General Grassroots R/C hobby thread

In reply to pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) :

https://www.towerhobbies.com/product/110-audi-quattro-az-4wd-tt-02-kit/TAM58667.html
 

little more scale wheel size but brand new!

Have ran the Kyosho Inferno NEO 3.0 VE three times so far... only reason haven't run it a bit more is required some changes/fixes. Battery tray needed modding for putting a 4S battery in sideways so wouldn't rub on body (mainly the balance connector) also reversed all the tie down straps so buckles were in better, easier to get to orientation. The pinion gear came off on the third battery through it... thankfully was still in chassis right by motor mount  - was cleaned and Guntited (Loctited) in place. Also, the power switch became detached (adhesive)... so I removed it, cleaned and put 3M double sided body molding tape. Body is also bit worn from just 3 runs so far... paint has rubbed off in a few places along sides of body... really need to touch it up and put some protective tape over those areas to protect the paint.

The car is immensely fun though... absolute beast in acceleration/launching and great to drive...very quick to respond and control - definitely my most favorite R/C car I've had and actually glad to have the space to run it... because it definitely needs space to run. And speaking of that, started making a bit of a track for it in the back yard... because plenty of dirt, flat land though. Hopefully will have it completed before tomorrow evening...after chores and other things that need to be done are done...

Cut slot in battery tray near left-most strap for the negative lead so can put battery in sideways.

The Gens Ace 4S 5000mAh battery mounted in the sideways config.

In reply to Vracer111 :

1/8 scale brushless missile, hell yeah!

Ordered a rustler for tuna kid 2 today. 

What's up with used RC prices? I'd half considered fabricating something like an old E Maxx with twin modern brushless stuff just to show the kids what fast is, but it looks like I have to spend new money to even get an old chassis to start with. 

Got the track setup in the backyard, took 3 iterations but have it in a configuration I like which both flows and is fun. Hardest thing is how rough the surface is due to so much loose sand/dirt with hard compacted dirt/sand thrown in, would be lot better if could compact it all...but that would be a lot of work...

Short video tour of it:

https://vracer111.smugmug.com/Hobbies/RC/n-ZptbM9/i-WMv2JkZ/A

The Inferno NEO 3.0 VE is a riot to drive, but can tell it will require quite a bit of upkeep/looking after to run it... does have some issues out the box. Trying to figure out how to keep front left CVD hub pin from working it's way loose about every run... why didn't they use an E-clip style design to prevent it from working loose. Been using super glue on each end but pin eventually gets free and works its way out and contacts the hub. Probably going to need to measure and go with custom e-clip rod setup. Also certain suspension arm hinge screws really like to work their way loose... looking to use 3mm e-clip hinge pins from other inferno iterations to replace them and prevent this. Also sheared 3 teeth off the stock pinion gear after about 8 runs, replacement 12T ordered and just came in along with a 13T pinion. Tightened up the lash just a bit, will see how it goes long term. The new 12T Kyosho pinion does look better quality... metal doesn't look pitted and 'cast' like the original one it came with which had no 12T identifier on it unlike the replacement.

New wheels/tires and closed end 17mm lug nuts to keep sand out the inner axle....

Anyways, having lots of fun driving it, but would also like a simpler and lighter 1/10th 2WD setup as backup/alternate for when it's down & being upgraded. Was torn between 2WD Buggy or 2WD Short Course Truck. Lots of factors went into the decision but basically with how rough and bumpy the track is I decided on going the 2WD Short course truck route for better handling a natural, ungroomed style track - so I've ordered a Team Associated PRO2 SC10 RTR along with two 3S lipos and few upgrade parts (mainly all metal gearing for the trans/diff and aluminum front bulkhead). My R/C car resurgence will take the place of my sportscar track driving and modding... just about as fun to me and can do it whenever with a LOT lower costs.

In reply to Vracer111 :

If you can put the word out there to the local RC community (provided you want them in your backyard) it shouldn't take long to get that track in order and meet some new people to run with.

On the 1/10 scale stuff we used to put a piece of heatshrink around those joints to keep the pins in, maybe that could work on your larger buggy.

In reply to adam525i :

Good idea on the pin, but may not work well with how much articulation and gap is between the yokes of outer hinge of the CVD. I can see a band of heat shrink or tubing being torn apart within a single run. There is a lot of movement and difference in the two yokes of the CVD outer end, like the drive shaft of a truck, not a smoother more uniform ball style joint end on like on top end RC CVD setups. Custom E-clip conversion or upgrading to a ball socket style CVD (if available) may be the only options.

