Yokomo YZ-2 CAL3.1 Build

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Good soldering Nice, hop I can get close to that.

Gary first thing I did was sniff 'em.

Received my organiser today so chucked my tools in. I'm under no illusion that I'll need say a body reamer or scissors when I'm racing but it's more to just have everything in one place for now, it'll find it's own level as we go

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Cheers for the info Pete. My next door neighbour who's an electrical engineer type is bringing all of his works grade goodies over later to get it all done. It's something id like to do myself but then id have to buy say another £40-50 worth of stuff for one job.

This way I'll get it done for a couple of beers

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Well, the update you've all been waiting for!



New wheels / tyres on the WLTOYS

But no, It's been a tough week with the 3.1 tbh, for one reason or another the soldering did not get done by me, my sisters boyfriend or my neighbour. We tried we failed. I ended up taking the Yoko down to Western Valley Models in Risca for Heldey to rescue / tidy up and he did a cracking job. Unfortunately the PS paint I wanted wasn't in stock so that's been ordered for the middle of next week.

BUT, with the soldering done she's moving! I've set my EPA and had a little play around with the ESC settings but pootling around the living room it looks bloody awesome

I asked WVM to add some bullet caps onto the battery terminals so some CORE RC caps now adorn the vehicle. I also picked up a CORE RC setup board because .... well, RC stuff inni..





I don't actually have any setup equipment yet but SKYRC do make a lovely anodised ali camber, caster, toe, kit

So the car is now looking like 'dis











Paint next week, will order a chassis protector from SEMCS and then well, racing next

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That’s great bud! At this rate you’ll have built your car and be racing before me I will of course whole heartedly recommend the Yokomo (based purely on bias and a complete lack of experience of course) It would be interesting to see your journey on here

I’m thinking of popping down Sunday too, i haven’t got paint as there still seems to be a shortage but might wander down anyway. My leg is out of the cast now so I don’t stick out quite as much and can move around a bit better. Hopefully bump into you, i’ll be the guy limping and looking a little out of my depth!

A few more things arrived in the absence of actually using the car



Handy to have another lipo bag as i’ve got 4 in total now and of course I needed a fancy zip up bag for the set up board I don’t need it’s just an obsession with having stuff always arriving in the post I think..

I release too i’ve made a monumental school boy error with my wiring. I was gutted that whichever way my battery was placed the positive and negative wires crossed. Well it dawned on my a few days ago that all I have to do was turn the battery over That would have reversed the terminal orientation and allowed the cables to the routed beautifully, dammit. I’ll be going back to get the wires re-soldered as that will bug me forever if left as they are.

Realistically be another 2 weeks before the tyres will touch the carpet of a race circuit but not too far away now.

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Thats good bud glad you got down. I wasn’t able to make it unfortunately but should be there next time. I was at a comp day there not long ago and most of the guys there didn’t seem short on pace.

That’s basically what I did, to be fair Lee gave me about half an hour of his time in which he answered all of my queries and gave me a load more of helpful advice. We may end up with similar electronics in our buggys

See you down there next time bud!

i’m planning on going up to Midlands Raceway next Saturday potentially with one of the boys from Cardiff for a test afternoon which i’m looking forward to, blinking thing might actually be painted by then

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As I really like my lovely bronze chassis I thought I'd protect it with a .. protector. Most were either generic that had to be cut to fit or designs covered in flames. I'm not a flames kind of guy so kept looking and found this one from SEMCS. I really dig the design and on the website I saw they could be made to order in lots of colours, amazing! Having contacted Sam there I enquired about a pink / yellow combo (to go with my non-existent, never to arrive Tamiya paint scheme) it turns out the manufacturer of the chassis protectors is no longer trading (arse) and he had only the grey / blue or all blue designs left. OK I thought no worries and got one ordered. Fitting was super simple and rather than using soap and water I decided to line it up and slide it on dry using the backing film to guide the sticker rather than removing it and instantly having it stick to itself requiring it to be promptly put in the bin







Super happy with the quality and fit of this, having the hardware holes pre cut is a huge plus too.

