Come R/C enthusiasts, represent!

Here's a new video of my 1SQ filmed in the office this evening. (Shhh, don't tell the boss)
This is without the camera and on about 20% with the bundled TX.

Although overpriced, it is a great and fun little quad.

Shakycam provided by my baseball cap that wasn't lined up right. I'm still working on getting the fitting right.

I think I'm addicted.
I picked up the Blade Nano QX on the weekend. Flys incredibly stable! I've not ventured into the Agility mode yet. Scared.

IMAGE(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7779045/drone/1SQ-NQX.jpg)

I'll get a video up once I've had a chance to edit it.

Yes, I'm still using training wheels!

I'll keep practicing with the agility mode though. I'd like to build the 285 found here
http://www.armattanquads.com/armatta...

Get's fantastic reviews on RCGroups.

Hmmm, aluminum is great until you crash and it bends. I'd be a bit wary of a fully aluminum frame. I'm a big fan of the FR4/G10 material you see on a lot of frames. stiff, but it will flex before breaking. Cheap to replace too.

I guess I should not call auto-level training wheels. I actually think it teaches you things you have to unlearn once you want to fly rate mode. Just jump in!

Orphu wrote:

I guess I should not call auto-level training wheels. I actually think it teaches you things you have to unlearn

That's actually just like training wheels.

okay, fine.

yes, yes it is..

Carbon Fiber is a good material.

Also looking at this frame
http://www.myrcmart.com/zmr-xpower-4...

I just don't know what to get. I love that wood frame you have. That's a http://www.ecksstore.se/ isn't it? Looks gorgeous!

The Armattan frame is similar to the CF one I listed above. I could get that frame and use all his parts. I really like his setup and he uses what looks like great components. I may use dual-blades instead of tri-blades. Don't need the crazy lift he does on the aluminum build.
A buddy here at work just put a deposit down on the Blade 350QX. Damn rich bastard!

Yeah, I have one of the Ecks wood frames. I like it. I've already taken a dive into concrete with it with only a small scrape on one arm. I don't quite trust that setup yet, so I don't have it with me right now.

I really like the hoverthings frames. The HT-450 I have is still my go to quad. I've busted this thing up so many times, but repairs are pretty cheap and easy. A friend of mine got the flip, which is tough as nails.

Avoid the HT FPV frames though... they are not square as far as the motor mounts go and are really tricky to tune right. If you really want one, I'll sell you an unopened kit I have.

For FPV, I have a QAV-500 I'm continuously tweaking and learning to fly. They have the long body style for extra cargo space, but the motors are square, and the vibration isolation plate makes for some super smooth video. It's large though, and I sorta wish I went with the 400 size.

Now you have me seriously looking at that Nano QX RTF. For $100. hmmmm.

I took my sons to the track out behind the local hobby store (dynamic hobbies for locals) last weekend with my (nearly) 30 year old Tamiya Grasshopper. The track had puddles all over it though. [I was sad to see that the same BS social politics were going on with the regulars]. We kept to ourselves, with a couple of conversations with some nice guys.

Later we went to the high school's track with the grasshopper and kyosho lazer. My older son was able to drive the lazer and actually had the restraint to go less than top speed. I was pretty sure I'd be in for $80 worth of front end parts, but he kept it clean.

It didn't take my four year old long to figure out that I had trimmed the throttle on the grasshopper so the mechanical speed controller (remember those?) wouldn't reach the top stage, and it was faster in reverse. He didn't go frontwards much after that.

Groan, where do you work (if you're willing to say online) that you have game and superhero posters all over, and RC vehicles at work? My wife said that the engineers race in the warehouse at her work, after hours. I didn't recognize any buildings out the window in your video.

Ghostship wrote:

Now you have me seriously looking at that Nano QX RTF. For $100. hmmmm.

I took my sons to the track out behind the local hobby store (dynamic hobbies for locals) last weekend with my (nearly) 30 year old Tamiya Grasshopper. The track had puddles all over it though. [I was sad to see that the same BS social politics were going on with the regulars]. We kept to ourselves, with a couple of conversations with some nice guys.

Later we went to the high school's track with the grasshopper and kyosho lazer. My older son was able to drive the lazer and actually had the restraint to go less than top speed. I was pretty sure I'd be in for $80 worth of front end parts, but he kept it clean.

It didn't take my four year old long to figure out that I had trimmed the throttle on the grasshopper so the mechanical speed controller (remember those?) wouldn't reach the top stage, and it was faster in reverse. He didn't go frontwards much after that.

