Tamiya and other R/C vehicles (not just for Christmas)

Finished building an Aqroshot for my sons Christmas present. Standard kit + bearings + Proline Trencher tyres. Surprised to find it came with a Torque-Tuned motor rather than a standard 540, certainly seems to shift!

Got a Traxxas Maxx for the kids (honest!). It an absolute monster, and tough as can be. Took it to a quiet bit of tarmac to test top speed any got 47.6 on the garmin before I crashed it into my leg…ouch!! If I can figure out how to post photos again I’ll put some up of today’s trip to a very muddy park.

Failing to get this photo thing to work

My little panda tetra x1 has stopped working 🙁

Can any experienced rcers give me a few tips on diagnosing the fault?

Powers on, connects to the controller, servo/steering works, lights work, no drive. I can hear some sort of electric sound coming from the esc which sounds like it is getting the signal from the control, but no other movement.

No loose connections as far as I can see. Thinking the motor might have given up but it wasn’t doing anything particularly strenuous at the time. Any way of testing the motor it has a push fit connector thingy so can’t connect positive / negative without cutting it off.

It is a 180 motor 51t, would any similar 180 fit, or do I have to order the panda hobby replacement from the us? Not a lot of money 13dollars if I understand their site right, but it’s more the wait and whether that will fix it.

We have a fellow enthousiast in the MTB community!

@DT78 – disconnect the motor and see if you can get a multimeter across the connections. See if the ESC is supplying any power to the motor when you accelerate first. If that’s ok then measure the motor by spinning it and see if a voltage is generated. If either are faulty then you know where the fault is. As for the 180 motor itself, that’s a standard can size so any other 180 motor will bolt up but you’ll have to check what the ESC can take too. You can usually get a decent motor and ESC combo online if you can’t find the fault, should be plug-and-play then.

Thanks rj, managed to find an old motor from a deceased rc with than same connection, works fine, so I know it’s a dead motor. Bit disappointed it’s only lasted 3 months, but if it’s easy to pick up a similar motor they are only about £8

I’m really feeling the need for a half decent crawler after that Seth video.

We’ve got a WPL C24 that I bought earlier this year for the kids and they’ve had a lot of fun from it, but it’s really cheap and nasty, non-proportional steering, barely any speed control, hard plastic tyres, etc.

How much do you have to spend for something worthwhile, and is there anything in kit form rather than RTR without spending big money at the really high end?

Well, I was super happy with the little panda hobby tetra x1 till it just stopped working! £115. I’ve asked them for a new motor under warranty so will see what the customer service is like!

I was tempted by the equivalent axial, but on reading it needed a whole bunch of upgrades, whereas the panda was pretty good straight out of the box

FTXcrawlers are ok. got a ravine and mauler and good for the money both only broke one shock seal in 11 months. But Mauler looked pants so changed it into a stubby pickup. And it runs on 3cell now.
There are nice kits for about 200 axial/element RC. But then you need all the running gear. I am going to build another in January with portal axles and two speed. I have looked at RC4WD stuff and Greens hobby’s. wish I had not now!
RC Review is pretty good on you tube. He’s like a crawler Yoda.

Kits tend to be more expensive than RTR, seemed weird but I think it’s basically that they’re more niche, while RTR sells far more.

There’s a lot of scope to improve that WPL incidentally, lots of aftermarket and also some more recent upgrades that’ll retrofit, proper steering included… but it does probably make more sense to just go direct to a better truck.

These are just crazy value now…
https://www.timetunnelmodels.com/live/catalog/outback-fury-jeep-wrangler-style-rock-crawler-trial-with-battery-charger-ftx5579-p-63286.html
Good out of the box, good aftermarket but also they brought the sizing inline with the competitition so it’s a lot more compatible with stuff like bodyshells, axles, etc. (most things that fit an SCX10 can be fitted to a Fury, with a little effort)

So what Christmas builds have will all got lined up?

I’ve got a Kyosho Tomahawk to finish (just decals). A Javelin to build and a Kyosho Beetle.

ive ordered a absima AMT3.4 for xmas. I was goign to get the truggy kit to build but, for the price, the RTR kit is just so much better value.

Lookign forward to smashing through the muddy puddles and a few cheeky blasts at the skatepark!

Well, rcawd responded inside 24hrs and are sending me 2 motors, pretty impressed. They are coming from China so who knows how long it will take to get here

Axial 1/24 micro crawler – just like in the video above!

@Oblongbob I’ve got an Axial too. It’s a great little car. I’ve put some brass wheel weights on and it climbs even better now. Got some brass diff covers and steering knuckles on the way too which should make it less top heavy.

Only issue I’ve had is that the charger packed up but having read some horror stories about the charger it’s promted me to get a decent balanced charger. I figure this is the first of many cars so it’s a good investment anyway.

I’m really tempted by the Traxxis Tr4…

I got my boys a couple of the Absima 1:16 trucks from RC Geeks, thanks for the recommendations folks. They’re great, but the battery life is woeful. Any idea where I can do better than the stock 7.4v 500mAh batteries? RC Geeks only sell the actual battery fitted in the car.

We’ve had a lot of fun making assault courses for the axial with boxes, logs, etc. Weights would definitely be good. I’m extremely tempted by the trx4 too! Might have to wait a while as Santa brought us an e revo 2.0 to keep the maxx company, so we’ve probably reached full rc quota for the moment. Just waiting for the inevitable head on revo/maxx smash and associated carnage….good job it’s quite fun fixing them too!

Getting a bit muddy:

Drying by the fire:

And the wee one:

And even muddier Maxx:

Maverick Strada MT10 brushless update…

Lost front wheel drive after five minutes. Grr. Was more than a little annoyed. However, body off, a few screws undone and a quick poke around identified a loose grub screw. Tightened, and off we go again. Already smashed a body, but do know what? Don’t care!

Goes really well, especially at slower speeds while the Boy gets to grips with handling etc. Battery life seems excellent, and pretty easy to change to put the spare in. It’s going to be a lot of fun!

Nice Flashy, very nice.
Hope it’s still in one piece and the boy is having fun. 🙂

The 2CV is still not finished – both bodies are prepped and masked but I have a care package from RC Mart on the way – Tamiya oil filled dampers for the 2CV and the High Torque Servo Savers for the three Tamiyas, 2CV, TT02B and the wonderful Lunchbox.
Spent many hours replacing bearings and replacing worn out bits on the buggy and Lunchy, both now pretty much perfect, a nice balance of power and controllability.

Soooo, an Arrma Big Rock arrived today with a 2S LiPo, balance lead and charging sack.
Oooops. 🙂
First impressions are promising. It was this or a GF-06 Big Yellow, but after adding everything up this came out cheaper.

If I don’t burn the house down charging the LiPo I’ll let you know how it goes.

Happy new year to you all. Have fun.

Late entrant to this thread but got one of these for the kids for xmas
https://m.banggood.com/Xinlehong-Q901-1-or-16-2_4G-4WD-52km-or-h-Brushless-Proportional-Control-RC-Car-with-LED-Light-RTR-Toys-p-1445869.html?act_poa=POA4476974&cur_warehouse=CN&rmmds=detail-bottom-alsolike
It’s awesumz! Only had it out a couple of times so far, on restricted speed. Battery seems small but it has been so cold I’m not sure the kids wanted to be out too long anyway. Survived a couple of kerb interfaces fine. It’s a bit small for wet long grass. On wet tarmac it’s hilarious. Probably going to take it to the beach to see how it gets on…

Some photos of snowy fun with the new Traxxas e revo and the Maxx. Revo makes a very good sledge puller. Got snow tyres for it…they are awesome for spaying the kids with snow!

Had ours out in the snow too.

Unfortunately the Mad Bull went on to sustain a fatal blow to the front right roof pillar. Ho-hum, I suppose that I had better get round to painting my spare body shell.

Just found this thread. Used to have a kyskyosho raider when I was a boy. Now have 2 boys and have been thinking about getting something again.

I saw rich_s’s link to banggood site and they seem very cheap. Has anyone else bought from here? Very interested in the 4wd ones

I’ve ordered a fair bit from bangood, it’s been fine. I had to return an item, which was a bit of a faff, but not surprising. Just check they are still shipping to the UK, quite a few items aren’t at the moment, presumably due to the Brexit changes.

There are a couple of people a couple of pages back who bought the same model Q901 as me. I’ve been on banggood to buy a spare battery and they won’t ship that to the UK, so I’ve found something on Amazon that I hope will fit.

