john01374

Pritch - To be totally honest I bought this car thinking i would like drifting but it just wasn't my thing. The car came pretty much as you see it so I really didn't make any changes other than maintenance and a good clean up. I don't really know enough about drifing to make a recommendation on tires or anything else in that scene.  I will tell you that I put Slicks on this car once thinking it would make a good touring car but it handled lously because of the locked diffs etc.  In my research I looked at buying replacement diffs and making it a normal touring car but after looking at everything else I have i just decided to let this one go ( I have 4 other touring cars). The TT-01 is a good chassis and there are tons of after market parts.. If you decide that Drifting isn't your thing you can put normal diffs back in the car for about $20. If I didn't have a ton of other on-roads I would have kept this one for sure.  

Jeremy Z

Took the Brat out for a test drive yesterday, already bent one of the steering tie rods. That joint with that big star washer that keeps the front wheel holder from rotating was a bit loose; it swiveled around and bent it. It's fixed now. The steering is so sloppy that the slightly bent tie rod doesn't matter.

In retrospect, the Slash would have been a better street basher, but I really wanted to build an old school Tamiya. It was fun.

I painted the Lexan body yesterday, screwed it up by trying to put too thick of a coat on with spray, instead of 2-3 thin coats. It has a big run on the hood. Oh well, that is the basher body.

I'm going to let Kate paint the model body; she loves that stuff. The problem is just convincing myself to spend $30 on paint; not sure if it'll be worth it. I'm thinking of just trading that body for another Lexan one.

john01374

Jeremy,

Yeah I should have mentioned blue lock tite is your friend on some of the front end pieces of the Brat. I haven't had any problems with mine and it's been beat pretty good at times. I have to look but I want to say I used Pivot balls and cups where the steering meets the Servo saver. I'll have a look when I get home tonight. I don't recall have a ton of steering slop but then again i am use to the older Tamiyas.

If you do not want that body I'll take it off you hands. I'm looking for another Hard shell. Let me know. Lets work something out.

Jeremy Z

Here's a few of my Brat; just finished tonight.

john01374

Jeremy - Looks great. Great color. I wanted to do the hard body in Met blue but I saw a red one on display at the LHS and had to do the Box art. If I had it to do over again I think I would have gone blue. What seems to be loose / Sloppy in the steering ?

john01374

Here's a couple of more for today.

This is another of my TA-02 chassis trucks. This one has some old HPI star universal wheels, older Duratrax ESC and an S-600 to turn the bigger tires. Gearing options are limited on these chassis's so a larger motor is needed to keep them from over heating. The stock diffs have been swapped front to rear. The stock ball diff is in the front and the gear diff has been locked and put in the rear. With soft shocks this is a very capable truck that will go almost anywhere. Firm up the springs a little and it handles great due to the amount rubber on the road and the increased track of the wider tires. The locked diff really hasn't hurt performance due wide tires. As you can see from the body this one is a real basher. I've considered restoring this as it began life as a a somewhat hard to find Pre-runner. If I ever run accross the correct body and decals maybe, Until then she's just keep getting beat on.



This is with the Ford body. Never ran this way. Just tossed it on for a pic.

Jeremy Z

The tie rods have a little play in the servo horn, and the vertical shafts that hold the wheels that go into the wheel carriers are loose.

When driving it, it has that feeling like the trim is off, but when I correct it, it goes the other way. Just too much play. Of course this is really obvious on the street. I dont' know if I'll run it in the dirt too much; the tires don't seem like they'd be much good.

I can probably take out some play by putting some thin washers in the wheel carrier area and by using ball links instead of bent tie rods right into the servo horn. Not sure if there's room though, it looks pretty tight on that horn...

pritch

Right, finally I can add some pics to this thread!

I just finished the Lunchbox build the other day, well Ihaven't done the shell yet but I need paint.

Here's the spec;

Model: Tamiya Lunch Box
Motor: Tamiya RS-540
ESC: Tamiya TEU 101BK
Servo: Traxxas 2018
TX: Acoms Techniplus2ch
RX: Traxxas 2015 B.E.C.

I have to say it was by and large a joy to put together, very straightforward for the most part. I wish the cap screws were biggerin the ball joints and easierto tighten once assembledbut that's a minor gripe.The only real problem I had was with the supplied screw for the servo saver. It wasn't a proper fit for the Traxxas servo and the steering fell apart on the first run which ledto a crash into abush andme to frantically search for that tiny plastic washer part of the servo saver. Having found it I used a left-over BA1 screw and washer and it's now nice and tight.

Steering rod lengths specified are bang-onand Ionly needed minor trim to get it running straight. I used bearings supplied by Time Tunnel Models and they are great - I can spin the front wheels and they don't stop for nearly a minute!

Looking forward to painting and trimming the body now. I'm also keen to make a custom wheel for the wheelie bar.

EDIT: Thought I'd include a couple more shots with the TT-01 lurkingin the background, heh.

pritch

John, Jeremy, do you guys have experience with the TEU 101BK?

Mine's being a bit "eccentric"?

john01374

Yes I've used them a couple of times. What's not working ?

Jeremy Z

I do too. My experience is that I had to go through the programming sequence in the instruction sheet; they don't just work out of the box, like some other ESCs. Ihave two, one in my Lunch Box, and one in my Brat.

pritch

First time I set it up I had the transmitter set for 70:30 forward/reverse.