Groan, where do you work (if you're willing to say online) that you have game and superhero posters all over, and RC vehicles at work? My wife said that the engineers race in the warehouse at her work, after hours. I didn't recognize any buildings out the window in your video.

I used to want a Grasshopper for ages! Never did get one.

I work at a smallish (200 employees) software company in Kanata right next to the Brookstreet hotel. The QC/Dev team started a wall where they put up a few posters and we at support said "we can do better!"
We proceeded to cover one of our large walls with posters.

I only bring in the quad when A) I am working late and nobody else is in the office, or B) when I am showing off a new toy to the team. My boss thought it was really cool but I wouldn't fly it around willy-nilly.

Ghostship wrote:

I took my sons to the track out behind the local hobby store (dynamic hobbies for locals) last weekend with my (nearly) 30 year old Tamiya Grasshopper. The track had puddles all over it though. [I was sad to see that the same BS social politics were going on with the regulars]. We kept to ourselves, with a couple of conversations with some nice guys.

Awesome! The Grasshopper was my first real R/C car. That thing is indestructible, and aside from a fairly poor rear suspension setup, it's a really solid little racer. A few years later I bought myself an RC10 and never looked back. I broke out the RC10 about a year ago with my kids, but the fancy new NiMH battery packs fried the electronic speed controller, so it's become a really expensive play toy for my son. When they're a bit bigger I think I'm just going to pick up a stadium truck for everyone to tinker with. Replacing the speed controller for a car as old as my RC10 seems like a bad investment since I can't get parts for it any more. But man I love that car.

Just throw an old junk ESC in it. I have a barely functional novak that that I run in my old Tamiya King Cab (which is in excellent condition). The pan is still shiny. There are no classes for the vintage rigs to race in, and they're not really tough enough to do so anyhow.

And, I raced at our local track for a bit. The current cars at the time were Losi XXX, and Associated's equivalent, which I think is now the B2? I'll tell you there was more than one vintage RC10 that raced and competed in the stock class. Everyone was crying that they should be restored shelf queens but the owner was a good, ole, my damn star wars figures are out the package and full of sand kind of guy.

Someone at your local club will probably give you an ESC. I'd bet you can find something for $10 on ebay.

groan wrote:
Ghostship wrote:

Now you have me seriously looking at that Nano QX RTF. For $100. hmmmm.

I took my sons to the track out behind the local hobby store (dynamic hobbies for locals) last weekend with my (nearly) 30 year old Tamiya Grasshopper. The track had puddles all over it though. [I was sad to see that the same BS social politics were going on with the regulars]. We kept to ourselves, with a couple of conversations with some nice guys.

Later we went to the high school's track with the grasshopper and kyosho lazer. My older son was able to drive the lazer and actually had the restraint to go less than top speed. I was pretty sure I'd be in for $80 worth of front end parts, but he kept it clean.

It didn't take my four year old long to figure out that I had trimmed the throttle on the grasshopper so the mechanical speed controller (remember those?) wouldn't reach the top stage, and it was faster in reverse. He didn't go frontwards much after that.

Groan, where do you work (if you're willing to say online) that you have game and superhero posters all over, and RC vehicles at work? My wife said that the engineers race in the warehouse at her work, after hours. I didn't recognize any buildings out the window in your video.

I used to want a Grasshopper for ages! Never did get one.

I work at a smallish (200 employees) software company in Kanata right next to the Brookstreet hotel. The QC/Dev team started a wall where they put up a few posters and we at support said "we can do better!"
We proceeded to cover one of our large walls with posters.

I only bring in the quad when A) I am working late and nobody else is in the office, or B) when I am showing off a new toy to the team. My boss thought it was really cool but I wouldn't fly it around willy-nilly.

I didn't mean to imply that it was a problem that you had RC vehicles at work. And bravo for owning any nerd-like tendencies you may have. I admire people who have the confidence to do that. I've never been able to work anywhere where you aren't looked at as second class for being a full grown man who still likes RC cars, video games, D&D, Fantasy movies.... etc.

The bigger problem is, I still somehow feel like I have to meet the expectations of the popular people. Well, only if I want to invoice them. They tend to have a lot of high paying positions.

Ghostship wrote:
groan wrote:
Ghostship wrote:

Now you have me seriously looking at that Nano QX RTF. For $100. hmmmm.

I took my sons to the track out behind the local hobby store (dynamic hobbies for locals) last weekend with my (nearly) 30 year old Tamiya Grasshopper. The track had puddles all over it though. [I was sad to see that the same BS social politics were going on with the regulars]. We kept to ourselves, with a couple of conversations with some nice guys.

