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OK, here is my final version of the static strap.

Now using eyelets which are crimped and soldered onto the wire. Makes the setup very easy to fit and remove, also the assembly has no effect on the tweak or integrity of the chassis.

See previous posts on this blog here and here.

…these are a few pictures.

Here is my interpretation of the KO static fix mentioned earlier.

I hope you can make it out. Basically I have fitted cone washers upside down in the countersunk holes, with round head screws through them to grip the wire. The wire is some thin black bell wire from Maplin (bought a long time ago), which has had the ends tinned to stop them breaking up (untinned wires were damaged by the screw thread). The cone washers are by Jet Racing (#JE-43P). Unfortunately these are not available in Tamiya blue, I used some purple ones I had lying around. The screws are Much-More stainless steel ones, M3×12mm round head (#MSR-312). Jet and Much-More products are available in the UK through www.muchmoreracing.com.

All I can do here is pass on what I have seen from this new Japanese manufacturer…

Looks like a heavier front bulkhead for the Kyosho Ultima RB-5. Made of aluminium rather than a really heavy metal, it has 27.5 degrees caster.

Source: www.cliff-rc.com

Tamiya recently released a statement about static electricity building up in the TA05-R chassis, and potentially causing problems with your metal-geared servo - full statement here.

This is something I had never, ever heard of happening with another car, but I do think I have experienced the phenomenon myself. Mid-race the servo “lost” it’s neutral position and the car veered off the track, but switching off and on again caused it to go back to normal. It’s only happened once but obviously I’d rather not have it happen again.

Tamiya’s own suggestion is to fit the #53893 optional carbon moulded tub, which is conductive, but also quite expensive compared to the plastic tub, and stiffer which will affect the handling a little.

But now KO Propo have published their own solution to the problem.

First step is to take a 10cm length of fine gauge wire (approximately 1-2mm, KO recommend their own antenna wire), and strip the ends.

Second step is to attach the cable to the screws on the centre bulkhead and the front steering post. This should apparently give the static a route to discharge that avoids the servo.

KO appear to have simply screwed the wire in place. What I have also seen, and what may be neater in terms of assembly, is to solder the wire onto the screw heads.

Original instructions here.

Source: www.tamiya.com, www.kopropo.co.jp

This is great news for electric RC - and great news for RC in general.

Guess what Traxxas’ fastest car will be soon? A nitro-powered Jato? A nitro-powered Revo?

No! An ELECTRIC-powered Rustler VXL.

Traxxas are releasing brushless versions of their 1/10th trucks and buggies. Top speed? 70mph+ (on 11.1V LiPo and optional gearing. Out of the box expect 35mph+).

The brushless speedo looks like it can handle brushed, sensored and sensorless motors. The Traxxas motor itself is sensorless. I hope they have the driveability right.

This is great. Instead of the beginners who crave speed buying a smelly, unreliable nitro car, they’ll be buying clean, user-friendly electric cars instead. Fingers crossed this will keep people in the hobby for more than just one frustrating afternoon trying to break-in a nitro engine.

The beginning of the end for nitro’s reign of pain in beginner RC? I think so.

Source: www.traxxas.com

A quick look at the Kyosho Twin Force I have been running up and down the back garden!

For those that have never heard of it, the Twin Force is a 1/8th scale electric monster truck (seen above crushing my poor Tamiya TT-01). Twin Force standing for twin motors and twin battery packs. Technically it is pretty interesting and unconventional, especially when compared to it’s main rival, the Traxxas E-Maxx.

From the side with the body on you can sort of see the solid axles that this truck runs on (shared with the Mad Force nitro truck). This was a pretty unusual setup for a truck released in 2004, with most of the other monsters on the market preferring independent wishbone suspension. These solid axles mean the the TF is a very popular base truck for crawler conversions.

The front gives a better view of the solid axle - that is a 1/8th scale buggy gear diff in there so nice and sturdy with option to upgrade. The control arms for the axle are solid as well, this does limit suspension articulation (which is both a good and bad thing as it also limits roll), crawler conversions generally change them to rods and ball ends.

The axles are supplied pre-assembled with grease in the diffs. I stripped them to check the assembly and they were spot on. I did find that one of the axles had a slight high-point when turned however that is not noticeable once assembled and probably bedded in after the first run.

Two 7.2V stick packs and two motors means a lot of cable. I have left it with the supplied Tamiya plugs for the time being.

Inside the radio box. Futaba R133F receiver and Kyosho Perfex KA-6 speed controller. The KA-6 hasn’t blown me away with its performance, braking seems pretty weak and low speed control is not the greatest, but it does the job.

One tip here - I drilled a small hole for the antenna through the side of the radio box instead of threading it out through the rear. As well as making the antenna route more direct it should reduce the risk of interference from the power wires.

