nev_neo

So,
I just picked up a brand new Tamiya TA05 from my LHS.
This is my first ever tamiya build and I am sort of overwhelmed by the amount of parts that need assembly.
Last night I spent some time going through the instructions - certainly does look like a lot of work.

Do you guys have any pointers as to what would be the best way to go about assembling it ?
Also need recommendations for a brushless combo.

theibault

Tamiya kits are a joy to build. Usually go bag to bag per instructions. I like to lay out my parts, cut flashing off plastic pieces with an exacto, and go to town. Get some Redbull, put on some music, and have fun!

dragnse7en

Don't loose too many parts - there's only a small handful of spare srcews and hardware.

Do not overtighten the diffs when building them, and use a good hex wrench instead of the one that comes with the kit. Shoe Goo is great to use in place of the sythetic rubber cement. Be sure to peel away any excess Shoe Goo after it's dried, so that it won't foul up the diff balls or the bearings.

For a BL combo setup, I would make sure the car has universal swing shafts instead of dogbones, and if possible, beef the rear diff up with higher quality outdrives and harder diff balls.

My kit's screw bags weren't labeled all that great, so you may want to dump every screw bag into a plastic gladware container and sort out by type from there (contersunk, button heads, grub screws, c-clips, etc.)

Use blue threadlocking compound as indicated anywhere in the instructions, and on the setscrew for the pinion gear.

The factory settings for the suspension, after the car is fully assembled, seem very generic or all-purpose, and the ride height seems almost like a rally car. You will need to adjust some of the suspension to get it race-worthy or even speed run capable.

If you opt for a lipo battery, be sure to add up all the weight of the electrics, subtract the weight of the battery from that, and then add enough lead counterweights to the battery or battery bar to balance it out.

Throw out the spur gear and the servo saver. Almost any aftermarket company thats sells high quality 48 or 64P gears will directly fit. Replace the servo saver with a matching Kimbrough one, or get Tamiya's heavy duty black one.

If you don't like the flex in the chassis, Exotek makes a lipo-ready carbon fiber weave chassis kit for your kit, but if you want to save your pennies and retain more parts from your car, Tamiya's carbon reinforced lower deck is just as fine and costs a bunch less.

Use good tools, and be patient. It took me 18hrs or more to assemble mine. Check and double check the manual.

Good luck and enjoy your car

nev_neo

Thanks for the tips guys.

Instead of the rubber cement, can I use gorrilla glue instead ?
Also, is it recommeded to upgrade the tranny parts if I plan to run brushless ?

What kind of diff balls do you guys recommend ?

RE the servo, i was planning on throwing in an old traxxas 2018, that I have lying around. Do you guys have any recommendations ?

Gonna start taking every thing out tonight, and maybe try building it too.

gokemidoro

Forget the Traxxas 2018. Too slow. Waaaaay too slow.
Go for something around .10 or lower transit speed. I use Hitecs in the .7-.8 range, and the car steers very precisely. It will make a HUGE difference in how the car drives.

I concur with everything Drgnse7en says. I built a TA05 VDF and it took about as long. The time was worth it, as it is one of my best handling chassis.

The chassis will take brushless, nothing more to do there, and get the hardest diff balls you can afford.

Good luck with the build! Be patient, and you will be rewarded with a great handling car!

nev_neo

Any recommendations on what hitec servo to use ?

dragnse7en

Thank you gokemidoro

If you want to run a very fast BL motor then I would suggest beefing up your drivetrain. I would suggest doing it for anything above a 10.5T/ 4200Kv motor.

For diff balls, I use Acer Racing's 3mm ceramic nitride diff balls. Tungsten Carbide diff balls work great as well, but they seemed to wear out my diff rings faster than normal (they put grooves in the rings alot faster).

DONOTuse a digital servo, no matter what your servo preference may be. The continuous static charging and discharging created by the belt system will fry the printed circuit board inside the servo. Any non-digital high-torque/ high-speed in a standard size will do the trick. I use a Futaba S3305 HT MG BB servo with a 0.2 second 60 degree swing speed.

If the kit didn't come with a stabilizer bar set, and you really want to whip tight around the corners, get them. They may not seem like they are doing their job when you move the suspension with the car in your hand, but moving on a track or on the road, they do make a difference.

dragnse7en

Goto Hitech's site or find the specs that closely match the requirements that gokemidoro and I talked about. That's the best I can recommend, since I never used anything from Hitech.

dragnse7en

I forgot to answer you question about gorilla glue.

