2436 replies to this topic

[stretch]

Having just taken delivery of my e-firestorm today and knowing that quite a few of us now have them thought it would be good idea to a have a thread where we can share specs/pictures etc.

First off thanks to MSUK for great service and fast delivery.

NOTE: They are getting low on stock of the blue ones so if you want one grab one now.

Unpacking

It arrived in unsuspecting plain brown packaging which i'm sure the courier must have thought it contained a love doll or something after ripping off the paper like a kid at christmas your greeted with a box that makes you want to play. After breaking the 4 'HPI Sealed At Factory' stickers at the bottom you find the contents are securely held by a maze of cardboard. The clear plastic bag is actually over the shell and secured by the body pins so you have to remove these to get it off.

Contents

Car
Transmitter
Manual
Small selection of tools and spares

Pictures



I've all ready ordered a set of T-Bone Racing bumpers so will add some pictures when I get them.

Recommended Mods By Owners

RPM wide front bumper
Description 80042 Associated Cars & Trucks Wide Front Bumper for the Assoc. GT2, B4 & T4
http://www.modelspor...-products/26282
http://www.amainhobb...nt-Bumper-Black   

T-bone front and rear bumpers and wheelie bar
http://t-bone-racing...-Firestorm-c95/

Stiffer springs http://www.hpieurope...=en&partNo=6798   
High torque metal geared servo http://www.modelspor...products/359784
High speed metal geared servo http://www.modelspor...products/359785

How To's

Jakey's guide to battery tray bulkhead strengthening
RC Walshy's guide to adding led headlights
Stretch's guide to fitting t-bone bumpers and wheelie bar
Damo666's guide on alternative spur and slipper pad
RooBoonix's guide to increasing shock tower height
J450N's guide to tightening the steering mechanism
Benledge's guide to spares and upgrades
Stretch's guide to regreasing diffs
Stretch's guide to wheel nuts

Edited by stretch, 06 April 2012 - 06:26 PM.

[LeeH]

Nice, I just bought one at the weekend from pmb racing. £110!!!

[norcoforever]

i do like that shell, i've the silver flux but liking the blue, will put some pictures up on here when i get a chance

[Damo666]

I bought mine from Parkers of Bolton. They sell for £80-100 at end of eBay auction. I paid £98 for mine, iirc.
Just get rid of the stock electronics and you've got a nice truck.

[stretch]

LeeH look forward to seeing them mate

Damo I bid on about 5 of their auctions and in the end just had enough, the last one sold for £103.18 posted which isn't much less than I paid for mine plus I received mine the the day after ordering it. What electronics have you got running in yours?

[Damo666]

I've ordered the Flysky gt3b for the tx/rx, and the Castle creations Sidewinder sct 3800 for the esc and motor.
Will be about another week until I see them though as i'm importing from HK and the US.

[Jefferson]

will try and post some pics tonight, but here are details of my set up...

Arrived as stock & used 8.4v Vapextech NIMH Packs - quite impressed

Changed the steering servo for an HD Power one from Modelsport - decent improvement with better response

Swapped the 15t Motor and Stock ESC for Ezrun 9t motor and Ezrun 60a ESC with program card, also updating all connections to bullets - very impressed with the brushless combo

Purchased 1 LIPO (yesterday) - impressed with performance of this

So firestorm has had Servo, ESC, Motor & Soldering updated

To do.....

I have a slightly higher tooth pinion in my parts box at home to fit

Wants....

Better/improved bumpers
Maybe change tyres

Need to do....

Grease transmission & do the diff oil! (have the grease and silicon oil ready)

[Jakey]

Sounds like a good thread.
As you can see if you go a few pages on in this electric thread i broke my firestorm . Snapped the chassis(well the little wall between the battery and the servo.
So i've plastic welded it and it's fixed. But i don't want this happening again! So i've got some plastic and cut it to the shape of a rectangle that fits beautifully between the chassis walls which acts as a little brace and makes the wall i snapped thicker. Don't think i'll be breaking that again
If anyones interested i'll post some pictures up, as i'd highly recommend doing this because it strengthens the chassis on an area where i've found isn't so strong.

[stretch]

Jefferson good spec mate what servo did you get the 9100?

Jakey yeah saw your post on that and sounds like a mod I should do, can you post some pics and a little how to then I can link from the first post so others can do it.

[Jefferson]

stretch, on 14 April 2011 - 04:52 PM, said:

Jefferson good spec mate what servo did you get the 9100?

Jakey yeah saw your post on that and sounds like a mod I should do, can you post some pics and a little how to then I can link from the first post so others can do it.

cheers,

was the slightly cheaper one, at time of purchase they didnt have the 9100 in

[Milliscent]

IVE moded mine lots :

Losi 8ight 15mm big bore shocks
Front edit pivot block
Rear edit hubs
bluebird high torque servo
MM esc
3800L motor
external BEC
F/R t bone bumpers
running 32dp gears 50/14
Axial 2.2 beadlocks
Ceramic bearings

Probs forgotten about some bits ill get a decent photo tommrow

[Jakey]

So here's my guide on strengthening the chassis. I did this due to the fact i broke part of it myself just bashing it. So rather than just buying a new chassis i decided to fix and improve the strength!
This is what happened..


As you can see the little plastic wall between the battery tray and the servo tray snapped, causing the battery to move in to the servo causing the servo to break too
To fix this problem you will need to do some plastic welding. And to do this you will need:
Soldering Iron
Open space with plenty of ventilation as you'll be burning plastic!
Some hard plastic(I used the cover on my scientific calculator which i never use, due to it being extremely strong plastic)
And a steady eye and patience!

- Start off by giving the area a good scrubbing with soapy water just to get rid of any nasty bits there. Let it dry.
- When that's clean get your soldering iron nice and hot.
- Try and hold up the plastic that's broken off, fortunately mine slotted in and i could use both hands. However hold it in place, get your soldering iron and start melting the 2 edges together. You want to keep a nice smooth motion going, don't stay in one area for too long or else it will burn through the plastic!
- Once you've plastic welded one side, you need to do the other side. So turn it round and start doing the same again. Not too hard is it? Almost like glueing..
- Now that it's together looks pretty neat, give it a minute or so to cool down. Then you can start putting a little pressure on it to see how well your joint is.
- When you've done it well enough grab your piece of hard plastic. What you want is a rectangular shaped piece that slots behind the part you've just plastic welded. Here's a picture of the final piece so you can see what i mean.


Here you can see the grey plastic i have plastic welded to the chassis to provide a) More strength which in turn will provide less chance of breaking again.
- Make sure you put this thin but strong piece of plastic on the battery side, as you won't be able to fit your servo in if you put it in the servo tray. As you can see the above picture looks very messy this is just due to the fact i havn't tidied it up and filed down the excess plastic.

This is very easy to do and will only take you 15 minutes maximum but i have already noticed a massive impact on strength on this area that crucially has cost me £19.99 for a new servo..

[stretch]

excellent guide mate cheers for doing that i've added a link the first post.

[stretch]

What stuff are you guys using for maintenance? was thinking about getting some pure silicon dif oil 4000wt and some ansmann high speed dif grease. Already got some GT85. Anything else?

Haven't had a chance to have a bash yet but thanks to Jefferson i'll be getting some Vapextech 8.4v batteries soon

[Jakey]

I just pull out my esc/receiver and put them in a plastic bag hold it tight, take the motor out and batterys then throw it in the tub and give it a good washing lol. Dry it all off with gt85 and alls good