Slugsie

So I recently received a Traxxas Slash 4x4, and I'm loving it so far even if I've only been able to take it out twice. Because I live near the sea one of the easiest places for me to take it out bashing is on the beach, and if you know Lytham St Annes, you'll know the sea goes out at least a mile or more so the beach is huge! Of course that does mean the internals get covered in sand, and it takes ages to clean out afterwards. So, anyway, I was perusing eBay as I do, and I spotted these protective covers: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Protective-cover-Traxxas-Slash-4x4-/180714457129?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item2a136bc829 They look good, and they'll undoubtedly keep most of the sand out. However it'll probably also trap the heat in. Now I'm running stock gearing/motor with 7S NIMH and 2S LIPO so I'm not exactly pushing things, but I'd rather not heat kill anything too soon. So, what's the overall consensus? Is the cover a good or bad idea, especially on the beach?

OK, so looks like I have a long way to go. Well I have fried a motor. It started to run a bit slow so I pulled up, and that is when the magic smoke escaped. I reckon if I kept running it would have stayed put.

Ah well, I've hit myself more than a few times.

Hahahahaha. Well, Blackpool airport is only a couple of minutes away. Might be able to get a Boeing to run over my RC.

I know I'm only new to RCing, but Speedy Models is the only shop I've been in so far. I wanted a new speed controller for my Tamiya. They recommended one which had the Tamiyah connectors, when I pointed out that all the batteries I had were fitted with bullet connectors the guy said "dunno why you have those fitted" and sold me the bits to make an adaptor so I could connect my bullet batteries to a Tamiyah connector. In my innocence that's what I did. I now know better.

Just took the Royal Flash out for a quick bash up and down my road, lost concentration for a second and it hit 3/4 into a wall. I could immediately tell that I had broken something as the wheel was hanging off. Front lower suspension arm split open around the securing pin, and the steering arm popped off. So, my first breakage. Am I a real RCer now? Quick hop onto ebay a replacement part ordered. Gonna take a few days so if I wasn't going to loose the weekend a temporary fix is needed. I've looped a length of cable tie over the end of the arm, and hot glued it in place. It seems to hold together quite well, certainly enough to be able to go for a bash on the beach if the weather holds. Does anyone know if there are any non plastic hop-up parts for the Royal Flash? I've had a quick look and can't find any mention of any. I know it's only a low spec car, but it's what I have for the moment.

Thankyou all.

Hmm, I've live in the area for 14 years and I don't have a clue where that is! *edit* Is it the fields behind the Guardian/Axa building?

Hi. I joined just before the weekend, but not been able to get on since then, so saying hi now. HI I just recently decided to try out with a bit of RC Car bashing, and figuring out if it's a hobby I can persist at. I've picked up a couple of second hand cars off ebay: Tamiya TA03. Not sure exactly which version, the included booklet suggests it's a TA03F-S, but the chassis doesn't match that of other ones I've seen (rear motor for a start). It came with a pretty hot motor (not sure of exact model), which in my complete innocence I think I have killed. I replaced it with a Ansmann Clash 18 from my local model store, but unfortunately I left the pinion (18T) from the original motor and fried that one too. It's currently running the motor I pulled from the second car (below) with a smaller pinion (16T), but that's not running at all right. I'll be replacing it with an EZRun Brushless as soon as funds permit. Ansmann Royal Flash. The original motor/esc it came with doesn't seem to run quite right. Very little power, and very hesitant. It runs slightly better in the TA03 which is lighter and much lower geared. Replaced with an EZRun 13T Brushless with 35A ESC, much better. I've got a big stack of batteries of various makes and vintages, with different connectors. I've also got several chargers. Correctly charging the batteries is proving slightly problematic at the moment, as only one charger is intelligent (it's a Schumacher CDA if anyone knows anything about it) which I power off a 12V SLA. The big problem with it is it has a cut-off of 50minutes, which is nothing like enough to charge my 5000mAh NiMH packs. Resulting in packs that may not be getting charged correctly, hopefully I'm not damaging them. I've ordered an iMax B3 charger which should turn up in a few days, and I'll be changing everything over to the Traxxas style connectors to simplify stuff and hopefully improve power delivery. I'll probably look to changing over to LIPO, again when funds permit. So far I've managed to scare some of the local kids stupid running the TA03 round a local car park (before I killed the hot motor), and had a laugh sending the Royal Flash bombing up and down the beach in and out of the sand dunes. My daughter has played too, and I think she might have potential. Having fun so far, and I just know I'll have a heap of questions coming up. I like tinkering, and I feel the need to open up some diffs coming on. I'll no doubt not be able to get them back together quickly. Anyone else from Lytham St Annes/Blackpool South area here?