TOPIC:

Hi All,

I'm pleased to confirm that I now have my king blackfoot fully working!

I now intend to hop it up to make it faster...however when I asked questions about the hopping up my bullhead to make it faster, I receiveed a lot of useful feedback advising me against it (therefore the Bullhead is still stock and will remain thatway).

So the king I have is stock aside from the oil filled shocks. I really want to hop-up the ESC and motor. I want to make sure whatever I put in there doesn't shred the gears or kill it! I had an original blackfoot in my youth which had constant gearbox problems (if only I had this site back in 86 I could have attempted some of the mods to fix this). So guys I'd really appreciate some feedback regarding the best/fastest ESC and motor (with plenty or torque) for the KING that wont require it to be rebuilt after every use. I would appreciate it if you could provide brand nam off ebay es also and not just the ampage of ESC's or the number of turns to go for (any model numbers along with UK web-links would also be very handy). I know this sounds lazy on my part but I'm such a idiot when buying mods that I recently bought a motor (off ebay) that was clearly advertised as a 12 Turn for my TL-01, however when it arrived it says 12x2 Turn (so I'm guessing it's 24 turn). I have 3700 NiMh cells and it's fully ball raced.

I must say now the King is running it puts a massive smile on my face as all the nostalgic memories come flooding back (a traxxas e-revo just wouldn't give me 1/2 the pleasure).

Also I should have my vintage bullhead up and running in a few weeks. When I bought it off eBay it came without ESC, so I bought a TAMIYA TEU-106BK (from hong-kong). I thought it was duff as I couldn't map it with my transmitter...I eventually resorted to reading the instructions and realised I that the ESC will only work with a 2.4GHz TX/RX (which is now on order). Once it is running I will look to clean up the body and put some personal touches on it etc.

Hi Bish1979,

congrats on your working KBF! I'm looking forward to build mine soon.

BISH1979 wrote:

I really want to hop-up the ESC and motor. I want to make sure whatever I put in there doesn't shred the gears or kill it!

The King Blackfoot has the updated transmission carried over from the Bush Devil/Super Blackfoot. So there's no need to worry about shredding gears. In contrast to the old original Blackfoot's gearbox, it should be bulletproof! But your shell won't for long if you encounter many rollovers and wheelies with a hot motor.
I got the advise from others to try a Sport Tuned or equivalent motor at first. And be sure you've equipped your transmission and wheels with ball bearings instead of the kit's plastic bushings (you already did that). The Sport Tuned will be fine even with all of Tamiya's entry level electronic speed controllers (TEU-101BK, -104BK, -105BK).

I know this sounds lazy on my part but I'm such a idiot when buying mods that I recently bought a motor (off ebay) that was clearly advertised as a 12 Turn for my TL-01, however when it arrived it says 12x2 Turn (so I'm guessing it's 24 turn).

It's still a 12 turn motor, not a 24 turn.

Also I should have my vintage bullhead up and running in a few weeks. When I bought it off eBay it came without ESC, so I bought a TAMIYA TEU-106BK (from hong-kong). I thought it was duff as I couldn't map it with my transmitter...I eventually resorted to reading the instructions and realised I that the ESC will only work with a 2.4GHz TX/RX (which is now on order).

The TEU-106BK is a dual motor speed controller.

Just in case you mixed this up with the TEU-105BK:
As far as I know, the TEU-105BK speed controller will work fine with both oldschool AM/FM radio gear and newer 2.4GHz radio gear. It has an advantage of having a battery eliminator circuit (BEC) built-in. This means you can power your receiver and steering servo from the racing pack battery via ESC without the need for another receiver battery pack. The older TEU-101/104BK hadn't such a feature and required at least the receiver to have a BEC built in. Most 2.4GHz receivers however don't feature this anymore (thus the need for a ESC with BEC, or external BEC), while older AM/FM receivers did.

BISH1979 wrote:

...12 Turn for my TL-01, however when it arrived it says 12x2 Turn (so I'm guessing it's 24 turn). ...

