Category: Parts & Works

Rain induced maintenance

Hello everyone !

So, how’s it going in the RC scene ? ;) Here at Team Vebra we’re trying to make the most of these new rainy days to catch up with some needed maintenance.

The T3R has had:

  • New set of tyres fitted – 34 shore – Kindly obtained by a fellow driver at the track and for a bargain price. Thank you again!
  • The rear gear-diff has been stripped, cleaned and fitted with 1000 oil, a new silicone ring has been fitted and will hopefully keep it “oil-proof” from now on.
  • The rear suspension arms have also had their lower ball-joints replaced (xray original replacement parts bought from http://www.jmt-rc-shop.lu/)
  • The two worn out ball-joints have been improvised as lipo battery backstops to keep the battery pack from sliding inwards towards the front-belt (underneath the top-deck. A surprisingly good fit!

The next opportunity with a dry and clean track will hopefully yield some good track times. Although, all things considered, we’re pretty pleased with the recent lap times. 26 laps with an average speed of under 24seconds.

Strangely enough, the best lap has not been beaten since April 27th (21.871seconds)

See you at the track everyone and thanks for reading us, as usual.

Astoria

Slightly better Lap for the TL01 (BOL-Anyway)

Good evening RC Fans and other Randoms, (capital ‘R’, of course)

Today’s Lap sessions felt … well … good. The weather improved throughout the day and by the time we hit the track it had had the time to dry off in the evening sunshine. The grip was good, the car behaved well… the driver… did “ok” ;)

A little improvement in what was the TL01 best lap to date. Considering how much easier it felt driving it, we’re somewhat disappointed to see nothing more than a 0.1 seconds improvement but, never mind, that’s what the next session is for.

Best of Laps - 29 4 2014 TL01

Now, here’s an improvised list of things that could help the TL01 get some better lap times:

  • Get a better driver to drive it round the track for us (?) :(
  • Increase the ‘fix’ in the front diff.
  • Steady the ESC within the chassis
  • Review ESC settings:
    • Try more drag brake with less braking power.
    • Try less drag brake with more braking power.
    • Play around with punch control.
  • Review the oil situation in the shocks
  • Try stiffer springs (F/R)
  • Re-install anti-roll bar at the front
  • Try anti-roll bar at the rear (low expectations)

So, as usual, stay tuned (or keep stumbling on this blog, by mistake as you might have done today) for some more RC News ! :)

Astoria

New Best Laps ! 22.554″

Good evening everyone !

These new tyres really made a big difference ! Check out these new BEST OF Laps.

Screen Shot 2014-04-23 at 11.20.30 PM

The TL01 has had its front diff. blocked with blue-tack- a friendly tip gathered at the track – and it really has improved the car stability, especially when braking at the end of the  long straights. Corner exits can still be a bit tricky with some under-steering and the ride settings (ride height, camber and toe-in) could do with some tweaking but, all in all, we’re looking MUCH better than before.

The T3R has given us Team Vebra’s fastest lap to date: 22.554 ;) ;) ;)

Yes Yes Yes … We know that there are those who average a better time than this but we’re pleased ;)

Thanks for reading us and stay tuned for more Spring-Time-RC-News!

Astoria

Stuck in the 30s

Hello fellow RC enthusiasts, (assuming you all are still)

No, the title of this post doesn’t want to refer to that difficult time in life that some of us are in; it sadly hints at the recent Lap Times of Team Vebra.

A more suitable title could have been “Injury List” and this is why:

  • The M03L flew off the last straight’s rumble strip and landed casually near the pit lane; after some further checks, the Servo had gotten stuck – Result = Dead Servo.
  • The T3R had a bad encounter with the pit lane wall and broke a front universal joint – still waiting on new parts to arrive from Hong Kong –  Result = Undriveable 2wd touring car made only slightly better once turned into a 2Fwd (as opposed to a 2Rwd)
  • The upper desk of the T3R underwent some major “workshop-mishap” and ended up having one of its “rear-tails” snapped off. Result = unbalanced Flex; and the Xray 301190 upper deck doesn’t seem to be stocked by anybody (anymore)
  • The TL01 has been a constant under/over-steering machine ever since last season; recent attempts based on tips gathered from fellow drivers at the LMCC have seen us trying to block the front differential but limited improvements were seen. Result =  a touring car that feels and looks more like a part time drifter.
  • The M03s which until recently was our entry level pride and joy has mysteriously decided to join the over-steering club. Result = a nervous little devil whose 15T brushed motor has quite frankly seen better days, slow in the straights and no longer predictable in the slower sections.

The sum of the above “results” has seen us “stuck” around the 29.8 or 31.2 seconds per lap; not quite what we’d gotten used after installing our MyLaps RC4 transponders but ….. folks …… the season has only just begun and our Bold (very very Bold) predictions want to be:

  1. the T3R will do a lap under 23″
  2. the TL01 will do a lap under 25″
  3. the M03L will go under 28″
  4. the M03s (brushed) will once again happily cruise around the track with an average lap time per session of under 31″

so, stay tuned and be ready to make fun of us come October time when the season will be over and we won’t have achieved anything apart from having had some fun.

Thanks for reading us !

Astoria

 Editor’s note on April 23rd 2014, Goals 1 and 2 have already been achieved ! :) 

 

Team Vebra goes Pro – (courtesy of Bobby.br)

Good afternoon everyone !

Today, Team Vebra has seriously improved their looks and credentials ! Check out our brand new Sworkz Racing Case, as per title this is courtesy of Bobby.br ! :) Our official new VIP-Member and sponsor of the Team :)

 DSC_0122   DSC_0124   DSC_0125   DSC_0127

The three drawers will comfortably carry our TL01, our T3R and both M03′s ! SUCCESS!

For more gear form this company check out http://www.sworkz.com/

Thanks for reading us !

Astoria

 

Team Vebra cheating on Tamiya

Here at Team Vebra we’re most loyal to Tamiya. Its little cars gave us and still give loads of fun. You could think that we never look at other makes, well we actually do. We already have a Micro-T from Losi, but that wasn’t considered “cheating” since the totally different scale (1/36 vs 1/10).

But last week Team Vebra took quite a deep “turn” when not only it acquired one, but actually two more cars, that aren’t Tamiya.

Team Vebra got hold of a very nice XRay M18, from our favourite local dealer, Kit. See it below in all its beauty.

IMG_00001028Everything is still stock, except for the receiver which has been replaced with an OrangeRx DSM compatible receiver. Not only 2/3 cheaper but also smaller and fits better on the M18 board.

The car comes with a 5cells Nimh battery rated at 6v for 1600Mah, but I’m waiting on an online retailer to re-stock on these. Also ordered the following kit. This will replace both the stock ESC and brushed motor with  a TrackStar 1/18th Scale 7.5T Brushless power System (6100kv), which you can see here below in all its glory.

9052000005(2)

(image courtesy of HobbyKing.com)

Also planned is an upgrade to the M18Pro chassis, a nice silver graphite board to replace the stock M18 chassis. This is not the Lipo version but a Lipo can be used anyway. Whatchout if you plan on doing the same type of upgrade. There are little things to bear in mind:

Although most mounting points are the same between the M18 and M18Pro chassis boards, motor, antenna mount and esc mount are placed in a different way. For the motor you have no way around buying the optional alu motor mount that costs around 25Euro just for that little mettalic mount.

A Lipo battery shouldn’t exceed the following dimensions: 98mm x 34mm x 15mm, otherwise you’ll need to buy the M18Pro Lipo chassis which has a different battery lodging.

When switching to brushless 360 or 370 motors, instead of the stock 180 motor, the spur gear needs to be replaced with a 42.

Remember that using too powerful motors may require other parts to be changed (e.g. differentials) or there is a risk of breaking some very important and expensive parts.

Another nice upgrade to perform to this little car is replacing the “hop-on” wheels for some proper screw-on hex hub tyre shafts. They cost 25Euro a pair though.

The M18 really looks like a nice little pack of fun and we’re eager to try it on the track!

Same for her bigger sister who also joined Team Vebra… A T3R! But this will be occasion for another post.

 

Once again, thanks for reading this.

Ka.

kV and Turns for dummies like me

When we were running brushed motors, the only power rating I knew were the “Turns”. Turns, as the name suggests, indicates the number of copper-wire turns inside the motor. The lowest turns (T) has a motor (lower resistance), the faster the motor is (rpm).

kV work the other way around. It’s a calculated value based on RPM / Volts, or how many spins the motor does with just one Volt. The higher the value, the faster the motor.

A little table shows a comparison between Turns and kV

Turns kV
3.5T 10,500
4.5T 9,000
5.5T 7,400
6.5T 6.400
7.5T 5,800
8.5T 5000
10.5T 4,200
13.5T 3,300
17.5T 2,200
21.5T 1,800

For example, as posted before, our Micro-T now sports a 10250kV… Well, that would read (nearly) 3.5T! Scary, isn’t it?

Hope this could be helpful, in case you’re still learning as I am.

Thanks for reading,

Ka.

