MicroZ
 

I can't seem to find the forum for this type of car. Here in Canada our Radio Shacks turned into The Source by Circuit City. Apart from the new stupid name, they basically changed a lot of the things that used to be sold to us by the Canadian Radio Shacks. They are no longer supporting XMods and Zip Zaps, although many stores still have leftover stock still lingering on their shelves. They replaced the XMods with Custom Rydes, which are very lame, but I am impressed with what they replaced the Zip Zaps with. They are called MicroZ. Here is an URL with more info:

http://www.thesourcecc.com/estore/ca...genum=1&sort=1


I find it kind of weird that I can't find info on this here. Are the MicroZ a Canadian only RC car? Or are they here on this forum, but under a different title?
Basically, the MicroZ are 1:50 scale, can be upgraded, and come in both a standard version and a GT version similar to the differences between Zip Zaps and Zip Zap SEs.
I bought a Zip Zap SE yesterday and was disappointed with the sluggish reverse. I bought a Aston Martin DB9 MicroZ and was impressed with its stock speed, but also its scaled accuracy. They look like accurate models of the cars they represent. They are not out of proportion like Zip Zaps are. The distance between axles looks scale, and the way the body fits is awesome. But one of these guys near a Microsizer, or even ZZ SE and you'll be blown away. I guess the slightly larger scale helped the designers make things look they way they should have in the first place.
The more I type this, the more I feel that everyone already knows what I am talking about and have seen them already. Like I said, I just can't seem to find any info. on them here.

I have not heard of these either. They look like pretty slick little cars. The motor looks like the ones they used for superslicks.

Do these have proportional or semi-proportional controls?

I never saw the Rydz either or could find much information on them. I'm not sure if they are available anywhere else. You could be the first one to post some information on here.

Never heard of either.

Check this out, quote from site ''Customize your MicroZ using fully licensed accessories (sold separately) like street tuner kits, wheel and tire kits, off-road kits, motor upgrade kits and even kits with different body styles! ''

Upgrade kits for 1:50 scale!!!

I wonder if rs in the us will start carrring these. They sound awesome! They've got to be atleast semi propo with a cost of 30 bucks.

Thanks RCCarFreak!

Here's the official website. Enjoy!

A thread over at Ripper7.

I've seen them for some time now. I think they are really interesting. Especially the removable front wheels. No, they are not available in the US at all. Therefore, no one has started a thread on them here. Perhaps you could post some pics and observations.
I would like to buy at least one of them for my collection. But, I don't know any Canadians that I could impose upon. And I don't think they will be sold at Radio Shack, though they look like a reasonable replacement for Zips.

Yeah...they really are cool cars. The controllers are fantastic...you can actually grip them like a pistol grip controller, they have nice throttle and steering trim nobs on them, and the steering wheel knob is almost the size you'd expect to see on a full size pistol grip. The controller takes four AAAs.
The MicroZ GTs have an on/off swithc on the cars themselves...I don't know if the regular MicroZ have them. The working head and tail lights look great.
The GTs come in in 6 different bands in the 27 frequency line. They are not user selectable as in the ZZ Ses. But, if you manage to get all six, you could also get a regular Micro Z (27) and a regular MicroZ (49) and theoreticall race 8 cars at once.
I'm selling my two microsizers and my ZZ SE and concentrating on these. They are just a tad bigger than ZZs but look and perform awesome so far. I can't wait to get the motor and gear upgrade. It already travels fast stock.
I'll upload pics if I can figure out how to do so and when I get the time. IN the meantime, look at the Source website I mentioned above or read the other links thatwere kindly posted above.
Cheers

Well, the controls are at least semi proportional...you tell me. Give it a little throttle it goes slow, give it more throttle it picks up. Steering is done with a servo, turn a little...the car's wheels turn a bit, etc.
BTW...I finally finished racing it around from its initial charge.
It ran for at least 12 minutes...no exageration. It must have something to to with the four AAAs and a higher capacity battery in the car. Amazing.

Wow, I almost want zz's to be replaced by these.

Sounds semi propo. Does the steering have steps?

Can you give us any chassis pics?

Check out steelo's post above. There is a link to the official MicroZ web page...and another thread which shows some great pics of the cars, chassis, etc.

There is so much I like about these cars. The range on my Aston Martin DB9 appears to be in the 20-30 ft range depending on intervening obstacles...chair legs, desks ( I checked it in my classroom while working on reports. )

I'm gonna have to find a Canadian to ship me one of these. I know one Canadian girl that plays WoW and she might do it. Though I would probably have to study the Source website so I can give her enough info to buy the right one. I'll pay for the car plus shipping. But, if I can find a fellow MicroRC enthusiast, I could pay them or trade from my collection. Anyone interested?

Any chance of getting scans of the users manual? I can't find it online.

I don't have a scanner at home, but I do have one at work. If I get the chance I can get one on Monday, and I can email it to you.
I just got the motor upgrade set.
Putting it in was fun! The wheels have little metal lug nuts on them, and little washers behind them. The wheels also fit on them in such a way that they are locked onto the spindles, not unlike XMods. The motor upgrade come with red gears to replace the green ones, and a red motor to replace the bluish one. The kit boast of a 9.58:1 gear ratio and a motor with a rpm of 30,000. I like the way that the wheels are removeable, and the whole axle doesn't snap into place like in a ZZ SE. A plastic motor cover keeps the motor compartment sealed. The motor itself fits into the motor groove slot nicely, without springing out like a ZZ SE. The cover is not needed to keep the motor in place.
Man...what a performance difference! I imagine, that this faster motor is going to eat up battery lifetime before recharging, but as the stock motor and gears were 10+ minutes, even if it was only 5 minutes at this new speed that'd be a good thing. I suspect it will still be 7-9 minutes.

