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

Here’s what it is rather than a link.
Hootracker 7.4V Battery 1400mAh 20C T Deans Connector with USB Cable for WLtoys 4WD RC Cars

It fits! Sort of. Goes in the slot ok but tight length and width wise, but it’s too thick for the bar that holds the battery in. So I’ll need to have a strap on it anyway. Currently on charge so I’ll see how the run time goes, but for 16 quid I’m hoping it’s a bargain.

Also going to put the receiver into a baggie/balloon/condom to help ward off water.

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/

Doh.. Yes of course – must remember never to post a reply I should research whilst rushing to get to work on time. 🙂

Thanks for the clarification Barney. I remember now and must have got mixed as was sort of on the right track with discharge rate, or current draw in reality.

Just noticed that 901 is on amazon as well

The Arrma Big Rock is bloody amazing.

On 2s, only using it on 50% power in the snow, but it handles well and feels solid.
God knows what it’s like on 3s at 100% power.
Not cheap, but very good value.
Had it to bits and apart from a wobbly wheel everything was spot on out of the box.

Very different to my Tamiyas, but feels like a quality item and should last a while.
It’s almost as much fun as the Lunchbox 😶.

Had the Maverick Scout crawler out yesterday up at Beacon Fell with some of the lads from work.
Still available for under £150 with battery, charger etc….crazy value for a 1/10 scale crawler. It’s never failed, nothing has been replaced and it’s wonderful fun.
Cannot recommend it highly enough.

Have you vented the tyres on the Big Rock? will help with them not disintegrating when they fill with water.

@trickydisco
The FLYHAL 9135 on amazon seems to be it too, plus double batteries and spare shell. Get it tomorrow on Prime too!

Rich S is that the one you have? how have you found it?

No, I got the q901 from banggood. But that one off amazon looks identical to me.

Ahh looks like the fly 9135 has a brushed motor and the q901/903 is brushless

nwmlarge

Full Member

Have you vented the tyres on the Big Rock? will help with them not disintegrating when they fill with water.

Posted 16 hours ago

It came with the vented tyres, one less thing to worry about.

Off tomorrow, so up early and out for a blast on the local golf Rc course. Doesn’t cause any damage, no worries.

However, I’ve just been out with the Lunchbox and tbh, it’s as much fun. So it should, with all the upgrades and repairs it’s probably cost about as much!

Odd one.
When I run the Lunchie I’m reminded of being a small child and holding my dad’s hand whilst walking down Market Street in Manchester to Beatties model shop.
I knew he couldn’t afford one then so I never aspired to owning such a thing until recently.
Now, I love watching my grand daughter being utterly entranced by it.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread.

Love to all.
Pete.

This thread is making me want an RC car. Must resist.

Find out soon if I’m WFH until Easter. £400 diesel saving… and you know what that means.

Find out soon if I’m WFH until Easter. £400 diesel saving… and you know what that means.

What ya thinking of getting ?

I keep debating whether to get one of those banggood trucks (901) (or from amazon branded as Vatos) or go bigger and get something like the big rock. But then this is mainly *supposed* to be for my 6 year old 🙂

Or

Maverick Quantum MT Flux – £159

I

Just don’t know enough to compare or compare brands

Abisma AMT3.4BL £199

I prefer the look of the abisma

Oooooohh whatcha going to get HtS? £400 is a great budget!

Santa DID bring me the Tamiya Unimog I’d asked him for which kept me busy all over Christmas. I really enjoyed the mechanical build – only a mishap where I’d used the wrong track rod ends on the rear shocks and then couldn’t get the servo link rod to line up properly as they were too short. Easily fixed once I’d worked out what I’d done wrong. It was very satisfying fettling it, great fun. I’d bought a set of upgraded bearings when I was buying the paint etc too.

Took a while to get the receiver and transmitter paired up but the instructions weren’t great and I’d never done it before. The last time I played with an RC car was probably in the very early 80s!

I found that cutting out / masking / painting the body was really tedious and I didn’t make a great job of it. I think the cutting out might have been a little easier with a Dremel on the wheelarches. I neglected to wipe down the interior of the shell between colours so I’ve got a bit of black overspray on the shell before the orange went on. Looks ‘dirty’ which is probably a good look on a Unimog. There was also some bleeding under the window masks and under some of the masking tape I’d used. So if I did it another one then it’s something I would spend more time and care over. Looks OK finished with the decals on etc but it’s a bit rough and ready.

