Radio control cars...
07 July 2003, 12:27 PM
#1
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well i`m kinda tempted into a new hobby! tamiya used to be the best years ago, and would like some help or advise and some web sites to buy a new or second hand one....
thanks all, aaron.
thanks all, aaron.
07 July 2003, 01:39 PM
#4
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well, if you stack it as much as me, it gets quite costly
Try speaking to somebody like Apex Models as they can offer advice on various kits (Schumacher, Tamiya, Kyosho, etc...)
07 July 2003, 02:03 PM
#5
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HPI does a very tasty Subaru in both electric and nitro. got a HPI rally, Subaru, 206 wrc and a evo6 as the shells cost £20 you can have what you want.
well priced and very well spec'd
www.hpiracing.com
well priced and very well spec'd
www.hpiracing.com
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07 July 2003, 03:03 PM
#8
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it's very much in the category of use it once or twice, get bored and look for the next toy
(once they see yours, it will sell itself) that way you can meet up for a couple of hours a week (sunday afternoons are great in station car parks!!)- near a pub preferably...
enjoy.... i was 32 before i got my first nitro car (toys for the boys!!)
my only advice would be get the best one you can comfortably afford, as a general rule, and buggies offer the best of both worlds, speed for carparks, and clearance for a bit of off roading.
if you've never seen a buggy, heres mine...
good luck
Dazza
07 July 2003, 03:28 PM
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Hold onto your wallet/credit cards this could get expensive, trust me I've been racing the things for the past 6years until recently 'job gets in the way' if yuor looking for a toy go for a tamiya/kyosho or one of the lesser HPI kits, if it's for jumping about on grass and stuff you'll have to get a buggy, rally car or truck, problem being is that a lot of companies are concentrating on touring cars the now. as was already said Apex models are good as are DMS racing, get yourself a hold of Radio Race Car magazine or Racer magazine they will give you a list of shops. Also better to find out if you have a local dealer of some sort, it can be a right PITA waiting on spares etc through the post, having said that DMS and Apex using delivery within two days.
Dazza nice GS Storm used to have a 1/8 th scale car mental quick but you need somewhere big to run them, also they are noisy buggers.
Feel free to fire up any more Q's.
Dazza nice GS Storm used to have a 1/8 th scale car mental quick but you need somewhere big to run them, also they are noisy buggers.
Feel free to fire up any more Q's.
07 July 2003, 04:05 PM
#11
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seen a good deal here
http://www.modelsinmotion.co.uk/spares/tamiya.asp
its a start and i dont really wanna get too carried away!!
the sccooby looks nice...but i guess the buggies are the best of both worlds, but at around 100 bones for all you need, its looking like good fun,
http://www.modelsinmotion.co.uk/spares/tamiya.asp
its a start and i dont really wanna get too carried away!!
the sccooby looks nice...but i guess the buggies are the best of both worlds, but at around 100 bones for all you need, its looking like good fun,
07 July 2003, 04:26 PM
#12
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new to scoob, yeah the storm is noisy as ***k mate!!!
my personal advice, is always buy these things new.
i've seen some real horror stories with ebay purchases etc....
if i was you mate, i'd wait until you have about £200 and get a kyosho nitro car.
if you fork out £150 on an electric car, you will always wish you waited and bought a noisey smoking, screaming nitro!!!!
£150 down the swannie.
plus you'll needs lots of batteries for electrics, as you only get about 10-20mins use per charge.(and these can be expensive too)
if you need any thing else, mail me man.
all the best
dazza
my personal advice, is always buy these things new.
i've seen some real horror stories with ebay purchases etc....
if i was you mate, i'd wait until you have about £200 and get a kyosho nitro car.
if you fork out £150 on an electric car, you will always wish you waited and bought a noisey smoking, screaming nitro!!!!
£150 down the swannie.
plus you'll needs lots of batteries for electrics, as you only get about 10-20mins use per charge.(and these can be expensive too)
if you need any thing else, mail me man.
all the best
dazza
07 July 2003, 05:34 PM
#13
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the tamiya deal`s i have seem are a tab over 100 bones, and include the lot..
would 200 bones get me aa awesome nitro monster with radio, etc? as i`m not too sure of the prices,
thanks for all your advise,
would 200 bones get me aa awesome nitro monster with radio, etc? as i`m not too sure of the prices,
thanks for all your advise,
07 July 2003, 05:43 PM
#14
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200 squiddlies will get you a kyosho alpha chassis (focus/scooby/peugeot) i think. (with a bit of haggling)
i have the focus, which i paid £230 for 2 years ago.
here it is...
need a bit of looking after, cleaning etc, but lovely smoke and 4wd !!
great in the snow........
was going to sell it, but thought, hey, i'll stick it in the loft and give it to my son when hes older.
Dazza
i have the focus, which i paid £230 for 2 years ago.
here it is...
need a bit of looking after, cleaning etc, but lovely smoke and 4wd !!
great in the snow........
was going to sell it, but thought, hey, i'll stick it in the loft and give it to my son when hes older.
Dazza
07 July 2003, 05:45 PM
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Got to go with Dazza on this one, unless you know what you are looking at or have a mate that knows buy one new, I've seen loads of young kids turn up a race meetings with so called good deals only too find out that they have been sold a pile of S by some lying B.
Electric, Pro's. Quiet can run any time anywhere. Can use them indoors when it's poor weather outside without your thumbs falling off. Loads more clubs run them 'if thats your thing'.
Cons. As Dazza said batteries, depending on your motor you can get as short as 7mins out of a set of top quality ones, but generally 10mins is a good range for a kit motor and 2000 cells. Electric cars hate water naturally. Waiting for batteries to charge - can take from 20 to 30 mins depending on cells and charger.
Nitro, Pro's. Noise Noise and more Noise . Can run for 10-15mins on the standard kit fuel tank, goes dead just refill and away you go again. Fast as ***k.
Cons, Noise, your neighbours wont thank you for it at 9am on a Sunday morning. Enigines can sometimes be troublesome 'most are pretty good nowadays and come with decent set up instructions'. Cars like Dazza's can go almost anywhere BMX tracks etc. Messy stuff nitro fuel and the exhaust fumes are pretty oily too.
Either way it's a flip of a coin to decide on what is better. You will have fun but it will hurt the pocket occasionally.
Electric, Pro's. Quiet can run any time anywhere. Can use them indoors when it's poor weather outside without your thumbs falling off. Loads more clubs run them 'if thats your thing'.
Cons. As Dazza said batteries, depending on your motor you can get as short as 7mins out of a set of top quality ones, but generally 10mins is a good range for a kit motor and 2000 cells. Electric cars hate water naturally. Waiting for batteries to charge - can take from 20 to 30 mins depending on cells and charger.
Nitro, Pro's. Noise
Noise and more Noise . Can run for 10-15mins on the standard kit fuel tank, goes dead just refill and away you go again. Fast as ***k. Cons, Noise, your neighbours wont thank you for it at 9am on a Sunday morning
. Enigines can sometimes be troublesome 'most are pretty good nowadays and come with decent set up instructions'. Cars like Dazza's can go almost anywhere BMX tracks etc. Messy stuff nitro fuel and the exhaust fumes are pretty oily too.Either way it's a flip of a coin to decide on what is better. You will have fun but it will hurt the pocket occasionally.
08 July 2003, 12:21 PM
#19
I had a nitro but swapped it for a high spec electric car because of the time it takes to set up a nitro etc. I had the Kyosho 1/8th scale impreza with a .21 scale engine and it was loads of fun in the snow I now prefer to charge the battery as I drive and then just plug it into the car when I arrive and then play with it, put ot back in the boot and drive off again. Nitro cars take alot of looking after and cleaning after each use and you have to drain the fuel from the tank. Also if the car goes out of range or if the crystal falls out (as I had happen 
) the car carrys on doing what it was doing last until it hits something mine hit a kerb and destroyed the engine when it snapped the block 
You have to set up the carb each time you use them too because they are quite sensitive to the atmosphere and starting them can be fiddley (sp) sometimes too. My advice is:
Think about what you want to spend (top elecy car is about the same as petrol)
How often you are going to use it (used mine once since Christmas)
How much time you can devote to using and maintaining it.
Paul
I now prefer to charge the battery as I drive and then just plug it into the car when I arrive and then play with it, put ot back in the boot and drive off again. Nitro cars take alot of looking after and cleaning after each use and you have to drain the fuel from the tank. Also if the car goes out of range or if the crystal falls out (as I had happen ) the car carrys on doing what it was doing last until it hits something mine hit a kerb and destroyed the engine when it snapped the block You have to set up the carb each time you use them too because they are quite sensitive to the atmosphere and starting them can be fiddley (sp) sometimes too. My advice is:Think about what you want to spend (top elecy car is about the same as petrol)
How often you are going to use it (used mine once since Christmas
)How much time you can devote to using and maintaining it.
Paul
08 July 2003, 12:30 PM
#20
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I've got a 1/10th scale Thunder Tiger Nitro scooby. Wickly fast but yes they are expensive .I have spent about £300 just on parts, cleaning products, fuel, plugs, repairs in about 6 months. That excludes the car which was £250!
Darren
Darren
08 July 2003, 12:44 PM
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Lord, big question that one, your probably better going for one of the rally type cars judging by what I've read. As for the best make? tough one, Kyosho, Tamiya, HPI and probably the better of the 'fun' cars and they are pretty well backed up by local dealers etc, electric or nitro? noise vs no-noise. Find a local shop see what manufactures they cater for.
Paul, you should have fitted a fail safe device, all nitro cars that are used for racing have to have one fitted in competition. I'm surprised what you said about the carb most are pretty good nowadays. Can agree with what you said about how much you going to use it though, I have three cars, one competition spec touring car, one factory spec buggy and a fun micro car, never used one of them in about a year due to work commitments probably in total about £1000+++ of equipment lying doing nowt.
