Dabs.com is the cheapest I've seen it in the UK..except for some small shop no-ones heard of on froggle which is £141 + postage. I wouldn't expect it to come down much for quite a while either.
Nothing wrong with Ebay if your careful. I get quite a bit of RC stuff from there (actually sometimes I buy cars to break them up/sell, good bit of profit to make if you play it right).
At 20mph you shouldn't be breaking too much mate, unless you make a habbit of going full throttle into curbs all the time.
At 20mph you shouldn't be breaking too much mate, unless you make a habbit of going full throttle into curbs all the time.
My DFP never broke..depends on how agressive you are with it I guess. Never heard of a pedal snapping before.
Fair enough. I don't think they keep many bodys around, just kits.
Ya a proper RC is a big step up from a £30 Argos thing. A silver can motor (stock motor) tops out around 20mph when paired with a semi decent battery.
Don't underestimate the strength of Tamiya plastics, once upon a time a mate of mine had a TL01 with a high power brushless sytem in it, and he used to do silly stuff like ram it up sloped curbs, jump from path to road, bounce off curbs by mistake etc, all that ever went wrong was the shock shafts bent, and after a particually bad jump a few ft in the air the chassis cracked. Bit of ground up nylon and some CA glue and it was good as new though.
Ya a proper RC is a big step up from a £30 Argos thing. A silver can motor (stock motor) tops out around 20mph when paired with a semi decent battery.
Don't underestimate the strength of Tamiya plastics, once upon a time a mate of mine had a TL01 with a high power brushless sytem in it, and he used to do silly stuff like ram it up sloped curbs, jump from path to road, bounce off curbs by mistake etc, all that ever went wrong was the shock shafts bent, and after a particually bad jump a few ft in the air the chassis cracked. Bit of ground up nylon and some CA glue and it was good as new though.
Have a look for FFShifter on RSC's custom/homebrew cockpit etc forum, does exactly what your looking for. At one point I had my DFP setup for FF in LFS, FFshifter using my Logitech Wingman for shifting and it controlling the FF, and another controller to use as a clutch pedal. LFS worked fine with this setup, the end result is it sees the shifter "zones" for the gears as button presses, and not as an independant device.
Heh, I hate waiting that much I've checked all the local gaming shops and check Gameseek at least once a day.
Just a thought, my local shop in Barnstaple has a seriously large amount of Tamiya gathering dust in the back room. If you like I can see if they have the TT-01 Escort kit your after. They do trade online a tiny bit as The Battlezone, Barnstaple. Only a quick phonecall. Or I can dig their number out for you if you'd prefer.
The upgrade kit sounds good - oil shocks and bearings are the first proper upgrades for any Tamiya. Won't make you go fast but it'll stop the car bouncing everywhere. After that an alloy center driveshaft would be a good idea before you drop a new motor in.
Talking of which, a good combo for you would be a Team Orion V2 19T spec motor, with a Hitec EZX-R esc in my opinion. The motor will get the car to 30mph and a bit more no problem and is the lowest maintaince brushed type you can buy, and the ESC is dead simple to program and operate, with a 17T motor limit, and is more responsive than other cheap ones I've used. Both of all both of these together will run you under £70 and are good enough to be used for a bit of club racing in the 19T class, if you have a local track.
Btw having a minor speech thing isn't anything to be paranoid about, I have a similar thing thing - I say W and it comes out R, and vice versa sometimes, but no-one really cares or gives you weird looks for it.
Sorry I'm rambling on a bit, sun night is always boring for me.
The upgrade kit sounds good - oil shocks and bearings are the first proper upgrades for any Tamiya. Won't make you go fast but it'll stop the car bouncing everywhere. After that an alloy center driveshaft would be a good idea before you drop a new motor in.
Talking of which, a good combo for you would be a Team Orion V2 19T spec motor, with a Hitec EZX-R esc in my opinion. The motor will get the car to 30mph and a bit more no problem and is the lowest maintaince brushed type you can buy, and the ESC is dead simple to program and operate, with a 17T motor limit, and is more responsive than other cheap ones I've used. Both of all both of these together will run you under £70 and are good enough to be used for a bit of club racing in the 19T class, if you have a local track.
