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Somewhat Heroic posted:^^^ that totally sucks. I haven't been really too interested in racing since my daughter was born 9 months ago. I have been doing it since I was 9 and have been doing it as a career so long that I get enjoyment out of different aspects of the hobby. I like the aesthetics of different kits and building them, and I really like helping others get the same joy that I have had (making my job that much radder). Racing was a good adrenaline, but I like carpet sedans (which died) and off road just isn't appealing. To be honest, offroad bores me to death but it's all there is here. I'm starting to feel like it's not worth the effort anymore, which sucks. There's so much I enjoy about RC in general but knowing I'll probably never really get to do the kind of racing I'd like to do the most coupled with a lot of prima-donna attitudes is killing my interest fast.
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May 4, 2013 23:48
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| # ? May 27, 2024 18:37 |
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^ I live in GA, and saw some of the drama on rctech. What is happening exactly?
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May 5, 2013 00:32
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OnlyJuanMon posted:^ I live in GA, and saw some of the drama on rctech. What is happening exactly? There was a statewide series, GCS, that has cancelled every race this season due to rain (though, in at least two of those cases it wound up not raining). These tracks then get essentially assigned a new makeup date (as in, take it or leave it) which wound up being months later. In addition, if you're a GCS Track, you're not supposed to run on the same day as GCS, which totally screws up the other tracks, especially with all of the rain we've been having. The 'home track' of the guy who runs GCS got rained out, and instead of scheduling it months out, he scheduled it for the very next weekend, which was right on top of another track's already-scheduled points series race. Everything finally came to a head and the guy running GCS said to hell with it, and cancelled the whole thing. Now he's scheduling big races at his track on top of other tracks that are now trying to scramble to put together some kind of events to make up for the lost turnout and revenue. Since we're in Savannah (I'm even farther south - about 3 hours from Savannah yet I'm there almost every weekend), we get screwed the hardest because they just killed any chance at a decent turnout for anything we try to do. The whole GCS thing has been a total disaster, and I figured it up - our track loses more money than if we didn't participate at all. The only advantage is that we get people to travel here, and they in turn tend to show up for any large events we have. Anyway, there's a bunch of big cliques all over the place that are trying to throw their (considerable) weight around and all the while, everyone keeps getting rained out so there's very few actual races happening. Many of our regulars have been going to NewReds in Ocala, Florida, because it's the only indoor track around. We keep getting rained out (we haven't had a race since April 7, and even that was a cloudy day on a wet track), and now our regulars are bickering and fighting about what boils down to nonsense. Since I do all of the public-facing announcements, I wind up getting to be the one looking like an idiot/rear end in a top hat every 30 minutes when they change their minds about something.
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May 5, 2013 01:26
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Holy poo poo. That's a lot of drama for driving toy trucks around. I live in Athens, and am hoping to make it to loganville and Savannah for some racing! I would love to meet you down there soon my man.
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May 5, 2013 03:44
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Sure thing, if it ever stops raining!
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May 5, 2013 05:03
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Sorry to hear about all that poo poo down in Georgia. My scale crawling club got snowed/rained out every comp day for 3 months during the winter so I feel your pain (although that was on a smaller scale than your big series). While it hasn't necessarily caused drama, the rainy spring has been wreaking havoc on all of our outdoor tracks. A few of theme "opened" in late March and I don't think they've gotten to actually do a race day yet. I know what you are talking about Somewhat Herioc. My wife and I recently had our second daughter about 2 weeks ago so I'm having to lean on other guys within my club because we have a lot of big events scheduled and I simply don't have the time or energy to invest in it like I should. My trucks need to be worked on but they've been sitting on the bench because I'm just too tired to gently caress with them. Luckily I've got some good dudes who have stepped up to help me with things. I was out of r/c completely when we had our first girl 2 years ago. When she was about a year old I bought my first scx10 to slowly get back in the hobby. Now I'm too deep back in it to just take a complete break for awhile 
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May 6, 2013 14:28
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It really sucks when the one guy running a series decides to take his ball and go home. There's a lot of differences between the way EU/UK tracks & clubs do things (they are run by a committee whose sole function is to get racers to the club, and they work together with various series organizers and manufacturer/sponsors) and the way US tracks work (which are often owned by shops), maybe it's something to look at for US series organizers. Plus, the tracks over here run in the rain  which is why a lot of UK tracks have artificial grass but you can get really muddy races at many of the EU races. It's off-road after all, they should be getting dirty! (touring car races run in the rain too!)
