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Grumbletron 4000 posted:If you're not sure if you're gonna play with it much, check out one of these... We just picked up a 1/24 scale monster truck for my father-in-law for Father's Day. Obviously I had to make sure everything worked and I agree that it's a ton of fun to blast around the house. It's a little bit bigger than the TA one there but probably not by much. 4WD, too. It's fine outside on pavement obviously and probably on dirt, but it's no good in grass for anything taller than a putting green.
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Jun 20, 2017 16:33
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I'd say that's a better option, yes. The Mini-Z is a great "proper" small RC, but TBH it's a bit fast for using in the average living room etc. A small monster truck or rock crawler is probably the best all round fun.
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Jun 20, 2017 18:03
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This is probally a good option: https://www.horizonhobby.com/storefronts/ecx-brand any of the 1/24 scale cars/buggies will handle inside and sidewalks well. Being an american distributor, you'll be able to find repair and rplacement parts easily.
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Jun 20, 2017 19:13
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Thanks for the input and recommendations. I think I'm more interested in having a drifting RC car, but I'll try out that $50 one linked first before dropping too much into RC.
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Jun 21, 2017 00:17
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Does anyone have some insight on why 1/8 scale on-road seems to have gone the way of the dodo bird ? In my younger days (20+ years ago) there were actually clubs / tracks where you could go and race.
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Jun 21, 2017 02:30
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kimcicle posted:Thanks for the input and recommendations. I think I'm more interested in having a drifting RC car, but I'll try out that $50 one linked first before dropping too much into RC. Awesome. I think you'll have a lot of fun with it. My boy loves his and plays with it constantly. I'd actually like to get a couple more and set up some little tracks around the house. Lemme know how you like it.
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Jun 22, 2017 06:41
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If any of you folks would like an ECX Barrage crawler, let me know. I have one in really good shape that I got for my daughter but she isn't big on. It's rtr and I'd sell it shipped for $90. Thanks
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Jun 29, 2017 16:55
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Blinky Blinkerson posted:Does anyone have some insight on why 1/8 scale on-road seems to have gone the way of the dodo bird ? In my younger days (20+ years ago) there were actually clubs / tracks where you could go and race. Late to replying but short story; it's still the F1 of RC. That also means it is spendy and there are much cheaper classes to run which make them more popular so people run them instead. 1/8 nitro on road is the only thing that would get me back into nitro at this point. Also America is obsessed with off road and jumps. I just bought a Losi Baja Rey yesterday and will get out and put a few packs through it today. I'm really excited about it. I justified it to myself because I gave my nephew one of my HPI Blitzes last week.
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Jul 1, 2017 19:00
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The European astroturf tracks look like way more fun than any of the dusty abominations I've run nitro off-road on. Also can confirm, hate big air tracks. There's a bit more luck than skill to them, and you break more parts.
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Jul 3, 2017 18:59
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I'm not a big fan of astroturf tracks. I'm also not a fan of high flying tracks. Astroturf brings far to much traction to the table. Sadly, it appears, off road had become a have the right tires, or lose, game. At least carpet allows for a consistent surface, even if the traction is far to high.
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Jul 3, 2017 19:18
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I mean, that's the case in on road as well, unless there's a spec tire for the class or event. Ultimately I'm finding myself less inclined to spend any time or money chasing tenths of seconds. My driving isn't good enough to need that.
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Jul 3, 2017 19:26
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Spec tires seem the rule for on-road. At least that's what I'm seeing. VTA, USGT, WGTr, F1, all run spec tires. Tamiya classes run one of like three compounds. Carpet off-road seems to have "a tire or two" that's good for a specific brand of astroturf. When chatting with the people who ran off-road on dirt, or clay tracks, they'd have large duffel bags full of tires, ranging from minipins to pins, to patterns, and slicks. Many tires in a couple compounds to chase changing track conditions. The game had become "who has the right tire, right now" as opposed to "how do we get the most traction from the tires we have". That's not a good combination.
