I saved $300 on a portal-axle G500 crawler! Or did I? I was at Hub Hobby, my local hobby shop, getting some body posts for the LaTrax Prerunner after they […]
I wandered into the RC section and noticed they had a few of the new PandaHobby Tetra 1/24 scale portal-axle rigs. I asked the sales guy if they had blue. He said they did in the back and went to go get it.
I didn’t expect to buy anything besides LaTrax parts, but I guess I’m doing this! I already knew of some of the 1/24 Tetra’s shortcomings – having subscribed to a Tetra Facebook group a while ago.
I removed the rear tire as the realistically scale 1:10 Traxxas G500 doesn’t carry one. Plus it adds significant extra weight to the X3.
I also removed the light bar for better clearance. The magnet system is pretty easy to work with. I removed the hex screws on the front magnets to free up the red and black wires. Then slid the back and red wires going to the light bar through the hole in the roof.
To get the wheels a little more blingy, I disassembled them to add paint. The X3 wheels are nice multi-piece beadlock wheels.
For paint I used some Spaz Stix Mirror Chrome spray paint. It is normally added to the inside of lexan bodies, then backed with black paint. The wheels are black and I’d be spraying the outside, so nothing else is needed.
It’s looking pretty good. I might 3D print a smaller front bumper, but I’m satisfied with the current look.
I used a silver sharpie to make the grille stand out a little more.
Vendor supplied fixes
There’s a well known issue with low speed jitter in the first batch of Panda X3s. The good news is Panda will send out a free replacement ESC for anyone who bought one of these units.
The replacement ESC kit also includes new shock pistons and softer springs. I was hoping the new shock pistons would help with the smoothness of the shocks as they didn’t move as freely as I expected (especially compared to a stock SCX24).
However the new shock pistons didn’t help the bound-up suspension as much as I wanted. I tried to polish the new shock pistons with a Dremel and 1000-grit sandpaper, but it only helped nominally. I think I will really need to take more time cleaning and polishing to make sure everything moves freely.
While in California for the RCX Expo we filmed a few fun videos with the Panda Tetra X3 and an SCX24:
While filming the last video, I was holding the Panda’s steering at full lock for a few minutes. What do you know, the included servo died the same as all of my other ready-to-run RCs have. I think it’s just industry standard to save money on the steering servo that comes in the model. I’ll be replacing that next, likely with an EMAX ES08 servo.
Verdict
The Panda Tetra X3 is an interesting vehicle but I don’t recommend it for a new hobbyist looking to buy a 1/24 scale crawler. There’s simply too much you have to do out of the box to get it to perform as expected.
Instead I’d recommend an Axial SCX24 to anyone looking to get into 1/24 scale crawling. If you think you’re up for a challenge – then get the Panda X3.
My old barrel stove was getting dangerous. I bought it on Craigslist for $25 or $50 almost a decade ago now. It was rusty when I bought it, and all that heat and snow over the years has made it really crumble. To give you an idea of how dangerous it was – at the end of it’s life I had to prop it up with a log (one leg rusted off completely). The log started to catch fire due to small holes in the barrel. Time for something new! 🔥
Then I got a barrel off of craigslist. I think it had been used for cooking oil in its previous life because it smelled like a hamburger joint 🍔
Per the instructions, the vent below the door is supposed to go where the small barrel vent is. I used a metallic sharpie to mark the drill holes and openings. I used a die grinder air tool to cut the openings and a new titanium 1/4″ drill bit for the holes.
I added anti-seize grease to all the nuts and screws in the kit, but I’m not sure if it’s going to help given the temperatures and moisture it will experience. But we’ll see – worse case scenario, if I want to transfer the kit parts to a new barrel, I can use the 1/4″ bit and drill out the screws.
To fasten the legs I put the barrel on its side and blocked it with a couple pieces of wood. I put the seam down b/c that’s where I’m going to do the cutting for the steam trays and chimney. I figure I should remove material at the seam since that’s probably the weakest part of the barrel anyway.
With the barrel chocked into place, I put the legs on and used a level to make sure it would sit flat once I fastened them.
Here you can see my anti-seize paste and an initial cut line I drew to cut out an area for the steam trays.
My old barrel didn’t have the flue installed, so I’m hoping this will be a game changer 🤞The goal is to hold as much heat in the barrel so energy is directed to the boil. Also I added a length of pipe to use as a chimney.
