Pics of your models, please!

[UKbob]

This arrives today, fulfilling a nostalgic childhood wish


In kit form, so it wont be running just yet. Ive never owned a "proper" RC car before, and I read on the net that electric motors need to be run in Is this really the case, for an electric motor? How much running in is needed?

Another Q: Im assuming the batteries should be given a full slow charge first time round? I bought a few so wont need the fast charge setting, but does the fast charge setting have any negative effects re: the conditioning of the battery, and should it be avoided unless necessary?

A delivery van has just pulled up, wait... a hornet sized box is being taken out, its here its here

[UKbob]

slartibartfast said:

heres 'one' of my choppers
haven't really got many pics of my airplanes infact don't know how many i have



heres my jet engine


heres an Alien i built from kit


dog burster


face hugger

Pistonheads formatting is [pic] [/pic] not the html variant [IMG]

The aliens are interesting, I take it you strap the jet engine to the aliens... to scare people? the chopper is wild!

Did you build the chopper yourself? Ive wanted a chopper and a plane for as long as Ive wanted the hornet, just... never got round to buying them.

Im going to blog the build of my hornet with photos. But not until after lunch!

[UKbob]

tjdixon911 said:

Is that a reproduction? I remember the Hornet as a kid although my first proper Kit RC car was a Tamiya Mad Cap.

I think I swaped that for a FWD Mondeo (Which seems to have vanished - I don't remember getting rid of that), then I aquired my brothers old Manta Ray but thats done the same trick as the mondeo (May be in parents loft!) I used to run Mardave Mini Stox in the national championships (Standard and Modified) unfortunatley I robbed most the bits to get my touring car up and running which is a shame as they must be classics by now!

Running in Electric Motors - I used to allways get told to gradually build up to full throttle for the first few minutes as opposed to going from neutral to full as fast as possible - I don't do it anymore and I notice no difference!

Thats right. The hornet was released in 1984, and was one of Tamiya's best ever selling models, and also the model which helped launch the buggy boom, so its considered a significant part of RC history (is what ive been reading on the net) Its a decent RC car.

So, they re-released it two years ago, almost exactly as it was before although I think the new motor is better, the batteries today are also far better, and the electronic speed controller has been uprated so the performance today is somewhat better than it used to be, especially if you buy the uprated motor which costs £15, its a straight swap, gives better acceleration and an additional 5mph.

The old hornet, recently re-released, 1:10 (the one I bought)


The new hornet, with independent rear suspension, 1:18


The old hornet (and newly released old hornet) doesnt have independent rear suspension. The compact model didnt appeal to me. re: running in the motor, I'll probably run it in for a while then end up not bothering like you

[UKbob]

slartibartfast said:

thanks for sorting out the posting of the pics Bob, ain't got a clue these days...must be killing too many brain cells.

regards the chopper, it coes ready to fly (almost) for £130 off perkins
you need a speed controller, gyro and your radio gear, then 3S1P lippo battery pack and charger.

flies really well and i did my first loop last year with it.
i replaced the aluminium made shaft with a home made carbon fibre shaft which is still perfect, the ali one bent on the first bad lading as the Twister 3D is renown for it

I think it'll be a plane next (next year) and then a chopper for me. Did you need lessons before you could fly it, I gather they arent the easiest of beasts to control at first.

Roop said:

Cool Hornet...! I have got one of the re-release ones. Forget running the motor in, simply not required if it's the stock RS-540 kit motor. Build it, get it outside and thrap it...!

What I would highly recommend is chucking all the nylon and brass (if applicable) kit bearings and replacing them with ballrace ball bearings. They are cheap these days and a Hornet can be fully ballraced for under a tenner. Results is a smoother drive, longer run-times and (not that it matters on the Hornet) better handling.

Have a look on eBay for a bearing set - this will do : http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...

Here's a few pics of my Hornet - specially imported direct from Japan on the day they were re-released and built in a couple of hours

Cool post Roop. Im loving those pics What made you go for the hornet then, nostalgia?

Right, no motor warmup then. I bought this > the combo kit, a second battery, and they also strongly recommended the ballrace set so I snapped that up as well. Ive been doing other stuff all day so Im going to start building it in a minute. How long do you reckon it will take? With luck I should be out tomorrow

[UKbob]

Nice pics Bungleaio. The xray looks pretty cool, very compact(!) and the pro spray job on the monster truck is brilliant! How fast do your petrol/nitro cars go?

