Aki's Tamiya GT-R BCNR33 - Complete!

Here is the target. Aki's R33. (here running stock rims.)

Straight off the gun, (can) the GT-R BCNR33 immediately looked amazing!

I couldn't wait. The paint dried in about 5 seconds today in 35+ heat so it's baked on for sure.

I stickered it up and the details started to appear.

Rear looks great! Very GT-R.

Massive HPI RAYS RE-30 are a bit bigger scale than the real ones, but this is an RC car. They are meant to be Extreme!

Here is the finished item. Hunkering down with lowered body. Maybe I'll cut the front lip, It is a bit over the top... we shall see what the owner thinks.

Now it tuned out so well that I went the extra step and fabricated some lights. The original stickers were not up to grade. R33 lights do not exist. So what to do? ER34 yokomo buckets were located. They were then hacked and then the R33 stickers layed on the front and supported with som black covered lexan.

The result is very realistic. I'll take some pics in the sun tomorrow. I impressed myself with this one..

Russ.

Aki's Tamiya TA-02 GT-R BCNR-33

Recently I've been working on this.

It's a Loctite GT-R JCTC R33 from Tamiya made in 1995. It comes with a TA-02 Chassis

My friend has an awesome R33 and he likes to have some replica's to stare at when he's not on the track, so when I found the kit, he jumped on it. These are rare these days and let's face it. Static models "Bite Balls" sometimes. So it should be more fun.

Now, he is not hooked on RC yet, so I just installed my old Sanwa gear and gave it a test. http://vimeo.com/13087867

It still works kind of... (no reverse though) HAHA.

His car runs RE-30 and the HPI ones are super cool so I repainted them in his colour. The brush works better here to create the rays powder coat look.

Cool cool cool Tyres are RE-11

Cool... Although Aki doesn't run a deep splitter.........YET!!!!!! I left the bootom on the body, because It always looks groovy and it can be trimmed anytime. Likewise I have a spare GT-Wing that may temporarily grace the lines.

Chassis test was good with yokomo tyres. It drifts at low speeds well. Needs some playing with settings and more steering angle to be great though. Anyway that's not really the intention for the chassis. Maybe some HPI grip tyres will be better. We all like speed anyway.

Stay tuned for paint maybe two weeks away though until these GTR Stickers are applied.

RC 7's Day Edition

The only RX7 I have in my garage for 7's day is my RC beast.

 I have a dilemma though. Which body to rock. maybe my friends will run one.

Stay tune for some drift! Look in the background! Above. GTR33 by Tamiya

RE-30 in a new paint colour. RAYS Shining Silver Powder Coat.

Crank it.

I also got some Team Suzuki (Yokomo) alloy belcranks for maximum angle.


I'll try these out, I haven't shaved the hub carriers yet for the extra angle, so we shall see how that goes tomorrow. Team Suzuki cranks adding some more blue to the front.
 
Russ.

New Propo and Stuff

I decided to upgrade to 2.4Ghz.

I bought the cheapest Yokomo 2.4Ghz FHSS 3 ch. 8000yen

The RX is sooooo small! It's amazing. Also amazing is that these only need  4AA cells to power the TX.

It's ultral lightweight rubbish but it works.

As this is Futaba plugged, I thought I'd try the Futaba CPS-1 Channel Power Switch for my Yokomo Active light switch. Luckily this works without a hitch. Sweet I can now turn on and off lights at will and this was 2700 yen.

The TX, RX kit didn't have a main servo , so I decided to go for a high speed Futaba S9405 item also. 5500

So for 16300yen, I have a pretty good setup 3 channel system with high speed servo and light controller.

Russ.

Yokomo DRB Drift Package

DRB Drift Package! It seems Yokomo can't decide what to make. this is $700 and follows the same pattern as all other makers like CER which has become popular recently for Top end cars.

the D-Max seems like a dormant product with many failing to take the money hit converting all batteries for Yokomo Lipo Split battery packs.

There are now 12 different versions of Drift package!!! What do you run? I am thinking of this conversion

BTW, recently Yokomo is heavily discounting the ichiroku M. 40% off in Japan.

Wheel Test and More

Stance and offset can turn a dog into an amazing machine. Video on Vimeo

This set includes.

Advan RS with Yokomo Zero 1
NT03 with Yokomo Zero 2
Work Xc8 with HPI Drift
Work XD9 with HPI Grip

Advan RS
These provide good driftability and control.

With 1.5x full counter gear and grip tyres. WRONG! Spin Spin Spin.

Yokomo Zero 2 offer good control but traction is limited...

Very slidable though.

I always find myself coming back to HPI drift tyres. I think it's because the black work wheels look amazing.

But they have good grip and good control.

They wear quickly, but I cant go past the good all round ability.

Orido's Racing Paradise

A new track at the old http://www.racingparadise.jp/

Orido't Mountain pass looks fun! A bit of vertical drop.

Yokomo 01R2 & Enkei NT03

More Wheels! Yep! But there is a reason! I needed something to mount the new Yokomo Zero One R 2 wheels on.

NT03 were a choice more for another body I have. But as I use this most, I 'll test everything on here until I'm happy with the FCD setup I have.

Now the tyres are interesting. Inner Rubber Hub for gripping the tyre and a quite hard plastic rim. They are much harder than HPI T-Drift tyres.

Here is the mounting instructions for part 1.

The Flexible Rubber inner is easy to get on.

The outer ring is harder so they recommend some oil for sliding the hard tyre on, then making it flush is still a pain in the arse, so I wasn't 100% with this.

Here are different stages of assembly.

I did a test run today with 6 degrees of camber and I must say they are awesome match for the Yokomo FCD setup

I am running

front camber 6 deg

rear camber 6 deg 

FCD gearing 1.5X

FCD front castor carriers 7 deg

TN Rear Axle +6mm

I have some blue painted concrete near my house so you can see I'm getting good results and even wear.

This was after 20 Mins. Wear rate seems to be good. Should last longer than T-drift and offeres similar control.

I was impressed. Maybe I'm just getting used to the FCD setup and My settings are getting there.

About the only thing I want to try are some extended knuckle arms which seem to be the latest rage in Japan.

Everyone is making them.