use the power…
Written by simon.
Tamiya 511 / 501X / DB01 Wishbones Arm Breakage
Written by simon.
The award for the most ridiculous purchase of 2009
Simon is keeping quiet about this so I have to stick my head into the firing line.
Si [well, it was Gray, achully - s.] stripped his Kyosho RB5 rear hubs at PDA a few weeks ago and in true rcLazy style we opted to purchase some strip proof alloy items rather than throw good money after bad and replace with plastic fantastic items.
Cue an email to RC Champ, who incidentally are the politest and most helpful Japanese RC Shop ever. Possibly in the world.
A price for the goods and postage was agreed, some Yen changed hands and all was good. And then I actually checked the exchange rate.
Ouch! £61 for 4 alloy rear hubs! Never mind no more stripped hubs, should arrive in time for Xmas fun at PDA. Woop!
Err no what actually happened was a delay at Coventry whilst our tiny package of toy RC parts was presented to the almighty commissioner of Her Majestys Revenue and Customs for 4 days.
Then on Christmas Eve eve the letter arrived. Curses! Caught out for the princely sum of £8 VAT and more importantly a simply splendid charge from Parcelfarce of £13 for administration.
So after a return journey up the M27 in rain of biblical proportions, the new shinies were in my grasp.
Dutifully texted Si the glorious image of shiny blue hop ups. He was very excited. But I did then have to tell him that his two shiny hubs had cost £41.
I know we have to pay the taxes etc and i’m really not moaning about that. It’s just one of those D’oh! moments when you realise you could have bought 10 plastic hubs for the same cost and that Parcelfarce are ripping you off for administration charges.
Anyone beat that?
Right, i’m off to order a Sand Scorcher…
Written by mark.
Building a Tamiya TRF416 Worlds Edition
After a year or so of running used Tamiya’s, I decided it was time I splashed out and got myself a new car. There was only one choice really, the Tamiya TRF416 Worlds Edition.
It’s clearly a very quick chassis and it comes with pretty much all the bits to be very competitive right out of the box.
Finding one in stock was a very different matter. Tamiya stopped production for a while, but it transpired they did another batch, so I found one of the new batch online. Ordered and it was with me a few days later.
It went together like a dream. Being a man, and very familiar with Tamiya builds I didn’t really follow the manual, well, I did, but not the exact order of the manual.
I added JAAD ceramic balls and thrust to the diff, Tamiya don’t seem to do a ceramic option, and I wouldn’t run steel balls since experiencing ceramic, and they’re not that expensive.
I also added low friction ‘V’ parts top and bottom on the dampers, with fluorine shock shafts. Mainly because I had them in the spares box, so it made sense to add them from the beginning.
The only awkward bit was the rear wishbones, they seemed a bit fat, I realise now I should have trimmed them a little, but instead I removed a 0.5mm spacer, and shimmed the gap back up. I’m sure after some use the 0.5mm will go back in there happily.
All the standard screws were used, they’re steel, but we’re underweight these days anyway, so no worries there. And some blue Tamiya threadlock was used with all screws that go into alloy, that’s pretty much all of them as there’s sooo much blue on this car. The weak threadlock prevents the screws loosening, but enables them to be easily removed, it just fills the gaps in the threads a bit.
Some photos are below of the build. I forgot to take photos as I was nearing the end, but some photos is better than none I figure!
First time out I ran it with electronics from my old car, for a direct comparison ‘chassis only’ upgrade. And I knocked 3 seconds off my personal best at Bashley, including a roll that cost me another 3 seconds. It really is quick then!
I was staggered how much more corner speed it carried, I built it pretty much with kit setup (a few very slight changes), and the grip was amazing, it turned in, carried the speed, and you could get back on the throtttlw very early. ’Glorious’ was how I described it on the night, whilst grinning like a Cheshire cat.
If I gave up racing now, I would still say it was worth every penny [cent]!
The final pictures show it with the Team Wave RB50 that was chosen to go in this car, a ‘generation 3′ speedo, with timing advance and ‘full-throttle turbo’ functionality at a bargain price. I look forward to fiddling with all the settings.
I think it’s an ideal speedo to squeeze more power out of the stock motors I like to race, whilst still being able to run 10.5 and mod motors should I desire.
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- Shiny Shrinkwrap
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- Lovely Label
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- Bags o’ Fun
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- Picture Book
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- Hang the Superglue
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- Blue is Best
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- One Down…
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- Motoring On
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- Note the Lengths
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- Spool Included
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- Added Ceramics
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- Not Difficult
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- Driven by Belts
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- Note Missing Screws
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- Rear View
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- Front View
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- Electrics Fitted
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- Race Ready
