RC car - 1st timer looking for suggestions please?
Discussion
Looking to get a semi-serious Radio-Controlled car for my son and myself.
We've had the rubbish ones from Toy R Us etc, but I'm looking at something more serious that we can take to the park (goes on grass as well as concrete).
Is there a website where I can get suggestions/advice/adverts etc?
Is there a magazine where I can get suggestions/advice/adverts etc?
Was thinking of Nitro but then read that they can be troublesome + noisy (so not good in park), so thinking more toward electric now.
Brushless motor? Seems these are least trouble and fastest - is this correct? Any downsides?
How long will a car run for? How many battery packs will I need to be able to run for an afternoon?
What else is there to consider when starting?
Don't really want to spend more than £2-300 until we find out if we like it?
I've had quick look on Ebay - are there common problems with kit - anything to beware of etc?
Thanks in advance,
Shentodj
We've had the rubbish ones from Toy R Us etc, but I'm looking at something more serious that we can take to the park (goes on grass as well as concrete).
Is there a website where I can get suggestions/advice/adverts etc?
Is there a magazine where I can get suggestions/advice/adverts etc?
Was thinking of Nitro but then read that they can be troublesome + noisy (so not good in park), so thinking more toward electric now.
Brushless motor? Seems these are least trouble and fastest - is this correct? Any downsides?
How long will a car run for? How many battery packs will I need to be able to run for an afternoon?
What else is there to consider when starting?
Don't really want to spend more than £2-300 until we find out if we like it?
I've had quick look on Ebay - are there common problems with kit - anything to beware of etc?
Thanks in advance,
Shentodj
Hi, the best place bar none to get rc information is www.oople.com. If you click on the forums there is a host of information, and a very friendly bunch if you want to ask any specific questions.
I race 1/10th offroad cars and compete in the national series and would recommend brushless over nitro any day (due to the noise restictions on nitro). Also if you get properly into racing there will be a lot more battery powered clubs to choose from.
In my car I run a 6.5 brushless motor on LIPO batteries. With this in a 2wd car I could expect to get about 15 minutes out of a full charge (although races only last 5 minutes therefore I never need the additional power). In 4wd I would expect the time to reduce down to 8/9 minutes. Given Im using motors that will be considerably more powerful than what you will start with, id expect to get about 25 minutes out of a less powerful motor but equally good cells.
To charge the cells fully you need to allow about 45-60 mins to charge fully. In addition, NEVER run LIPO's down to zero charge as this ruins them.
As for car, i'd say get the best you can afford as you will only regret it at a later date if you get into racing at club, regional or even national level.
Im at work right now so cant say too much more, I should actually be doing some work right now
I race 1/10th offroad cars and compete in the national series and would recommend brushless over nitro any day (due to the noise restictions on nitro). Also if you get properly into racing there will be a lot more battery powered clubs to choose from.
In my car I run a 6.5 brushless motor on LIPO batteries. With this in a 2wd car I could expect to get about 15 minutes out of a full charge (although races only last 5 minutes therefore I never need the additional power). In 4wd I would expect the time to reduce down to 8/9 minutes. Given Im using motors that will be considerably more powerful than what you will start with, id expect to get about 25 minutes out of a less powerful motor but equally good cells.
To charge the cells fully you need to allow about 45-60 mins to charge fully. In addition, NEVER run LIPO's down to zero charge as this ruins them.
As for car, i'd say get the best you can afford as you will only regret it at a later date if you get into racing at club, regional or even national level.
Im at work right now so cant say too much more, I should actually be doing some work right now
I've heard good things about the ansmann mad rat, the kit should be around £50 but you will need radio gear a speed controller batteries and a charger, all in you should be up and running for around £150.
As has been said previously oople.com covers everything from people wanting cars to play with to the serious racers.
Nitro is good but it can be frustrating to get working properly so I would stick with electric unless you know someone that has some nitro experience. Brushless is also a great improvement over brushed technology but it's not very cheap. The vast majority of ready to run cars will come with brushed equipment which is fine for bashing and it can be upgraded quite easily at a later date. Batteries will last around 10 - 15 mins depending on what the equipment is and the surface that you're running on.
I would recomend getting down to your local RC club, even if you're not planning on racing then there will be a wealth of information and advice and you might be able to pick up something 2nd hand. There's a list of clubs at http://www.brca.org/
As has been said previously oople.com covers everything from people wanting cars to play with to the serious racers.
Nitro is good but it can be frustrating to get working properly so I would stick with electric unless you know someone that has some nitro experience. Brushless is also a great improvement over brushed technology but it's not very cheap. The vast majority of ready to run cars will come with brushed equipment which is fine for bashing and it can be upgraded quite easily at a later date. Batteries will last around 10 - 15 mins depending on what the equipment is and the surface that you're running on.
I would recomend getting down to your local RC club, even if you're not planning on racing then there will be a wealth of information and advice and you might be able to pick up something 2nd hand. There's a list of clubs at http://www.brca.org/
Head over to www.msuk-forum.co.uk. We're a friendly bunch, they helped me out no end when I started many years ago.
i run a cat 3000, brushless, mine is a little low for parks, so if you are going to run mainly on parks then i would suggest a truck rather than a buggy. Then you need to decide whether you want 4 or 2wd.
at our club the b4 is the 2wd to go for, if its 4wd then ive heard good things about the yokomo bmax.
at our club the b4 is the 2wd to go for, if its 4wd then ive heard good things about the yokomo bmax.
thehos said:
i run a cat 3000, brushless, mine is a little low for parks, so if you are going to run mainly on parks then i would suggest a truck rather than a buggy. Then you need to decide whether you want 4 or 2wd.
at our club the b4 is the 2wd to go for, if its 4wd then ive heard good things about the yokomo bmax.
