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Old 2002.02.04, 05:23 PM   #1
funkdaddysmack
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Initial Impressions (long)

I just got my first mini-z in the mail today, boy was I happy! I haven't been into the RC world at all, and the only RCs I've owned have been cheap crappy RCs when I was a kid.

The first thing I noticed right away was how SMALL they really are. Sure, I read about how small they were, but until I saw it, I couldn't imagine they would be THIS small. I love it!

Anyways, I opened up the packaging and got down to business. I didn't have much time because I had to go to a class, but I managed to get the body on properly, and the antenna attached and whatnot.

First drive: Boy these things are FAST! I had no idea they would be nearly this fast... They are such a blast to drive!

Now, to my complaints....

1. First of all, it's a pain in the ass putting all the decals on the car. I think the new mini-zs with the different box come 'pre-assembled'? My lack of RC and model building skills took a while for me to get the decals cut/placed, but it's all good.

2. The range on these things is not very good. I understand that I can pull the antenna way out, but it started acting funny at about 15 feet away semi-behind a table with the antenna half out. Maybe I'm used to my older RCs that used more juice in terms of tx/rx, but I wasn't too impressed. Is there any way to get more range without pulling the huge antenna out? I see no point having the antenna WAAAAAAY out when I'm in a small room, it just seems ludacris.

That's about all I have to complain about. The wheelhop (expecially in reverse) is horrible, but I heard that can be taken care of with a stiffer rear suspension, and maybe a ball dif? Sorry, but I'm completely new to hop-ups, and have no clue as to what most of them will do. I doubt I'll be doing any speed hop-ups, at least anytime soon because I can't even top out in speed where I drive it now!

Anyways, this thing is a complete blast to play around with. My roomate was driving it around for a while. We got an insane ammount of battery time on it, and most of it was real jerky stop and go driving. They lasted at least 45 minutes, and the car was still going strong. Not bad for the first charge on the batteries (nimh). Sorry for the long post
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Old 2002.02.04, 05:27 PM   #2
Russ
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You should always run with the antenna out, never in. The TX has a certain amount of information it must transmit, and it heats up the TX when the area through which the info must be transmitted is smaller. It makes the TX work harder to push the info.

This also is your range problem. Indoors, antenna extended, don't expect more than 20 or 30 feet. It REALLY depends on the building and everything included around (lights, etc...). 15 feet sounds about right for some places. If you are outside, and you only get 15 feet, then I would be worried. Outside, I can get my Z off where I can't even see it anymore and still run without a glitch at all. However, there are still some places outdoors with alot of interference.

Glad you like it!!!
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Old 2002.02.04, 05:29 PM   #3
Mondo
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New toy

funkdaddysmack,

Enjoy it

Yea, the purchase of the Mini-Z is like a junkie's first fix. Now comes the long addiction to the hop-ups, Forums, everything and anything Mini-Z related

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Old 2002.02.04, 05:41 PM   #4
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What car did you get that had decals to put on? My car had the decals applied already I got a CLK D2 and Trueno
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Old 2002.02.04, 05:44 PM   #5
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The imprezza's and skyline's come with the body that's blank, you need to do all the work yourself
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Old 2002.02.04, 06:22 PM   #6
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Yea, I guess I screwed myself there... Oh well, the skyline is one damn fine looking work of art! Gotta love those white rims !

I guess I'll keep my antenna out. It's just a pain in the ass when I'm running the car in my room, and the antenna is hitting all sorts of stuff because it's so long! I don't want to cause any damage, though.

Thanks for the advice, guys!
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Old 2002.02.04, 07:56 PM   #7
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Mondo,

You are right, its like you crave the Mini-z.

I know I have spent more on parts and hop-ups than any of my graphite off road vehicles. But now I have 3 mini-zs and 1 XXX buggy!!

It sure is nice to have a forum to share our "mini-drug" induced experiences. Kinda makes spending the dough and taking all the time to experiment worthwhile. And its legal!!

Thanks to all and especially mini-z!
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Old 2002.02.04, 09:33 PM   #8
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funkydaddysmak...

welcome to the wonderfull world of mini-z...

kyosho does offer a more detailed collection of cars, the autoscale collection - each car is sold in their very own display case... and if you want to run them, just swap your body with the new one, and you're ready to run... so if you want to collect them or race them, it's all up to you... (i have collected quite a few thus far)

here's kyosho's official webpage (japanese) it features most of thier cars (i can't wait for their ferrari 360 modena)

http://www.kyosho.co.jp/models/car-e...z/miniz-j.html

some people do find the stickers a pain... so do i... but here are links to some of my cars that i finished (i used surplus tamiya 1/24th scale decals) hope you like them...

http://mini-zracer.com/forums/showth...=&threadid=984

http://mini-zracer.com/forums/showth...=&threadid=971

Last edited by herman; 2002.02.05 at 12:43 AM.
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Old 2002.02.04, 11:38 PM   #9
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Thanks DAMZer!
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Old 2002.02.05, 03:25 AM   #10
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My Lancer came with decals as well. No problems there. If you have an afternoon, it's quite fun putting it all on. Don't rush it just because you want to play with it though... Take some time and make it look good...

A side effect of the miniZ is that I'm back to painting my miniatures again. ( A whole pile of them!!) Getting back in practice to paint my Lancer once my MR-S is ordered. Currently working on a Tyranid-Carnifex. (Those of you who don't know what it is, nevermind)

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Old 2002.02.05, 07:59 AM   #11
funkdaddysmack
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herman, that is one bad ass altezza! I love it, I think that's going to be my next body (maybe). I want to get one of each wheelbase to see which I like the best. Is altezza medium or long?
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Old 2002.02.05, 08:55 AM   #12
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The altezza is the long setting. The spoiler on the rear is also screwed in, so you can remove it and add a different wing pretty easy.
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Old 2002.02.06, 12:58 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally posted by funkdaddysmack
herman, that is one bad ass altezza! I love it, I think that's going to be my next body (maybe). I want to get one of each wheelbase to see which I like the best. Is altezza medium or long?
i'm glad you like the car... the altezza, clk and nsx use the long wheelbase setting like your skyline .... medium would be lancer, porsche, audi, subaru, and vitz (with a high motor mount) and some other cars which i can't remember... so far the only the short wheelbased car that i know is the lancia stratos...

russ >> any suggestions for a rally type spoiler?

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Old 2002.02.08, 03:32 PM   #14
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OMG, i just got mine, i think its soooooooo cool, and i havent even run it yet (my new nimh batts r on the charge!) Its soo small and cool and small. I gotta get my head round this trigger controller tho, thats a new one for me!

Lemmie go try it now....
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Old 2002.02.08, 03:51 PM   #15
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Funky, I managed to drive my Z around with the antenna on TX completly retracted... I think its just a fault in the Mini-Z production line that they dont actualy match the antenna or set the dial on the RX propperly to recieve worth a hoot.

I had to solder and tweek and tinker to get mine to work as new again... I likely fried that underside dial though.

See the thread in the Mini-Z Science area.
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