The micro/mini-craze has taken the RC hobby by storm recently. A couple of years ago, minis were virtually an unknown sector of the hobby. However since the introduction of several popular brands, including the Mini-Z, the mini-market has exploded with unprecedented growth. Many hobby stores have small tracks devoted to these miniature offspring of their larger brethren, and several hobbyists have adopted the mini genre as their primary interest.

The Kyosho Mini-Z Overland is targeted towards, but not limited to, the off-road rally segment of the mini market. Several of the Overland minis look like off-road rally cars, while others have more of a show room look. They boast a better ground clearance capability than the original Mini-Z's which were intended to be used in on road situations. However they offer less off road capability than the Kyosho Mini-Z monster trucks.

Obviously you are wondering what the benefit is of such a small RC car, and why you should even consider adding one to your collection. The best way to find that out is to get up close and personal with one. So follow along with me as I put a Kyosho Overland through its' paces, and see just what makes this segment of the hobby attract so many people.

The Mini-Z Overland is Kyoshos' take on an off road/rally type car for the mini market. With its' solid axle setup, and enormous amount of shock travel, the Overland can easily tackle some fairly rugged terrain easily. Although not geared to take the place of the Mini-Z Monster Truck, it fills the niche between the Mini-Z Racer/car market, and the Mini-Z Monster Truck. With that in mind, the Overland I tested, with the Toyota Harrier body, seemed to be a nice middle ground between the two ends of the Kyosho Mini-Z spectrum.

The Mini-Z Overland cars are well documented with a comprehensive manual that covers all aspects of the car, and provides walkthroughs to cover any future repair necessary. A manual that shows how to disassemble and repair the car is a definite benefit rather than having to guess and possibly damage something along the way.

The one drawback to the manual is that it contains several languages for each step making it difficult to follow at times. It would be much easier to read if it were broken down in separate language sections, although this would not be cost effective for Kyosho.

The Overland comes with quite a few additional items in the box, a lug wrench, spare lug nuts, different motor pinions, and alternate shock towers.  Kyosho offers a vast selection of after market components, available for purchase separately, which enable the owner to alter the suspension or other areas of the car as opposed to the stock setup.

The Overlands' suspension should look familiar to anyone who has ever played with a solid axle off road RC truck. Due to its' size there are small differences, but the principle remains the same. The solid axles stretch from one side of the car to the other, with a shock at each corner to help the tire maintain contact with the ground. A plate on the undercarriage functions similarly to that of a solid-axle trucks four-link suspension. If a change to the handling characteristics is needed, Kyosho offers different shock springs.

The wheelbase can also be lengthened, which will help stabilize the truck, as well as allow it to be used with other Kyosho Overland bodies. Lengthening the wheelbase is performed by removing the pins found in the lower half of the battery compartment and sliding the bottom suspension plates in the desired direction. Once complete,  the pins are replaced and the upper shock mounts can be changed to match the upper chassis to the new wheel base.  The instruction manual covers this information in great detail, and will help you understand which shock mount should be used with which wheel base setting.

When looking at the underside of the Overland, you quickly notice the On/Off switch. It is the only electronic item of interest on the underside on the Overland. Unlike some of the other Mini-Z's, the frequency crystal is accessed from the top of the chassis.

Kyosho knew when they made the Mini-Z Overland, many people would want to alter the performance level of the car beyond the out of the box configuration. To help with that, a diverse set of pinion gears are provided with the model. Swapping the pinion gears is a simple modification. You simply remove the motor cover and pull the motor out, and using the supplied pinion tool, pry the old pinion off and replace with the one of your choice. Once you have chosen your pinion, it may be required that a plastic motor spacer plate be replaced to assure the pinion and spur have proper mesh alignment.

To help accommodate repairs and other necessary functions, Kyosho provides a plastic lug wrench which fits inside the wheel. This allows the lug nuts to be easily spun off making access to the differential and other areas much easier. Spare lug nuts are also provided in case some are lost or damaged.

To further enhance its' ability to handle rougher terrain, the Overland features the ability to fully lock the rear differential. While this will cause handling on pavement to suffer slightly, it will definitely improve the traction available to the Overland when it is off road. Since the Overland is only two wheel drive, a locked differential can often mean the difference between getting stuck, and getting through. Locking the differential is a simple procedure. You simply remove the left rear wheel, and then place a small disk onto the differential. The disk can be found in one of the spare part bags,  included with the model.

The Mini-Z Overland is an RTR model, which means it also includes a radio. While the radio itself may lack the flash and function of many high end models, it's a nice well rounded unit. The AM radio is developed by KO Propo, a well known manufacturer of radio equipment. It has a comfortable feel to it which makes for ease of use.

The radio offers the basic steering and throttle trim adjustments in the form of analog knobs. and a dual rate adjustment. I am glad to see dual rate is offered, because with the sharp turning radius these cars offer, it can often help to dial some steering out, making it more controllable on certain surfaces.

