Himoto MegaP MXT-2S Price: $239.99 Specifications Length: 504mm (19.8") Width: 385mm (15.2") Height: 260mm (10.2") Wheelbase: 335mm (13.2") Tires Size: 1145*71mm  Ground Glearance: 46mm (1.8") Engine: 18cxp Features 4WD Drive System 18CXP powerful Japan engine with two value needles and slide carb Waterproof dustproof sealed gearbox Auto-shifting 2-speed transmission Sealed superduty plastic driveshaft Fast easy assembly and disassembly receiver and battery cover Quality differential with four level gear Blue anodised 6061T chassis Sealed gearbox waterproof and dustproof, durable and stable Adjustable threaded long Oil-filled shock absorber 75CC (2.5 oz) Fuel tank Precise sealed ball bearing for the whole model Durable chrome wheel   Tools required for building and maintenance Hobby knife Precision ruler or caliper Needle nose pliers Hobby Scissors Flat and Phillips screwdrivers Wire cutters 1.5 mm, 2.0 mm, & 2.5 mm hex wrenches CA glue and rubber cement Thread locking compound Additional items needed for operation 12 AA Alkaline batteries, 8 for radio/4 for car Glow ignitor After-run Oil

 

Unpacking The Box The outer box for the MegaP is big; it leaves no doubt that the vehicle inside is big as well. The box is printed with full color pictures of the MXT-2S. The side panels of the box are printed with specs for the vehicle as well as all items that are needed to get the truck up and running. Opening the box reveals the fully assembled vehicle, which is padded for shipping with cardboard spacers that the wheels of the vehicle are inserted into. If you look at the first picture above you will see that the edges of the box did sustain a little bit of shipping damage, but the vehicle and contents of the box were well protected and not damaged in any way. At one end of the box is an additional box, which contains the transmitter radio, the radio antenna, vehicle antenna tube, and the instruction manual. The Transmitter is wrapped in bubble wrap to protect it from shipping damage. The Manual At first glance the manual looks to be thin, but that doesn't mean that it is lacking in information. The manual is printed in Black and White, and is printed in English only. The front page of the manual identifies which vehicle it is for. Opening the manual the first page lists the equipment, materials, and supplies that are needed to get the vehicle running. Also listed in this part of the manual are the instructions on getting the transmitter prepared for use. The next section (not shown in pictures) lists instructions for starting and tuning the engine. These instructions are detailed and do a good job of instructing the owner on getting their engine started and how to tune it for running. Located in the middle of the manual is a parts diagram that has a blow-up view of the vehicle that shows every part on the vehicle and provides part numbers for each part of the vehicle. This section will be invaluable when it comes time to do maintenance on the vehicle, or to replace any parts. This diagram will show how everything is put together and how to take it apart and put it back together. I would highly recommend making a copy of this page in case anything spills on the original or it is damaged in any other way. I have scanned the image from the manual, which allows me to "blow-up" the diagram to see all the details better.   Listed next is the Break-in procedure for the engine. This is probably the most important section of the manual. The manner in which an engine is broken-in will determine how it's going to run. It will make the difference in how long the engine will last as well. An engine that isn't properly broken-in will often be damaged or destroy itself early in its running life. So please pay attention on this section. Luckily the instructions here are well written and very easy to understand. If the instructions are followed the owner will be rewarded with an engine that will give them a long life of running in the vehicle. The last section of the manual is a list of all the parts on the vehicle. This list is used in conjunction with the blow-up view of the vehicle, so I would recommend copying this section as well.   Online Manual: The manual for the MXT-2S can be viewed online: MegaP MXT-2S Online Manual The Controller The transmitter, or controller, for the MXT-2S is a pistol grip style, which is the standard for RC vehicles today. It is a two-channel transmitter that controls the throttle/brakes and the steering on the vehicle. The throttle/brakes are controlled by the pistol "trigger" control, which has a small guard that fits around the finger of the operator in order to allow them to apply the brakes of the vehicle. By pulling backwards on the trigger the throttle of the vehicle is operated throughout its range of operation. By pushing the trigger totally forward the brakes are engaged to stop the vehicle. Located in the middle of the upper section is the steering wheel, which controls the steering of the vehicle. By turning the wheel to the right or left the wheels of the vehicle can be steered. The wheel is spring-loaded and will return to its center position when released. The radio transmits in the 75 Mhz frequency ranges, which have been reserved in the US for ground type RC vehicles. The antenna for the transmitter is installed by placing it in the mounting hole in the top of the transmitter and screwing the antenna in place to secure it. The antenna telescopes out to its full length for operation. Located on the back of the radio is the On/Off switch. The front portion of the transmitter has 2 trim tabs used to fine-tune each channel of the radio to provide better control. Also located here are 3 LED lights, which indicate the power level of the batteries in the transmitter. The transmitter requires 8 AA sized batteries to operate it. The manual indicates to use good quality alkaline batteries in order to run the transmitter. Located on the underside of the transmitter directly behind the pistol grip is a recharging jack that can be used to recharge the batteries in the transmitter without removing them if rechargeable batteries are used. NOTE: Never attempt to charge batteries that are not designed to be recharged, as this can result in a fire or explosion of the batteries. A charger will need to be purchased separately if rechargeable batteries are used in the transmitter The Vehicle As the vehicle is removed from the box the wheels will be surrounded by the cardboard inserts that protect the vehicle during shipping. These simply pull off. Also, the body of the vehicle is wrapped in plastic to protect it. Removing the shipping materials reveals the MXT-2S in all its glory! This is quite an impressive looking truck!