Mascot roars better than ever

Our Mascot got another little upgrade! As already posted some time ago, was time our little Losi Micro-T had an upgrade.

This little bad-boy may not be the classic on-road race car, and not only due to its “Lilliput” size, but mainly because of its original purpose, a road-type-buggy shall we say. Nevertheless, after a few little changes, upgrades, it turns into even more fun than expected or hoped.

We first did a “massive” upgrade, as posted last year when we replaced the brushed motor for a 8750Kv brushless one, put a Lipo battery and Spektrum receiver. But that wasn’t enough for our little micro car.
Those “funny” (read “awful”) tyre clips were replaced with some proper threaded axle ones… And last time I worked on it, I (this time I say “I” ’cause it’s only my fault) tried to fit 4 oil dampers and broke one of them.

As the oil dampers are only sold in packs of 4, I was forced to buy a full set to replace the broken one.
My fav online store was out of stock so had to rely on another one, who didn’t have the official-original Losi oil dampers, but the 3Racing version.

I must admit to be quite impressed by the 3Racing Losi Micro-T oil dampers. They really look “the part” and come with various accessories, including a little plastic eye-dropper containing oil. They come pre-filled and ready to “run”.

We shall never order an item alone… Isn’t it? So, took the plunge and ordered also a Losi 10250Kv brushless motor!

Wanna see how it looks after fitting these parts? Well, there it is, our little Mascot in all its beauty!
Losi Micro-T oil dampers

You can’t really see the new motor, but believe me, it’s there. And you’ll believe me as soon as I’ll post a video of it running, hopefully soon.

Once again, thanks for reading!

Ka.

Broken Steering Arms (M03m)

Hey All,

A couple of pics of our recent mishap. The steering arms of our oldest M-03 (originally the M03L BMW Mini Cooper) broker after a series of abuse.

 DSC_0135 DSC_0136

See how the rim of inappropriately sized wheels chewed into the plastic of the steering arm.

So it was time to bring out our Tamiya F-Parts (slow basket from ModelSport.co.uk (months ago) and install them. We realised two things that may be known by most Mini enthusiasts but which were new to us. The C-hubs are not the same size and the bearing are also different. Luck has it that our local supplier Kit had some spare bearings for us but we’re still waiting on the appropriately sized kingpins (yes, the kingpins are different as well)

DSC_0138 DSC_0139 DSC_0169 DSC_0171

In the picture above you can see the “solution” we found with Tamiya’s standard Stepped-screws. There is a lot of give in the steering now and therefore the behavior can be described as erratic at best. ;)

Thanks for listening and stay tuned for more TL-01 and M-03 mods and upgrades.

Astoria.

Mascot happily upgraded (Losi Micro-T)

Team Vebra’s little mascot, our Losi 1/36 Micro-T received another little upgrade. You might remember a post some time ago, when the Mascot received a brushless motor and 2.4Ghz receiver. There are still many upgrades available, I must admit Losi is doing a very nice job in providing upgrades, even for such a small little car.

So, once again with a feeling, took the plunge and ordered:

LOSB1507_Threaded Losi Micro-T Front/Rear Threaded Axle Set
ab1605_Schock_set Losi Adj Threaded Shock Set
ab1575_tyres Losi Micro 22 On-Road Tire Set, Chrome

The threaded axle set I got it only because changing wheels is a bit of pain. Battling with their proprietary clip is really no fun at all. This way it’s much easier to replace the wheels when needed and you don’t risk having micro parts flying around.

The shock set got it because… Why not? Will it really make a difference? Only time will tell. In the mean time some proper on-road tires will make it look more “on-road” and less “buggy”.

Fitting them all was pretty straight forward. There is only a limited number of screws to remove.

The final result is…

IMG_00000808 IMG_00000804IMG_00000805

And it’s really very nice checking your finished work… Till you realise that those dampers needed to be filled with oil, which didn’t come with the kit and you forgot to put. Back to square one… But that’s part of the game, isn’t it? ;)

What’s the next upgrade? Is there anything already planned? Yes! The motor will be replaced soon with a 10250Kv Xcelorin brushless. It is going to fly!

As always, thanks for reading this!

Ka.

 

Dead Rubber

Some pics taken during the painstaking task of trying to salvage some rims from dead rubber. Read a bunch of threads online on how to try and bake, boil or “chemically melt” the rubber off the rims but ended up doing none of these, simply pulled them out and then tried our best to cut the residual rubber off the with a hobby knife…

DSC_0046                      DSC_0047                       DSC_0049

 

and after some cleaning and sorting, here is the current stock of tyres for the M03 and 1/10 touring cars (TL01 and Afrika’s Kyosho Petrol Car)

DSC_0133                                                                                   DSC_0134

Rubber !

