My RC8 and B44
 

I have allready raced the B44. After racing running some laps I got a head on with a brushless 8th scale and broke a shock shaft. Buddy lent me a shock from an associated pan car pod lol. It was close enoughto play... still waiting with trigger on paypal when a main gets them back in stock... thought I'd mention it because you'll see the gold shock on front. Iwanted to test the RC8 out first time, and buddy with the HPI in first pic, has 6 or 8 batteries, so I wanted to have extra stuff to play with.

B44 has a Sidewinder 5700 combo, Intellect 4200 matched packs, Airtronics 958 (overkill but I had it), personal transponder and a cheap am radio go figure. I even painted the undertray black silver then black as did the wing. Stock tires and setup really, and I tossed a 17 tooth pinion on. I'd like to go up but it is still really fast. I shortened wires to the motor and such. I didn't do the servo or esc wires as I will be putting a different servo in and using this one in my nitro 1/8.

RC8 has a Mamba Max; 4 extra 440 uF caps soldered in parallel (still can't find a resistor in this shop, I know there has to be some), Neu 1512 2.5D with a custom filter (got the idea ff the rctech thread), RC Monster mount and servo tray, RC10 battery cup, I dyed and glued a plastic tray alongside the mud guards to close the holes before bolting the battery cup to the chassis. I slotted the plastic for the velcro which was glued into place with my fav fix all shoe goo. it's secure. I used my 2 7.4v 5000 mah Yuntong hard cased lipos. they are 20c and work well. until I get a 4S balance plug I made a Y adapter to run them in parallel. I have 2 lipo chargers with balancers so I charge the batteries seperately. FM rx and an Airtronics 959 servo. I had put the Kyosho plastic spur on at first but it didn't fit right and I had to file the holes slightly out all 4 corners to get the screws in and during spooling it in hand I saw some dif leakage. I took the dif out and shimmed the center dis so put the metal one back on. I think I'll leave it that way now.

I took out my camera, turned it on and it turned off again in about 20 seconds.... so I used the cel phone and just took a few pics. Testing was at a BMX track and I tested the beasts out on some worthy jumps.

Other than my motor moving a tad in the 8th scale, no damage or problems otherwise. I ran for 10 mins and stopped to check the esc and motor twice and not even warm. This BMX track was huge with multiple choices of jump types. I hadn't tried the real psycho ones with the 8th before the motor moved so I took the B44 off them. Next time we go there I'll get pics of the track too. The last pic I took with controller one hand and phone other. I am impresed with the torque LOL. Dug a good trench with a straight ahead punch. I need to buy new batteries again for that camera. it's time. I buy 2 set every year and that usually lasts... it's the night shots with flash that kills them, but that's usually when I am finished. I'll get some better pics with the camera tomorrow but wanted to toss thse out anyway.

http://www3.telus.net/Pipeous/Pics/26Feb08/

Very nice pics! What were you using for gearing as far as pinion selection?

OK guys, I'm needing some help. I running the RC8 w/ RC-M motor mount.

I am going to be running the Neu 1512 2.5D motor rated at 2050 KV or the Castle/Neu 1515 motor rated at 2200 KV on 4C lipo and a MMM.

What I need to know is what pinion/spur combo can I or should I run?

I keep hearing about the Kyosho 46 tooth plastic spur, will this be a direct fit on the RC8 diff? Also, what range of pinions should I be looking at? I've seen 12 to 15 tooth mentioned, will those cover the average sized track and will the 12 tooth work w/ the 46 tooth Kyosho?

Thanks guys!

nice cars i really like the b44 i might have to build one one i finish my muggy

I was liking that B44 too.:lol:

I have the kyosho plastic spur here which I ordered from RCM. I can't say if it was just the spur I got or if all are the same, but the holes didn't line up on mine properly. I had to file the 4 corners outwards a bit each to get the screws in place. I spooled it up bench test and saw dif lube so decided to just put the stock gear back in, otherwise I am running stock combination of gearing and it has plenty of torque and lots of top speed. I will be testing it out on an actual rc track this Sunday and will know better as to gearing but I don't think I am going to worry too much about change since it'll have as good, most likely better top speed than a nitro, and for sure it has more torque. I was trying to clear both doubles at the BMX track with a short run up and only traction kept me from doing it... well and avoiding the big rocks lol