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Jul 3, 2017 20:00
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I will need to resize these no doubt; so for now I will timg these  photos taken from my dslr and offer a brief trip report.  I fell in love with the EXO Terra buggy all over again. It's such a fun car and I know all the reasons for its failure but that's what makes it so good! It's nothing to do with the performance but everything to do with consumer expectations. I've been mapping out in my head a good YouTube review type video for it along with a few others from my collection. I got some good b-roll video for cut in and voice over stuff. Baja Rey  What a kick rear end truck! I got it Friday and found of my lipo batteries just my 3S has the wires coming out the right way without hacking the battery door to pieces. It's 2S and 3S compatible out of the box and includes a smaller pinion to use with higher voltage. This keeps the temps down on the electronics. Nice touch. The motor drops down with the removal of a few screws and has fixed mounting points on an aluminum motor mount so all guesswork is removed for gear mesh. The 'transmission' is also sealed from dust and elements nicely. I installed an aluminum horn on the servo but left the servo saver in its stock tension. A slower metal gear spektrum servo is included. I swapped the receiver for my radio. The radio included is garbage to hold but has AVC/DSMR and a nice AVC 4 channel rx is included (I never powered them on). Everything was finished nicely and assembled well from first glance. My first pack was farting around in front of my house. On 3S this thing was hilariously fast. The mushy suspension is a little under dampened but has great roll and sliding abilities. The center diff kept standing launches controllable and jumping is a breeze. The stock electronics never once thermalled out and are plenty fast on 3S. I'll probably never bother with a 2S battery. My criticism is in the servo saver. It's garbage only exaggerated by the mushy suspension. The servo is slow and underpowered but it never did break. The body/cage comes off in one piece but it takes some studying of the chassis to figure out which ~12 screws need to be removed to get it off. Metric everything but 4-40 ball studs for the steering bellcrank? WTF? Plastic links are cheesy but effective. I love the truck! Definitely suggest it if your wanting a truck with more personality than a 4x4 Slash and something faster/better performance than an Axial Yeti. Plans are aluminum servo saver, better servo, thicker oil and drive the balls off it.
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Jul 6, 2017 00:32
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I built my TT-01e MAN truck. The body was hell. But it's done, and it's really pretty. I hope it's durable... It drives really quite well. Pushes predictably, but with a scandinavian flick, it will slide around. It's also got a whole crapton of polar moment of inertia, so when it does break loose, it doesn't snap, and even with my cheap steering servo, can be caught. ... I like it. totally worth the $125. The $30 in paint.. well that's a little less sure of an answer.
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Jul 17, 2017 19:58
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Is here the place to talk about R/C boats as well? I have a cheap GoPro knockoff with underwater housing, and kinda want to build a rig to tow it out on the lake. I've seen plans for an underwater glider which I'll probably build, but I want range and fixed-depth capability. Do kits exist to RC-ify your own hull (I have this floating Lego boat I've had since childhood that I'd like to use for nostalgia reasons), or do you have to buy servos and motors/props/etc. piecemeal? Which I could, or I could modify a premade one. I want to put a motorized R/C winch on it to raise/lower the camera (so that means adding at least one additional radio channel to a stock kit, or buying a more-expensive transmitter and another receiver, but I guess a an airplane controller would have enough to do the job.). I'd probably put the winch amidships for balance reasons, with the line running through a straw sealed to a hole in the hull, which is another reason I'd like to use the Lego one --- get the Technic pieces out and build a derrick to make it a lil' Glomar Explorer.  If I have to build it from scratch, would my local R/C model and hobby shop sell the parts? I'd rather pay a bit more and have the greybeard that runs the place help me pick out parts than order from the internet with my level of knowledge. More on-topic, said shop has an annual event where they get together and just wreck poo poo. Drag races, top speed contests, long-jump and high-jump contests, jump two cars off ramps into each other, acrobatics off a ramp, poo poo like that. It's sponsored by Traxxas and they give out new high-end R/C cars and other fun stuff as prizes, so it's worth it if you have an old beater.  Sadly, I can't find the photos from the time I covered it for the newspaper.
