Kyosho --- Anyone running these?

[Wade]

Anyone got feedback on either of their boats? The Car side of their business is pretty solid...as for the water RC, never seen one in person and youtube vids are a little scarce.

[boredom.is.me]

I have a Airstreak 500 when I was younger. It was a pretty cool little boat. I would not consider it a full hobby grade boat though, more like the Proboat and Aquacraft RTR boats. I also had the Mini-Z Lambo Cat. That was garbage. The hull is lovely, but the electronics were trash. It only last about 2 minutes for me. To this date, I still think that was the most expensive 2 minutes of my life.

[gsbuickman]

Kyosho has had a lot of boats out over the years. They have a lot of nice hulls, but some of their electronics have been a crapshoot from time to time. I haven't had a kyosho in a long time, but they're probably not up to par with pro-boat, Aquacraft, Aeromarine and other reputable FE outlets.....

[IRON-PAWW]

Have the Twin Storm. Not a bad boat. I have the single engine version though. I think in the NIMH days there were two brushed motors installed, which, through gears, drove a single solid driveline. Won't win speed awards, and turns like crap without decent turn fins. But still runs pretty well. Mine has the space for a second motor, so I think if you added that, and got the gearing right, you could get a fair bit more speed out of it. Plastic hull though........ and I had to mod the cooling straight up as it always got waaaay too hot. Cheap water fittings too which meant they rusted.....no matter what I did to prevent. Interesting project I think if you could get one for the right price. Loud too as the gears wail like a frikkin banshee!! Plastic prop came on mine too..... Plus......access to rear transom isn't possible witout cutting tools. Still.... Ran ok out of the box but careful of the overheating if running lipos. Mine has stripped the gears now because some unnamed fool ran it aground .... Meaning the prop couldn't turn...... Sigh.

Outdrive setup too....with hinged type driveline. More maintenance with that. Kyosho says no maintenance requied. BS!!!! Maintenance definitely req'd!!

[Mattwarner]

I had a viper when I was in my teens which I modded but ultimately went up in flames (literally!) when I returned to the hobby I got a twinstorm with two brushed motors as mentioned above, it was ok and got me hooked into the hobby again (spent loads on it to get 25mph!) but I certainly wouldn't recommend to anyone when any of the AQ or proboats offer far more

[gsbuickman]

A couple years ago I revived a vintage 1980's Parma Ski Tiger mono. I dropped a feiago 9xl, prather 220 prop & a turbojet 200A ESC in it . The vintage 1987' Traxxas Villain IV is a hoot to play with. In their stock form, your lucky to get 15_ mph out of them.

With a few inexpensive upgrades, 35 - 45 mph is realistic, but a about all the 30+ yr. old hulls can handle, however they're a real hoot to run . My Villain is running ball bearing driveshafts & outdrives, Octura conversion propshafts _w/ x447 props, villain ex water cooling & twin HPI gt-550 motors. She scoots on 2s, flies on 3s & is crazy froggy on 4s ...

[Mad Racer]

I had the Blade Runner....

It had a reduction drive to a solid shaft. It was rather slow even with a hotter motor. Plastic hull and cheap fittings. I sold it about 5 yrs ago . A good brushless would have been good to see in it .

Kyosho boats are expensive and poor quality for the money.

[tlandauer]

OP might be asking their CURRENT Line of BL mono and Cat. :http://www.kyoshoamerica.com/EP-POWERED_c_90.html
The EP Jet Stream888 VE looks to have the same hardware as the Venom/Atomik with the addition of a flood chamber. The inner layout is different but the mono looks like the KOS P1 Fountain boat.
The Hurricane900 seems to be an interesting offer.
Both the mono and the cat is FG hull.
I have the Venom P1 and it runs OK as a RTR scale boat with stock motor and upgraded 120A ESC.
In any case, these hulls should be much better than the plastic hulls of yore.
Just my $.02