RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Hi guys.
I find these little buggers far too addictive and they usually distract me from what I should be doing!!!
These are the reason it has taken over 2 years to get where I am with my Sherman so far.

There are 2 main makes of 1/28 scale cars,Xmods and the Kyosho mini Z.
The Kyosho is more hobby grade as in it uses standard 27mhz radio and now 2.4ghz.They are the benchmark for this scale and are quite popular worldwide.However they can be quite expensive too.My 2.4ghz equiped car cost me around £120.

The Xmod is more toy like and is aimed at the younger market where customising the appearence and making it fast in a drag race seems more important.The xmod retailed for £40 in the shops but are no longer available over here.

Many upgrades are available for both marques and I think thats what keeps me hooked.And to be honest,even though the mini Z is an awesome racer and drives like a dream,it's the Xmods I play with more.I think half the fun is trying to make them go better.

This little lot is my xmod collection.



A couple of close ups.





And some mini Z's






I am so addicted I even have a little track I can set up in the house!



Cheers all.
Steve.

Hi Steve

Wow, you got some beauties there. I like the Honda NSR and the porche especially. What size is the track and what is the run time that you get with what power set up ?

Cheers

STEINER

Would like to see what they look like inside---   And how good is the steering on them--?? 
Nice collection of them----

                    Larry 

Thank you.
The track size is 12feet by 6feet,as restricted by the size of my dining room.Fairly small but still great fun,I'd love to try a larger track some day though.
The track itself is made from foam floor tiles,or anti fatigue mats as some call them.Quite grippy and very easy on body shells when the cars go tumbling down the track after a collision!


I have a a few shots of some chassis.

These two are xmods chassis.The closer of the two is an xmods evolution which is the second generation of chassis.The other is the first generation design.Both are completely different from each other and in my opinion the evolution is the much better of the two.It is faster and steers a lot tighter that the generation one.Having said that I know a lot of xmod enthusiasts would argue the generation 1 as being the better of the two.
I have modified all my generation 1's steering so they steer more like the evolution,this is done by simply adding resistors in series with the steering servo potentiometer.
One main fault that most experience with the xmod is the transmitter.Some TX's are bad from the start and give jerky steering,and others start good but always seem to get bed.However I have found the solution to this is to take the TX apart and clean the factory grease from the wiper contacts and replace with good quality dielectric grease.Once the TX is fixed they drive very reliably and are extremely fun.
The xmod evo will turn in a circle slowly on one of the floor mats,just, which is 24 inches square.



This evolution has been upgraded with alloy drive shafts and knuckles and ball race bearings.


This is evolution chassis is one that I regretably sold last year.It has more alloy upgrades which help to tighten the whole chassis up and look darn good!
I sold this because at the time I had yet to discover the TX fix,and was frustrated by it's control problems.






The Kyosho mini Z is a completely different animal.It's fast,light and nimble staight from the box.It also uses hobby type radio an steering and throttle responses are faster and smoother than the xmod.In fact my car that is fitted with 2.4ghz radio is almost too quick on the steering and takes some getting used too.

This picture shows an original chassis that was released back in around 1999-2000.It's known as an MR01 type chassis.This chassis has a major flaw in that it has no steering servo saver,therefore it's relatively easy to break the servo gears (I did this when I very stupidly ran the car without a body,DOH!).
However the steering radius on this car is very small indeed.



This is an MR01 next to an MR015 which is a replacement to the original.It has a steering servo saver with the trade off of a larger turning radius,but as good still if not better than the xmod evolution.



This is an MR02 type chassis.It has a lower centre of gravity and a wider track width which makes for great stability.This one is my 2.4ghz controlled machine and as you can see has a couple of alloy upgrades.What you can't see is that it has a double layer of fets for more current flow.It's a little too fast for my little track really.Love to use it on something bigger.






Sorry for the long post.
Cheers
Steve.

Very nice post on those great looking cars Steve.  Great pictures also--

                  Larry 

Brilliant write up to them little racers. Its amazing, what upgrades you have done. I would never have dreamed the hop ups you can do to them. I bet they can fly. 

Thanks for posting

Thank you.

Steiner I forgot to mention the run time.
These cars use AAA size batteries and I use Ni-Mh rechargeables of 850mah capacity.
I find I can get around 45 minutes blasting around the track.

Cheers,
Steve.

Very nice collection m8, I've seen one of the Xmod cars up close as my sons friend has one and the hop ups that can be done are nearly as many as the 1/10 tourers I have, astounding at a smaller scale, plus I think you can get drift hop ups too?

Two of my xmods are four wheel drive,which is what is needed for drifting in this scale,as well as very hard slippery tyres,which I do not have.
I am considering making some drift tyres from plastic conduit,which should give next to no grip at all
Apparently tyres wrapped in selotape work ok too.I have laminate flooring at home so I really should try this sometime,should be fun.
Have seen some very good drift videos on youtube for the xmods and mini z drifters.

Cheers.
Steve.

You still use these?

I got some Mini-Z....









Done a lot of modifications on all my cars
This is my Porsche 935 chassi at the moment


All are made for racing.
I'n using RCP tracks at home and at work. Using Robitronic lap system. it's great fun