MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Am I correct in saying the only difference between these two is the shell?
https://www.scmodels.co.uk/shop/axial-124-scx24-deadbolt-4wd-rtr-green/
https://www.scmodels.co.uk/shop/axial-124-scx24-jeep-wrangler-jlu-crc-rtr-yellow/
@Merak when I was researching ours I think I discovered that the Deadbolt was their first one and they made some very small revisions for the Jeep and Chevy models. Cannot for the life of me remember what they were, we got the Chevy C10 in grey. Might see about picking up the Jeep body for variety, or just an extra one so we can race 🙂
What's the runtime like on that SCX24? Been considering one for the boy as he's a bit bored of his Tamiya buggy now.
It was about £50 to buy in December and it’s really quick – 30kmh according to the specs.
Find out for certain
@northernmatt I've not stopwatched ours but I feel like it goes for about an hour - it's often longer than the boy's attention span for it anyway. The charge doesn't take too long either. I have heard that the supplied charger is sensitive about power so I'm only using it through PC USB ports rather than plugging into phone chargers, apparently they can blow it through supplying too many amps. It's still complete in 2 hours or so.
Here, I've been meaning to put together a little edit of our truck and today's conversation tipped me over the edge into doing it. There's a silly yeehaw tune on the first half just to put something over the chatter. And I had to blur out my wife who's sofa nap became an obstacle, not sure she'd thank me for broadcasting that one to the world! As the description says, this is my kid at the controls, it's possible to handle it with a little more finesse but he does pretty well actually.
Excellent.
Next time my missus falls asleep on the couch I'll run over her with the tank.
Looks like our house, wife trying to nap on the sofa, Lego and KiwiCo box detritus, dad and kids doing their best to stop mum napping.
Battery life in a crawler is ace. I very rarely go full throttle and the technical moves are more interesting anyway. in a buggy i'm basically full throttle the whole time so battery gets some serious use
Sold my Escort shell...
Got another one, the pre painted kit one felt like cheating anyway.😬
I'm going for a non box art livery on this one.👌
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Had the trx4 out for a wee crawl in the dark with a light kit. Says it’s waterproof so thought I’d test that out properly in some Scottish bog. It survived the bog, and was an absolute blast. Made it up some amazingly steel muddy hills. However a bit later it died. Upon examination after a hose down, seems I lost a brush from the motor. A cheapish fix and worth it for the fun!
Well...in all honesty, it would have been a really cheap fix if I hadn’t also spotted a hobbywing sale on and bought a brushless motor and wax combo!
What a great idea @mrmonkfinger! Not sure I can justify the cost but I like it 🙂
Just brilliant!
@Merak that's awesome, do you print your own stickers or are they from another kit? I've been going at my Subaru shell here and there for about 2 weeks now and I've not even got to the stage of paint and there's you doing that in 2 days!
Cheers, that's kind.👍
I did this yesterday start to finish 8hrs give or take. It's really not that bad once you've done a few.
The decals are from eBay.
If you don't get round to it send me your Subaru and I'll do it for you.👌
Gob.
Smacked.
*Applauds* 🙂
yup, that's a beaut!
@Merak - I would but this is the first I've done for about 20 years so I'm going to see if I can not cock it up. I've procrastinated a bit, shell is cut out I just need to sort sharp edges. In the mean time I've been cutting the stickers out. Painting is the main issue as I've got nowhere inside to do it so I'm at the mercy of the weather.
The boy has asked me to paint and sticker his Rising Fighter as well so may use that as practice even though it's a different material.
@Merak - That is great work and only took 8 hours!
With working every day, only get half an hour every night to do mine, cutting a bit out every night, spray 1 layer a night and maybe 1 - 2 stickers per night ended up taking 2 months and look no where as good as yours.
