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Aug. 6, 2014, 10:32 p.m.
8/7/2013
By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com
Whether it's wheel nuts, wings, tools, tracks, trinkets and/or anything in between, the LiveRC staff gives their testimonial and mini-review of each every Thursday morning!
I've been trying to pick and choose different racers with varying levels of experience and a variety of different equipment in order to give the most fair assessment of RC's hottest products, but when a few Schelle goodies for the B5M showed up at my door and I had an incredible 1/10-scale servo sitting on my desk, I knew right away who I wanted to ask to try them - rapidly improving local club racing hero at SDRC, Carlos Wiggins.
His cool, laid-back attitude and genuine honesty aside, his driving has really impressed me over these last few months - it's as though a switch flipped from "he gets around the track pretty well" to being a threat to win the Modified Buggy class every night he shows up. After last Wednesday's nights club race, I handed him a care package of goodies and told him I'd ask him about how they worked in a week along with perusing his pit area for cool items.
AVID 1/10th scale wing mount buttons
#AV1600BLK, $8.50 (pair)
Slightly concave-coned discs with six AVID “A’s” making an asterisk pattern on top, these 1/10-scale sized wing buttons are based on the brand’s popular 1/8-scale buttons with a few changes - no serrations, as they’re not necessary on the thinner Lexan wings and on lighter vehicles, and countersunk screw holes. They have the same surface area as the buttons for the larger cars, however, and AVID’s informal testing led them to believe that the reduced deformation of the Lexan under high loads actually helped generate a bit more traction.
Though they’d be right at home on a touring car, Carlos chose them for his B5M because he liked the way they looked, but wished they were available on other colors. He doesn’t mind the additional time it takes to remove the wing, as he doesn’t do it all that often, and thinks it’s a welcome trade off for how much less the wing moves around compared to simply using body clips.
Pros:
Look clean and aggressive
Hold wing in position much better than clips
Cons:
Only available in black
Conclusion:
Wing buttons are a must, as they keep the wing aligned much more consistently than body clips - and they look better too. If the design of these is your style, they’re definitely worth it.
Beacon rating: 4/5
Duratrax Pit Tech Deluxe car stand
DTXC2370, $12
A simple three-piece car stand that breaks down flat into a small package, yet uses a robust metal post to hold the bottom and top plates together while allowing the car to spin on the upper platform. The upper plate is recessed to accommodate older chassis with a lowered battery channel, and it's tall enough for any 1/10-scale racing vehicle. There's a parts tray on the bottom, as well as four holes up top to hold shock bodies during rebuilds. The stands are available in black, blue, green, orange, and purple.
Having had the stand "forever," since he started racing a few years ago, Carlos said, "it's really durable, but it got loose after a while" and showed me how much the stand wobbled back and forth. The mismatched stickers everywhere are simply for style, but the Velcro has a purpose - to hold the stand shut when broken down for storage, so it doesn't come apart and cause the center post to get lost. That post is definitely necessary, as Carlos said that the fact the stand spins is one of the reasons he likes it so much - along with the holes for shock builds.
Pros:
Spins
Folds up into a small size for storage
Integrated parts tray and shock holders are surprisingly handy
Cons:
Parts got loose and sloppy
Required adhesive Velcro to keep it shut
Conclusion:
If you're in the market for a car stand, this one is all about personal preference. What it loses in overall parts quality it makes up in convenience.
Beacon rating: 4/5
MKS DS1240 Servo
#RC-MKS-DS1240, $80
A standard-sized servo measuring in at 40x20x37mm, and weighing 57.7 grams, the MKS DS1240 features titanium gears, dual ball bearings, and a coreless motor that can handle a 2S LiFe pack good for 6.6 volts - but it’s not quite up to the task of a full 2S LiPo pack. MKS rates the servo’s speed at .095 seconds and 207 oz./in. The digital processor uses +Pulse Width Control for optimum precision.
MKS gave me the servo to try out a few months ago, and I thought it was incredible - which is why I gave it to Carlos to take it for a spin and confirm my suspicions that it was felt much stronger and faster than I anticipated. Before even mentioning how quiet it is, Carlos confirmed what I had thought all along - he said the servo was so fast and strong that he had to re-learn how to drive his car to avoid turning in too early and hitting the pipes - as though the servo’s performance statistics were severely underestimated. Carlos mentioned too how consistent and immediate it found center - which only served to contrast how he felt other servos had behaved. “Once I got used to it, it’s just so incredibly precise - if my talent allows it, I can carve tighter around corners than I ever could before,” he said. When I told Carlos the price of the servo, his jaw dropped to the pit table.
Pros:
Extremely accurate
Totally blows away expectations based on specs
buttery smooth
Whisper quiet
Cons:
Tough to find
Conclusion:
This servo is awesome. Either MKS has totally undersold its performance numbers, or other servo companies are stretching the truth on their speed and torque ratings.