Tamiya Durga is a good entry level 4wd and the Ansman Madrat for 2WDat our club the b4 is the 2wd to go for, if its 4wd then ive heard good things about the yokomo bmax.
I used to race 1/10th scale buggys over 10 years ago, i ran a Kyosho ZXR for many years, then forked out for a predator XKR (which was the nuts, and stupidly quick).
After a long break i've bought another RC car, not a buggy but a touring car, mainly so i can buy the same shells as the cars i work on.
I went for a schumacher, based on the fact, they were a good car when i used to race against them, and they still are. Easy to build and maintain, and most of the historical parts are still available... so a bit of a no brainer really. I use the same radio gear i bought 15 years ago, a futaba Transmitter and reciever (the crystals still work) and M-Troniks (Brushed) speed controller. Granted i have replaced the servo with a KO Propo FET servo (quicker), batteries and motor have also been upgraded at minimal costs.
I miss the versitility of the buggy, when i try and use the the touring car on the same kind of surfaces, the drivebelt gets battered.
If i was to buy again, i'd go for a Schumacher buggy, but probabally buy 2nd hand off e-bay, with a few bits and pieces to get you going!
After a long break i've bought another RC car, not a buggy but a touring car, mainly so i can buy the same shells as the cars i work on.
I went for a schumacher, based on the fact, they were a good car when i used to race against them, and they still are. Easy to build and maintain, and most of the historical parts are still available... so a bit of a no brainer really. I use the same radio gear i bought 15 years ago, a futaba Transmitter and reciever (the crystals still work) and M-Troniks (Brushed) speed controller. Granted i have replaced the servo with a KO Propo FET servo (quicker), batteries and motor have also been upgraded at minimal costs.
I miss the versitility of the buggy, when i try and use the the touring car on the same kind of surfaces, the drivebelt gets battered.
If i was to buy again, i'd go for a Schumacher buggy, but probabally buy 2nd hand off e-bay, with a few bits and pieces to get you going!
Before you do anything else, or spend anything....
Find out where your nearest couple of RC car clubs are and go along to watch the racing, chat to members and get a feel for what's your best options.
Think about it, what would be the point of buying a new car, and then finding you can't race it at your local club, or if no one else runs that car so you'll not be in a position to ask advice at the club.
The hobby of RC racing is vast, and you can end up wasting a vast amount of money.
For what it's worth - no matter which type of car you end up running, make sure you go LiPo and Brushless. Don't be put off with people saying it's expensive, it's not and you'll end up spending far less in the long run. Just make sure you don't start off with a crazy brushless. Keep to 13.5 or slower to begin with. 13.5 brushless = a 27T standard brushed motor.
...and finally
Remember to have fun
Find out where your nearest couple of RC car clubs are and go along to watch the racing, chat to members and get a feel for what's your best options.
Think about it, what would be the point of buying a new car, and then finding you can't race it at your local club, or if no one else runs that car so you'll not be in a position to ask advice at the club.
The hobby of RC racing is vast, and you can end up wasting a vast amount of money.
For what it's worth - no matter which type of car you end up running, make sure you go LiPo and Brushless. Don't be put off with people saying it's expensive, it's not and you'll end up spending far less in the long run. Just make sure you don't start off with a crazy brushless. Keep to 13.5 or slower to begin with. 13.5 brushless = a 27T standard brushed motor.
...and finally
Remember to have fun
motormania said:
Before you do anything else, or spend anything....
Find out where your nearest couple of RC car clubs are and go along to watch the racing, chat to members and get a feel for what's your best options.
Best piece of advice you will get on the subject - also your local club racers may have some 2nd hand gear going, lots of people jumping to Durango so it seems so some very good value Cat Sx, HB D4s around at the moment. Oople is superb too, lots of info on local clubs as well.Find out where your nearest couple of RC car clubs are and go along to watch the racing, chat to members and get a feel for what's your best options.
As has been mentioned find out what your local club runs before you buy.
My local place ran 1/10th electric touring car races so thats what i bought and had a lot of fun.
Car was a Yokomo MR4 TC, very good piece of kit, nothing special but solid, simple and plenty of scope for improvement.
Best thing to do though is get really good at driving, my car was in the lowest of the 3 classes (standard) but I always ended up in the class A final and picked up some wins just by being a competent and consistent driver.
My local place ran 1/10th electric touring car races so thats what i bought and had a lot of fun.
Car was a Yokomo MR4 TC, very good piece of kit, nothing special but solid, simple and plenty of scope for improvement.
Best thing to do though is get really good at driving, my car was in the lowest of the 3 classes (standard) but I always ended up in the class A final and picked up some wins just by being a competent and consistent driver.
The club I race at had an F3 driver turn up with an HPI RTR car. Never raced before and was in the A Finals after his second race meeting! OK so the other drivers in the A Final were 4-6 laps ahead after 5 minutes, but those running in the B and C had more expensive cars than him.
Talent will always come to the fore in any hobby/sport.
Of course once you reach A Finals week after week, then is becomes a challenge to eek out more speed and consitency, but that's the fun of RC racing - wheel to wheel lfun
Talent will always come to the fore in any hobby/sport.