Got in the PRO2 SC10 and put in all the upgrades before running it (aluminum front bulkhead, aluminum steering arms, metal idler & differential housing gears - 4000cst diff oil used to rebuild it.) Got it on track and it was fun but very challenging and apparent that the tires will need to be changed... simply not enough grip, so speed has to be slow. Very apparent the difference in capability between 4WD and RWD RCs on a rough, loose dirt/sand course... the Kyosho Inferno is nearly twice as fast around it as the SC10.

The Inferno grips like crazy and can be flung around and balanced with lots of throttle while the SC10 requires no more than half throttle and very careful balancing and slowing down in the corners... was work just keeping it going straight. After running it on the track for a bit I went ahead and took it on the road in front of the house to test it out. Road is compacted dirt, little bit loose dirt on surface. Anything above half throttle under load and it was an absolute handfull to keep straight down the road...even creeping up throttle 'slowly' to see how fast it goes. Rear tires start spinning and then starts drifting off line quickly requiring lots of steering correction and throttle modulation. Steers and turns fine... just really issue of rear breaking loose.

So definitely need better grip for the rear and have two sets of tires coming in (Schumacher 'Stagger rib" & Pro-Line Badlands) along with 4 stock SC10 wheels and tire glue... Also upgrading parts on the Inferno at same time... mainly suspension. Have spare front CVD set, so the left one with pin that keeps coming out can bevreplaced. And lastly, decided to get a good midrange control transmitter that is physically adjustable (throttle trigger weight/position/angle, steering weight, interchangeable grips) and well built/thought out with comprensive features and options. So ordered a new Sanwa MT-44 for a very good discount on Ebay from a reputable seller last night. Really don't care that much for the cheap feeling XP120 control that came with the Associated SC10... the Kyosho KT-231P+ controller is much, much nicer unit. 

I've been into RC cars since the mid 80s but in recent years have gotten way too serious about it and lost a lot of the fun by collecting vintage RC10s instead of driving them. 

So today I ordered something to take me way back to where I began. It's about as far from my RC10 collection as possible. My wife and I have a little dachshund puppy with way too much energy so I plan to use the new RC to entertain the dog and have some fun myself. I vow right now, there will be no titanium hardware or carbon fiber hop-ups ordered for this latest car. 

In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :

But you've got a setup table to get the camber, toe, roll-centres and everything just right? right? lol

In reply to Vracer111 :

My first RC car was a Rambler VLX back when brushless stuff was just coming out, I picked it up as I could run my 3 cell lipo batteries in it that I had for my heli. That thing was way over powered on those batteries and a handful just like you describe. I actually put a spare heading hold gyro from a heli onto it for the steering axis and it was night and day how good it was with that. The car would do the small corrections automatically keeping it going in whatever direction I pointed it that you couldn't pick up on from 50 ft away. I think the drifters use them know and maybe they are a bit more common.

adam525i said:

In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :

But you've got a setup table to get the camber, toe, roll-centres and everything just right? right? lol

If I'm fully honest with y'all, I did order an upgraded motor and bearings when I ordered the car.

In reply to adam525i :

Had been thinking about gyros... but unsure on them based on the VSC experience from SC10... hated it, turned it completely off. If they act differently than the built-in stability systems on the RTRs that would be a good thing though. I do have new tires (Pro-Line Badlands) mounted on a pair of stock wheels which I glued up this past weekend - that should give much better rear end stability hopefully. Also, no longer have to worry about the stock transmitter... I found good deal on Sanwa MT-44 transmitter which should help immensly in fine tuning control... and bought two 3-channel Sanwa RX-380 receivers to run in the SC10 PRO2 and Inferno NEO 3.0 VE... Nice being able to have single controller for the two along with all the features and physical adjustability (throttle trigger angle, throw length, pull weight, steering weight, grip size)...

And my brother wants to run on my track but only has a TLR Mini T2... so he started researching for something a bit larger. Was thinking of going with a TLR 1/10 buggy rolling race chassis but I found a chassis for a bit less which would be even better all arounder for him I think and he agreed. Found a Losi Tenacity DB PRO 'slider chassis' on ebay for $290 (RTR with the electrics and wheels/tires removed). I'm giving him my Kyosho transmitter, receiver, & extra set of stock SC10 wheels/tires and he's ordered a Hobbywing EZRun MAX10 SCT ESC with 3660 sized 3200Kv brushless motor combo and a Savox SB-2274SG servo.

The setup will be just a bit more than the Tenacity DB PRO RTR kit normal price but with better running gear.

Like the 'music videos' this guy does for RCs, and he has a few starring a Tenacity DB PRO...

3S in a 2wd buggy is a lot of punch, makes sense you'd have a hard time hooking her up. I know you're just bashing at the moment, but if you do get into racing SCT, 2s are required. I have an 8.5T brushless motor in my SCT and still have it turned down quite a bit for indoor tracks. Quite a bit of expo and end point on the throttle.

