RC cars
 

Right, Christmas is round the corner and looking to get the little lad a RC car for it. Not looking at something that used 6.AA batteries but something a little juicier. Not sure a petrol type would be suitable at the moment so what can you suggest as its been decades since I've been in to the RC scene

Thanks in advance

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if going electric go with something like this

https://www.hpiracing.co.uk/catalogue.php?pg=CEPF

for me you cant beat nitro though

https://www.hpiracing.co.uk/catalogue.php?pg=CNPF

ive just sold my savage x truck, it was a beast with a 3 speed transmission and various other upgrades. the thing must have topped 45mph and revved to 35,000 rpm lol it was a beast. the nitro ones do require a fair bit of looking after and tinkering with so if your not sure what your doing then its probably better to stick with a brush-less electric

Thanks mate, that's the thing I'm looking for something easy to maintain that's as good as plug and play. The big kid in me just wants to get something that is fast and with a good range I think. I had a tamiya or similar pretty sure it was a grasshopper of I remember right. Thing seemed to be rapid with a big battery. If he gets into it then by all means I'd look into maintaining something nitro etc.

​​​​​​Looking for something chunky and roadbust that he can beat up and then maybe something more street/track focused. Out of the electric brushless options would you be able to recommend one or are they like for like

I would go for the firestorm brushless,good off road and on road.

In fact the firestorm isn't made anymore so probably go with this if budget allows....

https://www.hpiracing.co.uk/piw.php?partNo=110662

Thanks mate ill take a look.

Can I ask, you've mentioned brush-less are all the electric ones on this website brushless or do I need to keep a look out for it in the specification?

And regarding the scaling of them, 1/8, 1/10 and up to 1/18. As an assumption would 1/8 be a larger size, faster car over say the 1/18 or is it the other way around

Thanks for your help

hi

you would have to look at the spec of each one mate.

work out a budget 1st then choose the type of car you want........2wd/4wd

buggy = great on road/gravel and short grass but not so great on the really rough stuff
truggy = as above but with more off road capabilities
truck = best suited to off road/go anywhere and is better at handling big jumps as has more suspension travel (some vids on youtube of a savage jumping over a house)

buy from a well known manufacturer as you will need a load of spares readily available. i always carried a spare set of wheels/dogbones (driveshafts)/body clips/suspension parts/various screws and batteries. nothing worse than finding a good place to rip it up and on your 1st outing you have to pack up because you have broken something.

good brands are

hpi
hot bodies (made by hpi)
traxxas
losi
team associated

one of the 1st things i did with mine was take most of it to pieces so when i was out i had an idea of how it went together, i also thread locked some of the screws aswell. some coloured zip-ties added to the body clips is a good idea because they get lost the most and are very hard to see.

i mainly took mine to the bmx track which is next to a gravel car park and a nice big field so i could really open the taps on it.

my 1st one was a truggy, it was a hot bodies lightning gt10 and was pretty awesome but struggled with the really hard stuff due to ground clearance so i sold it to my mate and i bought a savage x 4.6 which was a beast. wheelie bar was a must lol

rc cars can be modded just like our road cars (the modifications are usually referred to as hop-ups) and can include anything from a different set of rims to a full on custom chassis. be realistic though, if your gonna get it muddy and scratched up there is no point in going all out with purple chassis parts etc

i had the following upgrades

-3 speed transmission
-tuned exhaust pipe
-heavy duty driveshafts
-heavy duty spur gear
-ceramic slipper clutch
-upgraded brake discs (carbon fibre i think)
-machined bullet proof diff bevel gear set
-set of extra wheels with different tyres on for different surfaces
-chassis plate to stop grit/rocks getting up into the drivetrain
-wheelie bar with 2 sizes of wheels for different height wheelies
- a fail-safe which is an absolute must, if the truck went out of range or the signal gets scrambled then without this it would feck off at full throttle until it hit something. a fail-safe sets the car to full brake in a case like that.
-upgraded steering servo as i felt the std one wasnt up to the job on long grass

not sure with the electric cars but alot of nitro cars dont have a reverse gear so worth checking that out before hand.

here is what i had 1st


and then i moved onto this and never looked back


i remember the old grass-hopper rc car along with mardave cobra's/ manta-rays etc.....................todays rc cars are so much quicker so make sure you have your wits about you, i sent my savage at full throttle into my mates leg which catapulted him into the air and caused a very nasty injury so be warned.

if i were you i would probably go for the bullet mt flux and see how you get on. its around £350 but as with most things...........buy cheap buy twice. i would steer clear of anything around the £150 mark as you wont get alot for that price.


if you have a bigger budget then go for the savage flux


or if your feeling pretty flush then go for this...........£1k gulp


even doubles up as a boat lol


hope this helps mate and apologies for lack of knowledge on the electric stuff.

this is a good place to buy from, they also list spares and upgrades aswell

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/

Mate you're a super star, thanks for that. Looks like those are nitro based cars and he's only 7 so for the time being I think I'll stick with the electric side of things and take it from there. The one's in the video look like some serious bits of kit mind and proper rapid.

Long ago I fancied an R/C car. Not one to do things by half, I have an HPi Pro chassis, fully tricked up running a brushless motor and a 2007 WRC Subaru shell. Sodding thing is next to useless as it does 0-60 in about .5 of a second and i can't find anywhere open enough to run it!!!!

your welcome mate

those vids are of electric ones mate. you say he is only 7.............it doesnt matter how old he is as you will be playing with it the most anyway lol

let us know how you get on

If you want something a bit slower maybe go for a tamiya kit you can build it with him good father and son bonding time

As much as I like the idea of that he has no paitaints at the moment we've just got him started with lego so I'm not sure his attention span would last the course lol. It's worth considering though if it'd be more manageable for him to use

No one mentioned Hobao? One of the best value, most solid (sst excluded), plentiful parts supply, well made, high quality cars going. Knocks spots of Traxxas who are just an embarrassing company, HPI are in administration again, Losi (hmm-electrics), Associated are good but expensive.