Newbie RC car ideas
Discussion
Hi all
I never had a decent RC car as a kid and I really fancy one especially after seeing bobberoo`s unimog thread. I dont have a massive budget so I was looking at this
https://www.modelsport.co.uk/tamiya-grasshopper/rc...
With the power bundle.
I know Tamiya are fairly decent, is the RC equipment in that bundle any good?
I never had a decent RC car as a kid and I really fancy one especially after seeing bobberoo`s unimog thread. I dont have a massive budget so I was looking at this
https://www.modelsport.co.uk/tamiya-grasshopper/rc...
With the power bundle.
I know Tamiya are fairly decent, is the RC equipment in that bundle any good?
For just a few pennies more you could have the Hornet
https://www.modelsport.co.uk/tamiya-the-hornet/rc-...
This is the Grasshopper's "big brother" with a larger motor and a bit more performance.
The radio gear is fine for getting started.
https://www.modelsport.co.uk/tamiya-the-hornet/rc-...
This is the Grasshopper's "big brother" with a larger motor and a bit more performance.
The radio gear is fine for getting started.
Hi,
I have been playing about with these things since i was only enough to realise how poor the toy rc cars are.
Unlike some i have no interest in racing (other than friends when we are messing around) so for me it is about having a car (okay so i have 3 at the minute and am about to buy a fourth...) that i can have fun building, trash about for a few hours, throw in a corner and know that it will take little more than a charge of the batteries to get it going again 2,3, 4, months later.
I've been through a few Nitro cars and whilst i note that you are not looking at those would suggest that you keep away from them anyway as they are a real labour of love and take many, many more hours of tweaking to get to even run right.
Tamiya is , imo, a good strong car and the bonus is that parts are easy to buy and there are lots of bits you can buy to make them go faster. So far as the radio gear goes i have to say that i have never had an issue with any of the radio gear i have bought, personally though i still like the stick controllers and hate the wheel ones.
I would also suggest that if it is to be your only car you will want to look at something a little bit more than the Grasshopper. Despite the name all but the shortest of grass will cause you issues and you will quickly get pee'd off. I have no 'real life' comparison but it also looks to me to be much more fragile and getting spares is not quite as easy as it is with the newer TT 02 Chassis.
Obviously it does depend on what you will mainly be running your car on but I would suggest that you need to be looking at one of the TT02 Chassis cars. Not THAT much more than the Grasshopper in terms of cost but the are much more robust (I have hit walls, kerbs and so on full on, back on, 3/4 on as hard as you like any only ever popped a driveshaft and broken one wheel, ramped off 10' high jumps onto concrete, been down the local skate park with it...) You can also get many, many hop ups very easily for not massive cost (just don't add it all up - over the 3 years i have had my Neo Scorcher i have spent about £100 on extras such as shocks, servo savers, full ball racing, better motor, lots of shiny aluminium bits and about £50 on replacement tyres and wheels (You don't have to but i do a lot of messing about on hard surfaces that rip the tyres up and then go on to gravel, am lazy and you can pick a set of 4 up for £12 on Amazon...)
Others will likely have their favourites and if i was starting again today i might look at SandShaker rather than a buggy but right now i have the Neo Scocher, a Super Clodbuster, a Zakspeed Capri and am about to buy either a Lancia Delta, a Sandshaker or a Subaru but leaning towards the Lancia...
I have been playing about with these things since i was only enough to realise how poor the toy rc cars are.
Unlike some i have no interest in racing (other than friends when we are messing around) so for me it is about having a car (okay so i have 3 at the minute and am about to buy a fourth...) that i can have fun building, trash about for a few hours, throw in a corner and know that it will take little more than a charge of the batteries to get it going again 2,3, 4, months later.
I've been through a few Nitro cars and whilst i note that you are not looking at those would suggest that you keep away from them anyway as they are a real labour of love and take many, many more hours of tweaking to get to even run right.
