CSO-1 1/10 190mm Touring
06-10-2013, 07:26 PM
#151
Here is the MRH website (its being worked on)
http://middleriverhobbies.com/
He is easier to contact via e-mail or even on facebook. I'm local to MRH and Gordon is a top notch guy and store owner. Makes sure he has everything you need or want, and if its not there he'll get it. He definitely goes above and beyond to make the customer happy run a awesome shop and track. Several locals are very happy with their CSO cars, I've been looking at them closely. Nice quality from what I've seen.
http://middleriverhobbies.com/
He is easier to contact via e-mail or even on facebook. I'm local to MRH and Gordon is a top notch guy and store owner. Makes sure he has everything you need or want, and if its not there he'll get it. He definitely goes above and beyond to make the customer happy run a awesome shop and track. Several locals are very happy with their CSO cars, I've been looking at them closely. Nice quality from what I've seen.
06-11-2013, 12:23 PM
#152
My car was ordered from RC Market on June 6th and shipped via EMS (it was around $70 shipping on ~$650 order). The car arrived yesterday June 10th in Texas. I needed to make an adjustment to my order after I had placed it and sent an e-mail. The change was made without a delay, and i received a response that the change was done.
Here are my initial observations and impressions on the car. I've built maybe 15 Xray kits since the FK05 as well as Sakuras, Tamiyas, Corallys, TC5's and TC6's. This kit is for my dad who is a rookie to run in VTA.
The packaging was not pretty, but certainly adequate and didn't raise any concerns to me.
There 's really no order to my comments as I am listing them as I remember them.
First of all this car is an exact copy of the T4 geometry wise. A cheap rip-off. The bulkheads, diffs, belts, top deck, towers, and suspension pieces all are interchangeable.
The plastic is much softer and more flexible than Xrays and the tolerances aren't great.
When building the gear diff I built it dry and found interference, so I removed the 4 small internal shims and built it with the factory oil (when I measured them they were .3 mm compared to .2 mm on an Xray diff. I didn't try the diff with the Xray shims). It now turns smooth, but I had a difficult time getting the case closed while not stripping the case. It also began leaking with blips of the throttle once all was assembled. It was nice that they included steel outdrives. The blades had to be sanded just a bit to get them to slide smoothly in the outdrives. The bearing eccentrics were snug fitting into the bulkheads, but do not appear to bind. Basic caliper measurements show none of the 4 holes in the diff caps line up with the Xray holes.I found that the 2nd longest holes were only about 1 mm off from the Xray middle hole. Its almost too small to read but when the yellow insert sheet calls for .5 mm shims it also says not included, and sometimes should say 1 mm when it says .5 mm. Best bet is to build it like a T4 and watch for binding. In particular I took a dremel to the long ball studs that go into the front and rear hubs to keep them from touching the axles. I think the wheelbase shims were listed wrong as well. They should be just like the Xray. The axles are preassembled, but need to be lubed. There is also a substantial amount of play in and out with the axles in the front and rear hubs. I added a .2 mm shim between the axle and inner bearing on the rear. I haven't added any to the front yet but it feels as though it could use up to .5 mm. If using VTA wheels, the fronts will rub on the 3 hole knuckles. I added RSD's largest axle spacer to each side as a stop gap, but would rather just use Xray's 2 hole knuckle. There was some minor binding in the arms front and rear. Loosening the arm mounts and pulling them apart rectified the bind. The car comes standard with 3* rear toe. The optional mounts are confusing and I haven't quite sorted out what they accomplish. The package says +3 mm but the actual mount says 3*, so its confusing at best. The swaybar mounts are not molded well and allow the bars to move fore-aft even once adjusted properly up-down. The hardware was excellent except for some of the lesss common screws. reminded me of the TOP screws. All of the 3x6 FH and BH screws were solid and sat flush below the chassis. The front bumper standoffs are made of aluminum. The bumper assembly is form a T3, not the T4. The hex clamps are not actually clamps; they are solid hexes with a hole drilled and tapped for a set screw that rests flush with one side of the hex when installed. The axles are 51 mm fronts and 50 mm rears, and do not use a narrow inner hub bearing. The motor mount, forward center mount tab, and motor side layshaft mount are all one piece, and the motor mount includes a third motor mount hole to make some spur/pinion combinations easier to use. The top deck is a little different, and the hole on the bottom of the chassis is useless, so pinion set screw access is very tricky. The servo mount attaches with three screws and includes a lipo battery locator/stop and an antenna mount. I installed a Futaba 9550 servo and used ~3.5 mm of shims to space the servo forward. There is a steel strip that attaches with 2 screws to the center of the chassis to keep the battery off of the belt, and CF and Al lipo brackets. The shocks were the lowest quality items of the kit for me. The bodies are not large enough to allow the pistons to move smoothly in them. It is not the pistons, as I tried Xray pistons as well and they didn't fit either. I chucked up the shaft and piston in a dremel and hit it lightly on sand paper until it was smooth in the body. A couple of the shock caps were not machined smoothly internally and I had to dremel the upper eyelet to get it to insert fully into the upper cap. Just sitting on my pit table for a few hours I found the shocks were leaking form the bottom as well. I am hoping that I can swell the o-ring in the bottom to get this to seal tighter.
