Come R/C enthusiasts, represent!

gamerparent wrote:

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.

Yes, if you want to build it yourself, you generally have to spring for the charger, battery and radio in addition to the car. Most ready-to-run cars will include those. I can't think of a way to get you set up for $200. You could get set up with a Tamiya Grasshopper for $250, a Frog for about $310.

Here's a list of decent support equipment that would work well with most of Tamiya's re-release kits. I think it would be enough to get you into the hobby with solid equipment without going crazy and breaking the bank.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXTCJ9&P=M
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXXUP0&P=M
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXAVSY&P=7

The charger won't charge LiPo (lithium polymer) batteries, which is something to think about if you think you would ever upgrade. LiPos give you more power and longer run times.

One thing about the Frog. While it's a really interesting design, the interior of the car is kind of cramped. I personally prefer bathtub style chassis and the like to work in.

Yeah, that space frame is not that spacious.

Thanks folks. Good advice.

I found a Team Associated in a RTR package for $260: http://www.greathobbies.com/producti...

And then a Team Durango (?) for $209 on major sale (half price): http://www.greathobbies.com/producti...

I guess it will be prebuilt for me, but includes everything except battery and charger.

It's a Canadian site, with a somewhat local pickup location.

I can't understand how these RTR cars can be this cheap, when I put together the pieces separately it costs way more. Are they cheaping out on the components somewhere?

Those are great options. Take a look at Gens Ace, SPC, and Turnigy for less expensive Lipo batteries.

I picked up one of these to charge my packs and am really happy with it. It does 2 packs at a time. Just be sure to get a charger with a built-in lipo balancer if you decide to go the Lipo route.

I think when RTR started to become popular, companies would skimp on the equipment, but it has gotten much better. The stuff you get with a RTR these days is generally pretty solid and will keep you going for a while.

Prebuilt anything is generally going to be cheaper at the low end of the spectrum because you're not getting a bulk discount buying parts for a single car. These things are built by the dozens, and economies of scale can drastically reduce the costs associated.

It's not a car but it zoomzooms

Cool copter!

I looked a little harder at the RTR vs a kit, and (for the Durango anyway) the difference is in the parts, like plastic body vs aluminum plate, the differential, etc.

Still it's a good deal but I need to think about it a bit more.

Noob question: what is "bashing"?

"Bashing" refers to just going out and driving the sh*t out of an R/C truck or car. Not racing or anything. Bashing usually ends in a parts run to the hobby store.

Ah, I see. I thought it might mean just driving recreationally, but I guess not.

Thanks!

Since that video my #3 motor is dying. Run to the LHS tomorrow if i have time!

Just picked up a new toy. I haven't flown it yet.
I'll do a maiden flight video soon.

IMAGE(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7779045/drone/estes/protoxtiny.jpg)

IMAGE(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7779045/drone/estes/protoxtiny2.jpg)

Wow. That's one small quad. I thought my Hubsan X4 was one of the smallest ones around. Guess I was wrong.

Ya this thing is tiny. Here it is beside my Nano QX
IMAGE(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7779045/drone/estes/2013-11-03%2021.32.39.jpg)
Here's the video.

ZombieCoyote wrote:

Wow. That's one small quad. I thought my Hubsan X4 was one of the smallest ones around. Guess I was wrong.

I just read that people are using the X4 Tx to control it!

I ordered an X4 controller for thie Proto X. Hope to have it in a month or 2 :/

Here's a new video of my Parkzone Mini Vapor out in the park today.

Cool beans about the Hubsan X4 TX! It's nice when manufacturers use the same protocol. I've got a lot of "clone" models that use the FlySky protocol for instance.

Also, the mini vapor is a neat little plane. I don't have one myself (only into things with vertically-mounted rotor blades) but I go to an indoor mini fun-fly a few times each winter and there's always a few of them floating around. They look super fragile though. I almost chopped one in half with my custom fixed-pitch micro scale MD500* last time. Fortunately it was just a near miss as I juked the aileron as it came at me. The wing brushed my fuselage and my main rotor blades JUST missed it.

* Actually a kitbash that includes the internals of a GW 9958, the fuselage and tail assembly of a Nine Eagles Bravo SX, Blade MSR flybar, and Blade mCX2 main rotor blades. ;)

Nice mash up on that copter. I don't have any helis yet but maybe I'll pick up a small blade fp at some point.
Post up some vids of your heli.
Here's a few minutes of quad flying from yesterday. Including a dog visit at the end.

Selling my Helimax 1SQ VCam to fund my Vita purchase

http://ottawa.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-se...

I'm really tempted to pick up a Proto X. Seems really fun.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I'm really tempted to pick up a Proto X. Seems really fun.

Here's another vid about it:

Flyin Ryan makes good vids. I follow him on YT.

ya, they are a ton of fun. I bound mine to a Hubsan x4 transmitter and you get high rate flying by clicking in the right stick. This thing sure does move for such a small quad.

I got this one (you can find theses much cheaper than $20. I got mine for $8 plus $7 shipping, I think.
http://www.banggood.com/Upgraded-Hub...

but if you get the v2 one you can also make it do auto-flips!

groan wrote:

Nice mash up on that copter. I don't have any helis yet but maybe I'll pick up a small blade fp at some point.
Post up some vids of your heli.

I don't have vids ATM, but here's my blog post at RCGroups for how to build one:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...

Very nice, groan. I've got a Hubsan X4 as well. I think I'll add the Estes Proto X to my wishlist this holiday. I see you've been active on the thread for that quad over at RCGroups as well.

This winter I've been hunkering down and picking up some projects that I've been ignoring while the weather was nice.

For instance, I'm looking at doing some more kitbashing projects like mounting a Nine Eagles Twingo (Chinook) fuselage on the mechanics of a EFlite Rescue Tandem that I won off of Ebay last year. The Twingo is a nice heli but it's got a proprietary controller that I can't stand. By putting the EFlite rescue mechanics into it, I can fly it with my nice programmable TX.

I've got some brushless upgrade kits for my Blade NanoCPX and Walkera SuperCP that I want to try out as well.

Cool projects.
I still need to buy everythign for the quad. I mean everything including the soldering gun and heat gun/heatshrink tubing!
I have nothing except the frame.

I decided to pull the trigger on the Estes Proto X. One is on its way to my house now. Hopefully it'll arrive this week.

I saw on RCG that you said you had to put heatshrink on the motors. Was this to reduce vibration or keep them seated? What else did you have to do to this little bug?

I did it to keep them seated. Repeated bashing will cracks the mounts.
I also put a drop of hot glue at the base of the motor to help keep the motors from wobbaling.
See s to have worked well but one of the motors must be crooked as it needs a lot of right stick trim to the left.

I assume all you quad fliers have seen Amazon's new quadcopter delivery concept?

http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...

I saw that... I'm highly skeptical they can pull that off in the 2-5 years I've heard.

Beyond all the problems with geocoding precision, people shooting them down, wild animals attacking them, the weather, the FAA...

Current LiPo batteries on a multirotor just aren't capable of moving any sort of meaningful cargo further than a few miles round trip. Amazon would need to be sitting on some pretty remarkable breakthrough in battery tech for this to be feasible.

Ya, If it were April 1st i'd have called total shenanigans on this. I's still saying BS on it and think it's just a publicity stunt. It's a little out of thier zone to do so though, don'tyathink?