Added a new car to the Fleet!

[Thirdgen89GTA]

Losi Mini 8ight! It was between this or a 1/16th Revo VXL. But since I will primarily be using this at the closer indoor track by me I decided that it would suit me better.

I've been running my 1/8th scale truggy at the indoor track. They let me, and I'm cautious of my fellow RC peeps, I never pin it on the straight simply because the straight is about 40-50ft long, and the track is maybe 30ft wide. So its super small for a big truggy like mine.

I wanted something small for that track since i go to it so often. The Revo looks fun, and I love the 1/16th Revo titan I got for my nephew (he loves it too, Uncle is the best )

So far I can't believe just how bad the cogging is on a undercharged battery. I took the think out of the box and gave it a quick 2 minute test drive around the office at work. Crazy bad. I can see why people complain. It didn't look that bad in the videos. Perhaps it was just the not fully charged NIMH battery. I'll see how it is after the battery is fully charged. Need to pickup a EC2 male plug charge lead for my charger.


Now, I need to pickup a LiPo for it. Thinking 2S will do me for now. Anyone have a recommendation for a battery that fits right in the compartment? I'd do a 3S too. But its a small track, not that its stopped me before.

Not that it looks any different from stock. But here she is. Please ignore my Orange Chicken that is warming up using heat from the External HD. It makes a great food warmer.

[brian015]

I love mine:
http://www.rc-monster.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30656

I modded the battery tray to fit the Gens Ace 2200:
http://www.hobbypartz.com/98p-25c-2200-2s1p.html

The 1550 or 1800 will fit unmodded:
http://www.hobbypartz.com/98p-25c-1800-2s1p.html
http://www.hobbypartz.com/98p-25c-1550-2s1p.html

[Thirdgen89GTA]

Yeah, this is the size of the track I'll be using it on.

[YOUTUBE]dJ-noHn_Sx8[/YOUTUBE]

[Thirdgen89GTA]

Took the Mini 8ight to the track today. Boy do I miss LiPo's punch already, and its runtime! This little 1100mah battery just can't cut it. I already broke a shock end, and strangely enough the Swaybar end link connector is a perfect match for the shock end! So I was up and running again.

With a stock 7.2v Nimh pack the buggy is just too slow! I also bounces quite a bit. I tried to soften the rear suspension up a bit since the back-end bounced alot, moved the shocks to the lowest position on the shock tower and reduced the preload. Not much difference though. Maybe i need to go with a thinner fluid as it didn't seem like the buggy was able to absorb the bumps, felt to stiff.

I ordered two of the Gens Ace 2200mah 7.2v Lipos. I figure two of those should give me a good run time and should provide plenty more current for the BL motor if it wants it. I'll have to make a custom tray hold down like you did Brian. I thought about doing 3. But when I'm ready I'll buy a 3S pack for those times I want some speed.

Some pics comparing the Truggy to the Buggy. I call it David vs Goliath. In this case though, Goliath will win every time.

[MiamizFinest]

Bro i love the look of this little car, it looks aggressive, id love to pick one up if i had an actual track to take it to but to just have it and randomly bash it.........SUCKS im so tired of bashing I WANT LOCAL RACING!!!

[Thirdgen89GTA]

Originally Posted by MiamizFinest

Bro i love the look of this little car, it looks aggressive, id love to pick one up if i had an actual track to take it to but to just have it and randomly bash it.........SUCKS im so tired of bashing I WANT LOCAL RACING!!!

Yeah, for off-road bashing it really is too small. If you want something small that can do it the 1/16th revo's are great at it.

I just love the way this thing drives though. It feels exactly like an 8th scale buggy. Same braking/cornering/jumping techniques.

Within 2-3 jumps I was rocking it over the doubles. It didn't have enough power for the triples at the track I was running. The whole reason I got it is my Truggy has been outlawed at the local indoor track. A single person felt (read whined/complained) that my truggy was a hazzard to the children there. Despite the fact that I have been an over courteous driver. Always slowing down, or giving way to the smaller vehicles. And when someone was on the track marshaling I would slow down or stop for them. If I didn't have to stop I was moving past them at a walking pace, no chance of injury.