Btw having a minor speech thing isn't anything to be paranoid about, I have a similar thing thing - I say W and it comes out R, and vice versa sometimes, but no-one really cares or gives you weird looks for it.
Sorry I'm rambling on a bit, sun night is always boring for me.
I thought the starter motor was the only good bit about the last Rover 416 I drove actually, quite powerful. More so than the actual engine at times.
If you wanna buy british, go buy an LTI
(London Taxi).
If you wanna buy british, go buy an LTI
(London Taxi).TT-01 chassis ain't bad. I've seen a couple of them used for club racing with some success after a few mods.
Cold caths are toxic? Hmm maybe I shouldn't have accidently sat on one a few months ago. Only the inner element broke, not the outside casing, as that was more flexible.
Apex Models like Fordman says are good. I tend to use www.modelsport.co.uk for odds and sods as well. www.starluckrc.com do good power systems, and if you want some cheap bits from HK (of which you can buy a lot of for the TT-01), take a look at www.rcmart.com. Don't go crazy with pointless shiny bits though if you ever decide to upgrade the car a bit. The TT-01 doesn't have bearings in the kit btw just plastic or bronze bushings, you'd save yourself a lot of trouble by purchasing a bearing kit before hand and using that as you build the car. Otherwise its a lot of work to replace them when the bushings wear out.
If you have a local hobby shop they can order any kit or part for you from the distributor. Always good to support them as opposed to ordering off the web, if you can.
Cold caths are toxic? Hmm maybe I shouldn't have accidently sat on one a few months ago. Only the inner element broke, not the outside casing, as that was more flexible.
Apex Models like Fordman says are good. I tend to use www.modelsport.co.uk for odds and sods as well. www.starluckrc.com do good power systems, and if you want some cheap bits from HK (of which you can buy a lot of for the TT-01), take a look at www.rcmart.com. Don't go crazy with pointless shiny bits though if you ever decide to upgrade the car a bit. The TT-01 doesn't have bearings in the kit btw just plastic or bronze bushings, you'd save yourself a lot of trouble by purchasing a bearing kit before hand and using that as you build the car. Otherwise its a lot of work to replace them when the bushings wear out.
If you have a local hobby shop they can order any kit or part for you from the distributor. Always good to support them as opposed to ordering off the web, if you can.
Only 5 days according to Gameseek. Wait for it to get to 3 days, then watch it get pushed back another 2 weeks like last time 
Hopefully not though, the rest of the world is slowly getting theirs so we should have ours soon 
Hopefully not though, the rest of the world is slowly getting theirs so we should have ours soon Was that a typo there mate, £50 seems closer the mark 
How the heck did you manage to spend £700 on it?
P5YcHoM4N, the Escort kit probably uses with a TL-01 or TT-01 chassis. If its a TL-01 chassis, I'd advise getting another car and just buying the shell you want. Its an ancient design and isn't that good. If its a TT-01 chassis then you'll be okay, the TT-01 is a bit newer and a lot better designed.
How the heck did you manage to spend £700 on it?P5YcHoM4N, the Escort kit probably uses with a TL-01 or TT-01 chassis. If its a TL-01 chassis, I'd advise getting another car and just buying the shell you want. Its an ancient design and isn't that good. If its a TT-01 chassis then you'll be okay, the TT-01 is a bit newer and a lot better designed.
P5YcHoM4N, Have you purchased the car already?
I have quite a few RC's. I'm into the custom side of it - experimenting with new ideas and designs. My most recent project was to take a 1/8 HPI Savage and convert it to electric using a high power brushless system. No mess to clean up, no pissing the neighbours off, no crowd of kids watching it because its loud, and its MASSIVELY more powerful than with a nitro engine in
I also currently run an RC10GT, also converted to brushless, this is capable of 70mph+ with its current setup. And it'll get there as fast as traction allows, ever seen a 3KG truck backflip when you hit the throttle, at 40mph? Its overpowered, but I built it for that. I actually won the base car as a box of bits in a game of pool and thought "hmm this has got potential". This is my serious abuse car - its got a few custom bits, and a lot of aftermarket bits (mostly from RPM, and gearbox bits from RRP), its not just fast it'll handle just about any jump or bad landing you can set a ramp up for. Loves BMX track's as well.
