So who are the RC nerds here?

I know we have some. We've got everything.

One of our customers stopped by and chatted for a while about a bunch of stuff, including competitive RC racing. He dropped off one of his old racers, a Team Associated B3 if memory serves. Just a rolling chassis.

Next time he came through town, he dropped off a partial Team Associated B5M for me. It's a classic racer's stash, a bunch of sets of control arms, some shocks that need to be rebuilt, a couple of spare motors, a new slipper clutch and some other new parts, etc. Looks like it's missing a few bits like some rear axles. Luckily I have the instruction manual that is full of part numbers for everything. There's a steering servo and a terrifyingly complicated radio (ABS? Traction control?), but no other electronics.

I want to put it together so I can play with it. Not race it, but it would be a fun thing to have. I haven't done any RC stuff since I put together a Tamiya M2 model of an NA Miata years ago. I'm assuming my charger for that thing wouldn't be suitable for modern batteries.

Once I get moving on this, I'll do a build thread. Right now I'm trying to get a feel for what's needed. Who will be my sensei when it comes to buying electronics, batteries and saying "do not ever do this"?

I play with rc rock crawlers. So not much help for your build but if moneys available and you have a safe place too charge the best set ups are brushless with lipo power.

Look at any entry level brushless ESC and motor combo, and LiPo batteries. Even the cheap low grade "bashing" quality one will blow away anything you remember. Imagine a monster truck bigger than a Tamiya Clodbuster capable of better than 50mph...from the factory. This is a reality.

I've got motors. Sorry, I didn't count them as "electronics"

One's tweaked up somehow and wasn't legal for racing, I need to see if it says anything on the box. I'll get part numbers shortly.

"safe place to charge"?

Hobbyking for cheap cheap electronics and batteries. Brushless and lipos is really the way to go. Figure what you want to build it for. No associateds are really bashers, so running the craziest motor isn't gonna do you much. Do you want to maybe race it? Or build it to race specs?

I want it to be more fun as a working vehicle than as a pile of parts in a box, which is the current status. I have no interest in racing it or being the fastest kid on the block. Just something that's fun to horse around with.

I wrote up some answers, then deleted them for being likely a decade or two out of date.

I'll put this out there:

If your charger supports your battery formulation, you're probably fine.

If you go brushed, a cheap and mild modified motor is usually a better choice than a stock motor, since stock means "meant to create as much power as possible within specs that keep you from having ball bearings and easy rebuilds."

I bought a cheap Futaba DSSS digital radio recently, having last owned a series of analog AM radios in the 90s. It was a revelation. The range and stability just blew my mind.

Safe place to charge. LiPo fires. YouTube it and see. People have burnt down their houses. Safety is as simple as 2 ziplock bags of sand.

Definitely get brushless and Lipo.

It is a gigantic step up in speed, longevity, and ease of use.

You can basically charge a Lipo a few times a day. Nihm and nicad you should really only charge once a day for maximum life.

Brushless motors run forever with no maintenance. Plus, they make a good bit more power than brushed and are rebuildable.

Get a Lipo battery, charger, brushless speed control, and motor. I am sure there are package deals out there.

My son and I have gotten into RC racing over the last year. We now have two B5Ms. Our go-to place for parts is AMain hobbies (amainhobbies.com). We're not experts yet, but happy to try to answer B5M specific questions.

Keith Tanner wrote: I've got motors. Sorry, I didn't count them as "electronics" One's tweaked up somehow and wasn't legal for racing, I need to see if it says anything on the box. I'll get part numbers shortly. "safe place to charge"?

Lipo fires can burn down a house. I use an old metal box to charge my lipo's in. Usually they look puffy or swelled before they get bad but its happened before were one that looked perfectly normal went up in flames.

If you use lipo batterys get a low voltage safety switch. Some esc's have them built in.

I have motors. I don't know yet if they have brushes or not - probably not, since they're race motors from 2015 or 2016 belonging to a sponsored driver - but they're the motors I'll use.

I'll probably turn this into a build thread and ask youse guys to chime in and guide me. I did spend some quality time last night assembling the front end, so now I have steering and suspension up there along with a servo.

Build thread and pictures! Contributions gratefully appreciated.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/team-associated-b5m-rc-race-car/130909/page1/

I have nothing useful to add, But I've been reading too many build threads over at Scale Builder Guild. I want another SCX now etc.

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