3 Cars and a boat

[joejoepop]

Hey Everyone,

I am new here, to the online RC community, but not to RC. I started building RC in the 80's with a great buggy kit called the Hornet, made by TAMIYA. I've gotten back into RC, in the last couple of years and now I have a few kits built and running strong and fast.
http://www.rcpics.net/img/23729
I set my Bladerunner up with a water cooled 13 turn speed gems mod motor, a Novak Super Rooster reversible on 6 3300 nimh cells (can run up to 10 with the Super Rooster) and sprayed it with a metallic red paint job. I made some modifications to the driveline with a clear Plexiglas drive shaft brace and lots of tweaking to get the whole driveline spinning without any friction.
http://www.rcpics.net/img/23732
http://www.rcpics.net/img/23730
From left to right:
(Left, bright yellow)Ford GT40 bodied tamiya TL-01 chassis on racing slicks. Running a 13 turn speed gems mod motor, Novak super rooster reversible esc and a 3300 nimh battery. Performs 4 wheel slides and burnouts on command, way too much power, way to much drifting fun.
(Centre, Candy Apple Red) 2000 Porsche 911 Turbo bodied Traxxas Bandit chassis. Running a 13 turn speed gem mod, LRP Quantum esc on 3300 nimh sanyo cells. I currently have it running with knobby tires (alot like the j-spec cars on Ultimate RC) but I have ordered a set of Rustler axles and wheels with some big fat Proline Road Hawg II's. I have used this car as a handling research vehicle, studying Ackerman, toe and roll centre and now it performs fantastically on asphalt. I wrote an article on handling dynamics based on what I learned from this project. With wider tires up front (the Rustler axles and proline wheels), it will handle even better. If anyone is interested in building a 1/8 scale car on a budget, buy a Traxxas Rustler, a 1/8 scale body and some oversized body posts,
and presto, you're done.
(Right, White with flames) Stratos bodied Team Losi XXXS sedan. Many graphite upgrades (because I totalled it once, oops) a 13 turn Speed gem mod motor, LRP Quantum esc, 3300 nimh sanyo stick pack. I spent hours on this paint job. There is a yellow to red fade with metallic silver highlights in the flames with black detail, white body colour with clear red behind it so the windows are tinted red and the body glows red when the sun hits it. If you want an all out performance sedan that is whisper quiet under full acceleration the XXXS is the ticket. Every time I run this car I am shocked by it's amazingly well engineered chassis. I may change it to an Mini Cooper body though, I think it would look sweet.

[theNewbe]

haha,when i first saw the porsche,i was like,that body is a little high...but it's bandit!hahaha:lol: i like the flames on the white car,and on the porsche,is the emblem on the hood a sticker or did you paint it?nice cars!sounds like the TL-01 would fly!

[penguinrusty]

Cool! I like the boat. I really like the TL-01!!

[finny]

Nice cars, and very nice boat. What brand paint did you use on the boat?

[joejoepop]

Wow, what a great community. I am so glad that you guys responded. Thanks for all the kind comments. You had some questions, I'll try to answer them:
Q - Was the logo on the porsche painted or a sticker?

A - It was a sticker. It came with the body from protoform, 1/8 scale. I think it will look much cooler in a week when my rustler axles and wheels come in.

Q - What brand of paint did I use on the boat?

A - It is a red metallic by TAMIYA. I usually don't buy TAMIYA paints, but this metallic paint really caught my eye. The boat really moves out too.

Here are a few more pics of the kits:

Bladerunner cutting up the thames river!
http://www.rcpics.net/img/23768

Ford GT40 - TL-01 chassis
http://www.rcpics.net/img/23769
My Ford GT40 on a TL-01 Chassis, note the transparent wing and sharpie details

XXXS
http://www.rcpics.net/img/23770
This is my Stratus bodied Losi XXXS Sedan (Graphite). It actually wasn't graphite until I totaled the chassis and replaced it with graphite. Note the sharpie detail on the flames and the yellow/red/silver fade I sprayed in from behind. Looks like I hadn't removed the masking paper yet, I can see it through the windows. I later sprayed in a clear red to tint the windows and when sunlight catches the body the red glows through the white paint, a cool effect I discovered by accident. I sprayed the wheels chrome with Canadian Tire chrome paint.
-Greg






Again, Thanks guys, what a great online community.