Of course once you reach A Finals week after week, then is becomes a challenge to eek out more speed and consitency, but that's the fun of RC racing - wheel to wheel lfun
motormania said:
The club I race at had an F3 driver turn up with an HPI RTR car. Never raced before and was in the A Finals after his second race meeting! OK so the other drivers in the A Final were 4-6 laps ahead after 5 minutes, but those running in the B and C had more expensive cars than him.
Talent will always come to the fore in any hobby/sport.
Of course once you reach A Finals week after week, then is becomes a challenge to eek out more speed and consitency, but that's the fun of RC racing - wheel to wheel lfun
How was he an F3 but never raced before?Talent will always come to the fore in any hobby/sport.
Of course once you reach A Finals week after week, then is becomes a challenge to eek out more speed and consitency, but that's the fun of RC racing - wheel to wheel lfun
wacattack said:
motormania said:
The club I race at had an F3 driver turn up with an HPI RTR car. Never raced before and was in the A Finals after his second race meeting! OK so the other drivers in the A Final were 4-6 laps ahead after 5 minutes, but those running in the B and C had more expensive cars than him.
Talent will always come to the fore in any hobby/sport.
Of course once you reach A Finals week after week, then is becomes a challenge to eek out more speed and consitency, but that's the fun of RC racing - wheel to wheel lfun
How was he an F3 but never raced before?Talent will always come to the fore in any hobby/sport.
Of course once you reach A Finals week after week, then is becomes a challenge to eek out more speed and consitency, but that's the fun of RC racing - wheel to wheel lfun
motormania said:
wacattack said:
motormania said:
The club I race at had an F3 driver turn up with an HPI RTR car. Never raced before and was in the A Finals after his second race meeting! OK so the other drivers in the A Final were 4-6 laps ahead after 5 minutes, but those running in the B and C had more expensive cars than him.
Talent will always come to the fore in any hobby/sport.
Of course once you reach A Finals week after week, then is becomes a challenge to eek out more speed and consitency, but that's the fun of RC racing - wheel to wheel lfun
How was he an F3 but never raced before?Talent will always come to the fore in any hobby/sport.
Of course once you reach A Finals week after week, then is becomes a challenge to eek out more speed and consitency, but that's the fun of RC racing - wheel to wheel lfun
Edited by wacattack on Wednesday 30th September 12:50
shentodj said:
Looking to get a semi-serious Radio-Controlled car for my son and myself.
We've had the rubbish ones from Toy R Us etc, but I'm looking at something more serious that we can take to the park (goes on grass as well as concrete).
Is there a website where I can get suggestions/advice/adverts etc?
Is there a magazine where I can get suggestions/advice/adverts etc?
Was thinking of Nitro but then read that they can be troublesome + noisy (so not good in park), so thinking more toward electric now.
Brushless motor? Seems these are least trouble and fastest - is this correct? Any downsides?
How long will a car run for? How many battery packs will I need to be able to run for an afternoon?
What else is there to consider when starting?
Don't really want to spend more than £2-300 until we find out if we like it?
I've had quick look on Ebay - are there common problems with kit - anything to beware of etc?
Thanks in advance,
Shentodj
There are a couple of key questions to answer.We've had the rubbish ones from Toy R Us etc, but I'm looking at something more serious that we can take to the park (goes on grass as well as concrete).
Is there a website where I can get suggestions/advice/adverts etc?
Is there a magazine where I can get suggestions/advice/adverts etc?
Was thinking of Nitro but then read that they can be troublesome + noisy (so not good in park), so thinking more toward electric now.
Brushless motor? Seems these are least trouble and fastest - is this correct? Any downsides?
How long will a car run for? How many battery packs will I need to be able to run for an afternoon?
What else is there to consider when starting?
Don't really want to spend more than £2-300 until we find out if we like it?
I've had quick look on Ebay - are there common problems with kit - anything to beware of etc?
Thanks in advance,
Shentodj
1. Do you want to race it?
2. Are you prepared to spend more money?
Although I've not been in the scene for a number of years I was a dedicated racer.
A race RC car often needs to be very different to a fun "backyard basher".
In terns if what to go for.
Nitro is fine, but its messy, requires fuel (so can't play when you don't have any and results in on going cost), can be fickle to get running and keep running and are noisy so not always welcome everywhere.
Modern electric RC vehicles are pretty much as quick or quicker and new battery tech means comparable run times too.
Now this is were it gets difficult or rather expensive.
To get the best it will COST!
So everyone will say brushless and LiPo batteries. The down side is this is bloody expensive.
Also the bigger the machine the more it'll cost as batteries and cells will cost more for it. Parts are also more expensive too.
Personally one of my favourite RC brands is Traxxas, they make some great RTR (Ready to Run/Race) kits.
I'm also a long time supporter of Losi and Schumacher. Never really been that keen on Tamiya models, always seemed expensive and under performing.
Earlier this year I was in a similar situation, I wanted a new RC vehicle.
This is what I was going to buy:
Traxxas E-Revo (brushless)
http://www.traxxas.com/products/electric/erevo5608...
Its a 4WD Racing Monster Truck. It'll go over anything and do it at speed. So great on grass or the rough stuff and also ok on tarmac.
Downside is its a pricey kit. It also uses dual batteries. So to have a spare set you'd need 4 packs of cells and a descent charger.
You could easily blow £600 on such an RC setup.
