danb1990

Thanks Garry, they do seem incredible value for money when competitor products are 3 figure prices! And the LiPos themselves seem to be reasonably priced these days, its still the cost of a brushless motor and ESC that's getting me though. The one Matt linked to is by far the cheapest I've seen so far but is still

Awesome, will take a look at getting the Cyclone brought up here. The old HPI NASCAR shells seem to be scarce on UK websites but eBay USA seems to be full of them, $20 a piece with $15 international shipping. The truck looks great, would look at different bodies for it though as I'm not particularly a Kyle Busch fan, especially after he purposely took someone out under yellow at high speed! One question about the IMAX charger; is it any good? Does seem to have a lot of features for the price but other chargers seem to be really pricey. I've seen it on eBay for

Awesome, keep up the good work guys! Great to see F1 cars still about; quite fancy having my F103 and F201 both sent up here for a holiday project, although Mathematical Optimisation has other ideas. Hard to believe I started this thread 2 and a half years ago merely to announce I'd got the F201. Parents still think it was pointless of me buying more R/C chassis only 6 months before going off to uni, but money well spent I say, even if they're currently gathering dust in the loft, along with the Cyclone. Quite fancy doing the McLaren like yours Garry, with it being number 28 I guess it's the 1990 car? One of my favourite F1 cars ever, championship winner from the year I was born. Got loads of pics of the real thing from my trip to the Donington Museum a couple of years ago.

Have also found a couple of older ones, the HPI Chevy Monte Carlo and HPI Stocker body, both 200mm and apparently fit TC chassis, I know they're older versions but would they fit if I find it too difficult to get hold of the McAllister one? Have been looking at pickup truck shells, wouldn't mind doing one of the NASCAR trucks, although after the other week it won't be a Kyle Busch one!

Cheers for that Garry I'll look all around to get it, really fancy doing a Tony Stewart or Dale Jr Chevy, would like the spoiler rather than the wing, as per current NASCAR regs but would be cool either way.

Hi Garry, thanks its good to be back! Didn't realise LiPo and chargers had become much more affordable now, what's more surprising is I'd only need 1 pack! Will stay away from that TC5, but it's been on for 4 days now and no bids, I will keep an eye on it as it would be an ideal cheap car for car park bashing, wanna make sure the skills are still there! Cheers, will take a look at the Cyclone when I get home again, are the hubs, wishbones and turnbuckles more robust now, as I do remember breaking a fair few in the old days? Also I've somewhat developed a penchant for NASCAR in the last 2 years, are there any NASCAR shells which will fit TC chassis? I've seen that Protoform have done a Mk2 of their TCC body, which now has the spoiler rather than a full blown wing as per actual NASCAR, it says it should fit a TC but I remember you saying with the original one that the hood didn't look like it'd clear the shock towers?

Wow, never thought the Cyclone would still be up to the job, any upgrade parts I should consider getting? Main reason I was looking at that TC5 was because it's cheap (at the minute). Do like the idea of a TC6.1 but there is no way I could justify the price of one of those. Saw that HB now do the TCX, the design doesn't look to dissimilar to the Cyclone, so would the parts be interchangeable? Those brushless systems do seem good value, as do the LiPo batteries, but I remember in the old days with the NiMh cells I needed at least 3 sets for one race meeting, maybe even a fourth. My F1 cars are still running, although I never did race them, they were just for messing around with in practice, although I did stick my transponder in the F103 and consistently beat my TC times (although that would mostly be down to having a 19T rather than 27T motor, but with tyre additive it handled so much better than even my Cyclone, which I had tweaked so many times to get it just about perfect). The only thing other than costs that is currently stopping me making a full return to R/C is the apparent lack of clubs up here in Aberdeen, the closest one is 15 miles away, which wasn't a problem back home as I had a car, but being a student I have had to cut costs and the Fiat has long gone, and its not exactly practical hauling all my gear around on the bus (usually had a minimum of 3 large toolboxes). One more thing, I know that I need a special charger for LiPo cells, again charger tech has moved on a lot in the last 2-3 years, and of course the prices have increased massively. Any decent LiPo chargers out there on the cheap?

Hey guys, its been a long time since I last posted here, but I miss racing. Don't get me wrong, I'm having a great time up at uni, but when I was back at home for a weekend visit, I dug out my old racing gear and the bug bit me again. It would be stupid for me to think my 2006 spec Cyclone with MRT ESC and god only knows what motor, all I know is its a 27T, and really old batteries, none of which have been ran for nearly 2 years, would be even remotely competitive. I remember before I left, brushless and LiPo were just coming in, I'm guessing they're now commonplace? I do know my old Acoms 2.4GHz radio and Hitec high speed metal geared servo work at the very least, so thats a bit less money I'd need to shell out. But the thing I can't get my head around is the costs. Seemingly

Yep, because tobacco advertising is illegal, but even when it wasn't Tamiya never put the tobacco logos on their cars. Mind you, these days McLaren are removing all the Marlboro logos from their old F1 cars, which is a shame, its a part of history! Luckily though, there are places in HK who will do proper full decal sheets for this Lotus and many other cars!

Cheers, I'll try to attach my receiver to the ESC when I get my car shipped up here from England. Hmm, I've never had any diff troubles with an F103, however having had a similar problem with the front diff of my F201 I'd say either take it apart again and make sure everything has been re-assembled as per instructions (my attempt at an F201 diff was completely backwards to how it should have been), and if it still has the problem after re-assembly then replce the balls and diff plates. Garry might be able to give more of an insight than I can though. With regards to the tyres, I have also been looking for foams for my F201, no luck as such, I suppose the only way is to get some F103 foams and stretch them over the rims? I'm no expert on batteries either, but they look like a good buy, I use cheap and cheerful ones in mine though as I don't race it competitively.

Been really getting into the NASCAR lately, and inevitably I've been looking for an R/C one. Do like the AE one http://67.199.85.166/ae/10r5o/10r5o_home.php, even if it is a tad pricey, but nonetheless I quite like the idea. I've never raced r/c on an oval before, so whats it like? And are there any oval tracks in Scotland? Been struggling to find even TC clubs near Aberdeen, been pointed in the direction of a couple at the Union Square GP last weekend though so its all good.

Hi Rick, your F201 looks great, just wondering how you've attached the ESC, I run the standard F201 and have nowhere to put the receiver as the ESC takes up the whole space at the back of the chassis which is also meant to house the receiver. Have you made your own bracket for it? Cheers, Dan

yum, might treat myself to a T3 in the summer then, circumstances allowing.

Yum, TCX sounds good, although the price won't be to my liking. What are the current crop of high end TCs like? (i.e. Mi4, Xray T3, TOP Photon etc). I know they're also out of budget but I'm fairly interested.

Cheers, glad to be back, can't wait to get up and running again. Quite like the idea of limitless timing, I'll make sure I get extra hours in at work. Right, that's electronics sorted, and I'll save up for the LiPo and charger so power isn't an issue. Now onto the chassis. My Cyclone is 2007 spec at best, a few of the parts from the "original" spec from when the car was launched, I gave it a major upgrade in 07, but I think now is the time to bring it up to date once more. Any new parts that are a must have, or will I get away with simply cleaning up what I have and replacing old worn out parts with identical new ones?