-Greg

[rc@hockey]

WOW, thats just amazing, great job. I wish my cars/trucks looked that good
Andrew

[95128]

Man that boat looks fast!

[joejoepop]

Geez, thanks guys!

Ok, I'll post a couple more photos.

First, a picture of my friend Kevin demonstrating some bad RC driving technique. I tried to tell him to keep his eye on the car, but...
http://www.rcpics.net/img/23799

Second, I mentioned the driveshaft mod I made for my Bladerunner, so I thought I'd post a pic of it. I really tried to get a nice clean factory look with this mod, made with clear Plexiglas, a plastic wire tie, washer and screw and CA glue. The driveshaft just had a little too much room to waggle around, so this was my solution. It works great!
http://www.rcpics.net/img/23797

Third, this is a photo of my Bladerunner with my $30 Toys R Us Rescue Boat. Why buy a rescue boat? Well, when you've waded up to your thighs in duck and goose poo to rescue your boat, like I had to, you'll buy one too. I was testing a new motor and one of my solder joints came loose in the middle of the river, doh! So the next day I went to Toys R Us and bought the little white boat in the picture. It works, but it sure is slow!
http://www.rcpics.net/img/23798

Fourth, and the last pic, one more shot of my Kyosho Bladerunner in the Thames river, London Ontario, Canada. I am in the middle of some mods on this boat (trying to add a u-joint to the driveline to replace the dogbone), and I am going to move to a faster motor too, but it moves pretty fast already. I wonder what this thing will do with a brushless...hmmmm....
http://www.rcpics.net/img/23796


-Greg

[penguinrusty]

Very cool! That boat would rip with a BL!! The XXX-S is also very cool. I was considering getting one for a while.

[theNewbe]

whoa....I'm having a thought here....a dual bl,two speed,20 cell beast of a boat!whoa....that would be bad-a!cool boat,it looks like it doesn't need bl by the way it's flying up that river!hahaha:lol:

[joejoepop]

Hmmm, dual brushless eh? The only problem is you need counter rotating props for good stability. How hard would it be to gear one high voltage Novak up intead, direct drive. This thing's esc is designed to run tons of cells into a high voltage brushless for monstor trucks with dual motor setups. Talk about massive torque, running direct drive. Now that would be a bad mama jama! There actually is a setup available for this from Novak. It is for a dual engine monstor truck. Now you got me thinking big, Newbe.
Check out the link to the Novak page:
http://www.teamnovak.com/products/MOTOR/hvmaxx/hvmaxx.htm

-Greg

[tjf0288]

How much did that XXX-S cost out of the box? It looks hot. I really need to take a trip over to hanover and check out their onroad track...

-TJ

[joejoepop]

Hey TJ,

Thanks, I think the Losi XXXS is a serious machine. Some people like the driveshaft 4WD sedans, but the belt driven XXXS is quite awesome. I have never seen a car that is so quiet, just a whispering sound under full power, because it is belt driven. There is no motor limit on these cars, you really can't strip any gears on it, it is just engineered so well. The handling is super responsive and you can drift corners, spinning all four wheels and maintain total control.
But you asked about the price. I live in Canada, so our prices are higher, cause our money isn't worth as much. I payed $250 Canadian for the car, but it is more like $185 in the states. You guys are lucky, cause you get better deals.
Now, if you compare that with my TL-O1 chassis tamiya, that I bought for $100 Canadian ($60 American) (it seems like a bad deal. You might think, "hey the TL-01 is 4WD, with a hot motor it'll be just as good for less money". Even after putting 24 sealed ball bearings, a 13 turn mod motor, a Novak super rooster esc, deans plugs, etc etc, it isn't even close to the performance of the XXXS. It is just as fast in a straight line, but not around corners. It is really fun, just not really competetive for racing.
I would definetly reccomend checking out a hot sedan car and bringing it to a local road course. A XXXS isn't really cheap, but with a good mod motor, it will give even the hottest nitro car some serious competition on a road course.