So I changed tracks completely and opted for a 1/18th scale model instead. I admit it doesn't like the longer grass so much, but it goes better than I thought it would on grass and being smaller means you can use it in more places.
But the biggest thing is price, the entire ready to run kit only cost about £70!
If you want to go brushless and LiPo cells then you can, but as it's 1/18th scale its all a lot cheaper. Parts are cheap too, so when it breaks (which it will, doesn't matter which kit you buy) it makes it cheap to maintain.
I did look at things like the Losi Mini-T and so, but I didn't buy them. Instead I bought this:
Maverick Atom XB
It's a 4WD 1/18th scale buggy, they also sell an Atom XT which is a 4WD truck.
You can get them from here: http://www.apexmodels.com/gbu0-catshow/Maverick-el...
The biggest issue you'll find is getting hold of one as they are very popular. Best bet is to phone up as they often have one or two left even when their website says "out of stock".
For the money you can't go wrong. You get one batter pack, slow charger and all the radio gear in for the price. It also come pre-assembled and painted. All you need to do is take it out of the box, charge it and off you go.
If you want to stick with bigger vehicles then I'd say have another peep at Traxxas.
I really really love these as they are realistic, but they may not be to everyones taste and are better on lose surfaces than tarmac.
Slash
http://www.traxxas.com/products/electric/5805/trx_...
But remember even though these are RTR kits you'll still need to buy cells and a charger.
Or a more multi purpose truck:
Rustler VXL
http://www.traxxas.com/products/electric/rustler37...
These come with a brushless motor in the kit, so its fast straight out of the box. Again cells and charger required.
If you do go for a 1/10th kit do some research on cells. LiPo's come in many forms and some are rubbish while others are great and they can all be expensive.
These cells offer the most power and best run times. You can still NiMH cells, these are older tech, will be slower and not last as long. Unless strapped for cash don't let people sway you onto these. I have them due to having had them for years, they are ok, but LiPo is the way to go.
If you plan to race then its a different ball game. I won't post anything about it now, unless you say that its your intent.
Hope it helps
If you don't mind listening to me more, here's a review I started writing on the Atom XB last winter when I bought it. It tails off towards the end as I didn't complete the review, but it might give you some insight
300bhp/ton said:
[c]Maverick Atom XB review[/c]
Ok so I’d been umming and arrring for many a month now on wanting to buy a new RC car. After much deliberation and having looked at many RTR kits from big names like Traxxas, Schumacher and Losi among others, I finally decided to take the plunge and enter the world of mini or micro RC cars, specifically the 1/18th scale.
Reasons for this, well since first becoming an RC fanatic some 20 years back my heart has always been with off road cars of some description, despite random departures into the on road racing and aircraft scene from time to time. But for quite a while now I have been wanting to replace my aging Losi trucks and buggies with something new and more modern. Racing is of less a concern these days so I was focusing on fun and bashing. Initially I set my heart on the very awesome looking Traxxas E-Revo AWD monster truck, and a part of me still wants one. But once the high initial purchase price along with suitable LiPo cells (2 packs at a time) and all the other associated accessories, that would be required to actually make use of the kit were added together, I discovered that buying such an RC cars was going to be more costly than buying a Series 3 Land Rover as a weekend toy. So back to the drawing board I went.
But why a 1/18th scale I hear you say?
The answer is quite simple – cost. That and this sector of the RC market appears to be very lucrative at the moment with a vast array of differing kits available from a multitude of manufacturers. So for my new adventures in finding a fun RC off roader to use for bashing, this seemed like the ideal place to look.
While researching some of the kits available one name kept popping up time and time again as being a very good kit – Maverick Atom. This was a new name to me but since when should a name ever stop someone buying something. As it turned out Maverick make two versions of the Atom, the XT an AWD Truggy/Truck and the XB an AWD buggy. Both are essentially the same kit with the XT just having changes to make it look like a truck along with slightly larger wheels and tyres.
After reading the spec on these cars and views of other people I was sold straight away. As an added bonus they are priced at over £50 cheaper than a Losi Mini-T. so the decision was made there and then – the Atom XT!!
Yippee!
Well sadly not. On having made this decision I found out that I’m evidently not the first to see the virtues of these kits. By this I mean I have not been able to find any stock of the Maverick Atom XT. While on the phone to Apex Models a quick decision was made to go for the XB AWD buggy instead, they had one in stock for the princely sum of £69.99 inc VAT. So I placed my order and also ordered the XT wheels & tyres at the same time. A few days later and the kit arrived at my door. Thank you very much Apex Models, superb service.
This is my first RTR kit, so I was excited to rip open the box and start tearing up the mud in the front garden, fortunately patience prevailed and I managed to snap a few pics first.
On opening the box I pleasantly found the kit to be well packed and of initial high quality. The kit contents are very comprehensive offering everything you need to get started without the need for any additional equipment or purchases. It even included some AA batteries for the transmitter.