Tamiya is , imo, a good strong car and the bonus is that parts are easy to buy and there are lots of bits you can buy to make them go faster. So far as the radio gear goes i have to say that i have never had an issue with any of the radio gear i have bought, personally though i still like the stick controllers and hate the wheel ones.
I would also suggest that if it is to be your only car you will want to look at something a little bit more than the Grasshopper. Despite the name all but the shortest of grass will cause you issues and you will quickly get pee'd off. I have no 'real life' comparison but it also looks to me to be much more fragile and getting spares is not quite as easy as it is with the newer TT 02 Chassis.
Obviously it does depend on what you will mainly be running your car on but I would suggest that you need to be looking at one of the TT02 Chassis cars. Not THAT much more than the Grasshopper in terms of cost but the are much more robust (I have hit walls, kerbs and so on full on, back on, 3/4 on as hard as you like any only ever popped a driveshaft and broken one wheel, ramped off 10' high jumps onto concrete, been down the local skate park with it...) You can also get many, many hop ups very easily for not massive cost (just don't add it all up - over the 3 years i have had my Neo Scorcher i have spent about £100 on extras such as shocks, servo savers, full ball racing, better motor, lots of shiny aluminium bits and about £50 on replacement tyres and wheels (You don't have to but i do a lot of messing about on hard surfaces that rip the tyres up and then go on to gravel, am lazy and you can pick a set of 4 up for £12 on Amazon...)
Others will likely have their favourites and if i was starting again today i might look at SandShaker rather than a buggy but right now i have the Neo Scocher, a Super Clodbuster, a Zakspeed Capri and am about to buy either a Lancia Delta, a Sandshaker or a Subaru but leaning towards the Lancia...
I recommend this instead of the Hornet.
http://www.tamiya.com/english/products/58416rising...
It has a 540 motor like the Hornet but has bigger shocks on it.Its a cheaper kit too so actually better value.
Also you don't need to paint the body, its a solid plastic one rather than polycarbonate so no faff painting.
http://www.tamiya.com/english/products/58416rising...
It has a 540 motor like the Hornet but has bigger shocks on it.Its a cheaper kit too so actually better value.
Also you don't need to paint the body, its a solid plastic one rather than polycarbonate so no faff painting.
generationx said:
For just a few pennies more you could have the Hornet
https://www.modelsport.co.uk/tamiya-the-hornet/rc-...
This is the Grasshopper's "big brother" with a larger motor and a bit more performance.
The radio gear is fine for getting started.
Good shout, but to be honest this:-https://www.modelsport.co.uk/tamiya-the-hornet/rc-...
This is the Grasshopper's "big brother" with a larger motor and a bit more performance.
The radio gear is fine for getting started.
http://www.jadlamracingmodels.com/tamiya-rc-58630-...
For £30.25 more than the OP was going to spend is well worth the extra month wait to get 4WD and something that is going to stand more abuse than the Hornet.
Hornet, Grasshopper, Frog and okay but I have to say have never done anything for me and i must say the they appear to be far less robust meaning that any money you save on purchase could easily get spent on repairs or even worse it could become one of those things in the loft...
ETA - I see Russy01 (Jadlam) has a bit of a deal on Neo Scorchers:- http://www.jadlamracingmodels.com/tamiya-rc-58568-...
ETFA - Especially at this time of year there is nothing worse than getting home and wanting to have a play but of course we have lost all the light by 16:30/17:00 so for a whole £10 i would also add this:-
https://www.amazon.co.uk/KASOTEK-Trucks-Lighting-M...
Edited by Rude-boy on Monday 8th January 10:52
The new Lancia 037 is going to be on a TA-02S chassis. Looks much more biased toward road or smooth surfaces than the old 037 on the Tamiya ORV (Frog) chassis I remember from my youth!
https://www.tamiyausa.com/items/radio-control-kits...
https://www.tamiyausa.com/items/radio-control-kits...
ds.
Hi OP
As said before Tamiya are good but the Grass Hopper and Hornet are great for nostalgia but are very old by modern standards. I had friends with those two when I was younger and have not touched a RC car until last year when we bought one for my boy, we bought him a FTX Vantage, 4 wheel shaft drive, proper dampers and independent suspension, all adjustable, (light years ahead of the Hornet for example) and proper fast (brushless is faster and available) we bought a ready to go set from Jadlam ) for somewhere in the £100 mark.
Now a lot of people have said they are basic and low level. I would say it's what you are used to, compared to a Hornet you would not be disappointed. For little money it''s a great way to get back into it, all of the spare parts are available and it takes some knocks. (i appreciate it is entry level by modern standards I guess)
I have since bought the Edge to race him, mine is 2 wheel drive but was around £80 with controller and a battery. Really cant beat it, and still knocks the old Hornet into last century.
We have used them on the beach, in mud, dirt and tarmac, hours of fun.
As said before Tamiya are good but the Grass Hopper and Hornet are great for nostalgia but are very old by modern standards. I had friends with those two when I was younger and have not touched a RC car until last year when we bought one for my boy, we bought him a FTX Vantage, 4 wheel shaft drive, proper dampers and independent suspension, all adjustable, (light years ahead of the Hornet for example) and proper fast (brushless is faster and available) we bought a ready to go set from Jadlam ) for somewhere in the £100 mark.
Now a lot of people have said they are basic and low level. I would say it's what you are used to, compared to a Hornet you would not be disappointed. For little money it''s a great way to get back into it, all of the spare parts are available and it takes some knocks. (i appreciate it is entry level by modern standards I guess)
I have since bought the Edge to race him, mine is 2 wheel drive but was around £80 with controller and a battery. Really cant beat it, and still knocks the old Hornet into last century.
We have used them on the beach, in mud, dirt and tarmac, hours of fun.
Not wishing to take the OP's post away (I think enough time has passed) but I too am looking to get back into RC models and have narrowed my selection down to my first ever car, the Hornet (from some 30 years ago!), or a Tamiya Plasma Edge. It'll be my first venture back in since my youth and I will be taking the plunge imminently. Firstly, any comments on choice (I'm not a hard enthusiast but hoping a relatively low entry model will be the start of something again), and secondly can you remind me that if I bought a second model, I'd be able to use the same controller (novice question I know!)? Thanks.
L500 said:
Not wishing to take the OP's post away (I think enough time has passed) but I too am looking to get back into RC models and have narrowed my selection down to my first ever car, the Hornet (from some 30 years ago!), or a Tamiya Plasma Edge. It'll be my first venture back in since my youth and I will be taking the plunge imminently. Firstly, any comments on choice (I'm not a hard enthusiast but hoping a relatively low entry model will be the start of something again), and secondly can you remind me that if I bought a second model, I'd be able to use the same controller (novice question I know!)? Thanks.
This all depends what you are wanting to get from the hobby.Frankly most of the Tamiya models are shockingly poor performers. Even back in the day.
So buy one for the nostalgia or for the building of it. Don't buy it for the performance or the overall driving ability. That said some of kits are pretty good value.
Most of the RC car market has moved to RTR (Ready To Run). This is a quick way to get into driving a car, but of course you miss out on the building of it. But there are still some kits about, Hobbyking sell quite a lot of kit based vehicles, also often good value and reasonable performers. But do some research first, there are a lot of makes out there and many are rebrands of the same vehicle.
Some lower end models are prone to breaking, although in part this is due to the high performance offered these days and in inexperienced hands, high speed crashes are easy and frequent.
Off road vehicles offer the most versatility as you can run them anywhere. While on road vehicles will need a good smooth tarmac area or similar to use them. Smaller models are often good for confined spaces and bigger models will need much more room to use.
1/8th size buggies, monster or stadium trucks can run on grass, dirt, tarmac and anywhere inbetween. So well worth looking at.
Radio gear can be cheap or pricey, most RTR's come with all you need, but you may end up with a transmitter for each model. I bought a programmable multi model transmitter and just add a Receiver to any new model get, either kit or RTR.
Go for 2.4GHz nobody uses 27MHz these days, apart from maybe a few Tamiya kits.
Likewise with motors. Most run brushless these days, although entry models and most Tamiya's still use brushed. Brushless last longer in run time and life time and performs better.
Batteries have also changed. LiPo is the standard, although potentially volatile. So read up on them and understand the risks. NiMH is used as a cheap alternative and entry point and by almost all Tamiyas. Most Tamiya kits don't even support LiPo officially.
FTX is a good budget brand if you just want to get up and running. I quite like many of the Arrma models too, although supply was an issue earlier in the year. Traxxas good, but crazy money. But have a good look about at what there is.
Here is my 1/8th Arrma buggy and a re-issue Tamiya Grasshopper:
Couple more Tamiya's
My FTX 4wd stadium truck:
Tamiya Konghead:
I've done a bit of model making in the past. I have a 23-year-old Tamiya Escort Cosworth but it moves too quickly for me and my grandkids. There's only so many trees. Last weekend I went to see an off-road crawling fun day and reckon it's for me. The new Tamiya Defender 90 seems about right for me, or perhaps a second hand one which might be better for a first timer.
Thanks 300. Really appreciate the insight as I’ve been away from RC for some time. I think the nostalgia is hitting me most at present, hence Tamiya, and also I want to build it. Without blowing the bucks perhaps I’ll stick with this for now and take it from there. But will definitely explore options you’ve given, so thanks for that. Very helpful indeed.
For bashing around in parks Tamiya WR-02 (Wild Willy 2, Honda City Turbo or comical Grasshopper)
If you want 4x4 GF-01 (Land Cruser or Dump Truck)
6x6 G6-01 Konnisegg pictured above or school bus)
Designed to wheelie at the slightest throttle input, not exactly the most precise of machine but insanely fun.
Crawling - if your budget can stand it go for Axial or Traxxis over Tamiya.
Radios - one transmitter for every human, can be shared amongst as many cars as required. If running multiple cars then a memory function makes things easier as you can store the settings for each car, but is not essential.
Its fairly easy to swap electronics (receiver, batteries, speed controller, motor) about so don't feel you have to get the best of everything straight away. If the hobby bites then the need for upgrades becomes overwhelming anyway.
One last thing - start with a slow motor (stok for the tamiyas, high turn for the crawlers) until you'r used to the controls, less breakages that way.
If you want 4x4 GF-01 (Land Cruser or Dump Truck)
6x6 G6-01 Konnisegg pictured above or school bus)
Designed to wheelie at the slightest throttle input, not exactly the most precise of machine but insanely fun.
Crawling - if your budget can stand it go for Axial or Traxxis over Tamiya.
Radios - one transmitter for every human, can be shared amongst as many cars as required. If running multiple cars then a memory function makes things easier as you can store the settings for each car, but is not essential.
Its fairly easy to swap electronics (receiver, batteries, speed controller, motor) about so don't feel you have to get the best of everything straight away. If the hobby bites then the need for upgrades becomes overwhelming anyway.
One last thing - start with a slow motor (stok for the tamiyas, high turn for the crawlers) until you'r used to the controls, less breakages that way.
L500 said:
Thanks 300. Really appreciate the insight as I’ve been away from RC for some time. I think the nostalgia is hitting me most at present, hence Tamiya, and also I want to build it. Without blowing the bucks perhaps I’ll stick with this for now and take it from there. But will definitely explore options you’ve given, so thanks for that. Very helpful indeed.
If you want to build it for nostalgia take a look at some of the Kyosho re-issue kits. Lovely engineering with metal trailing arms and all sorts. But more pricey than the entry Tamiya models.https://www.modelsport.co.uk/kyosho-tomahawk-2015-...
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