I feel my wallet emptying...
This gets good reviews & looks to be a bargain for <£40.
I keep looking to get something for my daughter that is capable, but not stupid fast. It seems difficult though, as most of the reviews just immediately do speed tests and these things are like rockets....
For £40 I am not gonna cry too much if she smashes this to bits.
At the moment, I let her do the steering on my Neo Fighter, while I do the throttle...we still hit every obstacle in the garden, but in a controlled manner! 🙂
I've got an Axial SCX10 ii kit being delivered tomorrow... I hate you all haha 🙂
My daughter "dobbed me in" to the wife about my intended purchase.
"Where are you going to put that?" was the first question. Luckily I have thought this through and have space in a big plastic storage box that a Revell Victor K2 has recently vacated. In a move of tactical genius I kept the empty box in the under stairs cupboard as a place marker for future stupid purchases.
The price is a closely guarded secret at the moment. My only comment being that it will cost less than the diesel that I've not burnt in the last 5 weeks. She doesn't know that I would have got through 160 litres though!
I've also surveyed the garden and have worked out where I can put various ramps for performing "Sweet Jumps™" over walls, steps and flower beds.
Sounds ace mate, we've been doing the same, lots of jumps and crazy stuff. !
I’m hoping with the nostalgia factor and the fact it’s fully built and working, i’d get what i paid for it
People buy Tamiya because they want to build them, so I doubt that will be the case!
He’s right. eBay is full of the forgotten hopes and dreams of middle aged selling on cars they built and then ran for less than a week.
I’m under no illusion that mine will be much different, but it’s cheaper than the old hot hatches I always end up searching for after watching episodes of Wheeler Dealers!
Wife got a surprise last night when I told her that no it wasn’t bike parts in the box. Then I got “that” look when I told what was 🙂
Only got around to opening it this morning and OMG, that really is a lot of bits. With a 13 month old to look after on my days off, they’ll have a vaccine for corona virus before this thing’s finished.
At least in part due to this thread we've now got one of these winging its way to us...
The controller, servo, battery, charger and a selection of proper bearings arrived this morning.
Should be a lot of fun to build with Junior.
I have this painting to do - any tips? The cockpit part is white plastic. Do I try to mask off the guy's arms and t-shirt when I spray the flat black, or just do it all black and go over with the lighter colours?
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The lads broke youngest_oab's FTX surge a couple of days ago.
So he now has one of these in its way - we aim to reuse the FTX controller and servo. New battery ordered.
Just back from the park with the Lunchbox.
Our council are ace, two huge, empty RC tracks.
One with 18 sections and one with 9. Sand obstacles, jumpy bits, benches for a nice sit down, all mowed to perfection.
I'm not tall enough to use the ball cleaners though.
Is it cider o'clock???
@stumpy
I would say spend a couple of quid more on something like an FTX or second hand tamiya - they do sell spare parts for them. So a duffed up suspension part or stripped cog is a couple of quid and away you go again...
This thread is making me very nostalgic, used to race 1/10th scale r/c buggies twice a week as a kid in Darlo. Got my first paper round to fund it and eventually had a Saturday job in the local model shop (spent more than I ever earned). In the run up to Christmas we'd sell loads, a surprisingly high number of people wanted them pre-built so me and the owner could easily get 3 or 4 built in a day.
I started off with a second hand Tamiya Sand Scorcher
Went 4WD with a Kyosho Optima that I converted from chain to belt drive
Then an Optima Mid converted to LWB when they came out
Ended up with Kyosho Lazer ZX (4WD) and Ultima Pro (2WD)
Spent a fortune on different motors for different tracks, cells, upgrades (shiny alloy, Ti and Carbon) , speed controllers and RC kit.
Little Miss Smoggy wanted a Monster Truck a few years ago, so we got two of Maverick Ion 1/18th (buggy for me, truck for her). They're a good laugh although the transmitter failed in one of them and I think the only option is to replace transmitter and receiver/speed controller as they were updated. Almost as much as buying a new one for £80.
Father Christmas got my daughter an FTX Surge Monster Truck, so it was only fair that I got the Surge Truggy as an early birthday present today to join in the fun. We've already established that the only thing more fun that an RC car is... ...two RC cars!
May need to fit some of the chunkier MT wheels at some point...
Will get a kit to build when I'm not trying to pack childcare and work into the same period.
Any tips on soldering?
Got a LiPo battery/charger for my FTX Carnage, came with deans connectors so needed to swap the Tamiya connector on the esc.
Tried tonight but struggled, either the solder would stick to the cable and the tab but wouldn't stick both together or it just went clumpy/blotchy.
Managed to get a very messy joint, but not sure how secure/durable it will be.
Just using a cheap iron and sold from Wilkos, are more expensive ones easier to use with better results?
