RCA Remote Control Vehicles

[Iman74]

I was thinking besides computers, and woodwork (and I'm not very good at the woodwork right now :-D) that I get into remote control vehicles. I personally want to get into build 4x4's that are gas powered. I search the web and there is a lot out there, haven't gotten to a hobby store yet. But wondered if anybody who reads PCMech is a hardcore or knowledgable in this area to give me any tips.

What I'm interested in starting with; a 4x4 gas powered remote control vehicle. I want to buy a full kit that I have to put together, I "don't" want it already assembled. I want to learn from doing.

Any suggestions or tips would be appreciated.

[hotwire]

I used to race RC Cars and trucks. I was not really into nitro, more into electric. Not sure about who to reccomend for a four-wheel drive version. Losi makes an excellent 2WD stadium truck in nitro and electric versions. Schumacher was the standard (when I was racing) for top of the line 4WD's, but they only offered buggies at the time. If you have never built one before, I would suggest going electric for the first build....

[BFD Deadeye]

Kyosho also makes good kits for 1/10th scale 4X4 nitro power.

[mrjohnsonjr]

i agree...if you are just getting started you might want to find a ready to run (RTR) kit because nitro cars need alot of equipment to keep running and these kits mostly come with everything...

[Iman74]

Originally posted by mrjohnsonjr i agree...if you are just getting started you might want to find a ready to run (RTR) kit because nitro cars need alot of equipment to keep running and these kits mostly come with everything...

Nitro cars you say need a lot of equipment to run, but does that still make it a bad choice to learn from? I've been thrown to the wolves before so I'm not worried. But if electronic is a better choice then I would like to know why not Nitro other than a lot of equipment.

All and all guys I really appreciate the responces.

[BFD Deadeye]

Iman74,
If you can build a computer, you can build an RC car. Building/maintaining them is half the fun. As far as equipment, nitro doesn't need that much more than electric.

They both need a radio, nitro needs a starting kit:

1) motorized starter
2) gas can
3) fuel pump
4) glow plug warmer
5) battery to run starter/glow plugs

Electric needs several batteries, several chargers (if you want to run non-stop) and if you get really seriuos, extra motors.

Gas you can run till the tires fall off. Electric you can run in 4 minutes, then the battery is dead.

With gas, you can scream along at 50-100 MPH. My fastest electric was radar clocked at 45 MPH.

Gas is noisy, dirty and smelly. Electric can be run anywhere and is clean.

As far as maintenece & cost goes, it's about the same between the two. It's an expensive hobby (even more so than computers!). To get started with decent equipment and a decent car, expect to pay upwards of $500 (and the maintenece/supplies costs a bit too) .

Futaba makes the best radios on the planet. Kyosho, Tamiya, and Losi make the best electric cars and trucks in the world. As far as gas goes, Kyosho makes some nice 1/10th scale.

Tower Hobbies is an excellent source to buy from. It's like the newegg of the RC world.

Another thing: if you go gas, even though there is a little more tweaking involved, you can also use your starter box for airplanes if you want to. Stay away from ready to run (RTR), they are untweakable, and if you break something, getting parts will be hard to do. You will be way happier with a kit.

HTH, Randy

[mbossman2]

have done both, nitro and electric.

I prefer electric as the few indoor sites for racing do not allow the nitro cars as they pollute the air too much (not that the ozone rich air from electric cars is any better).

But the whine of a nitro car is unmistakable and gets your macho blood running and if you can find a year round facility that allows them for racing then go for it.

[BFD Deadeye]

Here's an awesome looking Tamiya Nitro Truck...doesn't look like much gets in it's way. Bet it costs like hell, too.

[a|acr|ty]

Just an idea, why don't you just get into go-karts?

[Iman74]

Thanks Deadeye, that's the kind of answer and tip I was looking for. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it. Thanks everybody.

[Iman74]

Originally posted by a|acr|ty Just an idea, why don't you just get into go-karts?

Why not get a go-kart? Well let me tell you, I had a go-kart when I was a young one but now I am a 28year old 6,2 220lbs. Let me tell you something, first getting into the go-kart was hard enough but one day a aquantance invited us to this place he was house sitting for (Montel Williams house) so you know he has good go-karts with his money. Well anyway those things barely pulled me. Naaa I want something small and that I can beat up on. And that will fly. That will be cool if Deadeye is right 45mph to 100 WOW

[BFD Deadeye]

Iman74,
I had a 1/10th scale Kyosho 4WD dune buggy called a "Stinger MKII" (I think). It was a belt drive, full ball bearings, and a .12 engine (I think, it's been 8 years ago). My brother, a deputy, clocked it at 65 MPH in a dead straightaway.

A friend of mine had a 1/8 scale dune buggy. It was radar clocked at 85 MPH.

Both of these were stock engines, running 10% or 15% nitro. They do make 1/4 scale dune buggies as well. These run on souped up lawn mower engines, although I have seen kits to change them over to high performance snowmobile engines.

I'm sure speeds of 100MPH could be achieved with tweaked engines and 25% nitro. Especially on-road racers. The two I mentioned above were off-road in the dirt when clocked. The fastest recorded speed of an ELECTRIC on roader is 150 km/h. Gas, I'm sure, is much faster.Check this out for proof of my claims.

[Iman74]

There goes the goose bumps again hehehee this is going to be fun but killer on the wallet. Well hell 2 things are true about us men:
1. We need our toys
2. Money, you can't take it with you when you die.

[figarowa]

For a beginning truck or car, id reccomend any Traxxas line, or Kyosho, I've got a Kyosho 4x4 Dodge Ram that has a .12 engine, a 2 speed tranny, and instead of a brakeing system, has a reverse gear to get you out of trouble...

[Iman74]

Originally posted by figarowa For a beginning truck or car, id reccomend any Traxxas line, or Kyosho, I've got a Kyosho 4x4 Dodge Ram that has a .12 engine, a 2 speed tranny, and instead of a brakeing system, has a reverse gear to get you out of trouble...

Reverse rather than break, doesn't that kill your transmission? LOL...J/K

[figarowa]

So far, nope...have heard some stories of it happening..

[Iman74]

Well this is bad or good news; it's sort of like the saying either the glass is half full or the glass if half empty.

Saturday I get to the Hobby Store and they have only prebuild Nitro RC Cars. Wasn't to happy about that till the store owner tells me it takes a person average a week to build one of these unless you put a whole day into it and then maybe you can have it done in one day but not many people do it. So I go ahead and buy this awesome 4x4 Nitro RC Truck.
Not letting my excitement get to me I do the right thing by watching the video that came with it first, then following the instructions step by step. About 2hrs later I finally come to the step where I start it and begin the breaking in process...PROBLEM....it won't start. Okay don't lose your cool be patient little by little I begin to troubleshoot. Eventually I think there isn't any gas going to the engine but that proves to be false. Eventually the wife shows up so there is my straight head and she calls tech support and we conclude there is a bad spark thing. It looks like a cigarette lighter from a car but much smaller. Anyway I bring everything to the hobby store on the same day I bought it told him the story about what happened. He begins to help me troubleshoot it.
We begin at 4:30....now it's 6:14 and we got it started twice with about 50 attempts. So either A: these things are this difficult or B: this thing has issues. To make a long story short as much fun this appears to be I finally camly negotiate a return with the store owner whom is NOT happy about that at all and what cost me 600plus dollars I get back 500 plus dollars. It's better than taking home the truck and having something that will probably just piss me off to no end.
So my advice is this. This looks like a lot of fun. But if what happened to me is this common then don't get into this hobby unless you have the right temperment for it.

[HAL9000]

New engines, especially ones in RC cars can be very tempermental until they are broken in, not to mention you also need to develop the knack for starting them. The last airplane that I had started with very little effort, but the engine was well broken in and run previously in a helicopter which runs slightly rich to begin with. It was simply thumb over the carb for 3 flips of the prop, connect the glow plug, pull the prop through compression with a good grip on the prop until I felt a kick, then one flip and it was running. This was the exact opposite of the first engine that I ever had where even with an electic starter, that thing would take about 20 seconds of continuous spinning before it would fire and even then was very touchy to keep running. Once it was broken in (about a gallon and a half of fuel), it started great, but I could never hand start that one.

[BFD Deadeye]

You might be better off going electric your first time around. They are a lot more simple, and no engine to fool with. I know of electrics that can go at blazings speeds.

[Iman74]

Deadeye, good point but once I saw the performance of a Nitro versus Electric it would be very difficult to go electric.
I'm having a lot of issues with this. I want to get into this, looks like a lot of fun if everything works right but at the sametime it looks very aggrivating.
The thing is this. I like getting into things to tinker with but when it gets to the point where I feel my blood boiling I have to question, "was this such a good idea?".
With PC's I have my days, but hell I do that for a living. I deal with all kinds of issues so when I get home and have to fix my PC I already have the experience and expertise to back that up. Then there is something like RC Nitro cars. Looks like a blast when you get everything going. But what about gettting to that point. Deadyeye, Hal9000, is it always that bad or did I just end up dealing with a problem some car. The hobby guy says that is normal till you break it in, and Hal said the samething. But, the way I see it; that is what the guy does for living. Granted Nitro cars wasn't what he mostly in his store. In the store you would find mostly rockets. Now that's a fun hobby except when you put all that work into that rockets, fire it up and then it explodes. Now that just sucks.
But back to what I was saying, this guy was tinkering, adjusting, went through 3 "new" glow plugs, and still we could only get it started twice. Now that brings to me my original question. Is that really that common, or is it not normally that hard? I still have a piece of me that wants to do it. But for the price of these cars I better well enjoy myself but I won't be able to if it's a project to just get the thing started.
And guys, thanks for the suggestion about electric. But I have my heart on Nitro. It's either Nitro or nothing. But I don't know which direction to go in.
Sorry I was babling basically I want to know is it really that bad in the beginning? What's the hardest/longest time someone put into just starting besides breaking it in?

[HAL9000]

Performance engines such as in these nitro vehicles are very common to be fussy until they are broken in. The break in usually takes longer as they use chromed parts which take a long time to seat and yea, you will find youself going through a lot of glow plugs until the job is done, and even so, when it is done, you may still find higher than normal plug replacements are necessary on a RC car than an airplane.

[BFD Deadeye]

Another thing to consider, Iman74: Would you go out and buy a Dell or Gateway for your next computer? No? Then don't sell yourself short and buy a pre-built. Like I mentioned, Kyosho is a good brand to start with, but get the kit. It may take 8 or so hours to build one of these machines, but you wouldn't think twice about building a computer, would you?

Engines come in many flavores, and some of the best brands from my RC days were K&B (mostly airplanes), Super Tiger, OS (yes, OS! ) just to name a few. Tower Hobbies usually doesn't carry crappy stuff, so you will be safe ordering from them. Don't get any other radio than a Futaba. Futaba is simply the best.

[HAL9000]

I agree, go for the kit, it's like a computer, you'll enjoy the experience. When I built my first helicopter, it was a prefab, kinda boring, then I moved on to the X-Cell from Miniature Aircraft Supply. The thing took me three days to put together, but what a machine it was and ran very smooth. Consider getting a kit, buy the engine and do yourself a favor, get a testing stand and run a bit of fuel through the engine with a prop on to loosen it up a bit and become familiar with it.