1:28 Racing: Spoon's Mini-Z Blog...

Customize Your RCP Track Pins

2008-05-26T14:14:00.002-05:00

There's a few members in the DC GTG that have track. We are currently exploring new places to race when we can't get into Hobbyworks and there's always the question of who is going to bring the track. Once you start sharing track you need an easy way to identify what's yours.

I have been mentioning the idea of custom colored RCP track pins to RCP for a while and a few of us have even tried spray paint to identify our pins. The paint works for a little while but just ends up flaking off. One day Arch2b asked if the pics could be dyed. I hadn't thought of that but when I was in a craft store yesterday I decided to pick up some RIT dye and give it a shot.

Here are a few pictures...

And some warnings/tips
* There are two techniques for dying, washing machine and stovetop, I chose stovetop.
* This stuff will stain anything. Read the label carefully.
* Stir the pot regularly to guarantee a uniform color
* It took a while before the blue dye started to take. After 10-15 minutes I noticed the color change and after about 30 minutes I had a nice deep color.
* I have only tried this with Navy Blue. I suspect you will need darker/stronger colors for it to really show up on the gray plastic.
* You should be able to find RIT at any craft store or even in the grocery store.

Good Luck!

The Classic That Crushed Us All

2008-05-06T14:42:00.003-05:00

I told the Ringer if her could get me a picture of the car that rocked the last DC HFAY GTG I would set aside some time and space to recap the day that featured all of us getting rocked.

Ringer has had his share of ups and downs. We all have issues with our Z's but I've seen Ringer pack up in frustration and actually wonder if he was ever coming back. He usually does.

Our April HFAY gathering had most of the usual suspects, me, TallGeese, VAzRacer, CCSON, Soulstice and a couple of new guys. We were missing Arch and Soy but these summer GTG's are hard to populate with a full roster. Anyway, VAz and Geese have been putting in a lot of time and it has been showing in the last few GTG's. Actually, now that I think about it, just about everyone has been showing consistent improvement. I don't know if I had the chance to say it out loud buy Soulstice is really starting to drive some consistent laps and turning out some very good performances...we almost look like racers.

The star of the day was our silent one. The Ringer just sat back and did what he had to do to get into the A main for the second set of races. He, VAzRacer and TallGeese were driving particularly well that day and ended up in the A main together. Usually one of the non-drivers will call out lap counts and remaining time but we were pretty quiet for this particular heat. I think all I said was "You guys are on a really good pace!" and I just let them duke it out. Without distractions and with a very clean run, The Ringer, TallGeese and VAzRacer took 1, 2, & 3. A full sweep coming out of DC.

Here's the car that stood the tallest that day.

You can see how DC rocked both directions here.

Quick Update

2008-03-19T15:09:00.002-05:00

It's been a little over a week since I've given an update. Nothing too specific to report on but there's a lot in the works. I have cleared out two AD cars and am in the process of selling one more 27MHz car. I have replaced those with a pair of 2.4GHz cars. Once HFAY season 6 is upon us I plan on maintaining 3 racers, one 94mm (C5R), one 98mm (McLaren) and one 102 mm (LM) all in the new 2.4 format.

In general I've been doing some streamlining, trying to sell some extra batteries and just cut back on the excess Mini-Z stuff that I have. I still have a small collection of bodies that I like to keep around but just a handful.

I've also got an F1 off of Ebay that I need to spend some time with. Unfortunately my AD F1 never really worked out so I decided to pickup a used chassis. I am waiting for some parts and once they are in I may end up doing Ruf's 64 pitch conversion on my F1 diff.

Oh, I guess I've moved all of my racers to 64 pitch. I don't really see a huge difference but maybe I just need to spend some time with it before I can write a full review. Gear mesh seems better but I haven't noticed the improved handling characteristics that people have been raving about.

Anyway, there will be some updates soon as I get things built up and tuned up.

PN Racing 64 Pitch Gears

2008-03-11T10:33:00.005-05:00

I don't know what rock I was hiding under when these got released but by the time I heard about them people were already making a lot of noise about these things. I did a little bit of research and posted my minimal findings and decided to order some gears.

I've got a few cars that I need to setup and I usually drive on smaller (2-3 Wide L) tracks so instead of getting the full 64 pitch kit I used the gear ratio chart from PN's website to try and get some gears that would be close to the ratios I currently use.
I ended up getting all three spur gears with sets of 9-12 pinion gears. I also got enough bearings to outfit my HFAY, 2.4 GHz and F1 cars.

