I am thinking of getting a R/C car in kit form and building it as a sort of interim project.

I built a Tamiya Sand Scorcher about 27 years ago. Now I'd like a petrol engine offroad type car in kit form so I can fully assemble and play with. Budget is approx £800.

Do you have any recomendations or advice?


Unfortunatly, I sold the Sand Scorcher for £20 23 years ago, I see now on ebay they can go for alot of money. £1000's for an un-built one in the original box. Oh well.

good rc car forum oople.com

personaly i can't be done with petrol (nitro) cars i find them too much hard work, and now with bushless motors and lipo batterys the electric cars are outpacing the nitro cars without the noise worry

something like this will give hours of high speed fun
http://www.modelsport.co.uk/?CallFunction=ShowSpecification&ItemID=32872

[Edited on 23/6/09 by RickRick]

Nitro cars are hard work...

But a proper petrol one would not be so! (using a proper strimmer type engine rather than a glow engine)...

The FG Marder, FG monster beetle, or FG monster truck look like awsome bits of kit....

HPI have also just bought out a desert buggy that is just over a meter long... but I think thats around £999 .....

There are a few bargains second hand in various places.... get one, strip it down and rebuild with custom/upgrade parts...


I had a traxxas electric car with a pair of brushless motors in it... that thing shifted... I converted it to full time 6 wd as well LOL!..

BUt it was a pain in the arse waiting for the batteries to charge!

[Edited on 23/6/09 by tegwin]

buy a small car like a mini and convert it to radio control like on myth busters. You'll be the envy of every kid in the area, just don't crash it

I gave up racing 1/5 scale rc car because it was too expensive and took up kit car building

But FG was the car for me at the time, but I raced on road only.

[Edited on 23/6/09 by zoom]

NITRO are good if you are dedicated but can be a real pain to set up and start. For Hobby wise better wil leccy ones. More fun & les noise.


I also found that the Nitro Fuel gave me a splitting headache.

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Originally posted by mad4x4



I also found that the Nitro Fuel gave me a splitting headache.

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Do you want to have a go at racing it or just bashing it?

G

quote:

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Originally posted by zoom
I gave up racing 1/5 scale rc car because it was too expensive and took up kit car building

But FG was the car for me at the time, but I raced on road only.

[Edited on 23/6/09 by zoom]

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I just want to build something and mess about with it in our street or waste ground. No racing or anything serious.

I'd prefer an off roader type thing. I will look at some elec ones now after your advice.

How long do they last??? My sand scorcher only used to last 10-15 mins, then needed a few hrs to charge up.

Hmm very good question that, What is the running time of an electric car theses days.

6~10 mins last time I palyed with one. I would love to get another for me and the lad but nitro is to much bother.

My brother had one of them 1/5th buggys and that was always falling to bits.

anything up to 30 mins is achivable depending on how stupid the motor is, that traxxas i linked, there are 2 motors available for that speed control, not sure which is supplied, but the most powerful one is approx 6bhp. charging would be about 45 mins, but you'd need to get a decent charger to charge 2 3cell lipo's at the same time, or 2 chargers

Get a nitro one, no bother for someone who can build a car etc etc, if kids can do it............

As long as you get a good one, and set it up properly it'll be fine and only require minimal tweaking for temperatures etc.

Try to get one with a big engine rather than a small engine that claims all the power in the world as these tend to be a bit temperemental to start etc.

I'm a fan of traxxas myself but then I know hpi owners who swear by them and so on, and so on

If you don't intend to bash it and just want a general muck about then petrol engined ones are very satisfying as they sound so cool, are massive and take no charging or maintenance so to speak, just pull it out and start it up and they go and go. The problem comes when you get a bit ambitious with the tricks and start smacking the thing, then it's as dear as smacking your road car sometimes I had an FG marder but sold it for this reason, it was getting a bit pricey on repairs. I once bought a £300 set of wheels for it.....................

Racing is another thing, holy poo that's expensive!

I settled for my T-Maxx 2.5 which I've binned the engine from and fitted a picco small block 21 and it's great, so relible and almost as easy to use as a petrol. IMO electric ones are just as much potch but the returns are not so good, plus if you want 100% of the speed right until the end of the charge (like you inherrantly get with a tank of fuel) you will need expensive conditioned cells and good chargers and the like!

I used to knock about with this lot but packed it in about 3-4 years ago: http://www.maxbashing.com/

I race:

10th Electric offroad
8th Nitro offroad
8th Electric offroad

If you are just bashing around the street/wasteland then just get something strong, Traxxas are well known for being strong.

Electric/Nitro is up to you, with brushless motors and lipo cells there's not a lot in performance (well, electric is quicker round a track - but for playing this doesn't matter). All I know is our neighbours don't really like the 8th rallyx car running up and down the street, and I only do it for a couple off minutes to check it's set up.

Is you fancy an 8th buggy, the Caster range is VERY good value for money (I have one of their Electric 8ths), they are imported into the UK by:
http://www.answer-rc.com/
and are available ready to run (rtr). To be honest alot of the racing makes do rtr 8ths these days and all are very strong and good value for money.

Check out oOple.com and ask some questions if you want to, although that site is VERY aimed at racing. But why not race it? It's much better than running it up and down the street

G

hi, i have got a suchmacher 21xtr-tt 3e, which is good fun, but is a off road buggy, but rear wheel drive, it does 0-40mph is 1.6secs or something like that and in top gear it will do at least 80mph maybe 90mph, but most of teh time it will wheel and donut liek crazy, which is fun. but once you can get teh hang off it you can get quick turns and face the right direction to.lol

but they do a 4*4 one, which top speed is little bit less at 70mph, but will grip better in the connors.

i have had mine for a least 8years, and it will start all the time, once you have it set up propley and pirmed, as it is electric start.

but well in yout budget it is about £400 i think to to sure, but i spent lots more on my on hop ups, up rated limted slip diff, quick steer, audstable turn buckle, and many more things.

stuart

Mate of mine had the FG Monster Beetle. That was quite impressive! We managed to run into the back of another mates Merc Estate so hard that three of us had to lift the back of the Merc a bit to release it from where it had wedged itself under the rear panel.

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Originally posted by Stuart_B
hi, i have got a suchmacher 21xtr-tt 3e......

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I got one for bashing about a while ago. Only a cheapy, but still a hoot. Played about with them as a child then stopped when real cars and stuff came along, then thought it would be a laugh to catch up again!

Bought a Hobao Hyper 7 PBS with some fancy engine on it, apparently a pretty expensive one, the kit was £450 new and the engine another £150 or so, I paid £150 for the lot secondhand but barely used, with a load of spares and most bits swapped for carbon and anodised ally bits.