Later we went to the high school's track with the grasshopper and kyosho lazer. My older son was able to drive the lazer and actually had the restraint to go less than top speed. I was pretty sure I'd be in for $80 worth of front end parts, but he kept it clean.

It didn't take my four year old long to figure out that I had trimmed the throttle on the grasshopper so the mechanical speed controller (remember those?) wouldn't reach the top stage, and it was faster in reverse. He didn't go frontwards much after that.

Groan, where do you work (if you're willing to say online) that you have game and superhero posters all over, and RC vehicles at work? My wife said that the engineers race in the warehouse at her work, after hours. I didn't recognize any buildings out the window in your video.

I used to want a Grasshopper for ages! Never did get one.

I work at a smallish (200 employees) software company in Kanata right next to the Brookstreet hotel. The QC/Dev team started a wall where they put up a few posters and we at support said "we can do better!"
We proceeded to cover one of our large walls with posters.

I only bring in the quad when A) I am working late and nobody else is in the office, or B) when I am showing off a new toy to the team. My boss thought it was really cool but I wouldn't fly it around willy-nilly.

I didn't mean to imply that it was a problem that you had RC vehicles at work. And bravo for owning any nerd-like tendencies you may have. I admire people who have the confidence to do that. I've never been able to work anywhere where you aren't looked at as second class for being a full grown man who still likes RC cars, video games, D&D, Fantasy movies kites, yoyo, spider photography, dolls(ok, vinyl figures).... etc.

The bigger problem is, I still somehow feel like I have to meet the expectations of the popular people. Well, only if I want to invoice them. They tend to have a lot of high paying positions.

I look down on those snobs for not having a fuller life where you do what you want, not what you're expected to do,
FU!!! The MAn!

I have yet to fly the Nano outside. I tried a few rounds of acro mode and had 0 control. I was able to hover a bit but as soon as I tried to do a bit of a circuit it would not respond to my change of direction. Didn't realize I had to bank and rotate my right-stick. figured forward was forward,

lol, need to wrap my brain aroudn this new fangled-ness.

Heh! I love the lego brick for scale.

Dude, agility/rate mode is where it's at. Auto leveling is training wheels.

Also, I'm on vacation:

ecks is coming out with a CF Micro frame!
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...

I'm probably going to make this my first frame. He's built this one with a piece for FPV. I'm more interested in just attaching a 808 to it for recording.

As for aluminum, apparently after a crash they re-form quite easily.

I can't imagine it would be easy to bend an aluminum arm back and get it straight. Or crack it.

EDIT: 240mm? teeny weeny!

http://youtu.be/zjM1KTYkYgw

here's my teeny weeny Nano.
First outdoor flight and at night
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2rH...

forward to :38 seconds

Ghostship wrote:

Someone at your local club will probably give you an ESC. I'd bet you can find something for $10 on ebay.

Never considered that. I'll give it a shot.

I just ordered my first part for my quad build
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...
IMAGE(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7779045/drone/ecksfibrepos.jpg)

Sweet!

Just pulled the trigger and ordered a Spektrum DX8.
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...

The Parkzone Mini Vapor is a little treat too. Looking forward to trying it out.

The deal was the best I could find. $299, free shipping and I'll probably need to pay about $80 in duty when it arrives. Better than any price locally. Besides, my local hobby shop is full of RC snobs and elitists that if you can't afford to drop $400 on a flight controller they don't want to talk to you. Pissed me right off this past weekend. I wont give them any more of my business and I'll travel 30 minutes to another shop that's bigger anyways.

Got my package in yesterday!

dX8 and the Mini Vapor. Duty from the US was only $25! Not the $80 everyone else on Ebay is charging!
IMAGE(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7779045/drone/dx8-vapor.jpg)

The DX8 ws pretty easy to set up and bind to the Vapor. I also bound it to my Nano QX using a profile I found on Helifreaks.com. Flies great!
IMAGE(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7779045/drone/dx8.jpg)

Sadly the Vapor was defective when I got it out of the box, these are the only pics with it with a prop. it was barely hanging on as the post was broken inside the prop and could not be re-attached. I am getting parts tonight! I'll update with a little video when I get a chance to fly it.
IMAGE(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7779045/drone/vapor1.jpg)
IMAGE(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7779045/drone/vapor2.jpg)

complexmath wrote:
Ghostship wrote:

I took my sons to the track out behind the local hobby store (dynamic hobbies for locals) last weekend with my (nearly) 30 year old Tamiya Grasshopper. The track had puddles all over it though. [I was sad to see that the same BS social politics were going on with the regulars]. We kept to ourselves, with a couple of conversations with some nice guys.