Since I drive my HFAY car the most (usually with a 41/7 setup) and it's got an atomic diff on it, I decided to set that one up first. With an Atomic or PN diff you don't have to make any modifications to the differential itself. I decided to keep it simple until I had more time on these things.

I installed the 52/9 setup which is pretty close to my 41/7 and ran it on Tuesday night just a little bit. The gear mesh wasn't silent but it definitely sounds a lot better than the standard pitch setup. Maybe I just need to fiddle with it a bit more. Also, I can't say that I noticed that much of a difference as I was driving it. I will admit that I wasn't really pushing the car to its limits or focusing 100% trying to put forth my best 8 minute lap count so it may need some more testing.

For now I'll say that it has promise but I won't call it the holy grail until I've had more time in on it.

Either way, look out for some new car setups soon as I get my 2.4 GHz setup dialed in with these new pinion and spur gears.

Hiro Seiko TX Wheel

2008-03-10T13:33:00.006-05:00

I've picked up a few new parts for my Mini-Z's lately so this will be the first in a series of product reviews. Up first is the Hiro Seiko Alloy TX wheel.

I originally picked this up strictly for bling factor. I saw them when they popped up on RCKenon and figured I would get one eventually. It turns out this was a practical purchase because I can now put my stock Helios wheel on my KT-18.

The wheels come in a bunch of different patterns and finishes. I opted to go with the 5 Spoke flat Ti. First thing to note is that you have to purchase the wheel and the adapter for your particular radio separately. This isn't a big deal and the whole thing will cost you about $40 before shipping. From the current lack of adapter stock at Kenon it looks like a lot of Helios owners are picking these up. You can find the entire lineup of Hiro Seiko wheel styles on their website.

So, if everything goes well, the only thing you should need to install the wheel is a screwdriver to remove your stock steering wheel.

Once you've got your TX wheel removed just slide the adapter in its place. It may take a little bit of force since it's a tight fit, but not too much. Adapter Installed

Here's where I ran into some trouble...The hex screws come with a driver that should work with the screws, unfortunately, mine didn't. I think the hex was a little too small and even though I've got a lot of hex keys around the house I don't have a 1/20". So I figured I had a few options, I could try different screws (Mini-Z screws were too big) or I could try to buy a better hex key, or I could return the whole thing. I thought about it for a while and decided to try a time-tested Dremel trick. I had an extra bolt so I tried it out...here are the results.

Okay, now that I've gotten through the installation...how does it work? I haven't actually driven with it but it feels awesome. The foam is very soft and seems to be just tacky enough to inspire confident steering. I'll post a quick update after I get some time in on it but I am very pleased with the look and the feel of the wheel. Also, I don't have to keep swapping my TX wheel to drive my 2.4 LM car!

Lots of New Stuff!

2008-03-06T12:31:00.003-05:00

Seems like a lot of stuff is going on in the Mini-Z world. For some reason I have had my head in the sand with these new PN Racing 64 pitch pinions and spur gears. I've spent a little bit of time trying to figure out exactly what the hype is about and I think I've got it squared away.

Here's what I've got so far.

PN Racing Pro-Match Pinions
These are not 64 pitch gears, they are just a better matching pinion gear for stock Kyosho and old PN racing spur gears. This is probably the cheapest and easiest way to get a quieter drivetrain. No fiddling required.

PN Racing 64 Pitch Spur and Pinion Gears
This is a new system of pinions and spurs that mesh much better than any current stock setup. You've got to get the pinions and spurs separate from your current diff and retrofit these into your PN, Kyosho or Atomic diffs. The spurs are a lot larger than the current spur gears and the pinion sizes have been increased to match. PN has a gear ratio chart on their website to help find the same ration that you've been running.

I think I am going to dive in and try this system on at least one of my cars. Maybe my new LM chassis is the way to go. Lower, quieter, smoother, no antenna. Just more stealth overall. No one will know what hit them.

Well, I've also got a bunch of new tools and parts that just showed up from China so I'll have to sort through all of that mess and start posting some more pics and product reviews. You should see those very shortly.

I finally get a chance to see what all of the hype is about!

2008-03-05T08:38:00.002-05:00

My 2.4 GHz car arrived Monday and I got a chance to play with it a little bit yesterday.

