The RC Deep Dive

The R/C hobby isn't just collecting, building, and racing. There's also bashing, crawling, drifting, and speed running, each activity having a number of sub-genres within that radio controlled vehicles usage. We take a deep dive into our virtual hunting dictionary to help new RC model hobbyists understand the radio control hobby jargon and specific sub-communities in this episode of the RC Deep Dive podcast. 

In the 1980s, Parma created one of the more unusual hop-ups that allows you to put double wheels on both the front and rear axles of your Tamiya Frog, Grasshopper, Hornet, and Blackfoot radio-controlled model vehicles. We take a deep dive into exactly how this hop-up option works and both the advantages and disadvantages of the mod in this episode of the RC Deep Dive podcast. 

There's a lot of confusion about how radio control model vehicle shock springs and damper oil work together and exactly what each one does. In this episode of the RC Deep Dive we dive deep into what damper oil changes are necessary when your CVA (Constant Volume Adjustable) oil-filled shock gets softer shock springs on the Tamiya Frog R/C buggy's ORV chassis or any other radio controlled vehicle. 

Why is it so important to support your local R/C model hobby shop and RC car race track, if you are lucky enough to have one (or more). We take a really deep dive why supporting your local experts is not only helping them, but actually helps you and everyone in your local radio controlled vehicle hobbyist community in more ways than you know in this episode of the RC Deep Dive podcast. 

The resto-mod (restored and modified with modern hop-ups) movement is highly popular in the vintage RC hobbyist community in recent times. Jun Watanabe's Blockhead Motors seems to be heading that charge currently. We take a deep dive into The man, the company, the movement, and the history of their connection with Tamiya radio controlled buggies, vans, cars, and trucks, in this episode of the RC Deep Dive podcast. 

Two popular hop-ups for vintage, classic, and rere (re-release) Tamiya radio controlled buggies is the square set-up. There's two equally popular options, one vintage and one resto-mod. We take a deep dive into comparing and contrasting the BRAT Attack 1.75" look with the more modern 1.9" HLD (Hornet Large Diameter) wheel design. 

Tamiya makes several different types of paints for your R/C model. But each one has a different dry time and cure time. Knowing what these times are is critical to not destroying your radio controlled vehicle's paint job. So, we take a deep dive into exactly how long each type takes to paint and how you can know when it's fully dry in this episode of the RC Deep Dive podcast. 

Tamiya Gear Diff Putty for differential gears has a specific prescribed use, but the community has found a way to use it in vintage, classic, and rere (re-release) radio controlled models. So how do you use it? We take a deep dive into R/C car differentials and how to lubricate and pack them in this episode of the RC Deep Dive podcast. 

Tamiya paints have a variety of white and yellow colors that can be used when painting R/C model headlights. We take a deep dive into the best hues to use, based on your radio controlled vehicle model, and which type of paint to use for each faux headlamp bases, cups, and covers in this episode of the RC Deep Dive podcast. 

In today's episode of the RC Deep Dive podcast, we dive into painting plastic R/C model pieces like the driver figure and faux headlights, including how to do preparation and touchups. We also cover both sides of the intense debate whether polycarbonate, ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), or other plastics radio control model pieces should be painted on the manufacturing sprue or if they should be cut off before painting.