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Went out water divining!

Hoovered the grass out.

Hi, Our daughter has interest in RC and while we had put aside a Losi Mini-8 for her, reality set in that it's too small and moves at pace. The time has come to peak her interest and we needed something a bit bigger but not crazily fast. We went back to the drawing board and found Modelsport had Midnight Pumpkins on sale at £135. We bought one, for our friend's son and then my wife suggested we buy another. I want to peak interest with a car my daughter can use her self in time, the journey to that road will have to be supervised though when she's ready she'll have a cool rally car to use 🙂 The goals for this build: - Clean and refresh it - Run a very controllable and reliable setup that has the ability to limit throttle etc - Build it with daughters limited input and just enjoy spending time with my family and a hobby I enjoy, together - Custom LED build - May be another shell/stance @Ant.p & @245jhy diversifing their fleet had 0 impact or influence on me... 😉 Enough waffling, here's the starting point:

Charging up some lipos for the first time in a while...some 6s action for me this evening😂

Took out a post in my backyard as well as the Granite!! Going shopping Saturday!!!

Looks like I'm ready to go now. Out with the Boys this weekend and hoping to give the TLR some carpark action and see how she handles out of the box. That said, if the weather can hold off raining for an evening this week I'll see if I can get it out and see if it goes as it should before the weekend. The only tweaks I've done to the car is set the rear wing for speed stability but left the chassis as is. I'll drive it first and see if I want adjust anything from there. Had a bit of an issue binding the Sanwa RX6, the manual says to wait for a solid blue light to indicate successful binding but mine just stays solid red. Every other part of the process goes as documented it just doesn't go blue. That said, I've managed to set my end points, throttle rates and I think all is set and ready to go. Going to pick up some road tyres this week and a few little bits and bobs. I'm going to hold off bashing this for a while and just use it as a carpark/road car, see how she handles, performs and just enjoy it. Had such a great time learning about and putting this car together, as a relative noob its such a rewarding experience.

cheers bud, i toppeled it and it rolled side ways up a curb all on concrete earlier, no damage, it really does have insane handling, i dont think the oil shocks are doing any thing and the understeer is something else plus the almost like plastic hard rubber tyres make for a interesting ride where the slightest pebble can really set it off course, basically its a good laugh and fun 🙂 and im glad i bought it as it complements my grasshopper 1 which runs a 380 very well and i might go a comical grass hopper next just for lolz and to complete the set 🙂 edit: good thing i bodged it stronger than original one as i ordered the wrong chassis, i should of ordered the grasshopper2/super hornet chassis, i ordered the normal hornet chassis oh well spare chassis for hoppy 1 coming soon and it needs it 😛 i think it shares a chassis with the rising fighter as well which is even more prone to rolling lol https://www.modelsport.co.uk/product/tamiya-rising-fighter-no-esc-1335425 edit i just stuck on its masive ariel tube, just for super retro astheitc drunken resaons, thinking of putting a litle flag on it 😛

First run went great! The dogs liked it as well 🙂

Tested out my new ramp I built, Now need a new wheelie bar lol

Will be a great Rig once you get a combo in it. You will have to spray a shell pink and cover it in Unicorn stickers for you and your daughter to use

I bought a tatty 10bl120 a while back. I decided to open it and water proof the boards as much as I can. I found signs of water ingress/salt so used a bicarb bath to neutralise corrosion, then into a dehydrator and sealed with wife's nail top coat. Also replaced the puny caps with the ones I built for Big 8ight... And it turns on 😁

Thanks all, for your suggestions. None at all. I can remove the centre propshafts and get the gearbox to reproduce the issue, by itself. It certainly looks like that, when you see the part where the front has stopped and the rear is still going. However, when you look at the short bit of phone footage in the living room, you can see that neither propshaft is turning, so the drive isn't getting as far as the axles. The outdrives from the gearbox aren't spinning. Yeah, that's definitely possible. It would also explain why there is nothing wrong, when I take the gearbox to bits. but then... if it look fine when the gearbox isn't under use, how do you diagnose it!? I had the motor out. It's fine. I'm convinced it's the gearbox.

One of these, it plugs into the balance wire and beeps when it reaches the low voltage, you can choose what voltage its set to. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/193699726065?hash=item2d196742f1:g:OAcAAOSwVy5ffPWD&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4D5IjAlRoRLEg0mliPdKOVZpXd8euD%2BxW7qa6bdWWFG7cc5ofIrJTzic7x4bUWZ577XToJ1kx6haAqtRSGmJB3TWhdtB1pEf1QKiW8LmuKJ3MvQYMsg68W5EEQuPN8sUEg4UuB7QfroeQ%2BsbA1e4HLzfg6%2FLPZZKXqnQBxdFmy347nd0uKHbMdfFbKOOamGCo2qBW0jJwVc2TpK54a2La9GYiAvR62%2FBops%2BaHtrcLQDZtzkYsGL6g7gebk9nCKeifFkx8P091woGRJ5fMVSrGB3y9zW3MniBjhTAQjAZ%2FrA|tkp%3ABFBM7OS60Zlg They're very loud.