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May 6, 2013 15:10
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Turns out the panther I ordered was the older heng long "pantiger" which uses the tiger I chassis, so the body dimensions are all wrong. Gonna return it and see if I can get a Panther G or Panzer IV.
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May 7, 2013 18:59
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Well it's a long time in the making but I just got an invoice paid and decided to blow all of it and then some on my first hobby grade RC. My paypal account is smoking but I got: - Traxxas Stampede 4x4 VXL - 2x 2S 20C 5000mah Venom lipos - Traxxas EZ peak charger I had wanted a slash for the longest time, and still prefer the looks, but I think the extra ground clearance and larger tires will be better for me since I have no interest in racing. I was going to go with 2WD but 4x4 wasn't that much more and I didn't want to regret not getting it. Now to play the waiting game for everything to show up 
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May 16, 2013 17:11
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dreesemonkey posted:Well it's a long time in the making but I just got an invoice paid and decided to blow all of it and then some on my first hobby grade RC. My paypal account is smoking but I got: Congrats on your purchase, prepare to enter the wormhole that is r/c! Those are nice packs and for a basher are drat near perfect. Speaking of batteries, I have a funny story. So a few years ago when Lipos became the thing, I bought a nice Promatch 25c 5000 pack. My charger didn't have a balancer so I just winged it with charging. This was in early 2009. I used the battery for short course racing and later dirt oval for a year. I got out of the hobby until last year so it sat in storage for a few years having never been balanced. When I got back into the hobby in Jan 2012 I dug it out and it worked fine. I had a buddy balance it and it was dead nuts after all those runs and storage. Fast forward to last week when I FINALLY bought a balancer and you guessed it, perfectly balanced despite being charged and ran in my scx10 probably at least 40 times. That battery was the best $70(at the time) I ever spent on r/c! ColonelJohnMatrix fucked around with this message at 19:06 on May 16, 2013 |
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May 16, 2013 19:02
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dreesemonkey posted:Well it's a long time in the making but I just got an invoice paid and decided to blow all of it and then some on my first hobby grade RC. My paypal account is smoking but I got: You made the right choice my friend. I bought the 2wd Stampede VXL two summers ago. You're gonna have so much fun you won't believe it. My 2wd is pretty much unstoppable at speed and I haven't even sprung for Lipo yet. First thing you should do is take it to the park and grin maniacally as you learn to drift it around the ballpark. The rooster tail of dust is a thing of beauty. I hope you have a hobby shop close by though. When you start to break poo poo, and you will, the wait for replacement parts is agonizing. Don't cheap out on parts either. The small premium for RPM brand replacements is well worth it.
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May 16, 2013 22:25
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ColonelJohnMatrix posted:Congrats on your purchase, prepare to enter the wormhole that is r/c! Those are nice packs and for a basher are drat near perfect. I've bought a few Promatch batteries. It's a one-man operation, and the guy is great about customer service. You should drop him an email with that story! I had two swell up after a few months and he replaced them with two better batteries really quickly. I'm still using them over a year later - even ran two Psycho Nitro Blasts with the same 2 packs.
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May 16, 2013 22:38
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My 8ight 2.0 is ready to go, but I need a few battery pointers. What should I be charging the nimh hump pack at? What amperage, and for how long? For all the lipos, what exactly does it do to sicharge and balance said battery?
