The ESC came with its own programming board and you can set things like braking force, starting push, etc. All I did was set it to turn itself off when the voltage hit lower than 3.4V per cell, you know, the battery exploding thing and all.
Overall I must say it's very well organized. Even though the kit uses a lot of one type of screw, they're all separated into their own baggie so you can open them as you go along. There's your bathtub chassis in the middle, surrounded by plastic parts which unfortunately aren't organized as well. Along the top is the LED kit, the LEDs, and a bunch of bearings and springs packed together with the motor. My first impulse is to take the first few minutes clipping everything out of their mold, but as it turns out later that would've been a nightmare and I would've gave up.
The booklet is nice and big and all the parts inside are 1:1 scale, which was an immense help when it specifies specific screw lengths and they all look the fucking same. Okay, enough showing off, time to start building.
If I wasn't concentrating so hard I would've taken more pictures.. that and the instructions made me rage sometimes. First, we take the bathtub chassis out of the bag and sit it on the table. Then comes the rear and front drive shaft linked together by a propeller shaft. I swear this prop shaft looks really cheap and it could actually snap in two if there was a fast enough motor, or when you're trying to put it between the two drive shafts. The instructions make it look so easy, just tilt the back shaft up and the prop shaft will just slide in to the front.. BULLSHIT.
Not sure how much pressure I used, but I'm pretty sure I had to bend the stick just to make it go in. I'm missing pictures of the rear assembly, but there's this tiny metal stick that goes in to a hole in the rear shaft that helps turn the drive gear. That thing slides around in a hole as loose as Michelle Duggar's vagina. I tried several times before finally getting it, and then I tried to put the assembly in the place it's supposed to go, but it won't fit because the gear is in the fucking way. Instruction fail.
After that fantastic adventure on step 2, we move on to step 3, which is to put a gear on the motor and put it in the bathtub. Sounds easy enough... WHAT THE FUCK ARE THESE?
Those tiny little threaded nibs are the worst. If they can't keep the tab on my lock from staying on, how do I expect to turn the motor with it? As I found out in testing the car, these evil things are the weakest part of the car. No matter how hard I tighten them down, it always gets loose and starts smoothing out the drive gear. So, on it goes then.
I'm going to glue that gear on if I have to.
Next came the diff. I don't know why but I always have so much fun assembling this part. I was too busy being covered in grease to take pictures but here's a finished one!
And so begins the use of grease and how I have to wipe my hands after every step. Not sure how many times I make jokes with the words "lube" and "shaft", so I'll just leave it at that. I also don't remember how many times I screwed up screwing in the wrong screwed. I would seriously be screwed if I didn't have a 1:1 screw scale on the instructions.
If I took that picture any further away you would've been scratching your head at which one's the 12mm screw.
After the diff is assembled, everything's screwed together and it all works like a Technics racecar kit. It's actually easier to put together than the racecar kit I got a few years ago. More indistinguishable screws, less red bricks. It's now 12:30pm. The back is finished.
At this stage this is what my table looks like.
It's actually not too bad. Yes that red thing up there is my files. I use the xacto to trim those nubs (what are they actually called?) and file it smooth. I have my dish of grease nearby, and a metal ruler that actually has more uses than just measuring stuff. What other use does it have, you ask? Well, it can be used to install stubborn bearings in the car's front arms. Those fucking things made deep marks on my thumb but I couldn't push it into place, and there's no hammer nearby, so I improvised.
Yes that is the end of my screwdriver.
Perfect result.
Not much to rant about the front other than that. It's pretty much identical to the back except for some more screws to keep the axle with the arms. After that I forgot to take pictures and put everything else together rather quickly.
All done. Now all I have to do is wait for the paint to be restocked so I can buy some and put a body on it.
I have an xacto
knife with a #11 blade and the pair of scissors that came with this
morning's shipment. Oh yeah, 150 grit sandpaper to smooth out mistakes
as well.
The first cut wasn't actually that bad. I
decided to work the wheel wells by attacking from both directions.
Since the plastic got in my way a bunch of times the wheel doesn't
really look that round. I'm pretty sure after a few runs around the
house I can blame it on wear and tear.
The
back bumper was by far the easiest piece to go. The advice I went with
was to use the knife to cut into the grooves as a guide and run the
scissors against it. This actually worked quite well, so well in fact
the back just popped off without the scissors! Damn I'm good.
And
here is the finished product. I can't run straight lines worth shit so
the trim between the wheels is kinda wobbly. I haven't drilled any
holes yet as I don't know where the mounting poles go. For now I'll
just charge the batteries and see how that goes. Cross fingers and hope
my house doesn't burn down.. oh wait, I got that charging bag.
First come the chinaman rope with impossible knots. I tried to undo them but after 30 seconds I gave up and just used the utility knife.
After opening the box there's enough bubble wrap to keep any kid happy for the next 2 days.
Before I continue to the actual bodies this is the radio kit and servo I bought last week. It's a 2.4Ghz radio and comes with 1 receiver. An extra receiver costs $70 by itself. The servo is a typical ball-bearing S3004, which is the same speed as the S3003 but the 3 is brushed.
Now I actually didn't know the item included two bodies, so now I have one for fucking around with and the other for driving in. The last thing I want to do is use the Miku shell for driving, that'll just scratch it.
And finally we have the Mikucar itself. The box was actually bigger than I imagined, but that's pretty good. $150 really does seem cheap when it shows up and you actually looked at the size of it (inb4 that's what she said).
