I am looking to learn and buy a nice RC car for myself and my kids (maybe 2 cars) just looking to gain knowledge and possibly buy one or two if anyone has any nice stuff for sale.
looking to learn what to buy, or NOT to buy seems like Traxxas seems to be a leader in the industry I am looking for a buggy style maybe a truck, but I want electric. I want fast, and well built. we have 2 traxxas dealers locally but they are both have always seemed to be over priced.
teach me
------------------
12 VW GTI autobahn edition 06 Audi A3 3.2 S-Line 99 Explorer Eddie Bauer 5.0 AWD 07 Vectrix electric scooter
Go for it. The new cars are WWAAAYYYY better than the cars I had as a kid. But they tend to all be money pits. In one way or another you will buy parts to modify them or fix them, and countless accessories. They are a lot of fun.
What to buy? A kit. Why? Because half the fun is building it! Plus, if you build it, then you know how to take it apart and what parts your going to have to keep track of or watch out for so you don't lose them when you repair it, because you will repair it.
Not that your going to find one now, but one with a electronic speed control that does reverse rather than a mechanical. Mechanical speed controls are simple, I'll give you that, but they are a PAIN. Electronic speed controls come in 2 kinds, with or without reverse. Without reverse is used a lot by racers. However, the first time you get your car stuck where the only way to get out of it is to go backwards and you have to walk/run 150 feet down the road to pick it up because you don't have reverse? Well, you'll be wishing you had reverse.
ABS plastic is your friend. Even graphite reinforced plastic is your friend. Why? Because the parts are cheap and your going to break them. Carbon fiber chassis look kewl, even carbon fiber parts look kewl. So does aluminum and fiberglass. But they are more costly to replace and what your describing is a RC car for fun, not to go out and race in sanctioned events. Example, I had a Tamiya Hornet that I broke the ABS chassis on. Back in the late 80's it cost me $12.00 to buy a whole new chassis. My freind had a RC10 with an aluminum tub chassis. His brother ran over it with his bike and bent the crud out of it. It was $30.00 for a new chassis. But, if you want the carbon fiber/fiberglass/aluminum and your willing to pay the extra coin for replacement parts, go for it. It sure makes it prettier although not really anymore functional for what your going to be doing with it.
They have motors with or without brushes. Make sure you get the right electronic speed control for the type of motor your going to use. They are different. Brushless has become the rage, but I always used motors with brushes and they were plenty of fun.
Get more than 1 battery pack. Get a quick charger. Then while your running one pack down you can have the other charging. Yes, your probably going to run that battery down before the other is done charging, but hey it gives you time to go to the lavatory or grab a coke.
Traxxas is a good brand. So is Tamiya and Team Associated. Team Losi is good also as well several others. Now Tamiya isn't "top dawg" but they are still a quality brand. They have been around forever in the RC car world. I haven't been to a RC car shop in awhile, but it used to be that you'd go in and they'd have 10 different Tamiya cars, 5 Kyosho and 1 or 2 Team Losi/Team Associated/Traxxas cars. Tamiya. while they didn't make the race winning cars, made the everyday for fun users cars. So look for parts availability for the car your looking at getting. If it's a less common brand parts are going to be harder to find. If the store is packed with parts for it, then I'd put it on my list of possibles because as I said before, your going to break it, that is if you play with it of course. I broke mine I can't even remember how many times. It's part of the fun and allure of these cars. You can actually fix it unlike Tyco...
Electric is a great choice for a starter. I've had gas and electric in the past. The last 3 I bought, I kept going back to electric for the simplicity and ease of use.
Man, I don't even want to try to list all the cars I've had. I worked as a Hobby Clerk for awhile and the store I worked in let employees buy at store cost plus 10%. I swear I ended up giving the store back 25% or more of my income...
Most of all, They are fun. If all you want to do it have fun with it, then get what you can have fun with.
[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 07-20-2014).]
Go to www.towerhobbies.com. They have many kits available and you can get them bundled with radios, chargers. The only thing you need to do is put them together. As said earlier get a kit that you have to build. That way you know how to take it apart. Tamiya makes some great kits for beginners. Got my 14 year old a fast attack vehicle and we built it in 2 nights. Traxxas makes a great product as well. Electric is a great choice. The new motors out there scream! My brother had a gas powered stadium truck and it was a pain. It was fast as hell but very finicky and messy from the 2 stroke oil from the exhaust.