Overall I can't say I'm terribly impressed, although I knew not to expect the highest quality. The items are not accurate enough in the precision areas to work properly without some modification. If you've built and raced kits for a while you will surely find lots to gripe about, but may also know how to fix the issues. If this is your first kit you might not notice problems, but I wouldn't recommend this kit as it will require some thoughtful adjustments for it to work properly.
Sorry this was so stream of consciousness. I hope none of my observations offended anyone. I am just hoping to offer an objective perspective.
Here are my initial observations and impressions on the car. I've built maybe 15 Xray kits since the FK05 as well as Sakuras, Tamiyas, Corallys, TC5's and TC6's. This kit is for my dad who is a rookie to run in VTA.
The packaging was not pretty, but certainly adequate and didn't raise any concerns to me.
There 's really no order to my comments as I am listing them as I remember them.
First of all this car is an exact copy of the T4 geometry wise. A cheap rip-off. The bulkheads, diffs, belts, top deck, towers, and suspension pieces all are interchangeable.
The plastic is much softer and more flexible than Xrays and the tolerances aren't great.
When building the gear diff I built it dry and found interference, so I removed the 4 small internal shims and built it with the factory oil (when I measured them they were .3 mm compared to .2 mm on an Xray diff. I didn't try the diff with the Xray shims). It now turns smooth, but I had a difficult time getting the case closed while not stripping the case. It also began leaking with blips of the throttle once all was assembled. It was nice that they included steel outdrives. The blades had to be sanded just a bit to get them to slide smoothly in the outdrives. The bearing eccentrics were snug fitting into the bulkheads, but do not appear to bind. Basic caliper measurements show none of the 4 holes in the diff caps line up with the Xray holes.I found that the 2nd longest holes were only about 1 mm off from the Xray middle hole. Its almost too small to read but when the yellow insert sheet calls for .5 mm shims it also says not included, and sometimes should say 1 mm when it says .5 mm. Best bet is to build it like a T4 and watch for binding. In particular I took a dremel to the long ball studs that go into the front and rear hubs to keep them from touching the axles. I think the wheelbase shims were listed wrong as well. They should be just like the Xray. The axles are preassembled, but need to be lubed. There is also a substantial amount of play in and out with the axles in the front and rear hubs. I added a .2 mm shim between the axle and inner bearing on the rear. I haven't added any to the front yet but it feels as though it could use up to .5 mm. If using VTA wheels, the fronts will rub on the 3 hole knuckles. I added RSD's largest axle spacer to each side as a stop gap, but would rather just use Xray's 2 hole knuckle. There was some minor binding in the arms front and rear. Loosening the arm mounts and pulling them apart rectified the bind. The car comes standard with 3* rear toe. The optional mounts are confusing and I haven't quite sorted out what they accomplish. The package says +3 mm but the actual mount says 3*, so its confusing at best. The swaybar mounts are not molded well and allow the bars to move fore-aft even once adjusted properly up-down. The hardware was excellent except for some of the lesss common screws. reminded me of the TOP screws. All of the 3x6 FH and BH screws were solid and sat flush below the chassis. The front bumper standoffs are made of aluminum. The bumper assembly is form a T3, not the T4. The hex clamps are not actually clamps; they are solid hexes with a hole drilled and tapped for a set screw that rests flush with one side of the hex when installed. The axles are 51 mm fronts and 50 mm rears, and do not use a narrow inner hub bearing. The motor mount, forward center mount tab, and motor side layshaft mount are all one piece, and the motor mount includes a third motor mount hole to make some spur/pinion combinations easier to use. The top deck is a little different, and the hole on the bottom of the chassis is useless, so pinion set screw access is very tricky. The servo mount attaches with three screws and includes a lipo battery locator/stop and an antenna mount. I installed a Futaba 9550 servo and used ~3.5 mm of shims to space the servo forward. There is a steel strip that attaches with 2 screws to the center of the chassis to keep the battery off of the belt, and CF and Al lipo brackets. The shocks were the lowest quality items of the kit for me. The bodies are not large enough to allow the pistons to move smoothly in them. It is not the pistons, as I tried Xray pistons as well and they didn't fit either. I chucked up the shaft and piston in a dremel and hit it lightly on sand paper until it was smooth in the body. A couple of the shock caps were not machined smoothly internally and I had to dremel the upper eyelet to get it to insert fully into the upper cap. Just sitting on my pit table for a few hours I found the shocks were leaking form the bottom as well. I am hoping that I can swell the o-ring in the bottom to get this to seal tighter.
Overall I can't say I'm terribly impressed, although I knew not to expect the highest quality. The items are not accurate enough in the precision areas to work properly without some modification. If you've built and raced kits for a while you will surely find lots to gripe about, but may also know how to fix the issues. If this is your first kit you might not notice problems, but I wouldn't recommend this kit as it will require some thoughtful adjustments for it to work properly.
Sorry this was so stream of consciousness. I hope none of my observations offended anyone. I am just hoping to offer an objective perspective.
06-11-2013, 02:55 PM
#153
My car was ordered from RC Market on June 6th and shipped via EMS (it was around $70 shipping on ~$650 order). The car arrived yesterday June 10th in Texas. I needed to make an adjustment to my order after I had placed it and sent an e-mail. The change was made without a delay, and i received a response that the change was done.
Here are my initial observations and impressions on the car. I've built maybe 15 Xray kits since the FK05 as well as Sakuras, Tamiyas, Corallys, TC5's and TC6's. This kit is for my dad who is a rookie to run in VTA.
The packaging was not pretty, but certainly adequate and didn't raise any concerns to me.
There 's really no order to my comments as I am listing them as I remember them.
First of all this car is an exact copy of the T4 geometry wise. A cheap rip-off. The bulkheads, diffs, belts, top deck, towers, and suspension pieces all are interchangeable.
The plastic is much softer and more flexible than Xrays and the tolerances aren't great.