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Jul 20, 2017 22:32
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Bad Angus! Bad!
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So, here's my experience with building the M07 Concept. First off, the amount of fiber injected parts is amazing. The car does not come with a motor, esc, body, or tires. To complete the car, you'll need a 2.5mm drill bit, locktite, the usual phillips screwdriver, a set of tires, a body (medium or long), and radio gear. The car comes with oil for the shocks, and oil for the diff. Of important note, the car comes with some interesting components: * CVDs * Metal Motor plate * Bearings * Oil filled diff * Oil filled shocks * Aluminum rear axles * Heavy duty servo saver * Metal steering posts * Bearing supported steering bellcrank * Not one screw pin! The overall design has some really high, high points. All of the suspension components are symmetrical, and the same left to right. A set of spares for this car is half the parts you'd need for a M05. The suspension hinge pins are of the modern touring car style. That is the outer pivot pins are retained in the hub carriers, providing very little slop. And the inner pivots are retained in cups. While we're on the subject of swingarms, they all have droop screws. The car assembles quickly, and logically. Due to design choices that were made for ease of maintenance, assembly order matters a lot less. The M05 is a jigsaw that goes together in one way. There are lots of little access holes you wouldn't expect, to allow for individual components to be easily removed without having to tear apart the chassis. Most of the car uses the same screws. This A1 screw, while the M05 used a bunch of different screws for assembly. None of the screws are self tapping either. They're slightly harder to start in the plastic, but feel more solid once things are cinched down. The car comes with adjustable control links on all of the normal places. ... My fingers still hurt from assembling those. Speaking of adjustment, the car has adjustable rear toe, without needing to swap carriers. Suffice it to say, i'm very impressed with this kit.
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Jul 26, 2017 15:15
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Thanks for the writeup! The only part I'm kind of intimidated by is needing the drill bit as I don't own a drill of any kind.
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Jul 26, 2017 15:28
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Pictures to follow, too. It's plastic... you could potentially twist the drill bit in with your fingers. the M07 is a ~very serious~ car, for ~very serious~ drivers. If you're bashing around the back yard, up and down the driveway, and generally just messing about, a M05 would be a better experience. For $104, you get not just the car, but ESC, Motor, Tires, and Body in the deal.
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Jul 26, 2017 22:58
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I currently race in a Tamiya Mini class and the M07 is going to blow all the other cars, including the third party stuff, out of the water. While there was a bit of a difference between the M03 and M05, a good Mini driver still could cut as quick lap times as a M05 driver. However I've heard there's like a second's difference a lap between a well modified M05 and a straight out of the box M07. My club won't allow the M07 till next year, but I'll buy one later this year to build up and get used to.
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Jul 26, 2017 23:24
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That's what I've been reading too. It really is a ~serious~ car. The chassis is much closer to a touring car than the traditional spar type frame of the M01-M05. I'm not even sure what you could do to make the M07 better. There's some shimming.. maybe... Amusingly, there's probably 20-30g of plastic you could trim off the M07 chassis and not lose any strength. I wonder just how light a lightweight M07 could be... There is a "normal touring car" conversion kit to take M05's out to full length chassis.
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Jul 27, 2017 15:02
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 Drove one of the big cars last night. I was testing out a prototype of some new Maxxis Trepador tires. They are huge. They measure 240mm tall (just shy of 9.5 inches). With the wheels/inserts/tires each corner weighs in just a hair over one kilogram (about 2.34 pounds). Sadly my servo was not longed for this world after a very ugly cartwheel. Apparently something approaching 50 pounds shouldn't be sent tumbling.
