347 - 4mm Bullets

The switch to 4mm bullet plugs have been started.

Yesterday my full supply of batteries (guess I have to implement it with another one or two packs) have been upgraded with 4mm female plugs and two of my Robitronic ESCs gained its male corrispondent.

At now I've upgraded the Speedstar I've planned to use in my Tamiya BBX (to replace the Ko ESC I've fried last year) and the one used in my Kyosho Ultima Dirtmaster.

Here is showed a mistake made in choosing the heat shrink: the black one is the type with glue that I've accidentally bought time ago... luckily, noticed it, I've thrown it away and rescued the correct one To avoid to excessively shorten the cable I've kept it in place only in this ESC.

346 - The Sad Truth

 

The truth is sad: I'm awful with the soldering iron. My last attempt to solder a wire to a T-plug has melted the plastic by the inside... holy crap.

Well the only plugs I can solder without damages are the bullet ones so I ordered some 4mm pairs and I hope the matter is closed.

345 - ESC's Spare Case Designing

 

Yesterday, after failing a pair of soldering attempts (my abilities with the soldering iron are awful) and packing away my stuff, I've noticed that the Robitronic Speedstar 2 I've removed from my RM01 time ago has its case damaged.

I widely use that ESC and I own 4, 5 or more of them and in the past I've noticed already that the plastic of the case is much thin and brittle.

So I'm in the mood to try to design by myself ssome spare cases to 3D print. The suggested site for newbies like me is Tinkercad.com so without rush I will try to do the job, finger crossed.

344 - Ready to Solder!

OMG more than a month have been passed since the last time I've refreshed my blog, shame on me.

To be honest not much have been done since my last runs with my Kyosho Ultima: the search for black t-plug has failed do I bought a bundle of red ones and I've also bought a curious tool to help me to solder them easily.

343 - Connectors Swapping

During my last holidays, while running my fresh built Kyosho Ultima SB, my usual 3,5mm bullet connectors set-up has shown all its limits: due to overheating some soldering have melted and overheated connetors made some damages hitting the body.

(photo from the Web)

I guess it could sounds silly but since then I'm mubling about the choice to make to swap all the bullets with something else.

For first I've considered the XT60 connectors but I decided to go with the classics and more compact T-plugs ones, in black of course.

342 - Call To The Rc Community Worldwide

Well, this time I call for a big help from the RC community world wide: the cars shown by this rough collage will be on sale on the bay in the next months. I will shot some new pic of every model and i will write detailed infos but I really need to make some room in my life. I will keep only a few of models but mostly will be on sale, all of them have been restored, updated and modified but the could be switched back to the original setup because evey modify have took me time to be minded as reversible. If already interested drop me a mail. But please fellas help me to sold theese great models. 

341 - Thumbs Down for LRP

I had written a long post to tell about this story but what happened is really simple: I've written to LRP to gain some extra infos about the three "team tested" LRP motors I own. I was very excited by the idea to know something else about them.

Well, several week have been spent without any reply by LRP and it's a shame because I was really intending to use my german motors.

Is this the support LRP gives to the hobbyst? Or they only want to make some extra moneys selling the three stupid fake vintage motors they launched time ago? "Heritage" the have the courage to say.

340 - Back to the Plain

Summer holidays have been over, we have been back in Venice and before my cars (BBX and Ultima) and all the RC stuff have been packed awaiting to be carried back to my parents home (I haven't room enough here in Venice to store RC stuff).

During last rides on my lawn I've noticed that ESC and motors runs very hot, the ESC reached often its thermal protection and some bullet connectors  melted. Running on the grass isn't easy without options enough to switch spur and pinion and using 15x2 old school motors (Reedy in the Tamiya BBX and Peak in the Kyosho Ultima) doesn't help. I will not quit with that motors and I will not switch down to less powerful ones so I will buy a good sets of pinions for both.

Unfortunately one of the overheated connector hit the Ultima's body melting the lexan of the right window. It's a shame because I love how the Ultima's body turned out but I will not change it because I love RC cars that show the singns of use and abuse.

For sure I will switch from 3,5 mm bullet connectors to something efficient and I guess it will be for XT60 ones.

339 - My Kyosho Ultima Has Been Painted!

Some pics from my lawn of my fresh painted Ultima still without stickers. Of course some mistakes are evident but I'm pretty satisfied of paint scheme and colours choice.

338 - Builted, Powered, Bodied, Winged... Still to Paint!

My Kyosho Ultima SB Dirtmaster have been almost completed, today. It needs only a well painted body and, maybe, a yellow nylon wing.

Usual setup for electronics, Peak 15x2 motor and I cant wait to drive it on the grass.

337 - Prendere Un Granchio

In Italian "prendere un granchio" means making a coarse mistake. Indeed my Tower Hobbies motor isn't Kyosho based but is Epic based. To be honest after my return to the hobby I've learned a lot about motor: back in the days I was convinced, reading italian magazines, that were only a few of producers (Reedy, Trinity, Twisters, LRP, Cobra, CAM...) but I'm learning that did existed several other brands involved in the hobby.

336 - Tower Hobbies Speed Secret Motor

Suddenly I've remembered about this Tower Hobbies motor that came to me togheter with the Acto Power I've restored time ago and with a Reedy Ultra in awful conditions. I was speculating about the restoration of my Mega motors when I've remebered about the similarities with Kyhosho motors it shows at first glance so the first think is about go cannibalize it for the parts needed but before I want to compare its conditions with the one of my second Mega to decide.

