Its OK.. I'm not dead

I haven't had much to write on this lately. Money has been really tight after the move from WA so racing toy cars hasn't really been something I can justify. I've been keeping an eye on all the different forums and sites and seen the release of a couple of new cars. The one that has caught my eye the most (after months of wanting a 3Racing F113) is the new SpeedPassion SP-1. It just seems to me to have a good thought process behind it, and I really like the front suspension layout, which allows all the different widths without buying option or extra parts. Possibly the only area I personally don't "like" is the friction roll shock, but that's nit picking. The price is also pretty good. Its 99% possible this will be my next F1.

I keep reading rumors about a narrowing kit for the F113 and if it appears in reality it might make the decision a bit harder, but until it appears the SP is my new first choice

I will be going racing F1 shortly. I'm planning to do the Interclub at Logan in Brisbane (which held the 2012 On Road Nationals) as F1 will be run. I don't really care about the whole interclub thing as technically it doesn't apply to me but racing will be fun. I'll be using My F1-09 in 200mm setup because I can't get batteries to suit the 190mm version. The 190mm car needs short lipos to be setup properly but the 200mm doesn't seem as touchy and I can use my full size battery packs. I am not expecting to win but I am hoping to have some fun.

I have done a little bit of racing in 4WD tourer however. I managed, finally, to get to my new local club, and even though the turnout was a bit small, I did a few runs in my rebuilt Tigermoth LCG. Despite having year old tyres,  a 3 year old 17.5 and an even older SP ESC I was only about 0.4sec from the fastest time of the regulars. A little tweaking and a newer motor and ESC and a approximately 6 year old car would be keeping up with current Xray's and the like. 

The LCG has always fascinated me as a car - it suits my driving style almost perfectly and it rarely needs more than a few small tweaks to be near or matching the pace of tracks I have visited while traveling. 

Tigermoth LCG - this chassis doesn't have the front and rear diff braces

 
While on paper it appears simple and well set out, the suspension is frustratingly unreliable and difficult to set to exact camber and castor settings. The single deck and center shaft design makes the car prone to destroying belts and pulleys, especially when running mod motors. It also is very "old school" as far as pulley sizes and diff ratios and there is nothing like a gear diff available. It does have a very good spool idea, which I've recently noticed Tamiya also doing, replacing the diff balls with some sort of friction material. This allows a spool action, but in hard impacts etc the diff can slip which helps prevent breakages.

Despite all its quirks I have persevered with it the longest of any chassis I've ever owned. It has been extensively modified to try and overcome the problems I've encountered - shorter rear belt, various braces to control chassis flex, converting the diff to a Tamiya TA04 diff pulley (allows me to use better diff balls) and modifications to rear uprights to change the arm angle and roll center. I am considering getting a full carbon fiber chassis plate made rather than the CF/Polystyrene original chassis plate. I do have to wonder how practical it is to persevere, but with the current market flooded with almost identical chassis designs, with little to truly differentiate between them, its almost "better the devil you know" then having to start from scratch with a whole new car.

Maybe I should just build my own car...

Well that was fun...

Its been a while and there are so many reason for it I am not going to list them all other than to say that from the 28th December 2012 until the 2nd February 2013 I lived all of a travelers worst nightmares, all at once.

As you can imagine that means I haven't been up to much racing wise. I've been checking out the local hobby shops and some of the local racing though I still haven't actually gotten to a race day yet. I was hoping to check out the off-road club this coming weekend, but due to after affects of Cyclone Oswald, the showgrounds where they are located are still without power and toilets, so they may have to postpone things. The next on-road meeting is coming up shortly so I will attempt to get to that. I may even try some racing. I've decided the Brisbane based clubs are just a little too far away, especially as the majority now appear to run at night. A 2 or so hour drive home that late at night doesn't excite me as much as it once might've.

If I DO race the trusty F109 will be in LM mode, possibly even in GT mode as I picked up a Protoform Sophia body for a bit of a laugh. Not sure how well it will fit on an F1 chassis but I am up for finding out, especially if it means I can keep racing while I sort out a budget for the next year. That's right folks! The trip was so horrendous it took out all my play money for up to another 3 months, and that's far too long to not be racing. The local guys sound like the might be a bit flexible so can only wait and see.

I also WILL get around to finishing my post on the RSector wide conversion for the F104. I re-read it and I am probably more negative about it than I mean to be. Its not as "bad" as I was making out.

Is it just me or have Tamiya rattle cans become ridiculously expensive?? Or are some hobby stores gouging the hell out of us with some of their pricing?? With a new body on the way and not sure of my supplies I grabbed a few cans while I was scoping out one of the local hobby stores. My jaw not only dropped but almost dislocated as the total came to $48 for 3 CANS!!!! The damn body only cost $39!!  

OK - I am getting used to a lot of hobby shops NOT pricing things like paint individually and, OK - a couple of the cans are the more "trick" colours that Tamiya produces but even the normal can of Black was $12! Showing my age again, I can remember when cans of polycarbonate paint were $6-8 and its was considered expensive THEN! Especially as you could rock on down to the local Supercheap or Repco and buy cans of the Powers Plus touch up paints (which worked great on PC bodies as long as you did the prep good) and you got at least twice as much paint for a similar price. Maybe its time I brush up on those air brushing skills?


 Keep on racing...

Travelling again...

Just letting people know that while I am traveling back across Australia that I won't be posting anything interesting... I've got half a dozen things partly written but with things as they are I just can't focus on them to get them finished...

To tell how badly things are going I now have a Chev diesel running on 7 cylinders... and that's after just one day!