i’ve always considered myself a dnano ‘purist’ because i championed the aspect of ‘realism’ because each car is designed to be a replica of its full size counterpart. unfortunately, racing had slightly altered my view of things since many of the available choices just aren’t race cars. their stock setup would get you killed in a race with guys who ‘know what they’re doing’ so don’t be afraid to ‘play’ with things a bit. the first photo in my gallery is of the underside of my Lamborghini Gallardo. it has some serious battle scars since this chassis started as a Porsche 911 GT3. after finally realizing that car is just too narrow to be competitive with the GT type dnano, it’s been a Lamborghini Countache LP500S and a Ferrari F40 in its’ previous ‘lives’. the custom body we made proudly wears more scars, none of my four (4) dnano are shelf queens so they all have felt the pain of bumps and crashes in the heat of a final. i’ll be tossing the Gallardo into the fires of F1R on Sunday for the next club race but i couldn’t do it without a few small changes, here’s what i did to make it perform just as well as my Mazda 787b (which is no small feat for those who know about the Mazda):

the stock setup for the Gallardo is extremely narrow but there’s room underneath the shell to modify a few things but first, you’ll need a Kyosho Friction Shock as the other damper kits can’t fit under the body without cutting a hole (the mount comes into contact with the shell eliminating suspension – not gonna work!). now that your Gallardo still looks great, lets move on to tech specs. i’ve added some small box cutter blades for additional weight at the bottom/center of the chassis which helps hold the car down during high speed cornering.  2nd, i’ve created negative camber by switching out the (4) lower front suspension plate to a (5). this increases stability in cornering with a wider track width and reduces roll by changing the angle of the front wheels. fast cornering speeds are critical to fast lap times which -of course- are critical for the win. if you do this, its best to use the stock plastic upper plate and ‘dremel’ the kingpin holes to allow for an angle, preventing excessive rubbing or binding.  3rd, the rear of the car is just too narrow and instead of the standard (3) aluminum rear wheel hub, i’ve added a (4) which add even more corning stability. your suspension plates and front shock springs will depend on the surface you’re racing on, i use PN Racing soft on both F1R and F2L. i use 25° front tires and 10° rear tires + 18-size racing wheels all around (X-Power).  the tires will break-in after a few laps and give excellent overall grip for the long, 30-minute final. my power plant? the X-Power ‘HOT’ for F1R and Kyosho X-Speed or stock on F2L with 32T/7T – spur/pinion gearing. the idea isn’t to have the fastest car, but a fast car that gives you the easiest, most reliable handling for a consistent performance that will take you from start to the checkered flag in first place. do you have a special setup for your dnano? post a comment here on the blog and share your experiences!

while we’re dicussing customs, i decided to go with an LP640 Auto Scale body for future races because the Reventon Type Shell is a bit top heavy and though it looks good, lacks the racing attributes that i need on Sundays. Joom and i added a Spoiler Kit + X-Power Stickers which give it that GT feel. we now have both of these items in stock at our online shop so if you’re looking that racing feel to your murcielago, get them both while supplies last.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

the past few days, Joom and I have been working on our custom livery project.  after extended discussion with several members, we all agreed that it would be really cool to have racing liveries for existing dNano since we haven’t seen anything new since XP’s release of the Reventon and Kyosho’s most recent release in February of the C6-R.  with this in mind, i located Patto’s Place for decals, ordered a few sets and Joom skillfully installed the Brummel #8 livery on my Ferrari F40 (see gallery).  it turned out pretty good but the auto scale models already have a clear coat which makes it difficult to install permanent decals.  if we wanted to install decal sets on completed models, that would mean starting with a fresh, blank body or finding a way to strip the paints without damaging the plastic.  since we’ve already got blank bodies for the 911 GT3, Gallardo and R8, we found a nice livery that matched a set of decals we picked up and went to work on our ‘from scratch’ project.