This is an M03 chassis that I picked up from someone who had it sat on a shelf with a body that doesn't suit it:
Had it upgraded with full bearing set and a set of Mini CVA shocks that I have sitting around. It is surprisingly fun and handles just like a real Mini so decided to get a Mini body for it. Tamiya has discontinued all the Mini bodies so I had to get one from L & L and a set of decals from RCdecals. The main complaint is the windows stickers were too small, I would have just use masking tape if I had known, also, a lot of the original details were replaced by sticker but here it is:
I bought a set of mini wheels for it but it just looked a bit boring. The white wheels seem to suit it.
Ooh, I like that. Gives me an idea...
Can thourougly recommend one of these, if you are after somthing cheapish, bloody fast and tough as nails...Banggood special
@merak - your Escort looks superb once again!
@nicholas_yiu - like the look of the Mini too.
I'm excitedly waiting for the delivery of my new one - a 2CV Rally. I ordered it at the end of Jan to go alongside the Unimog. I'm looking forward to the build, thought the Unimog was really fun to put together. I've got the bearing kit already and also the 'sport tuned' motor to go in so we'll see how that goes.
I didn't really enjoy doing the body on the 'mog and didn't make a great job of it. To take away some of the pain I bought myself a Dremel and spent my lunchtime quickly cutting out the spare shell I ordered for the 2CV to practice on. Definitely the way forward, I've got a couple of edges to smooth but so much easier that using scissors and craft knives like I used on the last one. And once it's painted (another bit I don't enjoy) should be a good alternative to the Citroen shell. The MO5 is FWD so the Maxi 5 body feels 'wrong' - but I suppose I could pretend that it's just a regular one with a Dimma kit on it 🙂
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51023169462_e09daa457d_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51023169462_e09daa457d_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2kJK5Ej ]R5[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/192115655@N03/ ]Chrispoffer Lawrence[/url], on Flickr
So..... gluing tyres? Had the mighty 'mog out at the weekend on the scoot track again and all the wheel spinning caused a couple of tyres to come off the rim. I've had this in the past - when I first built it at Xmas I had the special Tamiya glue which I ran around the inside of the tyre before popping on the wheel. After we had another tyre pop off I tried a couple of blobs of gorilla super glue gel. Same again - so what's the best method?? Super glue all the way around?
Obviously not using full throttle all the time isn't an option 😉
I've super glued the tyres on my And Bull.
Guys, I've got an old Tamiya TL-01 that I dragged out of my parents loft when back in the day. Turns out that 'young me' wasn't particularly kind to the old body shell and what is left of it is largely held together with tape and hope...
Is there anywhere online where I can source a reasonably priced body shell so that I can spruce it up again. Mechanically, it seems to work fine still so seems like a nice project to work on with my lad.
Thanks in advance.
eBay is probably your best source.
Just type in Tamiya TL-01 body in and you should get some hits.
I've also used Modelsport for odds and sods and they've been great. Might be worth a squint at their website? I would think you could probably use any 1/10 scale shell that you fancy really, they're all pretty interchangeable.
I have read this and many other threads with interest. It is solarider jnr's 6th birthday, and as much as I don't need an excuse to buy one for myself, I would like something we can share (well, OK, it's for me really!).
I have narrowed it down to either:
FTX Ranger XC 1/16th
FTX Outback 3.0 1/24th
Axial SCX24 Jeep 1/24
There is quite a range of prices but they are ultimately all affordable value end models. I want the best out of the box experience (but I am sure that tinkering will follow!).
Of the 2 1/24 models, the Axial always get better reviews, but is it really worth twice as much as the FTX? Will 1/24th be just too small outside and would I be better off with the 1/16th which is still cheaper than the Axial?
I have definitely focused in on a Crawler in terms of low speed, long run time and more engagement than just watching it wizz round in circles (having ruled out something like the FTX Comet for example).
WWSTWD?
I got an axial scx24 for my daughter. It’s really good but I suspect the FTX will be nearly as good at a lower price. 1/24th is a good size for indoor use. Think 1/16th might be a wee bit big for tabletop crawling.
I'd defo go with the SCX24
I don't know what size the FTX 1/16 model is, my mate has the FTX 1/10 and it's HUGE! Much bigger than my SCX10.2.
In general the FTX isn't that well built, but it's good entry level stuff. If you're going to get serious the build quality comes into question
I have the original Outback 1/24th, it was disappointing tbh- the combined esc/radio was very unreliable, I warrantied it twice then just stumped up for a proper esc and put it on my other radio. I think they might have changed that for the newer one. GOod fun around the house though.
The MN99 (and other variants) is decent, and good value- it's picked up a good aftermarket too. It does feel plastickier than the outback 1/24 and definitely much more so than teh little axial but I've not killed mine yet. It's a bit bigger and can crawl on a lot more stuff, but still "feels" and drives small compared to a 1/10. A lot of people seem to go daft for upgrades but mine is stock apart from the electronics and some wheel weights, I might add a little more metal just to improve the steering.
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In a strange change of direction, we are now considering the Carisma Range Rover. Can’t quite justify the Traxxis R4 Defender as a first car but this looks decent and a cut above the FTX stuff.
In reality we will probably use the car outside on walks and the 24th scale stuff seems better suited to inside.
It’s a bit more money, but is it a bit more car or are we just better off sticking with the FTX type stuff?
Carisma is good. Much better than FTX. Looks pretty cool too
@Merak - there you go finishing another shell before I've done even one. It's half painted, I've got the blue on but I'm waiting on a can of silver coming to make it look a bit nicer. I also realised the spoiler is ABS so needs different paint, waiting on that as well.
@Merak that shell looks fantastic, as do the others that you've posted on this thread.
@Solarider my brother is currently building the Carisma Coyote kit and a mate has picked up the Range Rover kit. Although they've not driven them yet they do seem happy with the quality of the components. I believe some Axial SCX10 parts fit too so there should be plenty of scope to upgrade later on should you wish.
I'm enjoying using my WPL C14 around the house, I've seen they can be quite good outdoors too but their size limits things a bit. As such I'm considering building a 1:10 scale crawler/trail truck.
More top Escortage up there Merak.
Just so everyone knows, it's actually possible to do a slightly less than awesome job.... Thought I'd share this to prove it :-).
My 2CV Rally turned up on Tues so I'm going to have some fun this weekend building it. I'd ordered this R5 Turbo Maxi shell a few weeks ago to try and improve my woeful record with bodywork and have a bit of a practice. Cut it out an awful lot better than the Unimog but the paint's still ropey. Hopefully I'll have learnt some lessons by the time I do the 2CV shell...... Hopefully it fits over the M05-RA chassis, resting on the wheels there's not much clearance. Might have to cut the arches a little more.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51046211366_b8629cafe5_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51046211366_b8629cafe5_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2kLMbdw ]r5 turbo2[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/192115655@N03/ ]Chrispoffer Lawrence[/url], on Flickr
solarider
Full MemberIn a strange change of direction, we are now considering the Carisma Range Rover. Can’t quite justify the Traxxis R4 Defender as a first car but this looks decent and a cut above the FTX stuff.
In reality we will probably use the car outside on walks and the 24th scale stuff seems better suited to inside.
It’s a bit more money, but is it a bit more car or are we just better off sticking with the FTX type stuff?
It's very good tbh. Not sure why but it and the pickup seem to be a popular "first crawler for the kid" when one of the parents is really into it. Self rights pretty well and seems durable, and really nice to look at It's a nice inbetweeny size because of the smaller wheels, you get massively more capability than a mini crawler but without it seeming massive.
The size is a plus and minus though, it does have much less ground clearance which can lead to getting annoyingly stuck more often (this drives me crazy, it's very suspension-of-disbelief breaking for me when you get the diff stuck on a root or something and it just stops dead, or when you're having fun crawling some tech feature and it gets high centred much easier than other trucks... But not everyone would feel the same, and kids are generally more up for dealing with stuff by wheel speed, ramming, etc). But the flipside is being a bit more managable, easier to carry, and often more fun on smaller stuff.