335 - Errata Corrige

I'm afraid I have been a bit superficial, honestly I do not rember where I've found (or where I'm convinced to have found) that Kyosho Mega motors use 5x5mm brushes but It's wrong! They use 5x4mm brushes as many of the common motor in the hobby.

Of course both of mine need many cares to be back to a good shape and it is not a problem because these are the things I like to do.

My second Mega benefits of this HPI endbell but I would find a Kyosho one to keep it back to its original contitions.

334 - Rescued & Repaired

 

Some days ago I've rescued and repaired my Delta Ray buggy (the car built by spares inspired by the Yokomo Hot Dog 4). in 2022 (or 2023), during the last of shakedown, I've broke a rear hub carrier and I'm guilty to have waited a long to dig in my spares stock to switch it with a new one. It's clearly a little dusty so I have to clean it and I have to decide also if fitting a Futaba receiver to keep as runner or to retire it on a shelf (It's one of my few cars that isn't for sale).

333 - Winter Project No. 2

A few days ago I've rescued my two Kyosho Mega 16x2 motors. The one with the most faded label is the motor I've received as Christmas present from my parents when I've bought my Yokomo Works '91, ages ago. The other one is the one I've bought on the bay with the intention to restore it and use while my first, also restored, will be placed on a shelf as memory of the good old days.

I don't know about the reputation of the Mega motors in the golden era but I've ran mine in my Works '91 and in my TA01 Lancia Delta Integrale   and I remeber the give a plenty of speed.

The day I've rescued the two motors I noticed (as never before) that the second one has a non Kyosho endbell and I surfing the Web to understand something about: I guess that the previous owner switched to a different endbell to avoid the use of 5x5 mm brushes.

Restoring theese two motors will be one of my winter project and will require new brushes, a deep clean and a pair of new MCI Racing decals.

332 - Rc Nerd's Lucubration No. 2

 

With my Ultima still awaiting to be built  and with the nerd in me surfing the web and watching at the manual to kill the time, my last speculation concerns "screws": keep the original set up or switching to machined ones? And why not using a stainless steel screws kit?

331 - Winter Project No. 1

 

Today I've rescued the Trinity Tru-Lathe I've bought years ago for a bargain price: it needs to be well cleaned and refurbed to be back to a good shape and be back in businnes so it will be my first winter project.

330 - Rc Nerd's Lucubration No. 1

What is clear in watching the Kyosho Ultima SB is that its four dampers use fine pitch collars to preload adjustment. I'm a big fan of plastic dampers in bashing models but I'm not the same about threaded bodies. Of course the possibility to do fine adjustements is plus for racing models but is it the same in models built to run for fun? To me they are much prone to catch dirt and dust forcing to a more frequent maintenance. I will see... Meanwhile my Ultima still waits to be build. 😓

329 - Some Other Additions Before The Build

Holidays have been postponed, the build of my Ultima SB have been deferred to date to be determined.

In the wait for better times I've added to the parts needed to complete the car: steel suspensions bushings required to replace the plastic ones that came with the kit and some stickers to give, as usual, a bit of the good of days aura.

328 - Yellow Rims

 

Before starting the build of my Ultima SB Dirtmaster I've purchased a set of KiCK RC yellow rims from JC Racing to mach my idea of Kyosho buggy and to match the paint scheme I've got in mind.

I've also purchased a couple of 4000 mAh Nimh from LRP to have because I'm trying to fill the shortage in my battery stock... as usual living in Venice doesn't help with the hobby (to be honest it doesen't help with anything).

327 - My First Kyosho Kit

 Last week the kit I'm going to build during our next holidays has been delivered to my door.

It's a Kyosho, my first Kyosho kit since I'm in the hobby.

To be honest I've planned to buy a Kyosho several years ago, in 1991, but the Lazer ZX-R wasn't available so I've been "forced" 😄 to buy the Yokomo Works '91.

This time, after I had realized that I prefer 2wd buggies, I decided to go for a Ultima SB... at first I've considered the Dune Master but the appeal of a proper buggy is much stronger to me so I go for the Dirt Master.

Some extra bits have been orderd, some already delivered: Schumacher tires, Rude Bits bearings for the steering rack, Kyosho's universals, yellow rims from JC racing and Kyosho's steel suspensions bushings.

Hope I will a good time in building it.

326 - If Only The British Lion Roars

In the wait for the kit I'm going to build during our next holidays I'm considering to use an ESC that I own from a while and that I've run only for a couple of time: my M-Troniks TT-60.

Last year it have been discarded in favor of a Ko Propo VFS-FR2 as ESC in my Tamiya BBX because of its footprint but, this time, it would find room enough in the new chassis.

I would like to start to use it because I'm always really proud to use something that is made in the UK and because finding good option to the cheap chinese is becoming harder and harder.

325 - In Anticipation Of My Next Kit

Some parts have been collected during the last weeks in anticipation of my next kit (ordered yesterday). After many years it won't be a Tamiya and it will be my first kit of this brand since I'm in this hobby.

A Savox SC1258TG servo seems it's a proper choice for a 1/10 buggy

A good old Robitronic ESC, ever harder to find

The Futaba R203GF receiver bought togheter with my new 3PV Radio last year

And this narrows the numbers of possible candidates 😅

324 - 2025

This 2025 is the most difficult of my 50 years: my father passed away in January and moving forward is increasingly difficult without my first friend, my guide, my support. My batteries are low and I try to keep my passions alive to keep myself floating while waiting for better times.

Nothing will be the same.