Thanks guys. The B44 is a hoot to drive. I have a XXX4 here as well that needs a new chassis, but the B44 is just so sexy. All that carbon and aluminum stock, nice easy slipper to adjust, just need an allen wrench to stuff in a hole. The one complaint I have is the motor mount. It is a real pain to adjust the motor, remove it, or change pinions. I left the 17 on last race even though a friend offered to lend me a 20 because it was a big job. We both run B44's and he understood. He was overgeared and fried his Mamba lol, Other than that, it is very durable and drives amazingly well. it's very balanced. Stock up on some front shock shafts if you buy one. The shocks are a bit exposed to front end collisions.... I lost to a Losi 8. That said, a full speed head on crash with a brushless 8th scale and that was it for damage.

ok I have the camera in my pocket and just need to charge the batteries. I'll go take some pics in a bit, then I am off to help a friend break in some rc's for the cub scouts demo we are doing this Saturday... wow I am dis lex ick today. I had to edit this a few times and there's probably still mistakes

pipeous: Do you know a Barry Wilson?

Speaking with Dan from RCProductDesigns here is what he said:

"The RC8 uses a modified IF148 46T spur. I do the Mods then you do some changes in the shimming on the gears in the inside of the diff."

He also sells the spurs modified already. Not sure what shimming is done different in the diffs, but he probably wouldn't have a problem saying what.

I am Barry Wilson ;) so ya guess I know him.

the shims are used inside the dif. the stock shimming the gears are quite loose. I relied on reading it in the rctech thread and a member there suggested it to me because he chewed up gears. the kit comes with spares anyway so I opened the difs when changing the spur back to the stock one and shimmed behind the small gears to tighten things. so far so good and I have chewed a few nubs off my crime fighters allready from digging trenches so I have put some good shock on the difs. even this afternoon running on pavement outside the hobby shop to show a few customers (I was behind the counter babbling and ended up selling a helicopter today too.... oh you'll have to pay her, I don't actually work here)

got a couple converts out of that session ordering their conversion kits now.... Mike you have some more BC customers, and most of the guys are heading down the street to go get capacitors for their escs now too. I can't tell you how impressed I am with adding the caps to keep the esc cool. I ran hard for 15 mins and let everyone check the motor temps and esc. it was about 90 degrees. I've learned a lot of cool things from this forum and from the thread on rctech, but I will never use a fan again I'll tell ya. Adding caps to my Sidewinder now too. it gets hotter than my Mamba does

Cool stuff. I really like the looks of your RC8.

Mike at RCMonster stated he could also predrill his battery tray for me so I would be up and running right away, even having it preinstalled on an RC8 as well. Thats really cool.

For gearing with the 46T or stock RC8 spur (44T right?), what are you guys settling on as far as a common pinion range with the 2.5D, 2D, and 1.5D Neu Motors?

Those caps you are running, are those the castle ones?

When you run all the caps together, do they compare to say a similar cap that has the same total value, just 1 cap? Wondering if I could run 1 or 2 of the Novak HV caps in parallel and get the temp benefit.

actually the 4 caps I used in parallel are les uF than the one for the hvmaxx. I have a total of 1760 uF (4X440) and the novak one is 2700 uF I believe.

I have to pull my mamba apart today and going to remount the electronics slightly. the on board caps from stock got hit in that location and one was bent over and broke a wire. I hope I can repair it without taking the bloody boards apart.... we'll see shortly

and anyone that says the chinese dean's ultras are the same is wrong LOL. they don't fit anywhere near as tight. I had my battery come unplugged twice just landing a jump and not a wipeout. I thought something was fried...

Yup figured that, was curious if there was more benefit to running smaller caps over 1 bigger one that is noticeable. I am going to give the Novak cap a go.

Good info though, especially about the chinese deans. Will look to avoid those.

Well like Brian said, it helps dissipate the heat. I read that thread and wondered. At our indoor racing one of the guys busted his fan on his gtb, he couldn't stop thermalling after that. I saw another esc go up in smoke, mamba, and was curious. I figured it was worth a try and so far it has proved worthy enough a few other guys are now going to do the same.

I did the case mod on my TTR S3 conversion and frankly I didn't like the mess it leaves of the packaging. Add to that a fan is delicate. We push the 8th scales a lot. And I just had a cpu fan and power supply fan go and overheated my computer so not thrilled with fans right now hehe.

I will be ordering the novak one then to try out.

Yeah, I made the mistake of getting 10 pairs of the knock off Deans of e-bay, after a few uses, they were pretty much useless.

Cain, was there going to be any additional charge to have the holes pre-drilled for an RC8?

It was never said if there would be a charge just to drill the holes. There was a charge to make an RC8 fully converted out of the box though, which is fine, I expect that.

I think it would be a nice touch for him to have as an option the ability to order the mount already predrilled for a certain vehicle type at a nominal charge, say an extra $5 - $10.