When building the gear diff I built it dry and found interference, so I removed the 4 small internal shims and built it with the factory oil (when I measured them they were .3 mm compared to .2 mm on an Xray diff. I didn't try the diff with the Xray shims). It now turns smooth, but I had a difficult time getting the case closed while not stripping the case. It also began leaking with blips of the throttle once all was assembled. It was nice that they included steel outdrives. The blades had to be sanded just a bit to get them to slide smoothly in the outdrives. The bearing eccentrics were snug fitting into the bulkheads, but do not appear to bind. Basic caliper measurements show none of the 4 holes in the diff caps line up with the Xray holes.I found that the 2nd longest holes were only about 1 mm off from the Xray middle hole. Its almost too small to read but when the yellow insert sheet calls for .5 mm shims it also says not included, and sometimes should say 1 mm when it says .5 mm. Best bet is to build it like a T4 and watch for binding. In particular I took a dremel to the long ball studs that go into the front and rear hubs to keep them from touching the axles. I think the wheelbase shims were listed wrong as well. They should be just like the Xray. The axles are preassembled, but need to be lubed. There is also a substantial amount of play in and out with the axles in the front and rear hubs. I added a .2 mm shim between the axle and inner bearing on the rear. I haven't added any to the front yet but it feels as though it could use up to .5 mm. If using VTA wheels, the fronts will rub on the 3 hole knuckles. I added RSD's largest axle spacer to each side as a stop gap, but would rather just use Xray's 2 hole knuckle. There was some minor binding in the arms front and rear. Loosening the arm mounts and pulling them apart rectified the bind. The car comes standard with 3* rear toe. The optional mounts are confusing and I haven't quite sorted out what they accomplish. The package says +3 mm but the actual mount says 3*, so its confusing at best. The swaybar mounts are not molded well and allow the bars to move fore-aft even once adjusted properly up-down. The hardware was excellent except for some of the lesss common screws. reminded me of the TOP screws. All of the 3x6 FH and BH screws were solid and sat flush below the chassis. The front bumper standoffs are made of aluminum. The bumper assembly is form a T3, not the T4. The hex clamps are not actually clamps; they are solid hexes with a hole drilled and tapped for a set screw that rests flush with one side of the hex when installed. The axles are 51 mm fronts and 50 mm rears, and do not use a narrow inner hub bearing. The motor mount, forward center mount tab, and motor side layshaft mount are all one piece, and the motor mount includes a third motor mount hole to make some spur/pinion combinations easier to use. The top deck is a little different, and the hole on the bottom of the chassis is useless, so pinion set screw access is very tricky. The servo mount attaches with three screws and includes a lipo battery locator/stop and an antenna mount. I installed a Futaba 9550 servo and used ~3.5 mm of shims to space the servo forward. There is a steel strip that attaches with 2 screws to the center of the chassis to keep the battery off of the belt, and CF and Al lipo brackets. The shocks were the lowest quality items of the kit for me. The bodies are not large enough to allow the pistons to move smoothly in them. It is not the pistons, as I tried Xray pistons as well and they didn't fit either. I chucked up the shaft and piston in a dremel and hit it lightly on sand paper until it was smooth in the body. A couple of the shock caps were not machined smoothly internally and I had to dremel the upper eyelet to get it to insert fully into the upper cap. Just sitting on my pit table for a few hours I found the shocks were leaking form the bottom as well. I am hoping that I can swell the o-ring in the bottom to get this to seal tighter.
Overall I can't say I'm terribly impressed, although I knew not to expect the highest quality. The items are not accurate enough in the precision areas to work properly without some modification. If you've built and raced kits for a while you will surely find lots to gripe about, but may also know how to fix the issues. If this is your first kit you might not notice problems, but I wouldn't recommend this kit as it will require some thoughtful adjustments for it to work properly.
Sorry this was so stream of consciousness. I hope none of my observations offended anyone. I am just hoping to offer an objective perspective.
Here are my initial observations and impressions on the car. I've built maybe 15 Xray kits since the FK05 as well as Sakuras, Tamiyas, Corallys, TC5's and TC6's. This kit is for my dad who is a rookie to run in VTA.
The packaging was not pretty, but certainly adequate and didn't raise any concerns to me.
There 's really no order to my comments as I am listing them as I remember them.
First of all this car is an exact copy of the T4 geometry wise. A cheap rip-off. The bulkheads, diffs, belts, top deck, towers, and suspension pieces all are interchangeable.
The plastic is much softer and more flexible than Xrays and the tolerances aren't great.
