Review of Purchases from One28thRC

Review of Purchases from One28thRC.com

I Have ordered quite a few items from one28thrc.com and what I like the best about shopping with this site is I can request any of the regular Radio Shack parts for Evo's and they are willing to obtain the items for me Jason McPhie runs the site and store. Correspondance from Jason was quick and friendly and when the Hummer H2 I ordered arrived with a faulty mainboard Jason was quite willing to entertain my ideas for obtaining a replacement and unlike some other on-line stores didn't give me a hard-time about the failure. My last order was for the following items:

Order was Placed: Feb 16 2006
Order was Shipped: Feb 20 2006
Order was Recieved: March 8 2006

1 x Evo Truck Off-Road Upgrade $17.00 ($15.00 at Radio Shack)
1 x Evo Body Kit for 2006 Ford Mustang $15.00 ($13.00 at Radio Shack)
Subtotal: $32.00
Shipping & Handling: $15.00
Total: $47.00

For this package I was required to pay an additional $11.75 the package was shipped with a declared value of $45.00 from one28thrc.com which was then used as the amount to collect the following taxes and fees.

Customs Collection Fee $5.00
GST 0.7% on $45.00 is $3.15
PST 0.8% on $45.00 is $3.60

Since I'm located in Canada I'm required to pay any import duties and a 7% tax called the GST (Goods and Services Tax) and another 8% PST (Provincial Sales Tax) on all items imported into Canada. Couriers will always collect the duties and Taxes and charge a fee for doing this which can vary from as low as $5 to $30 depending on the couriers rate.

The Parts in Detail

What follows is the description of each part from the One28thRC.com website that was ordered. Directly below is my thoughts 'Good', 'Bad' or 'Ugly' about my experience with the product. Note many of the parts ordered were the standard Radio Shack Xmod Parts so I will not bother to review these parts but I'll make a mention if any of the parts should be avoided or if I noticed any other issues.

Locking Alloy Wheel Nuts
$4.00 (Feb 2006)

This are a must have for any car that is using plastic wheel nut. They won't crack and they will take some slop out of your wheels. Your choice of color.

My Thoughts on the Locking Alloy Wheel Nuts

These are a must! I have broken countless numbers of those darn plastic ones that come with the Xmods kits and I have literally lost wheels! I believe the reason for the problem stems from the upgrade to high performance motors as I never had the problem previously. The day I put the 35T in my Corvette I lost a wheel and found another cracked wheel nut that was about to fail so I took out my hummer which had a similar upgrade and lost the front wheel within 10 minutes of driving arghh!

Are the ones sold here better than any others I've tried?
Probably not but if your placing an order throw them in!

"Gold" Neodymium Magnet
$4.00 (Feb 2006)

I'm sure most of you know these are the strongest magnets you will find for your Xmod or Mini-Z motor. Replace your junk magnets with these and you will gain loads of torque.

My Thoughts on the 'Neo Magnets'
I have covered 'Neo Magnets' in depth previously Here and I doubt a significant difference exists in the strength of the magnetic field that I could measure reliably anyway.

Spiral Armature
$5.00 (Feb 2006)

This is a spiral armature for all you speed freaks out there. This is the best arm you can put in a 130 size motor, hands down.

My Thoughts on the Spiral Armature

As explained on the One28thRC website. An armature normally has 3 pieces which have an electro magnet wound on each piece. When rotating, and the first piece is forced past one magnet due to the opposite polarity. It begins to slow down right before it reaches the other mag, but then it gets shot around again because of the second piece of the armature coming into contact with the first magnet. A electro magnet on a spiral arm gets pushed a bit more since it takes more time for each piece to pass each magnet. Right when the 1st piece is about to pass through the magnetic field, the 2nd piece of the armature comes into contact with that magnet. The spiral version has a longer exposure time to the magnet because of it's spiral-like design. For that same reason, it comes into contact with the opposite magnet sooner as well. Basically it provides a more constant rotational force.

Admittedly I never bothered to try winding the armature to try it out mostly due my fear of frying my FET's and without a testing bench to help guide me I would probably have ended up with a High-performance piece of lead!

Sanyo 900mAh Superlattice Alloy AAA Batteries
$14.00 (Feb 2006)

SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. the world's leading producer of rechargeable batteries announce the successful development of a new electrode material, 'Superlattice Alloy' for Nickel Metal Hydride batteries. 'Superlattice Alloy' has a different make up than conventional material this distinctive structure helps it to achieve its high performance.

Worlds top class capacity AAA NiMH battery. High capacity exceeds conventional Nickel Metal Hydride batteries. An increase in capacity of approximately 25% compared to conventional negative electrode material.

Ideal for high power use with excellent discharge properties. 'Superlattice Alloy' has a superior discharge performance over conventional negative electrode material, making it ideal for RC cars that require a high rate of discharge.

My Thoughts on the Sanyo 900mAh Superlattice Alloy AAA Batteries

I have various sets of rechargeable batteries Duracel 850mAh, Energizer 800mAh and now Sanyo 900mAh (I have a set of Sanyo 1000mAh coming in soon) so far these have proven to be the best performers in the range of Ni-Mh batteries I have tried I Highly recommend these they deliver lots of juice fast while lasting just a little bit longer.

Carbon Fiber Drive Shafts
$5.00 (Feb 2006)

Lighter is always faster. This is why bullet bikes are faster than cars. Weight reduction is critical in the racing world and this product cuts the fat where it impacts the cars performance most. This is because your motor doesn't have as much "work" when you start removing mass from the drive train. This is called rotational mass and you want as little as possible. This has to be the best upgrade you can find for the money hands down. This shaft weighs 430% less than the stock steel shaft.

My Thoughts on the Carbon Fiber Drive Shafts

Well I think Jason has the basics covered "Lighter is always faster" and I've read from other sites that they have seen an actual increase in the top speed from 2-5 mph so I think it's worth the five bucks.

Jason also has this nifty guide to which length of shaft each Xmod uses and he provides the weight of the stock 'Steel' shaft and it's 'Carbon Fiber' replacement for comparission.

Length and Car G=grams	Steel Drive Shafts	Carbon Fiber shafts
EVO car Xmods short (M)	4.3G	.8G
EVO car Xmods medium (L)*	4.5G	.9G
EVO car Xmods long (LL)	4.8G	1G
EVO truck Xmods short (M)	4.2G	.8G
EVO truck Xmods medium (L)*	4.6G	.9G
EVO truck Xmods long (LL)	5.1G	1G
original Xmods short	4.2G	.8G
original Xmods long	4.3G	.9G

Cars and Trucks	Shaft size
EVO Mustang	EVO car Xmods long (LL)
EVO Firebird	EVO car Xmods medium (L)*
EVO Lancer	EVO car Xmods medium (L)*
EVO G35	EVO car Xmods long (LL)
EVO F150	EVO truck Xmods long (LL)
EVO H2 Hummer	EVO truck Xmods medium (L)*
Honda NSX	original Xmods short
Acura RSX	original Xmods short
Subaru WRX	original Xmods long
Honda Civic	original Xmods long
Ford Mustang	original Xmods long
Chevy Camero	original Xmods long
Toyota Supra	original Xmods long
Nessan Skyline R34	original Xmods long
Chevy Corvette	original Xmods long
Nessan 350Z	original Xmods long

I have ordered I believe every possible Radio Shack Upgrade for my collection the list includes all of the parts in the list Here. other than some being mostly cosmetic the ones that are for specific uses such as the AWD kits work just as advertised. Radio Shacks installation instructions are clear and the installation itself is for the most part a fairly easy affair. Actually only the F-150 Body Kit and the Supra Body kit have not entered my collection from the upgrade list. I think I've spent a little more on these then the average Xmod user and my collection is getting fairly large....hmm e-bay is sounding like a good idea! I've also ordered these Starter Kits from Jason as well.

Infinity G35 Evolution Starter Kit
$49.00 (sale price Feb 2006)

2006 Ford Mustang Evolution Starter Kit
$49.00 (sale price Feb 2006)

Hummer H2 Evolution Starter Kit
$60.00 (Feb 2006)

You can see some pictures of these Here

Well as you can see One28thRC.com is my main importer for Xmod Evo cars and upgrades I have had no issues in my dealings my Jason and suggest anyone looking to get these who live outside of the United States visit his website.