This thing had a few things going against it at first...

1. A box stock Mini-Z is never fun to drive.
2. Long wheelbase, new body...I had no idea how it was going to handle.
3. It was so pretty I didn't want to mess it up
4. I had to actually read the instructions to figure out how to use it!

Anyway, I got it running and it seemed okay. I'll have to get used to the reverse but I figure that will come with time. Obviously the tires just weren't quite right for the track and I had a stock motor on a 6 tooth pinion so I just wasn't impressed.

Then I decided to take my AD band car (which is pretty well tuned) and swap all the parts over to the 2.4 chassis. I also took the wheel off of my Helios and slapped that on the small 2.4 controller and BAM! I understood what it was all about.

No gitching, super fast response! This thing is great, I am sold. I think it's time to cull the herd a little bit and just move everything over to 2.4.

BLOG ON!

2008-02-22T08:52:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to take a moment to encourage all of my readers here to contribute to the Mini-Z community. Chances are you have something interesting or unique to display to other Mini-Z racers and the forums at TinyRC have provided a great way to share. With the latest round of upgrades to the forums user blogs have been added.

I am not saying you should commit to posting new content every 3 days (I sure wouldn't want that burden) but even if everyone that's on the forums RIGHT NOW posts once a year there will be new content almost weekly.

So, next time you've got some cool mod, have an opinion about a new product or even snap a couple style shots of your latest purchase...take a few minutes to blog on. I know there are even some DCGTG members doing some cool things with paint jobs, motor building, parts testing and even racing in new venues. Post up!

A Little Frustrated

2008-02-20T21:43:00.003-05:00

I've been trying to get CORE setup at the local track for a while with extremely limited success. I've used two different loops (including a brand new one) and at least 5 different computers. I think there are just too many environmental factors conspiring against me. It's frustrating because I know the CORE software so well and I already have about a dozen CORE transponders for DC racing.

At this point I am willing to consider other options though. I know Giro-Z is out there but I wasn't really impressed with the software. I don't even know if AMBIT is still around but I think that's really expensive. Anyway, if you have any suggestions...I'm all ears.

Also, I don't know if you've seen Beerfest but every time I actually say "frustrated" out loud all I can think of is this scene...then I laugh.

2008-02-09T22:01:00.000-05:00

I haven't done a serious race in a while so I knew I would have to shake the cobwebs off for the Feb HFAY. Unfortunately, work kept me from the January HFAY races so I had already spent all of my drops for S5...I suspected this would be a factor.

I also knew that I was getting a little burned out on Mini-Z's. It about 2 hours to get to the racing then we've got to setup, keep everything moving, make sure no one at the hobby shop is messing with our stuff and then when it's all over, I've got to get back in the car and drive another two hours to get home.

All of that being said, it was really good to be back with the guys in Northern VA just talking about Mini-Z's and whatever else came up (paintball, Chapelle show, cars, etc). After track setup and some lunch we got down to practice. We usually let everyone get two qualifying heats so everyone's cars are setup and the kinks are worked out. I had a rough start for the clockwise direction but for the current layout I decided to switch to a 7 tooth pinion and actually did a little better with during the mains. It's a technical course this month and I liked having the torque coming out of the corners. I was never able to get the 8 tooth up to speed so I thought the 7 would be good. I also had to change my rear tires because my PN 8's seemed to be losing their grip. I actually put on some newer PN 10's in the rear and I managed to get a respectable lap count for the CW direction.

Then...things started to fall apart during the CCW race. First, the glitching, which led to the tires ripping off, which led to fresh tire tape, which led to more tires ripping off. Without all of the boring details, a single thrown tire cost me about 6 laps in the CCW direction. With my drops already sacrificed I figure my chances of a top finish for S5 are pretty much gone. I was very lucky in S4 to only have one bad race that cost me some laps but I think my luck caught up with me this time.

No matter what I try, the I always go back to Atomic 20 degree front tires for my HFAY car. When they start to get worn I usually tape up another set and let them sit overnight so they are ready for racing. This time around I just didn't have the time to let them setup (I started glitching really badly across CORE and that was enough to start ripping my tires loose).

I think since I pretty much always run the Kyosho 20's I'll give my tube of griplock another shot and see how that works out. At this point it's an experimental season for me.