Paul, you should have fitted a fail safe device, all nitro cars that are used for racing have to have one fitted in competition. I'm surprised what you said about the carb most are pretty good nowadays. Can agree with what you said about how much you going to use it though, I have three cars, one competition spec touring car, one factory spec buggy and a fun micro car, never used one of them in about a year due to work commitments
probably in total about £1000+++ of equipment lying doing nowt.
08 July 2003, 12:49 PM
#22
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I've got a 1/8th scale Tamiya Terra Crusher and what Paul says about taking ages to setup it right. I need to charge the 12AA Ni-MH's for the transmitter and reciever, charge the 7.2V stick pack for the eletric starter, clean and oil the filter if I haven't used for a while, then get it started (which is easy thanks to the eletric start) and always end up tweaking the carb a bit everytime you run.
Once it's running though it's great fun and you can just let it cool for a few mins, fill it up and go again.
As for breakage nothing yet except the aerial tube when I landed it on it's roof, the shells are pretty much indestructable and the rest of the truck isn't bad, though I've heard about a lot of people popping the shocks apart on some trucks I've not managed that myself yet.
If you're thinking a truck, a Traxxas T-Maxx 2.5 are meant to be pretty good and I'm highly tempted to get one myself.
Once it's running though it's great fun and you can just let it cool for a few mins, fill it up and go again.
As for breakage nothing yet except the aerial tube when I landed it on it's roof, the shells are pretty much indestructable and the rest of the truck isn't bad, though I've heard about a lot of people popping the shocks apart on some trucks I've not managed that myself yet.
If you're thinking a truck, a Traxxas T-Maxx 2.5 are meant to be pretty good and I'm highly tempted to get one myself.
08 July 2003, 01:15 PM
#23
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Well haven't read all of the post on here, but I think I can say I am the most experienced here although only being 21. About five year ago when I was 16 I was named the British Junior 1/8th IC champion. I use to go all over the coutry to places like southampton, and mendip, tibeshelf and many others with my home track being Crystal Palace. If you are serious about this type of hobby 1/8th petrol models are the best way to go, as they top about 60 mph on the straights, with their little 2-3 bhp powered engine, and stick to the road like glue. I used to race a serpent vector car with a factory nova rossi engine from their factory in italy, and it use to fly. Sadly though it is a very expensive hobby escpecially if you crash which you will at first. I think serpent are still the best and produce both 10th and 8th scale, do a search on the web to find more information. If you want anymore info from me just post back or mail me.
Chris
Chris
08 July 2003, 01:23 PM
#24
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serpents&rossis are mega advanced - and as you say mega expensive, he needs something a bit less
I have a protech - they are belgian, but ultimateley most of these cars come out of the Hobao parts bin and get rebadged,ofna,protech,etc.
Look here, the prices at this place seem reasonable, this is the sort of thing BB and new to are talking about:
http://www.gmmodels.co.uk/Protech/Pa...aser_4_rs.html enquire about the standard phaser - quite a bit cheaper I think.
cheers,
Mike.
I have a protech - they are belgian, but ultimateley most of these cars come out of the Hobao parts bin and get rebadged,ofna,protech,etc.
Look here, the prices at this place seem reasonable, this is the sort of thing BB and new to are talking about:
http://www.gmmodels.co.uk/Protech/Pa...aser_4_rs.html enquire about the standard phaser - quite a bit cheaper I think.
cheers,
Mike.
08 July 2003, 01:31 PM
#25
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but I think I can say I am the most experienced here although only being 21
Lord of the bling is new to this sport (read above)
he doesn't need to know about novarossis and hudy setup tables, and all the other geeky sunday aftrenoon tinkling brigate cr54p.
If i understand him correct, he needs a £200 ready to run bit of fun.
my recommendation is a Kyosho TR15 (with gs15r engine) £200.....
to cut his teeth with.....
BB
08 July 2003, 01:44 PM
#26
I have the Schumacher Nitro Fusion kit from DMS Racing (with the Impreza shell of course
) I've had it for about ten months but I've only used it for about ten hours in total, but in that time it has broken a lot...
At first I couldn't get the engine running properly (that was my fault), but then the actual car has broken a lot as well. The major problem seems to be that small stones get under the drive belt mechanism and rip the belt to pieces, continue up to the actual gears which will then be ground to pieces. A new belt is 8 quid, and a new set of gears is about 10 (I think).
Changed the belt and gears, only to have it break after two minutes use! This was after spending two hours fiddling about with the stupid belt and gears. I'm on my third set of belts/gears now.
If you're gonna drive them in parking lots etc, (in my experience) you will have to repair them a lot!
All in all, is it worth it? I don't know.. it's really fun when it works, but i'm just so bored fixing it...
Kinda wished I'd gone the buggy route tho' as they can go pretty much anywhere unline the rally replicas...
