After I had the chassis assembled out to the suspension arms, I finally hit the point where it was time to buy upgrades. Since the DF-02 only comes with bearings for a portion of the chassis, with plastic bushings provided for the drive train components past the front and rear differentials, I went to my local hobby shop and picked up a total of 8 bearings. While I was there I also splurged on a radio - a Spektrum DX6 Park Flyer.

Since I have no interest in ever trying to fly a model rc vehicle, I don’t need the full range of the more expensive aircraft controllers, but my robotics interests necessitate more than 3 control channels and a stick controller is a good idea.

The bundled AR6000 receiver is wired into the chassis at the moment but there’s a danger. The AR6000 has a failsafe position only on throttle and all other control interfaces go to a maintain last command signal during signal loss. Since the DX6’s throttle is a position-hold stick, it’s better to use the right hand stick (Elevator) for throttle. Since during signal loss the receiver would maintain last command, that means that on signal loss my car would keep throttle at whatever I was doing at the time that signal dropped.

So, since then I’ve also gotten two BR6000 bot receivers which have firmware that provides a failsafe position on all channels. That’ll let me put a failsafe signal on what is actually plugged into my ESC on my bots.

I’ve received a Tamiya DF-02 chassis based Gravel Hound buggy kit. This kit has everything from the ESC and motor on out, so to get operating I need a battery, battery charger, servo, radio, and receiver.

Now to find out what my local hobby shop carries.

The Tamiya DF-02 chassis has a larger bathtub chassis and a longitudinal engine mount.

Also an option, the Team Academy / Model Rectifier Corp. SB Pro Buggy Kit, a very economical 4wd buggy that has some high end racing features.

The Tamiya DF-03 chassis that is the basis of the Dark Impact has a couple limitations. There have been complaints about the tight fit of the bathtub chassis space for servo, ESC, and receiver, none of which come with the kit, such that you have to be careful what you buy for fear that it might not all fit. Separately, the motor is mounted transverse in a socket in the chassis, without space for a heat sink and possibly in an arrangement that may not be able to accomodate motors that are the same size but have different wiring configurations or that are longer.

And thus: The Kyosho Lazer ZX-5. The Kyosho Lazer ZX-5 is a newer higher end kit designed for racing. The kit includes three different differential gear designs and threaded aluminum shocks. It also has a larger bathtub chassis design with a logitudinally mounted motor. These features make it a much more flexible design.

- Start with an HPI E-Savage 1/10th scale 4wd electric monster truck RTR package and a Spektrum DX3.0 2.4ghz radio package. This gets me a 3channel controller immediately as well as an extra servo.

- When Castle Creations releases the Mamba Monster Max, if it fits the E-Savage without wild modifications from a dremel, get one of those sets plus a ubec, a pair of lipo batteries and a decent lipo balancer/charger. This will establish a long endurance run time for the E-Savage as well as surplus out the E-Savage stock battery packs, charger, and ESC. At this point the stock battery packs can be doubled up on the E-Savage as a power supply for the camera, if I have something to transform the voltage.

Then once I’m settled with the long endurance (and fast!) brushless E-Savage:
- Get a Tamiya Dark Impact 1/10th scale 4wd buggy kit, possibly along with a Spektrum receiver. The kit has everything from the motors on out to the wheels so it’ll need a radio, receiver, esc, and servo. I’ll have the stock ESC, servo and batteries from the E-Savage to complete it. I can use the E-Savage radio and receiver or the Spektrum DX3.0 if I get the Tamiya a Spektrum receiver.

Lets see.

I eventually want a 2.4ghz radio system for both. The Tamiya is cheaper, but doesn’t come with a radio so I would have to buy a radio for it. The E-Savage comes with a radio, but it’s a 27mhz AM radio. E-Savage first then the Tamiya would mean I’d at least already have a 27mhz AM radio in the collection to drive the Tamiya, but I’d have to get a 27mhz receiver for it. Best would be to get either one and a Spektrum DX3.0 at the onset, then another Spektrum receiver for the second car whenever its obtained.

The E-Savage comes with batteries and a less than ideal charger out of the box. The Tamiya comes with no batteries. It also has a brushed motor. I think I’d like a brushless system for the Tamiya (assuming they can take one without the application of a dremel) so in the interim the stock batteries from the E-Savage could be used, particularily if I upgrade to lipo batteries.

Should also pick out the batteries and charger I’ll want.

I think I want the Tamiya Dark Impact 1/10th scale 4wd electric buggy kit. As a kit and not an rtr package, it lacks several items, namely a transmitter, receiver, electronic speed control, and batteries. It has everything else from the motor out to the tires.

While this camera doesn’t have very good reviews, mostly from extreme sports enthusiasts (people who actually do things that need a helmet and might look compelling from that angle) who note that the camera imaging system and the storage bay for the SD Media can’t handle severe vibration like from mountain bike handlebars, experiments with the camera wedged under my car’s headrest show tolerable performance.

Next step is to see if the camera can image in the dark if in proximity to the infrared illuminators that are on the wireless camera I ordered off eBay.