 

The body of the MXT-2S is made of lightweight Lexan plastic and is mounted to the vehicle by four mounting posts and is secured in place by a cotter pin on each post. To remove the body simply pull the four pins out and lift the body off of its mounting posts. Lifting the body off of the truck lets us get a good look at what makes the MXT-2S tick. The MXT-2S has two main body parts, a lower metal plate and an upper mount made of plastic. All of the components of the vehicle mount to these two assemblies. Chassis of the MXT-2S from the right side of the vehicle Chassis of the MXT-2S from the left side of the vehicle Chassis of the MXT-2S from the front of the vehicle   Engine and fuel tank are at the rear of the chassis Fuel and vent lines are clipped to plastic crash guard. Tuned pipe connects engine exhaust to the muffler   The bottom of the chassis is an aluminum plate Engine pull starter used to start the engine 75cc fuel lid is spring loaded to keep it closed while running.   The receiver On/Off switch is located on the main chassis Underneath the power switch is the battery box for the receiver Next to the battery box is the vehicle's receiver   The throttle servo controls both the throttle and brakes A brake is provided to stop the vehicle A vent line is connected to the muffler to provide fuel pressure   The oil-filled shocks can be adjusted to fine tune the handling of the vehicle An adjustable sway-bar is provided to help keep the vehicle from rolling over An adjustable sway-bar is provided to help keep the vehicle from rolling over