Also, we had the car down the beach yesterday and today the shocks are a bit stuck! They’re only friction shocks so I’ve taken the opportunity to buy some oil shockers from BG and a battery strap to allow double batteries to be run. The strap should mean I can run a much bigger battery on top of the battery holder but I’ve just bought it for a bit of insurance if the amazon one doesn’t quite fit.

Now up to a spend of 85 quid, so I’m getting mission creep!

How long do the batteries last on that Q901. Also is it possible to restrict the speed? I’ve hot a 6 and 3 year old. Don’t want them too fast

The q901 lasts about 20 minutes I e found, although current temps outside effect the runtime. The controller has a high and low speed setting, although it did t take my 6 year long to figure that out. To be fair, they take a beating, as numerous trips to the skate park can a test too.

Now on a world of window shopping for 4wd RC trucks! Love the look of the Kyosho mad van

What I’ve learned fairly quickly is not to let them have it near kerbs! Beach is perfect space wise. In fast mode it’s fast! As it’s a 1/16 size it’s pretty dinky so quite tricky to judge position accurately when it’s a distance away. Gonna let the eldest have a go in the woods with it now he’s got his eye in a bit.

Not sure your 3 year old would cope tbh. I’ve also got an old rock crawler I’m going to recommission for my 5 y/o.

Excellent good to hear. Yea was thinking the 3 year old could watch rather than use one of these. Hoping I can still order on bang good site. What’s the largest capacity battryy those q901 can take?

The actual battery slot is tiny. But they sell a strap on, double jack thing which can be used to mount 2. Presumably one over the other. There’s mention in the q&a bit about people running 3s and bigger batteries so I presume those are literally just mounted on top of where the standard battery fits (which is 60x30x15mm ish).
Problem is, you can’t order a spare standard battery to ship to UK and the 2 battery model is £100.
The one I’ve ordered from amazon will be here tomorrow so I’ll post up whether it fits.

The proper batter space on the Q901 is pretty small and won’t take anything much bigger than the stock battery. Having said that there is plenty of space under the shell to strap something bigger in if you feel like it.

So far (with temperatures not getting much above freezing since Christmas) the stock battery has just about lasted long enough to keep my five year old happy. The car seems pretty good as well, happily survived a few bumps into trees and fences and has mostly been run wet grass which doesn’t seem to bother it much (though I did swap out the stock shocks for some oil damped ones which may have helped things).

So probably best to order with the extra battery pack.

Trying to work out what esc and 3s and 4s mean?

The hbx 16889 has caught my eye

HBX 16889 saw this thread about it

https://www.arrmaforum.com/threads/my-next-and-final-1-16th-scale-brushless-hbx-16889-truck-fastest-one-new-esc-motor-and-radio.20433/

Its faster than the Q903 despite having a smaller ESC and motor. The Q903 has a 35amp ESC with a 2845 3200KV motor, and the 16889 has a 25amp ESC with a 2435 KV3900 motor buts the 16889 is quite a bit faster.

Does that mean the battery might last longer?

ESC – Electronic Speed Controller, ie the thing that controls the motor from the signals given by the remote.

*S on batteries is the number of cells (individual batteries in the pack).
2S is 2 cells, so 7.2V output (assuming 3.6V per cell)
5S is 5 cells, so 3.6V times 5
6S is 6 cells etc etc.

As the S increases, the voltage and therefore potential speed increases – assuming the ESC and motor can take the voltage.

The the mH rating is the current capacity so how long the battery will last before running flat.

There is also a degrees C rating on batteries, which is I believe how hot it can get whilst discharging, so if you have a very heavy model or one you want to run at rapid acceleration, you’ll want a higher C rating to cope with the demand. I’m a bit flaky on this as my model has sat unplayed with for nearly 10 years 😀

There is also a degrees C rating on batteries, which is I believe how hot it can get whilst discharging, so if you have a very heavy model or one you want to run at rapid acceleration, you’ll want a higher C rating to cope with the demand.

Nah, it’s the internal resistance, and hence the continuous and burst discharge rates. Nothing to do with temperature. https://oscarliang.com/lipo-battery-c-rating/

That Kyosho Mad Van looks great! Like a more capable LunchBox.

Rich_s can you share that amazon link? doesn’t seem to work for me