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Sh4
Feb 8, 2009

powderific posted:

After picking up a Slash 4x4 Platinum LCG to have something fast and offroad-y, I think that the whole class of SC trucks and monster trucks isn't really for me. I LOVE my SCX10 and XV-01 (and still get a little kick out of the M-05ra on occasion) but the Slash is just too big for bashing around my house and I haven't gotten out nearly as much as I'd expected. And when I do, the XV-01 or SCX10 are honestly more fun. I'd thought about converting it to more of a monster truck but I'm probably better off just admitting that it's not what I'm into and selling it for something else. Maybe something nice and scale from RC4WD or a drift car.

Soo, anyone want to buy it from me? Or have a suggestion for where to sell it and how much? Looks like there's some stuff on the local craigslist so I may give that a go.

Same boat here, I have both a Slash 4x4 VXL and a Rustler and the Slash is not really good for loving around, it sucks on any non-flat terrain, it can't run on grass and sand and it is not fun to drive IMO because it's on rails, wish I had bought a stampede or some kind of buggy, had a kyosho MP6 that was a blast but gas engines have too many cons.

It's still an awesome car that can take a beating (haven't broke anything in mine after nearly 2 years of loving around jumping stairs and doing flips) and is hauling rear end but it's not really a basher, also it is silly to have a dakar style truck that is only performing well on compacted dirt or tarmac.

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ColonelJohnMatrix
Jun 24, 2006

Because all fucking hell is going to break loose

Speaking of Dakar stuff, why has RC Rally racing never taken off? I really hope to see that happen soon. Yeah, I have seen those videos where guys are running full speed behind their cars, but I mean a "normal" r/c track setup dedicated to rally cars. It would basically be a hybrid of an onroad course with a very tame offroad section. I guess a track like this would be pretty niche, but I'm still surprised more haven't popped up. I'd love to buy and race a rally car in an action rallycross type event.

krushgroove
Oct 23, 2007

Disapproving look
I've got a story about that, actually:

The designer of the original RS4 is really into rallying and so am I, and I helped test his early 'prototype' stuff for the RS4 Rally at SoCal RC, which at the time was purely a buggy track with US-style big air jumps, the whole thing. After several weeks of playing around with my original RS4 Rally modified for rally duty, we had parts for the actual RS4 Rally (curved front skid plate, long-travel shocks, undertray, rally bodies, etc.) and I started to get the other TC racers interested and we set up a couple of race dates to run alongside the normal buggy program. This went really well and I started calling up the guys at Yokomo, Associated and Losi, plus the magazines, and getting their guys to come.

This all built up to a Friday night when we had two FULL heats of rally cars, SoCal built a special rally track with option lines (big air for the buggies and whoop-do-whoops for the rally cars), magazines were there and drivers like Josh Cyrul and Tony Phalen too. The Losi was really fragile (I'm told Josh got in trouble for racing his converted Street Weapon I think it was), Tony had a modified TC3, we got in the magazines and everyone had a great time. A few weeks later the TC3 Rally was announced, some time after that Josh left Losi, and that was the last big rally race that I'm aware of in SoCal.

e: but to answer your question...sales. Or rather, not enough of them.

Sh4
Feb 8, 2009

ColonelJohnMatrix posted:

Speaking of Dakar stuff, why has RC Rally racing never taken off? I really hope to see that happen soon. Yeah, I have seen those videos where guys are running full speed behind their cars, but I mean a "normal" r/c track setup dedicated to rally cars. It would basically be a hybrid of an onroad course with a very tame offroad section. I guess a track like this would be pretty niche, but I'm still surprised more haven't popped up. I'd love to buy and race a rally car in an action rallycross type event.

10 years ago I had a few 1/10 nitro cars, a rally clio williams and a CEN 4wd mercedes CLK DTM and couldn't find any track action, all the rage was buggies like the MP6's on dirt track with silly jumps.

I guess proper RC racing is too boring and expensive to be popular with non enthusiasts, also buggies/trophy trucks don't need a large track, most of them are just a figure of eight with a bunch of jumps.

Nerobro
Nov 4, 2005

Rider now with 100% more titanium!

Polymerized Cum posted:

What's the cheapest RC helicopter I can buy that has true 3-axis controls? (collective, cyclic and anti-torque)

The cheapest full house heli that I'd trust, is the Blade Nano CPx. There are some fine 4 channel fixed picth heli's for cheap, but if you want collective, $150 or so is the entry price.

