RC Buggies!

[BertMk2]

My son (9 years old) is after getting an RC buggy to race against one of his friends. Said friend has an off the shelf rtr buggy made by some company I've never heard of - am I better off going down the same route and just picking one or should I be thinking along the lines of Tamiya Grasshopper (or similar). Given the utter lack of talent at the controls high speed accidents are inevitable - spares and the ability to fit them seem to point me towards the Tamiya route. The downside to that is the initial cost is higher. Anyone got any experience of Tamiya RC stuff? Any suggestions as to which model to go for (or avoid at all costs). Help appreciated

[b1ackcr0w]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

My son (9 years old) is after getting an RC buggy to race against one of his friends. Said friend has an off the shelf rtr buggy made by some company I've never heard of - am I better off going down the same route and just picking one or should I be thinking along the lines of Tamiya Grasshopper (or similar). Given the utter lack of talent at the controls high speed accidents are inevitable - spares and the ability to fit them seem to point me towards the Tamiya route. The downside to that is the initial cost is higher. Anyone got any experience of Tamiya RC stuff? Any suggestions as to which model to go for (or avoid at all costs). Help appreciated

I have decades worth

The grasshopper is probably the best possible start. Virtually all the top professional RC racers started with Tamiya, and there's a good reason for that. You can buy cheaper, but you absolutely cannot touch the quality of the the kit. And Tamiya's assembly instructions are superb to the point that I can almost guarantee your lad will have the sort of enjoyable experience that will spark a lifelong love of mechanical engineering. (For instance, how else can you explain to a 9 year old what a differential is and how it works in a way he can virtually put it together himself?)

Spares are easy to get, so are upgrades, and it's not unusual to see original grasshoppers from 20/30 years ago a new battery pack away from working order.

My first Tamiya was..
http://tamiyaclub.com/car.asp?id=61

went onto a..

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/car.asp?id=67

Built one of these myself at 14years old...
http://www.tamiyaclub.com/car.asp?id=65

My current baby is ...
http://www.mugenseiki.com/spec-mtx4_e.htm

Because it's the only competitive chassis that comes close to the quality of Tamiya.

[b1ackcr0w]

PS Don't be tempted by Four wheel drive for your first kit. Out of the box, they chronically oversteer and flip over. The result being that you'll spend more time running to flip it back over. And dialling that out without the benefit of experience can be hellishly frustrating. With a Grasshopper or similar, you'll just get understeer that teaches you pretty quickly how to blend a throttle, with line and lock.

[photopigg]

bertmk2
could not agree more with b1ackcr0w
I started with a Tamiya Frog, then went on to a Tamiya Boomarang, then from there moved onto more serious off road car.
Having built lots of Tamiya models both RC & plastic kit one rule applies to all: IF IT DOSE NOT FIT IT'S BECAUSE YOU ARE USING THE WRONG PART

there is a good model shop near you, in the garden centre just on the A249/M20 junction

[BertMk2]

Thanks for the tips 2wd is definitely favourite (partly based on cost to be honest). One of the reasons that I was looking at Tamiya is the quality - I've built numerous 1/24 plastic kits (WRC and the like) and Tamiya kits always go together well (despite my lack of talent )

I know the model shop you're talking about photopigg - that's where we get some of our scalextric stuff from That's another reason I'm looking at Tamiya - they do spares in the shop and are happy to talk things through (that's the downside with buying stuff online - no backup). I can pop in there on the way home from work too so that's always a bonus.

The shortlist looks like this:

Grasshopper
Rising Fighter
Hornet

From what I can tell they're all fairly similar so it's largely a case of which one looks best in the eyes of a 9 year old!

[Chris Y]

Originally Posted by b1ackcr0w

My first Tamiya was..
http://tamiyaclub.com/car.asp?id=61

I nearly went for one of those too. Ended up with a Kyosho Rocky, and have been a big fan of Kyosho ever since My brother started with a Hornet.

I went from the Rocky, to the Optima Mid (Custom Special!), then the Lazer ZX, then Schumacher Cat, TopCat, Cat 2000, and various other things when I turned 'semi pro' including Tenth Tech Predator, Associated TC3, couple of Yokomos, etc., etc.

Ah, happy days.

Then the 1/10th scale tyre warmers started to become the norm, and I realised I was wasting my time unless I threw thousands of pounds at it...

Of course, you don't have to be as serious as that to have fun

But I think my original point was - take a look at some of the Kyosho models, esp. if your local model shop can carry the spares. If not, go with Tamiya stuff.

By the way, I still have pretty much ALL the stuff mentioned above - except the Predator - sold that to some schmuck, er, nice person Still got all my SC2000 batteries, Pro-Trak charger, a million different speed controllers, motors, pinions. Chucked out most of my Pit Shimizu tyres when I stopped doing TORC and the BRCA nationals.

[BertMk2]

Tyre warmers? I'm certainly not looking at getting that deep into it! That's some serious kit you've got there between you - I found out quite quickly when I started looking into it that it's very easy to spend a lot of money on this stuff! Even the "basic" Tamiya stuff racks up a fair price once you take the radio gear, batteries, charger etc into account. However - it still looks like better value than a cheaper rtr car that'll have to be binned if/when something on it breaks.

[b1ackcr0w]

I thought Chris was having us on when he said tyre warmers, but it seems such things are available! I don't know why I'm surprised, i've been to some pretty extreme lengths with my nitros in search of lap time.
Here's a list of some of the stuff I have to hold my hand up to..

http://www.spektrumrc.com/Products/D...ProdID=SPM1300
http://www.hudy.net/xhudy/products/p...ba8631026573e0
http://www.novarossi.it/eng/products...display=public

I went the Schumacher route once I got past Tamiyas in buggy racing. I ran a Pro Cat for ages, then Top Cat, which I almost immediately converted the front to Cougar upright fronts. I think I won more pots with that Top cat than any other car I've had.