But, pound for pound it's not as good a buy as the newer FTX/RGT/etcs, though they have different strengths. The Fury is cheaper, less scale but a much more capable crawler (partly because it's a fair bit bigger, but it'll go places that the Carisma just can't attempt- or a TRX4 for that matter). Parts availability is generally good (though i don't know how brexit and covid's affected that) and interchangability with the SCX10 for axles and the like is also decent. Reliability went up loads over the earlier FTXs, they literally just looked at the stuff that was breaking and upgraded it. Worth shopping around as you can get literally the same truck under different brands at different prices, and also some interesting variations.
(The Outback 2 is just slightly too far on the cheap side to recommend now, it's great fun but breaks parts just a bit too easily- a few generations old basically. The parts are generally easy to find and cheap but it still spoils your drive, and downtime is irritating. Also you end up paying £3.50 for modelsport postage on a £6 part which is always infuriating.)
Thanks Northwind. That’s really helpful. Carisma Range Rover RTR on its way! Seems like Modelsport is the default in this new world?
@chrioffer , nowt wrong with that. Looks fine for a driver. First drive on anything remotely gravelly and it’ll be chipped to hell anyway, mine certainly were.
Merak’s shells look amazing but I’m not sure I’d be brave enough to drive them.
@clubby - looks better on the pic to be fair, I obviously didn't do enough coats of white as the yellow has bled through. But you're spot on, as soon as it's been rolled on tarmac a few times it'll be reet!
Started the 2CV M-05 ra build last night, going to have a great time building the chassis I think.
I recently bought my 5yr old daughter one of these:
Now don't get me wrong, this isn't up to the standard of my Neo Fighter or anything like that, but it's bloody good for £12.
It's basic radio control so not digital proportional, but it is a 2.4GHz controller.
It takes 4AA batteries in the car, so we've bought some rechargeables. They seem to be lasting well.
It isn't a very fast car, so it perfect for her to get the hang of controlling. She's tried my Neo Fighter, but it's just way too much. This is small enough to trundle around the house & easy to control.
The only slightly annoying thing is that the steering servo is quite noisy & keeps making the noise all the time that the steering is being used. It's a bit odd, but for £12 I really can't grumble.
I thought it might be worth mentioning in case there are others looking for a small easily controllable car for a youngster.
Most of the cars irrespective of price just seem to focus on speed, which we're not too interested in at this stage.
That Renault looks great! I think it's acknowledged that's one of the trickiest modern Tamiya shells to paint!
The shells I do are pretty straightforward nothing too difficult. I don't use them just a hobby to sell on eBay.
I've got a brusheless lipo stadium truck for kicks that I dont mind the odd scratch on. Didn't stop me gaffa taping the whole underside to keep it safe. Really good tip I got from a model shop guy.👍
This guy does some amazing work, his accent is great too.
£12.....! That looks like great fun, a good intro.
That guy's great, accent is worth watching for.
I couldn't find a Tamiya Maxi 5 shell so I got an equivalent from Arion. The Tamiya shell looks better - but this one's really to keep the 2CV shell 'nice' so doesn't really matter. Once I get the 2CV finished. Might watch a few vids before I start it, when I did my first one I didn't even realise that soapy water was the best way to clean the shell before painting and between coats etc.
@timmys Thanks for that vid. Couple hours research and that has been bought. Its for my sons 5th birthday. Honestly..... 4 weeks on a slow boat from China but under 75 quid.
Its for my sons 5th birthday
ooh 5. I know I said it was tough, but I'd recommend you look for a very big open space with absolutely no hard objects around! Or buy a second one for spares now.
Like I said. Honesty its for him.....
Another MkII!