Greg

[popop]

Hi Joe
Your Blade is very cute : I found its scheme is very convincing as for the black windshield ! It's not an easy boat to make fly (mean big power) but always a cool design. Lighter is better in its case !
You'll find tons of accurate information (and motivation !) on the Rum Runner Forum (http://www.rumrunnerracing.com/feforums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=2)

I also found the Porsche cool ! Could you show us more inside the shell ?? Here's an example
http://rcsaga.free.fr/Cars/Xsara/Setup/top%20300.jpg (http://rcsaga.com/xsara)

I just misunderstood "stratUs" and looked for a Lancia Stratos body in your pics ... Sorry :D

Bye

[joejoepop]

Hey BB,

I know all about the postings on the bladerunner. Fastelectrics website and the rumrunner website have both posted all kinds of things about how bad the kit is. I have a feeling this has stemmed from people who bought the kit and wanted it to run perfectly without really thinking about what they were building. I had to really sit and use some brain power to make this kit work properly. It really does not need sponson mods, nitro conversions or any other silly things that these websites suggest. If you want a screaming hydro style boat, just buy one, you know? I wanted a cool looking really big boat, (not a hydro) that would allow some modifications and the bladerunner has been perfect. All the mods and improvements I have made were very low cost and just took an engineering perspective, not a complete rebuild of the kit. With a brushless conversion mated direct-drive (no gearbox) to the stock driveline, this kit will do hydro speeds, I met another guy on fastelectrics that has done it. He was also frustrated with that online community's silly attitude. I just don't know if I really need that speed, cause it is fast already, but you know how speed is, soooo addictive.
I like the double exposure photo you did, very cool. I don't have a digital camera, or a good quality 35 mm where I am living right now. I will be moving back across the continent in 3 months when school is over.
The chassis is a Traxxas bandit under the Porsche and I don't dremel my plastic chassis (too much flex). The only thing of interest might be my rollbar, made from coathanger that fits perfectly into the screwholes for the stock esc. I found it really easy to make a rollbar that protects the electronics and is small and lightweight, I can't believe nobody else has done this! If I buy a Nightmare aluminum chassis http://www.nightmarechassis.com/
I'll post some pics of that too, but will you believe that the guy who runs the website won't take my order because I am Canadian?!? I have a VISA card, but there is some small print on his webpage about "I don't take Canadian credit cards". I emailed him and asked him if he would take my VISA (not a Canadian company) and he didn't even respond. Geez.
I do have some Rustler axles, proline wheels and street tires coming (the shop said this week), so I'll post some pics when I get the road meats strapped on.

Cool?

-Greg










I have ordered (on last Friday) a Rustler axle conversion kit and wheels, so I will be taking some more photos with my cheap camera before and after that mod, in a week or two. Cool?

Greg

[popop]

Sure Greg I agree with you concerning the Blade runner ... A friend of mine, Mathieu also got very decent perf form its own with limited work.
I remember a guy at a local pond that wanted to go fast with 20cells and a large Plett ... A so stupid effort in fact ...

You know, the B24 is also misconsidred for similar reasons. It can't handle 300W/Kg ... That's all ...

Feel free to post other pics of your project cars. They're quite interesting / Picture quality wasn't my intent you know
I actually use to show my chassis , hull layouts and hull bottoms because they're the unique way to communicate correctly. Most people (and mags) only take an outside picture and tell it's enough ...
Bye