------------------
ARCHIES JUNK IS FASTER THAN SHAUNNA'S JUNK
12.3 is faster than a 13.2
[This message has been edited by FIEROPHREK (edited 07-20-2014).]
Others have offered awesome advice/suggestions...I agree that building a kit IS better, (i enjoy the build as much as playing with the thing I build) although RTR may provide the most "consistent" experience.
Ive built and ran loads of RC cars from MiniZs to quarter scale. I prefer Associated cars myself in the popular 1/10 scale electric. Tamiya are nice, but not very durable...lots of breakable plastic parts. I also prefer Futaba radio and speed controllers. I still have a few around I dont mess with. I have a 1/5 scale electric Dodge Magnum wagon with Futaba gear in it Ive hardly used...just sets on a shelf. Tower Hobbies is great for cars, but you need to find what stuff your local hobby shops stock so you dont have to wait 2 weeks for a small part. Ive got a popular helicopter I got a few years ago, and now none of the shops around me stock any replacement parts for it. I have to go online to find anything like replacement blades.
When I get my computer put back together I'll make a longer reply, but 2 things that are very important.
Brushless Motors and LiPo Batteries = faster and cheaper than Gas/Nitro cars and not much more money than quality brushed electric cars. I prefer either Large 10th scale or 1/8 scale stuff myself. Be prepared for Drive it Fix it, Drive It Fix it, rinse and repeat. Even the best brands break when pushed hard. Start with a 2S LiPo system and slowly move up. My Stampede runs 2S Lipo and does not break, my E-Maxx runs 6S Lipo and I break it all the time. 2S = 7.4v 6S = about 23v however at 23v it will do an honest 60mph. Find a local RC Club and go check out the cars and trucks BEFORE you commit to buying ANYTHING. Trust me, I totally regretted my first impulse buy.
I'll post more later.
------------------ 857GT Part 85GT Part 87GT Part Caddy, 93 Eldorado 4.9, 5spd Dual O2 Custom Chip, Custom Exhaust. MSD Everything Now with Nitrous. Capt Fiero --- My Over View Cadero Pics For Sale $4000, Yellow 88GT 5spd Full Poly Suspension, Lowered 1/2" in front, Corner Carver.
I just want to post one of my fond memories. I loved my 1/10th scale off road buggies. They were a blast. I liked my Team Associate TC3 on road 4 wheel drive touring car. It was a lot of fun to drive. Only problem was when I'd hand the control off to my wife. I had a Speed Gems motor in it and for not being a brushless, it was fast. So fast my wife had problems controlling it and she'd constantly wreck it breaking the a-arms or the wheels (the part people commonly call the rim). However, on an impulse I once bought one of the cars in an new series Timiya came out with. Shortly after Kyosho followed suit and offered them but I can't recall if any other manufacturers did. It was a 1/24th scale on road car. This thing was small but it came with one of the Tamiya series black motors. It had little maybe 3/4" diameter foam tires and sat maybe 1/8"-1/16" off the ground. The car would skip on pebbles in the parking lot. This little car went about 20 mph. It was so much fun that I wish I still had it today. I often find myself searching for one on eBay. Someday I will probably end up getting one, even though I know replacement parts for it are going to be restricted to NOS and very difficult to find even so. It was that much fun.
Here's a kit I put together about 25 years ago, those of you that have been into RC's for years, may know about this model, Kyosho Turbo Optima 4 wheel drive. I had a customer ask me the other day if I wanted to sell it to him, apparently there is still a strong market for these.
Swapped out the original speed controler for a electronic w/ reverse. Upgraded the motor, added bearing on each wheel, created less drag. Before installing the halfshafts, you could spin a wheel, and watch it spin for about a minute. The kit was fun to build, putting the shocks together, filling them with oil, I think I did a good job on the paint, the body is clear out of the box, painting is done on the underneith side. I used thin tape to mask off area's I wanted to have silver pinstripes. All the silver you see is from that process. I painted the blue underneith first, then removed the masked lines, then painted silver underneith, then removed the masking for the windows.
[This message has been edited by CoolBlue87GT (edited 07-20-2014).]
