Nice packaging, good instructions. The cowl of the outboard is held on with 4 pins, very fragile, mine broke off the two aft pins the first time I removed the motor cowl, so be carefull! The version I bought now has a 150mAH battery, so it appears they have upgraded it from the 130mAH. The trailer is nice, but really a freaky Japaneses thing, and not needed, it should be an accessory and a AC adapter supplied in it's place for charging the battery.
I took the lower unit and prop and sharpened the leading edges for less drag. Also a small drop of silicon grease was applied to the drive shaft and to the universal ball drive at the end of the shaft. I also used som RTV to secure the rubber bellows to the lower motor cowl and transom of the boat as it kept coming loose and I wanted to be sure to have as much water proofing as possible. Be sure to route the battery wires and connector exactly as shown in the directions or the hull cowl will not fit on.
The first run was only about a minute, and after 3 runs the capacity of the battery was delivering 4 minutes of full throttle run time. You can adjust the motor tilt for water conditions, and there are optional trim tabs and a prop assortment availlable, along with a higher power electric motor, none of which my hobby shop had, so I cannot comment, but I'm sure they will increase performance. The boat turns great, is very fast for it's size and is perfect even in a small swimming pool. It will do a 180 degree turn within a foot or so, depending on the amount of dual rate throw you dial in the transmitter. The Tx is FM with removable 27MHz crystals for quick channel changing, it has steering and throttle trim, plus steering dual rate, and an LED power indicator that flashes when the battery is low.
As mentioned before, the trailer with it's 8 "AA" alkaline cells for charging the boat's battery is more of a toy, and not really needed, Kyosho would have done better to make it an accessory as few will ever use it with a Min-Z truck and tow it. I myself used an MRC Super Brain, or my trusty old Ace Vari-Charger to recharge the 150mAH NiCads. Other than the decal around the hatch/cowl cover chipping every time you remove it to charge the battery, the boat is very nicely made and has excellent detail, and it handles like a dream. I do suggest you get an extra battery or two, they go quickly and it's addictive to race! The only other precaution is to dry out the boat and motor as water does get inside. Be especially careful to remove the outboard cover so the servo motor and pot inside dry out. I shook a bunch of water out of the outboard, it tends to trap water. It probably would not hurt to coat the circuit board with some extra lacquer to water proof it. Donot use 6 cells of a LiPo as you will burn out the Mosfet according to Kyosho. Hope you have as much fun with this cool little tunnel hull as we are having.
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