Anyway, I realised when I re-connected the motors that the tx was set to R instead of N, which had worked on my Bandit but was wrong way round on the Tamiya (should have read the esc set up more closely).

Anyway I tried to switch to N and the 'box went crazy. Then whatever I tried to do with the ESC just did its error bleep. I had to disconnect the batteries for several mins each time before I could try and get it to re-program.

Anyway, I've only been able to get it working properly at 50:50, but it is working now. Is it normal for you not to be able to go straight from reverse to forward? I have to push the stick twice which makes wheelieing a bit fiddlier. Any progressive braking at all? It just locks the tyres and skids, kinda cool tho

Looks like I may be getting surplus gold shell and rims for it taken from a limited edition, will keep posted.

Jeremy Z

The locking brakes is probably because you have the throttle channel on reverse. It thinks you're going from reverse to forward, rather than forward to brake.

That is also the reason you have to tap forward twice to get it to go forward from reverse.

When I reprogrammed mine, I was able to get it right, but I don't remember how at the moment.

john01374

If you have to pump the throttle twice to go from reverse to forward something is wrong. That first pump is the brakes so I'm guessing the throttle switch is in the wrong position. Flip it the other way and reprogram the ESC. You need to disconnect one of the motor wires to program the ESC. It's also difficult to tell from you photos but make sure the ESC yellow wire plugs into the yellow wire on the motor. Blue should go to green. I know this seem obvious but I've seen it done wrong before.

john01374

Here's a couple of more to keep the thread going.

This is a Black Foot Xtreme with Clod wheels and tires. These pics where taken right after I fitted the wheels and tires so there was not a motor in the truck at the time (540 wouldn't have worked) As you guys know this model is only 2WD so to make it a little more capable I locked the rear diff. I was a little worried about how well the gearbox would hold up but so far it's been fine.. Iadded an S-600 a couple of days later and geared it with the lowest pinion the chassis would accept so it's not very fast but it does make enough torque to pick up the front tires. The future of this truck is not yet decided. I'm either going to add a second gearbox to make it 4WD with a pair of S-600's or keep it 2WD and find a bigger motor. I've heard rumors there's a 650 motor coming from Kershaw design in the coming months that will fit in place of the 550 and will be designed to run on 7.2 to 9.6V.

She's not a rocket but it'll go almost anywhere.

Jeremy Z

John, does the Blackfoot Extreme still use the Brat chassis? I thought I read somewhere that it did, but I can't tell here.

A couple other comments:

- Nice job with the modding, as usual.
- It looks as gay as a french horn with that green spoiler in the last pic.  

john01374

Jeremy - No the Xtreme uses the same chassis as the twin detonator and Wild Dagger just without the 4WD.  All of the previous Black Foots did use the same chassis as the brat but they decided to change it for this model. I agree about the stupid wing. I bought a guys collection a few years back and this truck ( body with wing and chassis only) was part of that collection.  When I built this I had a Lexan Clod body laying around that I planned to use. That didn't work too well as this truck is slightly longer that a clod so it looked silly.  I then decided to use this body. I dropped it on right before dark one night and took a couple of pics. I quickly decided that the wing had to go. I removed it and took the truck back out the next morning for a couple of more pics. I actually have a couple of actions pics somewhere. It's a fun truck for now but needs more power.  

HYPERMINIS

GREAT topic fellas!!! Here's acouple of mine.

Reissue Lunchbox, all stock aside from bearings, and a Fantom 27T motor.



OG Blackfoot. Still a work in progress.I got it like this.



Then it turned into this.



And then after some ebay purchases, and a whole lot of my time lol, it has slowly evolved into this.



I have a front grille on the way, and plans to finish up the body repairs and paint over the next couple weeks. I'll get some pics of my other Tamiyas soon.

john01374

Great trucks Hyper. That black foot is really taking shape. Keep the pics coming.

HYPERMINIS

Thanks. It's getting there, slowly but surely lol. I'll be sure to post updated pics, and pics of my other Tamiyas asap.

ShoestringRacer

Here is my General Lee Hotshot with wheels dyed black.

ShoestringRacer

Here are two more of my Tamiya General Lee's. I kinda got a thing for orange cars with 01 's on the side

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_68...tm.htm#6807600

pritch

Hi John,

Thanks for the tips. I think something went a bit nuts with my 101BK and stayed nuts until last night - I tried re-programming again same as before - this time braking and proper reverse-forward are the right way round. That will teach me to set things up properly the first time with this ESC in future.

I love your blackfoot - Is that a homebrew wheelie bart? I've been experimenting with the LB's bar today as I want a rubber tyre in there and I've managed to get a Lego wheel/tyre into there which is working OK. Would like to put the actual tyre on to a bearing to go around the screw/nut combo though as that will be much stronger and I want the LB to be all about the wheelies in due course

ShoestringRacer

My Tamiya Blackfoot dually:

ShoestringRacer

And a few videos. I'm hoping to get some Hotshot and Blackfoot video soon. OK, sorry for hogging up the last few posts!

(I know the diff is clicking lol)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZNyF0n9kSQ


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XUDc...eature=channel


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmZCv...eature=channel