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Jul 27, 2017 15:27
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Do you use that to carry your oversized dog around when he gets tired? Holy poo poo
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Jul 28, 2017 12:17
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So LiPos... are they really THAT dangerous to use? I mean, I've seen what can happen when they are extremely overcharged or pierced with a loving nine inch spike, but should I honestly be worried about keeping them in my house if I'm using them properly? And are they really worth the hassle, if using them can even be called a hassle?
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Aug 8, 2017 17:17
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Just be ready to dispose them when they're looking swollen, but honestly they're fine. I still don't know why 18650s aren't A Thing in R/C though.
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Aug 8, 2017 17:32
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Koth posted:So LiPos... are they really THAT dangerous to use? I mean, I've seen what can happen when they are extremely overcharged or pierced with a loving nine inch spike, but should I honestly be worried about keeping them in my house if I'm using them properly? Yes they're "that dangerous". A work chum had a house fire because of a laptop battery, and they're the same tech and just as dangerous, except in an R/C car they're more likely to get stabbed by something in a crash. And you don't need much to stab through those soft-case ones. A slip of a screwdriver when disassembling a phone is enough. Are soft R/C ones much tougher? Get hard-cased ones and keep them in a fire-proof box when they're not in use. (I don't know why soft-case ones are even an option for R/C cars, to be honest)
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Aug 8, 2017 18:10
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Oh, yeah, I was assuming hardcase because holy poo poo running a softcase in RC would be mental.
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Aug 8, 2017 18:14
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IOwnCalculus posted:I still don't know why 18650s aren't A Thing in R/C though. Current. Most are limited to 10c. They're power dense, but have relatively high internal resistance. We have batteries that ~really are~ in the 60c range, so have very, very little voltage drop under load. legooolas posted:Yes they're "that dangerous". A work chum had a house fire because of a laptop battery, and they're the same tech and just as dangerous, except in an R/C car they're more likely to get stabbed by something in a crash. They're more dangerous than laptop, or cellphone batteries. Both of those will have some kind of cell protection built in. Most cellphones have both current limiting, and temperature limits built in to them, on top of the typical voltage limits. R/C car batteries are completely unprotected.
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Aug 8, 2017 18:36
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Counterpoint: I have a 2S lipo hard case at home that I fully charged and left to die and it hasnt caught on fire in 3 years. did the same with 3 soft case 3S packs for my drone. one of them wouldnt hold a charge but the other did. i threw them both out because they didnt fit my new drone.
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Aug 9, 2017 07:17
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IOwnCalculus posted:I still don't know why 18650s aren't A Thing in R/C though.
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Aug 9, 2017 10:17
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I'm going to pick up a stadium truck this weekend. All of my previous RC stuff is about 20 years old, so I'm going to need new everything. I'm disappointed there aren't many options for build-yourself kits available as it's pretty much just the ECX Amp. The other truck I'm looking at is the ECX Circuit, which isn't a kit, it's a RTR, but it does have a better radio and comes with a separate receiver and ESC as opposed to the Amp which has a receiver/ESC combo. I plan on upgrading the radio anyway, but I figure the first upgrade I should get is a new battery charger. I plan to race my truck locally, but I'm not hugely competitive about it. I just do it for fun. What do you guys suggest for a new charger? I would be okay with spending upwards of $200 or so for a good one. Or is there a different suggestion for a first upgrade?
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Aug 9, 2017 21:15
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evil_bunnY posted:Garbage discharge rates, mostly. Nerobro posted:Current. Most are limited to 10c. They're power dense, but have relatively high internal resistance. I'll take your word for it, just seems strange that for so long RC batteries were derived from power tools (sub C cells everywhere) and now they've fully diverged. Koth posted:What do you guys suggest for a new charger? I would be okay with spending upwards of $200 or so for a good one. Or is there a different suggestion for a first upgrade? The vast majority of chargers these days all seem to have the exact same interface. The only real differences between any of them are going to be whether or not they have a built in AC/DC power supply, and what the maximum charge / discharge rates are. I use a couple of now-old 50W chargers and I have no problem getting my batteries topped up between rounds. It helps somewhat that five minute races with 17.5-25.5 turn motors don't even drain my 5000-6000 mAh packs past halfway. There are a lot of people who insist on charging at insane rates, but all this seems to do is cause popped circuit breakers.
