D-Mon

Out of interest, are you using the kit wheels? All the photos and video are showing as removed/unavailable so cannot tell from what you've posted so far. If you are, it might be worth changing to these: https://www.jcracingproducts.co.uk/tamiya/astute . I would link to Modelsport but I think this is the only place that sells them and cannot find anything similar on the MS website. They are a modern replacement for the Astute wheels, but looking at the manual (https://www.tamiyaclub.com/modalpic.asp?img=astute_manual_20.jpg) should fit a DT-03 (I think the 850 bearing is for spacing on the Astute; the bearings that fit inside the wheels are 1150 like on the DT-03) and will apparently allow you to fit 2.2 tyres without needing to use a bearing to hex adaptor for the front. The stock wheels are a bit smaller than 2.2 and that might affect your tyre profile and switching to slightly larger wheels might also help with top speed. Hopefully it'll give you more options and a better fit. I haven't tried them myself but plan to buy them for my DT-03 after I get paid later in the week. If you're intersted and still attempting this speed run I can let you know what they turn out like for me. Also can vouch for the Dumborc, I have one and it's great. Mine lacks the gyro though as I couldnt get ahold of that reciever at the time. I know the name is probably meant as 'Dumbo RC' but I prefer to read it as 'Dumb Orc' and make tastless LoTR jokes instead.

Oooh, I like this. I like this a lot. Seen it done with paint and guitars in the past but not RC before. Has given me an idea for a future project.

Hi Woody, Yes, in theory a larger pinion will give a higher top speed, but whether that constitutes higher performance depends on how you use the car and your opinion. The pinned article linked below does a pretty good job at explaining it all: One thing I would consider is that a larger pinion will place more load on the motor. This isn't necessarily an issue on large, flat surfaces with low resistance such as concrete or tarmac but if you are running on tough surfaces such as grass or sand, or the area it is being used in is too small to achieve top speed, it would be better to use the smaller 17t pinion. You don't have many gearing options with a rising fighter so I would suggest trying both pinion sizes and deciding which is best for your use case based on how you think it does. If the motor gets too hot to touch or the ESC cuts out with the 19t, that's usually a sign that the gearing is too tall for the conditions the car is being used in and a smaller pinion should be used.

Welcome 🙂 Is your ESC set to allow reverse function and is the throttle range on the ESC calibrated? If your ESC has manual calibration it might be worth going through it again now that the channels are set up correctly

Yeah I did wonder if it was just the max life of the battery, it was getting 25ish minutes on the kit motor but that was a much weaker motor. Was just a bit put out by the how hot it was getting and thought that might be affecting things, especially with the voltage climb after being given time to cool off and if there was anything odd about that. Will probably get a couple of 5000mah in the near future for a bit longer per battery and so I'm not hammering the same one all the time 😁 Might still swap connectors though and see if that reduces temperatures. At the very least would future proof it for eventual LiPo I guess, when that does become an option for me.

Hi everyone, I've noticed some odd behaviour with my NiMH battery and ESC. I have a theory and a possible work-around that might improve things but wanted to run it by the forum and see if anyone has had similar issues. ESC is a hobbywing quicrun 1060, battery is an overlander 3300mah 7.2v pack. Buggy is a Tamiya DT-03 and motor is Etronix 17t brushed modified. Battery and buggy run fine for about 15 -20 minutes off-road (grass or sand), before ESC slows the car and steering becomes intermittent before both cut out. Do the usual checks of ESC and motor temp and both seem to be ok, not too hot to the touch. However, the battery at this stage is hot, not dangerously so but I think its a lot hotter than it should be under normal operation. I don't think its a faulty ESC or battery although I don't have another battery to test yet. Turning the car off then on again allows a brief (<1 minute) of run time before the same thing happens. The reason I think its related to battery temps is that by the time I've walked home, the car functions normally when switched back on. At this point the battery is still warm but the temperature is significantly lower than at the point of cut out. Using my multimeter, the battery voltage reads about 7.2v after getting in. When left to cool for another 30 minutes to room temperature, a further reading on the multimeter shows the battery sitting at 7.8v. In both cases I can run the car indoors for a further 20-30ish minutes, albeit not at full throttle due to space constraints before the battery runs flat. For reference, fully charged the battery registers about ~9.3v. I know that the internal resistance of batteries and other electronics increases with temperature and that an increase in resistance lowers voltage so I'm reasonably confident that hot batteries are the issue, especially as it works properly for a while after cooling down. I know switching to LiPo would be the best option but there are a couple of reasons I can't do that at the moment, so have to persevere with NiMH for the time being. With that in mind, would swapping the connectors from Tamiya style to something like a Deans or EC3 help to reduce the heat build up in the battery? I've read that the Tamiya style connectors are quite inefficient and considering the max discharge rate of NiMH is already fairly low, I can't imagine leaving these on is helping. Motor is only a brushed 17t and gearing is 17/55 so nothing crazy and I think in-spec for off-road use so I doubt the issue is with the ESC, but respect that such conditions would probably cause the motor to draw a lot of current and I think this is the root cause of the battery heating up. I should also note that I didn't have this issue when using the TBLE-02s and Tamiya torque-tuned motor that the kit came with. Any thoughts or ideas are appreciated. I guess I could just get a second battery and swap them out as they get hot to allow each one to cool and then hopefully run them flat instead of ending my bash when it cooks but would prefer to reduce heat build up to begin with.

Thanks all! 😀

Hi all, I'm relatively new to the hobby, I recently picked up and built a Tamiya DT-03 and have done a couple of short solo bashes since the rules for England eased on Monday. I'm completely new to off-road, only having done some light (and infrequent) on-road bashing with a TT-01 when I was a teenager a number of years ago. I'm based on the East Kent coast and have made use of some of the beach in the quieter hours to avoid the many MAMILs and dog walkers that appear from 7am onwards and learnt full well how much of pain sand can be to clean! Hoping to make it a regular hobby and as places open up and rules relax, heard of a couple of tracks in Kent that seem like they might be fun to check out in due course. Want to eventually go up to 1/8th and give nitro a go but will be a while before thats possible due to current location and living arrangements. Similar issues when it comes to storing LiPos so doing everything with NiMH for now too. Thought I'd share a photo of my DT-03 after it was first built. Its a little outdated as after I built it and used it indoors I got an idea of what kinds of upgrades I might like to add, so not pictured are the upgraded spring set and 17t brushed motor (umming and ahhing over going brushless later on, might just wait till I get a more capable buggy). The wing is a third party ABS one that looks much better than the stock polycarb in my opinion :D . Current specs are: Hobbywing Quicrun 1060 brushed ESC; Etronix 17t Modified Brushed motor; Allturn USA low-profile BB/MG high-speed servo (about 9-10kg iirc); Dumborc something or other 6ch radio system (all I remember is that its the dirt cheap one and has no gyro); Kit wheels and tyres; Alloy wheel hexes on rear; Light weight gear shafts; 17t steel pinion ; Rubber sealed ball bearings; Tamiya DT-03 spring set (red soft springs fitted); Overlander NiMH batteries. Anyway, hope to learn something by lurking here and maybe get in on some bashing as things return to normal.