Thats what a little bit of nitro fuel tubing is for, when it snaps just use a little fuel tubing and you have a flexible joint where it snapped 🙂

Hey I'm all for big antenna tube, for me it puts the bug into buggy! Until you land it upside down on a track and it eventually snaps off 😔

I doubt it. I had the same problem with an HPI, turns out the slipper assembly wasn't molded correctly, so the spur gears were never seated centrally. As I rotated the spur by hand, I had high and low points. This meant no amount of adjustment was going to give a proper mesh because the gap widened and closed during rotation. Does your mesh stay consistent during rotation?

yeh its is really good fun with the bouncing and under steer and over powered 21turn 540 motor i might tone down the motor lol it came with a i believe a 27turn 380 size motor lmao remember it originally came out in 1988, i get bored with high performance ones some times and just want something thats slower and a laugh due to its handling like this and the lunchi/pumpkin 🙂

Collected a lot of grass clippings went for an unscheduled explore in the old moat next to the field!

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/product/tamiya-the-grasshopper-ii-black-edition-1335178 new hoppy arrived earlier and been building it all night, not finished yet but the chassis is done and all the electrics are working as they should 🙂 i thought only the back shocks were oil filled but turns out so are the front ones 😄 let there be gear box. think i used the servo that came with my vse and is slightly dodgy but should be more than enough for this and got a 21turn brushed 540 motor in it with a rw steel pinion lol spectrum receivers are so tiny and thats a hobby wing 1060 in it 🙂 hot shock action 😛 hmm a bit close literally touching, should be okay under power and sitting on ground...... go 540 size motor, oh it uses the same gearbox mount as the lunchie/pumpkin and i broke one of the bits that holds one of the evil leafsprings by screwing into the wrong hole lol, so far it should be fine as these shocks should take up any slack , deffo a lot better than the hoppy 1 shocks and on my lunch box i snapped a leaf spring on its second run, should not need a 5th shock mod on this though lmao let there be glued tyres, i found em a lot easier than hoppy 1 wheels to get in the tyres, they are however 1 piece wheels rather than the old ones beadlocks. i thought for some reason that it only came with oil shocks on the back and was pleasantly surprised to find it has oil ones on the front too 🙂 the battery tray is an improvement as well over hoppy 1, it uses 2 pins to hold it on which means my battery should stay nice and snug instead of some times popping out the bottom lol edit: also noticed the battery tray seems slightly longer, i think lol ball raced it as well, screw the plastic bushings it comes with 😛 front wheels need shimmed, i noticed a bit movement on the shaft, if only the wheel nuts would screw in slightly more, none of that on the back wheels. all in all a enjoyable build as usual for tamiya, just need some tweaks etc appears that the shell uses body clips while hoppy 1 has it screwed down, should get its first test run in a day or 2. oh bonus old pic of hoppy 1, running a stock 380 motor and on its second pair of back tyres lmao 😄 edit: i just broke it lol, took it out for a test run with no shell on and snapped of the front suspension mount on one side, ordered a new chassis for a tenner but i think i can make use of left over alloy and a drill and dremell to make this one stronger and usable again, i dont fancy replacing chassis every time i break a front suspension mount 🙂 21turn 540 size motor may or may not be too fast for it and i only used a 6 cell nimh 😛# what i tried with it snapped my suspension tower on a dt-02 😛

A pre emptive build thread for something that has laid dormant in my mind for quite some time. Parts are inbound though (chassis from drifted.nl, body from appliance electronics and some overnight parts from Hong Kong 😂) so time to see if I can bring the mental vision to reality 🤞

Ha same here!

Definitely getting that mesh correct?

Could be a bendy motor mount as well.

yes man

Too north for me 😁 but have a great day of it 👍

Can you get a steel spur?

i would be really happy about the damage considering what could have happened. if it was me, i tend to have a slow reaction so the front end would be destroyed and chassis either bent or snapped.

What a journey bud - I'm with @Kpowell911on this they look bloody awesome, but a part of me wonders if they're literally designed to be "functional" shelf items. Whatever is going on you appear to be having fun so seems like a really good buy for you 🙂

The xr8 would rip in this, easily do 70mph. Or 1mph with sensored tweaks. I see your thinking on sensored and looks a blast! Sure she will have fun with it and until then the wife or yourself eh 🙂

all stickered up now and body on, just had a much better test drive as well and it also lives up to the hopper name with its bouncing about and understeer, it is a bit of a handful but fun lol

Maybe its not the transmission? Bent motor shaft? Collapsed bearing in motor?

