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.

Everything 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.

(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.

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.

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!

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.