I now have the MicroZ instructions scanned if you want me to upload them to you, let me know your email. I tried to upload them here, but they are .tiff, and I can't upload tiffs to this forum.

See if you can email them to me through the site here and I'll convert them to .jpgs and upload them for you. I don't want to list my private email, but you can send it through the forum email system.

Nope...I can't. I can't send them to you at this site. Hey I know about the email thing, but you would have been able to see my email address when I would have sent it to you, so it's not that big of a deal. I would not have CC'd the email ( thus exposiing your address ) to anyone.
I'll see it I can get them converted...might be a while though. I'll check back in a few days.

Four MicroZs bought ( freq bands 1-4 )...two to go ( bands 5-6 ).

microz help if possible!
 

recently i bought a microz nissan exterra 26.995MHz band1 with stock everything. it was running ok but then after the antenna extention the range just dropped down to less than 1 foot. you think i fried something in it??

p.s. every connection is fine its just the range.

A fellow member was kind enough to send me one of these little jewels and I just love it. These things are the natural next step in improving the Zip Zap line of micros. They are much more to scale as being slightly larger allows the wheels to look more proportionate to the body. The removable wheels are the single best modification on the chassis. Removing lint and hair is no problem on these MicroZ GTs. The steering on mine is smooth and strong. I can't discern any actual steps when I watch it turn. It just seems to just move more and more as I turn the wheel. No stuttering at all. I wish these things would come to the US. I guess the Canadians are first this time around. Kindof a payback for having to wait for Zips a few years ago, lol.I'm not familiar with this mod. I'm assuming you just soldered a new, longer antenna on the thing.
First, be absolutely sure all connections are good. A cold solder joint may look great, but have a lousy connection. If all is solid, I would next suspect that you have an improper length of antenna. The RX is tuned to the factory length which is an even fraction of the actual length needed to recieve the signal the strongest. Which is the actual length of the radio wave measured from the top of the curve of one wave to the bottom of the next. I have no idea what that would be for 26.995MHz, but you don't have to have a slide rule to get close. You can find the antenna tuner on the PCB and turn it gradually with a small screwdriver, test, and repeat until you adjust to the new length of antenna. Or, you can add or subtract small lengths from the antenna, test range, and repeat until you get better range. Actually, a combination of the two is best, but snipping the antenna is the easiest. Of course, snipping til you reach the original factory length kinda negates the mod.
Still, I would put my money on a cold solder joint.
Range doesn't seem to be an issue on my MicroZ, so I'm not sure why you would mod to improve it, or is it an asthetic modification?

thanks man
 

surly microzs are the next zip zaps and they work great and ya its payback time!!! lol... i tried these two things and got great results and now with 1 foot copper speaker wire i actually get 10 feet (4 inches stripped) with some tuning on the controller and the car i get this even better...:) i was wondring if it has a cripple cap in the car or somewhere because there are so many orange caps i dont know if one is present there. which car do you have and what motor... its great that you guys have it too so its not hard trying to explain the circuit to you. i was a thread which had these lenghts but i dont know where to find it, i've looked so many times and still nothing see if you remember it.

thanks again Azimov:)

I have the Ford F150 pickup with the stock motor. I decided to go with a truck since they are usually slightly larger than cars and I only have one MicroZ to go with my Zips.

new range trick?
 

on the car and on the remote there is a pot to tune the signal...the pins on the bottom are like so>1 2 and below 345, on pin 2 or 3 i put anything metal and get an extra boost of range. it has to have the orignal antenna and another one starting from pins 2 or 3 have to be there in order to work but this would mean two antennas for both the car and the remote. currently i have it with the remote and planning to put one on the car(didnt find any extra speaker wire yet lol). lets see what happens to the range.
thnks 4 the info.

simple way to ending the stutter stearing
 

i used some high pressure grease (spray can) on the gears of microz gt and the problem is gone :) ofcoarse it will cause a slight delay while turning on the weaker side but the car will be very quiet now.

Sorry about the delay on my post...I just got back from holidays. Happy New Year all.
I now have all six bands of the GTs...and a single 49 and 27 freq regular microz. 8 racing cars at once!!!
Sorry to hear about the loss of range. I'm not sure what to suggest other than what Azimov suggested. Nice to hear that you got a microz you both. Told you that you'd like 'em!
I think the prices have gone back up to normal here in Canada...40 for the GT and 30 for the regular microz.
Hope you can solve the range problem.
Cheers

happy new year !!!
 

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL and thankx for the hope RCCarfreak. i just put everything back in the car and now i have the extended antenna in the recevr and the 26 guage antenna in the car. i put in a 3.7v li-ion from a cell phone battery but after some running around at 3.6mph at stock motor the car's stearing has started to cause some problems. but you are right these cars are soo much fun and fast!!! lol :) the range sadly is still around 7-10 feet but once i got the range upto 20 feet :cool: and then back to 7:p lol. luckly i bought it on the sale time for 30 i think .

all the things done to the car uptill now...
 

HAPPY WARM 2007 (to Toronto Canada)
removed the two resistors from the reciever part and removed the resistance which is with the antenna. removed some other resistance from it and got the range to 15' . i added a 1 foot antenna to the car which brought it upto 16' then the pot mod to both the reciever and the car gave me 20'. took out the battery from the car and put a cellphone battery on it (3.7v li-ion) still use the phone to charge... i put a rechargable 6v battery pack to the reciever and now get upto 4 days of playing on one charge because i dont have to charge the car from it :) lol. and now i got some minor problem with the stearing and the stuttering...
thats all for now.

EDIT :- the steering problem was caused by the high voltage and the fet or transistor got fried... everytime i turn it on it gets very hot and the steering only turns one way so be careful with this pcb it might not take more than 3.4v to burn it!!!