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…think I put an enamel clear coat on an acrylic base, and it seemed to work out ok?

There are some “fake” synthetic enamels (some call them “acrylic enamels) that don’t really cure like the real thing… you probably
got one of these.

You were lucky… 😀

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I have been wanting to get my hands on a fuel cell for a while, I study mech eng at UTS we don’t get to play with kewl stuff like that!!

You’re probably in the wrong uni, maaate. :smiley2:
Whilst I was hanging around Melbourne Uni, the auto eng dept there
had a Ford Capri running on hydrogen. Also managed to get my hands
on their gas-turbine running on kero, then there was a bench engine
whose compression could be altered whilst its running and we had
a go on the lab’s Mitsu AstronII bolted to a dyno which we revv’d
until the headers glowed red. Rotary engine’s innards? Boring…

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I am most interested in where that photo came from

That was shown at the 2003 Shizouka Toy Show.
Apart from that I don’t know any more.
Don’t even know who made it… :dead:

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They are very environmentally friendly, they can run on pure hydrogen and only exhast water!! i.e zero pollution

Depends on who you ask. If you read the Californian “Zero Emissions”
bill, they even consider H2O an exhaust/byproduct so this don’t
count as a zero-emissions-vehicle, only a Low-E-V.

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The one thing that stops mass production of these is hygrogen storage. Hydrogen is a very spacey gases i.e given the same amount of volume as a cars fuel tank you would only make it 40 – 50 Km not very practical but there are many solutions to this but just too costly at the moment and then there is the retro fitting every fuel station in the world!! with hydrogen and supplying them all.

That… and the slight “Hindenburg” PR disaster. :smiley2:

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Theory behind fuel cells is that they can pump
the electrons as fast as the fuel is available…
so maybe the limitation is in the fuel supply.

Fuel cells power experimental 1:1 cars too!

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I’m not totally sure what Tomy uses, but chances
are its probably some kind of acrylic waterbased
paint. It does soften with metho… and I’ve then
stripped of the rest using EasyOff.

Big rule with acrylic… do NOT paint Enamels
on top of it!! (you can paint acrylic on
top of enamels, just not enamel on acrylic.)
Your top layer will curdle, the bottom will bubble.

Cheapo spraycans available in most $2 shops and
RejectStore. However your colour choice is very
limited (primary colours & 3 blacks usually)
and often the paint is very thin & runs easily.
Spray results are very variable too… some are
misty fine OK, others just splatter.

KMart & Autobarn sells 6″ spraycans for most
common auto touchup colours. These are handy
and 1 can covers about 1sq.m worth of panel
for about $8 each. If you buy anything marked
“COB” it’ll dry matte, you need to put the
clear coat over it to make it shine.

Humbrol, Airfix, Testors etc sell tiny little
tins at hobby shops… most of these are enamels
though (need thinners to clean brush).

Tamiya however has both Arcylic (“X/XF” round
bottles)and Enamels (“X/XF” square bottles).
The round bottles work great for handpainting
with brushand dries to a very nice gloss (“X”)
or a smooth flat matte (“XF). Its also very
opaque, so usually only need 1 or 2 coats max.
Brushes wash in water, very nice to use.

[PandaBear]

I m not totally sure what Tomy uses, but chances
are its probably some kind of acrylic waterbased
paint. It does soften with metho… and I’ve then
stripped of the rest using EasyOff.

Big rule with acrylic… do NOT paint Enamels
on top of it!! (you can paint acrylic on
top of enamels, just not enamel on acrylic.)
Your top layer will curdle, the bottom will bubble.

Cheapo spraycans available in most $2 shops and
RejectStore. However your colour choice is very
limited (primary colours & 3 blacks usually)
and often the paint is very thin & runs easily.
Spray results are very variable too… some are
misty fine OK, others just splatter.

KMart & Autobarn sells 6″ spraycans for most
common auto touchup colours. These are handy
and 1 can covers about 1sq.m worth of panel
for about $8 each. If you buy anything marked
“COB” it’ll dry matte, you need to put the
clear coat over it to make it shine.

