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Old 2018.01.28, 12:31 PM   #1
joeyxl
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Hello from toronto, new mini-z user!

hello everyone,

i have just gotten into the RC hobby, and after buying a redcat 1/10th truck, and having some things break, i made a rash decision of buying a big RC for living in a city. i then found out about mini-z and that the only track/club in toronto near me is in fact, a mini-z track. i was offered from someone a MA-020S R-32 skyline NISMO BINB, and could not resist to say yes. im still unsure on what upgrades to get, but tonight i will be going to the club for the first time, and i hope i can get some help from them. just thought id say hi, and hope to talk to all of you about these awesome cars, and learn all i can!

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Old 2018.01.28, 04:42 PM   #2
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Welcome! Great that you have a local track to race at as well! I don't drive AWD so i'm not much help in this regard but wish you the best of luck and look forward to seeing you around here
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Old 2018.01.28, 05:58 PM   #3
joeyxl
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Hellp, and thank you . I actually waa thinking of getting a RWD down the road if i end up rreally liking it. Unfortunately, someone picked up my shell and dropped it, and one of the mirrors broke off. I guess I'll have to get some glue!
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Old 2018.01.28, 06:31 PM   #4
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Just go ahead and pull the other one off as well. That way you will know where they both are after you run the car. The best guy with an AWD I ever saw was Old Crow. He pops up every once in a while. You might want to send him a PM and ask some questions.
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Old 2018.01.28, 09:54 PM   #5
Thorvald
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Heya Joeyxl! Wasn't sure if you dropped by Friday night at the track, hope to see you there next time.

Right now people run pretty much anything for the mains (MR03, GL-Racing AWD, lots of custom/3D cars, etc) but there is a fun 90mm class running once in a while but still heavily modified cars. Unfortunately no stock class or even near stock class lol.

Cheers
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Old 2018.01.31, 09:03 AM   #6
joeyxl
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Thorvald View Post
Heya Joeyxl! Wasn't sure if you dropped by Friday night at the track, hope to see you there next time.

Right now people run pretty much anything for the mains (MR03, GL-Racing AWD, lots of custom/3D cars, etc) but there is a fun 90mm class running once in a while but still heavily modified cars. Unfortunately no stock class or even near stock class lol.

Cheers
which track. and im actually thinking of selling this now. after finding out that its impossible to buy parts for this in canada, and that the upgraded radio is overpriced and ONLY works with my specific model (for what the cost is), i think id rather use my 1/10th even though i really have nowhere to drive it.
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Old 2018.01.31, 09:29 AM   #7
mleemor60
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That is too bad. It seems that nobody wants to dance with the one that brought them anymore. The exotics that were thought to be needed to draw people from larger scales are now driving the ones that want to be involved with "mini-Z's" away. What a shame.
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Old 2018.01.31, 10:25 AM   #8
joeyxl
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mleemor60 View Post
That is too bad. It seems that nobody wants to dance with the one that brought them anymore. The exotics that were thought to be needed to draw people from larger scales are now driving the ones that want to be involved with "mini-Z's" away. What a shame.
dont worry, i have a friend who is sending me a parts list. im sorry i just go very frustrated with not being able to find anything, and mabye i dont need to upgrade the receiver. im just not sure where to look for upgrade guides, or how to adujust my car or maintain it. please forgive my novice knowledge.
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Old 2018.01.31, 11:01 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by joeyxl View Post
dont worry, i have a friend who is sending me a parts list. im sorry i just go very frustrated with not being able to find anything, and mabye i dont need to upgrade the receiver. im just not sure where to look for upgrade guides, or how to adujust my car or maintain it. please forgive my novice knowledge.
If you're visiting Mini Car Club of Canada then you have a huge resource for information and a great place to buy parts etc for your Z. Sinister Why (mzr member name) runs a great online store and he and his close friends/ club members have a cool guide (for sale on Amazon but maybe you can get it from him).

Don't get discouraged.... mini z can be frustrating but you can progress quickly.

Good luck
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Old 2018.01.31, 12:36 PM   #10
joeyxl
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Originally Posted by cowboysir View Post
If you're visiting Mini Car Club of Canada then you have a huge resource for information and a great place to buy parts etc for your Z. Sinister Why (mzr member name) runs a great online store and he and his close friends/ club members have a cool guide (for sale on Amazon but maybe you can get it from him).

Don't get discouraged.... mini z can be frustrating but you can progress quickly.

Good luck
thanks! i saw that place, but its quite too far for me to get to as i do not drive. where i can get find sisnters guides? i would really appreciate that
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Old 2018.01.31, 08:30 PM   #11
Thorvald
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Parts are still easy to get.

First since this site is supported by TinyRc.com, I would send your business there but I honestly don't know if they still sell anything (just being respectful of the owners here).

Other than that:

Kenon Hobby from the USA seems to have the most stock.
AMain still has some.
GoNitro hobbies (eBay or direct) has some.
RC Mart (China) is great and has lots in stock
HobbyJapan (eBay) has everything it seems
GL-Racing
(I'm sure I've missed some).

