remote control cars

[ch427]

Im looking to revisit my youth and buy a remote control car mainly to use on firm sandy beaches etc
I dont really want to spend more than £150 new or second hand and would welcome any advice you could give me on them. Ive only ever had electric powered cars so what whats the best option to go for? Im very good technically so could happily strip and rebuild the mechanics.
Ive seen this which looks ok, any thoughts? i dont really know the difference between nitro/petrol etc
Thanks
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-NB16-RC-NITRO-TRUGGY-RAD...

[thehos]

not much help, but 1/16 is quite small

[ch427]

i didnt notice that, thanks anyway

[Trev LTS]

Electric = quite, reliable and can go as quick as your wallet can handle.
Nirto = Noisy, un-relible, dirty, high maintainace to look after well.

Electric = Batteries go flat fairly quick so you will need a few prob 2-4.
Nitro = Just keep wacking the fuel through, just have to mind you dont cook the engine.

1/10 or 1/8 prob best scale as the parts are bigger in general so they dont have to work as hard as as a 1/16 or 1/18 model. Less wear and tear, less maintainace = more time to play.

Personally i prefer nitro's but they are a pain in the ass. Ive raced electrics for the last ten years and dabbled with nitros. Electrics are fast but i just like the noise of a nitro for putting a smile on my face.

[Simond S]

TheHobbyCo are releasing a ready to run special crawler / buggy. It has two speed options so can be used in high speed on the beack, or low ratio for rocking / climbing.

Limited supply to UK but parts available through most model shops, easy to upgrade the motor / esc if you wish, and very reliable with good heritage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vUSrlMXv8A in crawler mode

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swfA7YVrNsM&fea... in normal mode

If you cant find one email me and I can put a link up to buy (from my own shop hence i havent already linked)

eta http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/products/253...

[ch427]

i think ive narrowed it down to a nitro after doing some research on the weekend, the battery life issue is the main problem for me (not that modern batteries are a problem)

[Rude-boy]

For the last few years I have followed the nitro route and have got through 4 of the things now.

Car 1 – Destroyed in a kerb/200+meters at full throttle interface (receiver chip appeared to have worked it’s way out on investigation and failsafe err, failed )

Car 2 – Never ran right from day one regardless of following the running in rules and instructions to the letter and trying everything. Gave up in the end and gave to the ex’s eldest when we split as couldn’t be arsed.

Car 3 – Thunder Tiger Buggy – ran and ran and if I took the time to strip it down and fully service it I am sure it would go with little or no trouble. Have almost a second car in spare parts on the shelf.

Car 4 – bought s/h in a moment of madness from another PHer. Was the dogs before I had another miscalculation with a kerb (100% driver error) breaking the n/s front suspension including wishbones and putting a drive shaft through the fuel tank. Ha\d a look for spares a few times but they appear to be rocking horse pooh rare and more expensive than a new car.

Had many, many electric cars as a kid and battery life was the biggest factor in my change to nitro as an adult.

Frittering money is off for the moment whilst things sort themselves out in more important areas but the next will 100% be electric, most likely brushless. I will also invest in 4+ batteries. When you work it out the cost of another battery isn’t much more than another can of Nitro juice so it isn’t too much of a hardship to build up a stock of them and charge up when needed.

Add to this the noise if you need to do a systems check at 11 at night when you have just finished off another rebuild. Even if you have great neighbours you will still feel a when you fire it up at home unless they are 100’s of metres away.

For every time you have to wait 30mins or so for the next battery to cook because you haven’t charged them up ready you will spend at least that trying to get the Nitro to fire, cussing and rebuilding. This is great fun sometimes but when all you want to do is mess about for 30 minutes and then put it back on the shelf you will wish you hadn’t gone the Nitro route.

Don't get me wrong, I am not on a downer about Nitro, I have seen both options and know that electric, specifically brushless, is the way ahead for my r/c future if I want to do anything more than write off a couple of hundred notes or more for what will end up as most likely less than 24 hours fun before it is consigned to the r/c scrap heap in the garage.

[ch427]

thanks, i will have a think about that. Some good points there.

[Simond S]

Lipo batteries are easier to charge, lighter, more powerful and cheaper than ever.

Two Lipo's will give 20-30 minutes running time and if your ecs has lipo cut out you cannot discharge them too far.

Lipo's give instant power, no waiting for the nitro engine to wind itself up. Theu are almost silent, and additional speed cant be found by buying a higher kv motor very cheaply.

The chances of it not being in a working condition are also far less than nitro. You dint need to worry about having a charged lipo for the starter box, carrying a starter box, taking fuel that hasnt gone off through lack of use, reseting the tickover if the car hasnt been used for a few weeks, or, as stated above, being anti social when you want to test it.

If you are convinced you want nitro or petrol, I'll give you a FG marder for £200 ready to go. I havent used it in three years as the neighbours complain when I run it in the garden, the green keepeers banned me from their ground, and apart from looking like a great toy it is just taking up space.

(But i would buy electric if I was you!)

[Trev LTS]

Simond S said:

Lipo batteries are easier to charge, lighter, more powerful and cheaper than ever.
Two Lipo's will give 20-30 minutes running time and if your ecs has lipo cut out you cannot discharge them too far.
Lipo's give instant power, no waiting for the nitro engine to wind itself up. Theu are almost silent, and additional speed cant be found by buying a higher kv motor very cheaply.

(But i would buy electric if I was you!)

Model car battery technology has come on leaps and bounds since i first started racing and as Simond S said lipos give you instant power. The only part that is key is following the charging instructions carefully to get a good lifetime out of the batteries and making sure the esc is set for lipos to cut out, once its cut out dont be tempted to try keep running it theres a chance of damaging the cells if you do. That said Lipos are pretty great.

The only other thing is if you going to be only running this down on an empty beach then it might be nice to have a quick nitro.