Theres a few good Youtube videos on Soldering.
Thanks, will have a look.
2 colts ordered, thanks Weeksy
Dammit, been lurking in this thread and hovering over the hornet but was resisting due to the cost. Those colts however are too much to resist so will get one. The potential for upgrades is a bad thing too as could cost a bit with lipo and brushless upgrades
Nice that ^^, always enjoyed a spin around the skate park.
This thread has sparked my interest again, dug my old Traxxas 1/16 summit out the other day thinking I'll charge the batteries up and go for a drive around the garden. Oh how foolish!
Batteries were nearly dead, steering servo dead as well. Plenty of wear in the suspension and bearings as well means I'm now £85 poorer and there is a service kit, new bearings and ball joint ends and a new servo in the post. Full strip down, clean and a rebuild on the way😂
First minor mechanical today "Daddy, this doesn't sound right when going backwards"
Quick peek and the engine/motor was loose.
Sadly it was an engine out jobbie to get to the 2 bolts and tighten them up... Only 10-15 mins but wasn't too complex.
Quickly sorted and back up and running 🙂
Update to my problems with my Neo Fighter - a new ESC and it's running again 🙂
That said, I do fancy building another one... any suggestions as to one that's a decent build? I'd love another Grasshopper, but I fear that would be about 2 hours of build time and it's done! Any suggestions for a readily available (I'm in Spain) yet fairly complicated to build RC car?
The Grasshopper took me about 6.
But was my first. I think I'd complete it in 2 maybe 3 now. So yes, maybe not the best for you
Been watching with interest. My heart says go Tamiya and have fun with building it, but I think for most part its going to be too fast for the 6yr old and back yard action. Looking at the Colt has led me to the Outback Mini which looks like it could be fun.
Love this thread. Am tempted to buy another car just for the fun of building it 🙂
@weeksy - Loving the Grasshopper. Are the shocks just springs? My son's WLToys 12428 (crap name, ace car) came with dry shocks and was a bit bouncy. Rather than upgrade the shocks I added some 2mm o-rings and filled them with oil. Makes a huge difference to the handling.
My Zombie lost a screw on the steering arm while driving on the lawn the other day. No RC shops open under lockdown, long wait for a pack of spares from AliExpress (ordered anyway, they'll come in handy).
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Job jobbed.
Loving the Grasshopper. Are the shocks just springs
Yup and quite soft at that. But we're not bothered as such. We're only playing with it, not going racing or anything like that. So it doesn't matter.
I took a punt on a cheap Mad Bull (with an upgraded brushless ESC but a brushed motor) from eBay a while ago, and it's time to get it going. But I need two things: a charger (for classic NiMH batteries), and a transmitter and receiver.
Does anyone have any recommendations for budget-but-decent-quality? Generally digital transmitter / receivers seem to be £50 and up from the online shops (if they're still open?) and then there's something like this, which comes with a motor I don't need and I've no idea of the quality:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/401929778387
...and smart chargers look to have a similar variation in price - but I don't know the brands or the quality.
I'm hoping that "running around after a possibly knackered RC car" can count as part of our daily exercise quota. 😉
SkyRC chargers are good.
Flysky transmitters are decent enough for bashing.
took ours with us on daily bike ride yesterday. empty car parks are fun..
Pierre
Subscriber…and smart chargers look to have a similar variation in price – but I don’t know the brands or the quality.
The main problem with chargers is that there's a lot of copies out there, and some of them don't have the overcharging protection that lipo batteries absolutely need. I have a pretty basic Imax B6 which works great, but you've mostly got to be careful about where you source it.
Flysky GT3C still seems to be the king of the "good enough" radios.
So the ftx colt arrived today.
First proper rc car and it is a right laugh, glad I didn't get a bigger one as our garden is only little, maybe once bits come back in stock I will do a little upgrading.
thanks for spending my money as a result of this thread
WOW the bearing kit for engine and wheels makes a MASSIVE difference on the Grasshopper... just wow... wow..
Video please.
Ah, Jaysus - every time this thread is bumped to the top it stimulates me to look at another car. We got my son an FTX mauler for Christmas which has been superb fun, he loves it. Now I want one (but, of course, an even better one!)
nightmare!
I can believe it, the little boy wants to have the colt, so as a result it made me have a look at something like the ftx outlaw brushless
Video please.
LAter, it's school time again i'm afraid... after 3:30pm
@big_scot_nanny our FTX Mauker arrived yesterday and instantly every obstacle in the garden has been rendered obsolete, need to find bigger branches and logs! 😉
I ended up going for a pair of FTX Outback mini 2.0’s. Who knew going so slow could be so much fun. Been building a few mini courses with different obstacles to put them to the test.
Does the Grasshopper still come with a 380 motor?
no idea... none at all 🙂
