X-5 Review ! [Archive] - oOple.com Forums

jimmy

30-03-2006, 11:28 PM

X-5 Review is almost done, Just a couple of photos need to be done which aint easy when its raining all the time. :rolleyes:
Still, this is a teaser.

http://www.oople.com/rc/photos/reviewx5/x5studio01.jpg
not bad considering it was taken in the kitchen lol, sorry vicky,:salut:

Chrislong

31-03-2006, 07:35 AM

Looking good! :D

PaulRotheram

31-03-2006, 12:32 PM

nice one jim, cant wait :D

jimmy

31-03-2006, 12:39 PM

Its sunny!!!!! but I dont have the car with me or a driver... bah. maybe tomorrow.. sigh, no lie in for me then.

jimmy

01-04-2006, 10:25 PM

http://www.oople.com/rc/photos/reviewx5/lilaction03.jpg

voila !:)

losidan

04-04-2006, 12:03 PM

Cat's Whiskers
Dog's danglies
Canines Undercarriage
Cat's pyjamas
Mutt's Nuts

I REALLY want one

jimmy

23-04-2006, 07:43 PM

Done!

http://www.oople.com/rc/photos/reviewx5

:jimmeh

Chrislong

23-04-2006, 07:46 PM

Wow, another excellent review! :D Very impressed there Jimmy, you've really put some hours into that!

Loving the pictures of my cars, those I have never seen before :o
LOL "Share them, share them" :)

jimmy

23-04-2006, 07:49 PM

Bathy

23-04-2006, 07:52 PM

Top job once again Jimmy, very good read and a great insight into how the XX4 becomes the X5 (I always wondered). Great paint job as well, how did you get that image masked (one taken in the kitchen), must have taken ages and it looks great.

jimmy

23-04-2006, 07:57 PM

Cheers dave
Theres a top secret quick way of doing it mate! :) because its taken on a white background, I made it a multiply layer in photoshop over the background colour I use.

totally cut out in an instant... but without any highlights / bright areas..
so for those I make another layer and past the original image in again, and quickly delete most of the photo with the erase tool, leaving only the bright areas that the previous stage lacked.. its a lot quicker and easier than cutting it all out by hand.

PaulRotheram

23-04-2006, 08:10 PM

Cheers mate! spent a while on it, up till 3.40 this morn on it, hence why I dint race today.

ill get a lil photo package sorted for ya hehe.. had a scour about for photos of your cars like. tried to find a decent photo of you but unfortunately I couldnt find one that would have been acceptable!! haha, all too daft im afraid.

yes i seem to remember being up till then with you also a few nights helping :flower:

Funkymojo

23-04-2006, 09:26 PM

Another great review Jimmy...Cheers!! :D

YoungChazz

24-04-2006, 04:22 AM

Thanks, Jimmy, for a fair and accurate review. I've said this before: You do the best, most in-depth reviews in the business.

Here's the story on the rubber straps: We started with a nice-looking black one, but no matter what we did it was too stretchy and the batteries fell out. So we switched to a beautiful shiney black neoprene which held the batteries well but tore in five runs where the nut & washer hold it in. I cut the ugly brown ones out one at a time on Mom's kitchen table and they work.

Our production quantities are too small to pay for a die to have them done properly. Although, after your review...

Morlock

24-04-2006, 07:44 AM

I am rather blown away by the reviews you do. They really are the best. I only wish you would have a bit more time with the cars to discuss how you like tuning them, setting them up as now we get a good sense of the performance, but not nearly as impressive as the build notes.

Your comparrison with the xx4 and the overall notes on the car does still, however, make this possibly the best most thourough review of a kit I have seen.

Keep up the good , wait, the great work :D

Chrislong

24-04-2006, 08:30 AM

Cheers mate! spent a while on it, up till 3.40 this morn on it, hence why I dint race today.

ill get a lil photo package sorted for ya hehe.. had a scour about for photos of your cars like. tried to find a decent photo of you but unfortunately I couldnt find one that would have been acceptable!! haha, all too daft im afraid.

Ha ha, im good at avoiding being infront of camera's. Although I know Stu Evans took one yesterday which could be good, although I may be a tad sunburnt...

Oscar

24-04-2006, 09:17 AM

I only wish you would have a bit more time with the cars to discuss how you like tuning them, setting them up as now we get a good sense of the performance, but not nearly as impressive as the build notes...........

