new to RC world
 

Hello everyone

im more used to building Gundam kits but i do like RC cars also. i recently purchased a TT02D Skyline R33 kit. it coming in 3weeks. my past knowledge of RC usually deals with those cheap dinky RC kids play with but i got some more serious and better info for the actual RC kits lately. im trying to get some things ready for the kit when it comes. im confident enough to build it after watching some YT vids but still not confident to swap out the Tamiya white connectors, planning to put deans on them. servo and controller are in and a NiMH charger are in but no batteries ordered yet.

im trying to get a wine red color and black bonnet/trunk color but not sure which Tamiya paints i need. im planning on PS white, black, smoke and some red. im thinking PS33 translucent red for its darker hue and a white backing. though i do see a PS metallic wine red that should do great but is it available on the market?

what are the usual dimensions for the battery trays? i ordered 2 7.2v melasta 5000mah battery its 4.8cm tall. will it require any sort of modification to fit in normal cases? the kit hasnt yet come in and im not familiar to the usual dimensions on RC cars.


i did locate all the paints i plan to use on the kit though the red is on order ie a newer paint from Tamiya line.

Welcome! No, those cells will not exceed what you can fit on the TT02D. Soldering a Deans connector is relatively easy, just remember to use lots of flux and even heat. Glad you got your paint sorted!

thank you for the reply, soldering the deans will be a later upgrade but still on my to do list. i will stick with Tamiya for a bit but once i see some signs of melting/warping or possible issues then i'll go to deans. im just not sure what sort of electric strain the smraza 20kg digital servo motor (full metal coreless) and the Tamiya 540 sport tune motor will put on the kit. Deans is the ideal connectors but i just want the kit to be in first and have a bit of fun with it. i simply dont know what tolerances there are for motors, battery voltage and components at this point.my coworker is better at soldering than me i tend to heat the wires up a fair amount then melt the solder drops on them and give it a bit more hear. doing that on the battery is more uneasy for me.

the paints took a bit of a quest to find, hit up 3 shops for PS paints but they only had TS paint cans. the 4th store my coworker told me about had plenty of PS paint though the red i wanted didnt get a PS number yet. hobby stores arent that common as in the past but they are still around. apparently my kit could hit 20 mph ( a YT vid had the same kit stock) my brother has a 1yr German Shepard so im certainly a bit cautious of that fact now for future reference.

so a really good day has been a bit dampened. the kit came in early today an hour or so before i had to leave for work. did a quick check of what was in the kit. no steering servo, radio/receiver, battery AND no ESC. the reference kit i was comparing it to came with ESC. the box i got says the ESC is not included so thats a bummer. i looked through the parts 3 times for wire connections and at he electronic parts. the motor is there with its can pins but not too many electronic parts. the reference site listed an esc TBLE-02S but its a surprise to me. im a bit tired so i might have missed the on/off switch in the details or not but thats something to verify when my mind is sharper with some rest... i think the on/off switch comes with a TBLE-02S ESC.

I dont see any Tamiya connectors in the box at all. the batteries will likely come with Tamiya plugs, gotta pick the batteries up this Thursday. given there are no electric plugs it can then just jump right to Deans. i found the TBLE-02S ESC on amazon, btw the kit came with the 540 brushed sport tuned Tamiya motor.(silver can).

i just got the ESC in today, i glued 1 side of the tires yesterday and made a small mess of the first 3. i cleaned it up fairly well but some residual still sits on the outer rim of the tire rim, i dont want to scrape too hard to scratch the rims too much. i just put the glue on the other side of the tires using what i learned from the first 4 to make a cleaner job of it. when the tires are done the body posts and electronics can be put together. i will need to charge up one battery and paint the body. not sure how long that will take but i will get it done within a week.

Me too and this is great!

nice, do you mean the RC kit or the ESC? do check to see if the kit has an ESC. as for the build, do be careful to have a good #2 screw driver that has a sharp head, NOT one with a sloppy rounded head as you will need a bit of force to avoid slipping the Phillips off the screws. that and proper tools to screw in the 4 tiny threaded screws for the differential (that was stressful AF!!). as for the shocks, pay attention to the thread gap when you install the bottom shock mounts. the shock shaft may be metal (threaded) but the bottom shock piece threads are plastic.do make sure you have some velcro tape or similar items to place the electronics. i haven gotten around to installing the electronics yet. im not sure how much you know about RC kits in general (no offense intended) but as its my first actual RC kit this is what i learned personally about this kit.