I just want to post one of my fond memories. I loved my 1/10th scale off road buggies. They were a blast. I liked my Team Associate TC3 on road 4 wheel drive touring car. It was a lot of fun to drive. Only problem was when I'd hand the control off to my wife. I had a Speed Gems motor in it and for not being a brushless, it was fast. So fast my wife had problems controlling it and she'd constantly wreck it breaking the a-arms or the wheels (the part people commonly call the rim). However, on an impulse I once bought one of the cars in an new series Timiya came out with. Shortly after Kyosho followed suit and offered them but I can't recall if any other manufacturers did. It was a 1/24th scale on road car. This thing was small but it came with one of the Tamiya series black motors. It had little maybe 3/4" diameter foam tires and sat maybe 1/8"-1/16" off the ground. The car would skip on pebbles in the parking lot. This little car went about 20 mph. It was so much fun that I wish I still had it today. I often find myself searching for one on eBay. Someday I will probably end up getting one, even though I know replacement parts for it are going to be restricted to NOS and very difficult to find even so. It was that much fun.
This was the one I bought.
Now you did it. I had to go down and pull mine out of storage
Now you did it. I had to go down and pull mine out of storage
Those little cars are a blast! Ebay still has a few on there out of Hong Kong for around $200 shipped. If they still have some available around the beginning of November, well I might just have that be my Christmas gift from my wife.
I used to charge it all up and take it to work with me when I worked part time at Toys 'R' Us while attending tech school in AZ. I'd go out to the empty parking lot around 1 in the morning when I got off and just zip it around the parking lot for a half hour or more. The batteries on those actual lasted pretty good.
My friend had the "Optima Mid". I loved kyosho. Also lived Tamiya, but as stated above, the quality was kinda lacking in a lot of their offerings...(but they were fun to build and drive)
If you looking for off road style trucks i may be able to hook u up with some slightly used stuff. My uncle retired from racing a few years back. Has sitting in his basement traxxas slashes and the asscoiated version. all trucks some with brushless. can probably get you some lipos a charger is a definite as well. As I said he was a racer but well cared for. He ran one season off road before retiring was an indoor oval driver for years. If your looking for on road I know we can hook you up. We have over 40 chassis between off road and on road over 10 chargers and I cant count how many radios from crystal to synthetic. Unless your are set on new.
Originally posted by Capt Fiero: Find a local RC Club and go check out the cars and trucks BEFORE you commit to buying ANYTHING. Trust me, I totally regretted my first impulse buy.
This x10000
I bought my first Traxxas Slayer(has since been converted to REVO) nitro RC truck on a whim and have regretted it ever since. I wish I would have held out and gone electric. On the point of plastic vs metal, while plastic may be cheap to replace, once it breaks it's done and you have to carry everything back to your house or car to pack up. With metal(Typically aluminum) unless you're a master at breaking stuff, it won't break, just bend and *usually* you can limp it back to you. Small consolation prize, to be sure, but depending on where you're going to be running, that may be a consideration.
On the point of plastic vs metal, while plastic may be cheap to replace, once it breaks it's done and you have to carry everything back to your house or car to pack up. With metal(Typically aluminum) unless you're a master at breaking stuff, it won't break, just bend and *usually* you can limp it back to you. Small consolation prize, to be sure, but depending on where you're going to be running, that may be a consideration.
Here's a kit I put together about 25 years ago, those of you that have been into RC's for years, may know about this model, Kyosho Turbo Optima 4 wheel drive. I had a customer ask me the other day if I wanted to sell it to him, apparently there is still a strong market for these.
Swapped out the original speed controler for a electronic w/ reverse. Upgraded the motor, added bearing on each wheel, created less drag. Before installing the halfshafts, you could spin a wheel, and watch it spin for about a minute. The kit was fun to build, putting the shocks together, filling them with oil, I think I did a good job on the paint, the body is clear out of the box, painting is done on the underneith side. I used thin tape to mask off area's I wanted to have silver pinstripes. All the silver you see is from that process. I painted the blue underneith first, then removed the masked lines, then painted silver underneith, then removed the masking for the windows.
thanks for a the replies, I will look in to local clubs and see if I can check out some stuff. I have my doubts on finding a local one but we will see what I come up with.
