Whole lotta stuff goin’ on

It’s been a while since I posted, the last one was when I got my shiny new Slash 4×4 Platinum. Well, the Slash is no longer shiny, and lots of other things have been going on keeping me busy. I’ve been trying to split time three ways basically which is tough. With the new Star Trek Online game coming out I’ve been playing that a lot, which is taking a large chunk of my time. It’s a fun game, once they work the bugs out it’ll be even better. For anyone who liked the old Starfleet Command series this game might have some appeal from the space combat aspect, but the ground combat might get annoying. My other hobby which I mentioned before, Warhammer 40k is also starting to take more time. There was a major update to the army I play this month, and now I am working on updating my models to have the fun new stuff they added there. I bought a lot of paints and brushes so I could start working on that, and have gotten a couple test paint schemes together so far. Once the 3 or 4 test models are done I’ll post them up here, maybe even have anyone who visits vote on what I should go with for the rest of the army.

Lastly there is the RC racing, which for the winter has taken a back seat to the other stuff unfortunately. It’s cold, and I hate the cold. It is not fun to be out in, and it makes me not want to get out of the warm bed in the morning, especially on weekends. I made it up to The Barn yesterday, first time in a few weeks though. I had fun, although I did not do to well on the track. The 4×4 Open class has picked up nicely, 7 entries yesterday. They’re all Slash 4x4s for now, but hopefully once the other manufacturers release their 4×4 trucks there will be more competition there. Matt posted what Steve Slayden posted on the web about his thoughts on a Slash 4×4 setup, which seems to work well for Matt. I did what I could at the track to add those changes in, which is just moving the camber links, shock locations, etc… There is more to it of course, Slayden suggests different diff and shock oils, springs, and plenty of other stuff. If you’re interested in taking a look, the original post is here, Set-up help from Steve Slayden. The minor adjustments I made seemed to help a bit on the track, but the major work with the diff oil and shocks adjustments will probably help more. I’m not sure when I’ll add those in, I am planning on finishing my test paint schemes this week for 40k, so working on the Slash might not happen until next week or later. The truck still handles really well, even with the out of the box settings. My first race out there I took first in the main, no TQ though. The Platinum edition seems to slide a little better in the turns from what I saw, than the regular. The only upgrade I am considering right now for the Slash 4×4 is a steering servo. The stock one isn’t bad, but I think it seems sluggish, and very difficult to center for me. I’m not sure what I’ll go with, but it’ll be high speed I am sure. Unfortunately I heard that Traxxas is not making any more platinum editions for the Slash 4×4. I am not sure why, maybe it was not worth it for them or something, but I think it is a poor decision to do that. They need to have a BnD (Bind n’ Drive) type system like Losi has in my opinion. Losi does have the edge there I guess as they are owned by Horizon Hobby, which of course also owns Spektrum. Spektrum is really popular right now, and that makes it much easier for them since the BnD system is for Spektrum radios. If Traxxas could make a receiver that will talk to a Spektrum transmitter, they could do a BnD, and I wouldn’t need to have any extra Traxxas 2.4 radios lying around. I am not sure if that would ever happen, I doubt Traxxas would want to endorse a competitor’s product, but you never know. On the flipside, the new Traxxas 2.4 radio, with the Traxxas Link is a vast improvement over the older 2.4 that I got with my E-Revo Brushless.  The newer radio can now handle up to 10 models I believe, and has adjustments for things like exponential steering. I still wouldn’t use it over my Spektrum DX3R, but it’s a better radio to start with, and wouldn’t need to be replaced as quickly as the older version for anyone who is somewhat serious about racing.

Other than the hobbies, other things have been busy as well. Work is nuts, lots of stuff going on these days. I moved my “office” from the edge of the living room by the kitchen to the corner by the windows. Now I am more out of the way while I work, and it gave me room for my new setup. I went down to Mohegan a couple Sundays ago, had a great time, and even left with $200 more than I went in with. The drive home was nothing short of a nightmare, averaged 35 mph from CT all the way home. The snow storm was insane, and I did not see pavement pretty much from about 20 minutes before the MA border on through the entire way home. It took me a little over 4 hours to get home.

Off to go play STO, paint something, or maybe read or relax, who knows. Have fun and “keep it between the ditches”.