ColonelJohnMatrix
Jun 24, 2006

Because all fucking hell is going to break loose

Interesting to hear your stories on that. I guess I figured sales must be ok because every company is releasing one now, I guess it's still too niche though. I also bring up the subject because here is what my brother and I currently building on his property -



This is being built a "rock racing" track, inspired by a mashup of King of the Hammers, Endurocross, and Monster Jam. The track is going to be comprised of 2 lanes and the racing will be heads up 1 vs. 1 bracket style where each race is 2 laps with each driver switching lanes at the start/finish lane. The primary goal is to add racing to the traditional "slow" rock crawling environment, but we could easily pull off some of the obstacles and have a good dirt based rally track for x-games style rallycross. Wish drat transponder systems weren't so expensive though, that would be what holds us back from trying out rallycross right away.

Also not pictured is our dual mud pit for mud bogging/drag racing.

krushgroove
Oct 23, 2007

Disapproving look
As someone who now lives in Britain, I can only have the British/European reaction to that picture and caption: wow you have a lot of space :) But that is awesome though! You could easily have a rallycross course around the obstacles and over some of them. European RC rallycross, which is 1/8th buggy racing, is often on different surfaces, although many tracks now have just a single surface of dirt or astroturf. But if you've seen the Top Gear episode when they went to a rallycross track or seen Global Rallycross you'll get the idea of what I mean :) Multipurpose racing course!

Unrelated note:
I was able to get my hands on the RC10 Classic kit, I'm reviewing it for RC Racing TV: http://rcracingtv.net/2013/10/associated-rc10-classic-review-unboxing/ I'm doing a step-by-step build of it with lots of photos and a video at the end of each step, it's pretty fun so far and there's much more come. I can't find my old SAE hex wrenches so I actually have to use the L-wrenches...it's amazing how far buggy kits have come, knowing that the same kit I'm building won a World Championship!

ColonelJohnMatrix
Jun 24, 2006

Because all fucking hell is going to break loose

Nice article. Those rear tires are definitely from a time when men were men. I love how they are basically knobby dirt bike or atv tires. I'm curious to see if we have some of them racing in the stock buggy class this winter.

You Am I
May 20, 2001

Me @ your poasting

Picked up a Tamiya TRF417 v5 (Tamiya's current top of the line onroad chassis) plus aftermarket Raceberry chassis for $200. Considering the 417 is worth $600 new and the Raceberry mod another $200 on top, it was a nice deal.

Somewhat Heroic
Oct 11, 2007

(Insert Mad Max related text)



The RS4 Rally was the sickest kit of the time! We had a pretty good following of rally racing that lasted about a summer. Interesting enough I went in to a hobby shop to spend my hard earned summer money on a rally weapon (based off of the street weapon/XX-4) but when I found out it only accepted saddle packs I passed on it and chose to get the XXX buggy kit (the original first XXX) and that was what started my first time ever racing on an actual track.
Krushgroove - there still seems to be enough space in Europe to build literally the most bitching on road tracks for 1/5 and 1/8 racing that I would DIE to have in the states. If I strike it disgustingly wealthy one day I will build a personal track (including a rally course)

mehall
Aug 27, 2010


My search-fu is failing me: can anyone link the web link of the comparison of different wings and stuff on model f1 chassis?

You Am I
May 20, 2001

Me @ your poasting

mehall posted:

My search-fu is failing me: can anyone link the web link of the comparison of different wings and stuff on model f1 chassis?

I'd be checking the F1 thread in the on road forums on RC Tech. I don't think there is much of a difference between them

mehall
Aug 27, 2010


You Am I posted:

I'd be checking the F1 thread in the on road forums on RC Tech. I don't think there is much of a difference between them

there was a link ages ago of someone testing and comparing the effects of different angles or wings and stuff on f1 rc, thats the link I was looking for rather than just straight comparison for different wongs themselves.

Stregone
Sep 1, 2006

mehall posted:

there was a link ages ago of someone testing and comparing the effects of different angles or wings and stuff on f1 rc, thats the link I was looking for rather than just straight comparison for different wongs themselves.

IIRC it was a scan of a japanese RC mag.

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.
Can someone give me a bit of info about what I have here? We got these in a bin for a good price (he didn't know what they are), and all I know is they are worth about 10x what we paid. I know more about planes than I do things that run on wheels, so a bit of info would be awesome. I can provide pictures of whatever.





