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Cheers Wiggles.
After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing I'm returning that cheap Madbull. And buying, a new Madbull. Hurrah! My cheap entry into the hobby is not so cheap but still not bad. Ordered from Jadlam and got the buggy for £75 and a lipo for it instead of nimh since I have a fast lipo charger.
Only now I want a scaler very very badly.
What Scaler are you thinking of Northwind? There are some nice kits out there now and there has never been more choice!
Not sure tbh, need to keep it cheap (and sell some other stuff to pay for it) so an Outback 2 seems likely- good enough to just go, cheap enough that I can get some pocket money hopups for it over time. But open to suggestions. (it's kind of a shame you can't get a kit Outback- you can get a rolling chassis but it's barely any cheaper than the RTR)
Aside; the little army truck responded excellently to a 180 motor upgrade, I reckon that's what they did the website videos with as the stock 130 was gutless. But it didn't like a 2S lipo quite so much and now the steering chip is dead. Ah well! I'll find a cheap servo and esc for it, it looks like a standard servo on its side will work. I think it's given me £20 worth of fun already though
I don’t have any first hand experience of the Outback and run Axial or RC4WD normally but I was quite impressed with the Carisma SCA-1E I saw at a competition earlier in the year, it’s a bit over budget at £229 but it has a lot of features standard that would normally be hip ups at that price point ... there is also a kill t out soon so that might be cheaper.
That's definitely got the look doesn't it. Cheers! I'll definitely not be buying anything more for a while anyway so I'll wait and see what happens with the kit
Blew the ESC on my 1/5th Savage last week, running 8s lipo.
Just ordered a new ESC and might drop down to 6s from now on, cars are afteral not supposed to be air bound 99% of the time.
Had some good sales on ebay so lashed out on a used ECX Barrage that came with a nice selection of hopups, and 3 lipos for some reason. The shell is frankly disgusting but it'll take the shell off the FTX Outback no problem, and all the basic model's issues are sorted- proper servo, wider stance, and the ECX comes with better electronics stock.
(previous owner's picture:
[img] 
[/img]
Blew up the motor on the second day, thrashing it around in the snow in a very uncrawlery way, my bad. So it's donated one of its lipos and its servo to the Madbull for now. I'll get some more bits for it (it's amazing how much you can spend on ebay and aliexpress while never spending more than £10...)
Oh and the madbull's in the middle of paint which I think is turning out quite nicely, and, because of the 20% off ebay deal after christmas, gained a brushless motor for maximum damage. The servo from the Barrage is ridiculously strong for a buggy, 15kg IIRC but it's good for muscling all that bendy blobby tamiya steering out of the way.
Hopefully the 2 are different enough that I can enjoy them both but I have to say, the scale crawler thing suits me down to the ground
I think I am going to have to get a car/truck.
I decided to get an RC plane a few months ago, well I bought a sim programme and a transmitter, I was told the sim is very good and it saves lot's of mending planes. After lot's of trying I can't keep a plane under any sort of control!
Start with a car I think, how hard can it be;-)
Love the idea of planes but I don't think I could deal with the heartbreak of crashing them 😆 Whereas crashing a buggy or a crawler is more or less the entire point.
Northwind - Member
Whereas crashing a buggy or a crawler is more or less the entire point.
You're right, however after building up my new car I fear that it's going to be too nice to crash 😯
Just finishing painting the shell now, hopefully be able to run it tomorrow 🙂
Northwind - Member
I'll definitely not be buying anything more for a while
1 week ago 😆
A week IS a while.
[quote=Northwind ]Love the idea of planes but I don't think I could deal with the heartbreak of crashing them
It's not quite the same issue with modern foam ones. The micro ones don't have enough momentum to do huge amounts of damage and you can fix them with tape, however I have found that you do end up needing to replace some bits. However with the slightly bigger ones all you need is EPS glue. I have one of these http://www.bananahobby.com/4-ch-fms-blue-mini-f4u-corsair-v2-rc-warbird-airplane-rtf.html - once flew it pretty much full throttle straight into the ground and the only thing I had to replace was the prop, just glued the rest of it back together again.
That looks like a great base Northwind, looks like it’s had a tyre ungrade too, RC4WD Iroks?
Copies sadly but considering I know nothing, they seem fine. (that's another thing I like about the scaler thing, there's no point in worrying about top performance- it gets me in the fatbike nerve)
The stock ones came with it too, they're a lovely looking Falken licenced tyre but they've got no tread. I have some metal beadlocks on the way just to add some low down weight so I'll maybe mess around more once they arrive. Or I might just get another set of rear madbull wheels and put it on those, they're all 12mm 😆
(also, had a proper LOL about the price of balancing weights if you add "RC" or "crawler" into the description, might have to add some to my ebay store 😉 I have about a million in the garage that came with my bead breaker)
Last night, i changed the oil in my rear shocks (four of them) as they were running a bit soft on the stock 25wt oil, gone up to 30 and feeling better and have a spare bottle of 35 just in case. If still no good, change of springs will be required.
Today my new 150A ESC should arrive allowing me to run 6S Lipo's (running 2 in parallel for balance and run times) which means the car could exceed 80mph given the room and if I can keep all 4 wheels on the ground.
Wow, two sodding months, but it's finished.☺
Only managed about an hour a week, but thoroughly enjoyed the build.
Managed to strip a chassis screw, but fixed it using the plastic tube from a cotton bud as a plug. The self tapping screws are an unbelievably cheap touch and might put me off another Tamiya.
Couldn't fit the receiver box without a low profile servo, but it's all together now, just waiting for the paint to dry on the shell (have been running it without the shell for a few days).
Can't believe how much fun the bloody thing is to drive - instant childhood. Fast enough, handles well, hasn't broken even after a trip to the local skatepark.
And I built it myself. Useless me, who struggles to put a shelf up.
The manual was great until I had to install the servo, ESC and receiver, it assumes a level of competence I only aspire too, even if it is aimed at 8 year olds.
Not had so much fun in ages.
It's purple, obviously.
Thanks for all the responses and inspiration.
Next on the agenda looks like the M-05 Citroen 2CV.
Once again, thanks for all the responses, very much appreciated.
Pete.
Nice work fella. TTIUWP.
Cheers mate. Struggling with TTIUWP though....🙂
Just finished a battle with the decals - just about got the hang of it at the end - lots of big pieces, not easy to line up.
Anyone else finished their impulse builds?
And can anyone recommend a photo hosting site which plays nicely with the new forum?
Thanks.
I'm still finishing paint on the Madbull, I got a bit carried away...
Having a lot of fun with the crawler though. Fixed the Barrage and decided to sell it on as a runner, and got this:
Literally the same thing but 2 generations newer so it has a better motor and axles and is a bit longer. And is hideous and orange. £140 brand new... Stabbed in a lipo, got a used killerbodies Pajero body that'll go on it, and some standard cheapie bits- some pressed steel beadlocks, a hobbyking esc and an aliexpress winch and light bar. I can't ride just now so it's been getting bounced around the local woods a lot- but I just twisted a cv shaft off it so waiting for a warranty replacement on that.
(oh, photo is from flickr, just copy in the basic link from "share" and the forum photoises it without you needing to do anything. Progress!)
Northwind, I really fancy one of those crawlers, and have resisted buying one for about 4 months. Your pictures aren't helping my willpower!
I sold my Hobao Hyper 10 chassis and Tamiya Mondeo for not much yesterday, but the drift car didn't sell so I might play about with that. Or I might just leave it untouched for another couple of years...
Well, if it's any help if I was starting again I wouldn't buy this truck- it's great value but the drivetrain's a bit suspect and it's taken some effort to get it solid. And since I'm not using the stock electronics and I'm replacing the body, the point of the RTR seems a bit lost... Now this, I would buy:
Sorry, I missed that reply. Yeah, that's useful actually. I was looking at the Carisma Coyote around Christmas, but thought that the FTX Outback 2 offered better value. Now I am not so sure.
I didn't make a lot selling on my old stuff so I am trying to forget about RC stuff, although I am tempted to buy a lunchbox and fit the old motor and radio gear from the drift car that didn't sell, because Lunchbox! We used to have a Lunchbox and Pumpkin about 20 years ago, well I still have it but it's fairly broken and I suspect it will all be really brittle now too.
The Coyote looks lovely tbh. Though I think in some ways it falls into £1500 Mountainbike Territory- where everything's a little bit better than a £1000 mountain bike, but not enough to be gamechanging, and definitely enough to be annoying if you then upgrade bits.But the shell, mmmm.
The Outback 2 and its cousins are superb value tbh but realistically you're going to strip a diff spool sooner or later and spend £15 an end fixing that, and they need a new servo on day one really so that's another £15... And then you'll probably want some steel beadlocks to get the weight down low. Basically, it's crack cocaine and the first hit's free.
Ugliness aside, my RGT is pisstakingly good for £140.
That's why I am trying to resist. As you say the introduction to it is cheap, but it soon becomes a money pit. If my old stuff sold for enough to cover the cost I'd buy one in a heartbeat, but it was nowhere near. Unsurprising really when I listed it for spares or repairs and you can get something this good for so little money. I was shocked that you could get something ready to run with a proper ladder chassis for this price.
