As for the battery times, with a 19 turn motor in an off road electric kit coupled with six 4200mAh NiMh cells you will get about 20-30 mins play time:P . However, I only recommend using any RC model for a maximum period of 15 mins for several reasons:

If the cells "dump" (discharge low enough to cause a noticable drop in performance) then stop the model immediately. If the cells are used until the car stops dead the cells may not recharge correctly and consequently new cells will have to be bought.:eek:

The motor will also get hot together with the ESC (Electronic Speed Control) which could burn out. I have seen and had motors that have unsoldered themselves due to overgearing and long run times in the past and it aint pretty. Also a new ESC can cost from as little as

Most people I know with the Tmaxx upgrade the engine anyway.

Most people I know with the Tmaxx upgrade the engine anyway.

Yes, and this new engine seems much much better! Also, Traxxas are running a promo where you can send your current engine back to them in order to get money off an upgraded engine. I have not noticed any problems with these new ones but it is early days.

Flying Hydro Boat - BREAK.com

Flying Hydro Boat - BREAK.com

You aint seen nothing until you see the flying lawnmower!:P Seriously though, have a search for it and youll wee yourself laughing.

Hydroboat available here : hydrofoam

I just won a complete Blitzer Beetle on e-bay for £50. The missus is gonna hand me my **** on a plate. Think I may have to sell the Lunchbox.

I just won a complete Blitzer Beetle on e-bay for

You sleeping in the car tonite then!:eek:

Looks like it. :(

which lunchbox :P

Hmm good point, mind you the one your thinking of is pretty used and in need of a good wash.

The Beetle turned up

It come in very good condition (not seen much action so far as I can tell) and complete ready to run with radio gear, ESC and battery. I however couldnt leave it like that. So I removed the ESC and fitted a Quake No Limit item and installed my vintage but rebuilt LRP AE Orange motor (17x4). I can say it seems to shift some now, need ball races though still.

I like the shape of the Blitzer Beetle but i'm not a big fan of the box art design, the 'splat' effect stickers just look awful IMHO so I removed them pretty much straight away and prepped the body for a coat of plastic primer tomorrow, I think i may get brave and try a two tone paint job in some subtle colours.

After having trouble removing the front number plate so i could spray the front cap I decided to try a little modification. An FMIC conversion, not finished yet but i think it could look quite snazzy

And oh year, found time to get married today..lol

Congratulations......

The beetle looks top, oh and nice one on getting hitched too

Go on, stick a brushless in it

Go on, stick a brushless in it

I think i'm going to save that for the Dark Impact i've got my eye on

Ok guys I need some advice, I've got a Tamiya Twin Detonator that I bought last year, I want to start upgrading it.

I've already changed all the plastic bearings to proper ball bearings (incidentaly it took loads more than everyone, including the manual, and the man in the shop said it should?).

I want to upgrade the electronics now, an ESC would be nice but i'm not sure which is best? (bearing in mind it has two motors)

And I need a better steering servo cos the current ones to weak, what should I go for?

What motors should I go for?

How can I improve it's off road ability? it just sits there with 1 front wheel spinning and 1 back wheel spinning when you get to any rough stuff, thats if the wheels dont spin inside the tyres! (should I glue them? says not to in manual)

What other parts would anyone recommend?

Also i'm gettin me a Midnight Pumpkin cos I always wanted one as a kid, same questions apply really?

John get yourself across to

Vintage Tamiya Radio Control Cars through to Modern Tamiya R/C - Home Page

Mst of your questions will have allready been answered. The Twin Det is a very popular model.

Ok guys I need some advice, I've got a Tamiya Twin Detonator that I bought last year, I want to start upgrading it.

I've already changed all the plastic bearings to proper ball bearings (incidentaly it took loads more than everyone, including the manual, and the man in the shop said it should?).

I want to upgrade the electronics now, an ESC would be nice but i'm not sure which is best? (bearing in mind it has two motors)

And I need a better steering servo cos the current ones to weak, what should I go for?

What motors should I go for?

