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R/C car monkies

4xBoy

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2006
7,058
2,914
Minneapolis
I am thinking about getting one again.


Last one I owned was a Clod buster when it first came out. :rolleyes:


WTF is with brushless motors and Lithium Polymer batteries?
 

Knuckleslammer

took the red pill
OMFG don't do it. All they do is F'N Break. If you like waiting for parts. Go for it. I had an integy crawler. But I came to my senses after putting it all together and sold all the sh*t. Two motors, two esc's and no room to put all the sh*t in the damn thing.

I remember the time before this, it was the Losi XXX4's and before that the nitros. Never again.

 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,483
20,287
Sleazattle
OMFG don't do it. All they do is F'N Break. If you like waiting for parts. Go for it. I had an integy crawler. But I came to my senses after putting it all together and sold all the sh*t. Two motors, two esc's and no room to put all the sh*t in the damn thing.

I remember the time before this, it was the Losi XXX4's and before that the nitros. Never again.

Maybe you should have leased one.
 

Pesqueeb

bicycle in airplane hangar
Feb 2, 2007
40,362
16,841
Riding the baggage carousel.
As much as I hate to admit it, I'm with Knuckleslammer on this one. Back when I was single I had a couple of RC cars. Couple of Losi's (on road and off), a Associated RC10 and a Nitro Truck. It was fun for awhile but they are gigantic money pits. High end Mountain bikes are cheaper in the long run. If you have money to burn, pick up a crack habit or something, you'll save cash and frustration.
 

demo 9

Turbo Monkey
Jan 31, 2007
5,910
46
north jersey
I have a Few HPIs, the better you drive and the more serious you drive it, the more it costs, i drive mine around a football/baseball field and its pretty cheap, just gas, however when i go in the woods to my "track" **** hits the fan-i can only imagine the cost of taking them to real tracks and racing them.

Stock Hellfire and Firestorm-both HPI
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
I am thinking about getting one again.


Last one I owned was a Clod buster when it first came out. :rolleyes:


WTF is with brushless motors and Lithium Polymer batteries?
they do cost a sh!t load of money when the break, and they seem to break a lot....but they are fun.
im into nitro trucks myself, but going battery is a lot cheaper...until you get into LiPo batteries and better motors.
nitro cars arent really that hard to tune. if you know the basics, then you are half way there.

this is a pretty good explanation of the difference b /w brushless and brushed motors:
In a conventional (brushed) DC motor, the brushes make mechanical contact with a set of electrical contacts on the rotor (called the commutator), forming an electrical circuit between the DC electrical source and the armature coil-windings.

In a BLDC motor, the electromagnets do not move; instead, the permanent magnets rotate and the armature remains static. This gets around the problem of how to transfer current to a moving armature.
 

4xBoy

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2006
7,058
2,914
Minneapolis
they do cost a sh!t load of money when the break, and they seem to break a lot....but they are fun.
im into nitro trucks myself, but going battery is a lot cheaper...until you get into LiPo batteries and better motors.
nitro cars arent really that hard to tune. if you know the basics, then you are half way there.

this is a pretty good explanation of the difference b /w brushless and brushed motors:
I understand the brushless concept the question is how does the brushless and lithium set-up compare to the gas designs.

Are chargers a major purchase, what kind of time does it take to charge a lithium battery.
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
I understand the brushless concept the question is how does the brushless and lithium set-up compare to the gas designs.

Are chargers a major purchase, what kind of time does it take to charge a lithium battery.
the LiPo batteries have a lot more power, but IIRC, typically require a nicer speed controller, nicer charger and the run the risk of frying your speed controller as well.

the gas is pretty straight forward obviously. just pour the gas in, start it, let it warm up and go.
having a thermometer to measure head temp is key to tuning the engine too
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
41,262
13,381
Portland, OR
Get something like this and beat the sh!t out of it. $150 and you will have at least a week of fun.

I bought a car and a truck ($60 each I think) off ebay and had a blast for at least the summer with my daughter. Picked up a charger, 4 batteries, and could go almost all day swapping batteries out every 20 minutes. I did get a nicer speed controller for the truck, but it was fun. The car was the same as an older Tamiya, so parts weren't an issue.
 
RC18t...

i don't know about a money pit though, the most expensive fix i've had so far was $18 for some new shocks. i spent the cheddar on a brushless motor, but as an upgrade, not a repair.

a little trip around the backyard track...

the starting corner, thru the right handed whoops into a left handed u-turn...


into the back-stretch. a step-up gap to a triple to a quad...


into a quick step-up to hip stepdown into a lefty berm...


into the lefty u-turn back into a right hip...


into a step-up to a gap into another righ hander...


and a lefty u-turn back to the start...
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
i don't know about a money pit though, the most expensive fix i've had so far was $18 for some new shocks. i spent the cheddar on a brushless motor, but as an upgrade, not a repair.
sick setup!

and yes, they are money pits. i cant believe youve never broken a a-arm or half shaft w/ that track in your back yard

as soon as you see your car cart-wheel, its over
 
...as soon as you see your car cart-wheel, its over
as you can guess, on the track, these bad boys cartwheel more than a gymnastics team. over the years i've broken several parts, most of them are less than 8-10 bucks to fix. i'd say in the last year and a half of the track, i've spent less than $50 to keep the car running. whoever thinks they just break all willy nilly, is sadly mistaken, cause believe me, i beat the piss out of these cars. they get rocked about every 3 minutes and still have lasted for almost 3 years...

fwiw - the 18 scale trucks are pretty small and getting a lot of leverage on the parts isn't the easiest thing...
 
