Author: Ben Whitlow (bnwhtlw) The MA-010 is an amazing vehicle in design. I stress the 'in design' part. I love the AWD system that Kyosho came up with. However, the vehicle is not without its flaws.
First flaw that I can see is that in order to make a decent racer of of the AWD you have to invest a significant amount of money. To make a competitive racer and minimize failure rates you should plan on replacing the Diffs, Drive Shaft, Swing Arms, Knuckles, and tie rods. Additionally the screw holes on the rear gear case are prone to cracking, so you will either have to invest in some Alloy or the SAS.
The most significant flaw that I have encountered is in the steering system. When returning from steering one direction (usually right) the steering will refuse to center. It is EXTREMELY annoying. I have speant countless hours trying to fix the problem. Some users on the Mini-Z Racer forums have found a couple fixes. (http://mini-zracer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25931) As near as I can tell the problem is caused by binding of the servo case. This problem seems gets worse the more you take the chassis apart and put it back together.
In addition to the above mentioned issues, the car also requires a great deal of tinkering. I personally do not like this aspect, but some may find it appealing so I will not list it as a flaw.
All in all the I would say the AWD is great for drifting, but it requires a significant investment of both time and money to make it a decent racer.
|