Edit - Also, I don't know enough to make an informed decision on a good transmitter or any other accessories I should be getting.

subx fucked around with this message at 03:30 on Nov 10, 2013

Somewhat Heroic
Oct 11, 2007

(Insert Mad Max related text)



That is a 'team' edition RC10GT with I believe a Picco motor (I'm pretty sure that's what it is from that header) team associated's factory team division used to offer purple hop ups, so that is an AE pipe and pretty sure the chassis was an option too. Not a bad runner, with little power and good traction they'd wheelie like a son'bitch

Edit: that chassis/ looks like titanium so I'm betting that is the Hardcore Racing chassis/silver aluminum mounts. Their Ti stuff was okay, but not nearly the choice of pro racers. When you hit rocks it should shoot awesome sparks

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Somewhat Heroic posted:

That is a 'team' edition RC10GT with I believe a Picco motor (I'm pretty sure that's what it is from that header) team associated's factory team division used to offer purple hop ups, so that is an AE pipe and pretty sure the chassis was an option too. Not a bad runner, with little power and good traction they'd wheelie like a son'bitch

Edit: that chassis/ looks like titanium so I'm betting that is the Hardcore Racing chassis/silver aluminum mounts. Their Ti stuff was okay, but not nearly the choice of pro racers. When you hit rocks it should shoot awesome sparks

The top of the engine says Team Orion, so that sounds right. What's a decent not-too-expensive transmitter? I'm just doing this for the hell of it and don't plan on racing it or anything.

Somewhat Heroic
Oct 11, 2007

(Insert Mad Max related text)



Spektrum has some decent sub-$100 transmitters that work very well. Team Orion used to work with Picco, so it's an Italian mill. Did you get a bump box with it?

subx
Jan 12, 2003

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Somewhat Heroic posted:

Spektrum has some decent sub-$100 transmitters that work very well. Team Orion used to work with Picco, so it's an Italian mill. Did you get a bump box with it?

I have a DX6 and like it, so that sounds good. And no I didn't.

Any good guide on getting started with non-electrics? There's a lot of little things that I should probably know. Luckily I'm not so deep into this money wise that I would be too upset if something gets hosed up.

And thanks for the help, much appreciated. Maybe I'll get into surface RC stuff so I have something to do in the winter.

subx fucked around with this message at 05:20 on Nov 10, 2013

powderific
May 13, 2004

Grimey Drawer
Put a tiny winch on the Dingo. It's more fun than I expected it to be from watching videos. Instead of starting my little routes over when I get stuck I've been doing mini recoveries. Feels pretty silly if anyone's watching, but it sure it entertaining winching up big rocks.

Sh4
Feb 8, 2009
That winch looks pretty good, does it have enough power to lift the whole truck ?

powderific
May 13, 2004

Grimey Drawer
Rc4wd says that it's only designed for a 3-4 lb vertical load, which is a bit low to lift the truck but it does do it. Not sure how long it'd last doing so often. It includes a spare motor in the package so I assume they must burn out somewhat frequently. It's strong enough to make it look like the bumper is getting ripped off if the truck is jammed in while I'm winching.

ColonelJohnMatrix
Jun 24, 2006

Because all fucking hell is going to break loose

Nice looking winch. Glad to hear it's working well. Those little winch motors are hit and miss. Generally if they work (which yours seems to be doing) then they will work for awhile. Other times they go poof really fast.


So I've been writing the scale column for Big Squid now the last couple weeks and they've been very happy how well it's gone over....so they are sending me a RECON G6 edition Axial SCX10 to build for them, and after they review it I'm free to keep it. I'm also about to purchase a Gmade Sawback Jeep to see how they are. Phillips hardware looks cheesy, but the rest of the platform appears to be solid.

powderific
May 13, 2004

Grimey Drawer
How do you actually get to the scale column? I'm a little confused by their layout but usually like their coverage.

ColonelJohnMatrix
Jun 24, 2006

Because all fucking hell is going to break loose

I would've linked but I was on my phone earlier. Here are the 3 I've done thus far (see below). You guys will probably recognize some of those shots :) I'm having to write these articles knowing that most of the people reading them are basically just bashers with no knowledge of the scale scene. The point of the column is to "let them in", so to speak. There is a lot of cool stuff posted in this thread and if any of you is interested in showing off something then please shoot some nice pics and either PM me or e-mail me at showmescalers@gmail.com. It doesn't have be scale crawlers either. I'm wanting to do an F1 or Vintage Trans Am column soon so any help you on-roaders could give would be great!

http://www.bigsquidrc.com/new-weekly-column-everybodys-scalin-for-the-weekend-by-doug-welker/
http://www.bigsquidrc.com/everybodys-scalin-for-the-weekend-to-leaf-or-not-to-leaf-that-is-the-question/
http://www.bigsquidrc.com/everybodys-scalin-for-the-weekend-ever-danced-with-the-devil-in-the-pale-moonlight/

Oh, and hey, congrats Howser on purchasing my 2wd pulling truck. I listed it on another forum and by luck he happened to see it and wanted to buy it. I'm glad to see it go to a goon! A buddy of mine built me another 2wd chassis that is stretched out and I'm going for an ultra scale build so that's why I unloaded it.