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May 16, 2013 23:11
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OnlyJuanMon posted:My 8ight 2.0 is ready to go, but I need a few battery pointers. I don't know about NIMH but for Lipos it's simple, if you have a charger that can balance, just balance charge every time you're charging. If you don't balance it's not a big deal in most cases, a never balanced battery will have a bit less punch and capacity but it shouldn't be noticeable. On very crappy batteries sometimes a cell will just be out of whack compared to the others and because it will never cycle fully if you don't balance, that cell will be basically dead so you just lost capacity and power. Basically cells are batteries within the battery.
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May 17, 2013 00:34
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TremorX posted:I've bought a few Promatch batteries. It's a one-man operation, and the guy is great about customer service. You should drop him an email with that story! I had two swell up after a few months and he replaced them with two better batteries really quickly. I'm still using them over a year later - even ran two Psycho Nitro Blasts with the same 2 packs. I just e-mailed him the story so maybe I will wind up with a t-shirt or something!
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May 17, 2013 17:04
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I've always been interested in R/C cars and want a "high quality" toy (ie. HPI,etc.) to mess around with. Was wondering if you guys had any recommendations on where (if at all) I can find one under $100. I'm not against buying used but don't know what to look for or where to look for it. Don't care if it's 4WD or RWD. Prefer offroad but wouldn't mind on-road either. travisray2004 fucked around with this message at 21:19 on May 17, 2013 |
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May 17, 2013 21:16
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Honestly, for a "toy", a used Tamiya may be a good bet. Common, generally well-supported, decent enough quality. Something like this maybe: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tamiya-Ford-F-150-Racing-Truck-58161-TA01-TA02-/121109797360?pt=US_Radio_Control_Control_Line&hash=item1c32b4d9f0. I had the Toyota Prerunner truck on the same chassis, and it was a fantastic little truck for buggering about with in a back garden etc.
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May 17, 2013 21:32
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InitialDave posted:Honestly, for a "toy", a used Tamiya may be a good bet. Common, generally well-supported, decent enough quality. That actually looks pretty nice, thanks! Will definitely check it out. By toy, I meant like another things to tool around with (motorcycles, gadgets, and such)
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May 17, 2013 21:50
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The gods have smiled upon me and delivered my charger and batteries today ahead of my stampede which is due to come Monday. Eeeeeeeeeeeee! Have the first battery charging right now. Super excited!
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May 18, 2013 20:39
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dreesemonkey posted:The gods have smiled upon me and delivered my charger and batteries today ahead of my stampede which is due to come Monday. Eeeeeeeeeeeee! You didn't mention your plans for after the battery is charged so I feel this might be worth mentioning: You might want to read up on lipo battery use and storage practices. For safety reasons as well as to maximize the cycle life of hobby grade lipos, you don't want to leave them stored at max charge any longer than you absolutely have to.. A few hours is fine. A couple of days probably isn't the end of the world, but it isn't a good idea to make a habit of that.
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May 18, 2013 22:24
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Ezrem posted:You didn't mention your plans for after the battery is charged so I feel this might be worth mentioning: Good to know. Waiting until Monday so not too long. I knew about storage for long term, just want sure what that was.
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May 19, 2013 00:17
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dreesemonkey posted:Good to know. Waiting until Monday so not too long. I knew about storage for long term, just want sure what that was. I wouldn't personally charge any battery I wasn't planning to discharge later that day. Also, try to maintain a healthy respect for them. Improperly handled they can be quite dangerous.
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May 19, 2013 00:36
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I had a pretty good weekend. I swept the quals and ran probably one of the cleanest runs you'll ever see in a novice class - despite constant wrecks the entire race, I didn't get caught up in a single incident and took a big win. I know it's not for everyone, but I absolutely love carpet oval! 
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May 19, 2013 23:38
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Where do you race? I had an oval cup car built for me a few years ago, and we tried to get racing going at the quarter midget track in Braselton, but nothing ever materialized. Also, what should I be charging my lipos at? I have a 4 cell, 14.8v 4500 Mah for my jumpbox. What amperage and discharge should I be using? Also, my small hump pack for my receiver, it looks to be a nimh, but what amperage and discharge should I be using?
