Show us your RC

[V10 SPM]

I've just bought myself one of these new 1:18 scale mini-crawlers, the ROC Hobby Katana. I was always a 1:10 scale fan but just lately I have been trying some smaller vehicles and I'm quite impressed with some of the latest ones. This is a full "hobby grade" machine with a detailed hard body based on the Toyota Land Cruiser 80 Series Station Wagon. The chassis uses scale realistic rigid axles with coil springs and multi-links, it has aluminium chassis rails, high-torque motor and fully water resistant electronics.





If you are interested, you can see this model being unboxed and examined in close-up detail here:
https://youtu.be/uxGHdryiJqE

[dom9]

Forgot about this thread! Now 4 x buggies... have a Schumacher Cougar Laydown too! Lockdown needs to end soon!!

[Boobonman]

V10 SPM said:

I've just bought myself one of these new 1:18 scale mini-crawlers, the ROC Hobby Katana. I was always a 1:10 scale fan but just lately I have been trying some smaller vehicles and I'm quite impressed with some of the latest ones. This is a full "hobby grade" machine with a detailed hard body based on the Toyota Land Cruiser 80 Series Station Wagon. The chassis uses scale realistic rigid axles with coil springs and multi-links, it has aluminium chassis rails, high-torque motor and fully water resistant electronics.





If you are interested, you can see this model being unboxed and examined in close-up detail here:
https://youtu.be/uxGHdryiJqE

Ooh, really quite fancy one of these. Would you recommend? I'm not very au fait with "crawlers", having only had speedy RC cars before, I assume these are not built for speed in any capacity and more about slow poodling about? Can you make them fast or is that not the point?

[miniman]

Boobonman said:

Ooh, really quite fancy one of these. Would you recommend? I'm not very au fait with "crawlers", having only had speedy RC cars before, I assume these are not built for speed in any capacity and more about slow poodling about? Can you make them fast or is that not the point?

My TRX-4 is fairly quick in high range.

[V10 SPM]

Boobonman said:

V10 SPM said:

I've just bought myself one of these new 1:18 scale mini-crawlers, the ROC Hobby Katana. I was always a 1:10 scale fan but just lately I have been trying some smaller vehicles and I'm quite impressed with some of the latest ones. This is a full "hobby grade" machine with a detailed hard body based on the Toyota Land Cruiser 80 Series Station Wagon. The chassis uses scale realistic rigid axles with coil springs and multi-links, it has aluminium chassis rails, high-torque motor and fully water resistant electronics.





If you are interested, you can see this model being unboxed and examined in close-up detail here:
https://youtu.be/uxGHdryiJqE

Ooh, really quite fancy one of these. Would you recommend? I'm not very au fait with "crawlers", having only had speedy RC cars before, I assume these are not built for speed in any capacity and more about slow poodling about? Can you make them fast or is that not the point?

I must say I quite like the smaller scale crawlers as my RC collection is taking up a lot of space. The 1:18 scale trucks are so compact that you can take them easily wherever you go and they can even be used indoors. The good ones are designed and built to a hobby grade standard but the downside of this is that they can cost as much as some 1:10 scale products. RC crawling is really about challenging yourself with obstacles and different terrain, plus there is the scale realism element as well. Some products have a transfer case with 2 or even 3 speeds but these are generally more expensive and usually a larger scale. They do allow you to enjoy a bit of speed though, although good crawlers are not so stable at high speeds anyway.

The Katana has low gearing for crawling so isn't fast by any means. Would I recommend it? This particular model has great scale detail but is rather let down by the fact that it is rather noisy. I would take a look at something like the Axial SCX24, or the larger 1:10 scale Axial trucks if you want better performance and have a bigger budget.

