Upgrade or Hop Up

Introduction

An upgrade or hop-up is a replacement for your car. If you are buying a standard ready to assemble kit from Tamiya like TT01 or TT02, there are so many upgrades available on the market. Upgrade is not compulsory.  You need an upgrade if you want better performance for your car especially if you are racing with your friends or enter into competition. However you need to consider what kind of upgrade suitable for your car.

Ball bearing

Standard kit from tamiya like TT01 and TT02 does not have metal bearings. You may need to replace the plastic bushing with metal bearing.

Drive axle or swing arm

A universal joint shaft is better rather than a dogbone axle that comes standard with the kit. A dogbone axle can easily come out upon impact. A high end joint shaft is called double cardin or double joint axle.  For a entry level chasis like TT01, a single joint shaft is enough.

Wheel adaptor

A standard kit comes with a plastic wheel adaptor that is easily come off when you remove the wheel. You may need to replace it with a alloy wheel adaptor that is much stronger.

Setting and troubleshooting

 Setting

If you are buying a ready to assemble RC car, in most cases you need to do some setting on the car so that it can be controlled properly.  This is very important if you plan to drive the car on the track.  It is less important if you just playing it on your backyard.

The assembly process of the chassis is the first step of the setting.  Please make sure that the car is assembled based on the instruction manual. If any part of the car is not assembled correctly,  the car becomes unpredictable and difficult to drive.

The handling of the car depends on the input from several components.  The main component is the suspension. The suspension consist of the arms and dampers.

Suspension

Every RC car has four suspension arms.  Two in front  and two at the rear.  In most of the car the front suspension arm is different from the rear.  Do not assemble it in reverse order.  Make sure that the suspension arm can be moved freely up and down.  Do not overtighten the arms. The position of the arm should be on par with the length of the damper. 

Damper 

Damper or arbsober consist of shock and spring.  A proper damper would be a shock oil damper rather than a friction damper. If you are buying a standard kit like tamiya TT01 or TT02, it is recommended that you upgrade the damper to a shock oil damper. The oil use on the damper is a silicone oil and the thickness is measured by numbers. Thinner oil will make the movement of the damper smoother and responsive. Thicker oil will make the movement of the damper stiff and slow.  I use 500 shock oil on my cars.  If you prefer a more thinner oil you can try 200 or 300 shock oil. It depends on your driving style and the stiffness of the springs.  A soft damper will make the car more responsive and better traction. However if the damper is too soft the car will move around easily, unpredictable and difficult to drive. If you setting the damper too hard, the car will be unresponsive, difficult to steer or making a big radius circle and less traction. It is a medium setting that work better for the car rather than too soft or too hard. Do not overfill the oil until it is so stiff. The shaft must be able to move up and down  smoothly.  

Springs

Springs are very important when you are setting your rc car.  When you are buying a damper set or a ready to assemble kit, the springs are provided in the box. For a start you can use the springs that comes together with the kit.  The stiffness of the springs are range from soft to hard. Again a medium setting is better than too soft or too hard.  Some drivers prefer a stiifer springs in front and softer spring at the rear. Stiffer spring in front will make the front end responsive and easy to turn. Softer spring at the rear will give better traction.  You may need to find the setting that suits your driving style.  

Electronics

 RC CAR ELECTRONICS

The electronics on the rc car consist the following items ;

• Motor
• Speed controller
• Servo
• Receiver
• Radio

For further explaination of these items please read my post on rc terminology.

First Try RC kit from Tamiya

This is a semi assembled chassis from Tamiya.  The chassis is TT02. It does not comes with the lexan bodyshell.

Upcoming and new realeses

• Express XQ2S
• MST TCR-M

Tamiya RM01

 This is a 1/12 scale rear wheel drive direct transmission chasis.  The transmission is using a balls differential. It comes with motor, bodyshell and wheels. The tyres are sponge tyres. The speed controller is not included in the box unlike most of the assembly chasis from Tamiya that has Tamiya ESC.  

Rc terminology

 Bind

Is a process to bind a receiver with the transmitter.  This has to be done when you are buying a new receiver for your transmitter.  The new receiver can only be used after you bind it with the transmitter. The process is by choosing the bind or link function on the transmitter and push the set button on the receiver.  The led on the receiver will change from blinky to solid once the process is complete.

Calibration

Is to calibrate the speed controller with the transmitter so that the speed controller can be controlled properly by the transmitter.  The calibration should be done before using the speed controller on the car.  The manual provided with the speed controller will explain how to calibrate it.  

Ready to run

Ready to run is a term or phrase refer to a complete chassis that has full electronics and radio transmitter.  A ready to run RC Car is usually has servo, speed controller, motor, receiver, wheels, bodyshell and radio transmitter.  Sometime it also has battery and charger.  However in most of the ready to run RC cars, battery and charger are required items to be purchased separately. A ready to run rc cars are easy to run because it does not required any assembly or installation whatsoever. It is a suitable as a gift and for beginners.  My first RC car when I started this as a hobby is a Tamiya TT01 type E Expert Built. 

