My First Impressions
 

I got my Mini-x today!!! hurrah!

ok, here's what I think about the mini-x so far (after about an hour of driving and a couple hours of tinkering):

First off, the way the batteries are mounted into the body sucks. I probably spent 20 minutes trying to get the stupid little screws into the stupid little posts with my stupid little screwdriver.
Another gripe... the flourescent/neon butt-ugly paint job that came with the body. The problem... it's a but-ugly flourescent neon body.

ok... that's about it for the gripes.:D

I really enjoyed driving the mini-x... the handling on it is unbelievable... A bit slow compared to my tricked out mini-z... but it's already faster than a stock one. the generic little "radial tires" held up well on the parking lot pavement. I also like the fact that the set-up time for the car was minimal... cutting out the body (which I note is conveniently, and ingeniously also the packaging for the car) and plugging the crystal into my Perfex.

I can see the potential for further power/speed and as is it is already a fun to drive car. I may have to get some hop-ups soon... but that is currently going to have to take a back seat to my Micro RS4 that I still have to finish building.

I gotta go now, I have to go play with my new mini-x before I go to bed.:D

I'll give another report in a few days... after the excitement of a new toy wears off!

Crash,

Do yourself a favor and get the 7.2 battery pack. The car will smoke your hoped up Z and you can through those silly battery holders away and use the 4 AAA for your Z. Let me know when you get the 6 cell battery pack and we can discuss instal lso you dont' smoke the electronics like I did on my first one!

Oh yeah get a new NSX body ($5) when you oreder your battery and give it a good paint job!

Oh and remember to clean behind your ears.


:p

Lol! IRC is right though - when you first get your Mini-X, and you run it with 4 cells, you think "hey, that's pretty cool." Then you pop in the 6-pack and you thing "Holy %#@&!!!" as it blows the doors off of nearby Micros! The 6-cell pack totally transforms the X into a completely different animal, and thanks to the 4WD, it's incredibly controllable even at high speed.

Lol! Yeah when you get the Q tip out send me an e-mail and I can help with the whole ear thing to.....

What's this "smoking electronics" ?
 

-when fitting six cells? Wont the electronics handle that?

Please explain what precautions you recommend. I think everyone would benefit from more knowledge 'bout it.

Thanks... :)

Ted, the 6 cell pack is made for use with the Mini-X:

http://tinyrc.com/shop/product.php?pid=35

It won't damage your electronics.

When adding the 6 cell pack you must remove the center forward and back 2 battery contacts. The only contacts remaining should be the forward 2 that the red & black wire connect to. I solder 2 small connections on my 6 cell to attach alligator clips from my peak charger to charge the pack at 1 amp. Ok I think IM confusing Myself It may be better explained on our site www.intrepidrc.com under "set up tips" Really it's not an advertisement!!!

jeff

I just ordered a Mini-X
 

Hey all,
well I have some bitcharg cars and they are so cool, and then I found this site and saw some of the 1/24 scale cars and started comparing. I finally decided on the Mini-x because of the cool 4wd chassis and compatiblility with 1/24 scale model car bodies (unlimited choices there). I ordered the RTR mini-x kit from Dinball.com. I hope they send it pronto, I'm dying to get started with it. I also ordered the 7.2volt battery from this site. It should be a cool ride. I like the ability to run the cars on my kitchen floor and other indoor places, I can't do that with my 1/10 scale cars.
I love the cool clear plastic chassis and parts, but I was wondering...does anyone know how to dye the plastic so that its a clear color? maybe boiling in food coloring?? this car seems like a great deal for the features and price. The other 1/24 scale cars cost as much without electronics..:p

Cool idea! You could try it with some of the non-critical parts such as the battery holder plates before doing the main chassis sections.