[V10 SPM]

I just made a testing video so you can see how it performs. For its size it is pretty good but because the Katana was designed with an emphasis on scale realism, the ultimate crawling ability will always be slightly compromised. Take a look at the video below and you will understand what I mean:

https://youtu.be/Ur-UaPcN28I

[FNG]

I dearly wanted a Tamiya 1/10 RC when I was a kid in the late 80s. The closest I got was the catalogue which I pored over for years. F150, Blazing Blazer, Sand Scorcher, Hilux, Brat - all the cool and desperately desirable kits from the time.

Never got the chance to scratch the itch, apart from when my brother emigrated and I bought his Tommi Makinnen Mitsubishi Evo from him. Upgraded the bearings, put drift tyres and adjustable knuckles on it, played with it once - I didn't know anyone into them at the time - and promptly sold it.

Fast forward another 13 years, a colleague suggested a team building "buy one and let's race them this summer when we can meet up again" thing, so that was a good enough excuse.

So since the remit is to buy an RC kit and build it yourself, and I always wanted a Tamiya, I bought...

...a ready built, secondhand, Kyosho Sand Master.



Well, I do plan to strip it down, restore it where needed, and rebuild with improvements. Also helps me keep my budget low, as I just can't justify £250 quid for a Tamiya Brat and radio gear etc.

So far, oil dampers on order (longer ones at the rear as it's sitting nose-up and understeering everywhere) plus some shims for the lower arms, which are a bit sloppy, and some front knuckle pins as these are also sloppy and make it a bit vague.

It's great fun on the packed mud and gravel outside my driveway, but I've had a couple of goes with it so it's time to start stripping it down soon.

Tired decals removed, new (different) ones in the post.



I'll polish up the plastics and the wheels need painting / beadlocks repainting. And the driver could do with a bit of paint too.

It was available as a kit or RTR, this one being RTR but meh, it's still a step up from the usual toystore fodder.

Needs a metal drive pinion, needs the motor casing sealing up as they get a lot of dust and dirt in, needs the axles shimming especially the rear. They are also a bit sloppy in some of the suspension links, and the front end has positive camber so ideally adjustable upper links as well. People run them with a bit of polythene acting as a liner in the ball cups to remove slop, and some have found putting a spring in each drive cup pushing against the driveshaft helps reduce binding too. Lots of little things to attend to and hopefully the end result will be I spend less than my colleagues, to end up with a better end product, and importantly I do love a retro sandrail

Edited by FNG on Friday 2nd April 12:05

[ThisInJapanese]

FNG said:

So since the remit is to buy an RC kit and build it yourself, and I always wanted a Tamiya, I bought...

...a ready built, secondhand, Kyosho Sand Master.

There is something fun about buying older cars that need some TLC, my 6s Kraton hardly gets driven, but the Tamiya DT-02 I won by 'mistake' for £60 is the first one that comes out when the kids want to play with RC cars!

[FNG]

ThisInJapanese said:

There is something fun about buying older cars that need some TLC, my 6s Kraton hardly gets driven, but the Tamiya DT-02 I won by 'mistake' for £60 is the first one that comes out when the kids want to play with RC cars!

I'm enjoying researching about an older car that's NLA, finding parts, seeing where the faults lie, and judging how I can upgrade it without spending much. Not regretting my purchase at all, as it seems easy to use, takes some abuse, and looks great to my eye. The shape is also ripe for customising with lights, driver details, different wheels etc.

I guess I have bypassed the niceness of buying a new kit and building it to instructions, learning the basics as I go - hopefully that lack of grounding won't come back to bite me.

Found the throttle trim on the controller, so the speed can be turned down, so the kids can have a go... one day... maybe...

[Welshbeef]

ThisInJapanese said:

There is something fun about buying older cars that need some TLC, my 6s Kraton hardly gets driven, but the Tamiya DT-02 I won by 'mistake' for £60 is the first one that comes out when the kids want to play with RC cars!

I’d happily help you use the 6S krayton .

[shedweller]

Welshbeef said:

ThisInJapanese said:

There is something fun about buying older cars that need some TLC, my 6s Kraton hardly gets driven, but the Tamiya DT-02 I won by 'mistake' for £60 is the first one that comes out when the kids want to play with RC cars!