Esc

Esc stands for Electronic Speed Controller.  A speed controller is a electronic device connected with a motor and a receiver. The function of a speed controller is to allow a radio transmitter to control the speed of the motor. It allows the radio to accelerate the speed of the car from a stand still to a full speed, to deaccelerate and brake. Is like an ECU in a real car that control the engine. Basically there are two types of ESC. A brush ESC is to be used with a brush motor. A brushless ESC to be used with a brushless motor.

Servo

Servo is a electronic device that control the steering from left to right and center.  A servo has a teeth or gear in front of it to place a steering horn or a plate that link with the linkage that control the steering.  The cheap servo usually has a plastic gears and high end servo usually comes with metal gears. The servo for RC cars are generally in two sizes, A low profile servo has a low height and takes less space.  Most of the servos are in standard size. Analog servo is usually comes with the RTR unit because the transmitter is analog. If you have upgraded your transmitter to a digital then it is advisable to upgrade the servo to a digital servo. A digital servo is much smoother, accurate and faster.

Dual Rate 

Dual rate is a function on the radio transmitter that control or limit the maximum input of the channels. By default the dual rate of the channels are one hundred percent 100% or maximum rate.  The user maybe wish to reduce the dual rate of the channel 1 for example that control the steering if the car has too much steering.  

Channels 

Channels are the the input on the receivers that transmitted into the radio.  Most of the receivers has 3 or 4 channels.  Channel 1 is use for the servo and it can be controlled by the wheel on the radio.  Channel 2 is use for the speed controller and it can be controlled by the throttle lever on the radio. 

Transmitter

A transmitter is a device to control the car.  The current design is like a pistol that has a wheel on the side and a lever just under the main section. The wheel on the transmitter is to control the steering. The lever is to control the throttle. The analog transmitter usually comes with the RTR cars has just a basic functions such as alignment and dual rate. The adjustment is by the knob.  The frequency nowdays is 2.4ghz.  The after market transmitter is a digital and it has many functions. The adjustment is control by button and it has a display screen. 

Receiver

Is a device that allows the transmitter to control or communicate with the servo and speed controller. The wiring from the servo and the speed controller must be connected on the receiver. Most of the receiver has three or four channels. However the car only use two channels. 

Motor

There are two kind of rc motor, a brush motor and brushless motor.  The brushless motor is the latest technology and it offers better performance.  The power of the motor is measured by the kilovolt or number of turns.  

Recomended Items

Radio transmitter

Entry level

• Sanwa MX6
• Futaba 3PV

Intermediate Level

• Futaba 4PM
• Sanwa MTS
• Sanwa MT44

High End Spec

• Sanwa M17
• Futaba 7PX

Servo 

• Power HD R12
• Savox 1251

ESC

• Hobbywing XR10 Just Stock 
• Hobbywing XR10 Stock
• Tekin Gen 3 Spec 
• Maclan PICO 

Low Budget Electronics

Highest Servo D300 Digital Servo 0.10s 7.7kg-cm @ 6.0V

Highest Servo DS400 Digital Servo 0.09s 7.2kg-cm @ 6.0V

My F1 RC

 

Tamiya TT01 truck

 This is my Tamiya TT01 truck

Tamiya TT02 type S

 This is another rc chasis from my collection. TT02 is the upgrade version of Tamiya TT01. Type S has the TRF suspension that is wider than the standard version.

Tamiya M05

 I have several of this chasis but I only keep one for my own use and collection.  I assemble my M05 chasis from the parts that I bought online.  My M05 is version II using the version II motor mount, chasis and arms. 

MST TCR

 I have this chasis for quite sometime.  I have chosen the front motor layout for this chasis. The electronics on this chasis are  basic or entry level specifications. I have installed hobbywing quickrun esc with sensorless 3200kv motor and digital servo from highest servo.  I have upgraded the ball differential and motor mount.  Overall, the performance is acceptable for the price of the car. 

New rc bodyshell

 I bought two rc bodyshells for my FF cars. One is zool racing gorilla for my MST TCR and the other one is BLITZ MK for my ARC R11F. Here are the photos.

ARC R11F

 I just bought a new radio control car. It is a electric powered 1/10 scale front wheel drive from ARC.  The model is AR11F. It is a front motor layout with carbon fibre chasis and alloy bulk head. 

The assembly process is easy by following the instruction in the manual.  I have chosen to install stock esc with 17.5T brushless motor. The steering servo on the chasis is a digital metal gear, high speed servo.

The setup is standard using the default setting.  The car perform superbly on the track with no issue whatsoever.