Post by chiefmasterbeast on Oct 2, 2008 5:53:37 GMT -5
This review is for the Kyosho TF-5 4WD electric touring car. Heres the culprit, 
with after market tires installed. This review will also include the aforemention aftermarket tires, the battery I use with the car, and highlight a litte about the hobby store from where i bought it.
I picked up the Kyosho from a local hobby store close to Osan Air Base, ROK, called US Hobby. It's certainly a family owned store and they have a limited variety of models to chose from. They mostly carry HPI and Kyosho product, and have limited parts for other brands such as Associated and Traxxas. Because of the language barriers, communication is sometimes difficult, but they do know more english than I know Korean, so it works out. They are always friendly, but there prices are a bit steep. I paid 250$ for the Kyosho, when I could have had it for roughly 30$ less online.
I bought the Touring Car and was quite enthusiastic about it. It's my first RC like this and I was very eager to get it on the road. Its a ready to run model, so all the electronics were in it, including a Novak ECS/reciever all-in-one. All I needed to do was get 8 of my favorite AA batteries for the transmitter and charge up a 6cell battery for the car and I was ready to go. While the battery was chargine, i took the time to read the instructions, set up the ESC, and looked over some of the maintence guidelines. On-road cars are certainly not Off-road trucks. The suspension is a lot harder as well as shorter. And they can be a bit more difficult to drive.
After the battery was charged up and I was done reading, I hit the road. well, actually a roller hockey court. Driving on the road in the middle of the day would have been bad, and theres arent any closed off roads and parking lots were full. The slick smooth concrete made for some interesting drifting. The slick style stock tires on dish rims made traction nearly impossible and i kept spinning in circles and finally finally I slid sideways right into the fence. This impact dislodged the motor and ended my run a bit early. After I got back inside and on the workbench, I noticed the screws holding the motor to the motor mount seemed to be extremely loose. Here is where my only major gripe is. This thing is kind of a pain to wrench on. All the hardware is phillipscrew heads. So the possibility for stripping heads is greater. The mounting screws aren't easily accesible unless I remove the enitre mount and the engine with it, and that means I need to open the rear diff to bring the spool and spur gear with the mount. And the rearspool/spur gear is another problem all together. But back to motor mount screws, I saw they were too big for the engine holes and the threads had been badly stripped.
After realizing the stripped screws, I found some left over hex head screws and gently threaded them into the motor holes to see if they would work. They did and I was back in business. After getting the car back together, I was able to run it for a far longer time. The controls are quick and nimble. The Stock Novak ESC/reciver does the job, and the transmitter feels light and confortable in my hand. It even has a built in steering dial to allow more steering or less steering input.
The battery I've been running int the car, a Muchmore 6cell, 7.2V, 2800mAh Battery gets the job done.
It's not a high powered battery. I get roughly 10 minutes of good runtime out of it. Certainly not a battery for racing. Just some good ol' parking lot laps. The six cells are good since its the only size battery the car can take beside lipos. For the 20000won (roughly 20 bucks) I spent on it, it's a decent deal.
After a day or two of running the car in a roller court and some on road duty, I wanted something a bit more flashy on the car then the plain white dish rims with slick tires. So I picked up a set of 3Racing tires already mounted on the blue chrome rims. The tread pattern reminds me of the Goodyear Aquatreads. These tires wore out pretty quick though. Only after three packs the tires were already nearly bald. But they did there job and had very high grip. I suppose these were probably designed to ony last a race or two, for those hardcore racers.
So, how does all this stack up?
Well, for the Kyosho touring car, I'd give it ;D ;D ;D ;D 4 out of 5 in overall value. Its quick, agile car, that its pretty tough. Not bad if you wanna get in the On road scene. The price was a bit high, but that's just because it's Korea, and it can get a bit tedious to wrench on.
The 3Racing Rims and tires really weren't worth the 30000won (roughly 30$) I spent on them and i have since gone back to the stockers, waiting for those to finally wear completely through. The 3Racing tires wore out quickly, but gave the car some bling. I'll keep the rims, and start trying out some different tires Overall: ;D ;D
2.5 smileys out of 5.
And finally, the battery. It was a decent deal. 20 bucks well spent. I've put about fifteen runs through and have noticed a gradual decrease in performance, but that could be operator error in charging it, or any number of variables. Its gets the job done and lets me enjoy the car for a bit when I want it to. Overall, it gets ;D ;D ;D 3.5 smileys out of 5.