Included in the kit was:
-The assembled XB buggy
-Mounted electronic speed control with Forward/Brake & Reverse or race only Forward/Brake modes
-Mounted 27Mhz receiver
-Micro steering Servo and servo saver
-Standard 370 sized motor
-27Mhz transmitter
-Painted and cut body shell
-NiMh battery pack
-240v mains slow charger
-Instruction manual
-Assorted tools to take the kit apart if required
-Shock spacers for raising the ride height
All in all an impressive amount of kit for the money and it makes one wonder how they do it for the price when some of the bigger names supply less for a lot more money. This only gets even more impressive when you look at the spec of the kit, fully ballraced, proper ball diffs front and rear, shaft driven AWD system, oil filled shocks, alloy motor mount and the general quality feel of the build and components. The only area a more seasoned RC’er might comment on is the plastic fixed length turn buckles as standard. However these represent a sensible option for beginners as they are more likely to flex than metal adjustable ones, so therefore less likely to break something more important when those not so unfamiliar crashes occur. It also prevents beginners from messing about with camber and toe in before they understand the implications of doing so.
But fear not, for a mere £13.99 a set of fully adjustable metal ones can be purchased as an optional upgrade.
As this is an RTR kit no assembly was required after pulling it from the box. All I had to do was put the batteries in the transmitter, charge the battery pack and put the bodyshell on. While waiting for the pack to charge it gave me opportunity to have a look around the kit and the instruction manual.
The Radio gear
For any of those just to using expensive high end radio gear, this will be a come down. However on the who I’m rather impressed with the transmitter and receiver offered in the kit. They run on the regular 27Mhz frequencies and the crystal as easily accessed on both the Tx and Rx so as to change which exact frequency you are running on.
The receiver is compact and neatly mounts on the top deck of the buggy. The transmitter itself is of the triggered variety. A new experience for me as I’ve always preferred the dual stick setup.
That aside the transmitter is actually rather solidly built, no rough edges or cheapness evident anywhere on it. It has a positive feel in both the trigger and the wheel. It has a battery warning light and trim adjusters for the trigger and steering. A nice touch, especially for beginners it also includes a steering adjuster to limit the amount of steering lock applied, this should make it easier for less experienced RC’ers to get to grips with high speed cornering. The grip is comfortable and the unit well balanced.
In all honesty there is no real reason to want to upgrade this unless you already happen to own higher end radio gear. The kit supplied Tx is more than sufficient for beginner to seasoned expert.
My only concern with the Tx would be the reach of the trigger for braking/reverse. If you only have small hands this may be somewhat of a stretch.
The body shell
Orange. Well you either like it or loath it. Personally I like it. The body shell is well made and neatly cut out for you. This is great as it means you haven’t got to faff about with tins of paint before you can have a go with the kit. The quality of the painting is superb and far exceeds anything I would be capable of. It has black window stickers. Time will tell how these stand up to the bashing. It has all the holes for the body mounts and aerial pre-drilled.
On the plus side you can purchase a new painted body shell should you require one or if you fancy painting your own a clear one.
Fitting the body shell is by means of 3 included body clips, 2 at the back and 1 at the front. They are easy to fit and hold the body shell securely. Fitment it fantastic and once mounted looks the business.
Wheels & Tyres
The standard wheels and tyres are a multispoke design using a two step spiked pattern. These tyres are probably well suited to indoor carpet racing, lose surfaces and even short grass, although the limited ride height may limit its grass bashing capabilities.
The wheels are of high quality with equally high quality tyres. They come pre-glued onto the rims and feel as though they have foam inserts. Time will tell how affect these tyres are and how quick they wear. With the size of the current min/micro off road market there must be many alternative tyres that may be suitable as alternatives.
As mentioned earlier I also purchased a set of the XT Truck tyres, this was for several reasons. Partly because they are a treaded tyre as opposed to spiked, these should make them a better tyre for tarmac and semi-off road use with a better wear rate on these surfaces than the spiked tyres. The other part of the decision is the size, they are both taller and wider than the standard buggy tyres, and part of me still hankers for that over sized monster truck appearance. The XT tyres are also pre-glued and mounted on wider spoked rims.
The XT tyres fit straight onto the XB with no hassles. They certainly alter the appearance and offer it more chunky feel. They do offer slightly more ground clearance than the XB tyres. Although being bigger and heavier they probably slightly reduce turning lock and acceleration, but with a slight higher top speed.
To begin with I decided to keep the XT tyres on for the first runs, but more on this later.
The Rest of the Buggy
Oddly enough let’s start with the manual. It’s easy to read with good diagrams and lots of info, it contains all key information that you are likely to need.
However it doesn’t go into any detail about stripping and maintaining the buggy, maybe this is because I’m used to race oriented kits that you have to assemble before using as opposed to an RTR kit. But there is a distinct lack of exploded diagrams for key items like the diffs and gearboxes. On reflection, this may be because replacement parts are so cheap. It’ll probably cost more to strip, clean, re-lube and rebuild a diff than what it would to simply buy a new replacement one already built.
At the front we see traditional wishbone suspension with a multipoint shock tower for tuning and adjustability. Equipped standard with re-buildable oil filled shocks, the action is smooth and they appear leak free. I haven’t tried rebuilding the shocks yet, although this is where the manual lets it down as it doesn’t contain any info on this. There are option aluminium shocks at a very reasonable price. Personally I can’t see the problem with plastic, ok they offer less bling, but they work just as well. I think upgrading will only be an option if one of the plastics ones breaks.
At the back of the buggy it’s much the same, generally high quality components that fit together well. The rear shock tower is also adjustable. The diffs feel smooth and bond free. The suspension travel is amble and prevents the buggy grounding out on any jump you could consider reasonable. The kit does supply additional spring spacers to increase or lower the ground clearance of the buggy.
The battery is heat shrink wrapped and neat and tidy, the battery compartment runs along the left side of the buggy with a single battery bar clamp held in with two body clips. This makes it easy and hassle free to remove and install the battery pack.