I bought a bottle of gorilla wood glue when I was hired to restore a handle on an antique wooden wagon. The glue never set, and I had to remove all the old residue glue and start all over again. After three attempts, still no sucess. I lost the job and was threatened with a law suit, so I apologized and refunded the guy. To this day, I truely believe that anything that comes from Gorilla has zero adhesive. Oh - I also looked on the back label - MADE IN CHINA.

That 20 0z. bottle of Gorilla Glue, for wood, cost me 99 cents. You get what you pay for. Use it at your own risk!!!!!!!!!

DO NOT use Superglue or any other CA on the diff rings. The tiny little crystals will trash your diffs.

The only cost effective (cheap) alternative would be to use waterproof chalking - the stuff that seals into the pores of cermaic tiles and cements them together. Use it VERY sparingly though!!!!

Any good RTV will work. Buck up and get a tube of Shoe Goo. That thing will last a decade, and as long as it's wet and inside the tube, it's still good to use.

I've never seen an expiration date on Shoe Goo, but I did on the Gorilla Glue, which was not expired yet still was a waste of time.

I hope this is not your very 1st RC car, and is simply is your 1st Tamiya 4WD car.

Be patient - relax, take your time. the rewards driving that bullet in the end will be well worth the trouble.

nev_neo

Where'd you get Gorilla glue for 99cents ?
my 2oz bottle cost me ~7$'s. I didn't use gorrilla glue, cuz I didn't want to wait for it to set and then peel away the excess run off.
I used a lil bit of tire glue that i had.

I've never had any issue with Gorrilla glue, I think you might've gotten a knock off - the bottleI have says "Made in the USA". - And it doesn't have an expiration date.

Ah well.. I might be taking apart the diffs again later, and beefing it up with some aluminum parts.


This isn't my first RC, I own a Slash 4x4 and a bandit - both of which i've taken apart numerous times to clean and setup. I like "assembly required" stuff - its fun.

This is my first experience with anything Tamiya, so i'm taking everything slow, making sure I don't overtighen stuff, or strip anything. This is most definitely a learning experience.
I did follow your advice about sorting out the screws - helps immensely !

Thanks everyone else for your advice.

OH - is there an easier way to doingturnbuckles ? my fingers hurt soo bad !

What mamba ESC + motor do you guys recommend ?


EDIT: Cutting off the flashing off the plastic pieces sure gets boring tho.. LOL

dragnse7en

That's my favorite part - sorting screws and using a hobby knife!!!!! Well, not really. I do expect some flash off of plastic parts, and my #84159 kit had less flash on it compared to my AE factory team kit. There's so much flash and excess off the plastic blocks that someone could recycle it almost 2:1.

I am also fond of Tamiya plastic model kits, so I could say that the only japanese I can read or speak is from them (and FineMolds as well).




I'm very happy that this ain't your 1st RC - I didn't know. Belts need to be replaced when either or both of the following happens:

1. Bad, deep cracks in the belt - look for any crack that splits the width of the belt itself. Check the rear belt first, as this is where it will typically happen first. Damn Newton's law - everything thrown foward in an insane speed makes all its mass sink in its ass . . . .

2. Teeth on the inside of the belt are split, cracked, or missing chunks out of them.



Try out some 26mm tires to get used to the car. From there you can get high performance 26mm belted radials, 24mm touring car carpet track slicks, or even pre-mounted foam tires.

With or without a race, my 4WDTC sails, rocks, and dominates the parking lot or track. Ran it on a 7700Kv/ 4 or 5 turn BL Mamba Max CM36. Clocked by my local police dept. at 82.9mph.
Yes I smashed the crap out of that car, blew open a belted radial tire while doing donuts, and then some. Needless to say, a speed passion is addictive especially when you're trying to beat your own record.

My friend just told me I did get a knock-off of that glue - he said it was made in the USA too!!!!! arghghghhh!!!! I still wouldn't use it though, unless it can act like elmer's glue but able to stick on both plastic and metal.

gokemidoro

What mamba ESC + motor do you guys recommend ?