I want something that is well built, it will be driven in the street in front of our house, or at the school lot. I also want it to be able to go through grass, and take a beating when it hits the curb at WOT.
thanks for a the replies, I will look in to local clubs and see if I can check out some stuff. I have my doubts on finding a local one but we will see what I come up with.
I want something that is well built, it will be driven in the street in front of our house, or at the school lot. I also want it to be able to go through grass, and take a beating when it hits the curb at WOT.
There isn't a lot that can take a hit on a square curb at WOT and be able to drive away unless it's a really shallow glance. If it's a rounded curb the truck can go up and over shouldn't be a problem, though.
Traxxas seems to fall apart easily.... I have a losi and thought I did buy it rtr ive beat the snot out of it and it still wants more, it has a metal frame and is built much better than the traxxas also don't waste your money on 2WD go for the 4WD
thanks for a the replies, I will look in to local clubs and see if I can check out some stuff. I have my doubts on finding a local one but we will see what I come up with.
I want something that is well built, it will be driven in the street in front of our house, or at the school lot. I also want it to be able to go through grass, and take a beating when it hits the curb at WOT.
Weight is a big issue. If the body is thick plastic that going to effect speed. The car I used to run, had a super thin body (super light). Then your probubley going to want a few diffrent sized gears. Tires are normally foam, for road raceing and rubber for off road. Ide buy a High end unit off ebay or Craigslist for cheep.
Originally posted by pontiackid86: Losi Ten.... that's all you need
Spoken like a true fanboi.
Seriously though, I've seen Losi's take some serious sh!t, but I've never seen one hit a solid concrete curb at WOT and drive away from it. I've never seen any RC car hit a square concrete curb at anything over 75% of top speed and drive away from it.
I went to our local hobbytown tonight and got my learn on.. the guy there said that they exclusively sell Helion brand which I was told that is their own brand but I don't know if they are just a re branded something else.. I couldn't get it out of him he was pushing this truck Helion Invictus 10MT 4X4 Electric RTR http://www.hobbytown.com/Sh...TR-RC-Monster-Truck/
he was saying that all they sell in the store is ready to runs stuff says it will do 30mph out of the box, with the 1800mAh that it comes with. but I could upgrade all the way up to a 5000mAh that should get me a ton more power and run time
any thoughts or comments on this Helion brand?
------------------
12 VW GTI autobahn edition 06 Audi A3 3.2 S-Line 99 Explorer Eddie Bauer 5.0 AWD 07 Vectrix electric scooter
Seriously though, I've seen Losi's take some serious sh!t, but I've never seen one hit a solid concrete curb at WOT and drive away from it. I've never seen any RC car hit a square concrete curb at anything over 75% of top speed and drive away from it.
I have... My old Tamiya Hornet (well originally a Grasshopper but I replaced all the downgraded parts to the upgrades that came with the Hornet over time). If anything, it was durable as heck. We had a rather large area of roof on our house that was flat with only about a 7.5o slope, so not much at all. My next door neighbor had a Hornet to and we used to race it ours around on our roof, jumping off the peaks for fun. They'd fall all the way down tot he ground and usually walked away with no problems. I did break the chassis doing that once at the rear shock tower and I busted one of the front a-arms once. Other than that, I didn't break anything doing it and I must have jumped it off the roof 50+ times. Oh and it had Tamiyas whatever was theit best motor at the time. I know there was the Black Motor Endurance and the Black Motor Speed, but they also had the Super Shot or something like that which is what I had.
[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 07-29-2014).]
I have... My old Tamiya Hornet (well originally a Grasshopper but I replaced all the downgraded parts to the upgrades that came with the Hornet over time). If anything, it was durable as heck. We had a rather large area of roof on our house that was flat with only about a 7.5o slope, so not much at all. My next door neighbor had a Hornet to and we used to race it ours around on our roof, jumping off the peaks for fun. They'd fall all the way down tot he ground and usually walked away with no problems. I did break the chassis doing that once at the rear shock tower and I busted one of the front a-arms once. Other than that, I didn't break anything doing it and I must have jumped it off the roof 50+ times. Oh and it had Tamiyas whatever was theit best motor at the time. I know there was the Black Motor Endurance and the Black Motor Speed, but they also had the Super Shot or something like that which is what I had.
