Mega g (non plus)

Have to add something to the discussion:
I have both (with and without the plus), but like the Mega G far better. Main reasons:

• The can motor in the G+: nice for beginners. But if it’s done, there’s no way to replace parts or the motor itself. They’re not sold separately. Also no way to measure or swap motor magnets or armatures in order to find matching parts.
• The Mega G handles better, especially in lower speed
• More tuning and tweaking options for the Mega G, especially if you don’t want to spend any more money, or if you are limited by racing regulations. For example the magnet swapping option: if you flip the traction magnets 180°, you reduce downforce, but get higher max speed. So you can easily adapt to two types of tracks: curvy ones or those with long straights.
• I like the sound better

Surely there are more aspects, and this list is totally subjective. The Mega G’s are hard to find, maybe ask around a bit. Luckily I found a lot of 7 in mint packaging for a reasonable price just recently. Maybe I sell some, if so I can PM you

I believe that the goal with the Mega G car was to have a chassis that was more compact than the ones used for the Tomy Super G+. Modern prototype type bodies could be mounted on them. The Mega Gs were a bit slower than SG+ cars because they had a little less magnetic downforce. Eventually US regulations were passed concerning RFI, that resulted in the switch to can motors and RFI filters. There had been RFI regulations in Europe for some time. The Mega G+ has powerful neodymium traction magnets for good grip, however the motor magnets provide little or no magnetic downforce. That results in a car that is more likely to deslot suddenly. Some people like to add a little weight at the front of the cars.
My club never raced Mega G cars, we do have a class for Mega G+ cars that have to be stock, except that we use resin bodies.

Didn’t AFX meet those regulations decades ago here in Germany with the Magnatraction, using suppression capacitors soldered to the chassis? Or is this a regulation about children’s safety?

I rather think they were trying to make cars more „user friendly“, more like the Carrera / Scalectrix approach, aiming at a younger customer basis. No doubt those can motors are a lot easier to maintain. Not everyone likes to maintain their kids toys constantly nowadays.
Less parts to tinker with means less parts to collect dust, less parts to keep oiled and less trouble with customer complaints about clogged moving parts. Maybe I’d like those Mega G+ better, if AFX sold those can motors separately (or stronger/faster ones for racers). But if your can motor dies you are forced to buy a whole new chassis. And no one knows how well those electronic boards behind the can motor age.

I did try a Mega G+ with a 60 ohm controller, with the track set at 18.5 volts it was borderline drivable on my track, which is not very technical.
The only place that I know of that sells stock replacement motors for these cars is JAG Hobbies. In that case they come from disassembled complete cars and the motor, pinion gear and RFI filter board are sold as a unit. As for replacing the motor with something more powerful I would not recommend trying that. You would probably have to dump the RFI filter, soldering that to a new motor would be very difficult. Without the weight of the board the front of the car would be too light. The motor that AFX uses is custom built and is not nearly as powerful as any N20 motor that I have tried. The brand X N20 motors from China are problematic at best. They are all over the place in performance and may not have copper/carbon brushes. You would be likely to end up with a car that is very difficult to drive unless you turn down the track voltage or include a dropping resistor.

A little more in depth than speculation. It's half bad, and it's half good. The actual truth lays somewhere in the middle. The MG+ is a great chassis, unfortunately the ancillary components leave something to be desired.



Removing the board is a Can - O - Corn. Runs and drives fine, and the voices in my head are gone. The board weighs next to nothing. This frees up a ton of room for snugger body work, or a front screw post. I needed both.




The part they wont tell ya. Changing the motor takes skillz, and or "secret/hidden shunts" as seen in this photo. Never seen or heard of, these "hard" shunts are what makes the MG+ motor and board into a single, stiff, module; which can be pried in and out of the chassis, but so's lil Johnny can swallow it.

The MG+ uses these tricky little shunts to extend the current path from the motor lugs, out, under, and through the mind control board. They wont easily de-solder at the comm lug because of the mass solder they use to attach the shunt to the lug. One really has to try hard to muff the board removal at the end of the shunt.

At a glance, the residual particles on the motor looks like they used a spatula worth of soldering paste on each lug; which might explain how they got that much solder x 2, to pole vault onto the shunts without melting the comm box. (note the above photo)





When the motor is removed from the board, clamp the board firmly, latch onto the brush hanger with a hemostat, heat the solder and pull. They pull right out. New lead wires are easy to install. Both the extended motor shunt and the shoe hanger are already tinned. Dot dot dot dot ... done!

Affixing a NEW motor to an existing board is an entirely different story. Care has to be taken to not over heat the comm lug and melt/displace the brush spring and lug by re-melting the plastic factory retainer button in the comm housing. I would sooner dispense with the board altogether and affix wire leads as above, using either the existing factory shunt on a viable factory motor, OR simply tinning directly to the comm lug on a new motor.

I'm dubious of successfully undoing whats been done by the factory at the comm housing.

Crown gear and wheels pressed onto "gnarled" axles renders them all ruined and useless for exchange or re-use. Note that I intentionally didnt use the appropriate "knurled". Ghastly stuff.

Is it a disposable chassis? For the normal end-user, yeah, 'fraid so. One is not intended to work on or modify the MG+ save for tires, shoes n springs, and clapping your hands in apology.

Me, I'm just stubborn to a fault, and grateful for something to play with. If I dont like it, I just scribble out side their lines and doodle over onto the margins.