Hi, @Jack Reacher , just looked at the trample, looks good, better spec than a mauler @c4llum83wheels and tyres where on it when bought, don't know about the wheels but the tyres are duratrax deepwoods cr, and they are big, but seem to stick to anything, got some axial ripsaws to try on it, when i come across some more wheels and foams Motor is standard but the esc,reciever and transmitter are traxxas, with the esc having 5 different modes to select, the standard motor suits me fine, if it ever fails wuold happily fit the same 😀

I thought it sounded like a pin slipping in the transmission. Each gear is held in place with a pin then a bearing in most cases, maybe the transmission is flexing spitting the pin, similar to what the outlaw does to the spur? Hope you get it sorted.

Thanks mate 👍🏻I’ve dropped the shocks down one hole to raise the chassis a couple of mm to fix the rubbing

You seem to only upload as unlisted now- adays, good run truck looks sweet, but tyres seem to rub arches a fair bit, great run though

That is a really weird noise, I've still not built mine yet but looking at the drive layout and you mentioning that you lost the front drive I would be inclined to say it's not the gearbox but maybe front diff ??? I only say this because I can't physically see how the drive would be lost front to rear on that gearbox layout.. If it were like the Vanquish that can do 4wd to 2wd that would make sense but not in the case of the Gmade..

hehe, aye deffo not the most robust model, got it sorted and ill go easier on it next time 😛

Few pics from its first run out . It ran great with no problems 👍🏻

A few bits for the rally yesterday

Took the Summit to the coast 👍

That’s a strange fault ! Any signs of grub screws slipping on the centre shafts ?

Managed to get a picture of a mate. Unfortunately not very good. Ha.

Life got busy, so no RC stuff for a bit...Came back into the hobby yesterday and thanks to @Yrkoon, not one, but another two cars have been purchased. Opps!

Taking my time trimming and masking my Ford Ranger shell. Hopefully get some paint on next week if there’s any sun on my days off. 🤞

I have been so busy I've not even had the chance to look! 😞 Worst case I'll just borrow one, I do work at Modelsport and see them every day, so no excuses really! Haha.

Did nothing over the week on the car, however, today I've made good progress. This morning I trimmed up the ESC plate and fitted the MAX6 as best I could with motor wires, starter button and general space being at a premium. I then messed about with the receiver wires and laid it all out a few times, different paths, ways, etc.. until I was happy with the routes and clearances from the drivetrain. Once I was happy, I fixed the receiver in place and fed the antenna into the tube in the tub, tidied it up and out the lid on. Now, I did find the the weather strip on the side entry of the receiver box was annoying and in the end I didn't use it, this car will mainly be run in the dry for now and if and when I do bash it or don something else with it I'll consider re-fitting the weather strip later, Once that was all sorted, I connected a few batteries to make sure wall was responding and going in the right direction before I finally began the final fix. Had trouble with finding somewhere to fit the starter button, so I chose the centre diff housing, as that was the best option currently, it seems to clear the bodyshell by a mile, however, again when I choose it maybe bash this about a bit I may have to re-consider the positioning but honestly its fine. All I have to do now is set the end points, steering rates and other calibration and I'm ready to get it running. This has been such an enjoyable process, putting this together, reading about stuff and taking my time to understand what I'm doing. It was rather intimidating to be honest but for a first time, so far, it's been great. Now to see how it goes.

Made some more progress on the wheels. First finished set going on my car today or tomorrow. Then see how they stand up to some abuse on Tuesday. Need to make one tiny adjustment to the 3d printed part. But that's a 30 second job tonight by

Took the DC1 out. Found out immediately that it was running 3wd due to a snapped CVD, my first breakage since building it!

Have to show this off here because, ...well, honestly my Mrs doesn't care so I wanted to share with somebody. Spent maybe 12+ hours odd working on my Losi SBR 2.0 this weekend; Stripped it down, cleaned, replaced the remaining standard diffs with GPM aluminium ones filled with heavier fluids, changed over half the bolts for stainless steel ones, adjusted the suspension settings/ride height and then refitted everything back together. Very happy with it now ~ standard diffs shockingly were all almost completely empty of oil (see picture below of front diff where oil had all but completely leaked out!). 😮 Another GPM aluminium diff ready for fitting (this one was for the centre) Also added a Traxxas waterproof RX box to protect the receiver as standard it is just open to the dirt/water elements etc. Painted the calipers with gold spray paint and clear lacquer as I didn't think the red standard calipers suited the truck. Last two pictures of a birds eye showing some of the stainless steel added screws and the new ride height set up.