I have quite a few RC's. I'm into the custom side of it - experimenting with new ideas and designs. My most recent project was to take a 1/8 HPI Savage and convert it to electric using a high power brushless system. No mess to clean up, no pissing the neighbours off, no crowd of kids watching it because its loud, and its MASSIVELY more powerful than with a nitro engine in
I also currently run an RC10GT, also converted to brushless, this is capable of 70mph+ with its current setup. And it'll get there as fast as traction allows, ever seen a 3KG truck backflip when you hit the throttle, at 40mph? Its overpowered, but I built it for that. I actually won the base car as a box of bits in a game of pool and thought "hmm this has got potential". This is my serious abuse car - its got a few custom bits, and a lot of aftermarket bits (mostly from RPM, and gearbox bits from RRP), its not just fast it'll handle just about any jump or bad landing you can set a ramp up for. Loves BMX track's as well.
When it snows/ices over in this country it amazes me to see how many people don't know how to drive on ice. So many people just wheelspin, and slam the brakes on like normal. Then wonder why they don't stop so well. Or just creep along at 3mph on a long flat road when cars in the other lane are doing a steady 30 without an issue. If they have no confidence or ability to do it, why insist on popping down the shop in the car instead of walking.
But getting back on topic, I live in the sticks and range rovers/pickup trucks are common down here. This I can understand, because a lot of the people down here live on a farm, or in a village only accessible by poor single track roads. But no H2's..think if someone tried driving one down the road I live on, it'd get stuck because they're so big. I can't see any pratical reason to own one at all. Infact subaru's are quite popular down here as well, I guess because the 4WD.
But getting back on topic, I live in the sticks and range rovers/pickup trucks are common down here. This I can understand, because a lot of the people down here live on a farm, or in a village only accessible by poor single track roads. But no H2's..think if someone tried driving one down the road I live on, it'd get stuck because they're so big. I can't see any pratical reason to own one at all. Infact subaru's are quite popular down here as well, I guess because the 4WD.
Wow, thanks for the extensive comparison Tweaker. I agree the clamp style on the GPL shifter wasn't very thought out, i know it was because it was originally designed for the RS wheel, but still..they coulda spent at least 5 mins thinking about it. Amount of times I've caught my knuckle on that silly clamp..
It wasn't too hard to be fast with the GPL shifter, I put a different gearknob on it that shortened the throw somewhat (shaft went a good inch further into the gearknob), I actually liked it a lot after a bit of pratice, but sold my ACT Labs kit as an "all in one" solution thats easier to transport and wire up is better for me at the moment.
Vertical springy feeling..I'm used to that, my old Escort had a pushdown reverse and the spring for that was a bit "tired". No big deal in my opinion as loads of cars use this system.
I do use the shifter almost exclusively though, ever since I first made a joystick based one I've not enjoyed using the paddles anywhere near as much. Only time I use them is in the single seaters for obvious reasons. I got so used to my old shifter/clutch setup, I smashed most of my pb's with it, and came pretty close to a couple of WR's at times.
Once I've had mine a few days I might have it apart and see if it can be modified relatively easy for more spring tension/feel. Will have to see what its like when it gets here. I'm guessing you can't just fit a rubber mold under it to make it feel more solid, because it moves vertically.
Handbrake..I have the assembly out my old Audi 90 to one day built into a proper one with a joystick..will be easy to do, heck 2 cableties, a spare RC spring and a peice of wood would do it, but, how do you mount a real handbrake, without using a cockpit that I don't have the space for?
Maybe its time to destroy a small bookcase and modify it to act as a "center console" for the shifter, and handbrake..
It wasn't too hard to be fast with the GPL shifter, I put a different gearknob on it that shortened the throw somewhat (shaft went a good inch further into the gearknob), I actually liked it a lot after a bit of pratice, but sold my ACT Labs kit as an "all in one" solution thats easier to transport and wire up is better for me at the moment.
Vertical springy feeling..I'm used to that, my old Escort had a pushdown reverse and the spring for that was a bit "tired". No big deal in my opinion as loads of cars use this system.