Also from SEMCS I got hold a THR (Tudor-Hart Racing) shock tower protector. Saves the carpet from damage in the event of a roll over (although this design allows the nyloc nuts to dig in still) and more importantly saves my shock tower from damage. Looks cool imo too









I may have something else arriving tomorrow, from Czechia!

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Well the penultimate evening before the big Sat test up and Midlands Raceway and I'm still painting the blinking shell. I wasn't happy with the slipper cut out as it was a bit ragged and too small so opened it up and tidied it with the air die grinder



Success. Id earlier in the day gone to get some paint, I really wanted a predominantly white shell as I think I mentioned but basically the hobby shop only had these colours which I could see working, so the body is going to be shades of pink



So I started laying down the ps-29; 4 coats in total with 20 mins in the warm / dry in between. Probably used about half a can.



Having let those layers dry I looked at putting an edge to the windows, quite fiddly with the craft knife and I've never done it before but overall really pleased with how the surround turned out. I wanted quite a wide border to somewhat break up the pink and thought silver would suit a little better than ps-5. I didn't realise the ps-48 was fancy / expensive (£11.99!) until after I bought it! 3 coats of the silver and it started looking ok imo













This is where I am now with it. The translucent pink will be the last colour to go on to tint the windows and I want to back the whole shell with white first to male the pink 'pop' but that's not arriving until tomorrow. the colour here isn't the actual colour that the shell will be as jconcepts for some reason colour their protective film green, will only see how it really looks tomorrow when I've peeled it off.

That package from the Czech Republic turned up today, merch!





A Yokomo wind breaker jacket and polo top. Quite expensive in the UK but was browsing MIBOSports website and saw them for about £15 each, had to do it for that price! So now I'm a full kit Yokomo wker

I hope to finish the body tomorrow and get some stickers on it.

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Cheers roll, it might have to stay looking fast rather than being fast!

roly79 said:

maybe a bit much for a beginner

challenge accepted I get the feeling I'm going to be low on patience a little tomorrow. In no way abusing the buggy or wishing to crash but I can see me wanting to push quite early on, we'll see how that goes. All batteries charged up and ready to go!

Test fit earlier, seems to fit ok for something not purpose made for the job



Well the buggy bus finished. Applied the last few coats of paint this afternoon and she's done




The window tint came out of the can like a shotgun, hard to get fine control with the Tamiya spray cans (at least for me!)





















As always the hue isn't captured perfectly as on my monitor the pink looks slightly different to the shell in real life. You can see the cabin area of the shell is a good few shades darker than the sides, I'm guessing that's the silver backing of the window surrounds bringing the pink down quite a bit, the white on the flanks may be lifting a little? therefore exaggerating the difference. I don't care but it's an interesting observation.

Quite happy with how the tinting came out. Overall quite enjoyable but wow it's tie consuming. The wait between coats really adds up and seems to make the job last forever; especially when the light is lost quite quickly now.

So there we go. Midlands tomorrow, I'll try to capture some of it at least and give a report when I get back

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Cheers dom

Was a great day!



Thankfully that happened about 20 minutes before we were due to leave anyway so no dramas. I said it didn't I, "I'll just have one last run.."

Left my place about 9:45am and got up there for 11.50am, good drive and and the weather was sunny which was nice. parked up got our first look of the place (one of the boys from COBRA came up with me)



One thing I wasn't expecting was just how cold the place was! ooff it was baltic in there, thankfully I took a coat. We paid our £10 and chose a bench next to the circuit behind the rostrum and got set up. It was surprisingly quiet for a good 45 mins and then people starting rolling in but it never felt crowded, a good number of people to keep things interesting I'd say.



