A which (r/c) car thread...
Discussion
Hmmm. While I wait for my stirling engine's screw to arrive, I broke the metal suspension tower on my old Tamiya Manta Ray today... she's nearly 30 years old and I'm a bit fed up with mostly/always carrying her back to the car.
There is some budget available for a new toy; it could stretch to any on the following list, but possibly shouldn't
I mainly take the car out with daughter and dog for a walk; favourite running place is a country park growing on top of an old mining spoil heap, so surfaces range from tarmac through gravel and mud to shale and some big rocks. There's also a sort of moto-x/bmx track area in the shale. The Manta Ray has a full width metal bumper bodged on to allow for the big rocks combined with my daughter's driving...
So, massive top speed is not a requirement at all, although the car is run back and forth and off to the sides, we just stroll along. So will be staying with NiMh and brushed. Some level of dealing with rocks, gullies and water is good.
Short(ish) list is:
Traxxas Summit: the absolute daddy. Slightly eye-wateringly expensive; good spares availablity; strong. Half speed "training mode" along with switchable transmission for high and low range also lockable diffs. Should deal with everything we meet. Huge, harder to carry/store. Takes 2 batteries at a time, so a spare pair is more dosh again. Did I mention expensive? Total £610 ish.
Vaterra Twin Hammers: much less expensive, although a few mods probably need to go on from the off. Also twin speed, although many people have trouble with the servo that controls it. And the steering servo's a bit poor by all accounts. So maybe £100 to add to the sticker price for bits. Would go LiPo as that's included, so a decent charger and spare battery or 2 to add to budget. Should cope with stuff in a more thoughtfull way than the Summit, better size for carrying etc. Total £450 ish.
Axial Wraith kit: loved this when I first saw it, slightly less keen since reading of the drawbacks; I'd need all the kit to go in it really, so probably a similar price to the TH above by the time I've bought a-bit-up-from-basic gear (and ally steering links). Slower than both above; single speed trans, better crawling chassis though. Maybe £450-500 (probably nearer the 500)
HPI Savage XS SS kit: a bit more "traditional" off-roader/basher; smaller scale than the Summit, tough by all accounts. Radio, ESC, motor and servo should happily come in under £100 for this (although upgrades available to take the price up... no "known" issues as such though, apart from the poor steering linkage which it seems you're fairly stuck with, so wait and see what breaks). Total cost £300.
I've got a feeling that the savage would be OK; the wraith possbily a bit too slow; the TH good in a fairly general way heading towards the technical; and the Summit amazing at everything but hard to play down the price leading to constant feelings of guilt when using! And always with the nagging suspision that the savage would have been 95% as good for 50% of the price.
My brain just keeps going around and around! Help!
There is some budget available for a new toy; it could stretch to any on the following list, but possibly shouldn't
I mainly take the car out with daughter and dog for a walk; favourite running place is a country park growing on top of an old mining spoil heap, so surfaces range from tarmac through gravel and mud to shale and some big rocks. There's also a sort of moto-x/bmx track area in the shale. The Manta Ray has a full width metal bumper bodged on to allow for the big rocks combined with my daughter's driving...
So, massive top speed is not a requirement at all, although the car is run back and forth and off to the sides, we just stroll along. So will be staying with NiMh and brushed. Some level of dealing with rocks, gullies and water is good.
Short(ish) list is:
Traxxas Summit: the absolute daddy. Slightly eye-wateringly expensive; good spares availablity; strong. Half speed "training mode" along with switchable transmission for high and low range also lockable diffs. Should deal with everything we meet. Huge, harder to carry/store. Takes 2 batteries at a time, so a spare pair is more dosh again. Did I mention expensive? Total £610 ish.
Vaterra Twin Hammers: much less expensive, although a few mods probably need to go on from the off. Also twin speed, although many people have trouble with the servo that controls it. And the steering servo's a bit poor by all accounts. So maybe £100 to add to the sticker price for bits. Would go LiPo as that's included, so a decent charger and spare battery or 2 to add to budget. Should cope with stuff in a more thoughtfull way than the Summit, better size for carrying etc. Total £450 ish.