---

Mini Car Club of Canada's (Sinister) website is :

http://www.minicarclubofcanada.com

He is great about getting parts in and quite usually has a fair bit in stock.

---

These days most people modify the death out of their stock Kyosho Miniz with PN Racing (Kenon Hobby) parts and a smattering of others (Kyosho, Atomic, 3Racing, etc).

Where in Ontario are you located? Mini Car Club is right at 427 and Rexdale so within transit distance. Might also be able to hitch a ride with another racer.

---

Miniz is for people that love to tinker and spend RIDICULOUS amounts of money on a tiny little car (most modified cars are upwards of over $1000 by the time people are done). That is why I wish there was more people interested in stock classes but it's an addiction... lol.

The radio is a pain but you can pickup the PN board and use Spektrum or if you are really enjoying, move away from Kyosho and get into GL-Racing or many of the others out there.

Then you can use a regular micro receiver (just change out the servo pins for the smaller socket).

For example, here is the new RWD car from GL-Racing. Looks like a 1/10 touring car shrunk down:



And here is their 4WD:



---

On that note, the ASF band that Kyosho uses on their VE series is a KO Propo band so you can usually find an ASF compatible radio on eBay for a reasonable price. The newer ones have MHS built in so you can move straight to a EX-2 and not get trapped with a Mini-Z radio only. That being said, radio technology in this sector of the hobby is LIGHT YEARS behind the 1/10 stuff. Don't expect fancy English menus, telemetry, colour screens, ABS, etc. It's very hit and miss. Using the EX series of radios feels like going back to the 1980's to me.
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Old 2018.01.31, 11:00 PM   #12
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The average cost of a race ready mini-z is around $350-500 at most, if you are spending more, you're just burning money. Even the full equipped x-power car costs under $700.

My opinion about mini-z, is try to keep it simple with upgrades. Get what is needed to improve performance, and leave the bling off.

In general the hobby has moved away from the bling upgrade mentality brought on by Xmods... where you but a $50 car, then spend $500 on hop ups and still don't have a car that can race decently.

The new GL racing 2wd car shows promise, as it is fully adjustable out of the box. All that is needed is springs and possibly upper arms in the front. It's basically a micro 1/12 pan car. Finally something worth considering picking up, if only there were a track near to race it.

I personally am tired of hopping up cars, I love driving and tuning, I want to keep it at that, without needing to buy bag loads of hop ups to test and see if they are worth using. You may buy $1000 of parts, but only use $300 if you don't know what to look for.

Shawn at MCCR knows his Zs, and will guide you in the right direction.
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Old 2018.02.01, 06:47 AM   #13
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RCMini-Z and BonzaiHobby in Japan are also good online shops that ship just about anywhere.

Our stock class is among our most popular classes I really do enjoy our stock class the most at the end of the day as you just have so much less to fiddle with or worry about and you get to focus more time on the actual driving aspect vs. testing parts.

There was a time when i would easily drop lots of money on parts just for the fun of assembling a car and tuning. These days my time is limited and need to focus on reliability and consistency to minimize what time I spend tinkering so that I can even spend time on the track. Even my 'mod' car is really simple.

The GL Racing stuff fascinates me but instead of ogling over the technical build as I would have a decade ago, I mostly see a time suck, into which vast energies and time could be poured into that I just don't have anymore.

Try not to let the shopping aspect get to you to much. In the post 2008 economy, hobby shops, where they still exit, just don't cater to niche markets like they did in the early 2000's. You can still find parts available and at decent prices but it involves online ordering now vs. brick and mortar stores. Anyone remember the mail order days at hobby shops... that was even worse really. The notion that you had to go to a store just to mail order something was ridiculous then and absurd now.
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Old 2018.02.01, 07:41 AM   #14
Thorvald
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The average cost of a race ready mini-z is around $350-500 at most, if you are spending more, you're just burning money. Even the full equipped x-power car costs under $700.
Don't forget I'm talking Canadian $$$ lol. I also include the cost of the KO Radio ($370 Can for the RR right now).

The GL is nice but the stock ESC was horrible, the Swave sensored is much smoother (however it has teething issue too that will hopefully be resolved). So add another $150 Cdn approx for that.

It's nice to see the newer stock Kyosho cars have the rear damper included and a better motor mount but I'm sure people will still get the "upgrade" bug if they are new to Mini-Z.

---

I think it is a forgone conclusion, any hobby a man (and some women) gets into turns into a money pit lol!
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Old 2018.02.01, 08:40 AM   #15
joeyxl
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thanks alot for the help guys. i live all the way at finch and warden in scarborough, so im on the other side of GTA! i was told that the first thing i should do is get a gyro. i also saw the motor heatsinks on kyoshos site, but other than that i dont know what else i need to get. i think the radio is somthing im going to skip, as i cannot justify getting a ko radio. i saw that there is a touchscreen radio that works with my car, and you can buy Tx for them, so i could get that, and have the ability to use it with my other RC's (my 1/10th blackout). the club i went to is in thornhill called GTA Raceway, its brand new (last year it opened). not very big, and hes more on mini-Q than mini-z for parts.
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