Tamiya M1025 Hummer

An old, crappy photo.

I got this as a "ToMe FromMe" Christmas present in 1995. This R/C is an excellent ride. For one, it's a Hummer! (C'mon, who doesn't want one of these?) Another reason is that it's four-wheel drive. I never realized what I was missing by sticking with two-wheel drive cars.

Basically, it has a TA-02W chassis--the same as is used for a number of Tamiya cars between '95 and '97. It is a little different from other TA-02Ws, though--it's a little wider to make it more true to scale. (As we all know, Hummers are quite wide.) The oil shocks, ball differential and bellcrank steering system put it on about the same level as the Thunder King in terms of complexity and adjustability, but we're back to the more manageable 1/10 scale.

Performance And Such

This truck is a lot of fun to drive. I enjoy just seeing a Hummer driving around--but, even better, this one's under my control. Even with the standard RS-540 motor, it's quite speedy and handles very well, considering it's high center of gravity (in relation to other TA-02s and comparable cars).

The Hummer does have a tendency to roll on sharp turns at full throttle--big shock. Adjusting the toe-in (or in this case, toe-out) takes care of that for the most part. Further adjustability (camber, specifically) would allow futher control in those situations, too, but without replacing the upper suspension links, the angle is fixed. An anti-sway bar would definitely prove helpful in these situations, but I haven't gotten around to making one yet. (The Hummer is too wide to make use of the ones available for the TA-02W chassis.)

The shocks might be a little small for it, specifically when running it off-road, such as I do. It's really a moot point, though--longer ones won't fit. The truck lands from small jumps quite well and doesn't seem to bottom out, so it's ok. I'm sure larger jumps would cause a lot of problems for it--but then, it wasn't designed for jumps, let alone harsh off-road use.

4WD is great. It allows the truck to really stick to the ground on sharp turns. In addition to pushing itself out of trouble (like a 2WD car), it can pull itself out, too. Obviously, it doesn't "push" like most 2WD cars coming out of turns and such. Since it's shaft-driven 4WD, it's easy to turn this into a 2WD truck. It doesn't handle nearly as well like that, nor is it as fun.

Hop-Ups and Modifications

I've got a Tekin Rebel reversing electronic speed control (ESC) in it instead of the supplied mechanical speed control. I recommend an ESC as one of the very first upgrades to your car or truck, it's a vast and extremely noticeable upgrade over the standard mechanical speed control. You'll get greatly extended run-times and infinitely more control over the speed and braking of your R/C.

I've also got a full set of ball bearings in it. This reduces friction considerably and allows everything to roll much smoother. This is also another very important upgrade for any car or truck. In addition to the longevity factor (less friction means parts will last longer), I also got an appreciable speed improvement over the worn plastic bushings I was replacing.

I was using a Futaba S-148 to steer it. (The S-148 is the "standard" servo Futaba supplies, which has 42 ounce/inches of torque.) This wasn't quite powerful enough to make me happy, though--whenever I'd go driving through the tall grass it would strain itself. In fact, I'd recommend a more powerful servo for any kind of truck. In my opinion, a good way to judge whether your steering servo is powerful enough is if it can turn the tires while your R/C isn't moving. If it can turn the tires, it's good, if not, replace it.

Anyway, the standard S-148 servo works well for a car, which is a bit lighter and uses smaller tires, but doesn't quite cut it for something bigger and heavier like the Hummer. I replaced it with a Futaba S9304. This servo supplies 69.5 oz/in of torque and uses dual ball bearings and a coreless motor. It's a nice improvement.

I replaced the stock Mabuchi 540 motor with a Trinity Midnight. The Midnight is a stock motor, but has a bit more oomph to it. Not to mention the fact that it just looks more impressive.

There's also a photo detailing the measurements for cutting the new antenna-mount hole.

I got really sick of the way the receiver antenna was connected to the body of the Hummer. Whenever I would take the body off, I couldn't set it aside--it needed to be right there with the chassis. I found a relatively easy way to remedy the problem, though: get a plastic antenna (like comes with most kits) and insert it into part E6 (the little antenna mount thing). You'll need to drill a hole through the body for the antenna to poke through, too. The hole should be centered on the body, and measure 1-7/8 inches towards the front from the rear body mounts. (Just set your ruler on the body and make a mark at the right point. Don't bother with Pythagorean's Theorem to get it right, I've already done that.)

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