As I stated I raced r/c for years. It can be very expensive. Tires alone when you race can eat you alive. We would go through a set or two between qualifing and actual race for one weekend. THEN if you hit a pipe at speed and destroyed the front uprights,a -arms,shock and bent a axle.......you get the picture. A body would last us for a few weeks.This was over the usual equipment we used like the miniature alignment rack,level board,spares,fuel,tents,tool boxes,chairs......crazy like real racing.

i can see how it would be easy to do with all hop up options.  Similar to the real thing!   

From memory I dropped around $600.00 on the RC Mini.  The Kit was in gthe $150.00 range, the controller around the same.  Then there were the extras the ball bearings, the - will hve to look at the book when I can.

Well the bad news is I have been home resting on the sofa with diverticulitis for the past several days.  The good news is I converted my coffee table to a mini workbench and got it together.  I resisted my natural temptation to re-engineer everything so I built it completely stock with the exception of a ball-bearing kit to replace the bushings.  I now have to decide on a radio, receiver, servo, and battery/charger.  

 

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I received the kit in the mail yesterday and cannot believe how many pieces it came in!  I have always hated putting models together so not sure I want to attempt it.  Hoping to find one already assembled.  

I raced outdoor asphalt 1/10 scale nitro cars for years. (also a little carpet indoors) When I quit racing I kept my chassis (associated). I bought several of the old Tamiya 1/8 scale mini cooper bodies. Two of which I mounted on the chassis. They fit 1/10 scale wheelbases perfect. I also have one of the old HPI mini electric chassis. I squirled away several of those bodies also.

 

GadgetGay ,

that's fascinating, it really looks very much like our minis, perfect dimensions. I love the color too. , But it was just funny to think that even in Remote controls, our  minis were underpowered and needs to be upgraded!! Lol 

I've got both, but haven't run either in several years.

We were just reunited with our 1990 RSP though so I think I'll get the RC ones working again too. As I said to my friend at the weekend, the red one is a lot easier to work on..! 

i'm pretty much done with RC'ing, but when i saw this mini cooper remote control car, hmm wait a minute i gotta give this another shot. i had two 5th scale HPI rc, one Vitarra and an XO-1 (gets up to 120mph out of the box), it was fun but ,like fishing it became monotonous and boring. now i only have the XO-1 as a collection., the father of all electric RC cars. i love it. , i'm also done with boating, motorcycle,Maxi-scooter,biking...now i'm down to one hobby, which is the classic mini, they say when you grow old you tend to slow down,,,indeed, 10mph going uphill and 100mph going downhill in neutral..lol

but i may need to give that mini rc a try, i look in ebay, they cost around 120 bucks, i send the guy a message ,he said it does not include the transmitter and the battery in that price, and it will be shipped from japan, 6,314 miles away from america, jizz!!,.. im like heck!!! let me think about it..

I will have to pull out what I have and assess if it is worth fixing up what I have and replace what i need to. I have at least two old crystal sets, but it would be nice to have two radios that could work with any of the cars. I have at least two M-03 chassis.

I need to concentrate on the full size cars for the time. Then I never could find lexan paint in tweed grey to match the wagons.

The mini only needs 2 channels. 1 for steering and 1 for throttle. The 3 channel computer controllers are nice if you want to use one controller to control all of your RC cars like I do. You don't have to have 10 different transmitters... one for each car. Instead, you just buy one transmitter, and multiple receivers which are substantially cheaper.

If you just want one transmitter and receiver for this car, you can buy the Spektrum DX2E. Bind it to the one car and enjoy the benefits of digital 2.4GHz control. It will come with a receiver in the box with it.

//www.spektrumrc.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdId=SPM2330

Just throwing out the option of upgrading early to save money if you want to play with multiple vehicles.

As far as servos go, I would recommend a good JR type servo for the steering, and don't buy a servo for the speed control. Skip the manual speed control and go straight to an electronic speed controller.

No...I was just curious.  I've no intrested in building one, but having one ready to go with radio etc would be cool.

So a Tamiya Mini only needs a 2 channel servo, is there a Spektrum 2 channel servo you would recoomend? Can it be fitted to both the older M03 and M05 chassis?

You can get a pro M-05R as well:

//rcnewz.com/tamiya-m-05r-v2-chassis-kit/

 

If you want to upgrade the radio once and be done with it, get a programmable computer controller like the Spektrum DX4C. It can hold up to 20 separate vehicles programmed into it. It has an SD card slot that allows you to do the editing on your computer as well. 2.4GHz is the new technology that will give you the precise control, much extended range, and higher efficienct so your run times are longer. I have experience with old crystal technology from the 80's through today's digital stuff. Feel free to ask me a question.

I've had the M-03 Chassis since it was new. Love it. The M-05 had some improvements on it. Really unless you are professionally racing them, you won't notice the difference much. I used to race them on professional indoor tracks and I did a lot of fun stuff to it, but even then, the only big difference was the upgraded shocks and tires to match what type of track I was running on. Obviously an upgraded motor over the stock 540 motor will give you more power, but they are easy to burn the tires off of already.

Best upgrades:

1) Upgraded oil filled shocks with appropriate spring and oil to match where you will run it (concrete, carpet, indoor, outdoor, etc.)

2) High torque servo for steering

3) Electronic Speed Controller. You will want this. Period.

4) A good radio and receiver. I recommend you go ahead and get a good 2.4Ghz setup to start with. They are cheap now anyway. I recommend Spektrum. I run a Spektrum DX3C transmitter and all of my surface RC units have a SR200 or SR300 type receiver depending on their channel needs.

5) At your own risk you can upgrade to a brushless motor and LiPo battery. Be warned that the brushless setup can put more power through the gears than the original design intended. Finding a gear upgrade kit for the M-05 chassis may be possible, but I don't have one so I don't know. If you don't upgrade the gears and you decide to go with a stronger brushless motor, go ahead and buy a second set of gears now for when you need to replace them later. Not trying to scare you. Just trying to save you a headache. Brushless si definitely fun and more efficient, but be smart about how much power you really need here. Even the lowest end brushless will be an upgrade over the 540 motor and you will worry less about burning out the gears with every trigger pull.

 

Everything else is more for fun. Those are the real performance upgrades. Hope it helps.

If any one knows what is up with the modern radios I would like that information also.

I bought my son a used Tamiya mini at MMW in Orange County over ten years ago. We upgraded th radio once, but that was at least 12 years ago. It seems the newer radios use a different technology. I have a couple of wagon bodies I would like to buy chassis for and would need new controller and radios.

Terry

I am not sure.  I would like to have bought one turn-key but I ordered the kit from Amazon for $145 shipped.  It still needs servos, a radio, and batteries.  Do you have one for sale?   I'm interested if so.  

How much is that set-up worth Rick?....turn key

I spent a lot of extra money I didn't have years ago on what very well may be the older chasis.  I put the electronic speed controller on it and at the time a few high output batteries.  Had to replace the steering servo at least 3x, so if you might crash it buy a few.  Haven't had it out in 12 years at least.

I am just wondering how many people here have an RC Mini. I just ordered an older Tamiya '94 Monte Carlo 1/10 scale RC Mini Cooper kit with the M-05 chassis.  Any advice on upgrading the M-05 chassis as Ihave heard it is not as good as the older model (M-03) ?