after an exciting weekend of ‘big’ scale R/C, this week things slowed down tremendously with several of our visitors going back to their home country and other locals taking a break from the every day party that is Pattaya. during this very quiet week, we received the latest in highly detailed, scale replicas from the always impressive, Kyosho dNano Auto Scale Collection. the detail in the works of art they produce for us to play with is simply amazing. take a look at the photos of the all new, Xanavi Nismo GT-R 2008 and you’ll see what i mean. this is a 1/43 scale car and that means its tiny. the sponsor decals, the spoilers, the fixtures are all there and if you’re starting a collection of models in this size, i guarantee you’ll want to make this a part of it. unfortunately, the body mount and fitting parts haven’t been released so if you’re looking to change from one dNano to another, you’ll need to wait a few more weeks but if you’d like to be pick up a CCS (Complete Chassis Set), then that’s available now. speaking of which…. how could we get this in and not give it a test run?
the first thing i noticed about this new shell is the length. though the wheelbase is only 62.8mm, the body extends several mm beyond the rear end of the chassis making it equally as long as the DBR9. this extension gives it a ‘swing’ sort of handling feel when navigating corners. i suppose that can be good or bad depending on how you drive it. another thing i noticed is the discrepancy between the specs of the car and the actual setup. if you’re familiar with the spacers used to adjust ride height and front suspension travel, you’ll know there are .5mm and 1mm spacers used between the upper & lower front suspension plates. in the DNX410 documentation, it specifically says there’s a 1mm upper spacer and no lower spacer but in the chassis sets we received, there ‘s a 1mm lower spacer installed (see photo). i ended up changing this spacer from 1mm to .5mm which helped to reduce the ‘swing’ feel in cornering and leveled the ride height. a car’s setup is really a personal decision based on driving style and circuit layout so if you get one of these, play with the setup to find what works best for you. after racing with many dNano, i’ve discovered the body is very important in the way the chassis will handle so always take care to choose that fits your driving style & performance expectations. a new ‘white’ version of the IC Tag is now installed, the previous generations were a light blue, then a dark blue. i assume the evolution is to implement improvements in functionality but that remains to be revealed.
just like the MOTUL Autech Z, this body is very low profile so you may notice it rubbing the surface during high speed cornering which can cause unpredictable oversteer. overall, i like the way the car handles on straights, it tracks like a bullet when i hit the throttle. the body is somewhat delicate and after the ‘Dylan Test’ parts that came off included the front ‘scoop’ spoilers + the front air filter/toe hook. as usual, when racing you shouldn’t expect the side mirrors to last long and the spoiler could come off easily if involved in a hard rear end collision. if you’d like these parts to last longer, strengthen them with acrylic, Joom handles that for all our members. that’s all i have for now, expect an update this week on the R8 Type Shell and if you’re interested in our club races, stop by the forum for the latest info.