Oh...and I am still the DC FET B$TC# :) I came to the hobby shop with 3 recently done FET jobs and came back with 3 more FET jobs to do. It just means more use out of my soldering iron and my cool new Panavise Jr.

Sorry again for the lack of pics. I have been looking for my digital camera for about a week and I have no idea where I put it...go figure!

Till next time...

Lots of FETs to Choose From...

2008-01-14T19:00:00.000-05:00

There's been a flurry of FET job requests lately as people start to get the bug to experiment with some mod motors. One of the DC racers is working towards becoming the local motor specialist so I assume he's going to need a car he can test his creations out with.

The 3010 FETs are pretty easy to come by for stock car replacements but the time-tested 4562 is becoming a dinosaur and there are several FET's lined up to take its place.

First the Rohm SP8M4 is being sold by one or two Mini-Z shops, I can't remember which ones offhand and it seems to be well-liked by some people on the MZR forums. Personally I have no experience with it.

The 8858 popped up several months ago when a few MZR members found they could get samples for free. I checked the forums and there's not much info there but I have think LBRC has a lot of knowledge and he seems to favor the 8858's.

The 8962 is being sold by Atomic Mods as a lower cost alternative to the 4562. It's all speculation at this point but some people have proposed that they are not much better that the 3010's.

A few of the local DC guys picked up some of the 9934's from the charity race a couple months ago and I've done one double stack of those. They couldn't stand up to an Anima II motor with a 10tooth pinion but I don't know if anything in a 2x2 stack really could for any extended period of time.

I think for the sake of cost I am going to pick up a few 8858's and try my next FET jobs with those.

Just as Beta and VHS could not coexist, I am sure one, maybe two of these FETs will prevail as the next evolution leaving the rest to exist as a footnote in Mini-Z history. I am going to start with the 8858's because the specs look good and the price is right. Either way once I decide on the FET of the future I'll have a good time with my newset solder accessory, the Panavise Jr. 201. It was sitting on my doorstep this morning and should be a lot nicer than the 3rd hand setup for FET jobs and motor wires.

Along the same lines of searching for the perfect part I am still on the lookout for some decent servo and motor replacement wire. I need something strong, flexible and thin so it doesn't bind suspension or break around tight kinks. The motor wire on an old Nelly Turbo was the nicest motor wire I had ever seen but I don't know what that stuff is or where it comes from. if you have any info I am all ears.

Note: I do not guarantee the accuracy of any of the links. There are variations on each of the part numbers so I would encourage you to check for yourself if you decide to order from any of the inline links.

Energizer Lithiums

2008-01-09T10:29:00.000-05:00

So, on November 6, 2007 I posted that I was trying some new batteries. Energizer Lithiums. They just ran out on me last night. Based on the timer on my Helios that gets me about 25 hours of use. I set the timer on my Helios so it would yell at me after 1 minute of inactivity (I didn't want to just drain those precious batteries).

I am still on the fence about these. At almost $20 a set it's going to cost me $120/year in batteries. Now, it's pretty nice that they are so light and i never have to worry about charging them but I am also considering picking up a set of Eneloop AA's to try out. I would lose the two things that I like so much about the Lithiums but it should be a lot cheaper in the long run.

We'll see what happens.

2.4 GHz Auto Selecting Frequency

2008-01-02T10:59:00.000-05:00

So, everyone knows it's coming. The next big innovation to Mini-Z's. I think the last time there was this much buzz over the Mini-Z line was when the AWD's came out and introduced the 3010 FET at the same time.

There's a lot of scattered information regarding the 2.4 GHz cars, I will try to compile it all here. Most if the info is taken directly from Kyosho releases and from www.mini-zracer.com

First the cars...
The two color schemes for the 962 Porsche are due out in January of 2008. This is from the Kyosho Japan site so there may be a slight delay to the US...who knows?

No.56 '91 Le Mans Part No: 30442MA

No.10 '86 Le Mans Part No: 30441KR

The Mazdas are slated for March 2008

No.56 '91 LeMans Part No: 30442MA

No.55 '91 Le Mans Winner Part No:30442RE

and the transmitter...
There seems to be mixed speculation on the quality of the transmitter. What we do know is that it will be sold separately from the readysets. There has been no confirmation as to whether or not the Helios Spectrum module will work with these cars. If it doesn't I would expect a module to come out very soon. Check the top cover on any Mini-Z and you will see the KO PROPO (manufacturer of the Helios) right on the silver sticker.