Maybe that's where I can come in on this one. Jimmy has kindly passed the X5 to me to run this season. I intend to do some mini reports on my thoughts and findings, which I'm sure will be made available to all oOple viewers:)

jimmy

24-04-2006, 01:22 PM

Oscar (john price) 's first race report will go up tonight on the review also, didnt have time to add it last night :)

andys

24-04-2006, 08:52 PM

Oscar (john price) 's first race report will go up tonight on the review also, didnt have time to add it last night :)

Should be plenty of shots of the underside to come then !

Oscar

24-04-2006, 09:55 PM

Cynic:tongue:

Stu

24-04-2006, 09:56 PM

Ha ha, im good at avoiding being infront of camera's. Although I know Stu Evans took one yesterday which could be good, although I may be a tad sunburnt...

http://www.northernracer.com/southport/67.jpg

Chris, is Derek racing or checking out your tranny?

Northy

24-04-2006, 09:59 PM

I'm not laughing at either of those two..... lol :D :D :D

Stu

24-04-2006, 10:01 PM

G, your no-one to point, remember the McFlurry Bra, yeah, we do!

Northy

24-04-2006, 10:02 PM

LMAO yeah! :o :D :D :D

WHITTLER555

24-04-2006, 10:33 PM

Stu, still awake after 11.00 pm, it's way past your bedtime!

G, take a look at Stu's website pictures, I raced my newly acquired Losi XX CR Kinwald (yellow and pink, gay I know!)yesterday at Southport and I reckon if I was allowed it would have qualified on the back of the A final!!:D

Chrislong

25-04-2006, 07:34 AM

Ha ha, I think he was trying to follow me around but rather than watch the cars he was copying thumb movement.

McFlurry Bra eh? LOL

DCM

25-04-2006, 10:04 AM

Someone raced a Tamiya DynaStorm!!!

And what was your car doing wearing pink leg warmers Chris?? :D

PaulRotheram

25-04-2006, 11:00 AM

woodys face looks quality on that picture, i think derick was checking your handset out, hes after a new one :p althought during the race isnt the time to do so!:D

Chrislong

25-04-2006, 12:17 PM

The pink booties! they're ace.

Now these are going back some time, Woody and his dad suplied many things under the name of "Woody's Wizbits" and one of the things were shock booties. They did them in all colours, and Stuart has just found a few left over packets of pink ones, which me, Stu Mahon and Woody ran at Southport.

The main purpose for these is to use them at Tiverton. But at Southport the novelty was new and we just had to use them, ha ha.

DCM

25-04-2006, 12:19 PM

I remember people using party balloons to the same affect many many years ago....

Stu

25-04-2006, 04:06 PM

Ha ha, I think he was trying to follow me around but rather than watch the cars he was copying thumb movement.

Reminds me of a funny moment several years ago at the old West Craven club, opposite way around to Derek above.
Two guys called Dave & Roland (Chris, you'l know who I mean) Roland's watchin' Dave's car by mistake & operating the sticks accordingly.
Roland thinks he's doing better than normal (not too hard) untill someone has to tell him his car's going off its tits in the trees.

Funny it were.

FBR

25-04-2006, 05:21 PM

nice review good job jimmy

jimmy

25-04-2006, 05:24 PM

Thanks mate!

ignore all these off topic fools! :p

ApexSpeed

11-05-2006, 09:02 PM

Jimmy, and anyone else who runs an X5, the kit/conversion seems to need a LOT of hand-work to convert an existing XX4 (cutting, grinding, hand-fitting, etc.). I know what the owners of the cars say about them on the track, but it sounds like it's almost a scratch-built car pieced together, and certainly not for someone willing to really massage the car together.

Propeganda aside, is it worth it? The price tag + the custom fitting + an existing car to convert + changing all of your battery layouts, and then you still have ESC fit issues and odd things like the battery straps to deal with, is it worth the massive cost and effort to build an X5?

PaulRotheram

11-05-2006, 09:19 PM

putting it shortly, yes:)

the x5 is super, i had no issues building my car. the cutting and grinding takes 10 minutes, even if your not handy with the dremel, they are really easy to do!

jimmy

11-05-2006, 10:41 PM

I really need to put a bigger note in there, most of the modifications are definately minor, the most work I did was to fit the losi one way.. this was a bit of a PIG, it needed the most work of anything and for a perfect fit took a lot of time. But- I think this would also apply to fitting the one way to a XX4 ??. Lesro and Xfactory now have available a new one way which doesnt need any work to fit at all so removes most of the hard work that I went through.
I really need to look at the review and make sure I point out that the hard work is really fitting the losi one way and not something you need to go through.

If you are running fixed drive that also makes it a lot easier..

The normal mods like the steering tunnel, front belt covers and even the rear shock tower are easy to do and not time consuming at all like paul points out--- I know paul, and if HE finds something easy, they a monkey could do it !. :p

The car isn't perfect in the build, for that you want something like the Yokomo BX, but the modifications are done to save cost. Xfactory could have done these mods (or made new parts) but that would add to the cost.

I'd definately say it was worth it, the car seems more drivable to me than the XX4 and its easier to work on. It also looks like a proper car when built, certainly far from scratch built.

ApexSpeed

11-05-2006, 10:52 PM

Good to know. I didn't realize most of that work was for the one-way front. I just acquired a new DC oneway for my XX4 and it was a straight drop-in. I think they have something for the X5 ready or in the works, too (or the XX4 one will work).

I have been teetering back and forth on an X5, and the costs have been the main issue, plus I'd like to get more time under my belt with the XX4we. I have a 70% complete XX4 parts car that I picked up on the way, I just may have to dive into the world of the X5.

:D

Awesome review, Jimmy. I appreciate the massive time and effort you put into it.

jimmy

11-05-2006, 11:11 PM

Thanks mate. I sometimes go a bit over board in pointing out the bad stuff and fitting the losi one way IS a pain but using a one way designed for the car is a lot easier.

John price has raced the X5 more than me now with 3 meetings under his belt already. Beating me every time (I was running zx5 / yokomo bx, and XX4). I will add a couple of write ups from him soon, he seems to really like the car.

ApexSpeed

11-05-2006, 11:16 PM

Maybe if I get the X5 sooner than later, I can completely avoid painting that pig-ugly XX4we body. :pig:

:D

I'll have to redo all of my batteries and then figure out some way to stuff a Tekin ESC into that chassis. Anyone run a Tekin in their car?

jimmy

11-05-2006, 11:22 PM

I think chris long and dan greenwood both run the Tekin in their cars. Its a biggie so I think they both run the receiver at the back. Dan on the right and chris on the left behing the cells.

ApexSpeed

11-05-2006, 11:27 PM

Good to know. I haven't seen many pictures of X5s running Tekin speedos, and because it is all I use, I have been hesitant to jump to the X5. I can fit them in a 12th scale car, but it didn't look too promising for the tightly packed X5.

Hmmm, going to have to chew on this one some more. Might have to be a new X5 in my future. ;) 4wd is getting more steam here this year so far, and it would be nice to be armed to the teeth with the best chassis (or at least the one that is easy to drive and makes me look better than I really am).

doug

PaulRotheram

11-05-2006, 11:55 PM

The normal mods like the steering tunnel, front belt covers and even the rear shock tower are easy to do and not time consuming at all like paul points out--- I know paul, and if HE finds something easy, they a monkey could do it !. :p

i resent that :( :( :p

Chrislong

12-05-2006, 09:18 AM

(ha ha @ Paul)

Yes, I have run the Tekin G11-Pro in my X5 and Dan has too. I found it quite a nice fit. It fits very well on its side at the front just infront of the motor, and the receiver wire is perfect length to reach the receiver when the receiver (KR301F) is mounted at the back righthand side. It would also go on the left hand side just as easily.

I know Dan has mounted his this way too (I copied his layout, he was first to do it)

Have a look on www.4wdrc.com, there is a forum there and in the X5 section there is a thread named "Neat wiring", I think Dan has pictures of his Tekin mounted in the X5 in there.

Chris

Oscar

12-05-2006, 07:30 PM

John price has raced the X5 more than me now with 3 meetings under his belt already. Beating me every time (I was running zx5 / yokomo bx, and XX4). I will add a couple of write ups from him soon, he seems to really like the car.

As Jimmy said, I do like the car. I will continue with updates on "Life
with the X5", you can be assured, like Jimmy's reviews, they will be
unbiased and highlight the positives and negatives as I see them.
In all honesty, upto now, its all praise for the car, its just as fast as
my XXX4, but easier to drive consistently (for us mere mortal drivers) and
much simpler to work on than the XX4. :)

Ps: Paul....:monkey: