Revisiting the RC urge!

[DLR_1977]

Have been inadvertently finding myself browsing around various RC sites for 1/10th scale Monster trucks and finding that i'm very taken with the idea of building and ragging one around the garden with my lad. (I'm 41, he's 4)

Now, given i'm neither cash or time rich, is this a waste of my energies or a good way to develop that father-son bond and have a laugh in the process?

Or is this just a way of justifying buying myself a new toy when, really, I should be more sensible by now.

[Gary29]

Not sure you can put a price on having fun with your son can you?

Go for it, just get a 'basher' and give it hell, what 4yr old wouldn't be into that?!

[C0ffin D0dger]

As above. Tried to get my Losi Mini-LST going at the weekend so that my 7 year old can play with it but decided it's fecked beyond the time I want to spend on it and spares are hard to get. It's hard for me to justify the spend as we don't have much spare each month at the moment but if I did it would be this:

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/ftx-carnage-1-10-4wd-...

Along with the programming card for the speed controller so I can dial things down a bit for my lad.

[ollie plymsoles]

I bought one for my son(4) and me to burn up and down the garden.
Got a hpi blitz ready to race and some spare batteries. He loves it. Yes it has taken a beating but we both had good fun setting up big ramps and obstacles. We used his small toddler slide as a big ramp haha. It survived and is still going strong. The batteries are the main pain as they don't last long even the expensive ones. After the first use they don't seem to hold their charge so well. Even bought a decent smart charger but it doesn't seem to help.

[300bhp/ton]

C0ffin D0dger said:

As above. Tried to get my Losi Mini-LST going at the weekend so that my 7 year old can play with it but decided it's fecked beyond the time I want to spend on it and spares are hard to get. It's hard for me to justify the spend as we don't have much spare each month at the moment but if I did it would be this:

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/ftx-carnage-1-10-4wd-...

Along with the programming card for the speed controller so I can dial things down a bit for my lad.

These are good models. But tbh completely the wrong thing to give a 7 year old. It'd be like getting a car for your 14 year old lad to drive round your paddock and opting for a 911 Turbo.

That Brushless FTX is a seriously rapid machine. A 7 year old will just drive it into something at speed and break it. I doubt a programming card will really allow you to tone it down enough.

The FTX isn't a bad model and spares are pretty cheap. But they are not the most robust and certainly not for the speeds they can run at. Driven with care and with some upgrades they can be very good. But you will be paying a lot more money to get to this stage.


The non brushless one would probably be a better starting point, or even a rock crawler style vehicle. They will allow someone to get used to driving RC cars, have a lot of fun. But a lot less chance of breaking it.


Something like this would be more my recommendation:
https://www.modelsport.co.uk/ftx-outback-2-rtr-ran...


Or if you fancy building a kit. Something like the Tamiya Lunchbox or Madbull.

[RZ1]

C0ffin D0dger said:

As above. Tried to get my Losi Mini-LST going at the weekend so that my 7 year old can play with it but decided it's fecked beyond the time I want to spend on it and spares are hard to get. It's hard for me to justify the spend as we don't have much spare each month at the moment but if I did it would be this:

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/ftx-carnage-1-10-4wd-...

Along with the programming card for the speed controller so I can dial things down a bit for my lad.

Funnily enough my wife just got me this for my birthday. I used to have a Nitro HPI Savage and i must say this FTX Carnage is really impressive. Electric models have come a long way!
It is however quite delicate, I've already got a few things i need to replace on mine after only using it for 15 mins in the garden, but at the price point you really can't argue.
I would deffo recommend getting one, by boy is only 3 and he loved watching it whizz around the garden.

[InitialDave]

I got my 4yo godson a Tamiya Midnight Pumkin (his dad had one as a kid). With a throttle limiter activated on the transmitter, he adampted to it really quickly.

He enjoyed the dad-assisted build process too.

[RobXjcoupe]

My budget Baja bug build. Second hand chassis with new body fitted. Will look fab when painted and stickered up.
Also just bought an old grasshopper 2. That’s just had a mod to sort the rear rolling axle so it now works with a kind of live axle rear suspension. Just tested a small 2845 3930kv brushless motor in my optima mid chassis so thought a nice 380 motor swap into the grasshopper 2. Motors are technically the same outside dimensions but the brushless has nearly 29,000rpm on a 7.2v battery. Should go well lol.
On a relative budget you can still have fun with second hand gear. Just make sure the chassis you buy still has available spares

[RobXjcoupe]

Above pictures show the central pivot for the front of the rear axle I made for my daughters tamiya rising fighter. Something so simple but really makes a difference. Without it the axle ramps up under acceleration which stops the suspension from working so any bumps the tyres hit the car hops rather than soak up the bump. This stops that axle ramp and enables the axle to float and soak up bumps