Beacon rating: 5/5
Schelle Racing B5M blue aluminum rear ball stud mount
#SCH1083, $19
Designed to fit as a direct replacement for the stock unit, Schelle’s rear ball stud mount offers more than just increased durability and better looks. The angled portion has three ball stud mounting options, including one further in than the stock mount for a longer camber link, and the angled portion means the options are closer together. By installing the mount “upside down” you can raise or lower the ball stud plus or minus 2mm. The blue anodizing with silver edges is a great look that matches other blue-anodized options for the AE buggy but still stands out.
Carlos didn’t mind the addition 5.7 grams of weight at all - especially since he saved much more than that on just the top shaft alone. In particular, he felt that the new inner ball stud location with the mount in the UP position and no spacers was great on SDRC’s freshly rebuilt surface.
Pros:
Stronger than stock
Additional adjustment options
Nicer shape and style than the stock or Factory Team part
Cons:
None
Conclusion:
If you’re going to spring for the Factory Team piece, why not get this one? It looks great, has additional adjustment options, and it’s only $1 more than the FT mount at most places.
Beacon rating: 5/5
Schelle Racing B5M aluminum top shaft
SCH1074, $16
Schelle’s transmission upgrade for Team Associated’s B5 and B5M is CNC machined from 7075 aluminum, center drilled, and hard anodized. It’s compatible with both the kit slipper clutch as well as the Schelle Nova slipper (or any of the other aftermarket clutch assemblies on the market), and cuts a significant amount of rotating weight from the buggy’s drivetrain - weighing in at only 4.8 grams versus the stock steel top shaft’s 13.9 grams.
Even though Carlos runs Modified, I thought he'd be a good candidate to take it for a spin. Whether it was the placebo effect or not, Carlos noted that his car felt faster - and it was definitely quieter. He had no issues over a few nights of racing with it, even on high-bite clay.
Pros:
Very light
Hardened surface should provide long life
Runs quiet
Has a noticeable effect on acceleration
Cons:
Costs about 60% more than the stock unit.
Conclusion:
Speed costs money, especially in stock. How fast do you want to go?
Beacon rating: 5/5
Turnigy Trackstar 120A Turbo sensored brushless ESC
#41184, $43
Turnigy’s modified-level speed control can be used with motors down to 4.0-turns with a 2S LiPo, and even includes a fan that bolts directly to the red-anodized case with machined heatsink. It has all of the adjustment options you could want for any class of racing, including initial braking power, drag brake, adjustable drive frequency, brake frequency, and deadband, and even boost and turbo timing options.
Carlos had no problem installing it neatly into his B5M given the large solder cups, setup was a piece of cake, and he’s been running it for six months with no issues. Carlos said the speed control runs nice and cool even with modified motors, without the fan - which makes the unit too tall to fit beneath a buggy body.
Pros:
super smooth
looks nice
runs like a high-dollar ESC from any name brand
can’t beat the price.
Cons:
not a big brand
can’t buy it at your local hobby shop
only one color - and red doesn’t match much
Conclusion:
If you want to get into racing and don’t want to break the bank, this ESC is perfect for anyone from the beginner to a racer that hasn’t picked up a transmitter in ten years. Carlos had only great things to say about its performance and his car runs just as well as anyone else in the 2WD Modified class.
Beacon rating: 5/5
THURSDAY TESTIMONIALS - RANDOM ITEM OF THE WEEK:
Each week outside of the R/C world we test out and use a variety of items in our daily routines that have absolutely nothing to do with R/C, and THIS is what we think of them!
Sleep
#ZZZZZ, $free
Borrowed straight from Wikipedia, "sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, and inhibition of nearly all voluntary muscles. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, and it is more easily reversible than being in hibernation or a coma. During sleep, most systems in an animal are in a heightened anabolic state, accentuating the growth and rejuvenation of the immune, nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems."
I might have windows in my office, but I hardly wear a collared shirt...
Between working away on a new job, helping out at the local track, occasionally being a restless insomniac, and thinking I'm still in my early 20s and can handle a concert on a weeknight (seriously though, Arcade Fire is pretty awesome live), I haven't been getting much of it lately. And as I'm finishing up this article as the clock ticks close to 3 AM, with a dentist appointment at 8 AM...well, that pattern isn't going to change.
Pros:
It's good for you
Cons:
It takes hours out of my day
Conclusion:
There's no such thing as "catching up" on sleep, but I'm hardly the type to take it easy on the weekends anyway. Even still, that whole joke "I'll sleep when I'm dead" sounds less funny and more real when you're dozing off at your desk.
Beacon rating: 5/5 (sleep, not the lack of)
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