Humbrol, Airfix, Testors etc sell tiny little
tins at hobby shops… most of these are enamels
though (need thinners to clean brush).

Tamiya however has both Arcylic (“X/XF” round
bottles)and Enamels (“X/XF” square bottles).
The round bottles work great for handpainting
with brushand dries to a very nice gloss (“X”)
or a smooth flat matte (“XF). Its also very
opaque, so usually only need 1 or 2 coats max.
Brushes wash in water, very nice to use.

[PandaBear]

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Just wondering, since these things have almost no friction, it’d be fairly quick, right? or is it horribly limited by a gutless motor?

Hovercrafts aren’t friction-free, only as much as a bride’s dress.
It lifts thru air pumped into a rubber skirt, and this skirt does
brush against the ground.

Large vessels like the English Channel crafts need huge turbofans
to provide the lift and thrust… just like airplanes.
It is nowhere as ‘free’ as maglev.

Imho I’d call it an aircraft… ‘cos if you want more motor power,
you need more fuel/batteries which means more mass to carry & lift.
Big catch 22 there.

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are these more fragile than the normal body mini z’s?

Kyosho supplies a larger bumper that you can fit to your F1,
if you don’t like the front wing/diffuser taking all the hits.

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Looks like all the current hardware upgrades should still work… springs, extra shocks etc.

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Sleeper mod?

Nah, more like too lazy to cut a hole in TX case
to mount any form of switch. Also there’s a real
shortage of plastic realestate to do so; best
spot would have been on the underside of TX but
then how would it then stand up? 😀

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Have no idea what Tamiya was thinking, but yeah
those white things don’t rate highly at all.
The shorter “touring car” ones have been long
discontinued too… but I still have 1 pair NIB.
(I can smell… “collectors’ item”!!:))

But don’t throw them away though… have found a
use for the broken ones too! When you’ve got the
metal ones and have used them for a while… the
crosspins usually get worn away.

Tip is to grab your vise and rig up a way to press
the worn pins out (use a bronze PC’s m/b spacer),
then either turn them 90degs and reinsert, or
replace with less-worn ones. The white dogbones
have the same-sized pins.

btw I run dogbones *dry*.
Putting grease on them will only pickup dirt,
which makes a great grinding paste. Running them
dry probably causes less wear than otherwise.

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If the Baja Champ comes with those white-tipped dogbones,
I’d say lose them quick!! (as in… on Purpose)

Replace them all with the same all-metal parts from the
nitro equivalent, Wild Dagger I think its called.

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Geez panda i think we share the same brain lol…that is exactly what i was thinking when i was looking at one a few weeks ago, only problem the solar cell only develops 0.5 volts 🙁

Guys, a calculator solar panel will only develop a few mA of current, a bit uses over 100mAh….so i doubt it would have any benifit whatsoever.

Calculator solar cells are useless for bits, they’ll never
power anything motorised. They may supply 1.5-3V (usually are
4 cells in series) but the current is microscopic.
Their current is probably not enough to even power the RX.

No, I was browsing thru Dickos, and they’ve got a panel
that does 1.0V at about 100mA. Only drawbacks are
(1) its pretty big, about large playing card size and
(2) its not cheap… $20+.

For that $ I wasn’t even interested in buying one to test,
and its mass won’t do anything to your BCG’s handling. :p

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To give this topic its dues, this mod is one of QFM’s most popular.

I subsequently refined it to include “switching” by means of
a mercury switch… this was posted on the old Ausmicro before
xmas but got lost with the hack.

Here, I’ve still got the pix though…

1) I removed the original 47uF cap… and piggybacked a 2nd 47uF
to it (basic electronics 101… caps ‘add’ when in parallel).

2) resoldered it back on with a mercury switch in-line with the
2nd cap… so put it at the correct angles, its turned on/off
thus in/out of circuit. When its out, just the original 47uF
does all the work.