Awesome! The Grasshopper was my first real R/C car. That thing is indestructible, and aside from a fairly poor rear suspension setup, it's a really solid little racer. A few years later I bought myself an RC10 and never looked back. I broke out the RC10 about a year ago with my kids, but the fancy new NiMH battery packs fried the electronic speed controller, so it's become a really expensive play toy for my son. When they're a bit bigger I think I'm just going to pick up a stadium truck for everyone to tinker with. Replacing the speed controller for a car as old as my RC10 seems like a bad investment since I can't get parts for it any more. But man I love that car.

Hi all. I knew I shouldn't have looked in this thread... at first I thought, OK, it's helicopters and stuff I'm not interested in. But then you talked about Grasshoppers and RC10's and I actually remember looking through catalogs and magazines as a kid drooling over those cars, but never being allowed to get one.

But I'm a grown man now, right? Is it ok to get one? Especially if I share with my kids? It's fine, right?

Totally fine. When my kids are a little older I'm picking up a stadium truck. They're still a bit young to do more that watch me drive it around.

Allowed? I fully Tell you to go out today and get one! It's your duty.

haha thanks folks.

SO I've been browsing hobby stores online... and I notice that Tamiya has a bunch of reissues of the Frog, Grasshopper, Hornet... oh man the nostalgia draw is so strong. Even Associated has a RC10 reissue.

Are those still good designs, 30 years later? They don't seem that expensive either, but there must have been some advances in the last three decades right? A lot of new companies I don't know, so it's hard to sort out what's what. Any recommendations?

There are certainly better designs. Even the RC10 had too wide a front end with too short front suspension arms out of the box compared to other buggies released a few years later. But if you aren't racing it doesn't matter.

The grasshopper and hornet were (are?) great starter cars because they're very straightforward mechanically and super durable. If your kid is old enough to do their own wrenching I'd go that route. If it's more a toy for you, just follow your heart.

Lithium batteries these days run forever. Long gone are the days of calculating gearing and motor to make a 4 minute race before your nicads dump. Even nimh batteries run a long time by comparison.

Personally, I met some guy who'd converted his 8th scale gas truck to run electric. 27 or so volts of battery. The thing went 60mph and ran forever. That's what inspired me to unbox my RC10. Man how things have changed.

gamerparent wrote:

haha thanks folks.

SO I've been browsing hobby stores online... and I notice that Tamiya has a bunch of reissues of the Frog, Grasshopper, Hornet... oh man the nostalgia draw is so strong. Even Associated has a RC10 reissue.

Are those still good designs, 30 years later? They don't seem that expensive either, but there must have been some advances in the last three decades right? A lot of new companies I don't know, so it's hard to sort out what's what. Any recommendations?

The designs are old, but but if you're just driving around the yard with the kids, it really doesn't matter.

If you want to build it yourself, Tamiya is probably the way to go. They're the only company left who has a kit version of just about every model they produce.

Is there anything you've seen that has caught your eye? If you know what type of car you've been looking at, we might be able to guide you a bit more.

nivek wrote:
gamerparent wrote:

haha thanks folks.

SO I've been browsing hobby stores online... and I notice that Tamiya has a bunch of reissues of the Frog, Grasshopper, Hornet... oh man the nostalgia draw is so strong. Even Associated has a RC10 reissue.

Are those still good designs, 30 years later? They don't seem that expensive either, but there must have been some advances in the last three decades right? A lot of new companies I don't know, so it's hard to sort out what's what. Any recommendations?

The designs are old, but but if you're just driving around the yard with the kids, it really doesn't matter.

If you want to build it yourself, Tamiya is probably the way to go. They're the only company left who has a kit version of just about every model they produce.

Is there anything you've seen that has caught your eye? If you know what type of car you've been looking at, we might be able to guide you a bit more.

Thanks for the input. So I guess I'm looking at 1/10 Electric Off Road buggy cars. I'd like to build it myself. Yes, if it was Tamiya I kind of like the Frog. If it's Team Associated then the 9041 RC10B4.2 looks nice, but starting to get into too much $$. I'm starting to realize that it's the car cost plus radio, engine, batteries, servo, right?

Is there anything that I can build myself but would come in at under $200 for everything? Like you said, I'm just driving around with the kids, not going racing.