So I was sitting on the couch after watching Survivor China, where they got to go to see the Shaolin temple~! That would have been cool. Anyway, I started studying up on my notes when all of a sudden, the house started to shake. At first I thought it will be over in a few secs so I'll just keep sitting here. I was wrong... Kept shaking and so we all ran for the door to go outside. On the way out, things were falling off the shelves and the power went out. I managed to stop a vase from falling. The other one fell but didn't break cause of the carpet. While outside, we were just standing there and it felt like we were on a boat just rocking back and forth, lasting minutes. The cars were moving like someone was trying to roll it over. When we went back inside, the computer LCD screen fell off the desk and onto the chair, and the draws were all open. Went to my room to find that my battery charger and hard drive fell on my Advante MKII... Its fine though. What made me laugh was that my Super ClodBuster didn't move :P Haha. It was still sitting on top of a box in the corner of my room where I left it. Neighbors were scared that a tsunami was coming, so a few of them hopped in a car and drove off... I laughed :P Power didn't come back for ages, and as I was heading to work to see what the damage was there, it came back on. Work was a mess. Products everywhere, few stands toppled over and such and such. I gave them a hand cleaning up, then went to my other work. They weren't so bad. Went to work this morning and found out as I got there, that we weren't allowed in. They were inspecting the buildings, so I went to my other work and stayed there for the day. Went and helped put the makeup back on the shelf, and came home. Thats about it really. Nothing as dramatic as whats shown on the news. I went to bed and slept :P

Long story short, I drove my Avante MKII into the sea.

Long story long, I went to the beach yesterday to test out these new 3800mAh batteries I brought off Damian (d.amy@xtra.co.nz) on trademe under the alias damz6969 (tell him Foong sent you if you're interested in buying) and yeah, my TEU-101BK handles these pretty fine. Hooning around on the sand was quite fun :) Had no trouble until I started chasing birds with my car, misjudged, and drove it into the surf... Instant kill! Had to go fish it out and take it home but at least the ESC didn't overheat? Battery was fine too. Everything was waterlogged, so I took everything apart starting first with electrics. I thought they were done for but I dried them out and they worked fine. Took the car apart and washed everything. Some screws and metal bits were starting to rust :S Front one way unit doesn't spin as freely as it use to :( will replace it if I have any further issues... Put some CRC in the one way bearing so hope that will be alright. Motor got taken apart, cleaned and rebuilt so thats also working fine now :) Had it all up and running last night and put the wheels on this morning before work. Planning on taking it down to the beach again this afternoon but its pretty hot... I'll be more careful this time!!~ Pitty it had to happen in the first place...

Sport tuned motors came from Jun not long after paying (due to great service!!), and have been installing them on the Super ClodBuster these last few afternoons after work. Took it all apart, cause it's not easy to install motors on the truck :S Ended up cleaning it cause I took it to the beach and thrashed around in the sand dunes, which was awesome fun!! BUT sand in your truck is not... so cleaned it all out of the joints which had grease, which is a sand magnet! Fitted the motors in and to be honest, I didn't see any dramatic change in speed like I did with the TT-01 I use to have. Maybe I was expecting too much... Took the Avante MKII out on the road this afternoon, and it flew! I would probably say 40km/h with the Superstock BZ motor in it. Batteries don't last long on them. Have NiCd ones and thinking of upgrading to NiMh, but then I'd have to buy batteries and get another charger... Can't afford it at the moment, booked flights costing almost $400 to travel back to Dunedin to sit exams in January, so I'm working at paying off my credit card at the moment. Another couple of weeks I maybe.

Just for those who are interested... :P

Tamiya hard turnbuckle shaft set

Tamiya slipper clutch set

Tamiya center one way set

Tamiya front one way set

Tamiya heat sink bar set

Tamiya DF-03 damper set

Tamiya 27T pinion, 78T spur

Yeah Racing spoiler stand -10 deg

Yeah Racing battery holder

Yeah Racing body posts

Yeah Racing rear hubs

Yeah Racing light weight gear shaft

Yeah Racing wheel adapter set 

Yeah Racing propeller shaft

Yeah Racing propeller joint

Yeah Racing steering set

3Racing graphite damper tower front & rear (very strong, flipped it many times)

3Racing steering rod

3Racing suspension brace

GPM universal swing shafts (cause I snapped one)

In response to Mrlovebug, pics have been posted of my RC cars. Super ClodBuster, DF-02 Gravel Hound, and DF-03 Avante MKII. Both buggies have been upgraded in various ways, both by damper and motor heat sink, but you can see the differences in the pics. Avante MKII is my most upgraded, with almost everything unless it reduces speed/function/bling, therefore suspension arms are not alloy on that one. I did use to own a TT-01 STi, but sold it as I was more leaning towards offroad buggies, but now I kinda miss it... Maybe sometime in the future, I'll have a TT-01 again, but who knows. Sport tuned motors are currently being purchased from Jun for Super ClodBuster which will get it going fast(er). Have rolled it using stock motors, so I should be careful. It has battle scars already... Currently thinking if I really need 2 buggies, and maybe I should sell the Gravel Hound for a bit of cash to spend on another project... I dunno. I rebuilt the whole chassis, which is now pretty much NEW (no scratches on the underside whatsoever). Would like a good return on it.