Yokomo 4WD Battery

Since very young I've been interested into general RC. Cars used to be the only ones affordable at that time. My first "pro-like" RC car was a HPI Racing followed by a Tamyia. After years, I was in Japan and decided to give another try. I found couple really nice places in Tokyo where you can buy all sort of RC, from cars to airplanes.

Since then I've bought quite a few models and confess that I didn't assembly all of them just yet. The one on this post is the modified Yokomo 4WD. The chassis is ready, but I still need to work on the body.

The assembly itself isn't that difficult. The instructions are extremely well detailed and required me, in just a few cases, to dig through the web or youtube videos to understand the assembly.

What I noticed though, these cars are a lot more sensible to fine tuning and details. In the past, assembly HPI and Tamyia models, seemed to me a lot less sensitive to things like screw torque, shocker tension, engine positioning, etc. These are a lot more sensitive thus requiring a lot more attention to details.

Design of the chassis, even though all plastic/nylon based, is actually pretty cool. The old HPIs for instance were all carbon fibre based which has all advantages but cost you a lot more. A kit like this Yokomo without the ESC would probably cost about US$250, while an HPI carbon based will likely cost you twice as much, or even more. And I'm not talking about the high end carbon based. Obviously it's probably better, but I guess those plastic bathtube based ones are great entry level cars.

As it can be seen, this one allows different shocker settings. Also, behind the alloy Yokomo plate, there's space for some weight so you can fine tune how high or low the front side of chassis will be configured.

Tires and rim are so good looking pieces that makes you think twice before replace them.

Early stages of the chassis assembly.

I have to confess that I didn't quite love the bath tube plastic chassis, but seems like it's the way to go in these days. They still selling the carbon fibre fame chassis, but they cost a lot more. For the level I am, I don't think it worth spending a lot more. Perhaps in the future.