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New RC car
nick205 - 15/3/16 at 04:31 PM

Well son no. 2 turns 8 on the 19th and is off to laser tag for his birthday party.

He's also developed a real passion for RC cars, probably fueled by my like for them. For his birthday I decided he was old enough to get started and have sourced him a Ripmax Husky, which arrived today.



It's rather fast and will take some supervision until he learns how to drive it. On the plus side it seems fairly robust and should keep him very amused.

nick205 - 15/3/16 at 04:43 PM

Should also add that his twin sister turns 8 as well - she (by choice) wanted a chocolate cake and a disco. Easily done and just the clearing up afterwards to worry about

coozer - 15/3/16 at 05:13 PM

Nice, electric or nitro??

nick205 - 15/3/16 at 05:16 PM

Electric, not Nitro - he's only 8 so slowly does it!

Irony - 15/3/16 at 05:46 PM

I have Traxxas Tmax Nitro and its a bit silly to be honest. Wished I had bought electric now. Nitro is a bit of faff and electric would have been easier and more robust. I never thought I'd say a RC car was 'to fast' but my Tmaxx is. The engine is to powerful for the drivetrain. I have corkscrewed up a couple of driveshafts, it just twists them up.

nick205 - 15/3/16 at 06:54 PM

I think that's why I've stayed electric TBH. The batteries aren't as good as they could be, but the cars work and are fast too.

Wheels244 - 15/3/16 at 07:32 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Irony
I have Traxxas Tmax Nitro and its a bit silly to be honest. Wished I had bought electric now. Nitro is a bit of faff and electric would have been easier and more robust. I never thought I'd say a RC car was 'to fast' but my Tmaxx is. The engine is to powerful for the drivetrain. I have corkscrewed up a couple of driveshafts, it just twists them up.


I've got a Tmax too - you're right they are fast !
I like the nitro, batteries never seem to last long enough.
I've never done a drive shaft - must try harder.
I haven't used it for ages - must get it out soon.

big_wasa - 15/3/16 at 08:06 PM

My lads where not interested at all

Canada EH! - 15/3/16 at 09:15 PM

Started my son at 7 in the back yard with Tamiya cars on a small track. He is now 39 and ran the Tamiya Racing Program in Canada for several years and is the project manager for Lite Hawk products sold in the US and Canada.

Never know were it will lead. Enjoy

loggyboy - 15/3/16 at 10:44 PM

Youve inspired me to dig mine out. Was put away ages ago as a i lost a servo part thats manufacturer unique and therefore more than i could be bothered spending on a replacement. I found it a few months back so this was what i needed to pull it together. Just needs some shell pins!

Barkalarr - 15/3/16 at 11:27 PM

I've still got the cars I used to race as a kid some 30 years (ish) ago.

Anyone remember "Team Associated RC10" or "Optima Mid" ??

Will put up pics tomorrow if I can dig them out....

Adamirish - 16/3/16 at 12:01 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Barkalarr
I've still got the cars I used to race as a kid some 30 years (ish) ago.

Anyone remember "Team Associated RC10" or "Optima Mid" ??

Will put up pics tomorrow if I can dig them out....


They have just remade the RC10 believe it or not. People went mad for it, a bit of retro coolness with modern brushless motor and reliable esc!

I currently have an 1/8th Sworkz S350 evo, 1/10th yokomo gt4 touring car, an 1/8th HPi trophy and an 1/8th twin engined hot bodies monster truck. I forget the name of the thing!

Much fun has been had! Managed 17th overall in our club off road series(out of around 100) in my first season.

nick205 - 16/3/16 at 11:46 AM

quote:
Originally posted by loggyboy
Youve inspired me to dig mine out. Was put away ages ago as a i lost a servo part thats manufacturer unique and therefore more than i could be bothered spending on a replacement. I found it a few months back so this was what i needed to pull it together. Just needs some shell pins!




Excellent - enjoy it

I recently needed some new R clips for the shell of mine. I found some pretty cheap and delivered via eBay - worth a look if you need them.

The Husky and mine are now fully charged and ready for the 19th - can't wait to see his face and get to the park with them.

nick205 - 16/3/16 at 12:14 PM

Just for kicks, this is my own RC car, a Maverick Strada XB Evo. Battery powered, fast and great fun to drive in big spaces

nick205 - 16/3/16 at 12:16 PM

quote:
Originally posted by big_wasa
My lads where not interested at all


Shame, they don't know what they've missed.

