Ha sanyone seen any packs with bullet connectors lately, other than Protek/Intellect?

LRP 4600 Lipo

Question for guys in England, is anyone besides Kamtec producing lexan bodies for the Tamiya Mini like Ford Anglia, Cortina, Escort etc...?

I'm looking to pick up one more Mini RC or a full 1/10. Not going to race it. Just like to build it and have fun.

So far I have:
HPI Cup racer (brushless + LiPO)
HPI Nitro mini (need to rebuild, not running)
Tamiya Super champ (my first one in '86)
Tamiya super buggy (similar to the champ, re-released in 2010)


How is the Tamiya Mini? Towerhobbies has a Tamiya M05 Mini (monte carlo). I'd need to buy ball bearings for it right? I have a radio (airtronics MX3), so I'd need only a receiver + battery. How is the included motor + ESC ?

thx :)

A M05 should include a brushed motor 27T (if remember correctly) and a ESC(does not have lipo cut off)

Interesting choice. Thanks, Cal.

The M05s come with a 540 silver can motor and the tek104(?) Esc, all you'd really need is the receiver and the battery. The berings option are a great place to start. Have fun its a lot of fun to drive!
Mike

Regarding the esc, I think it depends on the kit (how old / how long its been on the shelf, etc). I have a Mini Cooper Kit (58438) that came with TEU-104BK and my newest M05, the GoPro Monster S.S. Swift (58581) came with a TEU-105BK.

Some kits don't even have an ESC these days, so check with the retailer to see exactly what is included.

I probably screwed up the part number, if you noticed the (?) right after the
P/N so you're probably right
Either way all their kits come with the 540 Motor, Servo and a ESC but no receiver

The kit will likely come with either the teu104 or the more current teu105. Neither have an appropriate cutoff for lipo because Tamiya set the cut off for their own lifepo4 batteries, that they don't sell anywhere but Asia.

The motor will be either a Mabuchi or Johnson RS-540, sealed, 27 turn, silver can. Good solid motors.

There won't be a servo. Buy bearings! Cheap ones from Avid will do nicely.

The kit will likely come with either the teu104 or the more current teu105. Neither have an appropriate cutoff for lipo because Tamiya set the cut off for their own lifepo4 batteries, that they don't sell anywhere but Asia.

The motor will be either a Mabuchi or Johnson RS-540, sealed, 27 turn, silver can. Good solid motors.

There won't be a servo. Buy bearings! Cheap ones from Avid will do nicely.

Finally dusted off the mini and installed a brushless system, looking forward to seeing the Tamiya Track mini crew again in the near future... please be gentle ;)

Granpa and Rod C - thanks for the directives!

There was quite a discussion here and the Tamiya thread a few weeks ago regarding the switch to 21.5 B/L motors for TCS racing. The consensus seemed to be that the 21.5 motors were slower than the Silvercans. At least in pure numbers in the responses.

Another consensus opinion seemed to be that the switch to B/L was going to level the playing field, simplify things, and eliminate the "voodoo" in the motor segment of Mini racing. "Voodoo" is the polite way of saying "cheating".

I didn't comment much, cause we, the Mini Mafia, hadn't done much testing. Since then, testing has been done on several, more than 5, different brands of motors including some "tuning" rotors. The testing included a few prototypes from another manufacturer, which I may post a bit later, cause I was involved in some of the testing.

The end result of my initial forays into the world of B/L motors have led me to arrive at certain conclusions. The first of these is that the 21.5 B/L motor is faster in a Mini than a TCS legal Silvercan. The equivalent Silvercan is a 15K Red Dot or one that turns 21-22k at 7.2v. The 21.5 has to be set at the correct degrees of advance which was interesting also. There was one motor that was as quick at 30 as it was at 50. Also there were some variations in speed from brand to brand.

B/L compared to the Silvercan is complicated. There are many more areas for voodoo than ever existed for the Silvercan. One of the reasons the TCS "folks" went to B/L was to simplify tech for the Mini class. This is really misguided cause in B/L you have to disassemble the motor to catch the voodoo. How this is easier than before is crazy. There is something else they did not consider. There are any number of guys who know how to "tweak" a B/L motor. There are only a handful of guys who really know what to do with a Silvercan.

Another consensus opinion was that converting to B/L was going to be inexpensive. Let's see how that worked out. $ 90 for the esc. Bought one motor for $90, then a tuning rotor for $35. Was not very quick so, bought another motor for $85 and then a rotor for $45. That wasn't very good so reclaimed an older 21.5 which had cost me $90 when purchased over a year ago. That ones not too bad, but is no longer made. Since then, I've acquired 2 more motors cause they were faster than what I had. So much for inexpensive. And there are some who've spent a lot more.

Hate to be contrary, (not really) but as far as cost goes, it's entirely Tamiya's deal. They decided to allow timed motors and tuning parts from a variety of manufacturers. If they'd simply decided on a fixed timing, non-sensored, cheap as chips BL system, most of the arguments against going BL would be eliminated. I don't understand what sort of commercial partnerships Tamiya has, but I'm guessing they're the cause of a lot of this.

There are plenty of motor/ESC systems available for under $100 that last for years and are as easily teched as a silver can. See how fast they spin. I sympathize with TCS racers; Tamiya's decision is leaving everyone in the same leaky boat they were before and added a few holes for good measure.

In short, the problem isn't brushless motors, it's which brushless motors.