How can I improve it's off road ability? it just sits there with 1 front wheel spinning and 1 back wheel spinning when you get to any rough stuff, thats if the wheels dont spin inside the tyres! (should I glue them? says not to in manual)

What other parts would anyone recommend?

Also i'm gettin me a Midnight Pumpkin cos I always wanted one as a kid, same questions apply really?

The bearings are an improvement over the plastic / brass bushings as they have less resistance resulting in quicker speeds and no melted bearings (normally ).

If its a twin speedo that you need, LRP do a truck speedo for about

I'm running a Quake No Limit ESC on my Clod Buster (£39.99 - e-bay) and a 4300mAh battery pack (Vapextech e-bay £20). Powering both standard 540's for over 20 mins with a very quick drop off, very impressed.

Cheers guys, thats some interesting stuff to think about, I'll check out that website too!

I chose the Twin Det because I'd heard it had quite a good following and there were plenty of hop ups available, to be honest i'm a total novice so I have no idea what Brushless is or a V2 19 turn? also what would need to be Skimmed?

You are right about the dodgy steering to! sometimes it turns when driving over the flower beds because the servo isn't strong enough to hold the wheels where you want them! seems a fair bit of play in the linkages too.

Cheers guys, thats some interesting stuff to think about, I'll check out that website too!

I chose the Twin Det because I'd heard it had quite a good following and there were plenty of hop ups available, to be honest i'm a total novice so I have no idea what Brushless is or a V2 19 turn? also what would need to be Skimmed?

You are right about the dodgy steering to! sometimes it turns when driving over the flower beds because the servo isn't strong enough to hold the wheels where you want them! seems a fair bit of play in the linkages too.

Very basicly, a motor works by two contacts "brushing" against a rotating commutator. After a while, this brushing causes wear on the the two parts and so the dirt has to be "skimmed" off. On a budget, this can be done with a comm stick (available from local model shop) for a bout

My Orion motor in the Egress is a V2 with the angled brushes. I also rebuilt the LRP motor with grooved brushes which are supposed to keep the comm cleaner for longer as they kinda reface it as its spinning.

I've now painted the Blitzer up, shes ready to rock

My Orion motor in the Egress is a V2 with the angled brushes. I also rebuilt the LRP motor with grooved brushes which are supposed to keep the comm cleaner for longer as they kinda reface it as its spinning.

I've now painted the Blitzer up, shes ready to rock

Looks spot on!

Yes, groved brushes have less contact with the comm and result in slightly less performance but have a longer life span. Brush serrators are available that re serrate the brushes, increasing the life of them - however the tension of the spring does change so effectivly its a waste of time to resserate old brushes.

You should try the cavity brushes I use in my 10 double, they last about 5 mins :eek: lol

Mike Pembo

That beetles looking nice!

You should fit some little LED's in the headamps!

I would but as this is a runner and I intend on using it in some friendly competition I dont want the extra weight.

The LRP is a 17x4 motor in the back, it will pull wheelies..lol

Just to resurect an old thread.

I bought a Midnight Pumpkin (mettallic special) the other day (E-Bay from Hong Kong £45 delivered) and thought I'd get started on building it straight away so went down the local model store (Model Zone) and tried to buy some metal ball bearings to fit instead of those horrible plastic bushes.

They guy says- "we havent got any"

I say- "are you going to get any?"

Guy says- "dont know"

I say- "So shall I bother coming back or not"

Guy says- "We've got to make an order up first"

I Say- "are you going to make an order?"

Guy says- "When I've got £200 pounds worth of stuff to order"

I say- "Is that likely to be any time soon?"

Guy says- "probably not"

At which point I left.

Thing is I was going to buy these bearings at nearly £2 each cos I wanted them straight away, but instead I have ordered them of E-Bay at a third of the price and they will be better bearings too. not to mention I was going to buy a couple of high tourqe servo's and some radio gear!

So, Model Zone in Eastbourne, you can can poke your bearings up your a*se, I wont be buying anything in your shop any more.