Fyrstormer's RC Blog

back to Fyrstormer's Garage I finally own a short-course truck. Given all the mini build threads I've posted, I'm sure it comes as a shock to no one, it's a mini. I now own three vehicles based on the Losi Mini-T drivetrain, which I guess is about as glowing a recommendation as I could offer for the platform. In all of my bashing of my three Mini-T-derived vehicles, I've broken two stock parts: a plastic front hub, and a brass ball-stud. Admittedly, that's because I've upgraded everything else that could break in a crash, but still. (also, I broke one titanium turnbuckle and burned-out several motors as well, but those were all upgrade parts.) Since I have fairly extensive experience with the Mini-T platform at this point, I knew going in what most of my mods were going to be: GPM aluminum hubs, Boca Yellow Seal ceramic bearings, Dynamite metal gears, a MIP ball-diff to control wheelspin in corners, a proper Teflon-lined slipper clutch from Losi...

back to Fyrstormer's Garage (originally posted on UltimateRC.com on 2014-03-13) I finished another build last night. I have to admit, I had my doubts about the Mini Rival at first. In stock form it was pretty slow, the gears were exposed, the outdrives were plastic, there was a weird hole under the motor for no good reason, the dogbones had a weird tendency to chatter when cornering, and even the strongest available shock springs were only barely adequate. However, I quickly discovered there were lots of upgrade options, and I went to work fixing the platform's weak points. The first problems I tackled was the weak motor. After trying a series of different brushed motors, I gave up and converted it to a brushless system. I ended up going with a Turnigy Trackstar ESC, a Turnigy 4600KV 4-pole motor, and 2S LiPo. (I'm not sure if the motor is actually 4-pole, because it rotates with no resistance when the ESC is off, unlike most 4-pole motors, but it makes plenty of t...

back to Fyrstormer's Garage My Savage XS is finally done. Well...saying it's *finally* done is a bit of an exaggeration, because for most of the time I owned it I was perfectly content to use it in stock form. Of all the vehicles I own, my Savage XS has been the most drama-free, requiring almost nothing in terms of maintenance. Almost all of the upgrades I did to it were done in the past two weeks, when I decided to upgrade a bunch of parts as long as I was giving the drivetrain an overhaul. Prior to that, the only upgrades it really *needed* were: CVDs for the wheel axles, because the dogbone stub-axles were starting to split apart; metal body posts, because the front plastic body post kept breaking; and new tires, because the stock tires were kind of slippery. Actually, the tires were the very first upgrade I made. I originally went with Pro-Line Gladiator 2 tires, which had great traction, but they wore down pretty fast. Pictured below are the other tires I originally...

back to Fyrstormer's Garage (originally posted on UltimateRC.com on 2013-11-20) I bought my Animus a couple weeks after buying my first hobby-grade RC, a Losi Mini Desert Truck, because the local hobby shop near my girlfriend's house had tried to talk me into buying an Animus *instead* of the MDT, and I was curious to compare. A lot has been said about the Animus, mostly negative; it seems people expected it to be a much better vehicle than it is, out of the box at least, and when they started breaking under the high stresses inflicted on them by RC enthusiasts, they earned a bad rap pretty quickly. I've had my Animus completely taken apart multiple times, so I've had ample opportunity to see the weaknesses in its design. Because I value durability in my toys above (almost) all else, I entertained myself for a couple months by trying to make my Animus rugged and reliable. The result of that effort is what you see below. It's pretty obvious from the blaze...

back to Fyrstormer's Garage (originally posted on UltimateRC.com on 2013-11-14) It is done. This is my first hobby-grade RC, and after three months of near-constant tinkering (and an embarrassing amount of money spent on parts), I have finally upgraded and/or modified all of the parts I wanted to. All of the remaining stock parts are there because I decided they were good enough and didn't need upgrading. Last night I replaced the last part I intended to replace: the stock steering servo with a Hitec HS-5055MG metal-gear servo. And tonight's tinkering finally fixed the last lingering annoyance about the truck's handling: 1 ounce (28g) of lead ballast mounted to the front axle, to counteract the truck's tendency to ignore steering inputs under hard acceleration, and bounce like a motorboat when driving through grass. The shocks were replaced with the Losi aluminum shock kit for the Mini-T, with the mid-stiffness damping pistons installed front and rear. ...

(this thread is mirrored at RCTech.net and at RCCrawler.com ) After seeing someone else do it, I got the idea to assemble the list of RCs I've owned and the information about them into a single thread. Here's my garage, listed (approximately) in order of purchase. - - - To start with, an overview: - - - 2013 Losi Mini Desert Truck Status: Sold Role: My first hobby-grade RC, Mini RWD parking-lot racer Noteworthy Mods: Losi dual-disc slipper clutch; steel gears; ball diff; headlights and taillight; larger tires from Associated RC18MT; ceramic/stainless bearings Build Thread: http://fyrstormer-rc.blogspot.com/2021/01/losi-mini-desert-truck.html Reason For Selling: Outgrew it Helion Animus 18tr Status: Sold Role: My second hobby-grade RC, Mini 4WD parking lot racer Noteworthy Mods: Stronger diff parts from Duratrax Vendetta; GPM aluminum steering knuckles for Associated RC18T; GPM aluminum shocks; larger tires from HSP 1/18 monster truck; ceramic/stainl...