i found my electric 28,000RPM dremel a life saver to grind of the safety gap from the scissor cuts and bottom panel boundary. granted i had to go 10K RPM for a nice controlled task and manual files for the final sanding. i found the best way to grease the stock diffs was to assemble them without the covering and use one of the diff shaft connections to turn the gears as you dab some of the grey/black grease on them.

i finally built up the car and im sure i messed up either a steering servo or the programming on the transmitter... i did a 2-3 minute run without setting up the EPA adjustments and sometimes the steering doesnt work well. it started fien without EPA and just started todrift the "neutral" position more to the right....

i still havent figured out the transmitter programming yet but the steering servo may still be good.

i took this short vidoe of my R33 body 2-3 days ago (without the stickers added on). im in the process of adding the stickers 2/3 done but some stickers are obsolete due to cutting out the "muffler" panel and the coice of paint i went with on the spoiler.some minor stickers on the rear remain and the majority of the rubber door seal stickers remain and a few side panel stickers.
the paint isnt perfect but the body panels of the Skyline dont always making blocking off easy...

so after a few days of confusion and a few different YT vids, i think i figured out the programming on the transmitter and the steering issues have been solved. i havent yet tried a real run but it works when propped on a stand. the most i have to run on is my wood floors limited but the rest is mostly smooth ashphalt which is "great" on the hard drift tires...

this is great

thanks, the skyline is down for the time being, small 1 inch crack on front right bumper and just below the headlight. it was a medium speed bump onto concrete wall in underground parking...it's for the most part fixed and the body shell is getting a bit of weight added. shoe goo and fiber glass tape for the body panels and roof. the back and roof remain to reinforce but the front should be strong AF now :).i also reinforced the front body mount posts on the shell. this is the crack i made in the shell. though im starting to doubt it a bit. i used PS spray to fill in the gaps before actually putting in the adhesive. im just hoping the decent amount of adhesive and fiberglass will stabilize the crack sufficiently. i only sprayed the paint on the exterior so im hoping that the paint bleed and adhesive below it do the trick.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...82511c70bd.jpg



i love the paint job a fair amount and im afraid to damage it too much as i learn how to control it. i will still run the body but my friend is giving me a 1:10 BMW body shell for free. he has a 3 unused shells, its not a perfect but its fairly nice. its perfect to take my learning mistakes. i did learn to slow down a bit after that bump but i do have a set of nice plastic tires and soft rubber coming in 2 days. the new wheels dont have the best rep for side impacts but they dont cost much and look great.

i do hope to get a FD3S and a Sileigthy (180sx + s13 front) but havent found the right one yet...id like to have 2nd nice body in stock in the future but the BMW and GTR R33 should do for now.
this is cropped from the pics my friend sent over, its not fitted to my chassis as im going to pick up the shell saturday likely and then fit it to the TT02 chassis. im not the biggest fan of BMW so i dont know which series it is but i will absorb my mistakes and i will patch it up when needed.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rcu...712bfb60c0.jpg

can anyone please give me some tips on suspension setup on the TT02? i ran it 3-4 times on mostly smooth asphalt and the plastic rim hex nuts were destroyed. one just F'd, 2 were cracked and the last was still good. i ordered aluminum rims and soft rubber tires but am waiting for aluminum shocks to come in 2-3 weeks. the shocks on the TT02D are most likely Tamiiya plastic CVA shocks, not friction shocks. a small drop test on one end has the suspension firmly planted. instead of a few small bounces. i did order some aluminum oil damper shocks to upgrade the current set. they have an adjustable ring/collar to set different stiffness levels

the aluminum rims i got have hard drift plastic tires but the other plastic rims came with soft rubber tires. i cant remove the brand new current drift tires from the aluminum rims with out a proper tool, ordered a MST tire removal kit from RCmart. should be in by the end of january. i can order a 2nd set of aluminum rims and hard plastic ($28 CAD) but i really want to run soft rubber tires on them. im worried about damaging the plastic frameparts/chassis on mostly smooth asphalt until i can find a better and safer place to run the RC YAY for covid restrictions and winter...

i chose the aluminum rims because i want a set of rims that can take a few bumps that plastic wheels cant. can i do anything else after getting better oil shocks and aluminum rim/soft rubber tire combo? i just want to set it up so i can run it without worrying about breaking too much on the parts on the chassis until better surfaces or tracks open back up. i could think of getting better wheel hubs and suspension frame arms but im not planning for that in the short term. the current socks have 400 weight/viscosity with 1 hole to provide flow and it has a good resistance to it when installed n the chassis.

this is the current appearances of the chassis and shell. the shels is 2x reinforced with shoeglue and fiber tape already.