When building the gear diff I built it dry and found interference, so I removed the 4 small internal shims and built it with the factory oil (when I measured them they were .3 mm compared to .2 mm on an Xray diff. I didn't try the diff with the Xray shims). It now turns smooth, but I had a difficult time getting the case closed while not stripping the case. It also began leaking with blips of the throttle once all was assembled. It was nice that they included steel outdrives. The blades had to be sanded just a bit to get them to slide smoothly in the outdrives. The bearing eccentrics were snug fitting into the bulkheads, but do not appear to bind. Basic caliper measurements show none of the 4 holes in the diff caps line up with the Xray holes.I found that the 2nd longest holes were only about 1 mm off from the Xray middle hole. Its almost too small to read but when the yellow insert sheet calls for .5 mm shims it also says not included, and sometimes should say 1 mm when it says .5 mm. Best bet is to build it like a T4 and watch for binding. In particular I took a dremel to the long ball studs that go into the front and rear hubs to keep them from touching the axles. I think the wheelbase shims were listed wrong as well. They should be just like the Xray. The axles are preassembled, but need to be lubed. There is also a substantial amount of play in and out with the axles in the front and rear hubs. I added a .2 mm shim between the axle and inner bearing on the rear. I haven't added any to the front yet but it feels as though it could use up to .5 mm. If using VTA wheels, the fronts will rub on the 3 hole knuckles. I added RSD's largest axle spacer to each side as a stop gap, but would rather just use Xray's 2 hole knuckle. There was some minor binding in the arms front and rear. Loosening the arm mounts and pulling them apart rectified the bind. The car comes standard with 3* rear toe. The optional mounts are confusing and I haven't quite sorted out what they accomplish. The package says +3 mm but the actual mount says 3*, so its confusing at best. The swaybar mounts are not molded well and allow the bars to move fore-aft even once adjusted properly up-down. The hardware was excellent except for some of the lesss common screws. reminded me of the TOP screws. All of the 3x6 FH and BH screws were solid and sat flush below the chassis. The front bumper standoffs are made of aluminum. The bumper assembly is form a T3, not the T4. The hex clamps are not actually clamps; they are solid hexes with a hole drilled and tapped for a set screw that rests flush with one side of the hex when installed. The axles are 51 mm fronts and 50 mm rears, and do not use a narrow inner hub bearing. The motor mount, forward center mount tab, and motor side layshaft mount are all one piece, and the motor mount includes a third motor mount hole to make some spur/pinion combinations easier to use. The top deck is a little different, and the hole on the bottom of the chassis is useless, so pinion set screw access is very tricky. The servo mount attaches with three screws and includes a lipo battery locator/stop and an antenna mount. I installed a Futaba 9550 servo and used ~3.5 mm of shims to space the servo forward. There is a steel strip that attaches with 2 screws to the center of the chassis to keep the battery off of the belt, and CF and Al lipo brackets. The shocks were the lowest quality items of the kit for me. The bodies are not large enough to allow the pistons to move smoothly in them. It is not the pistons, as I tried Xray pistons as well and they didn't fit either. I chucked up the shaft and piston in a dremel and hit it lightly on sand paper until it was smooth in the body. A couple of the shock caps were not machined smoothly internally and I had to dremel the upper eyelet to get it to insert fully into the upper cap. Just sitting on my pit table for a few hours I found the shocks were leaking form the bottom as well. I am hoping that I can swell the o-ring in the bottom to get this to seal tighter.
Overall I can't say I'm terribly impressed, although I knew not to expect the highest quality. The items are not accurate enough in the precision areas to work properly without some modification. If you've built and raced kits for a while you will surely find lots to gripe about, but may also know how to fix the issues. If this is your first kit you might not notice problems, but I wouldn't recommend this kit as it will require some thoughtful adjustments for it to work properly.
Sorry this was so stream of consciousness. I hope none of my observations offended anyone. I am just hoping to offer an objective perspective.
yes the rear arms were a little tight but a bit of sandpaper took care of this very easily.
I found the shocks almost the best part and mine went together perfectly with no leaks anywhere...thinking back i think i had to put my pistons in a drill to take a bit off them but its super easy to do to get them not to bind but would rather have them this way than have them sloppy from the start.
yes the axles needed shimming on the outside but also did the xray t3 when i built it and i use nitro clutch shims to do it and tightens them up nicely.
also using the taller shims on the rear hubs my axles dont rub either..sorry can t remember what size they were now but if you use thinner shims yes you will need to reduce the length of the ball stud threads.
not sure why they made 3x holes in front hub arms but you could easily dremel one of the holes out for more clearance if its an issue but wont be an issue if you use the car like it was intended.
I found it no more difficult to build than the xray to be honest and not a bad effort for a first kit(excluding the instructions which are crap and confusing)
how about hilighting the fact it comes with 2x alloy servo horns, all alloy big bore shocks, alloy front bumper posts, loads of alloy shims,all alloy steering setup, bla bla.