So, the other day we found out that UHU doesn’t glue tyres as we’d hoped it might.

        

As the first picture shows, the Shimizu tyre actually came off whilst racing. To remedy, tonight we assembled  new wheels & tyres combos. (Conveyor belt production style!)  Labeling them inside the rim so as to recognise them.

These wheels are really nice and made by 3Racing; notice how they come with a “fancy” disc-break look.

We’ll have to try out both the Giulia and the MiniKast with these new sets ! GRIP is supposed to be on the Menu :)

A.

Astoria pilgrims to holy-Otley – (Home of ModelSport.co.uk)

Our avid teamvebra member, Astoria, found nothing better to do with his free time than plan a 1500mile round trip from Luxembourg over to the small town of Otley in West Yorkshire, WHY ??? Well… it just so happens that Otley is the home of our favourite store, : modelsport.co.uk

The visit to ModelSport was a bit of an excuse to venture into Yorkshire’s pretty countryside  and catch up with some friends, but of course, the trip was worth it! Astoria had an opportunity to fill the first non-online-basket ! :)

  

We replenished the stock of Shimizu tyres, got a spare Lipo 4000 and also bought the replacement gears for the Losi 1/32 differential (which, sadly, had to wave goodbye to us after a little too much brushless-fun)

       

The trip also gave us an opportunity to meet the friendly and useful staff. They turned out to be just as we were picturing them to be! :)

Thanks for reading us,

A.

Our Beautiful 1955 Chevy – (aka Micia)

This post is long overdue as in fact, this car was finished a couple of months ago. Anyway… we’re here to show you the results of a secret project we had going on for some time. Just so you know, our TeamVebra founding member – and originator – actually  used to drive one of these (real ones) back in the sunny 1950s. Our Model here is just an attempt at recreating a classic look in the 1/10 scale. The chassis is our sturdy TL-01 and, for it, we got a Parma PSE shell from our favorite supplier:   Modelsports.co.uk 

It arrived in three separate parts (not something we’re used to being Tamiya fans) and the latter were not pre-drilled (another challenge for us)

         

As the pictures show, although there are three shell parts to cut out, the front and rear bumpers are actually molded onto the same piece of plastic.

We got a good pair of scissors and a shell-hole puncher (we think there is a more technical term for it but it escapes us right now)

         

Next came the tricky task of positioning the unfinished shell (in two parts) over the body of the car and deciding where to drill the body-posts holes. Astoria and Ka worked on this bit together as it proved “fiddly” to say the least.

Then it was time to place some standard Window masks followed by some “ad-hoc” masking tape. The truth is that the Parma PSE shell is actually the much more popular 1957 Chevrolet BelAir but we wanted to replicate – as much as possible –  the look of the two door 1955 Chevy 210. So in order to get the same colour split down the sides we had to improvise a little bit.

         

         

We then graced Micia with a few decals (that came with the Parma PSE kit) and she was ready for a pair of HPI offset shiny rims (offset by 6mm because the shell is a larger 200mm body compared to the Tamiya 186mm TL-01)

And here she  is, in all her CLASSIC beauty :) 

She’s not been raced yet, and she possibly never will be :) we like her a bit too much to see her landing on her back and scraping across the tarmac of the LMCC track :)

Thanks for watching!

A.

Giulia’s sidecar (aka ‘ESC-seat’)

Hello everyone,

Well the truth is that we are all very disappointed with this weather. It’s been … for lack of a better word…. disappointing indeed !

We nonetheless took the opportunity to do some work in our TeamVebra’s Studios; this idea came from looking at other “sportier RC cars” – such as the Tamiya TA05 or TA06 – those chassis tend to be larger and “flat”. The space to lay the equipment is wider and lower which in turn should lower the overall centre of gravity.

Example:      <– Low down chassis basin.

Whereas our beloved M-03 doesn’t exactly have tons of space to set equipment on it, and more importantly, the little space available is pretty high up behind the Servo. We feared that the heavyish ESC might be playing havoc on Giulia’s centre of gravity so… after much thinking (approx 2,3 minutes) We found a spare piece of plastic. (Couldn’t tell you exactly what it is, it seems to be some kind of hardened vinyl, shiny on one side only and very stiff for how narrow it is.) We wanted a “shelf” to put the ESC on …

This is what came out, as soon as it stops raining we shall try it at the LMCC track and let you know what it does!

Thanks for reading us and stay tuned for more TeamVebra info very soon!

A.