PandaBear

[PandaBear]

Quote:

i heard a rumor that there is a charger around
(out or coming out) that will charge your average everyday put them in the bin when you have killed them batts, NiMHs & Alkos…. whatever
can anyone put any truth to this story or do we think its a big fat lie…

Yes it charges non-rechargeables (aka dry cells).
No it is not a rumour.
Yes there’s truth in the story.
No its not a big fat lie.

… becoz yes I got one.

But No, can’t tell you what it is – then we’d have to kill you. :p

[PandaBear]

You’re just a real STIRRER there, R! :p

[PandaBear]

Just out of pure curiousity, what’s the reason
behind Danpo leaving us?

Got bored with little toy cars, discovered GIRLS maybe? 👿

[PandaBear]

hey, has anyone got the SONY ERICSSON bluetooth car yet?

[PandaBear]

Just a thought boys…

might Mr Shypo be busy with Yr12 (6th form) exams
and all the usual end-of-yr trivialities?

[PandaBear]

… touche! :clown:

[PandaBear]

Its a bit too big to fit in a shirt pocket.
(even Ericsson GH388 is smaller)

Think I’d rather go buy a Gameboy.

[PandaBear]

Quote:

Pandabear- how easily are those 6-packs of crystal sets picked up, and do you have any idea of cost?? Love to get a set…

no, don’t think they sell them in SIX packs.
Have seen them individually (RX & TX pairs) only.

BH:-
Not sure if Oz LHS stock the Kyosho-branded xtals here, but
any-brand AM xtals are usually around the A$20/pr mark.

[PandaBear]

Quote:

…So PANDA you really notice the difference with NiMh’s? Might just have to pick up some of those with a charger…

yup!!

NiMH can definitely pump more current than alkalines, something
to do with lower internal resistance. And they’ll last longer too.
Alkalines hold their 1.5V for only a short while (higher spd) but
they soon drop to ~1.2V like the NiMH. NiMH’s voltage stay plateau’d
at 1.2V for most of the charge, only dips down when near dead.

I’m using ENERGIZER’s NiMH 750mAh AAAs, they’re great.
Lasts 20-30 mins per charge… before attention-span fails.

For general use, I just charge them in a slow/overnight charger
or just buy the Energizer one – its compact and good value too.

If you want a bit more speed (read higher voltage), same NiMH cells
can be quick-charged if you have a good peakcharger than can do NiMH.
Peak Charge them at 0.5A or 1A even, and if you use the batteries
as *soon* as they’ve peaked, you’ll get ~10% more speed & punch.
(But you MUST have a good NiMH-capable peak charger to do this.)

[PandaBear]

Quote:

So Mr Chang has a Base in HK too??? So you have an original Monkey Bike???

Haha, not *that* far… just north of Singapore.
I think HK is about 8000kms away last time I looked.

We went thru a few Z50s whilst kiddy… last one we’ve
still got stashed in the shed “at home”. Don’t know how
the models go but its one of the old-style ones with
no rear suspension in mint original condition.
(I learnt to look after my toys well!)

Visited a pal here in Melb, said he had a hard-tail until
recently too but sold it for $1000+. He’s still got a newer
soft-tail one… but he’s done some work to it, including
bolting in a 110cc from a postie-bike. Says its a simple
drop in job, just need to re-route the exhaust a little.

Quote:

I am also looking into going to the Melbourne GP next year. Am hooked on F1, love it, the GP is great value, 4 long days of racing and entertainment for $92.

Sounds cheap.
I thought the general pass was already $400 just by itself??

Me, I’ll stick to the TV… 🙂

[PandaBear]

Quote:

…BE AWARE that the channel / crystal set you get with your Readyset is NOT choosable…you will get any channel between 1-12:)

Not quite that… if you buy an entire *carton* (6pcs) of MiniZ,
Kyosho will supply ONE (2,4,6,8,10,12) of each freq in that carton.

But when buying one off the shelf, it would make sense to check
the freq of the thing before you leave unless you really don’t
care what freq it is on.

They are all on 27MHz; xtal change is easy but the car does
need “low profile” xtals. Most of mine (old, standard type)
are “high” and they protrude dangerously out too much at
the bottom.

Have yet to see any factory-supplied freqs on ‘odd’ numbers (splits)
but I have seen Kyosho selling spare MiniZ xtals like that.

[PandaBear]

Quote:

oh ok, what upgrades are necessary for enjoyment, and what sort of maintenance needs to be done.

If you’re only using it indoors, the stock motor is plenty fast
enough for just mucking around. Put in full bearings and get some
good *branded* NiMH batteries (alkalines can’t push the current)
and that’s really all that you need.

For most homes of usual size, its plenty fast indoors.

Its only when you start racing that you want to keep
improving the grip, handling, power etc etc etc… :smiley16:

[PandaBear]

There’s heaps of other places *cheaper* than US
too, if you don’t bother factor in shipping. blackeye:

[PandaBear]

Quote:

Im not coming till early next year

… we’ll be expecting yer call! :p

Quote:

Don’t get me all worked up and then show me a 50cc MonkeyBike!

No fear… if ya wanna check out my 49.9cc Honda MiniTrail
(aka Z50 ‘Monkey’) and the whole *fleet* of wierd toys,
you’ll have to fly north a bit further ~ approx 6000kms… 🙂

[PandaBear]

Underlying theory: “Opposite (poles) attract” 🙂

[PandaBear]

Trash mentioned “The electro magnet attacts or repulses it steering the car” (in conjuction with a fixed permanent magnet attached to the steering), but I think he’s jumped one step too far – therein the confusion.

