An R/C update

Well a lot has happened for me in R/C since my last post.

McRC update:
I finally got my 4WS conversion completed and working, which also included upgrading to a brushless motor and LiPo battery.  This gives the little monster more power, longer run times, and some good maneuvers.  But before I could do a full run, something happened to my DX6i, and the rudder control was full right.  So I had to ship it to the transmitter in for service.  It's been out for 2 weeks, finally got repaired, and is on it's way back today.  Hopefully all is good and I can run my little crawler again.  Until then, here are a couple of "test" videos.

This is a run with original motor, battery, and ESC/Receiver:

This is with brushless motor and ESC, LiPo battery, and new receiver:

Venom Creeper:
With my DX6i out for repair, the Creeper was down.  I really needed to get a 2nd aircraft radio.  There's actually another reason for getting a 2nd radio, but later on that.  So I looked around and found a good deal for a Tactic RC TTX650 that came with 2 free receivers.  Checked the details on it, and it has two 3-position switches.  Perfect for the DIG unit.  Got it ordered and received before the DX6i was received at the service department.  After getting it in, swapped out the receiver and got everything setup.  It's nice to have the DIG unit on a 3-position toggle.

SCX10 Trail Honcho:


For my SCX10, I picked up a scale winch, round light buckets, and new bed siding.  I'm slowly working on getting these upgrades added.  And yes the scale winch is functional.  One thing that is nice, I can connect it to the receiver and control it through the transmitter.  Once these are on, the truck will look better.

While on vacation recently, we went up to St. George and I brought along my Creeper and SCX10.  I got some more crawling video as usual.  but I tried a new shot with the SCX10.  Once I get the videos all edited, I'll get them posted up.

SCX10 Interior

I finally picked up an interior kit for my SCX10 Trail Honcho.  It is made by Dinky RC.  Putting it together was actually easy.  I had to do some trimming to get it to fit, but it works.  And some of the Axial scale interior accessories fit good too, but I had to do some modifications to get the steering wheel to fit.

Of course I have some figures that I wanted to use, and they just happen to be the right size to fit.

Now I just need to take it out for a drive and see if the passengers survive.

McRC Project 4WS part 2

Here is the progress so far:

I received in the final part for my 4WS conversion project: the aluminum servo mounts:

Now I get to have fun converting the rear axle for steering function.  Oh how I love to work on such small parts (too bad my hands disagree, and quite "loudly" at that).

Next item on the project check list was to test the electronics to verify they work.

The first nervous item is the brand new LiPo battery.  I got it setup to charge, and kept watch.  With the battery charging and using an extra receiver battery box, on/off switch, and 4 trusty AA alkaline batteries, I proceeded through the necessary steps to bind the receiver and transmitter.  Once I remembered to remove the bind plug, the Tx and Rx now had a solid relationship.  On to the server.  This was the easiest one by plugging it into the channel I want to use, turn on the gear, and move the stick.  Servo is ready for action.  Now on to the next nervous parts: ESC and motor.  I connected up the fully charged LiPo and followed the steps to setup the ESC for 2S LiPo.  A quick power cycle of the ESC and it was time to set it up for the radio. After following the setup steps, ESC is ready.  I turned off the ESC and connected the motor.  Now for the big moment.  I turned on the ESC, moved the stick for the channel I plugged it into, and...IT'S ALIVE!  All parts worked, and nothing smoked or overheated.

(just a little short video to show the success.)

Since the main electronics are working, it was time to install on the micro monster.  The old receiver/ESC was removed quite easily with a small standard screw driver.  With that out, it took me about an hour to figure out how to get the new receiver and ESC mounted.  This involved test fitting with the original body and actually trimming a now un-needed bit off the electronics mount, but I got them to fit though wire management might be an issue.

(rear servo in place only to help decide were to mount Rx and ESC.)

The current battery has also been removed.  I'm still deciding on where to mount the LiPo.

 

Next up is getting the new brushless motor in.  After that comes the rear axle conversion and rear servo mounting.

Once everything is in and working good, I'll get up a video that compares the old with the new.

McRC Project 4WS part 1

It's Summer time in Vegas.  And for me that means really hot days.  A little too hot to be going out with my R/C's during the Sun up hours.  So I have decided to freshen up my little rock crawler.  I have a new body on it, painted up with my own desert paint scheme.  The body is actually for another Losi Micro truck, the 1/36 Micro Desert Truck.  It actually fits on pretty good.  Better than trying to get a Micro-T body to fit.

