The AFF R/C Topic

[Donny]

You cant go wrong with RPM stuff. The A Arms are excellent, Iv had them on mine for 12 months now and not 1 breakage after sum massive abuse.
I bought a set of Traxxas Big Bore shocks off the guy I linked above, they cost me $55 as opposed to the retail set at the local hobby store @ $100.00
I was going to do the same as you, alloy caps, but I bash mine pretty hard and was popping the stock shocks every time I took it out, so chose to go big bore, and @ $55 for the set, you cant go wrong.. Tom from that shop is easy to deal with and very helpful.

Heres a bunch of vids I uploaded earlier of some of the stuff we do with our slashes... http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...pledee351&aq=f

[Spudz27]

Wow you really do bash your slash. I didn't like running my pede and now my slash for that matter, in water or mud, because I can't be bothered cleaning lol. What do you use to keep dust out of the drive shafts?

[Donny]

Yeah we do bash our stuff around a fair bit. The only downside is increased maintenance..
The Slash with the Velenion 3500 Motor and matching ESC is waterproof as is the radio gear.. Going in the water its the bearings that cop it the worst, but I service the centre one after every run session irrespective of use and the wheel bearings every second run session unless I use it in extreme dust or get them wet, then I do them after every run session.. Then once every 2 months or so, Ill do the diff bearings and steering ones..

Drive shafts wise, your gunna laugh, but I scrape them down with a scalpel or exacto knife, then I smooth that out with cutting compound and then clean that with carnuba wax a few times. Remove all residue and reassemble.

Then after a few use sessions, I slide the shafts apart, liberally spray silicone spray on both half shafts to remove any fine gunk in there, and then dry the wetness of the silicone spray off with a rag and reassemble..

I only need to do the cut n wax every few months, but it ensures nice, easy and even sliding half shafts that will still function reasonably even if they are gummed up..

[Scooter79rs]

Originally Posted by Ford_XR603

I ended up paying about $600.00 straight out of the box - The Dominator was a brushless (dont even know what that means) motor and battery powered , and this thing was FAST!! 1/10 scale but for a big rc it took off , the guy at the store reckoned itd do 80 kays , and im pretty sure hes right . so 1st night i got it , took it out of package and straight onto the tar , 5 mins after whippin/burning rubber and skids slammed it straight into the gutter bent the whole front end :( was a very short night lol

Brushless motors are a AC electric motor and brushed motors are DC electric motor. Brushless are more efficient , have more power, and don't wear out. I had one in my race car for 6 months and it was producing more power then brand new motors on a dyno. Just never get a brushless motor over 100oC it will go up in smoke, ideally keep it below 80oC, 60-70 seems to be a sweet spot after a 5minute race.
Last year during summer I had two fans on my motor to try and keep it cool



I pulled apart my TC6 tonight and found the chassis to be twisted, hopefully it'll become straight again, being carbon fibre I hope it will.

I use some quite distint colours for my race cars

[EB_5.0_WAGON]

I have been racing R/C cars of various types for about the last 10 yrs or so.
My stable consisted of until recently of the following

Team Losi xxxBK2 ( 2wd offroad buggy)
Team Losi xxxtMF2( 2wd Stadium Truck)
J Concepts BJ4 WE( 4wd offroad Buggy)
Team Associated TC5-R( touring car)

I also have had some success with the offroad cars

2007 Stock Truck - 10th in Australia.
2008 2wd Stock - 7th in QLD
2008 4wd Stock - 9th in QLD
2008 Stock Truck - 8th in QLD

I am currently not racing due to finances( kids) but i want to get back into it soon.

This is the shell i used to run with the touring car



This is my 2wd buggy getting some air

[Spudz27]

Well the lis of parts being upgraded on my slash in 3 weeks are

RPM front A-arms
RPM Caster Blocks
RPM Steering Blocks
Slash 4x4 shocks
Traxxas alloy shock caps
Slash 4WD rear shafts
Jato 54t Spur
Robinson racing 32p pinion (got 3 different ones)
Velineon Brushless motor
VXL-3 ESC
VXL-3 ESC Cooling Fan

To top it all off I got a Venom 2s 5400mah lipo.

