KYOSHO TF6 1/10 EP TOURING CAR - Built report

I was presented with the opportunity to assemble a KYOSHO TF6 1/10 electric touring car, following the kind gesture of the Greece/Cyprus/Turkey KYOSHO distributor.  It was a proposal I accepted with pleasure since I've been keen to have a close look at the TF6 as it features some nice design elements and of course Kyosho quality.
I started the assembly and my intention was to progress slowly, each step at a time, day by day.  Little did I know that I would have the kit finished in almost one day, within a total of about 7 hours from the moment I opened the box.  That is a testimony of how well and easily the kit is put together and how much I enjoyed it.

Next step is the completion of the transmission.  The kit comes with a front spool with plastic outdrives and rear ball diff with aluminum outdrives. The ball diff is similar in design to that of other popular makers, but it provides one of the smoothest actions I've ever seen. I consider the Team XRAY ball diff to be the best in the business and I think this is of equal quality.  It remains to be tested in action to confirm whether this smooth operation translates into consistent and long-lasting performance. The spool is nicely red anodized and comes with plastic outdrives which provide an even smoother operation.

The absolute jewel of the car's transmission is the design of the driveshafts which feature the Ball Connect System (BCS). What this means is that instead of the common use of small pins at the edge of the driveshaft, giving a shape of dogbone, the TF-6's driveshafts have 6 small balls which in turn fit perfectly in the housing of the diff and spool outdrives. This design ensures constant proportioned power delivery from the drive shaft at any angle during suspension movement to the diff or spool outdrive. The fit and finish is spot-on and the result is silky smooth operation.  It also significantly reduces the well known vibration 'chattering effect' of the front wheels on touring cars with spools up front when wheels are at full steering lock.

The transmission installed

TF-6 Shock absorbers.
Another nice surprise. The shocks of the TF-6 follow in principle the design of most popular shocks in the market such as HB, TAMIYA, XRAY, YOKOMO etc.. but also have some unique features.
The parts are the following:

The pistons have 3 holes, which is the most common choice. The only drawback is that pistons were attached to a 'tree' and had to be cut off, compromising their roundness.
The nicest feature of the shocks are the two clear o-rings, which are uniquely shaped and provide a better seal than common o-rings with less friction on the shock shaft.

The main body. The body is aluminum hard coated anodized providing a smooth action of the piston inside. A nice feature is the fact that there is an o-ring at lower end, providing perfect seal for the lower cap.

 The shock assembled:

and installed on the car:

 I now have installed the new narrow LiPo chassis, the thinner upper deck, the gear diff and aluminum turnbuckles up front

 The gear diff is of premium quality with aluminum gears and uses two o-rings to seal securely the oil internally.  Being brand new, it needs some broken-in to run smoothly. I chose to run it at first with just one o-ring per side in order to free-it up a little as it was a bit too tight for my liking. Testing will show whether this choice is reliable enough without any leaks.

 The electronic equipment fits nicely and the NOSRAM speedo is a perfect match to the color of the chassis. KO Propo servo used with Team Orion LiPo pack and 4.5T motor.

HB TCX new narrow chassis

Team Orion equipment installed

EFRA EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 1/8 TRACK 2011 - LUXEMBOURG / final thoughts

Two exciting semi finals and a great final. The track produced a great show. It has great rhythm and speed with big elevation changes that made the cars look very fast and exciting.
Lamberto Collari after producing a good qualifying run to reach 3rd place, performed flawlessly in the Amain final, surviving a smal incident during the first laps and then marshing on to the top recording also the fastest lap of the entire event, cementing his superiority over the competition. Dario Balestri and Robert Pietsch showed great pace in the first half, both recovering from small mistakes during the first few minutes but in the end their challenge wasn't meant to last as both retired.
Below I gathered some of my favorite photos from the coverage provided by nitro-west.de, lmcc.lu and from facebook

Lamberto Collari's car. A mix of Mugen Mrx-4 middle and front end and Evolva rear end. Why he chose this, it is not known, but it worked for him and that is all it matters. What can one say about this person. He has won so many races and this was his revenge for the misfortunes he encountered in April at the 2011 IFMAR World Championships in Miami. If my information is correct, he had not visited the Luxembourg track before and it took him a few runs to get up to pace. From then on he felt more comfortable with his car and then delivered his maximum to win another big final. Well done!

EFRA EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP 1/8 TRACK 2011 - LUXEMBOURG

Not much info is available at the moment and it doesn't look like it is going to get any better as redrc.net could not attend to cover this meeting. Still some sites are already posting some news and some more should do shortly.
http://www.nitro-west.de/
http://www.lmcc.lu/
http://www.rc-world.gr/ (it's in Greek and has reports)
http://www.facebook.com/ through the profiles of some of the participants (for example Asia Racing Team) timing: http://www.myrcm.ch/ http://www.efra.ws/
Some nice photos here: PHOTOS
Xray RX8 of most likely third fastest on Wednesday, Tobias Hepp from team Xray Germany SMI-Motorsport with the Orcan engine.

MRX-5 of Robert Pietsch, currently fastest

Shepherd Velox Eleven probably of Patrick Schäfer

Serpent 966 TE 2011 probably of Salven

Lamberto Collari checking on his car, which looks like an MRX-4 based prototype which was first seen during free practice at the IFMAR WC in Miamin. Eventually at that race he used a Kyosho Evolva prototype with aluminum parts.

and a short clip of Robert Pietsch (Mugen MRX-5/ Novarossi) and Dario Balestri (Capricorn LAB C-801/ Novarossi) flying through free practice. Video was posted on facebook from ART (Asia Racing Team)

TEAM ORION EQUIPMENT 2011

I just got my hands on the latest powerhouse from Team Orion.
Carbon Pro 90C Competition Batteries
Vortex VST Pro 1/10 Sensor B/L Motors
Vortex R10 Pro Brushless ESC (160A 2-3S)
Digital Setting Box R

Everything looks nice and neat with a robust feel.
Speed control is very compact and the aluminum case should dissipate heat very well.
Included are the capacitors and cooling fan.
The best feature of the new esc is ..... the all black soldered 12 gauge high quality wire. No more resoldering of brand new speed controlers with the risk of doing damage, in order to make the stealthy look of black wires. Now it comes as standard.!
More to come soon..