Now how can I upgrade this little truck?  There really isn't much room to do anything on this micro monster.  After doing some looking around, I figured out how to setup the truck with 4WS.  I know some people look down on 4WS, but I'm an R/C basher and I enjoy this feature.  Unfortunately I only have 1 other truck with 4WS.

Making this have 4WS is a bit of a challenge, especially with the size.  The stock truck has a 2-in-1 ESC/Receiver unit.  That means there are no extra servo ports to add other functions and features.  So the first step is finding a new receiver and ESC that are small enough to fit.  Since I don't want the extra cost of a new radio (at least not for this project), I looked to Spektrum RC for the receiver.  I already have the DX6i radio.   Looking through their inventory, I was able to find a small receiver that should do the trick: AR6115e 6-Channel DSMX Microlite Receiver: End Pin.  It is actually listed as a Park Flyer model.  A check on the specs found that it should be small enough, it uses standard server connectors, and has an input voltage range of 3.5-9.6v.  The stock truck battery is 4.8v.  Perfect.

The ESC is next up.  So I started with Losi.  I knew they have a 1/36 brushless setup: 1/35-Scale Xcelorin sensorless combo.  A quick specs check, and the BEC output is 5V.  Definitely in the range of the Spektrum micro receiver.  I went with the lower KV rated motor combo.  My understanding is that the lower the KV rating of similar sized motors, the more torque you have.  While the higher the KV rating, the more speed you get.

With the receiver, ESC, and new motor (extra bonus), it was time to look into the actual steering of the rear wheels.  First on the list is getting the parts to make the rear wheels have the ability to turn.  After looking through the exploded parts diagram for the truck, I only needed a few extra parts: hardware set, front spindle and carrier, steering links, and servo mounts.  A lot better than having to buy all the parts for a new front axle.

To actually get the wheels turning, I would need a servo.  I already upgraded the front steering servo to one with more torque for the size.  I guess I could use that stock servo for the rear, but why have a truck with one good servo and one mediocre servo.  So I picked up another Hitec RCD HS-65MG servo.  Hitec RCD has been know for some good servos with high torque and decent life span.

After looking through all that was needed, I found that a better battery would probably be a good idea.  Losi also makes micro-sized LiPo batteries: LiPo Charger & Battery: Micro-T/B/DT.  This little power pack should provide enough power for the brushless motor and 2 servos.  After all this is a slow moving crawler.

With most of the parts received, the next phase of the project can begin.  I'm still waiting for some servo mounts to arrive.  I actually got upgraded mounts.

(Yes, I know the radio is way bigger than the truck)

Looking at the picture of parts reminds me of a movie scene from xXx.  The scene were Xander Cage asks his support guy to stuff a bunch of weapons into his GTO.  This ain't a GTO and I don't have weapons, but it sure feels like I'm stuffing a lot of extras into a little package.

Let the fun being!

A Crawler update

Since my last blog entry, I haven't gotten any pictures prepared from the park day, and I have not even touched the video footage.  I think that the prospect of trying to put a video together on my my iPhone using 2 video sources without any proper multi-camera usage is going to be a very long and difficult project to tackle.

But I do have a little bit of an update.  I was able to recently get a hold of another Pro-Line Racing Rockstar crawler body.

 

I tend to go more for the not-so-ordinary bodies when ever I can (which is why I wish they still made the Helios body).  And it ends up this was the last one in stock at the online shop I ordered from.  This Rockstar body is also discontinued.  Which is sad as this is a nice looking comp style body.  I think Pro-Line Racing just needs to rename it and re-release it.  The only modification I needed to do was to relocate the remote receiver box from where I mounted it originally.  Other than that, I just need to charge everything up and hit the rocks.  I may try to pick up a small light kit to use with this body.  Now I just need to find a nice quiet place to crawl around.

Park Day Nov 2012

Just a quick blurb.  On Monday 11-19-2012, I ventured to a local park with my SCX10.  Found a few good spots to crawl on.  I'll get some pictures posted later, and will be putting together a video on it too.

McRC Destruction

Well at least on video.  Here is the extra short: