# RC cars. Talk to me!



## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

Really tempted to get a big boys toy and am fancying an rc car. But I know-nothing about them. Any fans on here? What are the pro's and cons to battery bs nitro, size, style etc. Think I want something fairly low maintenance, a bit rugged and capable of off road stuff. But then I see those drift cars on you tube, and mini jap looking cars and change my mind


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## dazfr (Dec 23, 2011)

ive got 2 mate bought a escort cosworth battery one and changed every thing on it to 'fast' and got bored as i could only use it on decent surfaces so then i bought a off-roader nitro it was ace did 70mph+ until the engine consumed its self and thats the end of the story got the nitro minus engine in garage and battery stashed away some where. they are both for sale if you want them cheap loads of spares with both unfortunatly no engine lol


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## Robbie.M (Feb 10, 2010)

off road electric buggies are cool...you can have loads of fun with them...also a tamiya tt-01 frame that you can "hop up" is a really good starter kit...even put drift wheels on and enjoy the sliding. motors, wheels, driveshafts....loads can be changed it gets quite addictive though..


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## McClane (Dec 9, 2010)

Whats the fastest/best performing electric one of these you can get? The one I had as a child was pretty rubbish in reality. No chance of wheel spinning it, etc.

But the petrol ones seem to get expensive and involved!


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

There was one in a shop I went in that did 70mph. Only lasted for about 7 minutes and needed about a 10 hour charge!


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## MattDuffy88 (Apr 6, 2009)

-PJB- said:


> Whats the fastest/best performing electric one of these you can get? The one I had as a child was pretty rubbish in reality. No chance of wheel spinning it, etc.
> 
> Depends entirely on whether its offroad, onroad, brushed, brushless, LiPo powered or NiMh/Nicd and how its geared.
> 
> But the petrol ones seem to get expensive and involved!





stangalang said:


> There was one in a shop I went in that did 70mph. Only lasted for about 7 minutes and needed about a 10 hour charge!


LiPo batteries and a good charger would soon change that :thumb:


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## McClane (Dec 9, 2010)

Thinking just a decent middle ground. 70mph would probably be pretty mental. 

But a decent electric saloon/rally car or buggy that did 30-40 and had a good battery life might do! Rugged enough for spins, jumps and crashes etc too!


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## Coops (Apr 26, 2008)

Been looking myself and keep licking the gloss off www.modelsport.co.uk

Set myself a budget of around £150-200 but really not sure. Quite fancy the Maverick Strada XB Evo.

Fastest car available is the HPI Vorza Flux which holds world record at 73 mph !!!!!


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## MattDuffy88 (Apr 6, 2009)

Electric Short Course truck would be best then, easy to maintain and pretty quick with a brushless system and LiPo batteries.

Here's mine 



















HPI Blitz ESE with 10.5t brushless system and Orion LiPo batteries.


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## jomo (Jul 31, 2010)

I raced indoors on carpet for over 9 years, i ran in the 4x4 touring car category.
The car i started with was a s/hand HPI pro 2 then Pro 3 and ended up with a Pro 4.









We ran on foam tires that gave more grip that you can shake a stick at, some time too much making the car roll over on hard cornering.









Last time i raced my car was running Novak brushless system.









The battery's we used were 6 C size cell packs that we bought in singles and made our own packs as they needed to be matched (all had the same peek power) soldered together.









The radio gear i used was made by Ko Propo.









Here's just a few of the many, many body shells i ran on my cars over the years i raced.































































Un-cut out Astra shells.



















Must have spent over £4000 in the 9 years i raced, which is now sat in my loft gathering dust till i get the calling again lol.

Never tried out door off road racing as the uk weathers pants and i'd rather be inside warm.

I did take one of my older cars outside on rubber tires and tanned it round a Tescos car park with my nephew but that got boring very quickly!

If your just planning on a bit of fun now and then, i'd go for a battery powered car over nitro, as if the nitro's left standing too long it tends not to run again without a good kicking in to life!

Get cheap Tamiya off road kit (rally car) this will do minor off road (rough car parks, gravel) but can also be made to run as a drift car with just a few mods and tires.
Dont forget if you buy a car you can change the shell/body to any that takes your fancy!


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## lobotomy (Jun 23, 2006)

This is my Nitro drift car... bought it with a bunch of hop-ups from the previous owner who raced it. It came with a skyline shell painted pretty badly, so got a Hachi Roku shell and this was my first attempt at painting! Pretty good (even if I say so myself lol!)




























Never gets used these days... really should get it out again!


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

-PJB- said:


> Thinking just a decent middle ground. 70mph would probably be pretty mental.
> 
> But a decent electric saloon/rally car or buggy that did 30-40 and had a good battery life might do! Rugged enough for spins, jumps and crashes etc too!


Yes this exactly what I am thinking. Low maintenance fun


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## MattDuffy88 (Apr 6, 2009)

stangalang said:


> Yes this exactly what I am thinking. Low maintenance fun


Short course truck. Quick, easy to maintain and you don't need to spend a fortune


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

That thunder tiger sparrow hawk looks cool!


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## gm8 (Apr 25, 2011)

I have 2 x tamiyas. Both upgraded with metal bearings and sport tuned motors. I like the retro tamiyas :thumb: They can be upgraded for silly speeds with brushless setups etc, loads of upgrade options.










my lunchbox , and below my hornet.


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

Omg they still sell the lunch box :doublesho Kids used to go crazy for that and the monster beetle back in the day!


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## gm8 (Apr 25, 2011)

stangalang said:


> Omg they still sell the lunch box :doublesho Kids used to go crazy for that and the monster beetle back in the day!


I have a monster beetle too , its under construction however


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

Are they still good though or a bit dated now? But easily updated you say?


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## gm8 (Apr 25, 2011)

yeah I love it , fast as hell! has a wheelie bar on the back , shocks can be changed to oil shocks. You have to build the whole thing from scratch which is great fun , you can paint the thing any way you like. They re-released these a few years back so they come with better electronic speed controllers etc. There is masses of tuning options etc or just leave it alone either way you will enjoy it.


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## MattDuffy88 (Apr 6, 2009)

gm8 said:


> yeah I love it , fast as hell! has a wheelie bar on the back , shocks can be changed to oil shocks. You have to build the whole thing from scratch which is great fun , you can paint the thing any way you like. They re-released these a few years back so they come with better electronic speed controllers etc. There is masses of tuning options etc or just leave it alone either way you will enjoy it.


Good as a retro toy, but you need to spend a fair amount to get any speed or handling out of it.


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## Ph1L (Sep 12, 2008)

Been looking at these myself, was thinking of a HPI E Firestorm. Looks like a nice bit of kit for the money. 

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk


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## derbigofast (Dec 6, 2011)

if u want low maintenance get battery powered ive got 5 nitro cars and spend every spare hour fixing the damn things. nitros great fun but alot of work


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## id_doug (Apr 6, 2011)

RC cars are great fun. I still have my Tamyia Mud Blaster in boxes in the garage. It broke years ago and I bought a load of spares to fix it but never got round to it. Doubt I will either now with twins on the way!


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## id_doug (Apr 6, 2011)

BTW I always found off road buggies and trucks way more fun than the touring car type of cars. Nothing better than launching them of jumps and humps. The touring car ones were just to boring IMO.


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

Ph1L said:


> Been looking at these myself, was thinking of a HPI E Firestorm. Looks like a nice bit of kit for the money.
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk


Think we are going down the same Rd here. Question is 2 or 4wd I guess?


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## MattDuffy88 (Apr 6, 2009)

4wd would be better, 2wd can be a bit of a handful at times


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

MattDuffy88 said:


> 4wd would be better, 2wd can be a bit of a handful at times


In a good way or bad way?


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## johnny b (Sep 7, 2011)

A few of us run a offroad RC car track in broughton nr chester i don't think you can go wrong with anything HPI really or traxxas, nitro's are hassle but that's part of the fun :wall: the electrics are great, fast and easy to work with and with brushless and lipo batteries are mental but imho the 1/5th scale petrol are the best of both worlds. 
here's a vid of mine at our track (the black one)


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## johnny b (Sep 7, 2011)

This is another vid of us having a bit of a mess around the silver buggy is mine


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## MattDuffy88 (Apr 6, 2009)

stangalang said:


> In a good way or bad way?


Just having a blast about it is fun, trying to get to the front of a 10 car final is frustrating but fun at the same time :thumb:


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## Trip tdi (Sep 3, 2008)

To be honest rc fuel is very expensive, alot more money than a regular fuel from a pump, they are alot of fun but the only disadvantage is they cost alot money to run and do have problems, such as problems starting up; the glowplug going, over flooding with fuel so the car will not start up.

But the electric ones, you can tune those with the right bits, such as a bigger electric motor, the suspension, the servos, put a fail safe server, change the gearing, you can make electric ones very quick on the acceleration mark, you can tune these rc cars every step of the way, even change the tyres wheels, body-shell the lot.

I would go for electric one anyday, less hassle, will save you money plus be more reliable.


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## Trip tdi (Sep 3, 2008)

stangalang said:


> There was one in a shop I went in that did 70mph. Only lasted for about 7 minutes and needed about a 10 hour charge!


Hi stanglang, which one is this on market, a electric one or a petrol one, 70 mph is high in speed.


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

Trip tdi said:


> Hi stanglang, which one is this on market, a electric one or a petrol one, 70 mph is high in speed.


It was an electric one. Very big, twice the size of it's nearest machine. Think it was in "modelzone"


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## ferted (May 7, 2011)

Short Course truck is the way
Depending on your budget you can go 2WD or 4WD
Obviously 4WD is easier to drive
A brushed motor 2WD Traxxas Slash with 2.4ghz radio set is around £200 with that you get everything needed (except MN1500 betteries for the transmitter) the only other things you'd need would be more batteries for the car and a quick charger(trickle chargers take around 15 hours)
The same model is also available with a brushless motor and runs around the £300 mark,brushless would be faster than the normal version,but to get the best from a brushless you really need Li-Po batteries
The Slash is pretty tough and(with shock adjustment) just as much fun on tarmac
I have a 2WD Slash with a 4300kv brushless in it and using 5000mah Li-Pos I get a good 30 mins per battery
I also have a Tamiya TNX which is nitro,I love nitro models,but they're not to everyones liking you can very easily annoy the neighbours with the noise
Nitros can be very finicky they need constant adjustment to get the best from them even the weather can affect how the engine runs,also nitro fuel IS expensive at around £25 per gallon,the best nitro fuels are from the US so it's only a US gallon (3.75 litres)
If you want speed then wait for the new Traxxas XO-1 it can achieve 100mph
that's actual speed making a scale speed of around 800mph:doublesho
Traxxas XO-1

Here's a pic of my Slash in mid air!!


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## ferted (May 7, 2011)

Stangalang if Otley is close enough for you
I'd suggest going to Modelsport the guys there know pretty much everything and can advise you as well as sell you stuff
Modelsport UK


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## Razzzle (Jul 3, 2010)

ive got 2


























thats a HPI RS4 Nitro 3, twin geared model, pretty quick good for racing and having a spin in empty car parks but nothing else really!

also got a hobao hyper 7


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

Thanks or all the advice and pics guys. It will help a lot :thumb:


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## silverback (Jun 18, 2008)

RC cars are awesome.dont own any myself,but a mate was into them years ago and those nitro ones are bloody rapid.


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## CleanCar99 (Dec 30, 2011)

Ive got 2 hpi savage trucks, 2 hpi mt2 trucks, 2 hpi flu evo cars, an hpi rs4 and a massive box full of bits!

All the nitro stuff is going on ebay when i move house. Fed up witj the hassle. Electric is much better.
Also have 5 helicopters of different sizes , again the nitro one is going on ebay.
And 3 model planes- all electric  

If it didnt take me 8 hrs to clean the car i would have time to use them. :wall: :detailer:


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## jordanogrady (Sep 13, 2008)

I have the E firestorm, electric car, with some super batteries!

only used it once tho! LOL

ITs got the brushless motor system installed on it too!


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## jordanogrady (Sep 13, 2008)

I got a load of advice from here
http://www.msuk-forum.co.uk/topic/109667-the-e-firestorm-thread/


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## Rob_wrx (Sep 20, 2010)

I have both nitro and electric and you can't beat the sound and smell of the nitros but electric is a lot easier and very fast these days.


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