How's everybody?

[Azimov]

Hello all,
Been a while since I posted. I have been browsing the forum often to see if anything new is happening. Things seem to have slowed a bit concerning the micro market. No new companies popping up anymore. I'm still enjoying my Zip SEs, though it is hard to find the ones that have been fixed. The GTOs seem to be a good bet for getting an SE with the steering working right, but they seem hard to find these days. The S&H Torino is kinda up in the air as to whether you get an improved car or one of the old stuttering half propo jobbies. I have three cars so far that work perfect. Even steps and no stutter.
I've been modding a bit as well, but don't have any pics yet. I moddified my Zip ambulance to fit an SE chassis and put the wide tires all around. It looks great and works much better. I've done a few conversions of regular Zip bodies to fit SEs with working lights as I'm sure many of you have.
I'm not really buying the old Zips anymore. I bought only one when they came out with the front suspension springs just to have one, but that's it.
How's everyone been, and are you still microing?

[Bad Company]

Hey Azimov, good to see you again. It HAS been a long time. Good to hear you still enjoy your Zips too. I still mess with mine from time to time, but mainly, I'm just "collecting" them now. I have pretty much moved up to the Mini-Z's after getting a taste of the 1/28 scale while messing with the Xmods.

I do still toy with my X's a little, but the bulk of my time is with Z's. I am planning on a couple of projects for some of my Zips in between my other projects.

You should post more often, you always had good stuff to show.

[Namuna]

Unfortunately (for my hobbying fun, but not my career) I've recently changed positions within my company and now work with a new group in a whole different area (I've been a Windows based, IT guy for the passed 10 odd years, and now I've converted to becoming a Unix/Linux programmer!). 12+ hours days are the norm and whatever time leftover I'm spending with the Wife (or she'll kill me) and doing as much as I can with Photography (another hobby of mine).

As you've already said though, there isn't much in the way of raw excitement going on lately in the hobby, so at least I don't feel like I'm missing out on a ton of new things.

I didn't know about the ZZSE GTOs having the problem of unsmooth, stuttering fixed, I might have to keep an eye out and pick 1 up (just so I have a stock SE that works properly).

That about sums it up for me, nice to see you around Az.

[Azimov]

I didn't know about the ZZSE GTOs having the problem of unsmooth, stuttering fixed, I might have to keep an eye out and pick 1 up (just so I have a stock SE that works properly).

Yup, I haven't seen much mentioned of this either. I suppose most folks just wrote the SEs off as being another RS rush to market flawed product. I have been checking them out from time to time as RS usually fixes their products and then sticks the new ones on the shelf right next to the old faulty ones {ya'know, this bugs the heck outta me too. I mean, they make faulty cars, sell em anyway, and from what I can gleen from the online forums, are now selling the original crappy batch of Initial D cars in Canada now. Makes you wonder what RS corporate is trying to do with RS's product image}. Like the original Zip PCB power problems, RS has indeed fixed the steering problem in newer models. I've so far found properly working cars in GTOs and Torinos. The Torino is like some of the older Zips when the improvements in the PCB were made. That is, you don't know if the Starsky and Hutch cars are fixed or not. The GTOs seem to be all good ones. This means newer additions to the SE line should be rid of the steering issue. The fixed cars have no stutter and have 5 steps in both directions. Also, I noticed a difference in the motors as well. The newer ones have a larger metal contact on the bell end. Much like Bit motors. Not sure if this means more power and torque or not.
Anyways, good to hear from you guys and I hope to post more often.

[Namuna]

Alright! My local Shack had the GTO (And the Chevelle and the Starsky & Hutch). But to be safe I got the orange Pontiac GTO Judge.

Can't wait to get home and test it out (it's been soooo long since the last time I scared the pooch with a micro car!) It'll be great if this is one of the 'fixed' varieties.

Thanks for the heads-up on this Az.

[Namuna]

Well, couldn't wait till I got home...I scrounged up some AAA's and ran the GTO around the desk.

...Indeed it's fixed! 5-steps each direction, this is fantastic! I'm going to pick another one up (The Chevelle looks sweet, hopefully those too are 'fixed'), now I can finally get some nice coffee-table races going! Especially when we have people over for BBQ!

[Azimov]

I've been told the Chevelles are fixed as well. Haven't tried one yet myself though.

[Namuna]

Well, I've gone on a frenzy...

The Orange GTO is a winner, so last night I picked up a blue GTO and that thing stutters just like my 1st gen SE. But something looked 'fishy' with the chassis, it had scratch marks and some of the black paint over the PCB was flaked off…I think someone pulled a switcheroo and returned it.

So this morning, on the way into work, I exchanged the blue GTO and picked up the Chevelle instead. Hopefully all is well with this one.

[Namuna]

Well, so much for that hope.

The Chevelle (or at least the one I got) has the stuttering. Not as bad as my old SE, but not as good as the Orange GTO Judge either.

This is annoying (to say the least!). I'm not chancing it anymore, I'm just going to return the Chevelle and find another orange GTO Judge (I've got plenty of shells) and (hopefully) be done with it.