I’d happily help you use the 6S krayton .

I will settle for whatevers not broken!!!!

Here is my freshly rebuilt Typhon with a new paint job and my boys senton relaxing on our plywood Ramps after a racing session today in the park.... We have 3x 1.2m wide ramps and one kicker and set up a track most weekends.

The Jimmy is FPV and we let onlookers have a go with that (or anything) if they show an interest......

[ThisInJapanese]

Welshbeef said:

ThisInJapanese said:

There is something fun about buying older cars that need some TLC, my 6s Kraton hardly gets driven, but the Tamiya DT-02 I won by 'mistake' for £60 is the first one that comes out when the kids want to play with RC cars!

I’d happily help you use the 6S krayton .

The thing is that it needs so much more space to enjoy it, it doesn't have that pick up and play element that lots of my other cars do. I'm really enjoying fast 1/10th buggies at the moment.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

With a degree of relevance to the poster above buying something older, I've also indulged in a bit of nostalgia this week. Having bought four or five brand new Tamiya R/C cars over the last year or so (one modern, the others re-re's), I've also been scanning the internet on and off to see if I could find a decent example of my first ever R/C car.

Like many, I lusted after the Tamiya stuff in the early 80's, when I was in my early teens - but for some reason my Dad had made his mind up that the kits were not any good. I've no idea where he got that idea from, but then again he could be a peculiar chap at times, bless him.

Anyway on one vist to my local model shop, I spied an alternative R/C car kit - a Marui Hunter. It seemed to my eyes to be very similar to a Tamiya kit, and after a badgering session, it became mine! I built it with ease, and used it to death until a few years later, I bought a Tamiya HotShot with my own money (which Dad later agreed was actually a decent bit of engineering after all...)

I got rid of the Hunter at some point, with hindsight, should have kept it etc. Anyway long story short - I found one on Ebay recently, after looking for ages. They're as rare as the proverbial these days, so I have been fortunate to recieve this really decent, working example. For a 40 year old model, it's held up surprisingly well, and has apparently been looked after. Needs a bit of love here and there to bring it up to shelf-queen spec, and the only fly in the ointment is that it doesn't have its original wheels - they're from a Hornet. Still, I will enjoy restoring it and trying to track down some original wheels if I can.

I'll update the thread with progress as it comes. But for now, I am very happy!

[rxtx]

Went to the woods up the road on Thursday for a bit of a blast.

[Welshbeef]

rxtx said:

Went to the woods up the road on Thursday for a bit of a blast.

Are they arena keaytons


Or 1/5-1/8th scale 8s/12S Lipo?

[rxtx]

Welshbeef said:

Are they arena keaytons

Or 1/5-1/8th scale 8s/12S Lipo?

8S Traxxas X-Maxx and a 4S Summit.

[Deadlysub]

Always wanted to build a Tamiya and as a child of the 80’s I never had the rite of passage.

So I’m righting the wrong and starting with a Hornet, then I’m going to move on to a Monster Beetle and a Hot Shot.

[ThisInJapanese]

Deadlysub said:

Always wanted to build a Tamiya and as a child of the 80’s I never had the rite of passage.

So I’m righting the wrong and starting with a Hornet, then I’m going to move on to a Monster Beetle and a Hot Shot.

If you don't already have the Monster Beetle, I'd suggest the Lunch Box as an alternative as the MB gearbox and drivetrain is a pain in the arse to get to a state where it's reliable

[Deadlysub]

ThisInJapanese said:

Deadlysub][url][thumb said:

If you don't already have the Monster Beetle, I'd suggest the Lunch Box as an alternative as the MB gearbox and drivetrain is a pain in the arse to get to a state where it's reliable

Interesting, I never knew this. What is the problem with the MB gearbox?

[Deadlysub]

Just done some Googling and the Lunchbox it is!!

Thanks for the advice!