I have done a few cars a few months ago and will post some pic's. Just use Rit dye in boilling water and give it 15-20min. Purple is the best color for this.

doing colors
 

I will try it when i get my car and will post the results. I'm also trying to find some standard dye for R/C plastics, I have seen people dye white parts colors, might work for clear plastic too.
If anybody knows where to get regular plastic dyes please post it, thanks.
:confused:

color dyes
 

Hey we posted at the same time, cool :D
IRC, where do ya get that Rit dye? mucho thanks man!

I got the Rit Dye at fred Meyers. this is the purple color. The front diff holders are the stock clear color. Just pull the tronics and through the whole car in the dye. It looks trick because it stays translucent!

IRC, man that is a COOL looking Mini-x!!!! So the plastic held up fine in the hot water? I am real excited now, I don't know what color i will get just yet, but probably will be the purple. You say the other colors didnt do as good?

Wow IRC, it looks great!

I'm thinking about trying to do the chassis in one color and doing suspension arms and diff cases in another contrasting color. Would that be cool? Hat's off to ya IRC, wicked ride for sure! (I wanna grow up to be as cool as IRC..LOL) :D thanks for all the help, dudes!

ksavage68, cool idea! It might be cool to do a black or grey for the suspension to give it a CF kind of look.

The plastic held up well and I tried almost all the available colors and found the purple and dark blue wourke the best. And IM not that cool IM just addicted to small scale RC cars.We were doing a test to build an IRC team car, Here are a few other colors.

Wow, I like the blue!

Yeah the blue is my favorite and is going to be the team car color if I ever get a chance to build a few. That blue car is set up with the 2wd motor and man is it fast! IM running GPM foams for the Mini Z on it for traction! Hey how about a TRC team car in red???

I like them all!! I just got into the small scale Bitcharg and MiniX and I'm having a blast already, I was getting so bored with 1/10 scale. Now i gotta decide on a color for my MiniX, and that is a great idea about the black or gray dye on the suspension for the Carbon look. Hey how bout this? stick one end of chassis down in the dye then turn it around and dye rear end a contrasting color? so like fade from orange to yellow? or blue to purple? good yes?

:D

ideas
 

ooh oooh oohh.. this is what i may do with my car after getting the chassis dyed, I want to install several small LED bulbs around the chassis so when the car is running the lights come thru the color and shines on the ground like Neon lights on full size cars. whaddaya think?
:cool:

I have a question about DURABILITY......


I am considering buying the Mini-x.......I have big concerns about its sturdiness.

I have just heard that the plastic used is "brital" Is this true? We run on a slot car track and hitting turns hard can be normal...and mini-zs break at times.

Concerns about the britalness of the plastic used in this car can be quite bothersome if this is true.....don't get me wrong..I probably still will buy one....BUT I would rather know if it is racable 'or at least AS DURABLE AS A REGULAR MINI Z)

PLEASE and UNBIAST OPINION....PLEASE.


Let me know.... Post here or email Kev71H@aol.com

Wow, great idea! I think I might just have to try that!

Whoa, very cool idea - IRC, based on your experience, would this work well?

Cool! I'm thinking the blue chassis with blue LEDs!

kev71H, I think these comments were probably about the early prototypes that used a more brittle plastic. I run my X outdoors frequently and it's smashed into curbs with the 6-cell and never broken anything. I wonder if the boiling process described above affects the plastic, perhaps making it even stronger?

so.........the Mini-x has evolved?

I assume the breakage comments I have heard in the past are true........No biggie...... But, the plastic compound has been changed for more sturdiness?

What is your basis for your answer about the durability TINYRC. Knowing that You have business in mind and I respect that but I would hardly rank you as Unbiast......(not to offend please)

** Boiling the chasis I would not think would help the duribility in the least as usually harshness as "boiling" temperatures breaks down more materials such as this as a rule RATHER THAN STRENGTHEN THEM.***

Please don't take the above comments as harsh or offensive at all. Looking for someone who has bought one of these and has put it through the ringer and who maybe has BROKE something..and what that may be......

