Firstly, I declare my M8ight as an On-Road Poseur which will likely not see any dirt. I may do it if I have the chance to see Chris @ NorCal Hobbies someday. I bought it because I wanted to focus my attention away from Pocket Legends and needed a new rig to pick my brain on. Plus I have a soft spot for buggies like Tamiya Boomerang, Avante, Egress & Terra Scorcher. This M8ight reminds me of those toys that I could only drool at but no means to buy when I was younger.
To the uncle and cousin that would not let me touch their RC
To those that do not see the point of an On-Road M8ight, it is due to the time when my co-workers and I get to race our RC (after 2am) and the nearest RC track is a good 30mins drive with a $6 bridge toll. Plus...RC on a weekends is not an option with family. Therefore for those that do not see eye to eye why the hell my M8ight is an On-Road poseur, move along...we're a bunch of mature adults aren't we?
- Info on the part installed, specs, price and if possible a link to where it can be purchased.
Motor: Hobby King KDA 28-47 9T 4300kv brushless motor. Direct drop in replacement for the 1/16 Mini Traxxas Velineon.
ESC: S&T Quark Roadster 65A. Kindda hard to find nowadays. Leftover ESC that failed on the Merv Big Block journey.
Other: KO-Propo 2.4GHz radio/receiver, Hitec
HS-5245MG,
HobbyWing 3A UBEC with jumper set to 5V.
- Info on the set up and where & how you drive with it. Like pinion, track surface, racing or bashing or speed. if your running for some top speeds, the speeds you hit if you got them would be great, and required for confirming as the fastest.
Bash/race Surface: Outdoor highbite smooth asphalt parking lot when not raining, or sheltered low traction smooth concrete parking lot when raining.
Pinion/Spur, Speed: Running 3s, geared 18/58. 80% throttle EPA when using Duratrax Mini-Quake Vee tyres, 90% throttle EPA when using regular TC tyre/wheel combo & 100 throttle EPA when using TC Foams (28mm wide Front, 31mm wide Rear). Speed, nothing concrete to shout for. Slightly slower than a Merv running 3s using Neu 1112-1Y (3500kv) geared 33/45 on 26mm HPI Belted X-pattern tyres on TC wheels.
Setup: HR Composite Top Deck & Rear Tower, MIT Composite Front Tower. Shock caps mounted on lowest holes available on both towers, shock bottom ends mounted at furthest outboard holes on arms with 8 turns front spring, 4 turns rear spring. Stock oil weigh from Losi. Ride height adjusted where front dog bones are levelled & rear arms are levelled. Suspension hinges mounts are stock plastic ones during last run with factory set anti-dive, anti-squat and rear toe. Front toe-out roughly 2° with neutral camber and a mild negative camber at the rear, set in such a way when rear end is totally lifted and shocks at full extension, rear wheels have neutral camber.
- Temp readings, what are your temps after running, I guess a 4th pack temp check for set ups posted to get a little bit of better reading.
Temps: Around 112°F ESC & 140°F motor after a full pack on Zippy 2200Mah 20C 3s cell, running the Mini-Quake Vee tyres @ 80% throttle EPA. Method of running is 5 laps with an interval of 5 seconds for fun, laughter & bragging rights.
- Your experience, your impressions and what you think the good and bad points are.
Experience, Impressions: After meddling around with a CM2646, it was finally decided a bigger motor is required if I need to get the M8ight to keep up with the Neu/TC Merv. I am impressed with the heat reliability, and it seems like the 28mm (even a cheap one) is more than capable for light rig like the M8ight. I am looking forward to testing out more 28mm motors if possible and update if a super star happens to shine thru. Though presently the M8ight is a little bit slower than the Neu/TC Merv, it outhandles the Merv in tight sections EASILY with stock plastic suspension mounts, however it does get twitchy when on throttle, and understeers very bad when off throttle. I have to change the way I normally control my Merv, and need to "trail-brake" the M8ight into turns. The twitchiness on high speed was easily corrected with a mellow hand-eye co-ordination adjustment (read Human
). On low-traction surface, this M8ight is a star, for it would slide predictably and constantly like a Rally car, and steering is achieved with throttle and counter steering inputs. Very fun way to control an RC! Plus traditional suspensions setup are better than the Merv suspensions setup. It might be also due to the constant leaky GTR shocks on the Merv.
Untested upgrades:
Just installed aluminium suspension mounts. Since this is my very first buggy, my setup bible is definately
Squirrel's RC Setup Guide 1-21. So far I decided since my M8ight is an onroad poseur, I went for Max Anti-dive 3°, Max Anti-squat 3° and Min Toe 1°. The front toe and all wheels' camber remain the same. I noticed I'm getting much much better steering off the throttle. I will update when I get to race the Merv again in a week & 1/2 time as I'm currently on assignment. Driving the M8ight myself without going head to head with the Neu/TC Merv holds no value for comparison.
Received HR sway bars set, but plan to install after a conclusion from the newly installed Alu suspension mounts.
Good: Great speed on 3s with reliable heat management. 3.17mm or 1/8" motor shaft shouts reliability over stock motor at 2mm. Novak Mod 0.5 Alu pinions available in 11~13T, 14~16T & 17~19T for the 3.17mm shaft. Hyperion pinions available separately from 11T up to 16T.
Novak 11~13T Mod 0.5
Novak 14~16T Mod 0.5
Novak 17~19T Mod 0.5
Hyperion Mod 0.5 Pinions, please scroll down because they are available in 2.3mm or 3.2mm bore sizes.
*Disclaimer: I'm not responsible if you click & ordered the wrong one
Bad:
DREMEL & modifications needed. Needs to grind chassis where motor sits. It is obstructed in such a way that the motor shaft is not parallel to the spur. Can be easily noticed by the amount of force needed to slide the motor onto the mount, and when meshing the pinion/spur. I had to cut the chassis where it meets the bottom of the motor. They still touches but it is so much easily to slide the motor in/out and the pinion/spur meshed parallel. Seems like with a 58T spur, my gearing is probably now limited to 17~19T pinions due limited meshing distance. This means the motor has to be around 4000~5000kv range for my application.
Top deck has to be shaved off where the top of the 28mm motor meets with the deck. Yeah, it hurts my heart that I need to start cutting the HR composite that I had for less than 2 weeks, but the urge to run the 28mm Big Block (not right? 24mm motor ----> 28mm motor!!!) soldiered me on.
Space...it is very cramp for the rest of the electronics. Body mounts were raised by the height of a Merv's rod end hollow balls and as usual, you need longer screws and stuffs if you plan to go this route.
Weight...a fellow owner says his Velineon equipped M8ight has a tendency for the 3mm motor mount screws to back off after some track sessions. Extra washers and loctite solved his problems. Since the smooth surface I run the M8ight on is not as demanding as an off-road track, I just added extra washers and loctite per his advise, all good.
*Credit to basshwg. The 28mm KDA motor weighs 135g from the specs online, but I yet to weigh it personally on my digital scale. This KDA motor is currently not in stock but the 4900kv is. Tacon has an exact same motor
2848-4300kv in stock, better priced & ships cheaper within USA.
I will update as I run this kit more and more, or add new variables to it. Cheers!