I cut a large section out for the steam trays and used a level to make sure they’d sit as flat as possible when it’s out in the yard.
I used my Ingersoll Rand die grinder air tool to make all of the cuts for the door, chimney, and steam trays. It’s slow going so take your time and be patient. I made several cuts over several days. The cut-off wheel I used was new when I started this job (over 4 1/2″ in diameter) and was probably around 2″ when done.
Final Product
Here’s the new rig in action – the best part is the chimney which keeps the wood smoke overhead. You’ll still smell like a wood fire, just not as bad 😎
This is for those of you involved with any competitive pageantry out there, whether it’s for WGI, DCI, BOA, or your summer parade marching band. It’s mostly for the members, specifically high school kids because I think most instructors out there know the gig.
The need to write about this is because of something I observed… Because we frequently share judges recordings that we like with the membership.
A different perspective
It’s good to get feedback from a 3rd party. It can also be frustrating as an instructor when you’ve been saying these things all along. But I get it – it goes along with the adage that kids don’t like to listen to their parents.
I imagine this is why clinicians are popular. They can come in and say the exact same thing as your day-to-day instructors. But they’re able squeeze just a little more juice from the ensemble because they’re an outsider.
Getting that outside perspective is good. They may be able to put it into words or terms that make it easier for members to relate to. They may also identify ideas or issues the staff or members weren’t fully aware of.
The Tapes
Tapes are a misnomer – judges haven’t used cassette tapes in years. They’re digital recordings that are much easier to share. But I’m old school and may refer to them as tapes.
During the performance
While listening to a judges recording, re-live that particular performance in real-time with the judge. This is when you can feel the judges reaction as the performance unfolds. Did a moment not come together cleanly? Maybe there was a build-up that didn’t resolve as well as it should. You may already realize that something was or wasn’t great before a judge calls it out.
When judges are doing a running commentary during the show, it can be difficult to comment on all the things observed in real-time. Judges keep notes, either on a notepad or in their head.
After the performance
They’ll put the “meat” of their observations at the end of the program – when the group is clearing the floor or field. It’s almost impossible to give a full real-time commentary during the program, especially if it’s a first read (first time viewing).
Think of it like watching a movie. When it’s over – that’s when you talk to your friends and discuss the content. Maybe there was something you didn’t understand. Like a movie, sometimes judges might not get it if there are design elements or performers missing that day – especially early season.
Whatever the case is, you’re likely to find the great commentary at the end. The judges are reviewing their mental or written notes and looking at the big picture.
Far too often as the performers listen to these tapes, they start talking among themselves as soon as the performance is done because their part is over. Have patience and listen to what the movie reviewer has to say after they’ve been able to soak it all in.
Buzzword Bingo
Just for funzies, you might play buzzword bingo with a judges’ recording.
Sonority (quality of sound, distinctness)
Tessitura (range or register)
Negative space (using the whole field or floor)
Vertical alignment (if not talking about a visual element, likely referring to playing together in time)
While it can be fun to play this game, I always give credit to the judges. They have a hard job. They have to rank and score many ensembles in a consistent way.
Hopefully a newcomer reading this will find it useful to fully consume judges feedback in order to best make use of it. Good luck out there!
I had an opportunity to attend RCX with my kids as it was during spring break. My expectations were set from a 2016 video by RC Sparks: 2022 is the […]
2022 is the first time back since 2019 – ’20 and ’21 having been cancelled due to COVID. It’s back, but wasn’t as big as it has been in the past. Some of my favorite brands, namely Team Associated and Traxxas, didn’t make it this year.
To get an idea of some of the other things that were missing, check out RCSpark’s 2016 RCX videos which includes semi-trucks, tanks, large scale, drifters, off-road racing, and more. But there were still some of my other favorites present: Axial, Pro-Line, and FrSky to name a few.
Low Riders
This is a new style of RC and I’m glad to see it being represented. The Redcat Hopping Lowrider will hopefully be just the beginning
There was a group hanging outside the expo building with low-riders. One even had a complete interior with driver, working stereo, and music bumpin’
Small Scale
The normal size stuff is always well represented: 1/10, 1/8, 1/12. But I was glad to see a lot of smaller scale models. There was Mini-Z racing going on all day. Axial and RC4WD had mini crawler courses and there were some accessory vendors for 24th scale rigs.
