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R C anyone?

olbriar

olbriar

 
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I just recently reentered the fun hobby of radio controlled cars. I had a pair of cars way back when my son was a young. He recently bought a Traxxas Rustler. Naturally I had to go get one too. I bought the Traxxas Slash. These cars/trucks are crazy fast and way fun. They have definitely come a long ways since I was last playing with them. My slash will do 60 mph but it catches so much air that it takes off at around 50 unless I'm going with the wind lol. Crazy fun.

Anyone else into R C? In the two weeks I've had my Slash I've found a bunch of people I know are into radio controlled this or that. A lot of them are into the helicopters. I have enough trouble driving... I know I'd be in trouble trying to fly something.
 
I have a boat and it is so much fun. I have big boats and jetski's and am a water person big time. My boat is 4 ft long and has a gas weed whacker type engine in it and does around 50mph gps verified. It is all stock and can be upgraded big time. I also have a 56inch boat I'm working on rt now. That handles rough water better and will do about 60+ mph.


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Your boat is way cool. My son will soon be moving to a place that has a small lake or large pond directly behind his place. It looks like it would be ideal for running such a boat. I've read a little about the boats and using a weed eater sort of engine. Crazy fun huh?

I dare not mention a boat to my son lol. We are both still trying to heal up after our car purchases. At least with a boat I wouldn't have to worry about curbs or parking blocks. I've had a crash or two.. or dozen. Lately I've been going to the high school parking lot here. The school has a huge paved parking lot that's in very good shape. All I have to do is dodge a few light poles. It takes a lot of free area to make a run in the fifties and safely bring it to a stop. You can't give it full power to begin with or it just leaps over itself.

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olbriar said:
I just recently reentered the fun hobby of radio controlled cars. I had a pair of cars way back when my son was a young. He recently bought a Traxxas Rustler. Naturally I had to go get one too. I bought the Traxxas Slash. These cars/trucks are crazy fast and way fun. They have definitely come a long ways since I was last playing with them. My slash will do 60 mph but it catches so much air that it takes off at around 50 unless I'm going with the wind lol. Crazy fun.

Anyone else into R C? In the two weeks I've had my Slash I've found a bunch of people I know are into radio controlled this or that. A lot of them are into the helicopters. I have enough trouble driving... I know I'd be in trouble trying to fly something.
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I bought one of those really cheap RC helicopters for 100RMB, that you see in just about every toy shop and other places that sell tat. Because I thought it would be cool. After damaging the ceiling light and some plasterwork with the thing, I decided it wasn't such a good idea after all. They seem to be surprisingly robust though, even when mashing the rotor blades into the floor a couple of times, trying to land it.

BTW just as all the tablets and phones come from Shenzhen, all the RC helicopters come from Shantou, another city in Guangdong Province.
 
I worked at a Hobby Store while in college, got to be an expert on all things RC. I had a lot of toys from that stint (probably spent half my paycheck), but have sold it all off due to lack of time/money/space. Will get back into it someday. My favorite land RC was 1/10th touring cars, had an Team Associated RC4 Factory edition. They are probably up to RC7 now or something, haha. That Slash looks like a lot of fun, Have fun with your son!
 
for a while here at work we were flying around helicopters when we needed to unwind.. but someones lack of flying skill got that taken away from us, so I have a few indoor helicopters at home haha they are fun
 
I'm betting those little helicopters are crazy fun. I had a little remote controlled one when I was a big kid. The controller was much flashlight like with just a power button. You steered it with the weight of the cable between controller and helicopter. It was still way fun. The radio controlled would have to be a riot. I'm having such a struggle learning to drive my truck.. I can't imagine how lousy I would be at flying.

@AntimonyER
If I worked at the hobby shop where I bought my truck... I would likely be paying them per hour. Man there are some neat toys in there.
Speaking of my local hobby shop... those are the nicest guys I've ever dealt with. I hope they stay in business. I know they are likely making plenty of jack on their goodies for sale but they are quick to help someone and lend advice. They guided me through my purchase and later steered me right when I thought I wanted to upgrade some parts for aluminum when some much cheaper nylon parts were the way to go. I'm very impressed with them.
 
olbriar said:
I'm betting those little helicopters are crazy fun. I had a little remote controlled one when I was a big kid. The controller was much flashlight like with just a power button. You steered it with the weight of the cable between controller and helicopter. It was still way fun. The radio controlled would have to be a riot. I'm having such a struggle learning to drive my truck.. I can't imagine how lousy I would be at flying.

@AntimonyER
If I worked at the hobby shop where I bought my truck... I would likely be paying them per hour. Man there are some neat toys in there.
Speaking of my local hobby shop... those are the nicest guys I've ever dealt with. I hope they stay in business. I know they are likely making plenty of jack on their goodies for sale but they are quick to help someone and lend advice. They guided me through my purchase and later steered me right when I thought I wanted to upgrade some parts for aluminum when some much cheaper nylon parts were the way to go. I'm very impressed with them.
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We have a hobby shop down here called Hobby People , it makes you feel like a kid again walking in there :D
 
Is it wrong that I thought of RC Cola looking at the title?

Anyway, I do enjoy RC vehicles. I'm in the process of learning how to fly an RC Helicopter. I can get it to go up...but then I end up somehow crashing somewhere that it shouldn't be going.

Last time, it flew into my sink. Landed nicely, on the water. I'm surprised it still works after that...

I used to have TONS of RC cars as a kid. I wish I still had those.
 
Prinny said:
Is it wrong that I thought of RC Cola looking at the title?
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It's almost false advertising lol. I don't do sodas so Royal Crown Cola was not at all on my mind... sorry.

