TOPIC:

uncletom wrote:

Alright. I've got a problem here. A noob-problem really, so not a *real* problem for a veteran.

I've got this charger and battery with my Hornet kit. Now, I know how to connect it all, but how do I know when battery is fully charged?? ...]

Simple answer - you don't ... all you can do is make an educated guess. 2100mAH (the capacity of the battery) divided by 300mAH (the indicated charge rate) = 7 hours charging, assuming the battery was fully discharged to start with, and the charge process is 100% efficient.

Unless you run the battery to complete flat you can't know the first, and the charge efficiency for NiMH is 60-70% meaning you need to put in more than the 2100mAH capacity of the battery ... possibly as long as 10 hours from flat. The charge rate of 0.14C (300mAH) is about
three times that of an ideal trickle charge rate, so (IMO) it's not safe to simply leave it plugged in indefinitely, or overnight - it will need supervising.

My feeling is you should aim for around 8 hours (but check regularly) - and temperature will tell you when it's done. When each individual cell is up to 45 to 50 celcius, most of the energy being put in will be being wasted as heat instead of adding charge.

uncletom wrote:

I have a little request, I guess to the moderators, to change this thread's name to "UT's buggies". Because I have quite a few buggies now I would like to include them under this one thread, if it is OK ofcourse.

After 3 attempts it seems to have worked

Good job, Jonny. Thank you very much.

If you want to be sure about your charging, buy a imax B6 ( approximately 30€ for a real B6) and you will be sure of your stick

Thanks Sting. Well, I've been looking at the dual-chargers, so that I can charge at least two batteries at once. If I buy two of those I can then charge *four* packs in one go. But I have yet to decide which ones to buy. It looks like I will be using Nimh batteries, so Nimh chargers will do the job.

Also, today I did something cool. Anybody ever shaded the windows on the scorcher?

I was at my local cheap-car shop today (Biltema here in Sweden), and bought myself a roll of the darker shade "sun film". I then applied it just like on a real window, using a knife and the squeege, and lightly soaped water.








I applied the film from outside though, not from inside as it should be done in reality, because I think that the plastic windows are softer than the film, and will get scratched easier than the film. Also this way the windows will hold the film in place better from inside when glass is fastened to the body.

I used dark sun film to mask a full painted terra scorcher body. That looks nice.

Any photo?

Can I use normal car paint ontop of Tamiya's base paint? If I wanted to spray-paint my scorcher body with a color not available in Tamiya's chart. No peeling, or weird after effects? Thanks for any info on this.
...
I think I found an answer to this matter - and no. Mixing types of color is never a good idea. I ought to use Tamiya colors only, or cheap-car Biltema colors *only*, to be sure the paint will hold and not surprise me later. I read the thread "Another 58024 Sand Rover Resto" about that poor guy restoring his old Sand Rover, painting it in a 'burnt orange', or 'candy orange' whatever the color's called in various context, and it ended up all crackly and weird.

And, what is that transparent color paint called that we use on the tail lights and indicator lights, please? Do I paint the glass from inside, or from outside?
...
I think these transparent colors are the "translucent" under the TS-chart. Am I correct?

uncletom wrote:

Can I use normal car paint ontop of Tamiya's base paint? If I wanted to spray-paint my scorcher body with a color not available in Tamiya's chart. No peeling, or weird after effects? Thanks for any info on this.
...
I think I found an answer to this matter - and no. Mixing types of color is never a good idea. I ought to use Tamiya colors only, or cheap-car Biltema colors *only*, to be sure the paint will hold and not surprise me later. I read the thread "Another 58024 Sand Rover Resto" about that poor guy restoring his old Sand Rover, painting it in a 'burnt orange', or 'candy orange' whatever the color's called in various context, and it ended up all crackly and weird.

And, what is that transparent color paint called that we use on the tail lights and indicator lights, please? Do I paint the glass from inside, or from outside?
...
I think these transparent colors are the "translucent" under the TS-chart. Am I correct?

To be fair, that's only one odd reaction in a lot of painting, it was delayed, and I still can't rule out the polishes used, or environmental factors - the cockpit area was brush paint over the same paints, and that hasn't cracked ... but in principal it's generally best to stick to one sort of paint from one manufacture where possible.

I wasn't familiar with Biltema, but they appear to be somewhere between UK chains Halfords and Wilco - I've used their acrylic aerosols with success, you can't find a primer, base colour & contrast colour from them?

The paints I've used on the lights is Tamiya acrylic X-26 Clear Orange and X-27 Clear Red in 10ml jars for brush painting, inside on clear parts, or if you're going to use the solid tail lights, over silver on the outside.