I could now spend an age describing each item in detail, but I won’t. All I’ll say is every other component (ESC, Receiver, etc.) are all well fitted, look quality and professional.
The only area of concern comes from the hub assembly. I’m not sure exactly where this problem originates, but if you hold one of the wheels and rock it across the hub there is noticeable play and movement. This is on all four corners. I suspect that due to the size of the wishbones, hub and all other associated parts there is an amount of movement that is generated. On my larger 1/10th scale race trucks and buggy’s I’ve never noticed any play in this area. I don’t think this is anything to overly worry about, but it may explain a few things later on.
Driving it
So after giving the battery a few hours charge I was ready to take it for a blast. The weather outside was having other idea’s though. It was cold, about 0 C with snow on the ground. But I wasn’t deterred.
Equipped with the larger XT tyres fitted I ventured out. The surface was mainly tarmac, with some hardcore sections and a few centimetres of snow covering in places.
First impressions – very positive. For a completely stock out of the box setup I was reasonably impressed with its turn of speed. Ok it’s not exactly brushless Traxxas VLX fast, but it has a decent top speed for a little buggy and fairly rapid acceleration, more than enough for these slippery conditions. And being 1/18th scale you are more likely to use it in smaller spaces, in which case too much power isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be.
There were a couple of areas of concern. First was the amount of steering lock. Maybe this is because I’m used to more expensive racing machines, but the turning radius of this little truck is really quite huge. It wasn’t so much of an issue as I was in a large area and being slippery out you could use the power to spin it round if you wanted.
Update:
Still impressed with the buggy, usually run it on the regular buggy tyres and it even performs well on short grass. So far nothing broken despite giving it real grief on rough terrain and flipping it countless times.
I’m still using the stock motor and cells and they typically give well over 20 mins run time. In fact never used an entire pack in a single go.
It’s cheap, fun, reliable RC’ing on a sensible budget. It’s also easy to work on and carry or simply chuck in the boot of the car.
Ok so I’d been umming and arrring for many a month now on wanting to buy a new RC car. After much deliberation and having looked at many RTR kits from big names like Traxxas, Schumacher and Losi among others, I finally decided to take the plunge and enter the world of mini or micro RC cars, specifically the 1/18th scale.
Reasons for this, well since first becoming an RC fanatic some 20 years back my heart has always been with off road cars of some description, despite random departures into the on road racing and aircraft scene from time to time. But for quite a while now I have been wanting to replace my aging Losi trucks and buggies with something new and more modern. Racing is of less a concern these days so I was focusing on fun and bashing. Initially I set my heart on the very awesome looking Traxxas E-Revo AWD monster truck, and a part of me still wants one. But once the high initial purchase price along with suitable LiPo cells (2 packs at a time) and all the other associated accessories, that would be required to actually make use of the kit were added together, I discovered that buying such an RC cars was going to be more costly than buying a Series 3 Land Rover as a weekend toy. So back to the drawing board I went.
But why a 1/18th scale I hear you say?
The answer is quite simple – cost. That and this sector of the RC market appears to be very lucrative at the moment with a vast array of differing kits available from a multitude of manufacturers. So for my new adventures in finding a fun RC off roader to use for bashing, this seemed like the ideal place to look.
While researching some of the kits available one name kept popping up time and time again as being a very good kit – Maverick Atom. This was a new name to me but since when should a name ever stop someone buying something. As it turned out Maverick make two versions of the Atom, the XT an AWD Truggy/Truck and the XB an AWD buggy. Both are essentially the same kit with the XT just having changes to make it look like a truck along with slightly larger wheels and tyres.
After reading the spec on these cars and views of other people I was sold straight away. As an added bonus they are priced at over £50 cheaper than a Losi Mini-T. so the decision was made there and then – the Atom XT!!
Yippee!
Well sadly not. On having made this decision I found out that I’m evidently not the first to see the virtues of these kits. By this I mean I have not been able to find any stock of the Maverick Atom XT. While on the phone to Apex Models a quick decision was made to go for the XB AWD buggy instead, they had one in stock for the princely sum of £69.99 inc VAT. So I placed my order and also ordered the XT wheels & tyres at the same time. A few days later and the kit arrived at my door. Thank you very much Apex Models, superb service.
This is my first RTR kit, so I was excited to rip open the box and start tearing up the mud in the front garden, fortunately patience prevailed and I managed to snap a few pics first.
On opening the box I pleasantly found the kit to be well packed and of initial high quality. The kit contents are very comprehensive offering everything you need to get started without the need for any additional equipment or purchases. It even included some AA batteries for the transmitter.
Included in the kit was:
-The assembled XB buggy
-Mounted electronic speed control with Forward/Brake & Reverse or race only Forward/Brake modes
-Mounted 27Mhz receiver
-Micro steering Servo and servo saver
-Standard 370 sized motor
-27Mhz transmitter
-Painted and cut body shell
-NiMh battery pack
-240v mains slow charger
-Instruction manual
-Assorted tools to take the kit apart if required
-Shock spacers for raising the ride height
All in all an impressive amount of kit for the money and it makes one wonder how they do it for the price when some of the bigger names supply less for a lot more money. This only gets even more impressive when you look at the spec of the kit, fully ballraced, proper ball diffs front and rear, shaft driven AWD system, oil filled shocks, alloy motor mount and the general quality feel of the build and components. The only area a more seasoned RC’er might comment on is the plastic fixed length turn buckles as standard. However these represent a sensible option for beginners as they are more likely to flex than metal adjustable ones, so therefore less likely to break something more important when those not so unfamiliar crashes occur. It also prevents beginners from messing about with camber and toe in before they understand the implications of doing so.
