My inner 10 year old is happy! (Tamiya re-release content)

My inner 10 year old is happy! (Tamiya re-release content)

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Discussion

monthefish

20,439 posts

230 months

Monday 11th August 2014
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Mercury00 said:
monthefish said:
How did you get on with setting up the speed controller?
Why do you ask? Is it a mechanical one?
No electronic, and because I'm having a nightmare with mine.

Rude-boy

22,227 posts

232 months

Monday 11th August 2014
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For me it has to be Tamiya because every other brand I have bought over the years has been a bh to get parts for and or is a bit more expensive.

There is also the nostalgia thing going on.

I want a car or three that I can just charge the battery on and go or if I want to strip and rebuild I can, I don't always have to. Nothing ticks that box for me like a Tamiya.

Last weekend I took it to a 50th party at the chap's house. I don't think that there was a bloke under 60 or over 6 who didn't have a go. It got ramped, bumped, jumped and bashed. I'm sure it was trodden on at least once. In that entire time the only damage was a bent areal on the controller (no matter how many times you tell a 7 year old not to run with it pointing downwards they will not listen after 6 J2Os hehe )and the tracking is a little 'interesting' needing a reset.


Monthefish - I didn't is the answer. Took it into the big Model shop at Snetterton and they had a go for me for 30 minutes and pronounced themselves flummoxed as well. Ended up easier for me to just buy a £27 replacement one. I'll have a go again with the old one when I get my next kit and then when I go brushless but laziness and 'cheap' fix have won for the moment.

hman

7,487 posts

193 months

Monday 11th August 2014
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theshrew said:
hman said:
I had a schumacher cat along with my tamiya boomerang and a marui super wheelie.

The cat was indeed a better car - but a bh to build and a bh to keep in good working order. The belt drive tensioner arrangement was 4 or 8 pk's into the chassis - which didnt work well then the belt would jump and strip. The diff was a a plastic disc with ball bearings in it and the driveshafts were driven via a plate and friction material - very adjustable, but ultimately it would melt.

The boomerang was very tough, needed no adjustment (shaft drive through normal couplings and and normal geared diff), so was ready for action ALL the time. I wouldnt say Yugo, I would say Quattro if anything.

The marui had a very detailed body shell , rear wheel drive and did wheelies.


Each to their own - yes you can have a faster car for competition but as with the ral ones the level of complexity and risk of component failure is a lot higher.
The Cat uses a ball diff which are miles better because you can adjust them, that changes how the car handles and also how the power is delivered. If you were melting stuff you had something wrong. I'm not sure of how the belt is done on them but sounds like you had that wrong to.

Stuff like a Cat is a top end race car and they do take more maintenance and don't take as much punishment as one of these Tamiya chassis. As you say the higher level the car they are certainly a hell of a lot more complex. When I was racing parts for Tamiya's were expensive when you did have to change things.

If someone was to ask me what car to get now for messing about with id point them in the direction of one of those 1/18th buggy. Cheap as chips and you can get them to go a lot quicker than a Tamiya + if you wanted you could go and race one of those.
The Cat XLS didnt have eccentric adjusters - just 4 pk's on the bottom and 4 pk's on the top of the front diff - all mounted in a slotted grp chassis and top plate - the gearbox would slide backwards on these no matter how tight the screws were done up. Hence why they swapped to eccentric adjusters on the pro-cat and later models.

I put a couple of long bolts through from the bottom to the top and locknuts - this sorted the belt problem.

The diff definitely melted - when I say melted - the balls elongated the holes that they were mounted in , perhaps I mean I wore the diff out. - dont ask me why but it did - I wasnt doing it "wrong" as you are quick to assume, it was adjusted as per the manual (and video which came with the kit - which is another indicator of the complexity of the kit when it needs "Hi, I'm Cecil Schuuuumacher" to come on the tv and tell you how to set your car up)

Probably from doing too many wicked 4 wheel donuts! (they were awesome at those!)