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May 20, 2013 02:08
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Lipos don't need to be discharged, they do not suffer the battery memory issues like what Ni-Cad or NIMH batteries do. Usually rule of thumb which I go by with charging LiPos is that if the battery is 4500 Mah, then charge at 4.5 amps. Some people do charge at higher amp rates, but can kill the life of the battery for no real advantage other than quicker charging time
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May 20, 2013 04:38
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That's killer advice, thanks! What should I charge the hump pack at?
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May 20, 2013 22:00
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Yeah I always learned that same trick with lipos. I charge my 5000 packs at 5.0 amps and they've worked fine. So, I'm about get an 8000 pack so I guess I charge at 8.0 ? That seems high. My r/c club had a big scaling event over the weekend that drew 94 entries across all events. Freaking insane turnout of scale trucks. If you build a killer mud pit, they will come! BigSquidRC came out for the event as well and shot some killer pics. Here is my Bronco in the pit:  My Jeep Comanche actually won the 1.9 mud bog though. Here is a pic of it right after. She wears the mud great.  Here's the Big Squid link with more pictures. http://www.bigsquidrc.com/event-coverage-show-me-scalers-top-truck-challenge/#more-40733
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May 20, 2013 22:26
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Ugh, my Spektrum radio keeps breaking the wheel centering spring. Last time I just uncoiled a couple loops from the spring to make new ends and I'm wondering if there's a better solution. Rubber band maybe? Anyone had to deal with this sort of issue?
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May 20, 2013 22:27
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As far as charge rate, a 1C charge (1 * Capacity) is a safe rate for any hobby-grade LiPo, however it will take about an hour. The key thing to note with any battery is its charge rating. Many newer tech LiPos have a charge rating of anywhere from 2-10C with most in the 5C category, which gets you fully charged in at most about 30 minutes, and possibly as quickly as 10! These higher charge rates obviously require a MUCH higher wattage charger. I personally charge my racing LiPos at least half, sometimes all the way up to full amperage. This provides a great balance of short charge times and long cycle life. My Hyperion 4S 5000 mAh pack with a 5C charge rating has been through 4 1/8-e racing seasons now and is showing no real signs of diminished capacity yet. I've never once charged it at under 20 amps, and once I upgraded my charger I charged at 25 amps with no difficulties. I also have a HobbyKing Nano-Tech 6000 mAh battery with a ridiculous 10C charge rating. I've charged it all the way up to 40 amps (max of my charger!) and had no issues whatsoever. I was a little squeamish the first time I did it, but the thing doesn't even get warm under charge. It's pretty impressive. Getting the higher end LiPos means that, while more expensive, you can probably get by with just one charger and one battery (or at most two) for each vehicle.
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May 20, 2013 22:48
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Got my stampede tonight and had a friend over who has a traxxas bandit. Had a lot of fun! I "broke" my first part going off a jump, I blew the top of the shock off but all I lost was oil. Thankfully my friend had some spare shock oil! His bandit is stupidly fast and has the traxxas telemetry, really neat since he could see his top speed, temps, etc. He could also easily dial back the throttle to let his daughter play with it. The stampede is about the perfect speed for my yard, the stock 30ish on 2s is plenty good though I can easily max it dodging the trees. I had a great time, dunno if it was $550 worth of fun yet, but definitely not bad for bashing around my yard 
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May 21, 2013 02:04
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Backyard bashing is fun, but find a nice construction site or a bmx track. Some of the parks near me have nice rocky trails to bang around on and a good sandy ballfield is fun for sliding around the bases and making some impressive dust clouds. I try to keep my Stampede in my trunk and ready to roll just in case I see something fun to bash on.
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May 21, 2013 02:56
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Ezrem posted:Getting the higher end LiPos means that, while more expensive, you can probably get by with just one charger and one battery (or at most two) for each vehicle.