Until we find out if the Spectrum module works you'll have to bank on getting a transmitter. This is also scheduled to release in January 2008 (makes sense). There's a few more pictures on the Kyosho site.

PERFEX KT-18 2CH Tx Part No: 82001

and the upgrade kits
Kyosho has not left us high and dry...at least not totally. There is a solution for all of those cars that you already have built up and tuned...the upgrade kit. From the images it looks like the transmitter is included.

As you can see the board is just a little smaller than the current Mini-Z board. It's a 3-wire servo similar to the AD Band board and there's an ICS port for configuring the PCB settings. These are scheduled to be released in February of 2008. The promising thing is that these boards will fit in the old chassis. I was a little concerned that there had been a subtle redesign of the main chassis which would leave a lot of hopups unusable.

So, what we would still like to know
Does the Helios Spectrum module work with the new board?
What is the FET configuration on the board. From the advertisements I am pretty sure it uses 3010 FETs but it isn't clear if it's a 2x1 configuration or a 2x2 like the AD boards.

Pricing
Retail pricing on the ARR (almost ready to run) car-only kits seems to be on par with an MR-02 readyset. Who knows what the street price will actually be but it will probably be pretty close to what you would pay for an MR-02 readyset. The transmitter is still anyone's guess.

Miscellaneous Info
There are several hopup options already scheduled for release in January. You can find them on the English version of the Kyosho Japan site (at least that's where I found them).

MZT301-XX & MZT302-XX 20, 30 & 40 degree tires (Front & Rear)
MZW303 Alloy heat sink
MZW302 Ball Diff
MZW302-01 Ball Diff Shaft
MZW301 XSpeed Motor (Specific for LM)

All of this leads me to believe that these cars will be a little bigger than your standard MR-02. The length on all of the LM bodies is 102mm (2nd longest mid mount setting) and the width looks to be 78mm...2mm wider than the widest current MR-02. This is probably the reason for the slightly longer differential.

Well, that's all of the info that I have for now. If there are any gaps or you want specific links let me know and I'll update this post. There's so much info about these things scattered about that I thought it would be useful to try and pull it all together. Hopefully the images and part numbers will help you track down whatever you need.

Lambo Countach LP400 from an Endurance Race Perspective

2007-12-25T22:00:00.000-05:00

The DCGTG had its second endurance race last weekend. There were two rules...HFAY Season 4 motor and a "Classic" body. The lineup included a 1970 Skyline, a Cobra, a Lambo Dino, 2 Jotas, 2 Ferrari GTO's, 1 512, 2 porsche 934's and my Lambo Countach LP400.

I had three classic bodies to choose from and decided to go with the LP400 over the Trueno or Night Rider. I got the Countach to handle pretty well before the race but I never had a chance to mix it up with a full field of drivers. That turned out to be my downfall.

The Countach is a very low body but it still had a tendency to traction roll until I put a disk damper on it. I also put a couple of shims under the front knuckle to lower the front end. Once I had the traction roll issue figured out I thought I was in good shape. What I didn't realize was that the body is so low and flat that if it flips it almost always lands on the roof. Also, being slightly wedge shaped it was easily disturbed by people running up under the rear end of the body. This was compounded by the fact that I cut a small panel out of the back of the body so I would have an easier time clearing the motor wires when I put the body back on after battery changes. That was my biggest mistake.

By not having the exhaust hanging down in the back my motor was left vulnerable to direct hits. Before the race even started someone hit me in the rear end knocking the endbell off of my motor causing the brushes to arc and frying my fets. Fortunately I had my soldering iron and some spare FETs but I didn't think much of it. I put the motor back together and made sure the tabs were on pretty tight. But during the race it happened again. No fried fets but I decided to switch to another HFAY motor that I had.

The car handled well overall but I don't know if it would be my racer of choice. If we went with the classic theme again I would have to look a little harder for a body that was a little more protected and had a tendency to land on its wheels.

Here's a few shots of the damage sustained during the race.

I had to cut a hole in the body even to run the super compact Kyosho disc damper.

I plan on sticking with the MR015 and trying to make a decent racer out of it. I am really an MR02 Mid mount man so I am having some troubles with the higher CG and RM handling but I try to stick with it and get it dialed. I could always pick up another MR02 and get the PN conversion kit but I want to keep it legit and see if I can make the stacked battery config really rock! Nothing like a challenge.

Time for Some Winter Cleaning

2007-12-18T14:02:00.000-05:00

HFAY Season 4 is coming to a close and there won't be much racing until 2008. The DC crew just finished their last set of races for the year and I think it's time to do a little bit of maintenance. Some of it is a bit overdue.

MR-02 HFAY Car (McLaren F1)

Paint a new body for Season 5
Clean clean and relube diff
Clean bearings
Replace motor (already broken in!)

MR-02 AD Band Mod Car (Corvette)

Install new bearings
Full diff overhaul (Clean, sand plates, new spur gear, new balls)

MR-015 Nascar (#29)

There's not much to do to this one as far as cleaning. It's pretty new and has new bearings and a new PN diff. It needs some tuning and maybe a fresh motor.

Formula 1 AD Band

Clean diff
Sand Diff rings
Install new spur gear
Install PN power cap (for AD Shutdown issue)

AWD Drifter (White STi)

This one has been running like a champ. Maybe I'll clean out the servo gears but it doesn't see nearly as much action as my racers so it should stay clean for a while.

What about you guys? Any plans for cleaning the cars or otherwise getting things ready for the next season?

Can You Guess What This Is?

2007-12-06T08:56:00.001-05:00

It's been a little busy lately so I haven't been able to post as frequently. I am also in one of those small slumps where I don't really have much to post about. I am starting to get some ideas and I've got 1 or 2 drafts started but I thought I would post a little quiz for my readers.

Can anyone guess what this is for?

New Web address www.128racing.com

2007-11-26T15:40:00.000-05:00

You can now access this blog from www.128racing.com. The domain freed up at some point and I've redirected my blogger blog to the address. What does this mean for my faithful readers...not much right now. Hopefully as I generate content that I would like to archive or keep static (reviews, race reports, car setups, upcoming events) I should be able to create separate pages for them and keep them here @ www.128racing.com

Until things start to change you can still get to the blog at the blogspot address or the new 128racing.com .

HLJ is Moving

2007-11-13T14:00:00.000-05:00

http://www.hlj.com/news/

I like to stop in to HLJ every once in a while to see if they have new or old Mini-Z products that I just can't find here in the states. I also like to check on new products just to get an idea of what the US pricing might be. My favorite find so far has got to be the white F1 bodies that never seemed to make it across the ocean. The one thing that I should have purchased while it was available was an AD Band MR015 white skyline. They don't have it in stock anymore and I don't think we'll ever see it again.

Anyway it looks like they will be moving until Nov 19th so it might be a while before we get some really good updates on Mini-Z stuff. If you watch the video you can see about half way through one employee is inputting Mini-Z information. I thought that was neat.

Just a general update

2007-11-12T08:57:00.000-05:00

I went up to Northern VA yesterday for some HFAY racing with the DC crew. Unfortunately not everyone has been indoctrinated into the way of the frequency chart so we had more conflicts than we would have liked. It's hard to tell everyone everything at once but I am pretty sure we'll get it together over time.

We really ran up into a wall with time yesterday. We started pretty close to 1:00 with the qualifiers and most people were ready for most heats but with a few extra drivers it took us a few hours just to get through one direction of racing. The most frustrating thing for me was that my car lost that "dialed in" feeling somewhere between the second qualifier and first main. I couldn't get any consistent lines so I couldn't really push the car and tr to hang with the big boys. I'll say one thing...I am not used to getting passed that many times at a HFAY event. I'll just have to go back to the workbench, clean some things up and reevaluate my setup. I think with the new track my rear tires just weren't quite hooking up. The setup was good but I think it needs to be great to really put the hammer down for an 8 minute HFAY heat.

Oh well...the next few weeks of Mini-Z racing include installing some new stuff for my MR015, classic car, putting some fresh rubber on my HFAY car and tuning up the F1 a little bit in anticipation of running at ActionRC over thanksgiving. Oh yeah, I have to get the new CMS Core system up and running as well. We'll see how it all pans out.

Some cool stuff in the works

2007-11-06T11:10:00.000-05:00

New Batteries
I picked up some Energizer Lithiums to try in my Helios. Just about every rechargable AA battery I have tried was just junk after a few months. I only tried Energizers and LaCrosse batteries to be 100% honest. I just opened a fresh pack of Lithiums and will start using them today. When I fired up the controller it read 14.1 Volts and I have about 20 hours of use time on the controller clock. I'll try to keep every updated as to how long these things last.

New Chassis
I picked up an MR015 after selling my race AWD. A new POT seemed to settle the AWD down for now and I decided to get rid of it before I wanted to smash it again. I also needed a car for the spec enduro so I'll be tuning a brand new 015 chassis. My race body is still TBD but I have couple of options. It has to fit the description of "classic" as outlined here. I've never driven a RM car for any period of time so it will be fun trying to adapt a little bit.

New Lap Counter
I had a demo of Giro Z for several months but I could never really get over the hump to figure out the best way to use it. I have been running the CORE setup for the DC crew for a few HFAY seasons and I am pretty used to that so I decided to pick up a system last week. It hasn't shipped yet but hopefully we can use it at the Charlottesville Mini Speedway next week. I am getting a dedicated track computer setup in the mean time.

# # #

Overall I am really stoked to be racing Mini-Z's. hopefully I can sneak away from the family during thanksgiving and duke it out with some of the guys up at Action RC in Jersey.

# # #

Also, sorry for the lack of pics in this post. I'll give each of the new things there own 15 minutes of fame and try to get some pics up then.

Until then...keep racing...

Spoon is Bored

2007-10-31T13:32:00.000-05:00

The forums are pretty quiet today . There's no Mini-Z racing for the next 6 days or so. Work is a little bit slow this afternoon. All of my cars and motors are cleaned and tuned so there isn't much for me to do right now.

I am planning on picking on an MR015 chassis just to have something new to tune and to have a car to race for the DC Classic car enduro, but I am not sure if I want to go get that this afternoon or not. I could take it home and get it setup with some tires, a motor and a body but I don't have my track setup right now so I couldn't really test it out until next week when the CMS gets together again.

Maybe it's just the afternoon slump or the fact that I missed the Charity race and haven't gotten my Z fix lately. I'll figure something out.

OH! I did pick up some new batteries for the TX. The Hobby Shop owner in Fairfax recommended some Lithium Energizers...huge capacity and very light. I have not found a decent rechargeable AA for my TX so I've been going with the alkaline batteries lately. I'll post my thoughts on those new batts when I get a chance to try them out.

Spoon is NOT HAPPY with Kyosho right now

2007-10-25T19:02:00.000-05:00

So, I have had a problem with my AWD for a while and I just can't get it fixed. The "memory steering" problem is outlined on the forums so I won't go through it again but I will say that I am at my wits end. I have tried all kinds of fixes and I figure at this point it's a faulty product and I just need to return the f'in thing and stay away from AWD's.

I emailed a representative from Kyosho who provided several recommendations...none of which solved the problem. I talked to my LHS and they suggested that I call the Big K directly. I figured it wouldn't be a problem...I would tell them that this thing is garbage I have tried several fixes and they would just exchange it to keep a happy customer. I mean it can't cost them more then $60 to ship me a new AWD and have me scream the accolades of Kyosho. Unfortunately this wasn't the case.

I called Kyosho, left my number and "Brian" called me back about 30 minutes later. I explained my problem to Brian and described the things I tried to fix it and it was like I was talking to a brick wall. I told Brian that I tried a new chassis, new servo gears, new POT...and the first thing he asked me was if I had changed something called the "potentiometer" and described what it does.

I know what the fcUk a potentiometer does. I already told him that I replaced it twice!

-This was my first clue that Brian was a useless pile of human flesh.

Then B started to say that there's bound to be some correction required because it's not like they are 10th scale cars...BLAH BLAH BLAH.

After B was done interrupting me, I decided to lay into him. NO, these are not 10th scale cars but you CAN'T tell me that they are not race-worthy hobby grade R/C vehicles. I have seen guys drive the piss out of these little cars. They would not be able to do what they do if these were bricks on wheels. I told Brian that I know these things are small but they are not so small that you can't tune and race these things.

Kyosho could have made a friend...but no. I will still buy and drive Mini-Z's but I am done with the AWD. I WILL FIX THIS PROBLEM... and when I do, I will get rid of all of my souped up AWD's and stick to the RWD's. Maybe I'll become an F1 specialist, who knows.

DC F1 Enduro...Long Post

2007-09-30T21:33:00.001-05:00

It was a great day to be racing Mini-Z's...actually, it's always a great day to race Mini-Z's so that's a terrible way to start this post.