Edited by hman on Monday 11th August 14:01

72twink

963 posts

241 months

Monday 11th August 2014
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Cats always had eccentrics, they adjusted the layshaft to rear diff/integrator short belt tension, the sliding diff housing you describe then adjusted the long belt that linked front and rear diffs. This is the area that was improved on the Procat with the adjuster on the new gearbox mouldings that had 2 screws for positive adjustments and prevented the gearbox/belt slipping.

Rude-boy

22,227 posts

232 months

Monday 11th August 2014
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All this talk and people wonder why us Tamiya types aren't happy with out goo old fashioned simple metal/plastic prop shaft twixt two diffs hehe

hman

7,487 posts

193 months

Monday 11th August 2014
quotequote all
72twink said:
Cats always had eccentrics, they adjusted the layshaft to rear diff/integrator short belt tension, the sliding diff housing you describe then adjusted the long belt that linked front and rear diffs. This is the area that was improved on the Procat with the adjuster on the new gearbox mouldings that had 2 screws for positive adjustments and prevented the gearbox/belt slipping.
Yes - indeed, I dont think I ever had to adjust the short belt - only the long one.

hman

7,487 posts

193 months

Monday 11th August 2014
quotequote all
Rude-boy said:
All this talk and people wonder why us Tamiya types aren't happy with out goo old fashioned simple metal/plastic prop shaft twixt two diffs hehe
hence why I liked tamiya - good honest easy simple robust engineering that took anything you chucked at it.

It just wasnt in the same league of competitivness as a schumacher et al - hence why my boomerang was accompanied by the cat (and the marui) in my rc car collection.

theshrew

6,008 posts

183 months

Monday 11th August 2014
quotequote all
hman said:
The Cat XLS didnt have eccentric adjusters - just 4 pk's on the bottom and 4 pk's on the top of the front diff - all mounted in a slotted grp chassis and top plate - the gearbox would slide backwards on these no matter how tight the screws were done up. Hence why they swapped to eccentric adjusters on the pro-cat and later models.

I put a couple of long bolts through from the bottom to the top and locknuts - this sorted the belt problem.

The diff definitely melted - when I say melted - the balls elongated the holes that they were mounted in , perhaps I mean I wore the diff out. - dont ask me why but it did - I wasnt doing it "wrong" as you are quick to assume, it was adjusted as per the manual (and video which came with the kit - which is another indicator of the complexity of the kit when it needs "Hi, I'm Cecil Schuuuumacher" to come on the tv and tell you how to set your car up)

Probably from doing too many wicked 4 wheel donuts! (they were awesome at those!)



Edited by hman on Monday 11th August 14:01
Diffs melt because they are to loose. Just because you ser them as per vid means sod all. You have to keep adjusting them as they get looser. Especially when first built.

When I was racing It's probably the main thing you see people do wrong and think they have done correctly. Plain and simply because it's down to feel you can't teach that on a vid or a manual.

I will hold my hands up and say I've done it myself when I first started out.





hman

7,487 posts

193 months

Monday 11th August 2014
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thanks for clarifying - your advice is around 25 years too late LOOOOL

ftypical

457 posts

117 months

Friday 29th August 2014
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hman said:
Hot shot. Boomerang and terra scorcher were all based on the boomerang chassis I though?

My boomerang had an rs500 in texaco colours and an ac cobra shell - it was amazingintly good, until I got a Schumacher cat xls - holy fk it blew everything away!!!
No. Hotshot came first and had a box chassis. Boomerang had a tub. Never built a TS, so no idea.

HTH

ftypical

457 posts

117 months

Friday 29th August 2014
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jrb43 said:
The eccentric pulleys and infinite adjustment was only introduced on the ProCat. I didn't have an XLS or any of the previous iterations but I understand they were more temperamental.
No. The original SWB CAT and XLS had eccentric rear belt adjusters, while the front relied on sliding the front gearbox back and forwards. This was still true for the ProCat. BossCat - don't remember.

The diffs could be adjusted independent of this.

HTH