Australian RC Forums banner

Sandman's Fleet

33K views 199 replies 34 participants last post by  Sandman77 
#1 · (Edited)
Well I thought I'd start a thread for my collection of vehicles, so here goes. In Order of purchase.

Duratrax Evader BX - July 2007
Traxxas Slash - December 2009
CEN Sp1 - January 2011
Micro Twister Pro - July 2011
Traxxas E Revo - December 2011
Kyosho Mini Inferno - December 2011

Spektrum DX3S

More to come
 
#175 ·
Thought Id update this for what its worth, not on here much these days but still drop in occasionally. Been moving all my junk from the garage to a new shed thats just been finished. Had nearly forgotten how much rc gear I had. Its all still here but hasnt been used in a few years, between work, uni and playing with full sized cars. Hopefully when I discover this spare time thing I'll be able to start using it all again, kinda miss it and have been looking at truggies again haha.
 
#177 ·
Yeah hoping to drop by EMCC some day and have a chat, a drive and possibly bring the camera too. New shed is mainly for working on cars but will have room to organise my rc gear properly too. This is the shed before I srarted filling it with junk
 
#180 ·
Soooo its been a long time since I updated this thread, but recently been looking at RC stuff again so thought it was time for an update. I don't know how many people still read this, but one day I hope things lean back towards forums rather than Facebook groups which are totally useless for information and learning anything. Still have all the old gear though most of it hasn't been used in the last 10 years now so most of the lipos have swelled and are stuffed, but anyway.. Finally found my Venom procharger which I haven't seen since 2014 or so, other than lack of time not knowing where this is was a major reason behind stuff not getting used. That said I have since bought a Turnigy 200w charger and parallel board for what batteries I do have left.

So recently I've bought a couple of new items, starting with a DJI Mavic mini drone. Was a marketplace find for $300 and came with a second partially working one which was attacked by a bird. Was a cheap sorta deal and for me a good way to see if I got the use/enjoymemnt out of it before I bought something newer or nicer. So far its been great fun, I haven't got a photo of it but here some footage I've taken with it. Having always done photography in some way shape or form its been a handy tool to muck around with.




Then browsing marketplace as I do I found a ripper deal on a Losi 8T 3.0 Brushless Truggy, had only 2 packs put through it and complete bar radio gear which is easy for $500, couldn't help myself and jumped on it. I haven't touched it since I bought it home, but I have a Castle external BEC and a receiver for it now, so just needs a battery and it'll be good to go. For memory its a castle MMM & 2200kv combo. so very happy with how its gone so far.



Then going back in time I bought a Schumacher MI1 TC roller to setup as a drift car as a bit of a project in 2020 (I think) in the lockdowns, got a good deal again on marketplace and the plan was (and still is) to make in to a replica of my actual drift car a R33 Skyline. I haven't done a lot for this but I do have a Turnigy 10.5t brushless motor and ESC combo, which is probably bit quick actually. I also found a suitable R33 GTR body to suit, which is still partially trimmed and still unpainted and I still need to sort batteries and battery tie downs. I'll get there eventually. I took these photos tonight, it nearly has as much dust on it as some of my full sized cars





In the meantime I've spent most of the last 10 years playing with full sized cars. This is the fleet currently, they don't all currently run sadly but lack of time, money, etc gets in the way as it does.
VZ Maloo R8 - Daily Driver

89 Ford F150

R33 Skyline - Dedicated track car setup for drifting

1973 HQ Ute

1980 VC Commodore
 
#181 ·
In this weeks edition of dumb things I've bought, I found a Tamiya TA-05 VDF2 on markplace for a good deal, complete minus radio gear and a servo. So the plan is to use this as the drift Chassis and leave the MI1 I alread have as a circuit/grip setup as it was when I bought it. Already ordered a receiver for this so a body and a battery and it'll be running.

 
#182 ·
Made the most of some days off this week and went down to KM Reedy reserve and had a bit of a run with the Slash and the 8ight-T. Filmed the 8T with the Mavic mini too which came up alright. Track really is a bit small for the 8T on 5s but it was a bit of fun all the same.



 
#183 ·
So got some more batteries for the E Revo a couple of weeks back, managed to find a set which were affordable and were a pack with cables coming out the end not the side so didn't require mods to fit within the E Revo battery compartments. They were $100 for the pair when I purchased but appear to have gone up since. But the specs are below, Ovonic 3S 6400mah 60C softcase lipos.


