smallman28 Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 Why buy it? For me it was a case of wanting something I could just get out now and again and have a quick burn with! I have two 1/6th FGs but they are big and difficult/awkward to find places to use them,at least with the Schumacher I can just chuck in some fuel and run it either in the garden or outside my house,although that probabaly isn't recommended in the instructions What do you get? I purchased the full combo from Modelsport which gives you everything you need to run the car even down to batteries for the radio gear,although the ones I had for the receiver in the car were out of date and flat,it was no big deal for me anyway as I was going to use rechargables from the outset. Seeing as the combo package includes a glow starter I was suprised to find a one already included in the box,it was a battery powered version though which requires a large D cell type battery. There was also a plug spanner and a 500ml fuel bottle included along with a few basic tools such as some allen keys and an adjuster for the uppper links/steering rods. The radio gear is basic 27mhz AM,the transmitter is the stick type and is rather bulky to say the least,but it does work. I fitted a Futaba 40mhz AM system that I already had,purely for the fact that it has end point adjustment which I prefer and not cause the supplied stuff didn't work. The instructions are comprehensive in that they cover all aspects of the car with diagrams and enough information to take it apart and put it all back together without any major issues. The sections on tuning the engine are okay,they dont go into huge detail but give you enough to get you going although total newbies might be hindered by them slightly. Getting going! I went around the car and checked everything was tight,I made sure the needles were at the factory settings and the idle was at the point it was supposed to be. After putting batteries in everything and charging the glow stater I was ready to go! Priming the engine proved to be a bit of an issue,trying to hold a finger over the exhaust pipe whilst pulling the pull start and trying to watch so see if the fuel was going into the carb was a job that needed another hand. Because the car is so small and there isn't anything obvious on it to hold whilst you operate the pullstart and try to block the exhaust,in the end I cheated and took off the pressure pipe and blew the fuel into the carb instead. Once that was done I did the old trick of heating up the engine with a hair dryer to get some heat into it to make it easier to start. I put the glow started on and pulled,and pulled and pulled but got no-where After some messing around I upped the idle a bit and eventually got it going but it was very rich and kept cutting out. I got a couple of runs on it despite this and we seemed to be getting somewhere,slowly. Some things I found after the first couple of runs The exhaust set up is a bit poor to say the least. The silencer itself is just a push fit on to the engine and there is just an O ring to seal it,suffice to say it doesn't seal very well and there was a lot of mess around the back of the engine which was not helped by the very rich settings I was running it in on. I removed the silencer and put some exhaust sealant on it to give a better seal which seems to have largely cured it. The other thing that came back to haunt me was the starting problems I had encountered before. I just couldn't get it going again after the first few successful runs I had had. I adjusted the idle again but this just caused the car to creep forward on its own,any lower and it just kept cutting out again This time I looked a bit closer at the LSN,I screwed it in almost 1/2 a turn from where it was from the factory setting,this time it fired into life and it wanted to take off on its own now due to me having turned up the idle so much to compensate I turned the idle back down from where I had turned it up before and it was just fine,a bit more fine tuning on the LSN and I now have a great take off speed and the car doesn't move at idle. I am still messing around with the HSN as I think I can lean it out a bit more yet but I ran out of good weather as it has been raining for nearly 24 hours now. Conclusions. The build quality is really good I feel,it is a solid little machine that looks like it will take quite a beating. I wouldn't suggest people buy this thinking it is a "real" off roader,it does go off-road but I found grass that was only a couple of inches high really impeeds speed and performance. Personally I think it would be better suited to very short grass and areas with a compacted dirt surface or small loose gravel,or tarmac of course. The engine settings could do with maybe being a bit more accurate from the factory to make it a bit more user friendly and a re-think of the exhaust wouldn't hurt either. Overall its a great little car that was only slightly spoiled by the leaky exhaust and the incorrect needle settings. 2 Speed gears. I have recently fitted the 2 speed gears. There is quite a bit of disassembly involved in doing so though. The layshaft that the spur gear fits to is no longer long enough to accomodate the 2 spur gears that make up the 2 speed so the gear box has to be taken apart to fit the new one supplied. Its quite a chore to dismatle to back end just to fit one shaft but it has to be done Other than that its not to bad to fit just a bit fiddly. I did run into a slight problem though. With the original set-up the brake rod runs over the top of the spur gear and only clears it by a few mm's,with the new gears of the 2 speed though the brake rod was catching on the 1st gear when the brake was applied I managed to get around this by turning the "loop" that the brake rod goes through up the other way and bending the rod slightly so it clears the gears easily. I dont know if it is a "problem" or wether or not I did something wrong in reassembling the car but it works okay now. The only other thing is I cant hear a distinct shift when it changes gear. I am sure it is changing gear as there is a definate speed increase and the engine revs are also less at full throttle than they were before so it has to be alright Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sin Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 brilliant review ! may help me in the future when i may come to get one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallman28 Posted December 10, 2006 Author Share Posted December 10, 2006 brilliant review ! I wouldn't go that far myself just some useful snippets for anyone who might be thinking of getting one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewy1471 Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 i like them would buy one if i had the money and nice review and Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arris Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 the photo's are of modelsport, surely you can see the massive watermark thru the centre? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antnee Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 the photo's are of modelsport, surely you can see the massive watermark thru the centre? whats wrong with that? maybe he doesnt have any pictures of his own! o and good review Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesChatz Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 whats wrong with that? maybe he doesnt have any pictures of his own! o and good review Its because Lewy said "cool photos" Nice review Smallman, whats it like to be back in nitro again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallman28 Posted December 10, 2006 Author Share Posted December 10, 2006 Nice review Smallman, whats it like to be back in nitro again? Okay now,was a bit annoying to begin with messing around with the needles,idle etc and trying to get the balance right. Petrol is so much easier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMick Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 You have to just love them both dont you for different reasons..i wouldnt give up on nitro completely. nice little write up..Mick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genestealer187 Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 I have a rascal and i have loved it from day 1. I have the two speed fitted and have never had any problems with it but now i want to step it up another notch . Any body help me ! I want maximum speed how can i achieve this ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilbert Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 i've had the same thought and i am gona try putting the engine from my revo in it to see what that will do. i'll keep you posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_n Posted March 31, 2007 Share Posted March 31, 2007 tuned exhasut makes a massive difference especially bottom end my brother has made one for his and u cant really accelerate as it jus goes off into a massive wheely funny though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rc 4 life Posted March 31, 2007 Share Posted March 31, 2007 i like mine...i just find it really hard to work on because everything is so squashed up. and yeah the exhaust is whack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt B Posted March 31, 2007 Share Posted March 31, 2007 Andy - If its custom (home made) tell him to take it off right away, as home made exhausts don't have the right back pressure, and ruin the engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turner Boy Posted March 31, 2007 Share Posted March 31, 2007 Its a proper pipe for a .18 when he says made hi bnodged the mounts and eblows, cuplers and stuff for it And it makes a huge difference wheelie alllllll day long! And the eingine well i wont go there ........... care to comment andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_n Posted April 1, 2007 Share Posted April 1, 2007 fast as buggery (you know what the proper word id ) run in the best way possible i assume that is why i think turner boy will tell you the run in details Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt B Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Sorry to bump this thread again, but is it still proving to be good Smallman? As i might get one of these sometime in the near future, saves the hassle of running a nig nitro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rc 4 life Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 i know i'm not smallman but..... no not really. tbh i think they're absolutely rubbish. the exhaust leaks oil so you have to clean it all the time. it's too small to run on grass. everything is all squashed up so it's not easy to put back together. and the bodyshels are extremely weak. tbh you'd be wasting your money buying one......i know I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallman28 Posted June 17, 2007 Author Share Posted June 17, 2007 -->QUOTE(Matt B @ Jun 17 2007, 11:03 AM) ←Sorry to bump this thread again, but is it still proving to be good Smallman? As i might get one of these sometime in the near future, saves the hassle of running a nig nitro Still going strong,I haven't used it in anger for a while but by coincidence I stuck a bit of fuel in today and started it up,started easily on the 5th pull If I were to buy anything now I would probably get the Riot,basically a bigger Rascal. I was thinking of getting some of the Riot parts such as the suspension arms to make a wider Rascal and maybe getting a proper exhaust to fit. Then I came to my senes and said why? For how much I use it I will leave it as it is I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revorussell Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 great little nitro's imo i still run mine it must be on it's 6th gallon and its still going strong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt B Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Hmmm... the ground clearance might be a prob as my usual running surface is grass, my buggy seemed to get bogged enough as it was... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cew27 Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 get the crt.5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rc 4 life Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 they're overpriced Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cew27 Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 150 special offer cnt remember where tho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggles Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 yeh but thats as a roller, yo u have to engine and radio gear on top. look like good fun though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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