RC Cars, what to get

Author
Discussion

illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,111 posts

197 months

Wednesday 12th September 2012
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I need a hobby, and I was interested in these back at school. I've had some electric and some nitro cars, but never had money to buy bits, so never played with them.

So, if I wanted to buy a new model, but have the ability to upgrade bits to keep my hobby going, do I go for nitro or electric? It'll probably be a off road car, as I'm crap at controlling them, and it gives me more playing space.

Down side to nitro is the noise, as I'll be using this near houses etc, but I seem to remember electric cars only lasting 10 minutes, not so fun.

What brands are good too? Tamiya, HPI, etc?

Something like this for £150 all in? http://www.modelsport.co.uk/tamiya-rising-fighter/...

blueST

4,378 posts

215 months

Wednesday 12th September 2012
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My opinion would be go for electric all day long. Modern NiMh cells last yonks longer than the old NiCds and LiPo is even better again. Electroninc speed controllers are standard, and brushless motor systems will give you as much speed as you can handle. Two or three charged packs will last you till your bored of you've broke it.

I like Tamiya, but mainly because I had them as a kid and carried on with them.

That model you linked is fairly basic, I'd go for something a bit more sophisticated like this http://www.modelsport.co.uk/tamiya-df-03-buggy/rc-... which I have with a bushless motor. There are tonnes of upgrade parts for it.


Dusty964

6,919 posts

189 months

Friday 14th September 2012
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I have a rising fighter and it is pretty basic, but also well made and durable.

I love the Tamiya stuff simply as I had one when growing up (or when i was younger, as I refuse to actually grow up).

I have a lunchbox, the rising fighter, and im seriously considering the Porsche 934 or 935 next, just to stick on a shelf most likely.


RicksAlfas

13,354 posts

243 months

Friday 14th September 2012
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I've got one of these and it's great for just knocking about with, going over jumps, doughnuts in the gravel etc.
Seems very good quality components, just don't get the speed controller wet!
http://www.modelsport.co.uk/kyosho-ultima-sc-truck...

thehos

923 posts

183 months

Sunday 16th September 2012
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op, start with that, but as for upgrading you can get alloy parts, motors etc etc.
That will be fine, if you really want to get into it, start racing, then start with something a bit more focused!

maybe a schumacher cougar

iphonedyou

9,234 posts

156 months

Sunday 16th September 2012
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HPI Firestorm Flux or Traxxas Slash (2 wheel drive is fine). LIPO battery and charger off eBay and you're all set for 20 - 25 minute run times. Super fast, bulletproof and lots of parts easily available should you manage to break it.

We have both and they're amazing; never miss a beat.

moto_traxport

4,235 posts

220 months

Sunday 23rd September 2012
quotequote all
blueST said:
My opinion would be go for electric all day long. Modern NiMh cells last yonks longer than the old NiCds and LiPo is even better again. Electroninc speed controllers are standard, and brushless motor systems will give you as much speed as you can handle. Two or three charged packs will last you till your bored of you've broke it.

I like Tamiya, but mainly because I had them as a kid and carried on with them.

That model you linked is fairly basic, I'd go for something a bit more sophisticated like this http://www.modelsport.co.uk/tamiya-df-03-buggy/rc-... which I have with a bushless motor. There are tonnes of upgrade parts for it.
Good info. I'm looking at getting an Tamiya RC car to while away the dark and wet winter months. Had an Ascona and a 959 when I was a teenager. Dark Impact model looks good although Hotshot re-release is tugging at heartstrings - I'm assuming it will be bit of an old tank by comparison to the newer stuff?

thehos

923 posts

183 months

Monday 24th September 2012
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moto_traxport said:
Good info. I'm looking at getting an Tamiya RC car to while away the dark and wet winter months. Had an Ascona and a 959 when I was a teenager. Dark Impact model looks good although Hotshot re-release is tugging at heartstrings - I'm assuming it will be bit of an old tank by comparison to the newer stuff?
cor ascona, wasnt that a frog chassis?

moto_traxport

4,235 posts

220 months

Monday 24th September 2012
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thehos said:
moto_traxport said:
Good info. I'm looking at getting an Tamiya RC car to while away the dark and wet winter months. Had an Ascona and a 959 when I was a teenager. Dark Impact model looks good although Hotshot re-release is tugging at heartstrings - I'm assuming it will be bit of an old tank by comparison to the newer stuff?
cor ascona, wasnt that a frog chassis?
Ascona shared chassis with Audi Quattro I thought? It was nearly 30 years ago though!

NITO

1,077 posts

205 months

Monday 24th September 2012
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I'm another Tamiya fan, the quality/reliability of their kits is superb as is the back up for spares etc.

I have a fighter buggy, similar to the rising fighter you have linked to, but for me its of limited use on grass which is the downside. My main terrain is grass at home so needed something with bigger wheels, I rate the Mad Bull or the Mud Blaster/Blackfoot III/Bush Devil. The last three all share the same chassis, and all of those examples are RWD. If you want 4wd, then the Dual Hunter is an excellent model.

I have just bought a Mud Blaster (thread here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... )

The reason I've gone with this is it ticks all the boxes and is upgradeable as you want. If you want to convert it to 4wd, no problem, it shares the Dual Hunter symmetrical chassis so you just add the gearbox to the front. I've just upgraded the Mud Blaster to a brushless motor with an uprated speed controller and Lipo battery. About £130 worth of upgrades and it flies! But equally its great straight out of the box. There are a lot of options with this kit, you can even convert to 4ws easily enough!