If I still want one in a few months I might get one to play about with in the summer. Scale crawlers/trail trucks appeal as they look awesome, can be used almost anywhere and I could potentially use one when walking the dogs.
☺
Out on the clear bits today.
Plasma Edge is four wheel drive, easy to upgrade, simple, fun and I can race it locally.
Absolutely delighted with it, tbh.
However.
☺
It's occured to me that for the cost of another Tamiya kit plus electronics I could have a very, very nice RTR.
Quite fancy something silly, bombproof, fast and two wheel drive.
HPI Blitz/Firestorm Flux appeals hugely for simple, mindless fun and a bit more versatile than a Wild Willy.
Cheaper than the equivalent Traxxas and seem to be a slightly nicer design.
Huge park next door with all types of surfaces, loads of potential.
The new Tamiya 2CV on the M-05 chassis is giving me the eye as a Q car stealth racer project too.
Help.
Well it seems like I've stripped a gear somewhere in the madbull but I got a good 20 minutes of brushless full throttle snow-roosting madness out of it first 😛 I think the crawler might be slightly more my pace, it's certainly a bit easier to avoid trees at walking speed. But what a laugh. Fair to say it has more motor than it has steering, suspension or grip. I have shocks for it, and it needs more rear spring as the extra power just squats it out instantly, but I wanted to try it stock first.
You can almost hear my camera's sensor cry out in pain... Paint needs a little work, annoyingly I decided "one more coat", when it definitely didn't need it, and instantly got a run on one side, proper amateur hour. Then it's time for stickers.
Stumbled upon this thread....got a bit nostalgic about the 80’s....bought a Grasshopper. Oops. I’ll say it’s for mini Aazlad (4). Hope it’s here for the weekend.
I am keen in getting a new toy but cannot spare much cash. Are cheaper ones okay? Like this https://uk.gearbest.com/rc-cars/pp_351315.html
Or are they still bad idea? Just want a cheap intro. Or should I get something second hand in eBay?
Cheers
Ouch, wtf is the colour on that Mad Bull? Ultra violent? 🙂
And it's stock apart from the battery? Was warned off playing in the snow because of the risk of frying the ESC - any issues?
The servo screw keeps loosening on the Plasma Edge - just about to try a little blue Loctite.
Anyone else have this?
Aaaand just about to order some blingy blue anodised stuff - servo and motor mounts. Just because I think I might have been a bit heavy handed with the plastic original bits.
Might put some metal hexes (see me with the lingo) on as I plan on changing the wheels anyway - standard ones are a proprietary Tamiya size, DF03 wheels are standard buggy size, look good and bolt straight on - happy days.
And a quick question -
Where's the best place to get some spare screws apart from amusingly priced model shops? B&Q? Motor factors?
Ta.
@rusty, it's hycote Neon Pink. I have some stickers to, er, make it even harder to look at but first the paint needs proper finishing. The wheels are a randomly lovely high-metallic BMW black which came out great.
It was a no-electronics kit, so I fitted all that stuff out myself and it just happened to all be waterproof by luck- I put a £25 chinese goolrc brushless motor and ESC in it, 2S lipo (it'll run on 3S but I think all it'd do is wheelspin on the spot), MG996R servo and waterproof flysky RX. Though, waterproof in RC use does seem to mean water resistant- my crawler ought to drive under water but I bet I'd regret trying. Only other mod is bearings. Though I do have some absima shocks for it too.
(I did plan to run it stock first, but I may have put the stock motor down on top of some screws, and the magnets instantly hoovered them inside... 1337 skills)
Oh, cheap nuts and bolts = ebay. I bought a couple of assortment boxes so pretty much whatever I lose I can fix
@mrl, I dipped my toes with cheapies but one of them was fairly rubbish, and the other one instantly became an upgrade project so I'm not sure. no doubt there are good budget cars but it's hard to tell the good from the bad.
So go on then, what did you break? And any pictures of the finished article?
Still not managed to break the Tamiya, being able to turn the power down (on the controller) for the granddaughter is a great advantage.
Am currently contemplating a Maverick Scout crawler for her fifth birthday - obviously, I'll look after it for her. £140 RTR and gets pretty good reviews for a beginner crawler.
Have also filled in the application for Bury Metro RC Club - I feel the need to play with other people 🙂
As a newbie to this I've found the whole thing really good fun so far. Took the car for a play in the park today and only felt slightly embarrassed. Wife came too and finds it hilarious that kids of all ages are entranced by the thing - everyone asked for a go.
It's 11.45 on a Sunday night and I'm just about to go for a play on our quiet road. 😃
Built my Grasshopper 2 up on Saturday. Went together well, no breakages. Completely stock with the exception of a bearing set to replace bushings.