That's pretty funny. I can't tell you how many RC vehicles/parts I've sold as a customer in our LHS. I'll overhear one of the employees giving insufficient/bad information to a customer, and I'll just jump in and help them out. I told them that they're going to have to start paying me one of these days. They love it when I do that.

I do the same thing at my LHS and must get a discount to near cost! I have sold alot of stuff, and have completely setup their lipo and charger inventory. I also have made countless adapters and must have soldered at least 100 traxxas connectors since they came out. They keep me busy when I go in there, that is for sure. No commision yet, but the discount is well worth it. I get the same discount as the techs!

Mr Wilson, I must say, you have some very nice looking buggies. :yes:

as for the caps, I've been running one novak 2700uf cap per esc my MM's and they reduce the heat by a good 20* F. I have two set-up this way and two that are not. The two standard ones only run 540S size motors and still get hotter than the modded ones running Neu 1512 motors.

I totally agree, I would be more than happy to pay an additional fee to have the battery tray professional drilled for my RC8. $5.00 to $10.00 sounds very doable.:yipi:

I just added a couple new goodies.
http://www.ghhobby.com/prodimages/2473.jpg

this is the steering plate for the RC8, bith upper and lower. Golden Horizon (most know their stuff as GH) is a local shop. I bought my RC8 from them and I saw all the prototype parts. Some stuff is on the website. All parts are independantly xrayed for quality, and GH ofers a Lifetime Guarantee!! This fixes the breakage, and the other companies just make the top plate, which breaks the bottom part. this is all keyed and looks sweet

http://www.ghhobby.com/products.php?cat=19 they just show the copper and titanium, but there will also be black. There is also a one piece center dif mount and steering ackerman not shown. I am waiting for my black hinge pin retainers now

oh ya, forgot to add I picked up a spektrum yesterday and a personal transponder. I got a dx3.0 because I wanted the 2 rx's and the servos. I'll use the 590 in the B44, and save the 359 in the B44 now for my nitro buggy. the 270 is good enough for throettle.

So is Titanium the color or the material?

Pipeous: Whats the weight of your vehicle fully RTR?

Also, on your 5000mah packs, what kind of runtime are you getting in race conditions?

to weigh it out, I have to take it to a friend's. we'll see next trip to go detail his truck, I'll take my rc's over for some info.

I really mean to time the run sometimes. I can only guestimate because once I get up there I am just into spanking the nitros. I am sure I am getting 30 mins plus on a smaller track. I like to brake hard and use the torque out of tight corners for inside passes and stuff because these things shine there, though for the most part I am pretty light on the throttle. I try to keep my wheels on the dirt as much as possible, then I don't have to be marshalled as much, even going over jumps I like to roll them as close to the dirt as I can. I make my mistakes coming up short sometimes.

I am going out to a track today to do some raking and shoveling, then we'll run our rc's. I haven't been to this track in a while. I'll time a run and see how long I can go, though once I get there I will be handing the controller arund the driver's stand to get us more addicts. I know once someone drives this buggy, they want one ;)

Cool stuff. My MBX5 using the 4900mah version of the Enerland cells (25C), I didn't make my runtime of 15 minutes. I did however have LOTs of wheel spin. Its funny, I seem to drive better when its like that, sort of like I know how to powerslide around the track and I think that really cut my runtime down.

I am just curious how you guys are getting runtimes near 30 minutes with 5000mah packs. maybe there is a big weight difference as well vs the MBX5, which all setup now I have in at about 8lbs.

what is your pinion that you are using?

I am running stock gearing 16/44 with the 2.5D. and as far as the pinions, I keep my mesh quite close and the pinion shows little wear.

I just redid my difs with 5k through all 3 as per the nitro team guys, so we'll see how this goes. I liked the same setup in my xray so it should get it around corners a little faster.

While I had it apart I added all the service pack parts and I noticed the front hinge pin carriers both sides of the dif had started to bend a little. things were still driveable but I saw the bend when I placed the parts on a glass table. Definately make sure you get a later release or you'll need a receipt to get your service pack. I didn't add the steering top plate.

I ran on a big track and down the straight I can hang with nitros. I think I could probably gear up a tooth or two. With a 16/44 on the rcm mount, I had to cut a couple fins on the motor case to clear the chassis brace. a smooth can wouldn't have that problem. That said, I don't really need to have more top speed, but I do need to find a line to keep the speed at the end of the straight and clear the massive triple. there's a long rhythm section though on a 180 turn after the big triple, and bottom end grunt allowed me to jump half the rhythm section and make it in 2 instead of the usual 3 and 4 jumps most guys made

thanks for the info.