It's still a 12 turn motor - i.e. wire is wrapped round each segment of the rotor 12 times, but the "x2" bit relates to the number of parrallel wires - "x2" could also be expressed as a "double", alternatives are singles, triples, and very rarely, quads (x1, x3, x4 respectively).

This makes some difference to the apparent power of the motor - a single will have more torque at lower revs & hit peak revs faster than a triple, but the torque figures will be broadly similar, and peak revs will be the same ... in the real world the difference is not that great so is not much to worry about, but to a racer the different torque profiles will suit different surfaces better - e.g. a triple rather than a single (of the same turns) will give an effect a little like traction control.

I've run a KBF with a Tamiya Sport Tuned (23T (single)) motor (with a Tamiya TEU101BK ESC) without problems, I think you could go a bit further if you really wanted to (though the handling & definately the steering won't be up to it), maybe as far as a 19T (and something like an Mtroniks 12T ESC).


I'll find some links later

I'll leave the advice on the motor to the guys that have actually run this chassis.
Hop up in the manual is a Sports Tuned at least...

BISH1979 wrote:

12x2 Turn (so I'm guessing it's 24 turn)

Still a 12T - it's just that every winding is double. Giving some more speed and less torque.

BISH1979 wrote:

the ESC will only work with a 2.4GHz TX/RX

This I've actually never heard of...

Some simultaneous posting there...

The KBF is fast enough with the Sportstuned wouldnt go any faster without some chassis modifications, aka the setup of the front, adjusting the steering to get rid of the bumpsteer.
Oh and you say the kbf is still stock, so you are still running the plastic bearings? would change those for steel ones.

A KBF in Sicily

I'd say that picture suits your photo award.

It all comes down to the right location me thinks.
btw, been bashing my manta ray this afternoon in exactly the same spot


motor run a but hot due to the weather (28degrees)
will take the KBF here again next time, better ground clearance and doesnt get stuck on the beach.

Sounds like a pretty fantastic holiday.

I'll go with all of that, but clarify that a 12x2 motor has the top speed improvement by having less turns (Which usually means less torque), BUT the torque has also been improved by having your 12 turns wound twice. ie, it's essentially 2 12turn electromagnets in the can instead of 1.

ESCs - (Edou's already siging) This is usually another one of those "How much do you want to spend" things. I've got an LRP AI sat here, they're posh & expensive & from what I've seen, it appears to have some sort of built in "launch control" - give it full throttle & nothing much exciting happens, but it's supposed to be rated 10 turn minimum (Or something like that). This is good for protecting gearboxes & good power control when racing. Bad for the wallet, & you're restricted with what motors you can use with it - the 12x2 would probably fry it.
Another option is to buy one of those cheapy chinese ESCs we've been discussing elsewhere, & a suitable motor to go with it, ie something lightly tuned. Don't be fooled by the lack of available power & lack of expenditure, these cheap ESCs seem to have quite an aggressive power delivery, excellent for wheelies & wheelspin! I run my HSP truck with one of these now (& Revenge of the Monster motor) & I have to say it's tons faster in the garden & living room than when I had the LRP AI in it.

Cheapest option is a mechanical speed controller. Run any brushed motor you like, or rather as much power as the transmission, battery & wiring can handle. Full throttle reverse to forward won't blow anything up, so mental wheelies & confined-area-jumping is available to you. Downside to MSCs is runaways - if you have a radio fault or the servo linkage gets stuck etc, the car will tear off into the horizon & there will be nothing you can do about it. Having said that though, if you check/look after your gear, this shouldn't be a problem. It's worth noting that 27MHz radio is prone to electrical interference, & would be the most likely candidate to cause a runaway with an MSC.

A lot of people on here disagree, but I'll say it anyway - I personally find that Nimh batteries don't supply as much instant current as the old NiCds. I've also found that getting them hot wrecks them. It is quite likely that running a 12x2 motor would make a Nimh dead from heat, especially if your setup involves a cheap ESC or MSC (ie something that doesn't have some sort of current limiting).
I personally stick to sub-1400mAH NiCd packs, preferrably Tamiya, as I'd much rather run at high power for 5 minutes & be able to re-use my batteries, than dawdle around for 30 minutes & keep having to buy new packs