my task was to paint the base colors using an airbrush.  this lays paint smooth, even and secure with no mess as long as masking is done properly.  after the base colors, Joom‘s task was to install the decals.  she’s a professional nail stylist so applying tiny stickers to small objects is already an easy job for her.  while she installed decals, i built a spoiler and mount that would suit our needs for this project.  Joom entered the final stage by attaching all the detailed light fixtures, our home-made spoiler and other model parts with acrylic.  we both feel it turned out well for our first project but i almost wrecked it when i added a final clear coat and tried to wipe off the excess paint with a tissue.  take my advice, paints and tissues don’t mix.  we were able to save it but of course it wasn’t as pristine as we’d like it to be.  i think we’ll keep this one but will probably add a ‘custom livery’ service to our online shop if we can perfect the process.  have you done  custom livery for your dNano? send a photo to qon@nanotrax.net and i’ll post it on a future blog update with your name and location included.  i’ve got to do maintenance to prepare for upcoming races so i’ll share my technique in my next update.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

sorry i’ve been ‘missing in action’ for over a week but i have good reason(s) and i’ll enhance your life by listing them here:  1) my laptop blanked out on me. most of my blog posts and general day to day ‘stuff’ is done from my portable and everything that normally happens during the day on a computer pretty much ran into a brick wall at that moment.  2) Songkran. if you’re not familiar with Thai holidays, this is one of the biggest and longest with celebrations and vacations lasting nearly 9 days.  many local ‘farang’ (foreigners living in Thailand) find a way to get away from Pattaya as it turns into a virtual mine field of places to get soaked from giddy revelers who stand streetside waiting to drench any oncoming vehicle including unwary motorcyclists (which most of us are).  so, its been pretty quiet in the shop with little ‘new’ traffic and only a few regulars stopping in to chat.

there is good news though:  we got our first Thai adult member!  his name is Tic and he’s from Bangkok.  granted, he grew up in the USA and spent a few years working in Singapore before re-settling in Thailand but… hey, its a start!  we’ve heard NanoTrax is considered ‘high-so’ (aka high society, upper-class, expensive, etc) so the average Thai doesn’t feel comfortable even walking into the shop let alone joining as a member.  i’m not sure why though. i do speak Thai, Joom is Thai and we welcome everyone equally, but we just haven’t figured out how to get more Thais to come in, participate, join and support the shop.  anyhoo… Rome wasn’t built in a day.  we also had a visitor from Germany who races Mini Z at home.  his name is Willy and he brought several of his cars but was disappointed because our layout this season is a bit too small.  he seems to think dNano are a bit small for him but perhaps we can convince him to get a rental and join us for a club race when everyone gets back in town?

speaking of club races… this week’s F1 Sunday was quiet and, as i’ve said, all our members have either fled Pattaya, are stuck in Europe due to the volcano eruption or just went home for a few months to work and save some money to come back.  no race report, no pretty girls, just me and my new red Ferrari F40.  i’ve been running with the yellow body but figured a Ferrari isn’t a Ferrari unless it wears red (sometimes).  i’m considering replacing my aluminum with the new X-Power Racing Wheels for the next race – lighter is faster, faster is better!  as usual, if you need to contact me just drop an e-mail to qon@nanotrax.net, its always great to know you’re reading – l8r!

time for a new ride and i’m not talkin’ about the one sitting out in front of the house.  i’m talkin about the ones i can own that i can’t own in real life and even if i had the money to buy them, i wouldn’t anyhow but since they’re tiny, i can and i do.  now i’m bored with my Lamborghini Countache LP500S, i decided to dismantle it along with my Porsche 911 GT3, then use the required parts to build the Ferrari F40.  its performance is still in question since none of the club members has tried it in competition, but we’ll see how things go at this week’s club race.  in other news, we’re making our move towards expansion and that means adding more items, from a variety of brands that produce high quality aftermarket parts for dNaNo and Mini Z.  view the gallery of latest items here and visit the online shop to browse our entire catalog of chassis sets, option parts and replacement parts for your dNaNo.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