Its a good thing I already bought the 8ight because otherwise i would have driven 30 minutes for nothing. This completely ignores the grandfather who gave his 5yr old kid free reign on the track with a Slash VXL. All the kid did when he was driving was go full bore into every wall and car. Same grandfather let the kid drive FROM the track instead of the drivers stand. The kid hit a jump and sent the truck out of the track into the pit area.

That kid should be outlawed from running if the grandfather can't keep a lid on the throttle. Kid needs a slower truck. I bought my nephew at 1/16th E-Revo brushed version and on trainer mode its plenty fast enough for him.

But hey, I'm the guy with the big truggy who hasn't hit anyone or broke anyone elses cars. But its a big truggy so it MIGHT hurt someone.

[Thirdgen89GTA]

I really wish some of my friends didn't drop of RC and off the face of the earth. We used to make trips and head out as a group. it was more fun to visit the track, or to just bash in a field.

But one by one they started falling off, and then I lost interest in maintaining my nitro fleet all together. Its not much fun to head out into a field and just bash by yourself. Need some new RC friends locally. Part of why I hit up the track so much now. I plan on re-opening the Busse Woods weekly sunday bash. Used to get 70-80 guys out there a week, that was cool. We would literally fill an entire parking lot.

This parking lot actually. http://g.co/maps/6fqfu

[Overdriven]

I've broken 2 shock ends on my Mini8 so far too. The older 2.5 style Maxx rod ends work great and are stronger. Some guys on RCtech suggest and are boiling the ends and the shock caps to help prevent breakage. I haven't tried a 2s on mine, but a 3s makes it rip. Doubt you'll be able to use all the power and speed with 3s on your track. Fun little car though, its my quick after work basher, packs are cheap and charge fast.

[coolhandcountry]

No pics with the body off?

[Thirdgen89GTA]

Originally Posted by coolhandcountry

No pics with the body off?

Figured with it being a pure stock RC I didn't take pics.

But I can do that for you.

[d3lap]

Love the look of these guys. Have fun with it. Any idas for up grades?

[Thirdgen89GTA]

So far I've ordered 5 packs of the shock eyelet/cap bags. Since they seem to break I'd rather have a lot of them around. I've also ordered the carbon fiber shock towers, and will probably order the carbon fiber chassis brace, just because I can not that I expect it will reduce the weight of the buggy by much.

So far there isn't much to actually address the major weak points of the buggy. The weakest bits are thankfully easy to replace, but its frustrating how easily they can break.

Weak Links:

• Shock cap eyelets
• Shock end eyelets

Whatever plastic they used for these two pieces is shoddy and horrible. It has no flexibility at all, nor any aftermarket replacements thats better. Somone really needs to make some delrin or alloy replacements for these, the rest of the shock is great though. Nice aluminum body, smooth action. No leaks.

The 2nd annoying thing is the low speed cogging. I'm sure an ESC firmware update could fix it, but its HORRID, especially when the battery pack gets low. The MMP 4500kv is actually dead equal in terms of speed. There's a youtube video comparing that to the stock exelorin system. Thought I wonder how well it would handle a hotter motor. 3S and a higher gearing to put out more speed. I'll see how it does on 2S when the packs arrive.

Switching them out to traxxas HC plugs since thats what I use on everything else. Deans is probably better, but the Traxxas is so much easier to solder and pull apart.

[Thirdgen89GTA]

So here's the body off pics as requested. The nice thing is that this buggy uses a standard Spektrum DSM2 RX. A micro would fit nice and allow you to save weight and possibly use a longer canned motor. But I have no idea what fits in this chassis. People are reporting 50mph+ with the stock 4500kv system. But it would be nice to gain features like Punch Control or Torque Limiting as found in the Castle ESCs.

Still, I'll leave the motor system alone for now.

Pic 1
Pic 2

[coolhandcountry]

Thanks for under body shots.

[Thirdgen89GTA]

Upgraded shots of the Carbon Fiber towers. I didn't exactly need them. But I did end up tweaking the rear shock tower slighlty, I was able to bend it back, so I just decided on the carbon ones, they were about $20 max together. Not sure if there really is a weight savings with them, but they do feel lighter and I can definitely tell they are stronger.

http://home.comcast.net/~thirdgen89g...m/IMG_1700.JPG
http://home.comcast.net/~thirdgen89g...m/IMG_1701.JPG
http://home.comcast.net/~thirdgen89g...m/IMG_1706.JPG