Transmitting

Driving the Mini-Z is as much fun that I've hoped.

But the lack of adjustment on the OEM transmitter  became really apparent, so a another was located.
Found a Kyosho branded KO EX-5 on ebay in the UK for a fair price.
It felt brand new when I opened the box so i'm more than satisfied.
A whole lot of stuff to learn though.
All settings on my old Multiplex  EX-9 was analog, this is all digital on a display.
Quite steep learning curve but the guys at the track are super helpful.
The most important setting for me was the exponential steering and when I found that the car acted more liked I was used to.
The backside was how apparent it became how bad im at piloting a RC car.
So with a great car and radio, the excuses are over and it's up to me.
:)

My dear, dear, now obsolete EX-9 that have been my trusty friend since the nineties.

The new kid on the block, the EX-5.

Blasted

Bought myself a soda blaster.
Many reasons for this purchase, one of them was to remove worn out paint on otherwise OK bodies for the Mini-Z.
Works awesome……..IF you have a air compressor that delivers 10bar/145psi with free flow.
With my tiny compressor I only get about five !! seconds of 7-8bar.
Definitely not good enough, but I got some result tiny so I'm on the right path anyway.
But until my real big air compressor is up and running this have to wait.

The equipment

The SLOW, but really good result.

Mind wondering…

Sometimes I just want to give up, sell EVERYTHING and buy a ping pong table instead.
Order all sports channels on TV and just watch sport and drink beer.

OMG, feeling nausea just thinking about it.
Nah, the Speedshop plans remains even if it feels tough now.

The give up vision

Lockie, lockie

The “lock” on the garage door was in need of an upgrade.
I wouldn't been calm even if this lock was on garden shed to be honest.
So my locksmith friend suggested a sturdy mortise lock.
And with some directions from him me and my son began the task to upgrade the lock from the sixties to a more suitable level of security.

The old lock soon retired from +50 years of use

The new, shiny lock in all its glory

Some light woodwork and the new could fit the old hole


The other door needed some more massage to be convinced

But in the end we won.

A to B

Sometimes life's mysterious.
Have been searching for a new A to B car for a while now, but the hours moving the shop and everything around it have made an actual purchase impossible.
But now when things have calmed down a tiny, tiny bit the hunt was real.

So I Decided for a Smart Fortwo.
The Smart car have been a soft spot for me since the late nineties when they arrived.
So I found myself a nice 451 Fortwo two hours from home.
I decided that's the one and went there to see it.
Test drove it and it's a really fun car and I was convinced, BUT I wasn't convinced on THAT car..
It was a really nice car, but the spec wasn't as I have imagined
I also found out that in Sweden most Smart cars only have semi automatic instead of fully automatic.
Automatic gearbox was the main reason for a new car so that was a big disadvantage to say the least.
OK, I didn't had to play around with a clutch, but still...
The VERY basic level also resulted in the lack of power steering.
No biggie really, but the steering was surprisingly hard for such small car.

Some considerations and pro/con thoughts I walked away from that.
But the reason for the trip was a new car and that goal was still on...

A quick look on the classifieds again, was there any other nice car nearby?
Some browsing later I found a Mercedes W203 I looked at online before.
It was in same town and only 9 minutes away according to Google maps so of we went.
It looked really nice so…...a short test drive and some haggling later I was tastefully cruising home in my first “starcar”.
A 2005, C200 Kompressor and of course automatic.
Really high level of gadgets in the car as well and everything still works!!!

So now I only have to wait for stuff to break.
😀

New interior ideas…

Not ready with the Speedshop, not even close and I´m already started to rethink the layout.
A growing thought is that the “Chill Zone” in the Garage and the “Machine Room” switch places.

Why?
Two main reasons:
# The logistics. Not practical to go in to another room every time some drilling or grinding needs to be done.
Better to have the machines near the wrenchin’.
# To nice. The room planned as the machine room will be way too nice for this...dirty...purpose.


And a third
# It's gonna be AWESOME !!
👍
To be continued...

The storage room

A baseline problem is always where to put all stuff.
And there's a LOT...
In the storage room my choice fell on four shelves.
Three regular and one for the corner.
They combined will give me over 20m/65ft of storage in my little room thats only
2x2 m/6,5x6,5 ft.
And still some space to spare.

There is of course plenty of space for shelves in both the garage and the machine room.
But I will minimize the use of shelves there and keep the majority of the stuff in the storage room.
Everything to “automate” the ability to keep everything organized and tidy.
So sick of the constant struggle to have a tidy shop.
If I can start this with base logistics for this purpose i'm glad and with 20m/65ft of shelves in a separate area I have a good start for this.
I will pair the new shelves with a bunch of new storage boxes from IKEA.
The see through kind for easy orientation when trying to find stuff.

About 50 IKEA "Samla" boxes with lid will be a good cure for my storage problems.

Flooring in da shop

Machine room

First up was the, to be, machine room that got some Laminate flooring.
The plan was to renovate the old wood floor but it had some coating like asphalt or rubber so it just became a smudge with the belt sander when i tried to sand it down..
So plan B was Laminate flooring, actually a better plan.
Became awesome, quite cheap and quick to do.
Forgot to take pic when it was done, but heres the first row down.

First row done

Garage

Here the floor got two layers of epoxy paint.
The plan was one layer but one wasn't enough so I bought more paint and laid down another one.
Really glad I did that second layer because now it looks great.

First layer on the way

Storage room

Another great thing in the new shop is the dedicated storage.
Not huge, but will have place for very much of the “god to have” stuff that otherwise will make a mess in a shop even when organized.
The (dream) plan for the floor here was end grain flooring.
But when I saw how nice it became with the Laminate flooring in the machine room I went for that in the storage as well.
Not only the floor got the treatment.
The walls had some cleaning up of old wiring and after that fresh white paint.
I even put baseboards in there.
First a layer of light gray and then mount them.
The storage is the only room all done at once, thats why I did the baseboards now.

First piece layed down

And done

Also did baseboard in the storage, here some gray paint first

Old...new beginning

After a fifteen year absence from the RC racetrack I´m back on a VERY grassroots level.
looked up the local RC club after the move and they only run Mini-Z but that is just up my alley now.
No full blown 1:8 scale nitro racing as I did during the nineties, this time it's only for recreation.
I just want to have some casual fun occasionally when I get the feeling and some time over and for that purpose the Mini-Z is great.

So I bought a used “stock” chassis, but stock is a strong word here.
It's actually just the electronics thats stock, the rest is all option raceparts from PN Racing.
Low center gravity chassis, aluminum and carbon fiber complete front and rear end, ball diff, full ball bearing set, a transponder and a used Mclaren body included and a custom 3D printed wing and probably some more stuff that haven't realized yet.
Gonna be a really fun, casual hobby thursday evenings.
Dont want more RC at this point, have waaaaay to much with everything in my life just now.
The Speedshop and the big toys in it are still No1 priority and I have no plan to change that.

Bought a “complete kit” with batteries and a OEM radio.

The used Mclaren body included is in a good state but the colorscheme ain't nothing that makes me happy.
I'm thinking of try to mediablast it with soda, a very gentle way to remove eg. paint i've read.
I might buy one and give it a go.

The radio is not that bad actually even if it looks like a toy, the only, and that's a BIG problem it's the lack of adjustments, so another radio feels like a natural step two further up the road.