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May 21, 2013 10:52
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You Am I posted:Seriously the money I used to drop on matched cell NIMH batteries back in the day, which would only last a couple of months before venting cells or not charging correctly is way more than the LiPo I have these days. Plus you don't need 5+ matched NIMH packs for an event. That was the killer...so many packs needed for a race day. You always had to be cycling packs, cooling them down, etc. Such a pain in the rear end. I spent way more time messing with the batteries/motor than I did on the track. I can't believe I'm actually thinking about pulling the trigger on Traxxas Summit, but here I am. I got to drive another Summit over the weekend and while I've had that slight longing for one for awhile now, I think now it's full blown lust. I love my scale trucks very much, but I can't exactly go jumping off a mountain with one or hydroplane through a creek. The only thing stopping my at the moment is that insane price tag. A Summit is a vehicle that I'd be terrified to buy used though, given how hard many people drive them.
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May 21, 2013 15:34
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Is anyone one interested in buying a HPI Sprint 2 drift car? Would sell for 100$ plus shipping. Also willing to trade for a GoPro. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cm9jA-q7PA Works great, all stock. No problems. Comes with extra off roadish wheels and a spare belt. Not having much luck selling locally (kids offering me 60$ for it mostly). I'd put up a SA-Mart thread before any transaction occurs. edit : Just to be certain I'm not breaking any rules, I put up a mart thread : http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3550573 car has been sold thanks ease fucked around with this message at 00:32 on May 23, 2013 |
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May 21, 2013 17:22
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Finally pulled the trigger on a Summit. I got one that was barely used, has the 2.4 radio, Proline Big Joes with no wear, 2 5000mah Lipos, and aluminum skid plates for $550 shipped to me door. Hell of a deal I think. Does anyone know of any places that do Vinyl Wraps for r/c's? Instead of paint I'm looking to just get the Summit wrapped. I talked to Krawler Koncepts but they don't offer a wrap for the truck.
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May 23, 2013 14:15
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ColonelJohnMatrix posted:Finally pulled the trigger on a Summit. I got one that was barely used, has the 2.4 radio, Proline Big Joes with no wear, 2 5000mah Lipos, and aluminum skid plates for $550 shipped to me door. Hell of a deal I think. Does anyone know of any places that do Vinyl Wraps for r/c's? Instead of paint I'm looking to just get the Summit wrapped. I talked to Krawler Koncepts but they don't offer a wrap for the truck. Funny, I did a google search for summit vinyl wrap and got your rccrawler thread. Congrats on the summit, I hear they are all kinds of fun! Got myself a new thunder tiger mt4 recently for a great deal. Things a tank, and the fan-base are awesome, they make an sell aftermarket parts.
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May 23, 2013 20:26
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ColonelJohnMatrix posted:Finally pulled the trigger on a Summit. I got one that was barely used, has the 2.4 radio, Proline Big Joes with no wear, 2 5000mah Lipos, and aluminum skid plates for $550 shipped to me door. Hell of a deal I think. Does anyone know of any places that do Vinyl Wraps for r/c's? Instead of paint I'm looking to just get the Summit wrapped. I talked to Krawler Koncepts but they don't offer a wrap for the truck. I dont know if its what you're looking for (style-wise) but they sell duct tape in all sorts of patterns these days. I did a cool looking camo pattern for my Stampede 4x4 E: this isnt mine, but looked the same 
Beve Stuscemi fucked around with this message at 21:32 on May 23, 2013 |
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May 23, 2013 21:30
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I don't wanna be "that guy" but in a hobby of ounces, doesn't that add a TON of weight to the vehicle?
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May 24, 2013 02:28
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It's a hobby of gains and losses, and if their gains
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May 24, 2013 04:19
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| # ? May 27, 2024 18:37 |
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The above two posts are almost exactly the internal dialogue I had with myself. Looks cool though, but I'm planning to teach myself how to airbrush digital camo on RC bodies soon.
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May 24, 2013 08:37
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