06-12-2013, 05:00 PM
#154
I enjoy my CSO there were a few things that I did not like but I quickly changed them (hub strength, belts,and leaky gear diff) but other than that the car is awesome its smooth its fast and handles great. To prove that all xray parts fit my CSO has stay arms,castor blocks,belts,front spool,hudy ecs's,and swiss rear axles.I must say the car really impressed me and its a great bang for your buck
06-12-2013, 05:00 PM
#155
I enjoy my CSO there were a few things that I did not like but I quickly changed them (hub strength, belts,and leaky gear diff) but other than that the car is awesome its smooth its fast and handles great. To prove that all xray parts fit my CSO has stay arms,castor blocks,belts,front spool,hudy ecs's,and swiss rear axles.I must say the car really impressed me and its a great bang for your buck.
06-17-2013, 04:20 AM
#156
Just built 2 cso, car is basically an exact copy of the t4 but at under the 300 mark it is the best bang for your buck tc, yes all t4 parts fit so there should be no worries about part support. Super easy build jus get an arm reamer and an extra pack of 1mm shims
06-17-2013, 04:23 AM
#157
Here is the MRH website (its being worked on)
http://middleriverhobbies.com/
He is easier to contact via e-mail or even on facebook. I'm local to MRH and Gordon is a top notch guy and store owner. Makes sure he has everything you need or want, and if its not there he'll get it. He definitely goes above and beyond to make the customer happy run a awesome shop and track. Several locals are very happy with their CSO cars, I've been looking at them closely. Nice quality from what I've seen.
http://middleriverhobbies.com/
He is easier to contact via e-mail or even on facebook. I'm local to MRH and Gordon is a top notch guy and store owner. Makes sure he has everything you need or want, and if its not there he'll get it. He definitely goes above and beyond to make the customer happy run a awesome shop and track. Several locals are very happy with their CSO cars, I've been looking at them closely. Nice quality from what I've seen.
06-20-2013, 12:39 AM
#158
Purple Color Limited Edition arrived !!
06-22-2013, 09:52 PM
#161
Great debut for the CSO ONE today in stock(21.5 turbo).
It ran flawless all day under extremley testing conditions as very cold and windy.
It ran flawless all day under extremley testing conditions as very cold and windy.
07-02-2013, 10:18 AM
#162
I have not been kind to this car in this thread but I will say good job releasing it in a different colour (not saying I like purple). One thing that really bothers me about most car kits is the lack of choice from manufactures... the Ford Model T that you can have it in any colour as long its black idea died a long time and so did brand identity in the R/C world. If I'm spending hundreds of dollars (whether it's $300 or $700) on a new toy it better freak'n come in a colour that I can live with. Just offering 2 or 3 choices would be a big improvment for any manufacture (why we only buy an XRAY T4 in goldish orange is just weak - at least give consumers the Ford Moldel Tee option)
07-02-2013, 03:43 PM
#163
I have not been kind to this car in this thread but I will say good job releasing it in a different colour (not saying I like purple). One thing that really bothers me about most car kits is the lack of choice from manufactures... the Ford Model T that you can have it in any colour as long its black idea died a long time and so did brand identity in the R/C world. If I'm spending hundreds of dollars (whether it's $300 or $700) on a new toy it better freak'n come in a colour that I can live with. Just offering 2 or 3 choices would be a big improvment for any manufacture (why we only buy an XRAY T4 in goldish orange is just weak - at least give consumers the Ford Moldel Tee option)
I guess companies are identified by the colour of there kits..tamiya bright blue, associated light blue, xray orangee gold, hpi the purple, kyosho poo brown , etc...i like the pale gold of the cso and wouldnt buy the purple but yeah would be nice to get a choice of colours but cant see it happening with the big manufacturers.
07-02-2013, 11:16 PM
#164
07-02-2013, 11:52 PM
#165
So I wonder if you could buy the CSO chassis and suspension mounts and swap it over on a T4. Only skeptical about the CSO CF quality though...