But fear not, for a mere £13.99 a set of fully adjustable metal ones can be purchased as an optional upgrade.
As this is an RTR kit no assembly was required after pulling it from the box. All I had to do was put the batteries in the transmitter, charge the battery pack and put the bodyshell on. While waiting for the pack to charge it gave me opportunity to have a look around the kit and the instruction manual.
The Radio gear
For any of those just to using expensive high end radio gear, this will be a come down. However on the who I’m rather impressed with the transmitter and receiver offered in the kit. They run on the regular 27Mhz frequencies and the crystal as easily accessed on both the Tx and Rx so as to change which exact frequency you are running on.
The receiver is compact and neatly mounts on the top deck of the buggy. The transmitter itself is of the triggered variety. A new experience for me as I’ve always preferred the dual stick setup.
That aside the transmitter is actually rather solidly built, no rough edges or cheapness evident anywhere on it. It has a positive feel in both the trigger and the wheel. It has a battery warning light and trim adjusters for the trigger and steering. A nice touch, especially for beginners it also includes a steering adjuster to limit the amount of steering lock applied, this should make it easier for less experienced RC’ers to get to grips with high speed cornering. The grip is comfortable and the unit well balanced.
In all honesty there is no real reason to want to upgrade this unless you already happen to own higher end radio gear. The kit supplied Tx is more than sufficient for beginner to seasoned expert.
My only concern with the Tx would be the reach of the trigger for braking/reverse. If you only have small hands this may be somewhat of a stretch.
The body shell
Orange. Well you either like it or loath it. Personally I like it. The body shell is well made and neatly cut out for you. This is great as it means you haven’t got to faff about with tins of paint before you can have a go with the kit. The quality of the painting is superb and far exceeds anything I would be capable of. It has black window stickers. Time will tell how these stand up to the bashing. It has all the holes for the body mounts and aerial pre-drilled.
On the plus side you can purchase a new painted body shell should you require one or if you fancy painting your own a clear one.
Fitting the body shell is by means of 3 included body clips, 2 at the back and 1 at the front. They are easy to fit and hold the body shell securely. Fitment it fantastic and once mounted looks the business.
Wheels & Tyres
The standard wheels and tyres are a multispoke design using a two step spiked pattern. These tyres are probably well suited to indoor carpet racing, lose surfaces and even short grass, although the limited ride height may limit its grass bashing capabilities.
The wheels are of high quality with equally high quality tyres. They come pre-glued onto the rims and feel as though they have foam inserts. Time will tell how affect these tyres are and how quick they wear. With the size of the current min/micro off road market there must be many alternative tyres that may be suitable as alternatives.
As mentioned earlier I also purchased a set of the XT Truck tyres, this was for several reasons. Partly because they are a treaded tyre as opposed to spiked, these should make them a better tyre for tarmac and semi-off road use with a better wear rate on these surfaces than the spiked tyres. The other part of the decision is the size, they are both taller and wider than the standard buggy tyres, and part of me still hankers for that over sized monster truck appearance. The XT tyres are also pre-glued and mounted on wider spoked rims.
The XT tyres fit straight onto the XB with no hassles. They certainly alter the appearance and offer it more chunky feel. They do offer slightly more ground clearance than the XB tyres. Although being bigger and heavier they probably slightly reduce turning lock and acceleration, but with a slight higher top speed.
To begin with I decided to keep the XT tyres on for the first runs, but more on this later.
The Rest of the Buggy
Oddly enough let’s start with the manual. It’s easy to read with good diagrams and lots of info, it contains all key information that you are likely to need.
However it doesn’t go into any detail about stripping and maintaining the buggy, maybe this is because I’m used to race oriented kits that you have to assemble before using as opposed to an RTR kit. But there is a distinct lack of exploded diagrams for key items like the diffs and gearboxes. On reflection, this may be because replacement parts are so cheap. It’ll probably cost more to strip, clean, re-lube and rebuild a diff than what it would to simply buy a new replacement one already built.
At the front we see traditional wishbone suspension with a multipoint shock tower for tuning and adjustability. Equipped standard with re-buildable oil filled shocks, the action is smooth and they appear leak free. I haven’t tried rebuilding the shocks yet, although this is where the manual lets it down as it doesn’t contain any info on this. There are option aluminium shocks at a very reasonable price. Personally I can’t see the problem with plastic, ok they offer less bling, but they work just as well. I think upgrading will only be an option if one of the plastics ones breaks.
At the back of the buggy it’s much the same, generally high quality components that fit together well. The rear shock tower is also adjustable. The diffs feel smooth and bond free. The suspension travel is amble and prevents the buggy grounding out on any jump you could consider reasonable. The kit does supply additional spring spacers to increase or lower the ground clearance of the buggy.
The battery is heat shrink wrapped and neat and tidy, the battery compartment runs along the left side of the buggy with a single battery bar clamp held in with two body clips. This makes it easy and hassle free to remove and install the battery pack.
I could now spend an age describing each item in detail, but I won’t. All I’ll say is every other component (ESC, Receiver, etc.) are all well fitted, look quality and professional.
