Yes its another overtime late night project...zzzz..zzz

Well its another sleepless nights for me, a broken computer, raining day outside can't ride my mountain bike, boring tv program, bored on PSP games...so i decided to spents some time recycling some of my expensive junks and make it usefull. So like lastime i decided to builts another performance R/C mini monster full proportional radio control models using 1/18 R/C parts. Below are process of stuff that i did.


Ingredients:
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RM$550 -Castle Creation: SIDE WINDER MICRO Brushless ESC + Brushless motor
RM$100 -HL Receiver (RX) 3 channel port
RM$69 -New empty mini monster chassis/case with locked diff
RM$55 -KYOSHO AM radio crystal (RX)/(TX)
RM$55 -TOWER PRO micro servo
RM$18 -Battery connector set with high amp wire
RM$27 -Fresh new NRX-18 Aluminium pinion gear with allen lock.
RM$14 -HL Crystal socket
RM$75 -8 pcs PN-RACING sealed ball bearings for wheels and drive shaft

Estimated cost: RM$963


Working tools
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-FINISHLINE 'Teflon' coated lubricant
-Narrow nose pliers
-Philips screw driver
-Wire solder tools
-Sets of Zip tie
-Tamiya craft pen knife


Construction process timetable
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8.00pm - Prepare all the stuff. Dismantle the cheap chassis.

8.10pm - Modify and cut the rear gear case to allow brushless motor and big Alumimium pinion gear to fit in. Use 4x zip tie to lock the brushless motor intact. Insert 4x PN-Racing bearings inside the gear transmission and both wheel arms drive shaft.

9.00pm - Modify and poke a hole beside the steering case. Insert PRO TOWER micro servo and screw in and zip tie it on two side of the steering servo.

10.30pm - Main chassis battery case will be wired with high amp thick wire, then solder. Battery connector to be soldered to the + and - tabs. Solder the on/Off witch via ESC wires.

10.40pm - Plug in ESC and Steering servo plug into CH1 and CH2 slot inside HL micro receiver box. custom remote crystal wire slot into two whole of crystal sockets. Then insert the HL Receiver(RX) inside the chasis case vertically, press fit. All required wires to be pull out to external. Then seal and cover the chassis housing cover to seal the HL receiver box.

11.30pm - Setup the antenna protected with long plastic pipe againts statics charges.

11.40pm - Rearrange all the bulk wires and zip tie it on to the chassis. SIDEWINDER ESC connected to the motor gold bullet plugs. This time the red and black color are connected in reverse direction because the chassis gear have two spur for torque power transfer. Connect Kyosho AM Cystal module to the remote crystal socket.

12.00am - Install back all the chassis parts, suspension, screw, wheels, tyres, springs, tower clip, switches, suspension pivot/bridges and etc. Lube all the parts with permanent water proof Teflon coated lube.

12.45am - Insert battery, Testing and tuning, Re-programming SIDEWINDER ESC programming setting.

1.00am - Test Drive.

1.30am - SUCCESS!!!!!

Tested behind the office this morning and it sprint way faster then MINI-Z and NANDA-NRX. Its spins uncontrollably as you experience brushless on NRX-18. Powered only 4.8V AA 2700mah battery is just enough to kill this mini truck. At last no more ESC over heat!! No more smoke come out from electronic yeehaaaaa!!!! I love it. Now i have two sets of mini monster!! cool!

Going into mini off-road with DIY models.

After extensive research, budget calculation and weighting the fun factor consideration parts durability and parts availability i decided to pick up some cheap base chassis from local toy store an Auldey mini bigfoot and dig out RM800 worth of professional R/C parts from my Kyosho MINI-Z MR01 mini servo, KYOSHO MR02 electronic micro PCB board, SP8M4 5x stacks custom FET, ATOMIC-RACING gear, PN-RACING ball bearings, HL controller, HPI AM radio crystal and TAMIYA ULTRA DASH hot motor into the mini monster chassis. Took me full 8 hours to work on the conversion. The results is amazingly high torque off-roader suitable from rough off-roading and rock climbing. Its huge clearance below the chasis and long stock and flexible suspension enables this mini off-roader to soften and harsh impact come from various direction and the encase gearing system assure that the inner gear parts would last longer than having to replace often like my 1/28 KYOSHO MINI-Z. Plus comparison to my NRX-18 1/18 touring it does need much space and can crawl and speed almost any terrains including long grasses. The fun factor is also huge with longer run times due to light and high torque type gear which is friendly to the motor and also the cheap chassis could hold 4x AA 2700mah GP batteries. This is my worth DIY (Do It Yourself) professional hobby class mini monster R/C models. I love it. I guess i dun have to worry about broken parts anymore. Happy!

Prehistoric dinosaur - TAMIYA Super Champ.

Hee hee... can't believe my uncle gave me this master piece of the 80's, I was only 4 years old when i see this car blasting around the sandy beaches infront of our house back in 1982. This radio control definately a collectors favorite item. Must be worth thousand by now if bid over the internet!. The chassis construction was 100% pure solid metal alloys, very durable and the mechanical engineering apply to this models is very solid and tough. Its like owning a pickup truck rather than a toy. Even its an electric powered sand buggy but the built was almost nitro fueled like chassis. The shell need a bad fix on front but that's a minor problem can be covered with DIY patch.

Time for MINI-Z Radio Control

Check this out, my old hobby have returned! Originally before i'm into 3d design and modelling 10 years ago i was more on Radio Control car/truck 4wd and miniature scale platic models on car like KYOSHO, TAMIYA and REVELL. Yesterday i put some effort to revive back my remote speed freak in me. In this new age of electronics R/C cars comes in miniature size! I have my own MINI-Z on I-WAVE radio servos kit. All stock in setup and parts. I decided to shift my bike budget to R/C car upgrade next month planning to upgrade rechargeable batteries, suspension tune up and rear electric motors upgrade to pump up speed up to 80KM/H performance. Yes! no kidding 80KM/H! Its was pretty expensive just to buy R/C MINI-Z..cool thing is the i-WAVE controller have digital computer display which store 10 models memory and digital trimming feature just like it big brother SANWA and FUTABA radios. MINI-Z looks uniquely small! Almost the size of my nokia handphone with compact parts and quality driving experience on my palm. The best part is that i could easily mod it using existing smaller scale models and electronic parts from TAMIYA mini 4wd, AULDEY's, KYOSHO's or anything i can find in the market. I hope i could mod it to max head turning performance. Imagine this palm size car hit 80KM/H!!! Believe me you should wiki on this fact...read it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-Z
Btw for me its a good investment, as a 3d design and modeler for car, trucks, 4wd and etc i should have this as object of inspiration everthing i want to look for ideas. Can believe this car also drift. Go check out some people did it in YouTube!


Hopefully early month of March i'll put up some daily report about MINI-Z modification and how it was moded step by step to achive max speed output and show some public what this little speedster can do.