Not cheap hobby I have to say, but great fun.

big_wasa - 16/3/16 at 01:47 PM

quote:
Originally posted by nick205
quote:
Originally posted by big_wasa
My lads where not interested at all


Shame, they don't know what they've missed.

Not cheap hobby I have to say, but great fun.


I still got them one each I gave them to my brothers lad about three weeks ago as he is mad for them.

I keep looking at a Mardave Marauder for some locost style nostalgia.

nick205 - 16/3/16 at 02:05 PM

Love it, you didn't not try to get them into it

nick205 - 16/3/16 at 02:07 PM

One more note - today is parent's evening at my kid's school so I'm taking my car up the park with them between school end at 15:30 and parent's evening start at 16:20

mazie - 16/3/16 at 03:32 PM

Always been a huge RC car fan, well a fan of RC stuff I general but always had cars, I have a Hobao Hyper sT nitro, one of the 1/8 scale bigger boys. Really must get it running again is such fun, hopefully one of my daughters will get into them when older. Even the RC car has to be modified and mucked about with.

BenB - 16/3/16 at 04:13 PM

I tried hard but really never got into r/c cars. The left / right forward / backwards thing quickly got a wee bit boring for me. Now planes and quadcopters is a different kettle of fish- add in the Y dimension and we're talking!!! Somewhere I've still got my Tamiya Boomerang including really bad tiger stripe paint job!!!

Bluemoon - 16/3/16 at 08:14 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Barkalarr
I've still got the cars I used to race as a kid some 30 years (ish) ago.

Anyone remember "Team Associated RC10" or "Optima Mid" ??

Will put up pics tomorrow if I can dig them out....


Used to have an Optima Mid; currently own schumacher cougar 2 works and a schumacher Procat. Great fun when raced competitively...

nick205 - 16/3/16 at 08:33 PM

Cracking time earlier at the park with my Strada. A bit of dog chasing, but the car is that quick they can't catch it

The battery did about 15 mins flat out before it gave up, back re-charging now, but I suspect I'll buy a 2nd one shortly.

Oddified - 16/3/16 at 09:31 PM

I started racing rc cars competitively (Brca, Efra and Ifmar world championships) in the early 1980's and still do

Ian

David Jenkins - 16/3/16 at 10:03 PM

quote:
Originally posted by nick205
The battery did about 15 mins flat out before it gave up, back re-charging now, but I suspect I'll buy a 2nd one shortly.


It's probably worth getting a top-quality charger for the batteries - it will charge them quickly, and safely (well, as safely as is possible).

[Edited on 16/3/16 by David Jenkins]

nick205 - 17/3/16 at 08:57 AM

quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
The battery did about 15 mins flat out before it gave up, back re-charging now, but I suspect I'll buy a 2nd one shortly.


It's probably worth getting a top-quality charger for the batteries - it will charge them quickly, and safely (well, as safely as is possible).

[Edited on 16/3/16 by David Jenkins]


You could well be right. I use the charger that came with the car, not elaborate, but rated for the battery so I use it. Charge time is given as 6 hrs from flat to fully charged and I use a mains timer to run the 6 hrs rather than forget and over do it.

I will look at alternatives when sourcing a 2nd battery.

[Edited on 17/3/16 by nick205]

SJ - 17/3/16 at 09:23 AM

We've got a couple of old Tamiya cars [Imprezza and buggies] and a cheapy nitro buggy which is great but the quality of the components aren't up to the speed it can do - basically it breaks something every time we drive it!

jeffw - 17/3/16 at 10:14 AM

I use to race Corally Pro-10 back in the day, did the British Championship and the Euros but I was never A final material. Did hang out with some World Champions though

nick205 - 17/3/16 at 11:41 AM

I'm liking this, it seems there are lots of other RC fans out there as well

nick205 - 17/3/16 at 01:19 PM

Son no.1 has an HPI Mini Recon. It's a good car, fast and 4WD so goes off road OK. The downside is that the front shocks are mounted on the front of the front wishbones. Whilst the car is generally strong and reliable the way the front shocks are mounted makes it prone to damage if it hits something (being an RC car they tend to do that). New shocks are £10 a set and I've already fitted two sets, much to my annoyance. Still he loves it and doesn't moan when it needs fixing so it's not too bad.

