Taiyo Jet Fighter RC - Revisited

As you may already know, the Taiyo Jet Fighter was the haul that made me hunt for more good hauls. I have had several more hauls after that but I still consider the Jet Fighter my best ever. You can say that it's my favorite.

It's obvious that the design of the Jet Fighter was copied from Tamiya's Boomerang. Nevertheless, there is just something about the stance, livery and over all packaging of the Jet Fighter that makes me grin with excitement every time I look at it. I have heard that the first toy, first bike, first comic, or first cartoon, no matter how bad they are, would always be your favorite even if there is something out there that is much better. Maybe that's true. ^___^

Well that is just part of the reason why I am revisiting the Jet Fighter. The main reason why I am revisiting this lovely buggy is the fact that it received the most clicks among my posts, that with just three pictures posted. And as promised, I will be revisiting my RC cars with more pictures and hopefully spec details about the cars.

Okay then so lets start! 

As you can see in the spec sheet the Taiyo Jet Fighter is a very basic RC. Very typical of a non hobby grade RC. I currently don't have a way to check the max speed of the Jet Fighter, it's not that slow but it's not fast either. It to has the speed lever at the body of the axle and a Turbo slot for the controller stick. 

I have run the buggy a couple of times before retiring it to be a shelf queen. And during those runs I did not have any issues with the steering, jumps and even parts breaking. It's not the best runner but it was sure fun to see it go full speed across the street.

The body of the Jet Fighter may look like the Boomerang but I like the livery of the Jet Fighter much better. The color scheme has a very 80's racing feel to it. I have seen a yellow variation and a black variation (Twin Motor!!! ^_^) of the Jet fighter and I sure do want to get one for my self.

This may not be a hobby grade RC but the packaging makes it look like one. I am not sure if I have said it here (I think I may have said it on my art blog ^_^) that I am a big fan of box arts, manuals and packaging. When I bought the Jet Fighter it came with the manual and a brochure and taped on the manual is a spare part for the linkages of the Jet Fighter. It's cool that the manual is written in Japanese but how I wish I could translate and read them.

Japan made toys are getting rare and I am really happy that I am still able to get one every now and then. Which reminds me, I do buy RC and Toy Cars from fellow hobbyist and collectors, so if you have one (preferably within the Philippines) that you want to sell, please do let me know! ^_^

Well that sums up my revisit, that's it for now, thanks for dropping by and keep on Over Haulin!

To Infinite.ly and Beyond! Full Version!

Yep I got the full version! Many thanks to TopBlogs and Infinite.ly!

Okay, so I have upgraded my account to a small biz account and with that I was able to access a few options that was not available in the free account that I used to test the interface of Infinite.ly. 

Before I go on with my updated review, let me first enumerate the high lights and the low lights from the previous test that I did.

High Lights

• Fun, easy and simple way of launching your own website.
• Laid back feel to the interface, removing the pressure and the stress of building your own site.

Low Lights

• There is no option for switching from design mode to HTML/Script mode. (for those who want more control over the page)
• No option to edit objects such as the names of the buttons. You however can change the font style and button color.
• No option to add buttons and or option to add pages or tabs where you can link from one page to another page.
• Tool bar is totally different from other most common application toolbar.
• No option to upload your own font styles.
• No rulers.

Looking at the bullets you might think that I did not like what I experienced but that is incorrect. Like what I have mentioned on my previous post, I really like how simple the interface was and how they were able to make building your own site this simple. Points mentioned above are just suggestions that if added to the site would make it more great.

So what is the difference between the free account versus the small biz account? Well, not much to be honest. But they are not bad at all.

Your very own domain name! Yep, once you upgrade your account you will have your own domain name. How cool is that?! It did however gave me a hard time, I totally forgot about the domain name when I upgraded my account so it took some time before I came up with a name for the webpage. :D

Under the Content button there were two additional options that were added when I upgraded the account. 

The first one is the HTML widget and the second one is the signup form widget. I did mention that it would have been nice to be able to switch from design to script mode, well this is not what I was talking about. If you are familiar with the web page design software Dreamweaver you'll know what I am talking about. I have not really experimented on this widget yet but checking it out, it's very similar to the HTML/Java gadget of Blogger. 

The signup widget is basically a sign up form, mainly used for business type web pages.

I did play a little more with my page (had time because it's my rest day :D) and found a few more points for suggestion. 

This window will show up whenever you update your page. When you update your page you need to press on the publish button so that the page will be updated. The pop up is amusing at first but after some time it gets a little annoying. Particularly if you are the type of person that wants to check his page on the actual page and not on the editing page. I hope a tick box can be added to have the window not pop up whenever you publish your page.