BCG technology only uses ‘attract’, doesn’t bother with ‘repulse’. ie you’ve got 2 coils for L & R and only one is turned on when you steer. The other one isn’t powered to reverse polarity to push the magnet away.

[PandaBear]

Quote:

grandcell rechargable

They work just like normal alkalines, but you can top them
up in the (special) charger. But they don t like deep cycling;
if you discharge them deeply they will never recharge back to
100%, best for shallow cycles only.

You can probably get several cycles out of them like that, but
given their limitations AND the fact that all mine have *leaked*,
I don’t buy Grandcells anymore.

Quote:

nicad rc packs

These are just packs of standard AA or AAA cells.
When using Nicad/NiMH, one should use 5 cells x 1.2V
to replace 4 x 1.5V drycells.

[PandaBear]

Local supply of Schumacher is good, in Melb at
least. Standard Mission is ~$300 and the carbon
one is ~$500 so they’re good value down here too.
But they have been out for a while now, dunno if
there’s something newer coming out from Schuey soon.

[PandaBear]

Lots of different good cars out there, which does
the local shop supports? If you’re gonna rely on
them heavy for service & advice, that’s what
you should be looking at.

[PandaBear]

Come up here and we’ll show you it…! 👿

[PandaBear]

Quote:

OH.. XB is TL-01?? oh i never knew that.. might go to my LHS tomorrow to have a look.. Is it EXACTLY identical chassis?

Yup, all the bits are identical plus you get the radiogear installed.
Pricewise an XB box is pretty much the same as getting a kit and
the radiogear. You still need to BYO battery & charger for either.

XB-Pro (TT01) cars come with a Electronic Speed Control unit
instead of the XB’s Mechanical Spd Ctrl + 2nd servo.
An ESC is a worthwhile item to have.

Quote:

and yeh i didn’t mean TA01 i meant TA04.. im still wondering what the differences are tho.. is belt drive better? Considering that im still just gonna begin 1/10 racing, which would be the better pick?

TA04 is a highly adjustable chassis and is a great design… but
if you’re working to a tight budget, the TA04 kit alone is $300+.

It is an eternal discussion re Belt & shaft drive cars better?
Belts do pickup dirt (best kept to clean tracks) & can break belts.
Shafts have more gears and can chew up its gears also.
But I think shaft needs less maintenance so that’s why
Tamiya chose it for simplicity.

[PandaBear]

Quote:

….I think I saw them in KL

kay ell… r u M’sian? :smiley16:

Quote:

HPI – RS4’s. They are better than mini-Z and mini-X, but the cost is more expensive and I’ve been waiting for the price to come down. http://www.hpiracing.com/kits/micro/micro-m.htm

Why wait any longer?

They’ve long been down to US$100 for new kits, and have seen them
change hands locally for ~A$100-150 for rolling chassis cars.
(You need to add your own radio & electronics, maybe battery.)

They won’t get any cheaper than that matey, if it did it’ll be suss.

[PandaBear]

Quote:

…I luv the TAMIYA motor that wont ‘drive’ the car until you nudge it with your finger and it then stops when it hits something…VERY Japanese…lol…

Tamiya Touch-Dash Motor (#15225)

… always wanted to pull one of those apart… :p

[PandaBear]

If any nitro car doesn’t idle, check these:

1) is the glow plug any good? Put a new one in.

2) if the fuel stale? Try some fresh fuel; nitro
fuel has a shelflife, don’t keep it for more than
a few mths. If the bottle is left open to air,
the fuel will pickup moisture and go stale faster.

3) check fuel lines… if there’s lots of air
bubbles, it could be a pinhole somewhere.
Replace all fuel lines with new tubing.
Check the fuel filter is not clogged.

4) engine compression still good?
Is there pressure/vacuum leakage from any of
the joins? (head, carb, backplate)

5) air filter clogged?

[PandaBear]

Quote:

If you buy a kit, what exactly do you need to do to get it running? What building is required?

If buying an electric kit, you’ll need:
-2ch radiogear
-7.2V battery
-charger for the battery
-paint for body
-AA batteries for the radio

A kit means you assemble everything from all the parts.
You’ll need basic screwdriver, snippers etc – nothing special.
Thekit should give a good instruction manual, its not hard.
It will take you a few enjoyable hours, just take your time.

Quote:

I’m deciding between a TL-01 or TA-01 for a kit…

Tamiya’s current are TL01 and TT01.

The TA01 does exist but its long discontinued, the ‘TA’ is
Tamiya’s top line of which the latest is TA04.

There’s also the TB01.

Quote:

If too much building is required, I’m thinking of just getting an RTR HPI Sprint Mercedes.. Are these any good for a beginner like me? Do many hobby shops carry hop up parts for these?

HPI Sprint is a pretty decent design… BUT here in Oz the
supplier/s is pretty dismal so parts & kits are hard to get.

Personally I wouldn’t risk the hassles… methink if they
can’t get their act together, why should you take the risk
and give your $$$ to them?

Tamiya’s RTR cars are called the XB (TL01) & XB-Pro (TT01).
These are definitely worth the $$, parts easy to get.
They all hopup identical to their kit brothers.

[Author]

Posts