Two 550-size motors drive a single spur with a slipper clutch, then CHAIN DRIVE takes the power down below. Take time assembling this area of the car, making sure everything runs freely. It is easy to overtighten and misalign parts causing unwanted friction. Correct setting of the gear mesh and slipper is important too, the pinions should have a little backlash on the spur gear, the slipper is very loose on the factory setting and will benefit from a little tightening once you have got the car running.

Down below there is a one-way drive to the front and fixed to the rear, the freewheel effect on the front axle makes this big truck turn very sharply off power, surprisingly nimble.

Better view of the solid axles and steeply angled shocks. For a very simple design with plastic bodies they make a very plush setup. I used Much-More #300 oil instead of the Kyosho mystery mix.

The steering arrangement is quite unwieldy with lots of long links, some curious angles and a very soft servo saver. You also need to find and modify a big, heavy duty servo horn to get enough travel. However it does seem to steer well on the move. Kit settings give quite a lot of toe-in, so I have shortened the wheel links to get closer to zero toe.

A high-torque servo is recommended, I am using a Futaba S3305 which is decent value at around £35 and has enough power to turn the wheels at a standstill.

Rear end just uses fixed links (they are Inferno wheel axles by the way), however you could fit steering to that end too with a little clever thinking, this is another thing the crawler people do.

What’s it like to drive? Well, the standard motors are not slow, but I wouldn’t say they are fast either. A high-voltage brushless setup would be a lot of fun, and the chassis and drivetrain look like they could handle it with ease. The solid axles don’t ride the bumps so well, so it can be a bit lively on the rougher bits - but that just adds to the smile this truck puts on your face! Crank the slipper tight and you can wheely ’til the cows come home!

Futaba’s new MC850C ESC, pictured with the USB programmer adaptor for connection to your computer. Mentioned previously on this blog - http://www.sosidge.com/2007/04/10/new-futaba-mc850c-programmable-competition-esc/

Futaba MC601C ESC - a budget version of the above, which looks to have a 10T motor limit so very handy. Price unknown to me right now.

Here is something totally new - BRUSHLESS servos from Futaba! Seem to be equivalent to the S9351 (which is a 1/8th servo) and the S9451 (a 1/10th servo). Remains to be seen what performance advantage they give, if any. Or what price they will be.

Futaba also showed a few 2.4GHz and synthesised FM parts too. FM is on the way out though, innit? Suits me, means I’ll have fewer crystal clashes on 40MHz!

Source: www.pro-s-futaba.co.jp

…from the Shizuoka hobby show, which opened today.

Mmmmm yummy! New TA05MS top-line tourer from Tamiya. Read on…

Ah-ha! This picture seems to prove that the TA05MS has the motor in a different position to the TA05. Looks like the centreline of the motor is midway between a 415 and a normal ‘05. So the MS is not a TA05 - AT ALL! Time will tell whether it is the replacement for the 415 or just another platform to experiment with.

Hop-up aluminium bulkhead for the TA05. Any point putting it on a plastic chassis car? Not in my opinion.

TA05-IFS (Inboard Front Suspension). Looks cool but it’s only to lower the front end for the Japan GT body. I doubt very much whether it will be faster than a conventional shock car, I’m sure a few people will try it out though.

The Rough Rider returns. Only on a micro Tamtech Gear Chassis though. New name of GB-02 because of the trailing arm front suspension. The whole SRB thing passed me by, they were released before my time, so not really bothered about a re-release of the original.

Close up of the GB-02 front suspension.

Now this is more like my kind of thing. One of my buggies as a youth was the Avante 2001. Yes, I know it was a mid-range plastic version of the Avante, not very interesting to collectors, but it went a lot better than the original since it was more like an Egress. This is the Avante Mk.II on a DF-03 chassis, a lot of people have been dissing it but to me it looks LUSH! I quite fancy picking one up and seeing what a few sensible hop-ups can turn it into.

Now a little earlier - http://www.sosidge.com/2007/05/12/sneak-preview-of-the-tamiya-hotshot-re-release/ - I speculated whether the Hotshot re-release would be on a modified DF-03 chassis. Turns out I was wrong and it is pretty faithful to the original. Back in the 80’s I had a Super Sabre which was based on it. Even at the age of 12 I could tell it wasn’t a brilliant racing machine…

Last shot - the new hop-up wing for the DF-03. That’s one big mutha! The DF-03 looks very trick with all the blue bits on too, eh?

Source: www.pro-s-futaba.co.jp

The most unexpected RC release of 2007? Definitely.

Kyosho Spada - a 1/12th scale 4wd nitro pan car. .09 Sirio power and almost no suspension. Need I say more?

Well, I will say a little more. Kyosho (and a few other Japanese manufacturers) experimented with 4wd 1/12th cars in the 80’s. Soon became apparent that they were not as quick as their 2wd brothers. But I never thought the concept would be reborn quite like this!

Source: http://www.kyosho.com/jpn/products/rc/detail.html?product_id=102180