Editing your bog post here is not as easy as editing your blog in Blogger but that might be me being subjective because I am already used to editing posts here.

I still can't get over with the in ability to edit the names of buttons on your page. So I really hope that option gets added in the future. Also, if you have noticed you can actually edit the names of your sections, but be careful, because I don't think you can edit it again once you click on save. I thought I can change it back so I replaced contacts with call me maybe. LOL

It would also be nice to have hotkeys and shortcuts, like Ctrl+Z to undo things that you have edited. More color options and color gradients would be an awesome addition as well. Aside from those mentioned everything is just great, I am still working on my page so I might still find some new stuffs and I will try to post it here as I try to update you guys with the progress of my web page. 

Anyways, that's it for now, thanks for dropping by and keep on Over Haulin!

To Infinite.ly and Beyond!

Wahaha sorry but I really can't help but use that line for my post title. 

As promised, I will be posting a review for the new web hosting site that I came across with early this year. As you may have seen I am a member of TopBlogs.com.ph and they launched a marketing campaign to promote blogging. And the first part of their campaign is to team up  with Infinite.ly and help bloggers launch their  own website. 

So what exactly is Infinite.ly? Let me quote TopBlogs.com.ph to properly describe the site.

"Infinite.ly is a Philippines start up which has developed and launched a service which lets anyone launch their own website, complete with mobile version and domain name with little to no technical know how."

I have mentioned in my previous post that I was suppose to launch my own website but did not push through with it because of some issues that I had with the hosting site. The issue that I had back then was with the interface and the options available on the hosting site. Short description would be, it is not user friendly. It required a lot of scripting, I have basic knowledge when it comes to scripting but I really don't have enough time to focus on it.

So how did Infinite.ly fair with the previous site that I used? Well, it is almost the total opposite of the previous one. I liked how they were able to come up with a fun, easy and simple way to launch your own website. However, I think it was over simplified that you'll end up looking for more things to adjust or edit.

According to TopBlogs.com,ph the website is still under development and things are still changing. So let me take this opportunity to enumerate somethings that I would have wanted to have on my dashboard. I am using a free account so I am really not sure if the following will be available if you sign up to them, but here it goes.

• The ability to switch from design mode to HTML or script mode. 
• The ability to edit each object on the page. I am not sure if the user can edit the button names, but when I tried to do so I was not able to find how.
• The ability to add tabs and link one tab to another tab within the page.
• Pattern the tool bar to something very familiar like Paint, Photoshop or even Microsoft Office.
• Upload your own font styles.
• Rulers would really be a great help. 

Well those are what's on the top of my head so far after trying to launch my own page. I really like how they were able to make launching your own website this easy. I also like how the interface looks, it did not make me feel like building a website is a professional and hard thing to do. I am sure a lot of guys and gals like me who have tried launching their own website felt the same way and they too also have their own suggestions and I really wish Infinite.ly would take those suggestions in consideration. If they do, I am pretty sure a lot of users would be very interested.

If you want to create your own free account and launch your own website, just visit their site. 
http://infinite.ly/.

Anyways, that's it for now, thanks for dropping by and keep on Over Haulin!

Back From Hiatus : Personal Over Haul!

Hi all! 

It's the second month of 2013 already! (>__<')

I have been gone for a long long time and there are reasons behind it. The end of 2012 has not been good for me and my family. I just lost my Mom last January to a Liver condition that she has been battling since late last year. And that's part of the reason why I have not been active.

There were a lot of things that I had to deal with and I really had no time for my hobbies. However, that's done and over with. It is a new year and I can start all over again.

There will be some changes in the blog, I am thinking of working out a new design for the blog. I am also going back to building plastic model kits, I used to do GunPla's when I was a teenager and then slowly my interest for Mechas shifted to everything cars, so expect some model kits in the blog soon. And if everything goes well, the blog might migrate and will have it's own website! 

I have always wanted to publish my own website, in fact the original plan that I have was to publish a website for Toy Car Over Haul, but that did not push through because I had some issues with the the hosting site that I used back then, but I don't think I will be having that same issue with the one that I will be using now. And I will make a review of that on my next post.

Expect a little bit more of RC cars on the blog, and diecast wise, my taste is starting to really evolve. I am getting pickier by the moment and I am now focusing more on the car models that I really really like. 

Well I really hope that for the year 2013, the blog will be more interactive and picture heavy! 

Anyways, that's it for now, thanks for dropping by and keep on Over Haulin!