Man, you're really bringing back memories for me. I had a Frog and I made the mistake of following the instructions......by putting the rubber balloon over the stock speed control. Nothing like a little fire to start the day
Man, you're really bringing back memories for me. I had a Frog and I made the mistake of following the instructions......by putting the rubber balloon over the stock speed control. Nothing like a little fire to start the day
LOL, I had to look up the motor I had. It was the Technigold. Back then it was pretty advanced having the brush end cap being able to be rotated a few degrees back and forth to adjust timing. I loved that motor, but it made it hard as heck to control where you were going...
I remember those rubber balloons... I never did put mine on .
Oh yeah, my Dad welded up a skidplate and bumper reinforcement for mine at one point to add some weight to the front and hopefully make it easier to steer. That was right before we went on vacation to Oregon. I brought the car with me and my cousin wanted to try it out... He was wearing flip flops and accidentally ran it into his foot. The metal bumper caught his big toe nail and ripped that sucker right off!
Another time i went back to North Carolina to visit my Grandma. Met a neighbor boy of hers named Noah. She lived up in the mountains so one time when we were out playing with it I noticed a copperhead had curled up about 4' behind Noah. I zipped the car around and went between him and the snake. It struck at the car and caught the back wheel. The snakes body did a flying twirl through the air and when it landed it took off. Checked my tire and there was a couple of fang holes in it.
Man, I miss how much fun these were back then. I bought my TC-3 because I thought it's be fun to play with one again. I always wanted a on road car since the 1:24 scale one I had. While it was fun, it wasn't as much fun as that 1:24 or the dirt cars I had. If I buy another it will be one of the 1:24 or another dirt car.
I had a Frogger at one point to. I remember they used that chassis for a couple of the monster cars to like the Monster Beetle and the Black Foot if I remember right? It was a pretty fun car to but didn't take the abuse like the Hornet did. I know the Hornet was never a race contender, it just wasn't built for that. But if you wanted a car that was good for your kid who's gonna be crashing it ever couple of minutes? That was the car to go for back then.
[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 07-30-2014).]
I miss my JRX-2 it was so simple to fix and back then 35mph was considered a really fast RC Truck / Buggy. No problems with constant wheel stands flipping the rigs over.
As to the comment about NO RC CAR can handle a 75% throttle into a brick wall, well it all depends on the RC car, the cheaper ones are usually slow enough that they bounce off, the really expensive ones are usually strong enough to hit, rickashay and shoot off like a bullet.its the middle of the road ones like Traxxas that are in the $400 range as a kit, or $600 RTR that have the issue with breakage. My E-Maxx and my Stampede both can be modded with nothing more than batteries and gear changes to hit 70mph. At 70mph if you just do batteries and gears, all those plastic shock mounts and plastic baby bumpers might as well be paper craft kits on the truck.
Keeping them tame at 45mph which is still fast as hell for most people, especially if you can do 30-40mph off road it seems like a lightening bolt where you need a 1 acre field to run it in. You will find most parts will hold up aside from axles and shock towers from all the HUGE jumps and such. Landing at full throttle will break axles really quick. (wheels running full speed and motor at full speed through the transmission, transfer car and out to the diffs, then SNAP you land and the wheels stop instantly, all that momentum from a motor spinning nearly 100,000rpms needs to go some place. Which is why most larger rigs now have clutches in them that need to be adjusted and dialed in.
Take whatever you budget is and spend only 1/2 of it, on the car, then buy 2 chargers or 1 charger that can do 2 LiPo batteries. Then buy twice as many batteries as the truck needs. So you can charge up 2 packs before you leave, then as soon as it goes dead, get it charging while you run with the 2nd pack, and when it goes dead let the rig cool while you pull the 1st pack off the charger and go racing again. I run 2 5800mAh packs in my truck so I get about 45mins of run time per set.
As to that Hobby town House Brand, it looks like junk to me. How they talk about the "realistic tire pattern, and realistic flags" as their first stuff to talk about, vs engine kv which by the way 3500kv for a monster truck is underpowered.