For more information, please check out these sites.
www.kyoshoamerica.com
www.3racing.com.hk
www.much-more.co.kr
with after market tires installed. This review will also include the aforemention aftermarket tires, the battery I use with the car, and highlight a litte about the hobby store from where i bought it.I picked up the Kyosho from a local hobby store close to Osan Air Base, ROK, called US Hobby. It's certainly a family owned store and they have a limited variety of models to chose from. They mostly carry HPI and Kyosho product, and have limited parts for other brands such as Associated and Traxxas. Because of the language barriers, communication is sometimes difficult, but they do know more english than I know Korean, so it works out. They are always friendly, but there prices are a bit steep. I paid 250$ for the Kyosho, when I could have had it for roughly 30$ less online.
I bought the Touring Car and was quite enthusiastic about it. It's my first RC like this and I was very eager to get it on the road. Its a ready to run model, so all the electronics were in it, including a Novak ECS/reciever all-in-one. All I needed to do was get 8 of my favorite AA batteries for the transmitter and charge up a 6cell battery for the car and I was ready to go. While the battery was chargine, i took the time to read the instructions, set up the ESC, and looked over some of the maintence guidelines. On-road cars are certainly not Off-road trucks. The suspension is a lot harder as well as shorter. And they can be a bit more difficult to drive.
After the battery was charged up and I was done reading, I hit the road. well, actually a roller hockey court. Driving on the road in the middle of the day would have been bad, and theres arent any closed off roads and parking lots were full. The slick smooth concrete made for some interesting drifting. The slick style stock tires on dish rims made traction nearly impossible and i kept spinning in circles and finally finally I slid sideways right into the fence. This impact dislodged the motor and ended my run a bit early. After I got back inside and on the workbench, I noticed the screws holding the motor to the motor mount seemed to be extremely loose. Here is where my only major gripe is. This thing is kind of a pain to wrench on. All the hardware is phillipscrew heads. So the possibility for stripping heads is greater. The mounting screws aren't easily accesible unless I remove the enitre mount and the engine with it, and that means I need to open the rear diff to bring the spool and spur gear with the mount. And the rearspool/spur gear is another problem all together. But back to motor mount screws, I saw they were too big for the engine holes and the threads had been badly stripped.
After realizing the stripped screws, I found some left over hex head screws and gently threaded them into the motor holes to see if they would work. They did and I was back in business. After getting the car back together, I was able to run it for a far longer time. The controls are quick and nimble. The Stock Novak ESC/reciver does the job, and the transmitter feels light and confortable in my hand. It even has a built in steering dial to allow more steering or less steering input.
The battery I've been running int the car, a Muchmore 6cell, 7.2V, 2800mAh Battery gets the job done.
It's not a high powered battery. I get roughly 10 minutes of good runtime out of it. Certainly not a battery for racing. Just some good ol' parking lot laps. The six cells are good since its the only size battery the car can take beside lipos. For the 20000won (roughly 20 bucks) I spent on it, it's a decent deal. After a day or two of running the car in a roller court and some on road duty, I wanted something a bit more flashy on the car then the plain white dish rims with slick tires. So I picked up a set of 3Racing tires already mounted on the blue chrome rims. The tread pattern reminds me of the Goodyear Aquatreads. These tires wore out pretty quick though. Only after three packs the tires were already nearly bald. But they did there job and had very high grip. I suppose these were probably designed to ony last a race or two, for those hardcore racers.
So, how does all this stack up?
Well, for the Kyosho touring car, I'd give it ;D ;D ;D ;D 4 out of 5 in overall value. Its quick, agile car, that its pretty tough. Not bad if you wanna get in the On road scene. The price was a bit high, but that's just because it's Korea, and it can get a bit tedious to wrench on.
The 3Racing Rims and tires really weren't worth the 30000won (roughly 30$) I spent on them and i have since gone back to the stockers, waiting for those to finally wear completely through. The 3Racing tires wore out quickly, but gave the car some bling. I'll keep the rims, and start trying out some different tires Overall: ;D ;D
2.5 smileys out of 5.And finally, the battery. It was a decent deal. 20 bucks well spent. I've put about fifteen runs through and have noticed a gradual decrease in performance, but that could be operator error in charging it, or any number of variables. Its gets the job done and lets me enjoy the car for a bit when I want it to. Overall, it gets ;D ;D ;D
3.5 smileys out of 5.For more information, please check out these sites.
www.kyoshoamerica.com
www.3racing.com.hk
www.much-more.co.kr