I really wish we could have driven the SCX24 out on the layout, but that would have been disrespectful. So we’ll just have to do it at home – I’ll surely steal some ideas from their layout for our 1:24 garden railway / crawler course
Since we did bring our micro crawlers, we shot a couple videos at the fairplex while taking a break:
Full Scale
The expo had some classic Hollywood (full-size) cars on display:
They said there is an FrSky surface transmitter in the works and I even got to see pictures of it. One of my favorite features is the “top” – which is the brains of the unit that consists of the screen and wheel, un-clips from the handle so it can be instantly reversed for left handed use!
Here’s a sneak peek from their in-progress promotional material:
Verdict
I think I’ll wait a couple years before I go back – just to make sure things are really back in full swing. If I lived nearby in Southern California, I would surely attend every year. It wasn’t all disappointment b/c the family saved time to hit the beach as well as Legoland California. Plus it’s guaranteed not to snow while we’re there
At our last outing to the frozen lake ice track, the stock servo in the LaTrax Prerunner finally gave up the ghost I figured it was a matter of time as I’ve replaced the included servos in all of our other ready-to-run vehicles: Slash & SCX24. I had a feeling this was inevitable.
I started with this video put together by the fine folks here in town at Dollar Hobbyz:
In that video (and description) they recommended a Savox SH-0255MG micro servo. So I ordered one, excited to get this little truck running again.
Too Tall
When I went to install the SH-0255 servo it was too tall, the width was fine but the bottom was up against the driveshaft wall on the tub chassis. After browsing the Savox site, I realized all of these micro servos (with a height of 29.4mm) would be too tall:
SH-0254
SH-0255MG
SH-0256
Just Right
I went back to the drawing board and watched this other video from 2021:
PhillyB_RC used a Savox SH-0262MG on his install, which has a height of 25.4mm. AMain didn’t have that one in stock, so I called Hub Hobby, my local hobby store. They had an SH-0264MG in stock which has the same dimensions, so I rolled with that. All of these Savox micro servos should fit:
SH-0253
SH-0257MG
SH-0262MG
SH-0263MG
SH-0264MG
SH-0350
Servo Horn Choice
You can reference either of the above videos for installation, it’s fairly straight forward. When it comes to the servo horn, there are some tricks you can to to make sure it will work well.
We have to use one of the included Savox servo horns, since the Savox servo spline count (21 tooth) is different from the LaTrax servo (25 tooth).
Because of the odd number, the servo horn will be at a slightly different angle when you flip it around 180. Check these things out before you clip one side of the servo horn. These two images show the different servo horn positions when the servo is centered:
Servo horn (top) slightly rightServo horn (top) slightly left
I opted to have the servo horn slightly to the left which is to the rear of the vehicle when installed. This is because at full right steering, the servo horn will move forward and potentially run into the body of the servo.
Servo horn at full right turn
Having the horn installed slightly rearward will help prevent this.
Centering
To generally get the steering alignment set, I kept the servo centered after installation and adjusted the link coming off the servo horn by twisting the ball cups one turn at a time until the front wheels looked straight
So far it’s worked great. We went back to the frozen lake ice track for one last hurrah mid-March. The servo worked good, but we broke the body posts when it got clobbered by an 1/8 scale vehicle. It was a lot like this but with more parts broken:
I started by purchasing a couple sets of tires, part #TRA7674. Rather than un-mounting the tires and putting screws through from the inside out, I opted for the technique used in this video on the X-Maxx. The screws were added from the outside into the chunky part of the tread:
I started by mapping out where I wanted the studs to be located based on the tread pattern. I settled on a design with one in the middle followed by two on each side. The pattern worked out to 9 in each row, x3 would mean 27 screws for every tire.
I got 108 #6 3/8″ screws from my local Ace Hardware. They were 12 cents each, so $13 for the lot.
One concern was going to be the depth near the inside of the rim
To make sure there was enough room, I drilled the shoulder edges at an angle using a 5/64″ drill bit.
Here you can see the screws going in at a slight angle to avoid hitting the wheel underneath.
I tightened the screws 2/3 of the way in. Then I applied a dab of CA tire glue to the threads of 3 screws and then screwed them in. Repeat until all 27 screws are secured.