I do use the shifter almost exclusively though, ever since I first made a joystick based one I've not enjoyed using the paddles anywhere near as much. Only time I use them is in the single seaters for obvious reasons. I got so used to my old shifter/clutch setup, I smashed most of my pb's with it, and came pretty close to a couple of WR's at times.
Once I've had mine a few days I might have it apart and see if it can be modified relatively easy for more spring tension/feel. Will have to see what its like when it gets here. I'm guessing you can't just fit a rubber mold under it to make it feel more solid, because it moves vertically.
Handbrake..I have the assembly out my old Audi 90 to one day built into a proper one with a joystick..will be easy to do, heck 2 cableties, a spare RC spring and a peice of wood would do it, but, how do you mount a real handbrake, without using a cockpit that I don't have the space for?
Maybe its time to destroy a small bookcase and modify it to act as a "center console" for the shifter, and handbrake..Bolivian Hissing Beatles ay..i'll have some of what your smoking please
That really sucks. But it makes me feel a bit better, knowing I'm not the only one still waiting
The system you linked to in your first post will run LFS fine. It'll run most modern games perfectly fine, if you put a proper graphics card in, you can get a 7600GT for around £100 at the min that would do the job fine.
Doesn't look like many UK highstreet stores will be getting a G25, I popped in my local Game this morning to see if by some stroke of luck they had one, the guy did a search on the computer and they're not expecting any for any stores in the region. Gamestation stores won't be stocking it either.
A decent motherboard can affect performance more than you may think..shouldn't affect overall performance by more than 5% though.
The graphics card is definately your bottleneck, more so than the ram in games. A cost effective upgrade would be to a 7600/7800GT.
Heres a comparison of a 7300GS and a 7600GT, have a look at the FPS in blue:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/ ... ;model2=529&chart=197
Obviously it won't affect opening/closing apps etc. A good defrag and a close look at the ram timings, and the hard disk would be better for that.
The graphics card is definately your bottleneck, more so than the ram in games. A cost effective upgrade would be to a 7600/7800GT.
Heres a comparison of a 7300GS and a 7600GT, have a look at the FPS in blue:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/ ... ;model2=529&chart=197
Obviously it won't affect opening/closing apps etc. A good defrag and a close look at the ram timings, and the hard disk would be better for that.
I'm tempted to call Logitech myself and try and find out when they expect retailers to have them. I have one on order with Gameseek which says they'll have them in 7 days, I find this unlikely though as every other retailer is saying a good couple of weeks.
Obviously, you missed my sarcasm. My point was that not all cars are capable - both old Micra's I've driven (and 1 owned) wouldn't do a hill start without touching the throttle. And on the other extreme of things i.e. high performance vehicles see Jamexing's post.
Not strictly speaking in the same class, but the Citroen C4 I drive quite often these days won't pull away on a hill start either eithout throttle. Just rolls back after a while. But I let it off, because its an auto
Not strictly speaking in the same class, but the Citroen C4 I drive quite often these days won't pull away on a hill start either eithout throttle. Just rolls back after a while. But I let it off, because its an auto
Sorry to hear your stepping back buddy, thanks for all the work you've put into the website, forums, music, etc. Best of luck with whatever you choose to fill your time with
Wouldn't have thought so, one reason they probably will not make the rotation faster than that is so it can't cause any harm.
Obviously you've never driven an old Nissan Micra..mine had trouble pulling away without throttle when it wasn't on a hill..
Hehe, I moved my desk a bit so I can mount the shifter in the proper position a while ago.
Not specifically the G25, but I can tell you for a 100% fact, ALL the road cars are more fun with a H shifter & clutch. Espically the LX's, because you have to be a bit careful espically changing down gear under hard braking, let that clutch go too suddenly and thou shall be punished.
Theres a saying on my retro Startrek post I think is applicable to you - "Wanting is not such a pleasing thing as having"
Not specifically the G25, but I can tell you for a 100% fact, ALL the road cars are more fun with a H shifter & clutch. Espically the LX's, because you have to be a bit careful espically changing down gear under hard braking, let that clutch go too suddenly and thou shall be punished.
Theres a saying on my retro Startrek post I think is applicable to you - "Wanting is not such a pleasing thing as having"
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG