MIP Super Ball Diff for Tamiya Blackfoot and Monster Beetle

Here it is!  The MIP Super Ball Diff (#16210) for the Tamiya Blackfoot (58633) and Monster Beetle (58618).  Here are the pictures of the final product as I received it yesterday.

48 tooth diff gear

Two kinds of grease: clear silicone and MIP

I have not built one of these diffs to try yet, mostly because I do not have a Blackfoot or Monster Beetle to put it in.  My plan is to use them in the Frog and Subaru Brat by switching the internal gears to Blackfoot ones and using the Frog universal joints as I mentioned in the compatibility section of a previous post.

Since the overall design is based on MIP's tried and true ball diff layout used in their other products, the strength and durability of these diffs is not in question.  Over on TamiyaClub, initial testing results from one member indicate that it is indeed tough and has none of the problems found in the stock gear diff (clicking, grinding) even from a backward rolling start at full throttle.  With the MIP ball diff there is no longer a need to have bracing on the outside of the gearbox side plates or a bolt going through the gearbox to try to stop the plates from bending outward under high acceleration.

These diffs are available now by going to this link: http://www.miponline.com/store/miptamiyainfo.html
MSRP is US $60+ shipping.  Not exactly cheap (it's made in the USA), but certainly less than a vintage Thorp diff from eBay.

Note: I am not affiliated with MIP in any way.  I'm just happy that they made this product.

Update: MIP Ball Diff for Tamiya ORV Chassis Pre-Order Campaign is a Success!

According to the latest email newsletter from MIP, the Tamiya ORV chassis ball differential pre-order campaign has met the minimum quantity needed for production to start! 

Congratulations to all that pre-ordered to make this happen!

Production of the differentials will begin almost immediately according to Alberto (Pintopower on Tamiyclub) who contacted MIP directly and received a reply that manufacturing will start on Dec 2, 2016 at 8am.  The first shipments of the new diffs are expected some time in January, 2017.

If you are reading this post before Dec 5, 2016, there is still time to pre-order now and save 10% off the $60 retail price.  See details below.

While nothing specific has been said about retail production for these diffs, I think it is reasonable to assume that MIP will manufacturer a certain quantity of units that will reach the normal retail and distributor outlets and see how they sell.  

If you missed out on the pre-order campaign and want to purchase one of these differentials, keep an eye out for them at your MIP dealer starting in early 2017.  Also, be sure to ask for them so your dealer knows there is a demand. Part #16210 MIP Super Ball Diff.

When I first saw the MIP newsletter email, my eyes immediately focused on the chart showing only 82.4% sold with 4 days left before the end of the campaign (Dec 5, 2016).  Some quick math told me that there were still 44 units left to reach the minimum pre-order quantity of 250.  I was disappointed.  There was no way 44 units would be sold in 4 days.

But, a sharp-eyed reader on TamiyaClub (thanks, Dangerseeker!) noticed that there was this sentence hiding in the text above the chart: "MIP goal has been reached, so production has now started."   I totally overlooked that sentence, and so did others.

So, while the goal was to have 250 units pre-ordered, the actual minimum "go" quantity must have been 200 (just guessing here).  (250 x 82.4% = 206)

Here is the email:

WEB ONLY
NEW DISCOUNTED PRE-PURCHASE CAMPAIGN

#16210 MIP Super Ball Diff,

(click image to purchase)

 

MIP is honored to offer the Tamiya Vintage Community our

MIP Super Ball Diff for the Tamiya Blackfoot, Monster Beetle,
Subaru Brat, Lancia Rally  and Frog series of cars. 

MIP goal has been reached, so production has now started .
Buy now thru 12/5/16 and save $6

This is your last week to save 10% off the MIP Super Diff 

Only 5 more days to SAVE 10% off
of MIP Super Ball Diff
Ends Monday 12/5/16 at midnight 

Blackfoot
Monster Beetle
Brat 
 Frog 
(re-release kits)
MSRP: $60.00

---

LAST WEEK TO SAVE 10%

(NO FREE SHIPPING THIS WEEK)

WITH CODE - "late10" FROM 11/29/16 TO 12/5/16

   

---

(click image to purchase)

Disclaimer:  I am not affiliated with MIP or Tamiya or TamiyaUSA in any way.  All logos are copyrighted and/or trademarked by their respective owners.

Moore's Ideal Products Tamiya ORV Ball Differential Pre-Order Announcement

Moore's Ideal Products, commonly known as MIP to most RCer's, is testing the waters of vintage upgrades with the announcement of a special pre-order for a ball differential for the Tamiya ORV chassis.

Unfortunately I missed the original announcement of this product on November 14th, 2016 so I missed out on the deepest pre-order discount, however there are still a couple days left (as of Nov 26, 2016) to save 20% and get free shipping in continental US.  Details are below.

What is the Tamiya ORV chassis and why would you care?  Rather than repeat everything that has been said before, I'll post some of what Alberto (Pintopower on TamiyaClub) posted on the TamiyaClub forum and add some of my own comments.

Original TamiyaClub forum link from Pintopower: http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/81019-mip-super-ball-diff-for-tamiya-orv-cars-now-on-sale/&page=1

MIP Part Page (where you will add to cart)
http://www.miponline.com/store/mip16210.html

MIP Pre-sales Page (where you will find the promo codes)
http://www.miponline.com/store/miptamiyainfo.html

The following video from AMPRO Engineering (also from Alberto/Pintopower) explains everything:

Here is some information from Alberto:
This is how it is going to work. The pre-sale will go on for 3 weeks [starting Nov 15th, 2016]. In those 3 weeks, a minimum order quantity of 250 must be reached. You will place your order with MIP and your credit card will be charged. When that happens, the diff goes on to full on production as soon as they reach their goal. It will be manufactured in house and then mailed from their facility in Covina, California to you directly. Shipping is estimated to start early January 2017. Once this milestone has been hit, MIP has many more upgrades planned for Tamiya cars. This diff is just the start.

If we do not hit 250 in 3 weeks, the project is cancelled. Your credit cards will be completely refunded and there will continue to be nothing for the ORV.

I [Alberto/Pintopower] have been working with them for years to try and convince them of the market for these vintage cars. You may recall my early post about this and sadly, a number of “patches” for the ORV as well as early production cost estimates made the project lose steam. With the advent of the 2016 BF and many, many nagging meetings with them, they decided to create the single greatest needed part for any RC car ever.

Compatibility Information 

Find your ORV chassis below to see what required parts are needed to use this new MIP differential.

Subaru Brat: 58038 (original) & 58384 (rere)

• Requires Tamiya 53908 RC Frog 2005 Assem Univ. Shaft.
• Requires Tamiya 9335026 RC Diff Spur & C. Gear: 58060 - X9954.
• Requires 16 tooth pinion.

Lancia Rally: 58040 (original)

• Requires Tamiya 53908 RC Frog 2005 Assem Univ. Shaft.
• Requires Tamiya 9335026 RC Diff Spur & C. Gear: 58060 - X9954.
• Requires 16 tooth pinion.

Frog: 58041 (original) & 58354 (rere)

• Requires Tamiya 53908 RC Frog 2005 Assem Univ. Shaft.
• Requires Tamiya 9335026 RC Diff Spur & C. Gear: 58060 - X9954.
• Requires 16 tooth pinion.

 Blackfoot: 58058 (original)

• Requires Tamiya 53908 RC Frog 2005 Assem Univ. Shaft.

Monster Beetle: 58060 (original)

• Requires Tamiya 53908 RC Frog 2005 Assem Univ. Shaft.

Mudblaster: 58077 (original)

• Requires Tamiya 53908 RC Frog 2005 Assem Univ. Shaft.

Monster Beetle: 58618 (rere)

• Direct drop-in.  No additional parts required.

Blackfoot: 58633 (rere)

• Direct drop-in.  No additional parts required.

Pricing:

Week one: $42 + Free Shipping in Continental USA, Flat Rate worldwide with Code “oldskool30”.  This discount has now expired.
Week two: $48 + Free Shipping in Continental USA, Flat Rate worldwide with Code “vintage20”.  Continental US buyers can enter Code "orvshipping" to get free shipping.
Week three: $54 + Shipping in Continental USA, Flat Rate worldwide with Code “late10”

If this pre-order succeeds with over 250 orders, then the normal production retail price will be $60 + shipping.

Remember to type in promo codes before you check out to get the discounts.
Continental USA gets free shipping for weeks 1 and 2 (Enter Code "orvshipping" after entering Code "vintage20").  Continental US shipping is not free for week 3.
Global shipping is flat rate so if you order more than one, it is the same cost.

Some more information from Alberto:
You might be asking who is this “MIP”?. Moores Innovative Products was founded in 1978 and is no stranger to upgraded Tamiya parts. Anyone remember the 4WD SRB? That was them. They were around through the golden age of RC, survived the late 90’s and is one of the last companies that designs, engineers, tests, manufactures and ships from their facility in Southern California. They make upgraded and OEM parts for buggies as large as 1/5th for many of the manufacturer of high end RC cars today. In summary, they make the best stuff you can get and it is all made in the USA.

As you can imagine, I am very excited about this and I hope you are as well. I really need your help getting the word out so that we can make this an unmitigated success. I will post links to the info page as well as the presales page as soon as they are finished. I also requested some updated model pictures from them and will post soon. Please let me know if you have any questions and I know we will hit our minimum goal.

I don’t know about you but I have been wanting a solution to this diff since I put my monster beetle away in 1996 with a ruined gearbox. 

Just so you know, I do not work for them, I have simply been working to have them better understand the vintage RC car owners better and create a solution that would benefit the most people while giving them the best options for the driveline on the ORV. Remember, this is just the beginning. I know what is next, and it is awesome.

Alberto 

Many thanks to Alberto for pursuing this project with MIP and dogging them into offering this pre-order. I am hopeful that it will be successful and lead to many more hop-ups for both vintage and re-re Tamiya vehicles.

Kyosho Lazer ZX Restoration Finished

I have finally finished the Kyosho Lazer ZX restoration that I have been meaning to get done for what seems like forever.  The last time I posted about this car was way back in late 2011 when I completely rebuilt the chassis from scratch.  The rebuild included some vintage hop-ups and original repair parts that I had bought not too long after I acquired the car way back in 1993.  If you haven't read that post before, I recommend viewing it before continuing with this one.  Here are a couple pictures from the rebuild:

The final piece of the restoration that was missing was the body, under tray and wing.  I had bought a reproduction body and decal set from MarwanRC in 2011 with plans to finish the work during the following summer of 2012, but that never happened.  Other things came up, plus I didn't feel like I was in the right mood to do it justice.  I knew it would be a difficult body to fit to the chassis.  I also knew masking the body for the box art color scheme would be a fairly complex undertaking.  I figured the painting itself wouldn't be too difficult to do as long as the masking was done properly.  It's just two colors, after all.  One sticking point was the yellow trim lines between the two main blue and white colors on the body. How would I do that?  Triple mask for three colors or trim tape on the outside (or even inside) the body?  My own self-doubt prevented me from attempting the work.

Fast forward to now, in the middle of summer 2015 in the northern hemisphere, and I can say that I have finally finished one of the most complex body fitments I've ever done.

Here is a quick overview of the work involved.

There were four main steps to finishing the Lazer ZX body set:

1. Cutting, trimming and testing fitment of parts to the chassis
2. Masking
3. Painting
4. Decaling

Cutting, Trimming and Fitment
Trimming the body parts and getting them to fit the chassis took the most time for this body set.  There are four parts to the Lazer ZX body set:  The main body shell, under tray, main wing and secondary wing.  This is twice as many parts as a "normal" car, which usually has just the main body and wing.

Fitting the main body shell to the chassis took the most time due to the complex cutouts required around the front shock tower, rear shock tower and right side gearbox.  Lots of fine-tuning the fit was required so that the body did not press or rub against the chassis, gearbox cover, and shock towers.

The main wing was the second hardest part to cut out and trim.  As wings go, it's pretty normal in shape but I find that it takes me a while to trim it down to the proper shape while keeping the edges straight and even.

The under tray was fairly simple to cut out and trim due to its mostly flat shape and straight edges.  Some extra trimming was required in a couple areas to allow the tray to fit more closely to the underside of the main chassis and prevent it from being stressed at contact points.

The secondary wing piece was the simplest part to trim and fit.  It's just a wide U shape with a center notch cut out to fit around the main wing mount bracket.  It fits inside the main wing in the finished product to create a "double wing" design.

Masking
Masking the body parts took the second longest amount of time to complete.

For the main body, the main cockpit window was masked first.  I know the box art scheme has a black window, but I wanted it clear instead.  Then, the areas I wanted white were masked off.  Remember, dark colors, like the metallic blue I used, are sprayed first when painting polycarbonate bodies from the inside.  After masking was complete, the areas I wanted painted blue were the only sections exposed.

The main wing needed a white stripe down the middle, so I masked it off, making sure it was evenly spaced on both sides.

The under tray and secondary wing pieces needed no masking because they are all blue and all white, respectively.

Painting
I used Tamiya PS-16 Metal Blue and Tamiya PS-1 White straight from the can.

This step is probably the simplest, but at the same time one of the most frustrating.  The very narrow space on each side of the main wing makes it practically impossible to get spray paint there.  I kept spraying and spraying, but the paint wouldn't go in.  In the past I've moved the paint can nozzle closer to the wing but it usually results in too much paint hitting the surface which ruins the metallic effect or results in a dreaded run.  I'd rather have it be too light in color than possibly have a drip or run.

The rest of the body parts painted nicely.  The main body was easy to do.  Many light coats were applied until it became mostly opaque.  I wanted a dark, rich metallic blue color and I knew white would be backing it so I made sure the paint was thick enough not to have the white affect it too much.  The under tray was the easiest because it was mostly flat which allowed the paint to coat it evenly.  

After the blue paint was applied and left to dry for a while, I peeled off the masking which exposed the parts of the body I wanted to be white.  The cockpit window mask was left in place.  I sprayed the entire main body, main wing and secondary wing with Tamiya PS-1 white until it had nice coverage.  After the white was dry, I removed the cockpit window mask and then removed all of the protective film covering each part.  I let it dry for a few days before moving on to applying the decals.

Decaling
I think that applying decals to a body is the most enjoyable part of the work.  No fiddling with sharp knives under tension, no plastic shards and no dust.  Also, there are no smelly paint fumes to deal with.  Just plop down in a chair with the TV on and play a bad movie while carefully cutting decals, dipping them in a soapy water solution and sticking them to the body.

It is certainly a time consuming process, but very straightforward.  Each decal has a specific location where it needs to go and it is just a matter of cutting it out from the sheet and positioning it precisely on the body.  The soapy water really helps with the final positioning.  It lets you move the decal around instead of just having it stick where the decal happened to touch the surface of the body.  It's also possible to remove the decal, re-dip in the soapy water solution and place it down again to get more time for positioning.  The larger decals benefit from this more than the smaller ones, but when trying to get the perfect spacing every trick has to be used.

With the main decals finished, there was just one more thing:  That yellow trim line between the main blue and white colors on the main body.  I purchased some Pactra Trim Tape in yellow which comes as a roll of 8 different widths ranging from 1/32" to 1/2".  I used the 1/16" wide strip. 

[Side note:  I discovered during my research for trim tape that Testors, the company that owns the Pactra brand, had begun to phase out most Pactra products as of mid-2013, including trim tape.  You can still find it, however.  It is also available under the Testors name, although the rolls are not as long.  It comes in various colors, including blue, red, yellow, silver, white and black.]

I did not use any soapy water with the trim tape.  It was strong enough to withstand removing and re-applying it over and over to get it in the correct position, so I decided that the soapy water wasn't necessary.  It bends around curves and corners well.  It is important to not stretch it as it is being applied, especially on concave surfaces.  After a few hours it will try to return to its original length, so it will pull back and away from the surface.  Use of a hair dryer or heat gun helps activate the adhesive and relaxes the tape, allowing it to adhere to the surface better.

Final Result
It is perfect?  No, certainly not.  I made a couple of rookie mistakes, like not ensuring that the masking tape was firmly pressed down in a couple places which allowed some paint to go under the tape where it shouldn't have.  I always seem to have a couple spots like this.  Luckily the two spots on this body are not too noticeable.

Am I happy with it?  Yes, for two reasons: First, it's finally done after all these years.  It is certainly a good feeling of accomplishment.  Second, it looks quite nice, especially in person.  These pictures don't really do it justice.  I am my own worst critic because I know every flaw, every mistake and every shortcoming about it.  I wish I could have done a better job than I did.  But it is what it is.

Enjoy these pictures of the final product.

Vehicle: Kyosho Lazer ZX (originally released in 1989)
Body: MarwanRC Reproduction Lazer ZX
Decals:  MarwanRC Reproduction Lazer ZX
Trim Lines: Parma Trim Tape (Yellow, 1/16" width)
Paint Scheme/Layout:  Lazer ZX Box Art

This first set of pictures show the vehicle with the following wheels and tires:

• Wheels:  J.C. Racing 2.2" Yokomo YZ10 5-Spoke
• Tires: Pro-Line Racing Caliber 2.2" (8211-02 front, 8210-02 rear)

This second set of pictures show the vehicle with the following wheels and tires:

• Wheels:  Pargu2000 Aluminum Optima Mid Front Narrow Wheels (ms0020)
• Tires: MarwanRC Reproduction OT66 (rear), Kyosho Square Pin Narrow (front)