The only area of concern comes from the hub assembly. I’m not sure exactly where this problem originates, but if you hold one of the wheels and rock it across the hub there is noticeable play and movement. This is on all four corners. I suspect that due to the size of the wishbones, hub and all other associated parts there is an amount of movement that is generated. On my larger 1/10th scale race trucks and buggy’s I’ve never noticed any play in this area. I don’t think this is anything to overly worry about, but it may explain a few things later on.
Driving it
So after giving the battery a few hours charge I was ready to take it for a blast. The weather outside was having other idea’s though. It was cold, about 0 C with snow on the ground. But I wasn’t deterred.
Equipped with the larger XT tyres fitted I ventured out. The surface was mainly tarmac, with some hardcore sections and a few centimetres of snow covering in places.
First impressions – very positive. For a completely stock out of the box setup I was reasonably impressed with its turn of speed. Ok it’s not exactly brushless Traxxas VLX fast, but it has a decent top speed for a little buggy and fairly rapid acceleration, more than enough for these slippery conditions. And being 1/18th scale you are more likely to use it in smaller spaces, in which case too much power isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be.
There were a couple of areas of concern. First was the amount of steering lock. Maybe this is because I’m used to more expensive racing machines, but the turning radius of this little truck is really quite huge. It wasn’t so much of an issue as I was in a large area and being slippery out you could use the power to spin it round if you wanted.
Update:
Still impressed with the buggy, usually run it on the regular buggy tyres and it even performs well on short grass. So far nothing broken despite giving it real grief on rough terrain and flipping it countless times.
I’m still using the stock motor and cells and they typically give well over 20 mins run time. In fact never used an entire pack in a single go.
It’s cheap, fun, reliable RC’ing on a sensible budget. It’s also easy to work on and carry or simply chuck in the boot of the car.
Edited by 300bhp/ton on Wednesday 30th September 09:26
300bhp/ton said:
shentodj said:
To get the best it will COST!
So everyone will say brushless and LiPo batteries. The down side is this is bloody expensive.
So everyone will say brushless and LiPo batteries. The down side is this is bloody expensive.
First: 'To be the best it will cost'
errrrr sorry but no! To be the best requires talent, not money. I've been racing for more years than I would like to admit too. I have seen it so many times at clubs up and down the UK. New member comes along with a cheap car and starts racing. See's the guys in the top heats flying around and suddenly a few weeks later the same new member arrives with all the latest spec equipment having spent a fortune and then wonders why he's still in the bottom heats - within a month you never see that person again...
Secondly: 'Brushless and LiPo is bloody expensive'
Oh boy! When will people stop saying this!!!!??????? Lipo and brushless is not expensive, in fact it is probably cheaper than cells and brushed motors if you are prepared to stop and take a step back.
The scenario
Someone wants to race each week at a local club that has 3 heats and a final.
If you go brushed and cells you will need 4 packs of cells as it is strongly advised not to recharge a cell pack straight after a race, therefore to cater for 4 racing means you need 4 cells. The brushed motor will require regular maintenance to clean it and replace brushes and re-dress the comm to offer the best performance.
Costs for brushed and cells:
Half decent cells, lets say a 3600mAh NiMh pack would cost approx £24 each
half decent motor, 27T spec approx £20 + spares for continual maintenance
Total cost for the 'old way' £116 + spares for the brushed motor + your time to maintain optimum performance.
Now let's try brushless and LiPo. For starters, you only need 1 LiPo, the advantage being you can just keep charging and charging the same pack, race after race. Then we'll have the brushless motor which requires zero maintenance, never have to take it apart to clean comm, no more brushes to keep buying as they wear down. Oh and with the LiPo there is no need to discharge or cycle it after a race meeting, in fact you can charge a LiPo weeks in advance of a race meeting and it will not loose any of its power. In addition, LiPo's do not fade during a race like conventional cells.
Costs for brushless and LiPo
Lets again go with a 3600mAh LiPo pack would cost approx £43
13.5 Brushless motor is equal to a 27T one £36
Total cost for the 'new way' £79 + zero maintenance.
Of course you can get more expensive brushless motors and LiPo packs, but that's also the same for brushed and cells. I have not taken into account speedo or chargers, again there are some many variables and prices. The key issue here is that if you are new coming into the hobby I would NEVER EVER suggest to anyone to go the brushed/cell route. LiPo/brushless is the only sensible option.
To be fair, a lot of the negativity I think comes from those who've been running the 'old way' and feel the costs are expensive to go the 'new way' because it makes all their kit redundant. I can understand that. For me I was lucky. I'd been away from the scene for a few years (marriage and kids does that to you!) so coming back I needed to get all new kit and after visiting a few clubs it was clear to me that liPo and brushless was the only sensible answer.
Basically what I'm trying to say is please stop all this talk of expensive costs for Lipo/brushless v cells/brushed as it's complete BS! I've proved it above, its cheaper to buy from new and saves you time and money with a system that's zero maintenance.
For what it's worth, I have been driving my car now for a year with 1 LiPo pack and a 13.5 brushless. Never touched the motor and the LiPo is charged 4 times a week and has been for the past year, nothing else and I'm in the A finals every week with my car.
Now imagine how many brushed motors and brushes/comms I would have been through to keep my optimum performance, let along the hassle with all those cells!!!
For what it's worth, I think the industry will drop cells and brushed within the next 2 years, then we'll not even have to worry about this topic that gets me so wound up!!!!!
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