When I walked into the hobby shop I was totally floored. I knew they were doing renovations but I did not realize that they were pushing out towards the back of the store. I thought they had purchased some space adjacent to the shop and would setup the track in another section with just a single doorway or something. The way it is you can see the new area from every part of the store. The shop will benefit from every single passer by. If you look at the pics below, you can see where all of the isles start.

Setting up the track. You can see the product isles on the right.

Setting up the track from the opposite angle. You can see the product isles on the left.

I rolled in around 12:10 just a few minutes after Arch with my car full of RCP. The guys helped me unload and 5 of us started building the track. We had it all together by 1:00 and by the time we got our pits setup and got some food it was about 2:00 before we started driving. We had to change the layout a little bit due to space constraints but it flowed very nicely.

imxler8d showed up a little after 3:00 and we got the qualifier started just before 4:00. I was having some problems with my AD F1 shutting down and I don't think I've solved the problem yet but I have some ideas thanks to this thread.

First, here are a few things that I think I did well.

I had all of my batteries charged and laid out.
I replaced my tie rod and knuckles with new ones before the race.
I tried to drive pretty smooth without too much aggressive acceleration. I figured the AD board would put me at a disadvantage for battery usage. I was able to get about 20 minutes of driving before the steering started to get a little twitchy.

A couple of things I learned

Check ALL of your suspension screws: After some heavy crashing with a few cars, the machine screw on my disk damper loosened up and my car handled like complete crap. I had to pit the car, remove the body and tighten the machine screw. I am glad I didn't lose the screw completely.
Tape, velcro or glue your transponder. I don't usually have a problem with the transponder coming out of the wing but I've never broken a wing before. With the wing broken I couldn't keep the transponder on the car without tape.
Practice enduro driving with your enduro batteries. I can't really blame myself for this. I usually race short events with my Intellects and do my local racing with the Sanyo 1000's. I think my batteries may have had something to do with my car shutting down during practice and once or twice during the race. I practiced with the Sanyo's on Tuesday but I don't think the track was large enough to create the same drain on the batteries and drop the voltage enough to shut the AD board down.
F1's are not built for sustained abuse. Most of my problems (core tag, suspension screw, etc) came from getting mixed up in too many accidents. Big tracks lead to big speeds and bigger wrecks. Even my HFAY car took a bit of a beating. I am going to have to check the H-plate, chassis, suspension, and tires for any suspicious cracks.

Here are a few more pics from the event. You can view the entire set here.

Cool Little Tools

2007-08-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

I've gotten a few new tools over the past couple of months that I really like. I think I already mentioned the motor break in stand with an update. But I've also picked up some smaller items that I really like.

Atomic Mini-Z Multi Tool Kit

This thing is pretty slick. I got one as soon as I saw it available. Just the fact that I don't have to keep track of two tools for the screws and wheel nuts is great. I didn't have much use for the hex end but there are enough hex screws on a couple of my Z's that I decided to pick up a second one and keep that one as the hex end. I got the second one cheap on Ebay so I didn't have a color choice so both of my tools are blue. If anyone is interested in swapping a blue tool for any other color (or even just the screw on end) that would help me keep track of the hex vs. screwdriver a little easier :) I've had this for a couple of months and there's no sign of the hex or screwdriver rounding out.

PN Racing Bearing Cleaning Case

AtomicMods has some high quality tutorials on their website. One of the more recent ones featured in their newsletter was how to clean bearings. I haven't been able to get dry bearings from MZR lately so I figured I would clean the sets that I have. I started with my F1 and on the benchtop it seems to make a world of difference, the front wheels spin forever. Next up is my HFAY car, then AD MRO2 and then my AWD racer. I cleaned the bearings in some acetone and lubed them with some Trinity oil. They spin smooth and free.

AtomicMods has some great tutorials. Check them out when you get a chance!

Done Done Done

2007-07-23T12:11:00.000-05:00

Who cares...right?

I had some time last week and I went on a little Mini-Z binge. All of the FET jobs are done (including a last minute job I decided to take on), the pit box has been repaired, the iSeries board has been swapped out, the only thing left is the AM F1. I am not too motivated to get this one done since I don't actually do too much F1 racing. My plan was to sell it but we'll see what happens once I get it back together. If I do plan on racing F1 at a regional or something I think I'll have to use the stock board.