I always had a big hankering for a Kyosho Salute before the Mids came along. In hindsight, I should have gone Kyosho in 4wd, because the early CATs were fragile to say the least. I seem to remember destroying 2 rear diffs in a weekend

[photopigg]

another good thing to do would be to find a local RC club and go along and talk to some of the pepole that are racing, you are right about the cost they can very easily sprial, i think one of my cars a Schumacher Cat 200EC was about £1,500 by the time I had finish with it

[RF_Racer]

Spent a lot of money on these things, but atleast it did help me and lot of that helps today as well.

My first car was a Boomerang back in 89, followed by Thunder Dragon, Madcap converted to Astute, Avanti 2001 converted to Egress, Williams FW14, Topforce Evo, Dynastorm, TGX 1/8 Toyota Supra, Tamiya Altezza from 2001.

[Off at Paddock]

After racing various categories for about ten years, my one line of advice is buy something that is manageable for a novice, strong, and cheap and easy to repair. The best place to start is always the local shop and ask advice.

This thread made me remember my first car, a Sand Scorcher, as world away from the Associated B3 I used when I finished racing!

Dan

[BertMk2]

It seems that nobody is capable of just buying one of these things!

"easy to repair" is definitely one of my reasons for not buying a RTR buggy - I know where I can get Tamiya spares and I'm happy enough fiddling with the buggy myself. A Grasshopper is looking favourite at the moment......

[medius]

The advice of getting a Grasshopper is not good I'm afraid (as a lot of the advice in this thread is aboiut 15 years out of date, for example Kyosho's electric line in the UK is so small, its not even worth talking about!). Its sloppy, weak, fairly hard to drive as its just sooooo unpredictable in the corners. Yes, you can buy one exactly the same as the 80s version, but technology has come so far in the lasty 20 years that its massively out of date. For example, it has...

No bearings
No oil filled shocks
sloppy fit and finish
Can't be bought with electronics (do a shop bundle and that'll be £170 Sir...)

If it was my money, I'd look no further than a Maverick Strada XB Evo. £110 for it ready to run and 4WD, 2.4ghz radio equipment so no frequency clashes with other RC owners, just needs to have some AA's for the transmitter. Easy to get spares for, simple to maintain and very tough.

Find a proper UK-based RC forum and I guarentee you that you'll get the same answer I've just given - the Grasshopper (or Hornet, Avante, Frog, Sand Scorcher re-releases too) is for someone who wants a pretty model on the shelf rather than something to drive.

[BertMk2]

I'm not looking for something "professional" - the main criteria are strength and availability of spare parts / advice. I don't think having oil filled shocks will make a difference to a ham fisted 9 year old that's screaming "POWER!" as the car hurtles into the distance Do you have a link for the Maverick? I've not heard of them before, it'd be good to have a look.

[Austinspace75]

I'm not sure the Grasshopper is the best option here either. I started with a Tamiya Boomerang too and whilst it was a good starter buggy and nice to work on, it broke very easily - bumpers, driveshafts popping out, drive cups breaking in two and gearboxes jamming up. Some upgrade parts helped but it was pretty high maintenance. The Grasshopper is even older technology and iirc, a very puny design and even easier to break.

I soon moved onto a Kyosho Optima Mid and found that not only was it designed with abuse in mind, the plastics used were much more flexible and the buggy was VERY robust. I don't remember replacing very much on it at all.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the Boomerang. But unless this is just a fad, your lad will rapidly want a much better buggy than a Grasshopper and you'll wish you'd bought a better one straight off - especially if he quickly wants to go racing.

But even if you could afford the ultimate, I'd also advise against that too as I think it's healthier for a kid to just dream of owning it rather than actually having it straight off (he'd get bored and move onto something else in no time!).

[Shawn]

That's more like it. Proper racing !!

Have a look here Bert. It's the RC version of 10/10th's
http://www.oople.com/forums/

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by Austinspace75

But unless this is just a fad, your lad will rapidly want a much better buggy than a Grasshopper and you'll wish you'd bought a better one straight off - especially if he quickly wants to go racing.

racing is not an option! Too many other hobbies that need paying for (both his and mine ). I'm after "fun" and "easy to look after" rather than "ultimate performance".

[Chris Y]

Don't get an RC buggy then!

Look what happened to the rest of us

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by Chris Y

Look what happened to the rest of us

I already have a sneaking suspicion I may well accidentally get one for me as well Must resist......

[medius]

Here's the Maverick, its very much a beginner's car but remember, its a beginner's car for 2011, not 1990. Things have moved on a lot

http://www.modelsport.co.uk/maverick...&ChassisID=759

And for similar money, Maverick do it as a Monster Truck (8 shocks, bigger wishbones), a Short Course Truck, a Stadium Truck, a Touring Car and a Drift Car (all basically the same apart from shock towers, all 4 corners and the body). Cheap spares too.

[Shawn]

there's a club not too far away from you too.
Google faversham off road car club. And there is also maritime racing based in one of the rope houses at Chatham Dockyards.

Best advise is to go along, have a look and ask questions.
You'll get hooked do don't say we didn't warn you

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by medius

Here's the Maverick, its very much a beginner's car but remember, its a beginner's car for 2011, not 1990. Things have moved on a lot

http://www.modelsport.co.uk/maverick...&ChassisID=759

That seems a good price. I've got an on road HPI Racing RTR, but there is nowhere about really to take it and the only "club" or get together i know of is a thursday evening and i work nights, so i've been looking for an off roader that i can take over the local field and quite fancy a HPI Trophey 3.5. I think they're now the older version that HPI do (??) but go for about £220 ish on ebay.