Learn from my mistake
I test fit two tires and realized at full steering lock the screws on the edge of the tire would come into contact with the chassis.
I could have trimmed the chassis or made a wider wheel spacer. But I still had two more tires to add studs to, so I moved my first set of tires to the rear. Then on the next two tires I moved the studs away from the shoulder slightly. The screws aren’t hitting the wheel in this configuration as I had feared.
It gave me just enough clearance that it wouldn’t rub.
When it comes to scale, millimeters matter – the smaller the scale, the bigger the difference it will make.
Performance
The studded tires on the LaTrax Prerunner worked excellent:
The Snow Slash’s tire chains are better than nothing, but the lateral grip is not great – so it severely limits acceleration and the amount of corner speed you can carry.
I actually liked the disadvantage because it made it challenging to keep up with my daughter. We had a ton of fun and hope to go back before winter is over.
Racing against incoming snow in 2021, I was working to get the track work (including ballast) down before it was buried for 4 months. The last step was to finish […]
Racing against incoming snow in 2021, I was working to get the track work (including ballast) down before it was buried for 4 months. The last step was to finish painting and add ballast over the top.
The tracks were already covered with a silvery-gray base-coat primer. The next coat of paint would be a rusty brown to paint the ties and the sides of the rails. I purchased a quart of the cheapest flat exterior paint I could find at Menards. The color I landed on is called Fudge Truffle
I used a cheap 2″ bristle brush (which is approximately the space between the rails). I went in three sections, painting the center first, then each side. There’s always a chance that the brown paint would get on top of the rails, but I just kept a damp paper towel in my pocket to wipe of any excess while it was wet. I didn’t worry about getting all of the brown off the top as trace amounts of brown lend to a rusty rail look.
After finishing one side of the layout, I was happy with the result. The rails stood out nicely against the brown ties. Plus we had yet to ballast the top.
For adding top ballast I filled a 5-gallon bucket with crusher fines (purchased earlier). Then used a garden trowel to scoop and fill the sides of the decking and tops of the track.
To spread the ballast out I used another cheap 5″ paint brush to even things out.
After an initial smoothing pass with the paint brush, I went back with a bamboo skewer to make sure there were no pebbles right next to the track or interfering with the switches.
I did some test runs of trains and found a couple places where the track could use more leveling. But that will have to wait for spring as the whole thing is buried in snow right now. We’ll see how it all holds up!
With our previous costs from design, bed install, track work part 1 & part 2 ($728) we’re up to $744. The costs have tapered off, but the amount of work definitely didn’t!
Hey there – here’s a how-to on setting up compound complex time signatures in TE Tuner and how we use it at rehearsal.
I have the privilege of working with a WGI winds group called River Valley Sound out of Elk River Minnesota. For our 2022 production we’re playing a hymn called “Nearer My God to Thee” and the arrangement we’re using is by a BYU group called Vocal Point. It’s an awesome arrangement and performance – I’ll leave a link in the description. You should definitely check it out.
The Vocal Point arrangement starts in 4/4 but goes into 7/8 time, then back to 4/4 for the arrival, then 7/8 to the end. Normally we’d use Dr. Beat at rehearsal, but we haven’t found a way to set up 7/8 time in it easily.
So I was looking at TE Tuner, which – as the name describes – is for tuning, but it can do so much more. Side-note: another great tuning app I use is iStroboSoft by Peterson b/c it’s got a great strobe display that’s easy to see. But kids love TE Tuner b/c it makes a smiley face when you’re in tune 🙂 It’s only $4 for either iOS or Android and it’s honestly the best $4 you’ll ever spend on an app.
I prefer to use TE Tuner on my iPad because it has a bigger screen with bigger buttons. It also has longer battery life and a regular headphone jack, so I don’t need to bring an adapter to hook it up to a speaker.
But I’m going to show TE Tuner on my phone because I always have my phone with me at rehearsal, and it’s good to know how to access all of the features on the smaller interface.
TE Tuner Metronome
Let’s get to the metronome!
First you’ll want to click the list icon to get into All Preset Groups.
I created a new preset group for our closer.
Count-In
We’ll deal with the count-in first. No matter what the time signature is, we always get a standard 8 beat count-in when we’re rehearsing.