With the mindset of this review being those who have little or no RC experience the setup of this vehicle will probably be the biggest thing on their mind. "What do I have to do the set it up?" I can hear those words being asked out there. I do know that the box says that this truck is called "Ready To Run" (RTR), but that is still a bit deceiving as there are some things that will need to be done before we can run this vehicle. Let's take a look at what someone will need to do to get this truck up and running. One of the biggest assets to Himoto vehicles is the support forum that they maintain here on RCU: Himoto Support Forum. This is the best place to get answers for questions that might come up with getting this vehicle running. The US dealer for Himoto Racing, Eddie Hickey, has established a crack team of people to help answer any question about a Himoto vehicle. Many questions have already been answered in this forum and a quick search of it will turn up answers for many questions that you may have. If you don't find an answer please don't hesitate to ask. Many questions will be answered quickly and professionally as this group is dedicated to getting you running. On top of that, they are a great group of guys that just want to see others have as much fun with their vehicles as they do. Support questions can also be sent directly to Himoto Racing USA by email. The address is Himoto_support@himotoracingusa.com Batteries: Batteries are as much of the lifeblood for this vehicle as the fuel is, since the radio doesn't work without them. The MXT-2S requires 12 AA Alkaline batteries, 8 for the transmitter and 4 in the receiver. The receiver has a battery clip to place the batteries in. Once the batteries are in place wrap a piece of electrical tape around the clip to keep the batteries from vibrating out of place while the vehicle is running. This is important because a bad connection can result in loss of control for the vehicle, which could result in damage to the vehicle or injury to others if it hits somebody. The transmitter batteries are located in the bottom of the transmitter and have an access panel that slides out to reveal the batteries. While a set of batteries should easily last for several running sessions, the cost of using regular Alkaline batteries could rack up quickly. To avoid this I choose to use Energizer rechargeable Nickle-Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) 2500 Mah batteries in my vehicle. I use these because I already use them in many devices in my house that use AA batteries. such as digital cameras and flashlights. They greatly cut down the cost of batteries and the 2500 Mah size gives plenty of juice for power hungry devices. The batteries can be removed from the vehicle and transmitter to recharge them in the Energizer recharger that I purchased with these batteries. As I mentioned earlier, the transmitter does have a recharge jack that will recharge the batteries while they remain in the transmitter, but a separate charger designed to recharge 9.6V (total voltage of the batteries in the transmitter) battery packs will be needed to recharge them. The receiver battery pack was one of the downsides I found with this vehicle. I felt it was a little bit cumbersome to remove the hatch of the battery compartment in order to access the batteries to recharge them. Granted the hatch is secured with a simple pin, but I would have preferred that a recharge jack be provided to recharge the receiver batteries without removing them from the vehicle. This is only a minor nuisance and doesn't detract for the operation of the vehicle. It's just a minor pet peeve I had with it. Radio setup: There really isn't much setup to do with the radio, as most everything is already in place. The transmitter antenna needs to be installed, but this is as simple as screwing it in place on the top of the transmitter. The receiver antenna is a small wire that is approximately 3' in length which is coiled up under the body of the vehicle as it comes of out of the box. This antenna must be extended before running the vehicle, as failing to do so will result in loss of control of the truck. A plastic tube is provided to mount the antenna wire in. The antenna is extended up through the tube and then the tube is inserted into the recess provided in the vehicle chassis. The excess wire is then wrapped back down around the outside of the antenna tube. I used a small piece of heat shrink to secure the end of the wire to the tube, but a piece of electrical tape could be used here as well.   When it comes time to run the vehicle the On/Off switch is easy to access with the body in place. The switch is located in the front left corner of the chassis and is easily reached by simply running your finger up under the body of the truck immediately behind the right front wheel. Truck Body & Chassis: The body of the MXT-2S sits high enough to provide plenty of airflow to the engine to properly cool it down as it's run, so cooling holes won't need to be cut into the body. However, you may want to cut a hole in the back of the truck to allow access for a glow starter and the pull start handle. The truck can be started without this access hole by removing the body and starting it, and then replacing the body after the engine is running. While the body is secured with 4 cotter pins, it can still be a bit of a pain to have to remove the body every time you need to start the truck. It's a very easy process to cut out a hole above the engine and the pull starter. This will allow easy access to place the glow starter on the engine and use the pull starter to start the engine.   Along the same lines here is a quick tip that I picked up from the Himoto Support Forum on RCU. Attach a small zip tie to the lip of the fuel tank, and leave the excess portion of the tie in place. This will provide a small handle for lifting the lid of the fuel tank when it comes time to refuel the truck. By doing this you can reach into the hole cut into the back of the truck and lift the lid for easy access to refuel the tank without having to take the body off the vehicle.   One very important part on the chassis is to go through and make sure that all of the screws on the vehicle are tight. All screws, nuts, and bolts that are metal to metal contact need to have blue Lock-tite applied to keep them from vibrating loose. Engine break-in: This is probably the most important part of setting up a glow power RC vehicle. This one step will dictate how the vehicle runs throughout it's life, and also dictate how long it lasts. An engine is a machine with many moving metal parts that must "seat" against each other. If an engine is pushed too hard before these parts are properly seated the engine usually won't last long or run well either. On the other hand, if it is properly broken-in the engine will last a long time and will run at it's peak best. The break-in process is completely spelled out in the instruction manual and can be easily accomplished in an afternoon. The process for breaking in the engine will take 5 full tanks of fuel that will be run through the engine, with different steps taken as each tank is run. Some things to remember during the break-in procedure. Leave the body off of the vehicle. This will allow the engine to run cooler. Always leave the air cleaner on the engine whenever it's running. Run the vehicle on a smooth hard surface. A parking lot is perfect for this. Use the same fuel for break-in that you will use for normal running. Don't make quick acceleration or deceleration moves while breaking-in the engine. Keep a couple of glow plugs on hand while breaking in the engine as they are prone to go out. DO NOT overheat the engine while breaking-in. Check the head temperature with an electronic temperature gauge to monitor it's getting too hot. Use an electronic thermometer to monitor the engine temp during break-in Leave the body off while breaking-in the engine Use a glow drive to heat the glow plug while starting the engine Break-in procedures Tank 1 For the first tank the engine should be run at a very rich needle valve setting. This allows the fuel to provide as much oil as possible to lubricate the parts during the break-in process. Open the high speed needle valve 4-1/2 turns from fully closed. After starting the engine run the truck on a smooth hard surface with the body off. Run back and forth at a medium speed, slowly accelerating and decelerating. Run the truck until the tank is almost out of fuel. Do not allow the tank to run dry during break-in as this can cause overheating in the engine. Allow the engine to completely cool before proceeding to Tank 2, normally about 10-15 minutes.   Adjusting the high speed needle Tank 2 Lean the high-speed needle 1/2 turn from the setting during Tank 1 and restart the engine. Run the truck in the same manner as during the first tank. Allow the engine to completely cool before proceeding to Tank 3. Tank 3 Lean the high-speed needle another 1/2 turn from the Tank 2 setting and repeat the steps from the last 2 tanks. Allow the engine to completely cool before proceeding to Tank 4. Tank 4 Lean the needle another 1/2 turn from tank 3 settings and run the buddy for the entire tank. Allow it to cool before moving to tank 5 Tank 5. Lean the needle another 1/2 turn from tank 4 and again run the vehicle for the entire tank and allow the engine to cool. The engine is now broken-in and can be tuned for performance. You will probably notice that the idle will be higher than when you started and will need to be adjusted.   And that's it. The truck is now ready to go out and "play". While this may seem a bit involved it's really not. All of these steps can easily be accomplished in an afternoon and don't involve any special procedures. Now let's take the truck out and have some fun!!