The Mamba Max Pro has a bunch of adjustments, and a new one for motor timing, but I find it redundant. I would recommend the Sidewinder with 5700Kv motor, though. The Sidewinder seems to deliver power very smoothly, more so than the MMP, and with the 5700, the power is much more "tractable." Of course, you won't get it to go ballistic, but there's less chance of it going out of control, either. You can also take it to a track, and run it, with few adjustments (with the Castle Link or Field Programming Card), and be competitive.

If you are going for pure speed, go mini. It's cheaper, and those minis (like the Associated 18 series) can be made to go just as fast, or faster, than a 1/10th scale, for a lot less money. I know......I've done it.

On turnbuckles.....Gota tiny crescent wrench?

dragnse7en

I have the MMP and have raced it in the 17.5 rubber sedan class, with my older car. That ESC should fit in the car, with just enough room. For racing I use LRP X12 Vector series motors, and for speed runs I use Castle Creation's CM36 7700Kv motor.

I really like the Castle Link software because I can choose basic settings or go advanced. I can adjust the throttle and brake curves seperately and also change them three different ways. The timing advance settings are neat too. I can use a pre-set selection or enter the values manually.

It has a sensor port for those that want to use that system, so the ESC is quite versatile and fits my needs perfectly.

Look for an ESC that will fit your own needs, and more importantly - fits in the car. Check the dimensions of the case; it should be listed in the specs. You will want to find one that can handle any motor you want to use.

There's a couple of turnbuckle wrenches out there. Tamiya makes a nice one. Losi, Associated, and Hudy also make wrenches for what you need.

ElectricGuy007

That is cheap for a 6900kv version only $99...that's not bad...


[link]http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXAUHT&P=7[/link]

nev_neo

Gentlemen,
The Beast is finished ! [8D]
Well.. atleast 90 % done
Still gotta get the motor+esc and a good 2.4ghz transmitter combo.
Oh yea.. gotta paint the body too

so make that 80% done.

I like the castle combos but i'm also intrigued by the sensored motors. Any pros/cons with going sensored ?

Thanks for the link ElectricGuy007, that looks VERY TEMPTING !

gokemidoro

Sensored is very smooth, no "cogging", and power delivery is said to be linear, but if you program the Castle properly, it is just as good, in my opinion. The little "cogging" there is left is not a problem, unless you race, and even then, it's such a small thing, I think it's just whining, if you can't come above it. After all, your life doesn't end if you don't win a race, and to blame "cogging" is just being picky about a non-existent problem.

It's still up to you, but I would tell you to save your bucks, and get a Castle, because they are bulletproof, can withstand a TONof abuse, and the Sidewinder is just as smooth as a sensored system, like I say, when programmed properly.

dragnse7en

Yeah that sidewinder and BL motor combo does actually look like a great deal. Check and see if it fits! Guud luck

nev_neo

Forgot to mention - easiest way to do the turnbuckles is a traxxas wrench and a pair of needle nosed pliers. Wrap one end of the turnbuckle with a rag or paper towel so you don't scratch it on the pliers, use the wrench to turn the metal turnbuckle. Problem solved.

gokemidoro

PICS! PICS!

Let's see how it's coming together!!!

So what If it's not quite finished, Pics, man, PICS!!!!!!

dragnse7en

DO NOT DO what nev_neo suggested with the pliers. A cheap cop out is not the answer. Unless I have three hands, the third holding the car, then it isn't happening.

Use the cheap tool that comes with the kit. You will have a second hand to support the car while you wrench on it. Look for better tools in the mean time.

NEV_NEO - NEXT TIME YOU GIVE ADVICE, THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE SAYING. USING 2 TOOLS AT ONCE REQUIRES 2 HANDS - MISTER SCIENTIST!!!!!!!

gokemidoro

Easy, easy, there. You're insulting the guy who started the thread. Not everyone has the same care and attention we do........Heck, not all of us have every tool known to man, I certainly don't. We do with what we have, and for some, it's all good.

ElectricGuy007

Im interested in seeing pics as well.
Lets' see this beast of a car he keeps talking about.

dragnse7en

yes. i am sorry. just use the best tools you can get your hands on. sorry.

gokemidoro

O.K., well, now that that's over, nev neo, let's see some pics!!

dragnse7en

yes - videos!!!!