So I turn it on, set it to start and add 8 beats. I turn on the “optional beat equals quarter” so that we always get a quarter note tempo – this is important for the 7/8 stuff later. Then I turn off the voice and turn on the beats.
Met Icons
Let’s go through the icons below the count-in.
Because of the mixed meter in this tune, we want the 8th notes constant. Make sure the 8th equals 8th icon is highlighted so the tempo stays consistent between meter changes.
Next is the accent, I turn that on.
Then the claves are for the sound and I like to set it to “Doctor” since we’re used to the doctor beat style sound.
The last notes icon is to turn on/off drone stuff which we’re not going to configure today, so we’ll just turn that off.
Preset
Let’s configure our first section. It’s the intro and it’s in 4/4 so we’ll leave “With Meter” selected and I know the first section is 32 bars so I’ll set that. Make sure Use Tempo is selected and we’ll set it to Fixed at 160 bpm.
Then you can customize the metronome beats – purple is an accent, gray is off, blue is a standard beat. Touch the Back arrow in the upper left when you’re done.
Then we’ll add a 7/8 section by clicking the plus (+) in the lower right. Keep “with meter” selected and choose 7/8 – our tune goes 1,2 1,2, 1,2,3 so I’ll select the 2+2+3 one. The first 7/8 section is 18 bars.
Under Use Tempo I set this one to Relative and leave the change to zero.
Then I’ll set the accents how we like it for this tune.
(This screenshot is from the 2nd 7/8 section which is 34 bars instead of 18)
Now let’s see how they work – go back to the Closer group and then back again and make sure our new Preset Group is selected. Click the X to get back to the main metronome screen.
Bug or Feature?
Here’s the weird thing that I think prevented us from using TE Tuner when we started the season – when you switch from 4/4 at 160 to 7/8 the tempo comes up as 106.7. I don’t know if it’s a bug or a feature but it’s because the 7/8 beat is a dotted quarter up here in the upper left.
106.7 is exactly 2/3 of 160 – which is fine because 2/3 of a dotted quarter is two 8th notes, it’s just weird to look at.
Now I can tap either of these presets to load them. The highlighted 1-2-3-4 icon indicates we’ll get that 8-count intro before our preset runs.
Optional Beat Setting
Here’s where that Optional Beat in the count-in is important. If you touch and hold the 1-2-3-4 icon you can edit the count-in. If I have it off, the count-in will be at the 106 bpm tempo. You can preview it with the play icon in the upper right. We always want the count-in at 160 bpm so I select Beat Equals Quarter.
Sequence Feature
Now that I’ve got my preset groups I can select the Sequence icon to run through the presets from beginning to end.
A useful side effect of this feature is that the metronome won’t switch to the next preset until the current measure is over. I’ll show you how that’s useful.
If we’re running one set before the 7/8 time starts and it’s only 16 counts, I can tap the 7/8 group on the fly and it will advance to that preset after the current measure is over.
Now I can add the additional 4/4 and 7/8 Presets to this Group so I can let the met run from the beginning to end of the tune.
Aside about TE Tuner on iPad
Before we go I want to show you one more thing which I think is important. I was talking to my brother in law who works in the Spring School District in Texas and he was telling me about Philip Geiger, a band director from the district who co-founded TE Tuner in 2012. Now if you know anything about music programs in the US, many don’t have the budget to get new equipment every year.
This is my 4th generation iPad from 2013. It is stuck on iOS 10 but TE Tuner still runs perfectly on it, where as many other apps aren’t receiving updates or flat out don’t work on this older hardware.
As a software developer myself, I understand that engineers are always looking at using those shiny new features. But I appreciate the intention it takes to maintain backwards compatibility for older hardware. Kudos to Mr. Geiger and his team – I left a link to his BOA hall of fame induction if you want to learn more about him & his career.
Hope you find this guide to the metronome features useful for your ensemble.
I was hoping the new shock pistons would help with the smoothness of the shocks as 
I think I will really need to take more time cleaning and polishing to make sure everything moves freely.
the same as all of my other ready-to-run RCs have. I think it’s just industry standard to save money on the steering servo that comes in the model. 
I’ll be replacing that next, likely with an 
I figured it was a matter of time as I’ve replaced the included servos in all of our other ready-to-run vehicles: 