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Fantastic, but I fear for the headlights!
Got a few MkIIs on my Scalextric. Only for the grown-ups.
@Stumpy, I think that's the exact car I blame for getting me into crawlers. Had a lot of fun with it then blew up the stock electronics while experimenting with voltage.
@northwind - hopefully my daughter won't wreck it too quickly! It's basic but pretty good. Not really had a proper go of it round the garden yet.
I know I smashed it down the stairs a few times and it didn't seem to mind- it's so light that it doesn't have the momentum destroying it like bigger stuff has.
Just had a good morning in the shed, built a cheap crawler for my 7 year old lad. And it’s way better than mine🤔
We got him a £40 1/16 scale army truck a while ago and it was pants (was going to send it back to shop). It got shelved for months. I did not realise how gutted he was about it till recently.
So I got some 1/10 crawler axles and gearbox off Amazon. And built them onto the original chassis, it’s just straight steel rails. So wasn’t sure how it would turn out. Success. He will beat me on anything now though. Weird how things work. He was so happy he gave me a big hug.
Might try copying it for me
.
After a week with the Carisma SCA1E Range Rover, it’s flipping’ brilliant! Never owned a ‘proper’ RC so to me it’s mind blowing. Now I really want a Traxxis Defender! I pride myself on being able to handle any bike maintenance job, but this is a whole new world of fat fingered challenge. Fitted some LEDs which entailed removing 4 x 1.5mm bolts and cabling a tiny plug into the receiver - haven’t sweated like that even on a strenuous ride for years!!!
Got solarider jnr an Outback Ranger XC (1/16th) and apart from the short lived dedicated battery (only available in low MHA, so we got a couple spare) it’s equally brilliant.
I partly blame this thread but thanks!
That Range Rover looks like the start of a spending habit..... Which seems to have infected us too.
My son loved playing with my Unimog so much that he's bought his own crawler from his pocket money and savings -
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51011763190_dad41c9f49_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51011763190_dad41c9f49_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2kHJBYs ]DSC_0151[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/192115655@N03/ ]Chrispoffer Lawrence[/url], on Flickr
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51080252533_144c778f8b_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51080252533_144c778f8b_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2kPMDtc ]DSC_0156[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/192115655@N03/ ]Chrispoffer Lawrence[/url], on Flickr
It's an FTX Kanyon. Looks good doesn't it? It's physically massive. Very slow after the Unimog but will climb anything and of course much less chance of rolling or flipping it too. A definite hit.
Meanwhile, in the faster end of the car park I give you -
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51011763435_87e33d294d_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51011763435_87e33d294d_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2kHJC3F ]DSC_0149[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/192115655@N03/ ]Chrispoffer Lawrence[/url], on Flickr
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51080947171_1e62bc00be_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51080947171_1e62bc00be_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2kPRcXH ]DSC_0143[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/192115655@N03/ ]Chrispoffer Lawrence[/url], on Flickr
So this is the M05-ra 2CV with my 'practice' Renault 5 Maxi Turbo shell. The kit's standard apart from steel bearings instead of plastic and the Tamiya Sport motor instead of the standard one. It's quick enough to make you dizzy and crashes well over the jumps at the scoot park. Really stable, the weight's really low down. Corners as fast as you like. Going to start the 2CV body over the bank holiday weekend I think but might save it for best.
Where's that like button?
I think I'm about to add my voice to people cursing this thread! Having equipped the family with various bits of RC Lego at Christmas, I now find myself tempted by some proper RC. Looking at fast and off-road as there are few spots nearby which I think would work well. I'm currently looking at a Traxxas Rustler 4x4 VXL, but would be interested in other suggestions for similar sort of spec/price.
I've just googled that Traxxas and it looks awesome, you should have great fun with that. You'll not have the fun of building it of course (like the Tamiya stuff) but it should be ready to go straight out of the box.