Prinny said:
Anyway, I do enjoy RC vehicles. I'm in the process of learning how to fly an RC Helicopter. I can get it to go up...but then I end up somehow crashing somewhere that it shouldn't be going.

Last time, it flew into my sink. Landed nicely, on the water. I'm surprised it still works after that...

I used to have TONS of RC cars as a kid. I wish I still had those.
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Everyone keeps talking these helicopters. I'm going to be forced into buying one. I'm missing out on way too much fun it seems.
 
+1 on the RC cola reference and another +1 on the el cheapo helicopter owners club. Got the boy one awhile back and we've had fun with it. They take a lickin and keep on tickin.
 
olbriar said:
Everyone keeps talking these helicopters. I'm going to be forced into buying one. I'm missing out on way too much fun it seems.
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I'm sure there's basically two types of RC helicopters.

1) The very cheap Chinese ones, you find in just about every toy shop. That are almost indestructible.

2) The expensive large ones, usually only found at model and hobby shops. From what I've seen, can be fragile and might be rather expensive if you crash them.
 
I would definitely be leaning toward one of the el-cheapo models. I crash my car all the time. It has to be easier to drive than to fly. Besides, I've already witnessed someone bringing their expensive and fragile helicopter into the hobby store for a prognosis... all of the parts in a box.:eek:
 
I have two RC toys of any significance.

The first is this submarine. I spotted it many years ago, in a hobby store, with a price tag of $305. My reaction was to think that it was neat, but there was no way I'd spend three hundred dollars for it. I guess that's what most other possible buyers thought as well, for it sat unsold in that store for quite some time. They lowered the price to $229, and it still didn't sell. Then, one day, I was in that store, and they had dropped the price to fifty dollars. At fifty dollars, I decided it was worth buying.

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Definitely a very cool toy. I guess the problem with it was that it cost too much to manufacture, such that they couldn't sell it for a price that enough people were willing to pay.


The other is this tank, a 1/24 model of a German Leopard II tank. The main
 

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I've never seen either of your way cool RC toys. I'm impressed! I'm not sure the sub would be something I'd like but that tank kicks! What sort of top end speed will it do?
 
olbriar said:
I've never seen either of your way cool RC toys. I'm impressed! I'm not sure the sub would be something I'd like but that tank kicks! What sort of top end speed will it do?
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I think the submarine is by far the cooler of the two. I guess you just have to see it in action, to appreciate it. Technically, it's less sophisticated than the tank.

I once attached a GPS to the tank, to measure its ground speed. It only has two speeds, a
 
I picked up a Traxxas Stampede for myself for my birthday a few years ago, then I got a used Rustler from the Traxxas forum. Both were great fun. I finally gave into Slash fever though and loved it so much that I rebuilt both my Stampede and Rustler into Slashes. I sold the Rustler/Slash for a good bit more than I paid for it even with the conversion.

This was the Stampede before the conversion:
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The Rustler:
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As soon as I got the Slash I got rid of the Traxxas paint job and went for a flat black:
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My pair of Slashes, Bumblebee and the General Lee (pre decals):
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Sadly I didn't use lexan paint on Bumblebee and it is all flaking off. The General still looks great though.
 
Sweet! I love my Slash. It's just crazy fun. I'm getting quite a bit better at driving the thing .. I struggled at first. I had something crazy happen a week ago. My motor just quit. I took it back to the hobby shop where I purchased the Slash and they took a look at it. The motor had just blown up. All of the windings were like a bird's nest. Though the motor isn't covered under Traxxas' warranty, they replaced it at no cost to me. It sold me on their shop... I'll buy all of my goodies from them.

My son has the Rustler. He's seriously considering buying a body to paint. It looks like it would be fun to do. He chickened out when he learned you paint the inside...
It sounded a little harder than he was willing to tackle. Your work looks great! Was it tough to do?
 
Painting them is easy, painting them good is harder. Just remember since you're painting the inside you have to paint backwards, like on Bumblebee, the first thign I painted was the Autobot logo and then the black stripe. Lastly I painted the yellow.

So, whatever would be your last thing to paint normally, is your first. You can paint the outside, but then the paint will scuff. Also when you do paint the inside you get a really glossy finish because of the lexan. You can make it matte by hitting the outside with flat clearcoat.

I liked my rustler a lot, but it drove far too different than my Stampede. Closer to my Slash. I'm much happier with 2 Slashes.

I have been looking at the rally car Traxxes has. I've wanted an electric 4Tec for a while. And hope this new thing is a good replacement. It does look pretty sweet. http://traxxas.com/products/models/electric/7407rally

When I get some money saved (after I get my Nexus 4) I'm hoping to upgrade one of my Slashes to a 4-wheel drive. I originally wanted a Revo but couldn't afford it. Was always bummed the Slash was only 2 wheel drive.

Looking at the Rally on Tower Hobbies, they're running $439 because of the Velineon and controller. I may buy all the parts and build my own with a brushed motor and ESC. I have an extra receiver and controller.
 
My uncle flies RC planes. Mostly made of balsa wood, with both gas and electric motors. Unfortunately, he's getting old enough where he can't live on his own and was planning to get rid of (or more likely sell) his massive plane collection. I wish I could take in all of them, but I asked him to hold on to 2 or 3 of his favorites (at least 1 gas and 1 electric) and I would keep them and try to learn to fly. I should be able to pick them up when I go north for Thanksgiving. I just need to find a spot to put them. :p

He had about 20 planes. Most of them have 5-6' wingspans. All assembled by hand. Not those kits you slap together in 20 minutes they now sell.
 
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