You should get the Falcon out, its a fun car to drive. What is it with RC enthusiasts and their toys, when it comes to dust gathering they seem to be pretty good at it

Roop, how long does it take to retro-fit the ballrace set at a later date? I ordered the uprated bearings, paid for them, there is a tick box next to them on the invoice/packing note... but no bloody steel bearings, just the plastic ones

[UKbob]

edit: found em, in a tiny tube which looked nothing like the packaging on the website... ahem

[UKbob]

Roop said:

Good luck with the build UKbob...! It's easy. Just take your time and there's nothing to it. If your batter charger can do trickle as well as fast charge, I recommend a thorough trickle charge prior to fast charging the packs. They will last longer both in terms of run-time and years of service / number of recharge cycles that way.

Look forward to seeing the pics of the finished article...!

ETS : Just seen the combo - that's the same charger as I have - it trickle charges at around 100mA. You need to look at your battery pack, see what the capacity is and work out the trickle charge time from that. For example, a 3000mAh battery takes 30 hours at 100mA.

Edited by Roop on Saturday 21st July 19:02

They sent the ACX1 instead.

* Microprocessor controlled
* Delta-peak detection
* Suitable for NiCad & NiMah packs
* 7.2v-8.4v
* 1400 to 3500mAh
* Mains or 12v supply

As well as not being a model builder, I know nothing about voltages amps and electricity. I read the instructions, but it doesnt actually say how long to leave the battery charging for, nor does it say what happens when its finished. How will I know? It also doesnt seem to have a switch for trickle or fast charge - is it... not a great charger?



The batteries I got were these:

" Modelsport Max 3300 stickpack. 6 cell, 7.2v, 3300 mAh NiMh. High temperature silicone lead with Tamiya style connector."

Ive read the instructions three times now. It seems you cant decide how to charge the batts, ie its a fast charger, but then switches to trickle mode. Unless Ive understood that wrong. Still not sure how to tell when the batts are fully charged, it doesnt say.

[UKbob]

Bungleaio said:

Cheers mate, when ever i run the lst at the park it always pulls quite a crowd. I guess it will run at about 30-35mph as it's running the stock engine and gear ratios. I have spent quite a lot of money on making it a lot more robust so that I can ramp it. It's been well over 20ft in the air before, it just bounces around and drives off.

The xray can do about 20-25mph i think it may be more, but due to it's size small stones etc on the road make it bounce around. Its 4wd though so it grips pretty well. I've found a vid on youtube if you are interested http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaNC_9WZA6k 

To get the falcon running I would need to sort out another reciever and get a resistor for the speed controller or get hold of an electric one. But to be honest I might sell it/give it away as electric doesn't really do it for me anymore.

Good luck with the hornet mate, RC is a great hobby.

That video is brilliant, and bloody hell - that car is fast! Looks quite durable too

20 feet in the air! Thats higher than some of the miniature pico-z helicopters go

[UKbob]

ing hell! Im covered in grease, and feeling like Im missing something, like an Advanced degree in watch making and screw finding!

Its good though isnt it Ive also never drank half a beer so slowly in my life before, I fear if I had a tablespoon full too much, the 250 screws and washers would cause my mind to cave in.

[UKbob]

Cheers.

So when the fast charge is finished and the lights change to trickle, I dont have a fixed amount of time to remove the battery before doing damage to it, ie I can leave it on over night if need be? (apologies if Im coming across as being a bit thick regarding this charging malarkey)

Yup, Its loads of fun Bungleaio I'll be doing the shocks this morning, and yes... first thing I did was spin the diff, over and over Anyhoo... I'll be back with pics as soon as its done. And Ive stopped playing with it.

[UKbob]

Bungleaio said:

You should be ok leaving the battery on trickle charge over night, in theory you should be able to leave it on trickle charge indefinately but I don't recomend it.

When I was racing seriously (about 10 years ago) I was paying around £50 for a 1700 pack over batteries I can't believe how much the technology and capacity has improved. There is an art to charging batteries with an amazing aray of chargers and dischargers available.

Basically if you fast charge before you want to use the car and make sure the battery is run down before you put it away for the day you won't go to far wrong

Cheers.

Ive got the rear suspension finished now, and have been taking pics of the build. It was loads of fun filling the damper chambers with oil, fitting the loose pistons and springs, no wonder you lot have more than one model!