Lower Kv is more torque but less rpm, the higher Kv the higher the rpm, but lower torque. My 2200kv motor will rip your leg off, and do 40mph, however if I want to go say 70mph, I can't just up the batteries and pull the trigger I have to change the gear. Some trucks have 2 speed and even 3 speed transmission, but usually those are the ones with underpowered motors and need more gears to compensate for cheaper parts.
Traxxas XO-1 is a ready to run 100mph RC Car, and has just one gear, CRAZY F-N FAST. I believe it actually uses the same 2200kv motor that my Monster Truck runs, however the XO-1 is an on road car only. I have seen modded cars running 130+MPH on You Tube. At that point its no longer a "toy car" its a toy Missile capable of killing someone at speed. Defiantly out of my range of abilities.
------------------ 857GT Part 85GT Part 87GT Part Caddy, 93 Eldorado 4.9, 5spd Dual O2 Custom Chip, Custom Exhaust. MSD Everything Now with Nitrous. Capt Fiero --- My Over View Cadero Pics For Sale $4000, Yellow 88GT 5spd Full Poly Suspension, Lowered 1/2" in front, Corner Carver.
I didn't say that no RC car could take a WOT hit at a concrete curb and drive away I just said I've never seen it.
As to the Helios brand RC cars, they are owned by Firelands Group, which appears partnered with(but not owned by) HobbyTown for distribution. Looking through Firelands Helios website, the most expensive car they over is under $300 ready-to-run. Beyond that I don't know.
I would like a good all wheel drive shaft drive 1/8 gas car. The 1/10 cars are cool but the 1/8 seem like more fun
they have 1/8 scale electrics as well. Electrics are pretty close to nitro now a days with brushless setups and lipo batteries. you want something fairly industruvtible lets talk 1/4 scale lol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0PNywJzFxM
I have owned several gas Traxxas. Plan on spending double in parts if you buy one. That, and countless hours rebuilding them. The speeds that these things go is impressive to say the least.
Also, no matter what you buy, it is wise to invest in a bottle of blue LocTite. Those screws turn out due to use.
If I were to do it again, it would be an electric rock crawler.
RC Cars are a lot like Fiero's drive it break it, drive it break it, runce and repeat.
If you are not breaking things, then you are upgrading things so you have the power to break it, and fixit it again.
Its an endless circle which gets pretty vicious. Everybody wants to go faster, however they make it so easy to reach that limit that many people loose patience with the hobby from all the down time and get out of it.
You almost have to get into the hobby because you love building RC cars, and the driving is just the icing on the cake. I can walk into the hobby shop buy a brand new top of the line E-Maxx 3908-5 then buy the upgraded 6s Lipo and upgrade the motor for a few bucks, take it out, bolt in the motor, plug in the batteries and have it broke in 5 mins just driving flat on the road without hitting anything.
It would be like having a Fiero and being able to buy a brand new Twin Turbo LS7 from the dealer and with zero mods, just dropping it straight into a stock Fiero and going for a drive.
The thing is in RC Land that's what people do then complain about all the breakage myself included. In the beginning most times out, I would not be able to finish a single pack before I broke something. Now its usually 5hrs of racing before I brake a major part.
You know Capt, I can totally see what your saying. Back in the day the cars we had couldn't go nearly as fast as they do now. I had one RC that had a graphite impregnated dogbone with steel cross pins for axles. I wouldn't be surprised if one of those snapped or wobbled out the steel pin in short order with a high speed brushless motor and a large lipo pack. If you bought one with a similar type dogbone for the axle, I'd imagine it'd do no better. I've been looking and have seen a few that come with Teflon bushings and others with ball bearings just like they used to. With the high speeds capable now, I would think the Teflon wouldn't hold up to well. Does it?
I know it won't be until about the end of winter, but if we don't go back to Cali for vacation this winter, I think I'm going to get another off road buggy or truck. Trucks seem to be the rage now, as it is what I see 95% of the time I see someone running one out here. But... I don't know... I kinda miss the old buggies.
If you want to start small and cheap with good quality, try Kyoshos Mini Z line. Very nice accurately detailed cars. Very reliable with all kinds of mods available, and very tuneable. Pretty fast and lots of fun in a small space. There 1/32 scale and road, off road and even boats and motorcycles are available. Ready to run with radio, you only need some AA batteries. Hobby shops sell them starting at $100 complete, but lots of online bargains, some new at 70%-80% off.
