MicroRCracer
10-20-2003, 03:43 AM
Just bought one about two days ago and started to tinker with it.. For the price, its not bad at all.. 50.00 is pretty much reasonable eventhough it comes with a light weight sort of crappy TX that uses a 9v little square battery. I tried using my Kyosho Perfex swapping the crystals, but no luck at all. I would have to say that the stock TX is do-able, being lightweight, comfortable and atleast foldable. Bottom line, its works with no glitches. I like the fact that the starter kit comes in a nice case with molded foam to secure the car body, TX, the car itself(chassis), wheels, and etc.. I can honestly see the XMOD being a serious competitor.. The engineering reminds me of a 1/10 Sedan 4wd where it has the option to have bearings all over for the drivetrain just like the Tamiya Sedans and Assoc. TC3's. I think where the motor is placed along with the electronics and structured parts is well balanced. There's even a whole lot of affordable options compared to the Mini-Z. Its pretty cool how it has an integrated plug on the chassis for the light kit. I also noticed that this thing has brakes before it hits reverse which is a plus.. The steering doesnt steer as fully inward compared to the mini-z, but it actually will if you buy the suspension kit which comes with the steering bars which come in 1.5 , 3.0 , and 4.5. When you buy the stage 2 motors for $15.00, it comes with 4 different motors which are identical in RPM, but with different pinion gears and spur transfer gears.. What i personally do is get a plier and just carefully pull off the pinion gears on each of them and just use each motor one by one as a back up when the motor loses life. I recommend doing this when you have a specific gear ratio that you usually like to stick to.. I also noticed that when you buy the stage 2 motor set, it also comes with a good heatsink that wraps over almost the whole engine to discipate the heat.. I can tell who ever engineered this studied the Mini-Z and and other mini-4wd RC's to come up with the Xmod. The bodies are kind of heavy since it uses a lot of screws to put the body together, but i think its pretty cool since you can buy an affordable body upgrade kit to dress up your Xmod' s car body to like a Fast and Furious type. Optional rims are affordable as well, which comes with 3 different sets which look very nice and realistice. They even have the cool tire sets where you can get different gradesof slicks and even treaded ones. Also, keep in mind that these hop up parts are sponsored by real motorsport companies like Super Street magazine or Eibach. So, when you by the shock kit, their springs are supposed to be Eibachs just like the full scale ones. I also forgot to mention, when you buy the stock starter kit, it comes rear wheel drive and has the option to have the front end assembly to convert it to AWD where it also comes with the rear ball diff to replace the planetary gear diff(stock one). I think its pretty cool to have either or in one car which allows you to transform for every different application of racing..
I personally, bought the bearings kit(a must), Stage 2 motor kit(30k RPMS)/pinion gear set/Heatsink, shock/ spring set/3 different steering bars, and the AWD Kit as a must have to start out with. Then I also bought the different rims and tires and light kit for the dressing up part.. For the AWD Conversion, the ball diff is actually actually dramatically improves the handling in terms of being able to drift on turns like a real insane Initial D Drifter.. Right now Im using the stock rear gear diff for now to get that POSI rear and front torque off the start which is actually great for drag racing!!
For those who dont know me, I am a veteran legit mini-z motormaker that actually retired for a while to diffuse unwanted immature, conflict of inerests situations.. Anyways, I took the motor a part and put my personal handwound armature in and all i can say is that the performance is once again night and day where the stage 2 is dramatically increased to like stage 5 or beyond. So far the Fets havent burned out and am still experimenting. I also recommend using Nicads if you want more punch power and speed. Im using Sanyo GE AAA's rated at 1.25v , not like your average 1.2v. I still havent tore down the Receiver/ ESC unit, to see what Coded Fets is being used, but that will be my next project when Im in the mood or have time to do so.. From the negative posts Ive read in terms of the XMODS, I think Mini-Z really has to watch out in a serious race track with tight turns since this 1/28th machine has tons of potential in speed and handling!! Im not just saying it, but once again proving it with my Mini-Z buddies just like how I did with my 1/43rd Epoch Spec 2 Racers!
Overall, I recommend buying this affordable machine to actually enjoy, discover and tinker with as a Micro RC enthusiast for a collection in respect of 1/28th RC Car variety. For a RadioShack brand, I think theyre actually picking up in the Hobby Quality of RC's just like their new ZipZaps SE which is also Hobby Quality and digital propotioned. I know you guys might not agree with me, but i think these XMODS will sell like hot cakes in the US since Radio Shack has skills in extensive marketing for advertising in Nation wide TV commercials and SALE ads. The availabilty is also a key factor which is sold in each RS store all over the nation. With their advertising, especially during the holidays, like right now, people will soon discover and tell another friend in getting into Xmods. It will pretty much be like a Supply and Demand since it will be like boom in the advertising and word or mouth in like a straight up domino effect.. Lets face it, lots of people in the US dont even know about the Kyosho Mini-Z's like how they never knew about Tomy Bicharg's where all of these similar copycat RC's came out in the US. The only people who knew about it were RC hobbyists who read RC mags or hung out at their local hobby stores.. I guess my point is, Mini RC's are spreading all over different companies or stores and not just hobby stores anymore, where RadioShack as an example is becoming up and coming for Hobby Quality RC's where expensive hobby stores are going to lose money because of this. Anyways, I left the Mini-Z racing scene for a while and did the dangerous motorcycling racing track scene and am going to try and come back to Mini and even Macro RC racing again to to try and discover more with these Xmods like how I did with the Mini-Z's when they were first newly born back in the day..
By the way, here's a pic of my modded Xmod..:p
I personally, bought the bearings kit(a must), Stage 2 motor kit(30k RPMS)/pinion gear set/Heatsink, shock/ spring set/3 different steering bars, and the AWD Kit as a must have to start out with. Then I also bought the different rims and tires and light kit for the dressing up part.. For the AWD Conversion, the ball diff is actually actually dramatically improves the handling in terms of being able to drift on turns like a real insane Initial D Drifter.. Right now Im using the stock rear gear diff for now to get that POSI rear and front torque off the start which is actually great for drag racing!!
For those who dont know me, I am a veteran legit mini-z motormaker that actually retired for a while to diffuse unwanted immature, conflict of inerests situations.. Anyways, I took the motor a part and put my personal handwound armature in and all i can say is that the performance is once again night and day where the stage 2 is dramatically increased to like stage 5 or beyond. So far the Fets havent burned out and am still experimenting. I also recommend using Nicads if you want more punch power and speed. Im using Sanyo GE AAA's rated at 1.25v , not like your average 1.2v. I still havent tore down the Receiver/ ESC unit, to see what Coded Fets is being used, but that will be my next project when Im in the mood or have time to do so.. From the negative posts Ive read in terms of the XMODS, I think Mini-Z really has to watch out in a serious race track with tight turns since this 1/28th machine has tons of potential in speed and handling!! Im not just saying it, but once again proving it with my Mini-Z buddies just like how I did with my 1/43rd Epoch Spec 2 Racers!
Overall, I recommend buying this affordable machine to actually enjoy, discover and tinker with as a Micro RC enthusiast for a collection in respect of 1/28th RC Car variety. For a RadioShack brand, I think theyre actually picking up in the Hobby Quality of RC's just like their new ZipZaps SE which is also Hobby Quality and digital propotioned. I know you guys might not agree with me, but i think these XMODS will sell like hot cakes in the US since Radio Shack has skills in extensive marketing for advertising in Nation wide TV commercials and SALE ads. The availabilty is also a key factor which is sold in each RS store all over the nation. With their advertising, especially during the holidays, like right now, people will soon discover and tell another friend in getting into Xmods. It will pretty much be like a Supply and Demand since it will be like boom in the advertising and word or mouth in like a straight up domino effect.. Lets face it, lots of people in the US dont even know about the Kyosho Mini-Z's like how they never knew about Tomy Bicharg's where all of these similar copycat RC's came out in the US. The only people who knew about it were RC hobbyists who read RC mags or hung out at their local hobby stores.. I guess my point is, Mini RC's are spreading all over different companies or stores and not just hobby stores anymore, where RadioShack as an example is becoming up and coming for Hobby Quality RC's where expensive hobby stores are going to lose money because of this. Anyways, I left the Mini-Z racing scene for a while and did the dangerous motorcycling racing track scene and am going to try and come back to Mini and even Macro RC racing again to to try and discover more with these Xmods like how I did with the Mini-Z's when they were first newly born back in the day..
By the way, here's a pic of my modded Xmod..:p