Project MicroZap

#1 10-14-2002, 07:07 PM

Well, I went to my parents place yesterday and my dad a Bit Clone (called a Fit-Racer hahaaah) and he was whoopin' on me with it, but it didn't have any front tires. ??? it looks exactly like a bit, just doesn't have any tires on the front wheels. I told him I'd pick up a Microsizer tire kit this week so he could actually steer the thing

While I was shopping though, I saw a microsizer, EVO VII tuner kit. Contents: 27 MHz (same freq as my Zip) Chassis, 2.6 Motor, and a clear unpainted body shell in the shape of a Mistu Lancer Evo VII (one of my fave cars), and the ribbed rubber tires (for her pleasure, baby!). I pretty much instantly decided to pick it up for spits and giggles.

I painted the body first, and while I was waiting for it to dry, I noticed a few things:

1) it won't quite fit on the ZZ charger

2) forward/backward are inverted using my ZipZaps controller on the Microsizer, so I opened it up.

Then I got to thinking about trying a PCB Swap. that didn't work too well (it was still slow even with the 2.6 motor) so I put the board back in the Microsizer, hooking the motor up reverse from before so forward and backward would be correct, and cut a small hole in the bottom of the chassis so it's fit on the ZZ charger. I also put the stock ZZ battery (the nice NiMH Cell) in the microsizer and gave it a cat-5 antenna. It's now fully ZZ compatible

It runs like a champ now but my ZZ still isn't back to normal. It works but steering is kinda messed up. I need to resolder some stuff I think. This Microsizer kit is SWEET though. It runs the 2.6 very well. It was also affordable.

I picked it up at a kiosk in a mall. The guy there had Z cars, real bits, and lots of clones, and he had some digi-q's there as well. The Digi-Q is most impressive. running on the thin carpet of the mall, the thing would easily run almost as fast as I can sprint. Downside is the range is about 20 feet. The gentleman at the shop had steering the Digi down to an art. I couldn't get the hang of it. It probably takes some practice. The range on the digi-q can't be easily increased either (aside from buying a high-dollar range booster that I suppose is just a glorified IR Illuminator gun that can be pulsed), and tune-up parts are non-existant. It's faster than any other Tiny RC I've ever seen, and I think people who say "my <insert name of bit/clone here> will outrun a Digi-Q eaily" might be blowing smoke. I'll need to see a video to believe it.

MTL · #2 10-14-2002, 07:20 PM

jeez ive been looking for a place that had the clear evos with the booster sets...i gotta buy one offline it seems...

btw.....this may sound dumb, but what exactly is a kiosk shop? this sounds almost...like a word in japanese or something

#3 10-14-2002, 07:25 PM

you've seen kiosk shops, I know you have. They're the vendors that deal out of an island or portable stand in the middle of the hallways of malls. No walls or anything, just a stand with products on it and a cash register, and a chair to sit on.

Know what I mean?

I painted my evo Black (on the inside) and painted the tail lights red from the inside. I painted the spoiler, the grills, headlights, and hood ducts chrome on the outside of the car (not from the inside). It looks pretty good. I love EVO's!!!

MTL · #4 10-14-2002, 07:30 PM

ohhh haha i know now
i dont think ive seen any that sell micro rc's though...mostly jewelry and cellphone accessories

guess i better to go the malls to look

yep i love my evo body too, although i need another....
mine was red to start with, i painted the windows black from the inside
i wish they made the previous Evolution bodies..those would rock, i like the EvoV the most

nitrofocus · #5 10-14-2002, 09:28 PM

i see alot of clones popping up ,

usagi · #6 10-14-2002, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MTL
jeez ive been looking for a place that had the clear evos with the booster sets...i gotta buy one offline it seems...

btw.....this may sound dumb, but what exactly is a kiosk shop? this sounds almost...like a word in japanese or something

yes the word is the same here MTL. its just a small store that in the middle of a store of train station or on the side of a waiting train.

#7 10-15-2002, 01:09 AM

when I first got my ZZ I saw several booster kits at hobby town USA. They had skylines, EVO's, WRX's, Fairlady Z's, S2000's all with clear shells, 2.6 motors and ribbed tires (I believe they're the second softest tire available). Not all hope is lost.

At this point that's more a discussion for the Bit/MS Forum. I was more talking about my adventures in making the MS work with my ZZ Charger and controller which is why I posted here. Besides, the ZZ will always have a special place with me wince it was my first Tiny RC.

Rodzilla · #8 10-15-2002, 01:40 AM

So if I get one of the body kits at http://www.microsizers.com/speedshop-parts.html it will fit on my ZipZap without modification? I thought they were shorter.

Rodzilla · #9 10-15-2002, 01:42 AM

P.S. Can you post a picture of your new car? Painting on the inside seems weird and counter-intuitive (to me!).

go_zz_go · #10 10-15-2002, 01:56 AM

noe microsizers are to small to fit and ainting lexan from the inside is the only way to go it roduces a nice finish and is very durable

#11 10-15-2002, 02:08 AM

I painted the inside of the clear micro sizer body. It was clear. Painting the inside looks just as good as painting outside, plus it won't get scratched up when I run into walls and stuff (and believe me, I run into walls with it)

I'll post a pic in a sec but I have a crappy digi-cam.

#12 10-15-2002, 02:41 AM

Crappy photos. Maybe I can borrow a better cam at work tomorrow...

binaryterror · #13 10-15-2002, 07:24 AM

I think you have your terms wrong...the car you picked up isnt a booster pack, as for what i know as of right now all microsizers do not have the booster function, which makes sense because the 4 band controller doesnt have 49mhz and i hear the jap 27 is different from our us 27.

These are called "Speed Sets", according to the microsizer website you get: The chassis (same old chassis), 2.6 motor, HARD ribbed tires (good for nothing i have found), the Green gears (8.25:1), a heatsink, and a clear Mitsu Lancer Evo.

They dont mention including other bodies, but the LHS near me will open a box and put in a body of different color or clear for a $3 fee, as he always has people in wanting the pre-painted kit colors that arent available through the body sets.

#14 10-15-2002, 12:08 PM

yah, that's what it was. It definitely doesn't have "Booster" functionality. I didn't know what to call it (look @ my first post where I called it an "EVO VII Tuner Kit" -- MTL Called it a Booster set in the second post so I mistaningly thought that was the right term. Ah well. The tires that came with it, the ribbed ones, are definitely better than what comes on the normal microsizers, but I picked up 2 packs of tires, one for me and one for my dad, since he's missing 2 tires anyways!

Right now I'm running with this config:

2 of my "out of round" All-Season Zip Zaps tires on the back (they are way softer than any tire that you can buy for the microsizer, and the microsizer doesn't seem to be affected as bad by the tires not being perfectly round)

2 of the official microsizers "treaded" tires on the front. The tire pack I got had Slick, Ribbed (same as what my car came with) and Treaded (square treads? lol) tires. The treaded ones were definitely made of a softer (yet way harder than ZZ Tires!) compound than the others.

8.25:1 Gears (they came with the kit, and it runs fine, I haven't bothered switching to my ZZ gears yet)

2.6 Motor (came with the kit.)

Zip Zaps NiMH Battery

Cat 5 Antenna

Reversed the wires to the motor

cut a hole in the chassis for the "latch" on the ZZ Charger

using the "2 hole" suspension spring from a ZZ, with the tabs bent to hold the wheels down all the way

And topped it off with a freshly painted Evolution 7 shell.

Regardless, I like the setup. it doesn't matter what tires I put on the back it's impossible to steer, it spins out. That's why I put the ultra-soft ZZ Tires on it. it doesn't spin out now, and the softer (kinda) front tires with tread work pretty well. with the slicks and ribbed tires, it might as well push straight forward when it's not busy spinning around in donuts. The slicks are nice for drag racing because they give you such a HUGE turn radius that it'ssufficient for staying in your lane, but you won't fly all over the place with just a twitch of the front wheels.

I also have used the motor that came stock in my dad's clone, the "Fit Racer". I gave him my spare 2.6 and he loves it, but I tried his stock motor and it slowed the MicroSizer down a lot, but it's fairly peppy all things considered. I don't know what speed the motor was. it's got a pink bottom, but it's definitely way slower than the 2.6, and it runs fine in my zip zap too.

I'm still waiting on my battery and 3.8 from the store here. I have a new benchmark for how fast I want my Zip Zap to be, and I think it's VERY possible.

I can now definitely judge the bits/clones though. They might have the speed out of the box, but we have way better handling, more realistic bodies (looking at the hundreds of clone cars at this shop I was at), way better aftermarket tires, and better range on the controller. I personally think radio shack did a good thing. I guess it depends on what your idea of fun is.

lnx_author · #15 10-15-2002, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ax0n
I personally think radio shack did a good thing. I guess it depends on what your idea of fun is.

- too bad about the availability though... local Rat Shack had a bunch on the shelves, and in three days they (and all accessories) were all gone...

- according to the salesman, RS won't be getting any more in for a while - not even for Xmas!

- the RS web site sez some are in stock, but if you try to order, you may get a message saying they're out (i guess RS is still using Tandys for its database ops, or you'd have real-time ordering and stock availability)

- fortunately i had the prescience to snarf two of each in both freqs - now i can toast one when i rip its carriage apart later this week

- btw, don't even think that getting a single box of the plastic track will be enough - you probably need three or four for semi-decent a decent layout; a much better deal is the $1.99 cone/barrel set