Chucked a battery in and it was time first it's first lap



Initial impressions. The car was instantly familiar and drove over all quite 'neutrally' i.e. it didn't do anything I wasn't expecting it to or handle in a manner I couldn't control easily. The steering however was quite numb and slow to respond. I initially turned the expo on the steering up by 50% to try and improve matters which seemed to help a little. I also set the bec voltage from 6.0v to 7.4v. That also helped but the car still lacked front end bite, not massively but this is something I'll need to work on. I think in a way that helped me as it wasn't too difficult to control in the turns and refused to traction roll, I'd prefer it too numb at this stage than too 'darty'. Within a few laps I was getting comfortable with pushing on a little and started to really enjoy the laps as the car warmed up and I started learning the lines and braking points etc. The circuit is great, quite tight and technical but good fun too.

roly you said

roly79 said:

Jump at the back is maybe a bit much for a beginner

and you weren't wrong! I hit it and cleared it plenty of times, it just wasn't always in the right place when the buggy touched down again! I found it really hard to judge the car being straight as the jump is directly adjacent to the rostrum and depth perception was difficult. I elected to roll it for most of the time as it was just a case of saving the car from multiple barrel rolls which would eventually break something. I came off after the first pack ran down and tempted the motor



Within tolerance I think. Maybe a fan will be needed next summer but in this cold weather that's acceptable.

Out again and ripping round, me passing some people, more people passing me. I was glad that the car was stable in the air, seeing it jump and land was strangely satisfying and quite mesmerising. After trying to clear that aforementioned double the car came to a stop and wasn't responding, got it back to the pits..



..and turns out the esc had pulled off it base and yoinked the bullet connector out of the + wire. No dramas, had some spare 3m double sided tape and re-seated it and off we go again. Had lunch delivered



and went back out. I got speaking to one chap and when I stated it felt numb on the front end had a quick look over the car and made some recommendations, one of which was moving the rear shock top mounts from all the way 'in' to further in the middle setting. I repositioned them and it felt like it made a good difference on braking and initial turn in as the more upright shock loads the front end more under braking.

on my last run of the day I got a little loose and caught the ply-board wall of the double jump and KABLAMO!



OSF tie rod snapped. That was at about 3:30 so we were more or less ready to pack up anyway.

So overall a really really enjoyable day. It's such a shame that there isn't a permanent venue locally that we can go to as I'd happily do that much more often than I'll currently be able to. Is what is.

On the tie rod front they seem to be out of stock everywhere. So not sure how or when I'm going to get hold of a replacement! Easier to get parts for the WLTOYS

Sorry there's not more action pictures or videos but that's how the day went, I was too busy having fun! Can't wait to do it again..

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Cheers guys appreciate the feedback!

dom - getting another kit is a worryingly good idea that actually makes so much sense as I do think I'll be sticking with this chassis for a while and that's by far the cheapest way to have a parts bin. When you start sorting your cars drop a few pics will be awesome to see them!

Thanks roly. Yea I'm much more comfortable now sitting amongst other racers and had a proof of concept that I'm not absolutely horrendous at this. Might have to go down the borrow route for now, Dom stop suggesting things that will cost me money!

paul - I wasn't sure if the pink was going to be too much but on track I think it looks awesome. It stood out from any other car there yesterday which is ideal, good to know which one I'm supposed to be looking at! Yea bud 100% will be great to get out with another CAL3.1 and try and figure out how you're so much faster than me.

I"ll be up for another trip up there whenever you're ready how you getting on with research on car etc

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Sounds good Dom! Looks like we might have an estate cart full of potential racers anyway I'd be game for a PH race event for sure.

Those SEMCS titanium rods are out of stock too, out of stock everywhere it seems! There's a set in America on eBay and all in it's only about £20 to get them here but I'd rather not have to buy from the other side of the world ideally.

Good few cars there bud! I'm not even sure what half of them are ha.

Paul - can't go wrong with Yokomo I think. Yea I noticed that and also at Midlands yesterday, mostly Santa and some Futaba. I run my Fleshy GT5 and am more than happy with it. I'm wanting to go Fleshy Noble NB4 next, just because it looks like a nicer transmitter but tbh it's probably overkill. Id be happy to recommend the Fleshy GT5 but as will all things is a highly personal choice and for me comes down to what I like the look as. They'll all work fine if you're spending £50+ id imagine!