I did fit the clear unpainted body to the chassis on a very frosty day to try it out and it was much quicker than I was expecting doing donuts in front of the house. The propshaft came loose at one stage which meant I only had front wheel drive. Again easily fixed and it was good fun in 2wd too.

When it was all finally finished I charged the battery and took it out for a blast in the snow on Saturday gone. Brilliant 4 wheel drifts with snow flying from the tyres, was ace. Until it wasn’t – think I knackered the cheap plastic geared steering servo. It works intermittently, just makes noise the rest of the time. I took it apart but couldn’t see any stripped gears so I’ve ordered a new metal geared one and hopefully that should sort it.

If I get another one I’m torn between the 2CV rally or the 911 RSR. Any thoughts oh wise ones? I like the look of both. Think someone has started a 2CV further up the thread?

@trickydisco

I`ve got an absima AMT3.4 only had it since xmas so a few drives – seems nice and pretty well made.

very different to the Madbull i have in that it goes in a straight line but is less fun to drive because it goes in a straight line. its great for in teh rough though and seeing what you can get up. ha loads of fun on the beach razzing it up and down the shingle shelves. the mad bull struggles a bit at this.

I got it as the mad bull was too tricky for the kids to use. and also our garden isnt very well maintained and it bogs down in teh long grass. the AMT is great and jumps nice. I have the brushed version and run a 2s lipo and its plenty fast enough (too fast for the kids really). The kids prefer to use it with a regular 7.2v nimh battery as it doesnt spear off into the undergrowth when they press too much throttle – haha.

I might swap the radio gear from the mad bull as i can reduce down teh throttle on the handset on that setup for when for teh kids use it.

strapped onsome old night lights last night for a night time sesh!

View post on imgur.com

If I get another one I’m torn between the 2CV rally or the 911 RSR. Any thoughts oh wise ones? I like the look of both. Think someone has started a 2CV further up the thread?

Personally, I found the M05-RA chassis of the 2CV nicer than the TT02-B (basically the same as the Porsche).
The M05 is smaller and a bit more complex, but has less steering slop and was more fun to build.

@trickydisco – The Absima is ace. Mate’s son has one and it’s very, very tough.

A cheap, simple way to limit speed for kids is to tape a bit of wood/plastic to the trigger to limit travel. Not pretty but it works.

@trickydisco – The Absima is ace. Mate’s son has one and it’s very, very tough.

A cheap, simple way to limit speed for kids is to tape a bit of wood/plastic to the trigger to limit travel. Not pretty but it works.

nice. Is there not a way of doing it electronically? I heard on some you can do it electronically

you can buy handsets with switches or throttle gain dials.

A DumboRc unit will set you back about £30 and will do that

If you get the one with Gyro it will make it easier to drive at speed too.

yeah my cheapo chinese radio handset has options to reduce the throttle effect on teh handset. not on the stock absima controller though. you have trim and stuff but not % power adjustment.

But, like i said, if you get the cheaper brushed version you can run a boggo battery for teh kids and a 2s Lipo for you.

I found teh absima uses more power than teh 2wd mad bull. i guess weight and transmission losses?

Oooooohh whatcha going to get HtS? £400 is a great budget!

I fancy a couple of tanks.

Aagh don’t say that, it’s the one RC temptation I’ve still managed to resist

Im now starting to think I’ll get a cheaper one for the boy and 1 for me 🙂

Santa brought me one of these

I might start to build it tomorrow 🙂

Going to leave this out there…

https://howesmodels.co.uk/product/heng-long-1-16th-german-tiger-i-radio-control-rc-tank-dual-sound-version/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA3NX_BRDQARIsALA3fIKY4FZL7UKuaqEk3QM0iqwUidDA4KWacXMwxi9v_vT7FMq4ZlUQ8yEaAlueEALw_wcB

https://howesmodels.co.uk/product/heng-long-116th-u-s-m4a3-sherman-rc-tank-sound-and-smoke-version-with-2-4ghz-radio/

@vanHalen

Where did you get it from and did you have to buy extra batteries + charger?

Can someone tell me why a lot of the RC cars come with the trigger controllers? I’,m sure when i was a boy everyone had the stalk style. I had a few RC cars and i always had a stalk type controller

I’ve got a Schumacher cat2000 which I found the other day, remember when my uncle got me into racing. The skill of the drivers is unbelievable!