I had Tamiya stuff as a kid, although sadly I've got no idea whose attic my old Thunder Shot ended up in.
I quite enjoy building, but actively dislike painting the shell (I'm in awe of some of the efforts on this thread!) and am happy to go with something pre-built this time around.
The Arrma 3s range is a very good alternative to the Traxxas stuff.
Seems to be just as tough, a bit more modern and a little cheaper.
Very impressed with my Big Rock.
3s is crazily fast, but I usually run it at 50% power, selectable on the controller.
Gents, bought the car in the link for my son and whilst its a fantastic car, the little tyke has managed to break one of the suspension arms. Have gone back to where I bought it ( RC Geeks) and they don't do spares although say they are available. My google skill seem to be lacking in this instance but would appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction?
https://www.rcgeeks.co.uk/collections/rc-cars-kids/products/rcg-racing-1-14-rc-car-green
Just ordered another tank!
T34/85 in the post. Should have it for weekend when me and my lad will be re-enacting The Battle of Kursk in the woods behind my house.
@mmcd the Q901 I have for our five year old looks like it has some very similar parts on it to the ones in the pictures of the model you linked to. Cant say if they would actually fit but might be worth a try if you can’t find anything else; there is normally a fair selection up on eBay but most of it may take a while to arrive as I think it all comes straight from China.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393101423553
New Tank!
The decals failed to adhere, so I hand painted it. As the decals were basically hand painted slogans and numbers anyway and the real tanks were a bit "Rattey" I didn't mind. Would have been annoyed if it was on a sharper looking tank though.
Heng Long T34 / 85
With the Tiger.
Rattey? WTF? Ratty.
Carry on.
Hand-painted looks authentic! 🙂
Thanks, I was really pissed off so I started looking for after market decals and they nearly all depicted really bad paint jobs, so I had a look at images of the real thing and they looked terrible!
Gah. Just dropped the radio of the first tank and broke it.
£30 gone.
When reading Harry’s thread about his tanks and their bb’s it reminded me that I had a tank just like his, given to me for my lad by an elderly neighbor.
Tanks are not really that interesting for a kid of today and I’m quite sorry to say it’s never been out of the box and is unlikely to ever!
Ron our elderly neighbor was a model train enthusiast and we helped him build a track so his engines could go around his garden and back into his shed which had amazing scenery and buildings and stations and sidings and probably everything an enthusiast would want. I don’t think tanks were his thing.
Unfortunately Ron passed last year but I know he would want his tank to go to someone like him. If any of STW’s model enthusiast would like it please shout. I’m sorry but I’m too technophobe to contemplate pictures but I’m happy to email any photos.
Yet more Escort. I've done a Colin McRae replica. Painted the spots to look like Cibie covers.
May yet have a go at the long black stripe the last incarnation of the car had.
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That Escort looks fantastic.
A Russian colleague corrected the slogan for me as originally it just said Stalin! Now it has For Stalin! on one side and For The Motherland! on the other.
Hand painted looks better than the decals. A happy accident.
With improved Russian.
Only had about 5 minutes of IR "Scuffle Mode" before one of the radios got dropped and broken. When the new radio arrives we'll have them out in the woods making noises and smoke.
RTR and they cost about the same as a Tamiya Grasshopper/Mad Bull bundle should anyone be tempted.
Discovered a great little car park in the village where we live - the overflow carpark of the golf club isn't tarmac and the surface is brilliantly drifty and slidey, some very small shingle, some sand, some loam. Had a play last night and then the buggy died, not sure what's up. Steering still moves but no drive, think the motor may have gone. Need to have a proper look at it. Was disappointed as I still had another battery to run through it
Stop it Harry.........🙂
Unplug the steering servo from the ESC and see if the motor works ok then.
Had the same symptom in my boys Rising Fighter. It took me an embarrassing amount of time to find it was the steering servo had shorted internally. I had changed the motor, receiver and ESC before I figured it out.