The steering trim is located right above the steering wheel, which leaves it exposed to some extent. However, the throttle and dual rate adjustment knobs are located behind a removable panel which protects them from accidentally being moved. The On/Off switch is plainly indicated, and a power light indicates when the radio is switched on. For the Mini-Z, I feel the stock radio is more than adequate to handle the task for which it has been chosen.

After removing the Overland from the box, remove the body from the chassis, install the receiver antenna and the four AAA batteries. Simply place four  AAA batteries into the side trays paying close attention to the diagrams in the trays.  If the batteries are incorrectly inserted the car will not run.  Once the batteries are in place, install the  retaining clips which secure them while driving.

 Installing the receiver antenna is a simple task which should only take a few seconds. The antenna and hardware will be found in their own separate plastic bag. Using a screw, washer, and a #1 screwdriver, fasten the receiver wire and antenna together at the rear of the car as shown.

Once the batteries have been installed you are ready to reinstall the body. The Overland does not have a lexan body, nor does it use a mounting system like you may be familiar with. Simply slide the body over the chassis, and pry the sides back slightly. The battery compartments have a recessed pin hole on the sides which the white clips on the inside of the body fit into. Once the body has been installed properly, you should not have any difficulty with it moving around. It is a little tricky the first couple of times you put the body on, as it can slide to far forwards or backwards. However, once you do it a few times, you easily get accustomed to it.

The supplied radio needs a small amount of prep work as well. First you will need to insert the antenna into the hole in the top of the radio and screw it into the transmitter securely. Once that has been completed you will need to install 8 AA batteries in the battery compartment, and then you will be ready to drive.

The Kyosho Mini-Z Overland is targeted towards the crowd who want a mini that can handle rougher terrain than a mini on road car, but not go for the all out monster truck look and feel. This makes the Overland more of a rally style car. So, with that in mind, most of my testing was performed on something other than smooth concrete, which is what I would do for something like the Kyosho Mini-Z MR-02.

However, knowing that I would be driving on rougher terrain most of the time, I decided to start with the smooth floor of the garage for my first run. The reason for this was to determine how powerful the car felt. The smooth floor makes it easy to lose traction, so an overpowered car shows up very quickly. Also driving in that situation will help to familiarize you with the cars' handling characteristics.

Once driving, I felt as if the car needed more power. The Overland did exhibit some body roll, but overall was controllable due not losing traction. Driving it around the garage was not the white knuckle thrill that running a Mini-Z street car would be. However, I kept in mind that this was not circumstances for which the Overland was designed. So I headed to an area better suited to give the Overlands' suspension a workout.

I tackled several other areas, including the asphalt driveway, sidewalk bricks, carpet, dirt, and even some shrubbery mulch. In these situations the Overland shined considerably. The power of the Overland seemed to fit in an off road situation better, due to it being in the element for which it was designed. As far as the suspensions' ability to handle the terrain, it was well equipped to handle anything reasonable thrown at it.

In the case of dirt and mulch, traction was a little more of an issue than it was on some of the other surfaces. Keep in mind that the Overland is two wheel drive, and due to the nature of a differential, when one wheel is unloaded it will spin while the other one will not do any of the work. Kyosho understood this when they made the Overland and provided a method to lock the differential. Utilizing this, traction increased over the loose stuff dramatically. The locked differential is definitely the perfect setup for this car when running on low traction surfaces.

I experimented some with the optional gearing provided with the Overland, and found that I liked the 11 tooth pinion better. It gave a little more top end speed over the factory installed 10 tooth, while losing very little low end torque. I believe that the optional motor would make the Overland a lot more fun overall.

When it came to battery life, the Overland did very well. I typically saw runtimes around 2 to 2.5 hours for a set of AAA batteries. Obviously gearing, driving style, terrain, and even the brand of batteries used will play a dramatic role in the runtime you receive for a set of batteries.

The Kyosho Mini-Z Overland is perfect for someone looking for a mini to drive on both pavement and rougher terrain. The ability to lock the rear differential, coupled with the high travel suspension, gives you the ability to easily conquer many different areas with one car.

The only area that I would consider upgrading soon after purchasing this car would be the motor. Kyosho offers the "X Speed Motor", which should add much of the power back into the Overland that it initially might be lacking. Beyond that, I do not see anything that would need immediate attention. Kyosho offers a whole lineup of upgrades for those who would like to further tailor their Overland. Rechargeable batteries would be a smart investment as buying packs of Duracells can very quickly get expensive. I would not consider rechargeable batteries to be an upgrade though.

If you have considered getting involved in the mini side of radio control, but did not want to be stuck running on smooth surfaces, the Kyosho Mini-Z Overland is most certainly worth heavy consideration. While it may not be able to outrun the mini on road cars, it can always take that shortcut through the rough and wind up at the finish line first!

Kyosho
Distributed Exclusively By
Great Planes Model Distributors
P.O. Box 9021
Champaign, IL 61826-9021 USA
Phone: 800-637-7660
Website: www.kyosho.com