[XR6_661]

If anyones interested, my 1/10 SC truck is for sale. Take a look!

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthr...48#post3884448

[XRDeeze]

[quote=Scooter79rs]Brushless motors are a AC electric motor and brushed motors are DC electric motor. Brushless are more efficient , have more power, and don't wear out. I had one in my race car for 6 months and it was producing more power then brand new motors on a dyno. Just never get a brushless motor over 100oC it will go up in smoke, ideally keep it below 80oC, 60-70 seems to be a sweet spot after a 5minute race.
Last year during summer I had two fans on my motor to try and keep it cool

thanks for info , I got new batteries for my rc but it doesnt seem to work as it is just one pack rather then the two , and when i plugged it in it didnt even work , just the fan moves a slight but , but nothing turns on (irs fully charged as well) help? -_-

and also youse got any tips to maintain the car , lubricating which areas? and cleaning afta driving it etc, thanks

[Donny]

The Dominator 1/8 scale uses twin 7.4volt 2s lipo packs. Check your instruction manual to see if their in series or not. I would assume they are being 1/8 scale.

Maintenance wise, its good to keep dust out of them, compressed air works well. Maintain whatever type bearings in them by cleaning them and regreasing them. I use carby clean to clean out the gunk in the bearings and regrease them with Innox. Mine are the simple rubber sealed type bearings. I use an old tooth brush to clean gunk out of odd shaped parts and areas etc. I use silicone spray on moving plastic parts to keep them grit free and moving nice.

To learn a bit more about the hobby and maybe about your truggy, try joining Ultimate RC forum. Its an American forum, but pretty big and lots of good helpful people and advice there. The guy who runs that forum also has a tun of good reveiw vids and hints and tips on cleaning, removing tyres, bearing maintenance etc on utube too.. HTH.

[EATHSV]

I got this for my birthday last year.

Took off the XD body and got Dick to sign it for me so now it has Craig Lowndes BA Betta Electrical on it. Goes well.

[Donny]

Originally Posted by EATHSV

I got this for my birthday last year.

Took off the XD body and got Dick to sign it for me so now it has Craig Lowndes BA Betta Electrical on it. Goes well.

Ha, I had one of those too, Nytro powered, 2 speed. True Blue Body and I had a XY GT body for it too.
Moved it on, got sick of tempremental nytro cars..

[Polyal]

yeap I think this xmas its time for me to get something. Im still debating the whole nitro vs electric issue. I like nitro for the more hands on tuning, but perhaps it will become a PIA.

Can someone debunk something for me, Ive seen supercharger's advertised for R/C's cars, are they serious or just adding more complexity for little gain?

Id love a Le Mans style car, Toyota GT1 or something, but might stick to 2WD truck/buggy as I will no doubt have a few offs..LOL..

I like the HPI Firestorm or Desert Trophy.

[Donny]

Positives of Nytro is sound/noise.
The rest is all negatives, I think. Having to keep glo plugs, start carts, nytro fuel, tuning, extra maintenance, engine run in periouds, and being heavily restricted by councils where you can use nytro cars now days too..
I dont know about supercharged ones, I got out of nytro for many of the reasons above..

Brushless electrics are just so much easier and more versatile. Max power is available instantly, they dont need to wind up, and they can easily out power a 2 speed nytro powered engine for speed..
Virtually only a few moving parts, no tuning etc.. You can program many things into the better ESC speed controllers.. Batteries take around 1 hour to fully charge. Some/most dont need a seperate power pack for the receiver, its powered off the ESC..

Depending on what you wanna do will depend on your car choice. If you wanna bash or do rough terrain, dirt, snow, water, mud etc you cant go past a 1/10 scale Traxxas Slash 4x4, good, robust, cheap parts and easily obtainable parts (thats key). If youd rather race an not do much bashing, Id recommend something like a Hyper 10-SC.

If you wanna drift or race sedan style cars etc I cant advise you on those as theres so many diffrent ones around now..

Stick to the well known brands, make sure you can easily obtain replacement parts for them, and dont just take a sellers word for it, if your getting a new one from a shop, look at his spare parts an see how much stuff he has for the ones your looking to buy.. If he says he can get all the stuff easily, but has none in stock, be a bit wary of that...

[MAD]

One problem with brushless, is the instant power.
I've managed to twist my rear drive shafts about 45 degrees from about an hours worth of grass/dirt track driving.

[Donny]

Change your throttle punch setting so it dosent come on full force or just dont floor it from the standing stop.

What truck/vehicle are you running? if its a Salsh 2x4, I think from memory you can fit the 4x4 slash half shafts as their stronger, if its a 4x4 slash, Iv twisted mine too, and I just remove them and put em on opposite sides so the twist straightens back out and then as it twists more I return them so the drive torque goes back against the twist..

[MAD]

The car is a chinese cheapo. Apart from bent dogbones, leaky shocks and weak shock towers, it's actually going pretty good. Setup and maintenance is the key. It's a HSP Xstr-pro (himoto, windhobby, and a couple of other names I think).
The only upgrades I've done are doubled up shock towers, and 2S 5000mah lipo batteries. Oh and LSD oil (85w-140) in the shocks to stiffen them up...

Punch is currently set at 75%. That was the first time I'd really driven properly and on a grippy surface. Other times it had only been on the road and my back yard.
I'll drop it to 50% (next step) next time and see what it's like.

[Donny]

Ahh ok, not familiar with that one, so just mess about with the punch more or change your technique and feather your initial takeoff when on a grippy surface..

[sneaky]

i bought a 1/8 nitro truggy 3 years ago - nearly used 2 litres of fuel in that time (not much at all).. it is a PITA. pain to start, pain to idle/warm up, noisey, conks out, have to get right glow plugs, tune it depending on ambient temp, etc etc. don't like driving it at home as it annoys the neighbours and the kids don't like the noise.

it is a cheap brand, don't know if that makes a difference.

should have bought a brushless buggy instead

[Donny]

^^^ See if its cheap or economical to convert it to a brushless setup.

My mate has converted several Serpent 960's from nytro to brushless. He has even managed to hook up the 2 speed part of em.
Back 12-18 plus months ago when he did that conversion plenty of guys from the states recon you couldnt do that..
His gets upto about 110-120kph in first with the brushless on 6s from memory.. Runs out of straight on the track to hit second.

Im thinkin one of those is gunna be my next project..

[sneaky]

^^^ just going to google "convert nitro to brushless" now

[Spudz27]

For those looking to buy I will reccomend traxxas, and recommend electric, I have had Tamiya both in elec and nitro and GV, by far traxxas have been the best quality. I have had a stampede and now a slash, parts are cheap, cars perform well are very popular so heaps of parts and can taake a punishing, just look at damo's vids lol. I have upgraded my whole front end (A-Arms, Castoer Blocks, Steering Blocks, 4x4 shocks with alloy caps etc) for $40. May I suggest getting brushless right off the block. I got brushed and after 3days ordered brushless for an extra $149au. Tower Hobbies is an excellent source for parts and being in U.S dollars makes it cheap. A Brushless 4x2 Stampede with digital radio, 7 cell nimh and charger is $388 delivered to aus at current rate. The 4x4 version here can be as expensive as $699. If you want to begin with brushed you are looking at $298 delivered, I paid $399 for mine and have now spent $250 on upgrades (motor/esc, esc fan, 5400mah lipo, stronger drive shafts, racing pinions, 54t jato spur, better shocks, new front end) and it is still cheaper than buying one (granted it is 4x4) from australia. Hopefully in 2 weeks after my op, as I will be in the city I am going to attend a race event and enter the 1st timers class.

Oh and 4x2 is the most fun and requires skill, no offence to those who have 4x4 because they can be just as challenging, but both of my traxxas car have been 4x2 and I love hitting some dirt (even with stock setup) at speed then flooring it and doing some fish tails at high speed.

[MAD]

We're planning, after a few races on our track, to take the front shafts out and have a bit a challenge in 4x2 mode. It's different with the weight in the middle compared to the rear mounted motor on a real 4x2, but it will certainly be a challenge.