 
 

With the engine broken-in it was time to pack up the MXT-2S and head down the street to a local park to see what it could do. We have a good park that is fully of gulleys and ditches that make for some great places to run a truck like the MegaP. Once we were there I fueled up the truck and fired up the engines. At first we took it a bit easy on the truck, just running it in an open area so that we could get a feel for how it handled. The first thing I noticed was the responsiveness of the engine. When I applied throttle it was very quick to apply power to the wheels and get the truck up and running. This also made for a fast truck. I was really impressed with just how quick the truck was on the open ground. I hadn't expected quite that much speed. It didn't take too long before the truck was out of fuel and it was time to fill it back up. This was one thing that I did notice throughout the day that I was a bit disappointed with the amount of run time the truck had from a tank of fuel. I would have hoped it lasted longer. However it's not a huge deal because the truck can quickly be refueled and started back up to continue running. After playing with the truck on the open ground we decided to set up a small ramp with a board and some rock. At first we started off not very high just to see how the truck did, but it didn't take too long before we needed to raise it up so we could get some "air" in the jumps. I was really impressed with the MXT while we were doing these jumps. During this time my lack of skill with the throttle resulted in some less than perfect landings that really punished the truck, but nothing broke. I liked that the truck was able to take the beating while we learned to work the throttle in the air to keep the truck in position for a good landing. Up next was time to open the truck up and bash it in the ditches in the park. I really liked doing this, as it was a lot of fun running up and down the hills of the park. The truck really handled them well and it was very easy to keep control of it as it was run. As a final test we decided to combine the hills with the jump to really put the truck to a test. This really put a beating on the truck as it had a lot of less-than-perfect landings that were hard on it. Once again, no damage at all to the truck. Overall we ran about 15 tanks of fuel through the truck. We would have run more but it was time to head home for dinner. The MegaP really provided a lot of great fun for both my son and me as we had a blast putting it through its paces. One thing was sure, it was going to see a lot more running time in the upcoming weeks as we "played" with it more!

 

Himoto Racing MXT-2S Small File (19 MB) Himoto Racing MXT-2S Small File (41 MB)

 

So, what did I think of the Himoto MegaP MXT-2S? Absolutely a blast to run. The truck provided myself and my son with loads of fun that didn't require excessive amounts of prep time or lots of maintenance afterwards. We really pushed the truck hard as we ran it and it took all of the punishment that we could put to it. Now I know that at some time in the future something is bound to break on the truck, but it was nice to see a product that performed well right out of the box. And if something does break I'm positive that it will be easy to get the parts to repair it. I've spoken to several RCU members that own Himoto vehicles and they have nothing but great things to say about Himoto Racing USA and their commitment to providing their customers with great products and outstanding support for those products. There were a few things that I would have liked to see done a little bit better. A larger fuel tank would have been nice, as the run times seemed a bit short. I also felt that the receiver battery box was a bit cumbersome to get open for changing, or recharging, the receiver batteries. I felt that a charging plug would have been nice on the receiver box. While these items could have been done a bit better they in no means mean that this isn't a great truck to start out with. They were minor annoyances and easily overcome by the enjoyment of running this truck. For somebody who has little or no experience with glow fuel powered RC vehicles I can recommend the MXT-2S as a great vehicle to start out with. It's simple enough to get set up and running that even beginners will not have any problems getting started. But the larger size of a 1/8th scale vehicle, and the quality of the Himoto truck, will ensure that the owner of this truck won't grow tired of it quickly. It's sure to give a long life of running that will make it a fantastic bargain for the cost. Overall I would say it's a great vehicle to get started on. With great performance and a reasonable price the MXT-2S is a great RC product for those out there who just want to have some fun with their RC vehicles.

 

Himoto MegaP MXT-2S Himoto Racing USA 149-33 82st. Howard Beach, NY 11414 Phone: (718)576-1128 www.himotoracingusa.com www.himotoracing.com Sales: himoto_sales@himotoracingusa.com Tech: himoto_support@himotoracingusa.com   Zap Adhesives Frank Tiano Enterprises 3607 Ventura Drive E. Lakeland, Florida 33811 Phone: (863)607-6611 Website: http://www.franktiano.com Products Used:  Z-42 Thread Locker