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?

That does look like some good equipment, still a bit too pricey for me though, perhaps I'd do OK looking for them on eBay? Before I left I was looking at the Losi Xcelorin brushless system which was around

Hi guys I know its been a while, in fact too long, so thought I'd pop by and say hello. For those who don't know, I used to race TC up to September '09, when a move to Scotland and the beginning of University life put my racing on hold. I've attended just one race meeting since then, all the way back in January, and although I could easily tell how much my car was off the pace, I reckon everything has moved on further now. But by how much? Back when I was last club racing (never tried my hand at nationals, although it is something I fancy doing), I used a Cyclone which was probably in need of a major rebuild and many parts needed replacing but I took the classic British engineer in a shed approach and simply added gaffer tape and it was surprisingly competitive, a regular in the B final and sometimes (1 in 4 attempts-ish) a B final winner, although I never achieved my ambition of reaching the A final before I left, something I'll be putting right when I can. My club had just started allowing brushless motors at the time, until then it was 27T brushed stock motors only (now 13.5 brushless are allowed), and more recently I checked on our club website and they've finally allowed LiPo's. Which all sounds great, however for the budget racer like me, of course there's going to be a problem. I simply cannot compete with

I have the original 1976 release of this car, it drives really well with the 540 motor, mine obviously isn't this detailed (has a cover over the engine for example) but its still epic. Is more of a shelf queen than a runner though. I think I'll be looking at adding the new one to the collection.

I'm angry. Turned the whole garage upside down, and looked in the loft, both sheds, my room, spare room full of junk, and couldn't find my F1 cars. Dad doesn't remember where he's put it, so instead decided to have a go at me. So the F1 cars haven't had their run today, which is a shame as Hinckley was a great club, plenty more room and enough members with raceable F1 cars (the new HPI one seems popular!), would have been good to see them take on the good old F103.

Right, thought a little update from me was due. Sadly, when I was up in Aberdeen for Uni, dad decided to put my F1 cars away, don't know where they are, but he's put them somewhere safe, need to ask about that. So unfortunately, the Tyrrell has not had the decals applied yet, it will be done soon though as I'm racing at Hinckley on the 2nd, although the Tyrrell will be there solely as a demo run. If I race an F1 car it'll be the F103, which I intend to take back with me to Aberdeen for some Uni car park fun. I also want to give the Tyrrell the once over. It's not exactly in the best condition sadly, part of the body has cracked off at the front left corner (like that when I got it), and I've lost the notches on the bottom of the chassis which were for the body clips (weird setup on the old Tamiya chassis, but the notches were metal but have broken off after a surprisingly low speed demo run outdoors. Such a shame I decided to be such an idiot and run it, but the track looked so smooth). The metal chassis is made up of 3 parts, the centre bit is like the carbon/frp bit of the F103, but it has 2 side bits of the same width and 3/4 the length screwed on; 1 either side. These are where the notches are, and unfortunately seem to be the only part of the chassis which is difficult to acquire. I can get the rear axle, the centre chassis plate, gearbox, steering mechanism and very primitive front suspension, but not the side bits. I got 2 different axles with the car, one had threaded ends and flat spots for the grub screws, but was bent. I believe it to be a necessary upgrade if the car has the larger motor mount/gearbox fitted which allows it to accommodate 540 sized motors (the original was smaller, for I believe a 370 or 380 sized motor; can't remember which) and even slight use of this has damaged the spur gear, so I am currently running it as a bodge job with the old axle but the newer gearbox. Doing this has made the rear wheels uneven (i.e. the one on the right sticks out more than the one on the left) and while it functions properly, it looks rubbish and therefore needs to be sorted. As I cannot find the newer style axle which is not bent (none on eBay!) I was thinking of using the rear axle from an F103 (as they are similar and the gearbox is the same but thick metal rather than plastic). However, the spur gear, which contains a gear diff within itself, has a tooth missing, which makes the car sound cool but I know is no good. Seeing as I was thinking of putting an F103 rear axle on there, maybe I could put the spur/diff from an F103 on there? I'd love to know what you all think about this. I can imagine some of the purists may not think its a good idea, and while in most cases I'd want to keep things original, parts for the old P34 are becoming harder to find, and in some cases modernisation is a good thing, like having an old house with a thatched roof and big wooden beams, but with modern plumbing and electrics. Another plan for the new year is to find a club in or around Aberdeen and race there. I also need a job to pay for repairs, and possibly treat myself to an F104 with the 2009 Ferrari body set.

looks good, although I'm not sure ING will be too happy, they got the team to remove their logos after the Piquet crashing on purpose thing. Also on eBay spotted the 2009 Ferrari on F104 chassis at

Hey everyone, well, I'm now back from Uni and over the christmas period I'm going to be fiddling with my cars. First things first, I now have a decal sheet for the Tyrrell; I'm looking to put them on the car later today. Also, while I've been away, our club is allowing any car to race, and I've found another local club which runs F1 cars, so I'm looking to have some fun with the F103. Love the F104 in Lotus colours CocoPops, you going to race it?

Hey guys, thought I'd pop in for a bit, haven't been around lately due to uni. Good to see more of you getting F1 cars, hopefully the class will take off again soon. I'm starting to get withdrawl symptoms, I've not touched an r/c car for 2 months. Also I can't seem to find any clubs up here in Aberdeen Anyway, liking the look of Protoform's bodies, the McLaren one looks fantastic and will be on the list when I get home.

I want, with a 500 body, or better, a Panda (because I have a full sized one!) how much?