It was dark by the time I’d finished so I grabbed the Exposure Joystick and head band mound and went for a walk along the old railway behind our house.
Great fun! It went like a dream. It’s surprising what it can get trough in terms of light mud and gravel. Braved a few step downs at speed. Brilliant fun. It’s going to be too fast for the 4 year old for now though. Love it!
Out today with our four year old grand daughter in Chaddy Park. Nice vibe, good caff.
🙂
Over two hours with two 4600mha batteries.
Much too fast for her really, but she can steer now, although she prefers chasing it around with her mates.
Survived several rose beds, a few high speed curbs, a well dressed Whippet and being dived on by small people.
Enjoying learning how to drive the thing and amazed it's held together so long.
Would like it to be a bit faster, but I'll probably leave it as it is. Fun as it is and I fancy racing it in a stock class.
Off for a play now.....
Heres my latest build, it’s not tamiya but was purchased around Christmas time!
Also not Tamiya but I've been having a lot of fun with the crawler... Took it to an indoor trials comp last week at Scalefest, I walked in and took one look at the woodwork course and thought "this is going to suck" but actually it was ace- lots of nice trucks, a drifting comp and some really sound people. And my wee cheapy RGT was amazingly good, the stock tyres stick like glue to wood so it could get up places some very expensive trucks couldn't (or cheekily push them up the ramps when they got stuck) but I made too many silly mistakes and ended up dropping off the podium, slightly annoyed tbh- if I'd been just a little more cautious I'd have been second I think.
Truck has xtraspeed axles now as the stock ones aren't up to heavy wheels and grippy tyres. And I swapped in a 540 motor, basically just because. And smashed the bejeezus out of the stock shell so it's getting a cherokee XJ hardshell and a killerbodies pajero lexan shell painted up just now. And what should be a downgrade- I bought it a set of Maxxis Trepadors off an SCX10 but they're not as good as the cheapies so I'm going back. Next stop, lights and a bit of an interior- I don't want to go heavy but the Pajero looks so daft as you can see right through it and out the bottom.
So here is its last outing as Ugly Orange Truck
Naturally, in my mission to not buy any more stuff, I've also bought an Axial Bomber- in my defence, it was spectacularly cheap and I think I might end up just fixing it and flipping it for a profit. Or, I might end up backflipping it off a cliff for a loss.
I bloody love RC stuff. This is my most funnest truck, despite it being probably one of the slowest. Mods/upgrades include but not limited to;
axle strengthening tubes
heavy duty steering rods
two speed gearbox
FPV camera and transmitter
Its running a sensors brushless programmable motor, and I have a hacked Tx with (virtually) infinitely programmable functions.
Hey, on that subject I don't suppose anyone has a set of good quality 2.2s spare? My Bomber comes without, I'm going to get it up and running on my 1.9s but that's just a crime, and a set of Hyraxes are going to cost almost as much as the truck did 😛
Ooops, not tamiya but I too have fallen back into the rc world lol, FTX outback 2 due to land on the doorstep tomorrow.
Been on flipping through the msuk threads and see that Northwind of this parish is on there lol. Another forum to join 😮
Any updates? Someone must have spent money in three weeks.... 🙂
The Tamiya is still going strong, no major mechanicals but I have managed to split the shell by running it into a tree.
I only went for the alloy motor mount eventually, I'm still happy with it stock...so far.
Dampers will get upgraded eventually, needs stiffer springs on the back and slightly softer ones on the front. Could do with more damping too....
So, a Neo Scorcher body shell next on the list I reckon....
Also have a minor birthday coming up and am seriously tempted by one of these little Carisma GT24's......
Only little, but brushless, small, tough and £70.00.
Can anyone else recommend anything small and fun for under £100 complete?
FTX Ibex and Outback Mini on the list ATM...
Ta.
Just bought a Gelande D90.
When it turns up I intend to make it like my old Ninety, a bit of a shed with knackered paint, rusty crossmember etc...
Have already picked up some parts like early door handles, fuel filler etc. Can’t wait to get started!
Finished building the lads new Racing Fighter yesterday. Rather annoyed to find it’s bloody quick off the blocks with the torque tuned motor. It’s out sprints my Madbull with Sports tuned motor but I’ve got him over distance (just) I guess the smaller wheels help it up to speed quicker.
so brushless now I think :0) Can’t let him be out sprinting now can I!!
Can we change this title to something that makes more since, since it's not christmas and it's not really about Tamiyas?
Speaking of Not Tamiyas, sunday's ride was a bit different, I met some guys off the internet and they took me up the whangie. TRX-4 is the Orange Five of scalers it turns out
Orange Truck looks a bit different now