EVERYTHING will break in time....just "when" or how is my curiousity.

Let me know.............THANKS TINYRC FOR YOUR INPUT. Looking for someone elses also...

*smile*:)

As to dying both ends diffrent colors you could do this but remember it takes about 15 min to dye so I would make a hanger of some kind to hold half the car in. As to the plastic I can honestly say I have only broke a forward pinion gear and that was from hitting the wall head on. Also the reason it broke was the chassis flexed so much the pinion gear split in half!!! So I would say it is in no way brittle! Still if you are concerned the parts are very inexspensive as a whole chassis in only $5.

kev71H, no offense taken, I too look forward to seeing some other comments. What I meant about the boiling was that this technique is common in RC, and rather than making the plastic itself stonger, it makes the overall car stronger, or I suppose more resiliant is a better term, because it adds some flex to the compound. I haven't tried this with the X, so this is purely speculation.

wheel question
 

I was just browsing around at Dinball.com and picking out some hop-up parts for my Mini-x and saw some cool alloy wheel sets for the mini-z but only some plastic rims for the Mini-x. Does anyone know if the rims are interchangable between the two cars? I know the tires are but havent a clue about rims yet. They got sets of 4 alloys for 16.00 or so, I really would like to have those. can anybody help? also I found some LED head/taillights for 5.90 that I'm getting. :D

The alum wheels won't fit the X. Im sure some will be available soon. Start browsing around at tinyrc.com or intrepidrc.com for hop up's. You will find them all availble at a lower cost than dinball and you will be supporting this forum.

LEDs???? for under 6 bucks?????? For your mini-z????? WIll they work for the F-1 chasis??? (I have the lexan body for the car.

LED's
 

yes the LED set should work with any car, you have to wire them in. they come with two clear and two red LED's, wire, and shrink sleeve. yes they are about six bucks or so at www.dinball.com.
Hey IRC, i checked out your site, and soon as its working I will order some hop-ups from ya. I wanna be a good supporter of this site ya know. :D as a side note I also saw an LED set with connectors already on it made for the Mini-Z at Dinball, I don't know if they will fit other cars but they didnt cost much either.

clarification
 

oh and IRC, when I meant "when the site is working" I meant the IntrepidRC site, not this one. :rolleyes: I've already ordered a couple things from the TinyRC site here and will likely be a regular customer. :D

ksavage68, FYI the IRC site is informational only - their products are sold through our shop - if you see anything in their parts list that you don't see here, let us know, and we'll get it for you. Thanks!

ok cool! thanks for the info TinyRC! :D

Not sure why the site was not working but please do order through TRC as they are one of are largest dealers. We do have online ordering but would appreciate it if you supported this forum and the pricing is the same so please use are site for information on the X but give your cash to TRC! Also I was really just giving you a hard time I to order from Dinball but only items I can't get here in the States.:D

Mini-X Plastic Chasis Easy to Break?
 

Hi, please offer your comments for the following questions:

Q1) I like the Mini-X for its price but worry that the all-plastic chasis and parts are easy to break and will end up having high ownership costs. Could anyone share his/her experience? I've seen the Dynamite Pocket Rocket pics showing its dual-deck fiberglass chasis, which looks to be durable and very well-designed.

Q2) I've seen in the Galleries the Mini-X RS ESC+Rx used in a RS4 Micro and other mini R/C cars. Does any one have the spec of the Mini-X RS ESC and what kind of modified motors it may accept (withing firing the ESC)?

Any info will be appreciated.

Clique, the Mini-X isn't at all brittle. Take a read through this entire thread and you'll see testimonials about the abuse it can take. Good question about the RS set - IRC, do you have the specs?

These are the specs I found on the speed controll and motor. I hope it helps.

Operating voltage 3.6V - 7.2V
Current (no load) 70ma
Max continuous current: 8A

Motor 70 turn