@tricydisco
I got mine from modelsport. Decent service.

The absima truck doesn’t come with batteries or charger so factor those in.

I had other cars so didn’t need batteries. But I’ve since bought a very large capacity 2sLipo from Amazon to extend runtime. 6000mah (also so we can run lipos in both my car’s for racing fun!)

I have this charger which is flipping ace. Can also use it in my van which is good. Does lipo and NiMH bit confusing to use initially but once you work it out it’s fine. Be careful not to overcharge though.
https://www.timetunnelmodels.com/live/catalog/radient-mistral-lipo-nimh-super-fast-charger-rdna0465-p-62600.html

For smaller kids I’d get a 1/16th buggy/truck. One of the dad’s at my kids school has a pair of them and the kids love them. Loads of fun and really robust. You can’t run them where the 1/10 cars/absima would go but you can bung em in a rucksack for when you go on a walk or the park and are good for smaller gardens

Oh yeah – you’ll get used to the trigger controller super quick. I think I still prefer the stick type (cos that’s what I had back in the day) but I guess they are more complicated to make. It’s a bit easier for kids to work out too.

@oldtennisshoes – snap! But my Unimog’s built now. Things I learnt – if you can, buy a set of CC-01 bearings from ebay etc. Only a tenner and much better than the plastic ones you get in the box. The Tamiya instructions tell you which ones to use and when, very worthwhile and esasy.

And if you don’t have a Dremel or similar it might be worth getting one for cutting out the shell. Scissors and craft knives left a really poor finish on mine, it would have looked loads better with something like that, especially for the wheelarches.

And take your time with masking, make sure you leave plenty of time between coats and get something like Carson paint killer to wipe the shell down / sort any bleeds once you’ve done the black. Have fun!

Thanks @chrispoffer noted 🙂

Triggers are easier to handle, most stick controllers need a lanyard.

I can comfortably control my TRX4 with one hand as my thumb can reach the wheel.

All down to preference.

updating the thread, 2 new motors free of charge turned up yesterday for my pandahobby. Impressed. Shame it can’t be used outside now due to lockdown (not sure it counts as exercise?!)

Did someone say 2CV?😁

@Merak – that looks brilliant! Yes, it was me. I fancy one for my next go after the ‘mog. Probably won’t look nearly as nice as yours due to my lack of skill…. I’m going to go for yellow with black wings I think and I’ll probably leave off the sand ladder, looks too much like a stock car wing for my liking. Be later in the year for mine.

Over the christmas period i have built an old Tamiya M03 mini cooper, but coverted to 2s lipo and brushless.

Then built a Schumacher Cat K1 Aero 1/10 Buggy runnin 4s – This is such a fun car and probably my favourite car of all time for its speed and manouverability.

Then I bought a slightly use Aarma Mojave 6s – this is a 1/7th scale Desert / Short course Truct and is an absolutely animal. So easy to driver and crazy fast, its got me exploring my local arears for spots to let it go.

Tale of fail… I got myself an SCX10 kit really to gradually transfer stuff off my RGT onto, always planned for it to be a tinkering sort of a project, a build for its own sake. That was… a long time ago. Year and a half? Built it, drove it a couple of times with an illfitting body on, got a load of cheap brass and an overdrive front gear and a pair of new bodies and thought, right, let’s settle down and get this finished. That was also a long time ago. Got it built, constant horrible judders like something catching. The only part I’d changed since the last testdrive was the overdrive so I figured, must be that. Stripped it all down, totally lost patience, drove my old RGT instead. That was a long time ago too.

Tonight, decided to have another look, within 5 minutes discovered that the motor was dead. Just that coincidentally it had happened at the same time as another mod. Threw in a spare cheap motor I had, works perfectly. That’s been LITERALLY MOST OF A YEAR since I last took it out for a drive because of that.

Took advantage of the lovely cold spell to get the revo out on the frozen loch. Slightly nervous moment when it stopped right in the middle. Worth risking icy death to rescue it? Luckily it came back to life when I walked a wee bit closer!

I’m going to go for yellow with black wings I think and I’ll probably leave off the sand ladder

I’d leave it off as it looks like it’ll snap off the first time you crash – and what’s the point in getting an RC car if you’re not going to drive it and inevitably crash it?