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Had a little post practice check over the buggy tonight



I made a single change that was recommended by the same guy that mentioned the differing shock position. He said that having both spacers below the hub on the front steering causes numbness so I moved the 1mm spacer from below to above. Will see how that effects things next time



He also stated changing the front lower spring perches to a shallower perch would give less droop (I think I've got that right?) and also sharpen things up. I'll take some smaller perches with me next event. Also cleared out a load of fluff from around the rear driveshafts and quite a bit from the slipper





Also, I'm going to need a new rear wing soon I think!

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Well I didn't do much of a check, noticed this just having a look over it, the whole back end was loose!



The d-block bolts were lock tightened in, will need to keep an eye on these. In other news I have 3 pairs of 48mm time rods on the way from a helpful chap via COBRA and a new rod ends tree on the way from MB. Should be up and running by the weekend; not that there's anywhere within 100 miles to take it

I've been thinking how nice it would be to have a permanent indoor EOS carpet venue here in South Wales. Maybe I should look into starting a business! It does raise an interesting point though. With Midlands Raceway I was surprised at the lack of 'support' infrastructure up there (this is in no way a dig at the place, it was great) but I almost expected to see a shop there selling all the usual parts that a racer may need during the day. Also a cafe where you can get some decent scran and a coffee. I understand the limitations etc to all of these things but I'd love a one stop venue that catered for all of these complimentary services.

In my head () something like this would be quite a hub for racers and maybe even a viable business. There's lots of guys that attend COBRA week in week out who surely would like somewhere local to test 'n' tune and the potential for bringing new people into the hobby is surely there.

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Yea super handy to be fair

Aww dude that's gutting, I looked on MB today and the 3.1 has gone from the listing, RIP It looks like the SO 1.0 has gone too, only leaving the SO 2.0 at £380. Couple that with all the electronics needed and that's a fair price tag although I'm sure Lee would sort out a deal for you as he did with me.

Other option to stay Yokomo is the RO 1.0 RTR. I'd like one of these myself but it's a fact that it's a few steps down in terms of outright parts quality compared to the 3.1 / SO.

Schumacher LD3 it is then bud! Or try and find a lightly used LD2 as there's a million for sale at the moment, sure someone at COBRA will have a nice example.

Keep us updated on what you decide to do

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That PR Racing buggy does look good, be a great little build, I've saved the page.

Good news Paul, love the tease! Get a thread up asap

Well that's the million dollar question isn't it, or more so where will I be out next, there's no where to bloody go! Probably COBRA for the next round in all likelihood, will you be racing too?

Well had a little false start yesterday with replacing my track rod ends, everything arrived





Just before I opened the rod ends packet I thought to compare the new and old and noticed quite a difference in size, turns out I'd ordered #Z2-206DMA when in fact I should have ordered the correct items numbered #Z2-206DM2A silly boy.. So a quick re-order to MB and fair play they turned up today



And all back together



Also arriving today was something I'd forgot I ordered, a 2s Lipo for my transmitter. 4 AA's didn't ever seem to last too long in it and I always had slight range anxiety watching the volts drop relatively quickly so go this and will never have to worry about batteries again it







I really want a Noble NB4 but the line has to be drawn somewhere. Just wish I had a race to look forward to now!

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It does look like it bud but it was built to manual specs, bit of toe out and around 2° neg camber. I am looking at the SkyRC setup tool for Christmas though

https://www.rccarshop.co.uk/SK-600149-01-SKY-RC-SE...

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Sold!

I'm itching to know what vehicle you'll be booking in

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Yea seen that bud, and not too far away either which is good for another venue. might put an entry in for next friday.

only time i can say that about Caerwent ha

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The carpet does provide higher traction at least!

Where's this buggy thread then

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paulstarrally said:

It's coming, Its coming. I realised, apart from the buggy. I didn't have any other shinny stuff to show off. However, like you I ordered some tools, a stand etc. All arrived today, so i'll take some photos and get a thread up later

excellent

so agree, got to have shiny things or what’s the point look forward to it bud

One of the boys said about going to Caldicot this Friday but realised I don’t have BRCA membership yet. Hopefully get there in the next few weeks, maybe you’ll be free to get down there too

Id be up for another Sat Midlands Raceway visit too