since we start the new year with a new, technical layout, i decided to take the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 and transform it to the undersold and quite obviously underestimated Lamborghini Countach LP500S.  as a kid, i dreamed of one day owning or at least just getting to drive this car and at last, my dream would come true but in a ‘dNaNo’ sort of way.  though i’m a collector and look forwarding to adding new dNaNo to my ‘fleet’, the LP640 just isn’t very easy to handle and has little glitches i’ve discussed before which make it my least favorite while others absolutely love it.   on the new layout, it will also suffer as it isn’t as nimble as the LP500S.  what makes dNaNo special is that each is a scale representation of its full size counterpart.  below i’ve provided a table comparing the fitting parts data for both cars which should help define their differences:

as you can see, these two models are technically very different.  the LP640 is long and extremely wide while the LP500S is short with a medium width.  the LP500S has a much shorter wheel travel due to its smaller diameter wheels and shorter wheelbase but will be much more agile in cornering due to its rear motor placement (RM) and shorter suspension travel.  the LP640 would be excellent at high speed in long corners but on “Patchwork”, we don’t have any of those.  the LP500S will have the definitive advantage in racing on the current layout.  for detailed information on all available dNaNo models, visit the Kyosho dNaNo Support Page @ Kyosho.com to review the Optional Parts & Technical Data (PDF).

Changing Clothes in 45 Mins…
as you can see by the photos, i needed a few things to go from one model to the other.  a new LP500S Auto Scale Body, a Fitting Parts Set (DNP305), an Aluminum Parts Combo, tires & wheels (cuz they look better than that wack ass, stock silver).  the main frame chassis from the LP640 and all option parts that aren’t model specific will stay but my aluminum wheel hubs and front suspension plates will have to go.  i’ll include those & other extra parts as a bonus in our ‘scratch & dent’ LP640 set we have for sale in the shop.  there are only a few parts outside of the hubs & suspension plates that differ including the 1) Motor Case (RM), Body Mount (DNM305), Lower Plate Spacer (1mm), & Tie Rod (C) which are all included in the required fitting parts set.  i then completely dismantled the LP640, storing all extra parts in neat zip-loc bag (i’m a clean freak).  another advantage of the LP500S is its 17mm front tires (FRA) since Kyosho makes a multitude of tire compounds for this size.  i chose the 20-degree compund since the Atomic 25′s have been best for F1R and Atomic 8R’s to complete the combo.  it took about 45 mins to install the remaining parts & the LP500S was ready to make my childhood dreams come true.

i took a few solo practice laps to get my transmitter settings right and waited for the guys to show up.  not long after, Azeez (14, IND), came in to rent a car followed by Calvin, Hugh & Ian.  practice races gave us a chance to get familiar with the new layout & preview what the ‘fast lap’ would probably be.  my best so far is 11.77 secs. which is a LOT slower than the last layout. i think its a good evolution and i’m betting we’ll have a very interesting club race this weekend.  as usual, any questions or comments can be sent to qon@nanotrax.net or just post your comments here on the blog.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

the past 3 weeks, we’ve had the fortune of welcoming 4 new members including today’s newest addition to the club, Hugh (UK). he’s a guy with similar tastes to my own cuz he chose to start his collection with the Mazda 787b No.55 LeMans Winner.  he’s started out with just a few option parts (ball bearings + gyro) and is planning to stop in for practice regularly just to enjoy the atmosphere and the hobby.  currently, the final Thailand Buggy Party is being held @ Pattya R/C Powerboat so we’re also getting a lot of R/C fans visiting from Bangkok.  the venue is only a few minutes away from NanoTrax so we’re looking forward to welcoming more as the days go on.

i was up early this morning trying to get the Mazda 787b back in shape and ready for the race on sunday but it looks like Joom’s Porsche 911 GT3 will have to play the role of ‘superman’ to come back and save the day.  i’ve tricked it out with the PN Racing 10-Spoke Aluminum Wheels and an X-Power SSG DSP Damper Kit to give it a fresh look on the road back to supremacy on Circuit F1R.  Robby is currently clocking average laptimes of 8.7 seconds, a full second faster than all other driver averages.  on his last visit, the 911 GT3 was the ‘David’ that vanquished ‘Goliath’ so let’s see if we can make that happen again this time around.  after the club race, i’ll post a report on the forum.  see ya on the circuit!

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]