jeffw - 17/3/16 at 01:57 PM

This is the sort of thing I use to race



[Edited on 17/3/16 by jeffw]

nick205 - 17/3/16 at 03:20 PM

^^^ Makes me dizzy just watching it

I'm more into big open fields where you can go flat out in a straight line.

jeffw - 17/3/16 at 04:41 PM

If you want dizzy.....1/12th scale indoors WC



CNHSS1 - 17/3/16 at 08:41 PM

Worked in the model trade for 18years, about 10 of which for race far inporters and distributors. Did lots of R&D, product evaluation etc for Ho Bao, Yokomo, Associated amongst others.

Raced 1/12th scale from 80s although only during the winter as 1/10th electric off road was my main focus. Over the years raced 1/8th rallycross, very occasional 1/8th circuit, lots of Pro10 (loved my TRC Predator Lynx 2 and original RC1OL), 1/10th Touring cars ( still have a couple of yokomos somehwere) 10th nitro circuit, 10th gas trucks. Great times, lots of friends made in uk, europe and states.
Often think when im freezing my knackers off in the garage or contorting myself under a car, i do think back to my dink racing days when i could sit in the warm in the spare room and prep my rc cars! Think i have it wrong playing with 12inches to the foot scale cars these days. My 2 sons at 5 &7 are showing interest so maybe i will get another go :-)

nick205 - 18/3/16 at 09:29 AM

quote:
Originally posted by CNHSS1
Worked in the model trade for 18years, about 10 of which for race far inporters and distributors. Did lots of R&D, product evaluation etc for Ho Bao, Yokomo, Associated amongst others.

Raced 1/12th scale from 80s although only during the winter as 1/10th electric off road was my main focus. Over the years raced 1/8th rallycross, very occasional 1/8th circuit, lots of Pro10 (loved my TRC Predator Lynx 2 and original RC1OL), 1/10th Touring cars ( still have a couple of yokomos somehwere) 10th nitro circuit, 10th gas trucks. Great times, lots of friends made in uk, europe and states.
Often think when im freezing my knackers off in the garage or contorting myself under a car, i do think back to my dink racing days when i could sit in the warm in the spare room and prep my rc cars! Think i have it wrong playing with 12inches to the foot scale cars these days. My 2 sons at 5 &7 are showing interest so maybe i will get another go :-)


with experience like yours you'd be crazy to miss out and not try to get your kids into it. Mine love it although it has to be said they need guidance on not driving into hard objects and damaging the cars.

Off to the park again with mine this afternoon after picking them up from school - it creates quite a bit of interest amongst the parents


ETA...the video above is nuts! I just don't think I have the concentration to drive like that.

[Edited on 18/3/16 by nick205]

CNHSS1 - 18/3/16 at 02:38 PM

RC cars and models in general are awesome, but it spoilt what was originally my hobby in the end. Loved the business side, but turning up to events week in week out to race myself, and getting whinged at as Little johnnys car had 'failed' and hed only crashed it into a wall/tree/parked car 25 times, blah blah blah, but it was the manufacturers or importers fault etc etc, cheesed me off in the end.
having been away from the scene for 9years now, im sure I could enjoy it again. been playing with quadcopters recently, also good fun :-)

loggyboy - 18/3/16 at 03:14 PM

quote:
Originally posted by nick205
ETA...the video above is nuts! I just don't think I have the concentration to drive like that.



You can understand how Lewis Hamilton (unknowingly i suspect) proved to his dad he was worth investing in when you see him winning RC car races at 8.

CNHSS1 - 18/3/16 at 09:44 PM

Lewiss brother Nick is pretty handy on the transmitter sticks too

nick205 - 18/3/16 at 10:38 PM

quote:
Originally posted by loggyboy
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
ETA...the video above is nuts! I just don't think I have the concentration to drive like that.



You can understand how Lewis Hamilton (unknowingly i suspect) proved to his dad he was worth investing in when you see him winning RC car races at 8.


Indeed, some have it some don't - I recall watching a video of Tony Pond lapping the TT circuit in a Rover road car with an average speed over 100mph and talking in a relaxed manner whilst doing it. I go quiet and concentrate when going fast.