[UKbob]

Manual says "Caution! Always turn on transmitter first, then receiver. Always turn off receiver then transmitter"

How important is this - I shouldnt imagine you can do any damage if you forget?

[UKbob]

Bungleaio said:

It is important to switch the transmitter on 1st. If the car is switched on it can pick up a stray signal and drive off, most of the time this won't happen and the car won't do anything.

Gotcha

Man, I must be the slowest model builder... ever. I dont think its going to be finished today

[UKbob]

This has become a bit of a hornet thread rather than a pic thread. Apologies, I have another question.

Being brilliant with electronics, im not entirely sure which way to wire the Green and yellow, orange and blue motor cables.

Orange and blue are on the ESC, I think the orange one is positive, but what about the green and yellow connections on the motor, which way do they go? And do you kill something (the motor or esc?) if you put them on the wrong way around?

[UKbob]

Bungleaio said:

As long as you connect your battery correctly there shouldn't be any problem with the motor, I should imagine your esc has a standard tamiya battery connector on it so there shouldn't be a problem with that. If the motor is connected the wrong way around there shouldn't be any problems apart from the motor will run backwards.

It should say in your esc manual which wire is +ve but my guess would be to connect

Green - Blue
Yellow - Orange

It works

Close to finishing, but I cant get the sodding rear tyres on. "Cant" as in its beyond me. And its doing my nut

[UKbob]

Thats a pretty cool collection. Quite like the look of dark impact! Enjoyed building my first model so much, definitely going to get another one Wouldnt mind a track car like your tc3.

Ive finished my car (except the shell) but I cant drive it today as I cant get the rear tyres on. My hands are cut, bleeding, swolen and shaking to the point that I cant grip things with my fingers, Ive got the tremmors from using every ounce of strength in my arms for so long... ive tried my own techniques, quite a few of them, the technique suggested in the book, everything! I know the tyres are hornet tyres, I just cant get them on, been trying for over 90 mins Its beyond me.

Edited by UKbob on Sunday 22 July 21:16

[UKbob]

These mother ing cock sucking piece of shit tyres are ing me off. Ive been trying for something like two bloody hours!! I dare not suggest that these ing wheels are the bloody wrong ones, because every ing thing I got stumped on during the build process, I thought out, before proceeding, and each time I solved the ing problem by thinking it out, finding my mistake.

But I definitely HAVENT made any ing mistake with these ing tyres though, as I KNOW they are the ing right ones, and i AM using the right pieces. But The ing things just wont go on!!!


ArghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhRRRRRGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you order pre-built wheels with tyres on em?

[UKbob]

Hmmm.

The thing is, Im not a bloody 5 year old. Ive never not been able to do anything in my life before. I just cant get these tyres on The finger on my right hand is so swolen, it looks (and feels) like you could pop it with a pin, and splatter an entire room with the contents. Its... rather like its infected, Ive been pulling so hard. My biceps are also knackered.

I encountered half a dozen "totally stumped!" problems during the build, and solved every one of them by going over the instructions again and again. I could build the hornet in 1/3rd the time, second time round, I just cant solve this particular problem. I refuse to blame the kit, Im sure there is a way, I just cant ing do it

I suppose Im ten-times more pissed off than Id usually be over something small like this, its just that I wont have any time to drive it during the week, and cant see a way out, even if I did know how to get them on. I dont have the tools either, to invent/build my own tyre inserting shoe-horn type widget

[UKbob]

roadrunner440 said:

Are they split rim wheels? if they are you may need to build the tyres into the wheel as you assemble them?

Yes they are split, its the middle bit which wont go it, it would be impossible with the other split sides attached...

[UKbob]

Woohoooo, god knows how many hours later, Ive got one!

Its going to be interesting next time, buying knew rims and also tyres to see what is what, but the instructions the manual gave in addition to my own varied efforts didnt even come CLOSE to getting the tyres on! And I used a great deal of force.

I turned half the rubber tyre inside out, stuck 4 fingers inside, two with each hand, and pulled for all I was worth - using my teeth I pushed the center rim inside sideways. It went in, and there is plenty of room inside hornet rear tyres so turning it around was no problem. Thank feck for that!

Blooooooooody hell! Thats one. Took all evening. Gonna try the same method on the other. And hopefully drive it tonight