It's tough, reliable, modern gearbox etc and I can highly recommend the Acoms 2.4ghz stick radio. Modelsport have a special on the Mud Blaster at the moment, £129 and £45 for the radio which is a bargain. I also pondered the Midnight Pumpkin/Lunchbox (they share the same chassis as eachother) however these topple over very easily and are prone to breaking body mounts fairly regularly and have awful suspension.

The Mad Bull, although fun, can't be modified as easily in so far as it won't cope with the big power as well as far as controllability goes, it's not the most accurate steering car.

That's my 2p, check out my thread for pics. Also, you can add loads of different bodies to the Mud Blaster.

Cheers
Nito

illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,111 posts

197 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
Thanks for te replys, I forgot about the topic as ive been so busy!

I'd like to buld from scratch, to add to te process, can you get any of the mentioned models as 'from scratch' models?

NITO

1,077 posts

205 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
All the Tamiya's come in kit form, unless you buy the XB versions, which stands for Xpert Built!

rgds
Nito

illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,111 posts

197 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
quotequote all
NITO said:
All the Tamiya's come in kit form, unless you buy the XB versions, which stands for Xpert Built!

rgds
Nito
Spot on.

Think I'll be ordering on payday.

C.A.R.

3,967 posts

187 months

Wednesday 26th September 2012
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I used to work in a toy shop distributing Tamiya RC cars and I would advise against the model you linked to. It's an ancient design and whilst it is still well built, you can get better for your money.

I would be looking at a DF03 kit or similar, something a bit tougher and better engineered - with more upgradable parts.

I personally prefer the nitro off-road cars (or some of these brushless ones) and electric on-road.

NITO

1,077 posts

205 months

Wednesday 26th September 2012
quotequote all
Are you referring to the rising fighter, or the Mud Blaster?

I'm delighted with the Mud Blaster and it is very upgradeable and handles brushless power well?!

Cheers
Nito

C.A.R.

3,967 posts

187 months

Thursday 27th September 2012
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Yes I was referring to the Rising Farter, that's old. Looks to share some components with the Frog?!

But the Mud Blaster is essentially a Blackfoot Extreme with a different bodyshell. It's a shame because the old bodyshell was far superior and looks fantastic.

It's a reliable truck though. If I had to bet on what you need to replace next, it would be the plastics for the front sprue which make up the steering part of the chassis. When the lower front wishbones hit something they tend to break off at the chassis side rather than damaging the actual wishbones, leaving you with a strip-down job to replace the larger part of plastic that the slide-pins go into.

If that makes any sense?!

But yes, very good truck. Will be interesting to see how long your gearbox lasts with brushless torque going through it!

NITO

1,077 posts

205 months

Thursday 27th September 2012
quotequote all
Cheers for the feedback,

Gearbox destruction testing has already begun, I've been informed that it should be ok as the gears are apparently quite broad. I have the soft start setting on the ESC at 3 out of 9 so its not as agressive on the gears. To be honest, it power wheelies on demand by lifting and reapplying whenever you want even at that setting, and the motor timing is set to 5 out of 8. It's plenty fast at this level and I don't know why you'd want anymore, it would become very unbalanced, undriveable and probably break a lot easier. I'm using a brushless HPI Flux Shot 4300kv motor 9T equiv apparently but it's also a 380 motor with fins rather than a true 540 (which I guess is quite a mild motor in the brushless world) with HPI ESC and 7.4v Li-po.



As for the shell, you can fit any of the 190mm Tamiya bodies on there pretty much, see above!!

The original Blackfoot one was a hard shell and much as I like them, I decided on the Mud Blaster instead of the Black Foot because it had a lighter polycarbonate shell and could probably withstand some more abuse as there is more give in it. The standard Tamiya Brat colour scheme is shocking so I've done mine a little differently.



I've not had any problems with the front wishbones, I also own (3 now!) Dual Hunters which as you know share exactly the same chassis but 4wd and never had any issues with them on the wishbone front.

The only issue I have had is with the steering servo. The screw that Tamiya state to use in the manual works loose and the servo saver comes off. It's a PITA and I think I need to use a woodscrew. Funnily enough I've just bought metal servo mounts to cut down on the flex and I'm going to get a Kimbrough servo saver to beef it up a little.

I've also just bought some shock towers to fit the 100mm shocks all round. So far I've modified the rear to 100mm in the pics above and its much better at this height.

Thanks
Nito

C.A.R.

3,967 posts

187 months

Friday 28th September 2012
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Cool beans.

The servo thing is very common in all chassis which use a similar setup, that includes all the TL01s, M-03s, M-04s and the FF-02. Sadly I had to thin my collection out to put a deposit down on our rent, but I kept all my favourites. I hope one day I will have the space to display / play with them again!

I have a twin-motor version of this truck too (Double Blaze or something) with a Kyosho twin-motor esc and two Tamiya pink motors. Goes like hell. Destroyed a wheel on my last outing and it's sat on the shelf since (despite having a spare set of spiked wheels!)

Simond S

4,514 posts

276 months

Friday 28th September 2012
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Servo screw coming out. A blob of blue tack over the top of it wil resolve this issue.

smile

illmonkey

Original Poster:

18,111 posts

197 months

Saturday 29th September 2012
quotequote all
I'm taking a liking to this: http://www.modelsport.co.uk/tamiya-df-03-buggy/rc-...

DF-03 as recommended and looks pretty good too. But, its not brushless, are they straight swaps? Ideally, to not waste money I'd buy one with a good motor etc. Any other recommendations?