Axial Wraith kit: loved this when I first saw it, slightly less keen since reading of the drawbacks; I'd need all the kit to go in it really, so probably a similar price to the TH above by the time I've bought a-bit-up-from-basic gear (and ally steering links). Slower than both above; single speed trans, better crawling chassis though. Maybe £450-500 (probably nearer the 500)
HPI Savage XS SS kit: a bit more "traditional" off-roader/basher; smaller scale than the Summit, tough by all accounts. Radio, ESC, motor and servo should happily come in under £100 for this (although upgrades available to take the price up... no "known" issues as such though, apart from the poor steering linkage which it seems you're fairly stuck with, so wait and see what breaks). Total cost £300.
I've got a feeling that the savage would be OK; the wraith possbily a bit too slow; the TH good in a fairly general way heading towards the technical; and the Summit amazing at everything but hard to play down the price leading to constant feelings of guilt when using! And always with the nagging suspision that the savage would have been 95% as good for 50% of the price.
My brain just keeps going around and around! Help!
I've had next to no problems with my Wraith - which is all standard, apart from it occasionally throwing a tyre off the wheel, which may be more due to my poor gluing skills than a problem with the kit itself.
Been out with it with my nieces (9 & 12) controlling it - its stood up well to the abuse.
The kit comes without motor & ESC - so the speed will be determined by your choices there.
For a cheaper park basher have you considered something like the Tamiya Lunchbox - 2 wheel drive so not as versatile in the rough but still fun. Well supported by OEM and upgrade parts & lots of modification advice on the net.
Been out with it with my nieces (9 & 12) controlling it - its stood up well to the abuse.
The kit comes without motor & ESC - so the speed will be determined by your choices there.
For a cheaper park basher have you considered something like the Tamiya Lunchbox - 2 wheel drive so not as versatile in the rough but still fun. Well supported by OEM and upgrade parts & lots of modification advice on the net.
@MBBlat: the rockracers in the list definately have the advantage of being smaller, slower and lighter so less chance of crashing, followed by less damage when they do... I worry a bit the wraith would be too much in the middle for me on "average" settings; or too dedicated with either a crawler or speed setup. The Twin Hammers gets around this with the 2 speed box.
And I just don't fancy another tamiya at the moment, I can still play enough that way with the Manta Ray.
@Mark82: 2nd hand is out. I want this car to be my own, with my choices and bodges on it. I know you can get a lot more for your cash 2nd hand, but that can include hidden problems as well. I do like 2nd hand for piles of spares thoughI've looked at the slash for a long time; trouble is by the time I've specced it up to where I'd like it, might as well buy the Summit which will probably do what I want better, straight out of the box.
Current feeling is the Wraith is slipping against the TH and the HPI savage is too speed/stunt focused - lacking clearance and articulation to cope with the ground it'll be running on.
Daughter concurs after some youtubing of the candidates: HPI gets votes for backflips but nothing much else; Summit is "cool"; wraith and TH both nice, TH edging it between them though.
So probaly down to a 2 horse race, sadly both the kits have fallen out of the running as I like building stuff.
And I just don't fancy another tamiya at the moment, I can still play enough that way with the Manta Ray.
@Mark82: 2nd hand is out. I want this car to be my own, with my choices and bodges on it. I know you can get a lot more for your cash 2nd hand, but that can include hidden problems as well. I do like 2nd hand for piles of spares though
I've looked at the slash for a long time; trouble is by the time I've specced it up to where I'd like it, might as well buy the Summit which will probably do what I want better, straight out of the box.Current feeling is the Wraith is slipping against the TH and the HPI savage is too speed/stunt focused - lacking clearance and articulation to cope with the ground it'll be running on.
Daughter concurs after some youtubing of the candidates: HPI gets votes for backflips but nothing much else; Summit is "cool"; wraith and TH both nice, TH edging it between them though.
So probaly down to a 2 horse race, sadly both the kits have fallen out of the running as I like building stuff.
Oppoed to my last post, I realised that the ONLY thing that was really important to me was building the car, so I've sunk more money than I care to think about into a Wraith kit along with a few choice hop-ups.
Build thread to follow (will also be available on MSUK and rccrawler ) when the packages finish coming through my door from UK, USA and HK!
Build thread to follow (will also be available on MSUK and rccrawler
) when the packages finish coming through my door from UK, USA and HK!Forum | Scale Models | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff