Author: Shane's Shed

Tamiya Volkswagon Camper Monster Truck

I picked up this kit last week in the modelzone sale but only just received the additional parts needed to complete the model.

It was about half the going price online and eBay.

The box shows it painted white and red but I decided to go for white and orange instead.

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The free bonus parts included are ball race bearings. Its pretty handy seeing as the first thing I usually do is replace Tamiya’s crappy plastic/bronze bushings with bearings.

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Aside from the paint, I also needed to order a servo for the steering and a radio receiver. As usual I went for a Spektrum receiver in the hope of unifying all my radio gear under one compatible type.

E Gemini Hovercraft Kit Unboxing

My biggest undertaking so far.

Hull and fan duct
Hull and fan duct

This is a model hovercraft kit I have just received.

It looks to be both a unique and challenging build.

You can find out more about the kit here.

Tamiya 1:35 British Universal Carrier Progress

The Bren Gun Carrier is one of my favorite vehicles and its about time I got round to building one.

This is a nice kit as you get lots of accessories with it so you can customise the model to your liking. I have also been using this kit to practice improving the look of my figures.

There is still a lot of work to do here but its been an enjoyable build so far!

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Twin Hammers new body and accessories

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I wanted to make my Twin Hammers more unique so I started by replacing the standard plastic body with a set of aluminium body panels.

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I decided to paint the panels in a basic desert camo scheme of sand and earth.

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Some decals were applied to the side panels to add a bit of detail.

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I also replaced the vehicle race number plates on the back of the vehicle with recovery boards. These are also aluminium and were painted desert yellow.

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To complete the new look I ordered a pack of rock crawler accessories from eBay and strapped some gear to the roof and recovery boards with bungee chords .

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Red Bull 7 Build

The Red Bull 7 is finally starting to look like a car.

The steering is complete and servo attached. I also have the front suspension and rear wing made but not attached.

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Low Voltage protection for Models Without it on their ESC’S

For the first time recently I ended up with an Electronic Speed Controller that did not have built in Low Voltage Protection but did support LIPO batteries. You should never let a LIPO battery drop below 3V (You should get rid of it if it does.)

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As the esc did not have LVP and independent solution was needed. After a little research I found these usually come as a little circuit board with an led screen that connects to the balance charger on a LIPO battery.

A LIPO battery generally has two connectors. One to connect to your model and one to charge the battery and balance the battery cells. The charge connector is not needed when the battery is in your model so you can leave a low voltage protection unit attached to it.

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I managed to buy some units off ebay that work perfectly and only cost a few pounds each.

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The units are simple enough. You give them a voltage you want them to warn you at and they will buzz when they drop down to it. They work well and I have never had any trouble hearing the buzzer.

Here is a video of them in action. The display even cycles through the voltage of each cell

Twin Hammers Crash And Repair

My Twin Hammers had a head on crash with a monster truck. This shattered the monster truck chassis (my blackfoot) and snapped a metal tie rod on my Twin Hammers. I am not too fussed about the Blackfoot which still runs but its gearbox kinda just floats between the wheels. The Twin Hammers however being my flagship electric car I wanted up and running ASAP.

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This was a nice test for me to see how easy it is to back order Vaterra parts. As a brand new company they have already shown they can make good cars but I had no idea how good their parts support would be.

I ordered a set of tie rods and rod ends from modelsport and had them in under a week. I needed the rod ends because the rod had actually snapped inside one of the current ones making it impossible to remove.

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The repair was easy. All I had to do was remove the body, cut out the old tie rod ends and snap the new ones into place.

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Team C Jekyll Kit 13×3 Motor 8.4v Battery Ball-Raced

Testing my team C Jekyll buggy. I am impressed with the performance but it is overheating my esc so I need to sort that out.

13×3 Orion Motor.

Mtroniks 10t limit sniper esc

8.4v 5100 Orion Rocket Pack Nimh

Spektrum DSM radio.

Team C Racing Jekyll build

When I first saw this kit on modelsport I was intrigued. It was only £39 and I wanted to know just how good a car you would get for the price. You have to supply your own Electronic Speed Controller, Servo, Receiver and Motor bringing the total minimum build price to around £70- £80. I spent a bit more as I wanted to but some more decent bits in it.

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The packaging and parts were a decent quality considering the price and the manual was easy to follow. This would make a nice inexpensive first kit.

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Things I used to complete the build:

  • hitec servo £6
  • 10 turn limit mtroniks sniper esc around £25
  • 13×3 Orion Motor £18
  • Spektrum 301 DSM coated reciever £23

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It seems I made a bad choice with the esc as the 13×3 motor seems to overheat it very easily, I am looking into a solution for that. On top of this I melted a battery connector to the esc so I ordered some traxxas connectors to deal with the current.

WP_000386Soldering the new connectors

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I also ordered a set of UK buggy bearings to ball race the kit. These replaced the bronze bushings that come as standard.

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I do intend to replace my battery connectors with deans but the reason I went with a traxxas in this instance is I got this rocket pack battery in a sale. Its a 5100Mah 8.4 V Orion Rocket pack and really makes the thing go.

The bad thing is its too big for the battery compartment so I have to tape it in each time!

In summary this kit is easy to build, robust and well its cheap enough to buy a second one for a complete set of spare parts. I will upload some videos of it in action soon!