Micro Terrain Titans / Q-Steer

[ibjamn]

You can take the knuckle assembly off, and take a small nail used as a punch, and lightly tap the axle pin further into the knuckle. That will close the gap from the wheel to the knuckle.

[kirbenvost]

You can take the knuckle assembly off, and take a small nail used as a punch, and lightly tap the axle pin further into the knuckle. That will close the gap from the wheel to the knuckle.

Does that help significantly with the steering? I'm interested in doing that but only if it's worth the trouble/risk of breaking something.

I'm new here. I saw these buggies a month or so ago but figured they'd just be some cheap knockoff quality toy, since they're so inexpensive. But I did some more research and ended up picking up 4 of the little buggers, and plan to get 2 more. First micro RC cars I've ever purchased, after wanting something like this for years, and I'm loving it. Currently looking into getting some Bit Char-Gs too. This seems to be the most active place discussing these, so I decided to sign up.

By the way, the TRU exclusive toolbox set comes with a faster motor, if anyone wants more speed without mods. It does drain the battery a bit quicker though.

On the topic of batteries, for those who have done the lipo mod (or any internal modding), what's the size and capacity of the stock battery? I want to get more runtime out of these things but I want to keep them relatively stock. I also like how they charge off the controller anyway. I'm thinking they're going to be 1/3 AAA but I'm not sure.

Anybody know where I'd be able to find replacement batteries with higher capacities?

[ibjamn]

The knuckles snap out easily, and it did improve a little on mine. Just be sure that the wheel assembly is on something flat, and tiny taps are all that is needed. If it is too tight, you can tap the pin from the opposite side.

As far as the original battery, I haven't looked that far inside mine, but I believe it is a 150mah 1/3 AAA. Someone who has dissassembled theirs can correct me if I'm wrong.
But, a higher capacity cell will be bigger.

And welcome to the hood.

[kirbenvost]

Cool, thanks, and for the welcome as well. I'll probably try tapping in the pins then, and see how that goes for me.

So far I haven't seen much for batteries better than 150 mah, I was hoping that was an improvement over the stock ones, maybe not. I did see 210 mah but who knows how legit that might be, and it was on a manufacturer's website, no info on ordering.

[ibjamn]

One more thing, the bigger the battery the heavier it is. It isn't by much, but at this scale, it's a lot. Lipo may be the way to go.

[kirbenvost]

Yeah, that does make sense. I'm just hoping to upgrade with a battery of the same size but higher capacity if possible.

[frizzen]

Whining on a message board apparently works, i found both!

All body shells are different, here's a breakdown of other differences:

#1 Hotshot -- Red body, 4wd-style, white 6-hole rims, wide Pin knob tires with more smaller pins

#2 Avante -- Blue curvy body, 4wd-style, flat yellow rims, wide oval Pin knob tires

#3 Fox Mini -- Blue body, 2wd-style, gold 6-holes, Tri-rib front, wide oval pin knob rear, has extra black thing behind motor-pod

#4 Boomerang -- White body, 4wd-style, white 6-hole rims, wide oval Pin knob tires

#5 Hornet -- Black body, 2wd-style, white 5-star rims, 4-rib front, TALL pin knob rears

#6 Grasshopper -- White body, 2wd-style, white 5-star rims, 4-rib front, Sand Paddle rears

2wd-style... Skinny front, wide rears that are taller than fronts.
4wd-style... all 4 tires same size, fronts are 1 row of pins narrower.
___

By the way, the TRU exclusive toolbox set comes with a faster motor, if anyone wants more speed without mods. It does drain the battery a bit quicker though.

Huh? Exclusive toolbox set? What else does it have???

[kirbenvost]

Huh? Exclusive toolbox set? What else does it have???

They're essentially domestic releases of the Frog & Buggy Champ Toolbox kits which were released in Japan. So they come with one of two buggies (green Frog or Buggy Champ/Rough Rider), a small tool/tacklebox-style storage case, 'performance' motor with orange endbell (faster than stock motor), 'performance' gearset (same as stock but green), slick front & back wheels (with axle/gear), 2 plastic jumps/ramps, and 5 plastic traffic cones.

The Japanese ones also came with a mini version of the original 1/10 scale kit boxes and sticker sets, but those are not included in the North American releases.

Pretty good deal for $10 more than the standard buggies, IMO.


Question: Are the buttons on the Hornet controller yellow or orange? In Japan there are two different versions... I haven't seen it in store here lately so I'm wondering which one it has.

[frizzen]

Man, I'm gonna have to hit Toysrus!!!

Hornet is Black with Yellow buttons.
I'd rather not have to try and figure out the rest of which remote color goes with which, all the TXs went into a pile.

Here are the IR channels
#1 Hotshot -- D
#2 Avante -- A
#3 Fox Mini -- C
#4 Boomerang -- B
#5 Hornet -- C
#6 Grasshopper -- B

#7 Champ/Roughrider -- D
#8 green Frog -- B
#8 pink Frog -- A ?


green Frog is B and Champ/Roughrider is D

[kirbenvost]

^Correct about Frog/Champ, I believe. Thanks about the remote.

