R/C Cars

[mydesigner]

Anybody play with RC cars or planes. I am looking into buying a nitro car pretty soon. My boss has one and it is fun as heck. Curious as to what brand to get. I did see they have a dragster that goes 0-60 in two seconds!!! That would be cool but i want something to run in dirt.

[tjthorson]

I bought a cheap one since I am not into the hobby that much. It was pretty easy to build and so far I only needed a new recoil assembly, which was sent to me free under warranty. We pull it out a few times a year. I upgraded it with the 2 speed tranny. It moves out pretty good, does about 30 - 35 with the bigger tires on it. The draw for me with the nitro was the fact you can run it for 10 minutes on a tank and fill it up again and keep going. My first car was electric, and even with 6 batteries, the kids got bored with me having to change batteries every 5 minutes.

http://www.towerhobbies.com/products/towc0055.html

I think we have had it three years now. I have only run about 2 quarts of fuel through it, so we dont use it much. It has held up well, even with the kids running into stuff in the backyard. I noticed now the truck is prebuilt in the box. When i got mine when they first came out, I had to build it from scratch.

[SilverSleeper]

Ive only messed with the electronic cars, never had any experience with the gas cars. I have 3 Team Associated cars, and a few others.
I think its actually better to build your car from scratch, because then you can fix it if it breaks or you need parts. Its good to understand how they go together.
One thing that always worried me about the gas cars, is that you still have to use a battery to power the receiver and the servos, and if it starts dying on you before a recharge, you lose control over the car. A dying battery in an electric means it just stops responding to your commands and goes off slowly on its own. You can tell when its about ready to give up. But with a few gas powered cars Ive seen, since that battery controls the servos, you could very well end up with a servo stopping at full throttle on the gas.
I used to race mine, and with good batteries and a stock turn motor, you could get them to last 10 minutes or more with the right gearing and battery training.

[BLACK MAGIC RACING]

Jason, most new radio systems have a built-in fail- safe that returns both servos to a pre-set neutral position in the event of low battery power or loss of signal. mydesigner, if you want something nitro and fun in the dirt, consider a team losi LST, it's huge, 4WD, and a LOT of fun. It can tAke a pretty good beating, too!

[Bens87tr]

If you are interested I have a T-maxx that I would like to get rid of. Has an upgraded motor that has less than 10 tanks of fuel run through it. I can never get used to the nitro cars, too fussy with tuning. But when they are tuned they are awsome! Don't have the time anymore. Email me if you (or anyone) are interested. $200 shipped.

[Sleeper-6]

WARNING---------R/C cars and planes are addicting. I have 6 cars/trucks, 3 planes and a half finished boat. I really love the products from Team Associated. They are really durable and easy to work on. The Losi vehicles are durable too, and handle great but I have always found them a pain in the a$$ to work on. Traxxas also makes some awesome backyard bashing vehicles but I've never been a fan of the Maxx series, Too heavy, under powered and bulky.

Nitro cars are a blast, If you're mechanically inclined you'll have a blast. If not the learning curve can kill ya. Once you get the hang of them there's nothing better.

It all depends on where you plan on running your car as to what kind you should get. Monster trucks are all the rage these days for terrorizing playgrounds and BMX tracks. I'm a fan of the stadium trucks. They're high enough to bash around with, yet still have the low center of gravity, suspension setup, and light weight to give them tremendous speed and agility. There are some wickedly fast on-road cars out there these days too. Just match the style of vehicle to what you want to do with it and you'll be happy.

As tjthorson said, some radios have a built in failsafe. If not they can be bought seperately added in-line with the throttle servo for around $20. It's a good idea. I have an 1/8" aluminium chasies hanging on my shop wall that looks like a potato chip. (it used to be flat) I had a radio failure and my RC10GT went wide open for about 400 Ft before squareing up with a curb. The curb won. Even so, I believe it cost less than $50 to get me up and running again.

[NCTURBOS]

I bought an awd 2-spd gas powered R/C car at B.G. a few years ago. I didn't have a TR there that year so I needed something to do...

I can't remember what the name of the car was, something like 4-tec or similar. I've since sold it to a friend. Lots of fun though!!


K.

[LSTTYPE]

Ive been into rc cars for 15 years. Without a doubt my favorite is the nitro powered LST. It has been a trully amazing truck. It basically has 4 gears! Goes like 40 mph out of the box. My friend jumped over his full size car with an LST last weekend! It is pricey at like 450-500dolllars.

[camaro75racer]

1/8 scale buggy all the way!!! I have the RDLogics SHO and it screams. This thing is tough and very fast out of the box. It comes ready to run and assembled for $300. Also look at the OFNA Ultra LX and MBX. They are a ton of fun.