How is the weight of the 2 5000mah packs you use?

Also, Did you need to do any special shimming of the diffs?

the batteries are a total of 548 grams, and yes I shimmed the insides of the center dif to tighten things up, as was recommended by Chewie on the rc tech thread. and also put a drop of ca on the nyloc nuts in the plastic parts to keep them from falling out when you have to do changes; back of shock towers, under the steering plate, wing etc

these shims, do you have a part # for them?

There are extra shims in the spare parts allready.

getting mind second hand.

Did alittle mini calculation, basically looks like I need to go up 1 pinion size over what you are using with your 44T spur if I go 46T.

I'll pick up a 17T and 18T for more range as I already have a 16T.

Ordered an RC8 RCPD conversion.

old rule of thumb... for every 1 tooth you change on the pinion, change by 4 on spur for equal gearing

the rcpd kit is nice. I like the battery tray for sure...

I took a family photo and added another Associated to the mix. The first pic gives a scale idea. The motor mount is Atomik RC and has threaded holes for mounting a fan if needed. Castle 25 controller, 8000 kv motor and 1600 mah lipo, (have an 1800 20C coming). This car is a ballistic missile. I took it outside the house but only got a few passes in, then it started hailing, which turned to rain, then snow... hour later it was sunny again, go figure.... still I could barely get it wound out and then I had to hit the brakes and come spinning towards myself. I want to hit a big lot soon or a lacrosse box. oh ya

http://www3.telus.net/Pipeous/Pics/A...d/DSCI0002.JPG
http://www3.telus.net/Pipeous/Pics/A...d/DSCI0004.JPG
http://www3.telus.net/Pipeous/Pics/A...d/DSCI0005.JPG
http://www3.telus.net/Pipeous/Pics/A...d/DSCI0006.JPG
http://www3.telus.net/Pipeous/Pics/A...d/DSCI0009.JPG

Well it is a good news bad news kind of day here....

Opening race is supposed to be this weekend at the one outdoor track and another electric only track was opening for a free practice session to try it out... I was excited about racing this weekend.... I was also going to pack up my detailing gear and go cold calling to generate some income....

I wake up and put on coffee early, after first cup in the shop with a smoke, I come inside and see it's freaking snowing!! I mean big flakes. Well the track is up the mountain so it'll be white by now...

I was only planning on racing the B44 because the RC8 I have to race with the nitros and only had one battery... well the mail lady shows up with my lipo batteries today... I have enough to do a battery swap. The new 4S is actually a bit smaller than the other in terms of height because no hard case... sweet.... BUT the new lipo for the 18R is too big. 20c 1800 mah... looks like my bud has a new battery for his mini lst lol

worried about this weather, I dropped a resume off for some part time work via internet... well I am leaving shortly to go work, couple days a week, and I have to have sundays off for racing... he agrees, so I am doing 26 hrs over the next 2 days to help out, looks like racing will be a wash for yet another weekend but we'll do the anti wet dance and throw some salt over the shoulder, kiss the 4 leaf clover and do some good karma stuff to try and get some favourable weather.... fun running is ok but racing is what rc is all about.... PLEASE STOP SNOWING

Just got 2 Neu 2S 5000 25C Hardcase packs and of course they don't fit in the battery tray I got from RCM.:cry:

Anyone know how to remove the hardcases? I ordered them in the hard case so I could use them in my J82 as well, but I haven't even started on it and I wan to get the RC8e up and running ASAP! :tongue:

the hard cases on my yuntongs came off by sliding something along the seam to seperate the top and bottom, kind of overlapped. I had to add some lexan to one side of my 4s (same brand) as it slid around a bit in my battery tray compared to the paired 2s hard cases I put together

found a cool option for the air filter on back of a Neu today. over at my bud's and we were trying to come up with a filter for his e revo. I had rebuilt his 5B and in the box was an outwears pre filter but it was for a savage filter. well that puppy slides right over the end of the neu just nicely so he added it to his motor. even gives some water protection.... I am going to lhs to get one tomorrow

oh and I added a couple rc18B's to the stable... picking the second one up tomorrow. it's a factory team kit with a lot of goodies. the one I have here has titanium rods and balls and the gear cover and steering mod done. added the 8000kv brushless (put a mod brushed motor in the 18R because I couldn't drive it with the 8000 over half throttle lol

Strange, RC Monster tray must be not as wide as say the RCPD tray. Or, the Neu packs are really wide. Any know what cells are in them? Since they are 5000mah, I would assume they are not enlerand cells as enerland makes a 4900mah pack.

I have a set of enerland 5000s sitting right here...