Tower delivered my new buggy today. This is a throwback to the 80s when I was a kid shopping at Toys By Roy and saving my money. I'm going from high end stuff to the most basic stuff to try and restore some fun into the hobby for me.

I got a real modest motor upgrade with the 540 vs the stock 380. I'm hoping that between keeping the motor mild and that big honkin capacity battery that I should get some decent run times. I just didn't feel like going lipo on this car. The Tamiya speed controller and a Ni-MH battery should keep it simple and safe. 

I have to work a 48 hour shift on the 25th and 26th. I'll take this to work and do some building in my spare time.

In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :

Nice Classic! A Kyosho Turbo Scorpion would be the one I'd want to go with if wanted to have fun building a re-released/re-engineered classic. Have fun building the grasshopper!

In reply to fatallightning :

Ran it late this afternoon - the ProLine Badland tires and Sanwa MT-44 really made a big difference. Way more controllable - actually have to work at it to get it to misbehave. Tires have much better grip than the stocks and both they and the controller really keep the rear end planted... no more fighting to keep rear end from coming around all the time like before. I did mod the SC10 body a little by trimming off back half of rear corners/bumper wells since rear was cracked on both sides, also working on opening up rear panel to minimize parachuting. Only issue is I forgot to protect the paint in the rear wells and the badlands rubbed some off since they are a little bit taller than stock and knobby...

I will be touching up the tire wear areas with black paint then putting aluminum tape over for some protection. Probably also need to stiffen rear suspension just a bit more... Also have a J Concepts racing Ford Raptor body for it to fit/paint.

Inferno is stripped down and beginning to undergo some maintenance and modding now...

To do for it is cleaning/inspecting/shimming diffs and filling with diff oil (5k F/ 7k C/ 3k R), building/installing the optional aluminum dampers, putting together new upper control arms with titanium turnbuckles (Lunsford), upgrading to MP9 machined aluminum uprights & knuckles, upgrading to machined motor mount, upgrading to Savox SB-2273SG high torque servo, and fitting on an aftermarket MP9 body (and painted mainly a bright gunmetal with black and florescent yellow secondary colors.)

I've gotten the lower rear arm and rear machined MP9 hubs fitted along with MP9 rear mud deflectors... need to get longer dogbones to make it work since the hub is now further out... currently researching to make sure get the right ones.

I'm building one of these with my boys right now:

In reply to JamesMcD :

Portal axles FTW!

Been playing with a couple axial scx24s lately. 

Very fun little rigs.

Trolling CL, I found a guy selling an old GWS Slow Stick. These tings rule. 43" wingspan and next to no weight.

Nutters on Ebay want $70-80! Guy wanted $50 and it came with 2 Futaba servos. Didn't even attempt to haggle on price. This will be my 3rd one. Need to get a Lipo setup and an ESC for the Speed 400 outrunner brushless Bro got me ages ago because my old system was NiMH and those batteries are desd as dirt. Will be fun blowing the hellspawn's mind with it in the culdesac.

In reply to Appleseed :

I had one of those. I converted it to a flying boat similar to the one pictured below. Fantastic plane to fly when you just want to relax. I loved handing the controls off to someone who'd never flown an RC plane. They'd be doing touch and goes in no time.

ok tunaKid 2 played with the rustler on Christmas. It's LiPo, but brushed, and I assumed it would be very similar to TunaKid1 and his Slash (same motor, controller, battery), but the rustler can do wheelies from a stop. Wow. My mind is blown.

I love the Grasshopper up there. Is there a path to a "silly old stuff with modern motor" monster? I would love to have that same power in something like an old Lunchbox van just for giggles.

These kids make my memories of my old RC10T2 and it's Trinity Midnight 27T with the super-modern 1400 mah batteries, seem silly.

That was fast. Within three days the Rustler was down. There was a nice groove down the center of the spur gear. It seems like the motor came loose and went angled. Since they use a jig to hold the gear lash, the motor didn't just back away, it pivoted. He switched to the included "high speed" gearing and used it only on pavement and jumps, and before one battery pack was used, he let some smoke out.

I'm a little miffed.

Traxxas is sending another motor and spur gear, and that's great, but what's up with this? I guess the RTR is, as feared, worse in terms of build quality, and the motor was not as tight as I would tighten it. I also guess that the high speed gearing is not useful, though they say it should be fine for the 2S packs we are using.

Since I'm going to be locked in the house battling cabin fever due to covid like symptoms, I just ordered an Axial SCX24 C10 and a off-brand 1/16 scale rc crawler off of Amazon that had some decent reviews that was under $90.

Really looking forward to their arrival and contemplating a less than 1/10 scale 4wd buggy from WLtoys too