ColonelJohnMatrix fucked around with this message at 17:19 on Nov 21, 2013

HoWSeR
Sep 9, 2004

ColonelJohnMatrix posted:

I would've linked but I was on my phone earlier. Here are the 3 I've done thus far (see below). You guys will probably recognize some of those shots :) I'm having to write these articles knowing that most of the people reading them are basically just bashers with no knowledge of the scale scene. The point of the column is to "let them in", so to speak. There is a lot of cool stuff posted in this thread and if any of you is interested in showing off something then please shoot some nice pics and either PM me or e-mail me at showmescalers@gmail.com. It doesn't have be scale crawlers either. I'm wanting to do an F1 or Vintage Trans Am column soon so any help you on-roaders could give would be great!

http://www.bigsquidrc.com/new-weekly-column-everybodys-scalin-for-the-weekend-by-doug-welker/
http://www.bigsquidrc.com/everybodys-scalin-for-the-weekend-to-leaf-or-not-to-leaf-that-is-the-question/
http://www.bigsquidrc.com/everybodys-scalin-for-the-weekend-ever-danced-with-the-devil-in-the-pale-moonlight/

Oh, and hey, congrats Howser on purchasing my 2wd pulling truck. I listed it on another forum and by luck he happened to see it and wanted to buy it. I'm glad to see it go to a goon! A buddy of mine built me another 2wd chassis that is stretched out and I'm going for an ultra scale build so that's why I unloaded it.

Thanks! Looking forward to trying it out once I get a pull sled. I'll take good care of it. :) on that note I spend way to much time looking at sale ads in other forums. Just got a used Trail finder 2 with custom flatbed, then decided to throw money at it because I wanted a classic pickup with a topper. So now counting a txt-2, the trail finder, wraith, hilux truggy, a 22 sct on the bench, and now the puller..... I really got to start finishing my projects. :downs:

F1 Oh wait I have a almost ready to go one of that as well, still waiting on some green metallic paint. I even got some really nice Caterham team decals from F1 paintlab (now f1rclab)

Once the 22sct is done, I have to get the wraith completed, at lest ready enough to drop electronics in it.

Oh powderific, how do you have the winch setup? I have one ready for my trail finder and thinking i'm gonna save a channel by using the wireless remote rc4wd has.

HoWSeR fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Nov 21, 2013

powderific
May 13, 2004

Grimey Drawer
I don't need the third channel on my Spektrum TX/RX for anything so I just used that. It's a little glitchy right now—sometimes I have to go in-out-in real quick to get it properly stopped instead of sitting there making chugging noises. I'm sure there's a way to tweak it but it's not that big of deal so I haven't bothered looking into it yet. Also, instead of tiny screws I just used heavy duty double sided tape to mount the thing.

Really wish there was more of a crawler community around me; those get togethers look fun. There was a comp crawler club that met semi-regularly, but I noticed they lost their indoor space and don't do scale stuff anyway.

ColonelJohnMatrix
Jun 24, 2006

Because all fucking hell is going to break loose

powderific posted:

Really wish there was more of a crawler community around me; those get togethers look fun. There was a comp crawler club that met semi-regularly, but I noticed they lost their indoor space and don't do scale stuff anyway.

This sounds cliche, but go start a group! When I started my club in St. Louis it was the exact same thing. I was having a blast by myself but eventually got bored and wanted to do it with others. There was a dying comp scene where they dicked around with scale trucks every once in awhile, but they weren't very open to new people coming out and all they did was crawl a few rocks. I wanted to do big trail runs and organize fun events open to everyone. I remember posting about all of it in this very thread. One day I said gently caress it and picked a name, designed a logo and got some stickers made, and then started a facebook group and started trying to get the word out. The first trail run was 4 guys. Then around 8, then around 15, and the next thing you know 70 trucks are showing up to events. The people were always out there, and once word got around that others were doing the same thing they were, it spread like wildfire.

Pick a name and start a facebook group. I'll even take a crack at doing a logo for you. I guarantee there are others by you who feel the same way you do!

edit - I'm not implying you have to set out to have a huge club or something, but just having 3-4 other guys join you regularly is a ton of fun.

double edit - I just purchased a Gmade Sawback. I have no clue if it's going to be a great platform or a huge piece of poo poo but I'm pretty excited to see.