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WhoRyder

Turbo Monkey
Nov 28, 2007
1,834
0
NYC
Man Back in the days i used to race RC cars... I had an Team Factory Associated TC3.... (Nitro)

It was really fun, but.... When we raced we raced with FOAM tires... basically, after each race you had t replaced them.... because the roam would chip off the tires... :-( (the tired were not cheap)
 

spocomptonrider

sportin' the CROCS
Nov 30, 2007
1,412
118
spokanistan
Yeah I agree get a gas one, but they are a source of frustration. They tend to be quirky with regards to starting and keeping them running unless you run it on a regular basis.
 

igz-

Monkey
Nov 30, 2008
265
0
Santa Cruz
I still have my Duratrax Evader ST... that thing hauled ass

blew $300 on a crazy novak ESC and 13turn motor and then it fried and now I don't know what do with it hahahahh

good times wasting money I guess... fun for the few weeks it all works
 

eaterofdog

ass grabber
Sep 8, 2006
8,350
1,594
Central Florida
The cars are boooorrrrinnng.

450 helis are pretty fun (really ****ing hard to fly, but rewarding) and decent knock off parts are available from hong kong to keep the prices down.
 

TreeSaw

Mama Monkey
Oct 30, 2003
17,670
1,855
Dancin' over rocks n' roots!
We have RC Cars...though we don't have gas powered ones. We both have RC10T4s and 18Ts as well as an older Associated Buggy and an original RC10T. Yeah, we break things sometimes, but not that often and it hasn't been expensive.
 

wreckedrex

Monkey
Feb 8, 2007
137
0
Fremont, CA
I've had a bunch of them over the years. The new electrics are seriously quick, a couple of friends have the traxxas rtr trucks (rustler in think...?) with lipo batteries and brushless motors... Unreal compared to my tc3 with a mod motor and a decent 1700mha scr nicd pack, they're easily two times as fast. They've got enough power to backflip from a roll, and if you run the clutch tight enough they'll literally smoke the tires. Supposedly they're good for 60+ mph with the right battery and gearing, and after messing around with one I'd almost believe it. I've been having a helluva time not buying one :D
 

big-ted

Danced with A, attacked by C, fired by D.
Sep 27, 2005
1,400
47
Vancouver, BC
I had one of the original Schumacher Bosscats. Mine was ex-works and had carbon shock towers and ano hardware and shocks. I remember even the little steering arms having sealed bearings in them.

Not mine, but another one:

 

Da Peach

Outwitted by a rodent
Jul 2, 2002
13,683
4,912
North Van
I had one of the original Schumacher Bosscats. Mine was ex-works and had carbon shock towers and ano hardware and shocks. I remember even the little steering arms having sealed bearings in them.

Not mine, but another one:

weight weenie...
 

Arkayne

I come bearing GIFs
May 10, 2005
3,738
15
SoCal
I had a Tamily Frog for my 1st real rc. I painted the OUTSIDE of the shell instead of inside.

I did 1:12 pan cars for years after.
 

engineerjoe

Chimp
Jun 20, 2007
46
2
colorado springs
OMFG don't do it. All they do is F'N Break. If you like waiting for parts. Go for it. I had an integy crawler. But I came to my senses after putting it all together and sold all the sh*t. Two motors, two esc's and no room to put all the sh*t in the damn thing.

I remember the time before this, it was the Losi XXX4's and before that the nitros. Never again.

You couldn't have bought a worse RC crawler.

I am thinking about getting one again.


Last one I owned was a Clod buster when it first came out. :rolleyes:


WTF is with brushless motors and Lithium Polymer batteries?
nitros are quickly getting surpassed by lipos and brushless systems.

There are a bunch of great RTR (ready to run) cars out there:

Traxxas Slash (very durable, parts are cheap and easy to find) Many racing groups have a stock slash class which makes it easy to get into racing.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXUVY4**&P=ML

Axial SCX-10 Trail Ready RTR (if you want a rock crawler) Very durable, tons of aftermarket
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXYCG7**&P=ML
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
41,262
13,381
Portland, OR
I never understood the idea of an RC rock crawler. I hardly understand the idea of an actual rock crawler, but I guess if you like going real slow, then it's what you could really enjoy.
 

S.K.C.

Turbo Monkey
Feb 28, 2005
4,096
25
Pa. / North Jersey
Had a Tamiya Grasshopper when I was 12

Westy! I had the same one around the same age. Also had the oldskool Super Champ, Subaru BRAT, Hotshot 4WD, and The Wild One plus my last one which was an RC10. Would usually sell one to buy the next. Saved the Champ and the RC10 - packed away somewhere.

I'm pretty sure dw started out with RC's too...



 

HardtailHack

used an iron once
Jan 20, 2009
6,770
5,667
I hit new posts and this thread came up, WTF? My first car was a Hornet then got a Tamiya Mini then a 1/10th nitro Mini. After going through two motors I gave up on it, the car would spin all four when second gear kicked and go in to an uncontrollable spin, no matter how I adjusted the shift point it still happened.

Did the OP ever buy an RC car?