 
#184 ·
So me and marketplace can be a dangerous mix, so once again I have a new toy of this barely new Slash 4x4, didn't need it but can't knock back a good deal so another mouth to feed. Nothing really planned with it other than to take it out to Knox when I get time alongside the 2wd Slash. It came with a couple of batteries which was handy, though they're not an amazing fit in the battery tray.

 
#185 ·
Trying to work out What all the whole fleet looks like these days
Duratrax Exader
Traxxas Slash
E-Revo
Cen SP1
Kyosho Mini Inferno
HK Clouds Fky plane
Traxxas Bandit (roller)
GV Cage (in pieces)
Losi 8T 3.0
DJI Mavic Mini
Schumacher Mi1
Tamiya TA-05
Traxxas Slash 4x4

I think thats all of them.... they're scattered all over the shed so I'll get a group photo one day
 
#189 ·
Not a whole lot of updates here, but bought another 4x4 slash which came with a bunch of bunch of upgraded parts, including a bunch of RPM gear which I wanted for my Slash 4x4. So swapped them out but unfortunately they were the hideous blue so thought whilst I had it all apart I'd try dying them with RIT dye, first time doing this but it came out really nicely.

Secondly for me to sell the donor slash 4x4 I had to clean up the body, it had what looked like a HPI Blitz body on it which itself was in reasonable condition. Issue being that the paint was coming off in large areas and had a bunch of tape all over it which looked horrible. So tried using acetone to strip the paint which worked ok but not great and left a lot of cloudy residue. When I went into Metro Hobbies to get some paint to complete the project one of the staff suggested Tamiya paint remover, so gave it a crack and it worked quite well, not quick still but I'd say would've worked far better if I hadn't of tried the acetone first. Used the whole bottle and got as much silver paint off as I could (harder than I thought) and then masked it up and gave it a full coat of blue, which all things considered came up ok for a quick fix up job.

How the RPM parts started

In a nice little 1L tub for dying

Dye mixed in with hot water and left overnight

Final product dried

Installed on my 4x4 Slash

Terrible paint job on the second 4x4 slash when I got it

The extent of paint removal between acetone and Tamiya paint removal

Windows masked up

After a few coats of Blue

Happy enough considering how it started. Atleast there's now not big chunks missing.

 
#190 ·
Took my Slash 4x4 for its first proper run at the Knox offroad track this arvo. I was very rusty but put two battery packs though it with no issues. Only thing is it feels like there is no rear shock oil it, but that should be an easy fix atleast.

Out of curiocity if you read this post, like this post so I can get a gauge on how many people still visit and read this thread now.


Quality parking
 
#191 ·
Coulple of small updates, finally thought it was time to clean up my old Duratrax Evader which was my first car when I was 12 years old. Rear tyres have been slicks for years and fronts are well cracked now, so pulled the rears off and soaked overnight in acetone to remove the tyres. Came back the next day to a surprise, apparently the wheels didn't appreciate the acetone and basically melted. Never hear of this before so have since ordered new wheels to go with the PL bowties I bought a while back for it. I will try and use the boiling water method to do the fronts as the wheels themselves are still in good useable condition.

Also managed to score myself a DJI Mini 3 with the screen in the radio which was a nice upgrade from my Mavic Mini, mate had only bought the mini 3 and got bored of it after after 2 weeks so was virtually brand new, will post up some images once I fly it a bit more. Have since sold my Mavic Mini too as I didn't see any need in having the both of them. Also finally bought myself a SCX10 off marketplace too, basically stock so just waiting for a receiver to show up and I can have a drive of it. I think its an older RTR version as its got the Axial branded Castle Sidewinder ESC will do the job for me fine though. Also picked up a 3Racing Sakura Zero S rolling chassis, again I didn't really need it but a mate had it close by and cheap and I couldn't resist.


Before

After

SCX10

Sakura Zero S
 
#192 ·
Forgot to mention too that I picked up this MRC Mustang body of marketplace last week too, was already painted and had no mounting holes. Looked pretty cool, so chucked some wheels on the Sakura tonight and dropped the body over it. Body it literally sitting on the table so body height isn't correct, looks pretty cool regardless though.

 
#193 ·
So for the first time since I'd say 2008/9ish my Duratrax Evader has a full set of tyres with tread on them. Meaning once I put some oil in the shocks I can take it down to Knox and give it a run too. The melted rear wheels I replaced with a set of AE wheels and some 12mm hexes I bought from Metro Hobbies as its very hard to find pin drive wheels these days. The front wheels I was able to save and re-use with a set of Pro-Line Scrubs. As it seems these days its not that easy to find demounted tyres new, but I see no reason to be replacing wheels everytime I need tyres so will continue to find unmounted tyres.

 
Top