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Aug 9, 2017 21:25
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SkyRC Chargers are pretty good on the value/specs equation. Some of them even have soldering stations built into them.
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Aug 9, 2017 23:13
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ISDT also makes real good stuff, shame they don't have a quad yet.IOwnCalculus posted:I'll take your word for it, just seems strange that for so long RC batteries were derived from power tools (sub C cells everywhere) and now they've fully diverged. evil_bunnY fucked around with this message at 07:10 on Aug 10, 2017 |
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Aug 10, 2017 06:11
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 My late night tinkering in the garage last night. I putted around between the cars and such so not much speed involved but it was surprisingly easy to get moving at a decent clip and put the car where I wanted. The depth and focal length seem to feel pretty natural. I am going to try it out when I get home from work outside where it is bright and I can open it up. The Baja Rey runs along about 40 MPH so it will be interesting to see how that feels. It is really weird to separate your senses where you hear something and your vision of it doesn't sync up together. It is a little out of body but should be fun.
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Sep 13, 2017 17:50
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I found my old RC car from when I was a kid, googled up on it quickly and it's apparently aTaiyo Super Jet 4WD. Does this ring a bell to anyone, Taiyo? Considering some RC cars for my kids (4 years old, twins) as birthday gifts. Any recommendations for the first* proper RC car? Looking at a Dromida BX4 but something tells me it's overkill, I also want two so they don't have to fight each other, which puts limits on the budget. * Their first RC cars were some cheap pieces of poo poo from the local big box store that were pretty useless and the batteries gave up real quick. Don't want anything like that again.
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Sep 14, 2017 14:44
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Where do they have that's a good place to run them? That will tell "what to buy". 1/18 scale does limit them to fairly smooth surfaces. If you want to have "in the yard" fun, you need to look larger. If you want to build tracks in the living room, or basement, 1/24 scale is worth looking at too. Also, find out what excites them. When I got into R/C I got a stadium truck, because it looked like a truck. As opposed to a buggy. Trucks also tend to take hits a bit better, due to having more body. So that's worth looking in to.
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Sep 14, 2017 15:04
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What about monster trucks? They're a good "run on any surface" format. I mean, a Tamiya Midnight Pumpkin for one and a Lunch Box for the other are simple, pretty tough "full size" RCs that will seem loving awesome to a little kid, but are probably still pretty manageable for kids to get started with, especially if you tweak them to be limited in speed to start out. I think what you ideally want is one of the old QD 1/14 RTRs that Tamiya used to make.
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Sep 14, 2017 18:30
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I was looking at a video of the Dromida and poo poo it's fast, I think perhaps my kids aren't ready for things that capable just yet... Maybe better I fix up my old Tayio RC and let them use it instead indoors until they're older: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtumIShdF5o We do have lots of outdoor space of all kinds, including lots of gravel to travel on and forests and stuff, we're out in the country. Though once winter comes, most of it gets snowed in.
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Sep 14, 2017 19:14
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Oh well my alternative present I was gonna get them, already thought of by grandparents, back to finding something suitable. And i think I did, a 1/10 scale monstertruck, called the "BSD E-Monster 1/10" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffukvZiJcEI
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Sep 15, 2017 12:38
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For kids - 100% the HPI Wheely King http://www.hpiracing.com/en/kit/106173 Its durable as hell, fast enough to be fun without being "holy crap" fast, and its a decent price. There's lots of cheapos out there that look good for the money, but are just hot garbage - haven't heard of BSD so I'd be wary. Better to spend a bit more and get something from a known company so you can source parts, find upgrades, etc.
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Sep 15, 2017 12:53
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