[Azimov]

Jeez, that is annoying. I had hoped that I found a way to weed out the bad ones. I'm not leaving the store with one until I check it. I still have a couple of old chassis I'd like to replace. I didn't return them as they have a lot of parts I can use in other projects. Micro gearmotor, rechargable batteries, the LEDs, and sundry parts that I can throw back for repairs like steering knuckles, springs, etc. I still think the good ones are sprinkled in with the newer cars. Man, RS corporate must be run by some greedy, non caring bastages! But then, I already knew that.

[MicroSpeed]

I got a Savanna for my birthday. It gets about 5 steps left and 6 steps right. Throttle it okay. I also got some money so when I get my car running okay (7-7 hopefully) then I'll get the MOSFET mod from MicroAmps. Right now I'm running the old black civic body on it (found it after about a year of having thought lost it) but plan on visually modifying both the savanna and civic. It's also running a 3.4 NX, but I want to try a dual motor direct drive system. The only problem is it steers right with just the slightest tap, but to turn left the same amount I would have to turn the steering wheel almost halfway. It also stutters when it turns left, but not when it turns right. It's good enough for now though.

[Azimov]

I think I'm gonna go on a little consumer protest mission tomorrow. I'm gonna go to the three RS in my area and go up to the counter with an SE, buy it and open it right there. I'm gonna pull a controller out of my pocket with fresh batteries in it and test the thing right there in front of the employee. Then I'm gonna hand it back and demand another. I'm gonna repeat this over and over until I clean out the shelves or run out of money. I need six chassis in order to clean out my stock of bad cars. I'm curious as to how many bad ones I have to weed through in order to find six good ones. I encourage others to do this as well. I'm not saying buy every good one they have. Just buy one good one if it's all you need, but I bet you'll weed several others off the shelf and keep other unsuspecting customers with getting stuck with them. Let's see what RS corporate thinks of hundreds of these things going back all at once. Maybe they will finally see that pushing faulty merchandise isn't very profitable. But, I doubt they care.
edit: Oh, and one more thing. I'm gonna see if there is any way to distinquish the good from the bad. I know that some of the motors enclosed have a larger contact on the endbell. I'm wondering if this may signify a newer, fixed chassis. I'll let you all know. Namuna, do you see any correlation between the larger contact being included with the car that was a good one and a regular motor in the bad one or is this another non indicator?

[Namuna]

Stopped off at my local RS and returned the Chevelle, and picked up a 2nd Orange GTO Judge.

The 2nd GTO is everybit as good as the 1st one, no stutter at all.

The guy at the counter even asked me why I was picking up another SE when I had just returned 1, I told him about the stuttering problem and he just shrugged and went through the transaction.

Best I can piece it is this;

The 1st generation SE was the Initial-D Savannah with part number 60-7026. The numbers have progressed and we're now up to number 60-7040/7041, the Pontiac GTO Judge

Now, my opinion is that the GTO line was rolled out at the same time (maybe even a little bit sooner) as the rollout of upgraded ZipZaps SE PCBs. From that point on, any newly produced SEs would benefit from the upgraded PCB (explaining how 'old' Initial-D Savannahs seem to be fixed)

Which begs the question (as Az already said) "How do you know which ones have the new PCB?" Unfortunately I haven't seen any defining characteristics and I wish I'd have seen your post about the endbells Az, before returning the SEs to RS

The only suggestion I can make at this point, if you want to buy an SE that doesn't stutter, is to stick with the highest part number possible. Which means the Chevelle, Starsky & Hutch and ESPECIALLY the GTO...I would go so far as to recommend finding the Orange GTOs (I've been 2 for 2 with getting good ones, whereas a blue GTO proved to stutter), perhaps the Orange ones are freshest off the assembly line using the new PCBs.

[cj1267]

Originally posted by Azimov
I think I'm gonna go on a little consumer protest mission tomorrow. I'm gonna go to the three RS in my area and go up to the counter with an SE, buy it and open it right there. I'm gonna pull a controller out of my pocket with fresh batteries in it and test the thing right there in front of the employee. Then I'm gonna hand it back and demand another. I'm gonna repeat this over and over until I clean out the shelves or run out of money. I need six chassis in order to clean out my stock of bad cars. I'm curious as to how many bad ones I have to weed through in order to find six good ones. I encourage others to do this as well. I'm not saying buy every good one they have. Just buy one good one if it's all you need, but I bet you'll weed several others off the shelf and keep other unsuspecting customers with getting stuck with them. Let's see what RS corporate thinks of hundreds of these things going back all at once. Maybe they will finally see that pushing faulty merchandise isn't very profitable. But, I doubt they care.

Sorry but R$ corporate stores don't send back defective ZipZaps. They will either repack them or scrap them and take a hammer to them. If they repack them there should be a sticker on the pack somewhere that says it was a demo or customer return. If it is repackaged without the sticker DON'T buy it and let your BBB know about it. In this country is is illegal to sell a used product as new.

[Azimov]

The product number thing is interesting. I'll test this theory out. Also, I'll check on the endbell thing too. The GTO I purchased was the blue one and it works perfectly. I also got a perfect Torino as well, but that was just luck. I wrote RS corporate about my little protest idea and am waiting for a reply. Probably a waste of time, but more of us need to express our disatisfaction with this policy of mixing the bad in with the good.