Remotes for others as follows if you want to know, they mostly correspond to the colors of the buggies:

#1 Hotshot -- Red/Yellow Buttons
#2 Avante -- Black/Blue Buttons
#3 Fox Mini -- Blue/Yellow Buttons
#4 Boomerang -- White/Blue Buttons?
#5 Hornet -- Black/Yellow Buttons
#6 Grasshopper -- White/Green Buttons
#7? Frog -- Black/Green Buttons
#8? Champ -- Orange/Grey Buttons

Once I get all the ones I want I'm only going to use 4 remotes, and maybe have a dedicated one for charging.

[frizzen]

They don't really say anything else, but pics are nice.

Rough Rider
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.js ... Id=3544692

Green Frog (no pic?)
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.js ... Id=3544693

Yeah, really there's no point in having more remotes out than 4, or less for the number of people you can ever get together to play. So I'm thinking atleast one remote will get an 'anti-boost' mod, on/off switch, and throw in a couple more LEDs...


- - Hijack - -
Solar micro car charger?
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.js ... Id=3381154

[kirbenvost]

They don't really say anything else, but pics are nice.

Rough Rider
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.js ... Id=3544692

Green Frog (no pic?)
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.js ... Id=3544693

Yeah, really there's no point in having more remotes out than 4, or less for the number of people you can ever get together to play. So I'm thinking atleast one remote will get an 'anti-boost' mod, on/off switch, and throw in a couple more LEDs...


- - Hijack - -
Solar micro car charger?
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.js ... Id=3381154

Huh. That's kind of cool, but I bet it charges slower on solar power, and it's way less portable.


Pics of Frog:






What would the extra LEDs be for on your remote?


Edit: So I cracked the shells off my buggies last night, luckily I was able to do it without damaging anything. Looks like it'll be tough to get the PCB off without breaking something. Any tips?

Was also looking into LiPos... do these look any good?

http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?P ... rodID=1291
http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?P ... rodID=4252

It seems like it would be hard to fit them in there. They do also have some rechargeable Lithium button cells, could be possible to rig something with one of those.

Also if I use a LiPo, do I have to get the special PCB for it that the site says I need? I don't know anything about this stuff...

[Sqwalerrr]

So I cracked the shells off my buggies last night, luckily I was able to do it without damaging anything. Looks like it'll be tough to get the PCB off without breaking something. Any tips?

befor you even try to pry off the pcb mark and desolder the steering wires

EDIT:

look at this site http://www.rc-fever.com/tomy-qsteer-ser ... 5_319.html

[frizzen]

Extra LEDs on remote would be to put off more IR light. Not sure they're really lacking, but too much is almost enough. Unlike a lot of modders, I don't really have a hardon for just adding "Der blinken lights" for the hell of it, but if an IR array will add range, I'm all about it.

[kirbenvost]

befor you even try to pry off the pcb mark and desolder the steering wires

EDIT:

look at this site http://www.rc-fever.com/tomy-qsteer-ser ... 5_319.html

I guess I need a new soldering iron... last time I tried to use it, the thing wouldn't melt shit. I suppose I was fooling myself if thought I could get away with modding these things without any soldering.

I've seen that site. Pretty good deals for the ones in stock. I've heard the original Q-Steer buggies lack a power switch, which causes the batteries to become overdrained, and they added one for the Terrain Titans. Still cheaper to buy domestically anyway.

They're also listed on the Tomy UK site as Micro Buggies. No stock last time I checked though, and I think they only had Hotshot & Fox.

Extra LEDs on remote would be to put off more IR light. Not sure they're really lacking, but too much is almost enough. Unlike a lot of modders, I don't really have a hardon for just adding "Der blinken lights" for the hell of it, but if an IR array will add range, I'm all about it.

Hmm, that's a good idea. What about boosting voltage to the LED? I suppose like most diodes they probably have a limited range of volts to work within, and another LED would have to be used. I find the range to be pretty good, myself, but these are my first micros.

Is that your collection? Sweet. I like the grass. Standard hobby landscaping materials? I was at the dollar store yesterday scouting for track materials. Foam floor tiles, colored electrical tape... lots of ideas. I need to make it portable though, I live in a small apartment, so I can't have a big track taking up floor space all the time. Hard time finding springs for the buggy shocks however, all the springs I saw in pens and stuff were too big.

Today I'm probably getting the Grasshopper, unless they have the Hornet.

Oh yeah, I also tapped the knuckle pins, and it did help. It's now easier to do donuts. I've got the Hotshot set up with the slick wheels from the performance set, thing spins like a mofo. I should stick the performance motor in there and see what happens. It was also the worst-steering of my lot before because of irregularities in the knobby tires, it's pretty good now.

These things are awesome. Now to go buy some Bits...