ColonelJohnMatrix fucked around with this message at 23:48 on Nov 21, 2013

HoWSeR
Sep 9, 2004

ColonelJohnMatrix posted:

double edit - I just purchased a Gmade Sawback. I have no clue if it's going to be a great platform or a huge piece of poo poo but I'm pretty excited to see.

I put together one of their R1 crawlers awhile back. the cast molded gears needed to be filled and packed with grease or they would wear pretty quickly, and the bearings would fail on the portal axle parts. the build manual was nice and easy to read. Worse case? you would need to replace the axles with something more reliable, I seen so many people replace the R1 portal axles with scx10 axles or wraith axles, cause the cage was awesome looking.

looking forward to your review, kinda curious myself.

powderific
May 13, 2004

Grimey Drawer
Speaking of G-Made, I just picked up a set of their new steel beadlock wheels along with some RC4WD Challenger tires. The wheels went together very easy. Fit and finish seems OK, there were a couple imperfections in the paint and the inside beadlock piece was pretty sharp. Assembled the wheels and tires feel heavier than my stock Axial set with an ounce and a quarter of lead stick on weights. I love the way the tires and wheels look together--I wanted steel wheel looking wheels, which isn't that hard to find, plus tires that'd have similar diameter to the ripsaws but more of a regular truck looking tread, which was trickier to figure out than I'd expected as most of the normal looking tires were too small. This combo is the perfect size and looks great.

Unfortunately, it was the first snow of the season today so I can't comment on how the Challenger tires stack up to the Ripsaws performance wise. They seem similarly or maybe even a touch stickier, but it's hard to tell.










(terrible photo, but it was cold and I wasn't thinking well.)

krushgroove
Oct 23, 2007

Disapproving look
Now chip those wheels up and let 'em rust like a full-size farm truck!

ColonelJohnMatrix
Jun 24, 2006

Because all fucking hell is going to break loose

That wheel and tire combo looks fantastic! I love the white letting on those. I wish more scale tires had that look. I want to hear how those tires do when you get it on some other terrain.

As for Gmade, I've heard mixed things about the R1. Some love it, and then some say they had issues like the ones described above. The Sawback is really interesting though. If it performs well then its a heck of a deal at that price point.

yaffle
Sep 15, 2002

Flapdoodle
I recently dug out of the attic my old Tamiya tamtech 1/24 scale lancia. It seems to be all there, but the battery won't hold a charge anymore, I can't seem to find anything online about a replacement battery, does anyone know where/how I can get one?

InitialDave
Jun 14, 2007

I Want To Believe.
Is the battery just a 6-cell 7.2v Ni-Cad pack of some kind?

Iron Code Monkey
Jun 13, 2012
You can try http://www.cheapbatterypacks.com/ they will custom build a pack to your specifications (cell count, cell size, pigtail, etc.)

yaffle
Sep 15, 2002

Flapdoodle
Hmm, it's a Tampack 7.2v-270 mAh ni-cd battery, feels like there are three AA batteries in there, it looks like this one:

Is it likely someone could build me a new one?

powderific
May 13, 2004

Grimey Drawer
That connector looks pretty normal actually. Is there a hobby shop anywhere near you? You might be able to find something off the shelf.

edit: and 7.2 volts isn't weird or anything, it'd be easy to find an off the shelf pack that's roughly the same size and put a matching connector on the ESC if you wanted.

powderific fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Nov 22, 2013

InitialDave
Jun 14, 2007

I Want To Believe.
At a guess, is it a little over 60mm long? I'm going to take a stab that it's a pack of 6 "N" sized 1.2v Ni-Cads, based on what the label says. Try googling for some of those and break out the soldering iron.

HoWSeR
Sep 9, 2004
its here its here!



not even a scratch inside its bubble/foam cocoon. Thanks so much ColonelJohnMatrix!




The clod body's awesomel:3:, it would be a shame to sand it all down....maybe another clod body is in order. That and some electronics and a sled and ohhh my poor wallet. :D

Now to get to wrenching, early Christmas gift from the wife, got to get to ready for Fridays race!

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ColonelJohnMatrix
Jun 24, 2006

Because all fucking hell is going to break loose

I'm VERY happy to hear that it arrived safely! Do with that body what you will, that's the beauty of a hard body!

I've been really busy lately building stuff. The RECON g6 jeep went together great, as did the Sawback. Gotta say, I'm in love with the little Willy's Jeep. I'm very impressed with the performance thus far. I took off the stock tires and through on some soft Axial Trepadors and it made it even tougher. The driver is a Team Fortress 2 Demoman. Here's a shot from yesterday's winter beach run.



I think Gmade is gonna sell a lot of these.

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