3) reinstall it all back in the case; mine charges at 2X whilst
the TX is standing up, normal 1X whilst its lying down.

This TX was the one I carried to the Melbourne meet, fellas.
You folks were too busy with that Keyence to notice I’d bet… 🙂

… and whilst I had all the soldering gear out, why not :-

:D:D:D

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If you think that’s bad, I guess you folks haven’t
driven a brandnew spanker out of a car dealership
before… :shock::shock::shock:

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Looks like it runs on a liquid hydrocarbon, probably ethanol or something like that judging by the clear plastic tubing and the filter and little tap.

Not sure… either ethanol or maybe some liquified gaseous HC?
(pressurised, so you don’t need a fuel pump!)

Checkout the funny thing over the motor too… what is it,
a vapouriser maybe? Using heat from the motor… or would it
just supercool the motor. 🙂

Didn’t someone sell a fuelcell retrofit kit for your mobile phone,
you were meant to be able to refuel it by replacing the little
cartridge of fuel about size of a A battery or so?

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This is a “borrowed” pix… I think they just renamed their filez.

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Any one else wanna share the driving from Melbourne :smiley2:
:dead:uA

The way petrol prices are, might be cheaper catching a bird.
You have 1 wk left to book… for the 21-day advance purchase discounts.

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Love the cutsom avatars, just gotta find a good one now.

Wot??
You guys are only starting NOW??!? 😯

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Hard to say, these are the spy pix from the Shizouka Hobby show.

Looks like the chassis molding is new, even the battery clips are new. Maybe the shocker is included?

No idea if the electronics have been updated too… but the F1’s “brake” ESC would be nice. 🙂

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Haha, I saw that before I came here today…

i THOUGHT it looked familiar… :D:D:)

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those hpi dash cars look awesome.
do these ones come pre-painted?

They look good as they’re HPI’s usual RC shells.
You can buy them to suit any standard 1/10 touring car.

The Dash is factory-assembled and painted.
But they are a *very* basic chassis, for total beginners.
If you’re in this market, check also the Tamiya “QD” cars.

Tamiya’s “XB” series is same-level as the Sprint.
They have real RC radios and cars are like the RC kits you build.

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how are those engines measured? 380, 540?

380 and 540 are the physical “size” of the motor.
The company Mabuchi named them like that.

The 380 is a lot smaller. You cannot fit a 540 in there
without major surgery. In most cases its impossible.

540 is the ‘standard’ size motor for hobby RC.
They come in many levels of tune, from the stock RS540
“silvercan” Mabuchi, to the various “stock” motors
then all the way to crazy “modified” motors.

Regardless of the power they advertise, they are all the
Same Size, thus they can drop straight into your car.

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Later mZs like the F40 have wider rear plastic wheels too, fellas.

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So if the motor is revving harder, its putting out more power than before.

A free-revving electric motor shouldn’t be “making” any
power at all (apart from, and ignoring, Friction).

Its only when you put a load on it that the ‘power’ is generated.

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panda and ph2t, do you reckon the steel sink saps tranfered current to the motor via the casing? could an aluminium one eliminate the electrification of the metal parts in contact causing minute e.m. interference?

Steel? Or is it Copper…?

This reminds me of a previous thread with
Mr Lancer Evo (bless his missing soul).

Here:-

Metal Conductivity 10-6 cm-1 Ohm-1
Silver 0.63
Copper 0.596
Gold 0.452
Aluminium 0.377
Rhodium 0.211
Iridium 0.197
Tungsten 0.189
Zinc 0.166
Nickel 0.143
Ruthenium 0.137
Osmium 0.109
Iron 0.0993
Platinum 0.0966
Palladium 0.095
Tin 0.0917
Lead 0.0481

There’s a slight difference in conductivity, so if you want the
ultimate heatsink & current conductor you’d use Silver.

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“Greater Inertia”

Umm… more inertia = less acceleration.

Wouldn’t be yelling that too loudly… :blush:

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