I'm torn with the slash. I want to try out 4x2, but I really like 4x4.
Nothing for me to worry about yet as I don't even know if I'll keep it up.

[Franco Cozzo]

If I wanted to get started in R/C cars, is there any type of 4WD looking cars around? I had this little monster truck when I was young, it had controllable 4 wheel steering etc, but it was slow and wouldn't move in grass, haha.

[Spudz27]

Sorry in my post I meant check donny's videos.

[Donny]

Talkin Slashes...
4x2's are fun, and do take skill to drive them fast and well. They have to be driven diffrently to a 4x4, but once you get used to em they are fun.. The other plus is the 4x2 version is much simpler, balanced diffrently to the 4x4, has less parts to go wrong and they can take a heck of a lot of punishment and abuse before they break down or need maintenance. I still think if you wanna race em more than bash, the Hyper 10SC in 2x4 or 4x4 config is the better vehicle, but a slash will still do well.

Iv had the centre drive shaft out of my slash 4x4 once only to drive in 4x2 config. The weight balance and rear end setup just dosent work that good in the 4x2 config. The diff needs diffrent oils in it to hook up more uniformly because if you nail it off the line it just crabs sideways and is a mongrel to control. Throw in a 3s lipo and its rediculous.

The 4x4 has more parts, and more things can go wrong on them, and they do reward you with regular and good maintenance regeims, but again parts are easily obtainable in the US and ebay australia and most good local hobby stores keep slash parts in stock if you need something right now..

If you want a good "all round" SC truck, the Slash is the best choice. Fast out of the box, reasonably well setup, tuff, decent electronics and radio gear, cheap and easy to get parts, tunns of hop up options and bodies etc..

[Spudz27]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

If I wanted to get started in R/C cars, is there any type of 4WD looking cars around? I had this little monster truck when I was young, it had controllable 4 wheel steering etc, but it was slow and wouldn't move in grass, haha.

The traxxas stampede is kinda 4wd look a like, it is basically a monster truck and you can get a few of the famous monster truck shells. There was a tamiya that looked like a landcruiser http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXANHH&P=7

Or this is the traxxas stampede with brushed motor and fm transmitter
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXNJJ0**&P=7

Or the brushless 4wd digital version
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXAPUY**&P=7
Also comes in 4x2 and for less money, the 4x2 stock brushed version pulls wheelies straight out of box, so brushless would be even better. Certainly teaches you some control skills.

Finally one of the most popular cars ever, the traxxas slash.
This is the cheaper brushed 4x2 http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXUVY4**&P=7

And then the brushless 4x4 version, again there is a 4x2 which is cheaper
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXYNB0**&P=7

There is also 100's of kits, but they require extra things like servo's, radio gear etc. With tower hobbies reduce the price as our $ is higher and add 70 for postage. I can almost guarantee you will not get cheaper in aus (I found out the hard way only 20mins after i took mine out of the box) For instance the slash 4x4 is $450 odd delivered, in Aus it is around 6-700.

Also anybody who does want an rc car, tower has $25 off promotion. I can get the 4x2 slash vxl for $368 delivered, $31 cheaper than my brushed version. If I hadn't spent all my money on upgrades I would order one right now.

[Franco Cozzo]

http://www.bananahobby.com/1139.html

This has peaked my interest, but its an airsoft RC car, would that be illegal to import here to Australia?

[Spudz27]

I would say so as it fires the airsoft projectiles, but if it was labeled rc toy and had no ammo inside you might get away with it.

[Spudz27]

I just found that my Tamiya tt-01 porsche carrera still lives. It wasn't skilled enough for me, so after one weekend I gave it to my boss. His kids have used it once in 2 or 3 yrs so I politely asked if I could have it back. Either my 5yr old will get it, or I will put an ezrun esc and brushless motor in and convince the fiance to race my slash.

[JG65TE]

ok, i got my nitro car out again because of you blokes. Just finished all my fuel and be yoinked if i am gunna pay 40+ bucks for 4 litres of the stuff. Soooo. who is makin their own ? .Got the mix ratios etc just need to find the stuff now.